Tizun Thane

13 minutes ago, Luca Cherstich said:

Dex is used for avoiding knockdown in combat and for many, many actions...am I misunderstanding anything?

Yes, it's useful. But many actions with dex suffer a -10 penalty when you are in heavy armor. So many PKs try do avoid them.

Tai is the best. Then Con. Then For. Then Dex. Then App. Don't tell your players

In case you don't know, the Rydychan Brothers Adventure is (vastly) expanded in Lordly Domains, in a full 3 years scenario. It's written for the third edition, but it's still useful.

I would repeat myself. I do not use the new concept of feodality presented in Book of the Warlord/Estate. It's a mess. It's hard to explain to my players. It's not fun for me. It's heavily based of William the conqueror new feodality, and I don't think it's fitting for KAP.

Instead, I use a much more easy model of feodality to handle (the old one, by the way). It's a very easy to understand pyramidal structure of oaths :

• The King
• The high lords (Barons, counts, dukes, whatever). They hold directly or indirectly their fiefdom in the name of the king
• A few bannerets by county, powerful vassals of the high lord.
• A bit more humble vassal knights
• Bachelors knights, who serve rich lords and bannerets (even rich vassal knights)
• Squires and Esquires. They serve

Of course, I do not exclude the possibility of a knight not being a vassal of the nominal count, because of specific reasons (lands granted by the king or another powerful lord, the church, whatever).

However, I use the new gestion rules, much more playable in game.

IMHO, do not bother with this new feodality mess. You will win an headache for nothing.

4 hours ago, Luca Cherstich said:

2) If anybody gets a quick promotion, he may get multiple glory bonus (for example being promoted directly from Household Knight to Estate Holder will give 200 for Vassal Knight + 200 per Estate Holder). Right?

Yes. For example, when the count robert will be knighted, and being a "true" count, he will win:

• 1000 glory points to be a knight
• 200 for being a vassal knight
• 200 for being an estate holder
• 200 for being a baron
• 200 for being a count
• XXX glory for being the son of Count Roderick (1/10e of the glory)

16 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

For instance, the player was somewhat upset when I ran the Adventure of the White Horse (from KAP 3/4) feeling that his Pagan PK had "no chance" of succeeding on the adventure. 

To be fair, I was always a bit puzzled that you have to decline to go to a pagan blessing to achieve a pagan quest. It's a bit contradictory to my taste.

BUT... you could argue that it was some kind of higher mysteries you could discover. As a GM, I would let the PK roll [religion paganism] or [spiritual] to understand the hidden truth.

11 hours ago, Morien said:

True. Although I do remember one campaign I played back in the day, where the GM had expected a much more combat-optimized group, rather than our collection of misfits, scholars and bards. Needless to say, we developed a signature tactic, mostly involving running away, waving our hands and screaming 'run away, run away!'.

It was the gaming style as well in Old School D&D. The Grognard community lament of this change of paradigm with the 3.X edition.

"game balance" is a plague, even for d&d.

43 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

I have a player in my current campaign who has trouble sometimes understanding that success and reaching any stated goal is not a given, and who becomes puzzled and frustrated at times when he bites off more than he can chew under the assumption of "game balance".

🤣 Did he have the same frustration in real life? Maybe he just don't like to lose.

1 hour ago, Morien said:

As far as I know, Perilous Forest has most of the information on Listeneisse.

Yeah. Before that, it was a rich and peaceful land ruled by the wise holy kings of the Grail.

To be honest, I don't think it's a good idea to be so close to Listenesse. The more you know, the less mystery there is.  I am afraid it will "kill" all the magic of the Grail.

Furthermore, the Lancashire is outside of the kingdom of Logres. Your campaign would be out of reach of all the wars, and torments of 90% of the GPC.

On 2/17/2020 at 9:12 AM, Mugen said:

Also this summer, the first Kaamelott movie will finally be released. It's based on a french comedy series which relies heavily on language and the actors' performance, so I doubt it translates well in English. 

C'est pas faux. It's strangely faithful to the sources, in its own way. There is even a weird reference to the Skavens (because why not). A must see if you can speak french.

On 3/23/2020 at 5:10 PM, Atgxtg said:

If you really want to put the mad PK through the ringer,

There is some déjà vu. You answered the wrong post, Atgxtg . Otherwise, Morgan already hates the PK because she was banished because of him.

My PKs manage to get the mad character back, from the clutches of Morgan, no less. So they are very happy of course, and they have a new plan. The madman is now in their custody. Their new plan is to confront him with his beloved wife (love 18 more or less). They hope the shock will help him to regain his sanity.

The mad PK became crazy after a failed loyalty (Arthur) by the way. I don't know exactly how to handle the whole situation. Any thoughts?

My rules for glory. They are working well in my campaign.

For a quest, it's usually 100 glory pts for each knight to complete. You save a village from an eternal winter, you save save the beautiful countess from an evil something, etc... I can adjust the glory if the quest is trivial, or super-heroic.

For combat:

• 5 pts for an angry peasant (or an hungry wolf by the way)
• 10 pts for a brigand or a soldier
• 20 pts for a pict warrior or an experimented soldier
• 25 pts for a saxon warrior, or a sergeant
• 100 pts for a berserker or a saxon chief

For a defeated knight, the glory awards are:

• 50 pts for an ordinary knight (less than 2000 glory points)
• 75 pts for an notable knight (Beetween 2000 and 3999 glory points)
• 100 pts for a famous knight (beetween 4000 and 7999 glory points)
• 250 pts for a extraordinary knight (beetween 8000 and 15999 glory points)
• 500 pts for a legendary knight (16.000 glory points or more)

The legendary knights are very powerful, Lancelot, Gawaine, and the like.

1 hour ago, Morien said:

EDIT: Hmm. Now I am not that sure about that. Since the Lance gives a BONUS to the Lance wielder, not a penalty to the Non-Lance user. So maybe it is just referring to the same +5/-5 modifier.

It's my feeling too...

If I remember correctly, in the book of armies, it is said that the (little) giants of the army of Lucius ignore the height modifier as well. So Tai 25 seems to be the threshold.

30 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

or if it can fly.

I saw it as well in some books, so it's a bit of official...

To be honest, I never bothered with hundreds and the like, and I am very happy. I use the new 10£ manor system of the Book of Estate Rules without it.

My Salisbury is simpler. The count, a few powerful bannerets (Devizes, Du Plain, etc.), a bit more of minors vassals knights with their little manor, and the rest in bachelors knights. It's easier to understand that way, and it's more faithful to my vision of the arthurian feodality.

The Book of the Warlord is inspired by the english feodality after the norman conquest. My vision is closer to french feodality, with powerful vassals of the king.

14 minutes ago, Morien said:

Heck, she'd probably be younger, too, and hence more desirable marriage prize.

Maybe the new wife will be greedy, and plot to kill Jenna to make room for her own children...

Or Jenna will be the heiress and future countess. You could adapt the Rydychan usurpers campaign to Salisbury too. Good Stuff.

Otherwise, I forgot what lands countess Elain owns. What happens to them? Many good questions!

16 hours ago, ericvulgaris said:

Countess Ellen died mysteriously (survival rolls + book of the entourage survival/death tables

Who will be Regent after 495? Will the count remarry?

Otherwise, nice to read about your game. KAP have a special feeling no other roleplaying games have.

12 hours ago, Cornelius said:

highest glory.

The highest glory, the highest status, the highest battle skill... Usually, there is a clear successor. BUT, from a narrative perspective, it could be fun that the leader (sir Elar for example) fell and one of the PKs have to impose himself quickly in the middle of the battleground... Could be fun!

Like many men, he became lazy after the deed...

Edit: he, not I😀

16 minutes ago, Morien said:

Although in the stories, he does have some bastards, too.

In the Vugate, he sired Guenever and the false Guenever the same night. What a man!

To evaluate the birth date of Leodegrance, I would process in reverse. If his only child was born in 497, I will suppose that :

• the queen (unnamed) is barren after that
• he was 25 (more or less) when he fathered Guenever

So, he was born in 472. And his age would be:

• 8 in 480
• 13 in 485
• 38 in 510. Still a strong warrior, which is logical
• 58 in 530. In the third edition, still alive at this time. Old but respected king. Still logical
• He will die probably in the 540's, and Guenever would become queen of Cameliard in her own way

It all makes sense to me.

So what, do you do of this pesky mention that he was already king in 485 ? He could be a boy King, under the tutelage of Uther. Why not. Maybe Uther was his godfather, or maybe his father was killed with Aurelius Ambrosius in 480. It will explain why later he will be one of the first Arthur's loyalist.

Otherwise, you could create a father. I would call him Leodegrance the Elder, but it's just me.

If the PK do not have high values (16+), I let them choose. Usually, they lost 1 point in the ignored passion and a check (or +1) in the other.

If they don't know, they roll one passion against the other.

If they have one high passion, they must chose this passion, or roll if they are trying to ignore it.

If they have two high passions, the fun begins. Drama, tears!

In your exemple, an astute PK could find a way to reconcile the 2 passions. he can follow the count in battle, and try to save his cousin fighting in the other side by one way or another.

25 minutes ago, Luca Cherstich said:

(especially since the invasion of Bedegraine is an especially "un-justified" or even "evil"  act by Uther).

It's not the place of mere knight to question his anointed king (check proud, just, - 1 loyalty Uther)

In my campaign, after a PK unhorsed Gawaine during a (lucky) joust, he gracefully give a pair of golden spurs as a reward (1 £).

Otherwise, the lord could give a tapestry depicting some great dead of the PK (or his father).

The reward should be a special gift for special occasions. Not an ordinary one each christmas.

I really like the tables too! Very usable, thank you!

In my game, I use Lost in the woods when PK lost themselves in the woods. Very useful.
"At the crossroads" can be used in the tournaments period, or with a special request from a lady, but yeah, not usable every year.

I use vassal service, or "your own land" only when the player wasn't there at the session as a quick catch up. It works well.

27 minutes ago, Luca Cherstich said:

since disputes should be put in front of the Hundred Court...

I simply ignore the Hundred Court. I never understood why there were so many pages devoted to a juridical system useless in game.

Justice is the best part of "your own lands", often hilarious, and it would be a shame not to use it. BUT, if you want to use the hundred court, one of your players could be appointed by the count to judge a few cases.

Thank you all for you thoughtful explanations!

On 2/19/2020 at 12:07 AM, jmberry1s said:

The Pendragon family tree I've put together on Family Echo survived (obviously), but a lot of the justifications I had written down will now require me to re-research them to figure out the conclusions I made.

I would love to see this family tree

I love this fanmade herarldry, with only one dragon.

https://a-tale-of-blood-and-honour.obsidianportal.com/characters/aurelius-ambrosius