Tizun Thane

48 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

So How about 2x the Number of Rounds + Quality as the threshold? 

By quality, do you mean the size of the feast? Because, it would be the same formula than 3 x number of rounds.

7 hours ago, Morien said:

But if you draw them one by one, you might actually end up with a bad card that you have to play, something that almost never happens if you draw multiple cards at once. So that adds an additional element of choice and risk.

To be honest, it is very funny in play ^^

3 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

There probably should be a minimum threshold to win.

There should be a threshold. I tested 2 options. 3 geniality points by round is a bit too much (hard to reach). 2 geniality points/rd is lenient.

37 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Also, I think the upper limit should be raised to account for characters with ultra high APP scores. APP tends to be the highest characteristic for most women, but with 18+ all being lumped together, they don't really benefit much from it. Most women will end up in the 3 card band, and quickly shift to 4 cards, and then stop improving APP. Expanding it to 5 cards at APP 22 and 6 cards at APP 26 would really help make APP More useful and make the beauties the center of attention at the feast.

Indeed. I was thinking about expanding it to 5 cards beyond App 20.

39 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

What happens to character with an APP of 4? I bring this up only because I've seen many Pendragon character's "ugly out" due to age. Since characters with APP of 3 or less are bedridden and thus not at feast, they are not an issue, but those with APP 4 are. Are they just not able to draw any cards or lumped in with the 4-8 crowd.?

I was under the (false) assumption that a character with App 4 was out of the game, but you are right. I suppose he could draw at least one card.

39 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Are geniality losses doubled as well?

My bad! I mispoke. I edited my post to be more clear. Thank you! I was only speaking about geniality losses. The geniality wins are normal (except you gain a free +2/round just by sitting above the salt)

39 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Interesting, but perhaps a bit slow. My players all draw at once, and it still takes several minutes for them to read through their choices and decide upon a card. 

It was my fear as well, but in game, even with 5 players, it was not that long. There was less reading, and the choice is more simple (play the card or discard it). You could speed the game by letting another player draws his card if the first one is taking too much time.

39 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Also, I think the upper limit should be raised to account for characters with ultra high APP scores. APP tends to be the highest characteristic for most women, but with 18+ all being lumped together, they don't really benefit much from it. Most women will end up in the 3 card band, and quickly shift to 4 cards, and then stop improving APP. Expanding it to 5 cards at APP 22 and 6 cards at APP 26 would really help make APP More useful and make the beauties the center of attention at the feast.

Indeed. I was thinking about expanding it to 5 cards beyond App 20.

On 12/13/2019 at 6:30 PM, Morien said:

How about flipping the uses of Glory & APP? Glory determines your seating (as it should), and APP determines on how many cards you get to draw: Beautiful People get more opportunities to choose from.

Edit: Also, it means that the Ugly People are more boorish, since if they pull a bad card, that is what they end up with.

I playtested this houserule last week twice, and it worked marvellously. All the players were happy. My houserules were:

• seating :glory/1000+£ in clothes (+5 max) +£ in jewels (+5 max)+ others (DM's fiat)
• drawing cards: App 5 to 8= 1 card, App 9 to 12 = 2 cards,  App13-17 = 3 cards, App 18 and beyond = 4 cards
• Each player draw his cards one by one and discard it if you don't like it (up to the limits, of course!). It was another Morien's idea, I believe.
• Even above the salt, you can draw cards, but every geniality loss is doubled (ouch!)
• Every turn, the PK choose between drawing cards, eating and drinking (temperate/indulgent), or to use any social skill of their choice (even dancing, or singing)

^^

It looks like there is one translation into modern french, and that's all. I found online the old french text, and it seems there is a spanish version of the same tale, Historia de Enrrique, fi de Oliva, where Enrrique is the spanish Landri, son of Olive. If you speak french or spanish...

On 7/11/2020 at 2:25 AM, Leingod said:

Alternatively/secondly, has anyone here read Doon de La Roche? If so, are there any details about Doon and/or his family given in the work itself? Like, does it ever detail what Doon did that saw him marrying Princess Olive, or any characterization for the likes of Geoffrey or Doon's cousins?

I read a complete resume of the song. Doon is a (poor) knight, with only a minor holding (La Roche). He served very valiantly the king Pepin many years in his wars, without any reward. Doon never complained, because of his loyalty for the king.

Olive is the sister of Pepin, a beautiful gentle maiden secretly in love with Doon. One day, the king Pepin heard some of his knights laughing about Doon, the best of them never receiving anything. The king became enraged, and decided to give to Doon the duchy of Lorraine, and the hand of his sister.

Curiously, the story of "Doon de la Roche" is much more about his son Landri. The characterization is usually very binary, good guys and traitors.

What tools do you use for your online campaign? Which ones are handy?

Greyblade is right. There is no detached map anyway.

2 hours ago, Morien said:

Such as Lancelot, who do not have a Celtic counterpart as he was made up later.

It is a bold statement, Morien Lancelot have probably celtic roots. There is the german Lanzelet for example, which is very interesting to study in that regard. All his childhood with the Lady of the Lake sounds very celtic to me, for example. To be honest, many adventures of Lancelot in his first novel have a celtic feeling.

However, Lancelot was probably not associated with Arthur before Chrétien de Troyes.

I know it's a matter of cultural pride for Welsh people (and rightly so), but the myth of King Arthur is not exclusively welsh. In fact, most of the canonical sources are written in old french or english (with a few others languages). So there is no such thing as "authenticity" in the arthurian setting.

KAP is based mostly on Malory, and the names are a big mash-up beetween all the sources.

But in your game, you could take a welsh flavor if you want to.  You can call the guy Bedwyr, Bedivere, or Bédoyer. It's the same guy.

As Morien said, G. Stafford tried to "desaxonize" the names in some 5.2 supplements, which was an interesting take, but it was very messy. 

Read the books, look at the maps, look at the Book of the Warlord with its new names. Don't judge at first sight.

KAP is a fantastic RPG about King Arthur. If you love the myth, you will love the game. Trust me^^

On 6/27/2020 at 8:36 AM, Uqbarian said:

So, I have a PK who rolled a Love (Wife) of 16. Does anyone have suggestions for plotlines/scenarios that can make use of this? There's always the old villain-abducts-wife routine, and also enemies of the PK accusing the wife of something awful, but I'm trying to come up with something a bit less obvious.

Was the marriage arranged by the count orthe families? What are the feelings of the bride herself about their union? What is her chaste/honor value? Is she a good wife for the character?
Maybe the best way to surprise the player could be to play her like a real woman, with feelings and goals. I would play it at first a bit like a romantic comedy, with trivials events to play the dynamics beetween the two characters.

11 hours ago, King Pellinore said:

Except maybe Ellen who is the grandmother of little count Roderick. Can a woman be warden? 

She can A good choice by the way.

6 hours ago, Call Me Deacon Blues said:

Does anyone know who has rights to these adventures? Chaosium or whoever does French publishing, or even somehow the authors?  I would love them to get an English translation if at all possible. 

It's a mess. All the publishing companies and magazines don't exist anymore. I don't know if anyone still owns the intellectual property, but I know that  french law is very protective toward the authors.

If you want to translate them into english, I think the best is to try to contact directly the author by social medias, and to talk with him. Each one was beautifully illustrated, but it's another issue.

For everyone fluent in french, the best Pendragon Adventures are IMO :

• Premières Armes (Casus Belli 74). A very good first adventure for squires. I played it 4 times and it was always a success.
• La Chasse au Blanc Cerf (Casus Belli HS 8). Maybe the best KAP adventure I ever read. It's like an old tale coming to life. I played it 4 times and it was always a success.
• Fleur de Sang (in some Tatou magazine). An hilarious premise. Every woman in the county suddenly hates her husband (and all the men by the way), including all the wives and paramours of the players. A good adventure, but I never had the chance to play it. Maybe some day.
• Le roi oublié (with the GM screen). A good adventure about the legendary city of Ys.

PS (in french, sorry ) . Je n'ai pas lu Chroniques de Pendragon saison 2, et c'est quasiment introuvable aujourd'hui. Cela va quelque chose? J'avais été un peu déçu de la saison 1. De même, pour les scénarios de l'édition d'Icare, cela vaut le coup de jeter un oeil?

You could do a crossover of course, but it will drastically alter the arthurian setting.
I don't think it's wise in an KAP game, but it's a good twist for a Call of Cthulhu game

I watched this movie a long time ago, like 25 years ago... Nostalgia... Memories....

I gave no riding bonus against a bear.

Maybe you can use the squires as messengers, or even as "investigators"  (a murder, a taxe issue, whatever) while the war is raging elsewhere.

Otherwise, I wrote a little adventure for squires here.

Crossbow is not a knightly weapon. In my game, there would be a honor's loss for using it. It's a dirty weapon for commoners and cowards.

On 5/5/2020 at 5:28 PM, mandrill_one said:

Beaumains remains my Grail, never managed to obtain a copy...

Same. I would love to read them, so please, if you can reprint them, or make a pdf, I would be very happy.

I never used the fey passion myself, but... It could be the fuel of a very interesting story in very specific consequences.

In book of Entourage, there is complete rules to play a squire under age. It's good.

58 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Meanwhile the "Armor of Honor" is a magical effect comes from the approval of a higher power, and thus happens regardless of if the characters gets fame/glory for it.

Agreed. I was thinking the same.

24 minutes ago, Luca Cherstich said:

In my view the "Romanitas" in the old times is the "generic/universal virtue" towards which everybody tended (whatever the culture) when the Empire was properly working (legions, globalized market, etc..).

I understand your concerns, but... The bonus of chivalry is magical by nature. Like the religious one, for the "saints" of the religion. The bonus (boni?) are here to be faithful to the sources, where a chivalric knight is a better man, on the court and on the field. Same for the christian characters. That's why the "good ones" won, despite all odds. They have the bonus of chivalry.

The roman ethos is dead in arthurians times, like the roman empire.

The Nobilis bonus seems like a cool bonus, but is detrimental to the game. After all, each culture have his own ideals.

To be honest, it's not RAW, but I would reduce the courtesy bonus during Uther's reign and anarchy, to reflect this harsh times.

I would still give 100 glory points/year, but not the armor of courtesy. Or maybe the contrary.

1 hour ago, Baba said:

In our game, we felt that yearly passive glory bonuses were overshadowing active glory, so we reduced them.

Maybe half the glory is enough? 50 pts of glory/year to be courteous, and 50 pts to be religious. I have the feeling too that the passive glory is too much.

27 minutes ago, Luca Cherstich said:

Am I doing it wrong?

No. I am doing the same, for obvious reasons.