Tizun Thane

23 hours ago, Morien said:

Personally, I prefer the GPC model of territorially concentrated, regional/county nobility. Granted, it doesn't matter much, since they are not really acting like independent entities for most of the campaign, save during Anarchy, and that is easily explained away with the breakdown of central authority (no king)

Oh yeah, it's much more understandable for the players. I dislike the Warlord overview, because it's useless to me (and this tangled word does not survive the Anarchy, so why bother?)

In my game, I always suppose Salisbury have a few bannerets of his own (Devizes, Du Plain, etc.), some minor vassals (like the players) and the rest in bachelor knights.

He is kin to Arthur in unspecified ways. His son Constantine will rule after Arthur on that claim.

I don't remember his genealogy (or even lands) to be clarified in the GPC. Have any of you a good theory?

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

But in the game the spear ends up being the worst weapon. It has no special benefit like the other weapons do. Yes, the dagger is worse, at -1d6, but at least the dagger has the benefit of being ubiquitous.

As a houserule, my spears cancels the malus for being on foot against cavalry, but the knight still have all his bonus. So a knight with sword 16 on his charger against 1 spearmen (10), will roll at 21 (16+5) against 10.

Lance provides a +5 as well against ennemies without range (another lance or Greatspear). Otherwise, it looks perfect to me.

The short answer is: sword is the best weapon!

On 2/14/2020 at 4:58 PM, jeffjerwin said:

Originally this comes from Chretien's Cliges, if I recall correctly. Count Angres was identified (at least in Greg's older stuff) with the Count of Silchester

Angres is the count of Windsor in the tale as well. Very close indeed. It's a bit of a shame count Angres was confused with the sons of Ulfius, because he is much more charismatic.

Yeah, I remember. I totally stole your ideas in my campaign, by the way. I was epic, with Morgan's conspiracy...

16 hours ago, creativehum said:

This summer a film version of Sir Gawain & The Green Knight is coming out

The trailer is intriguing, at least. We'll see.

Nice map. Useful to realize that the Silchester's rebellion is not that crazy. Whith a bit of Bliztkrieg, you can take Camelot (and the King!) by surprise.

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Still, she's not the evil villain you see in modern retellings.

And she is not either in my campaign, but yeah, not the most forgiving.

1 hour ago, Clophiroth said:

She is dealing with a bit more shit than the other knights, but when I asked she told me that if she didn't want to deal with patriarchal limitations and stereotypes she wouldn't be playing a female knight

love it! That's the spirit, especially with her proud 17.

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

So there are possibilities but they take a little more work. Especially if trying to remain true to the setting.

Indeed, there are possibilites but you have to talk with your players.

I love your campaign! Did you play a full session with the winter phase?

1. When did Aurelius became married to Bethany? I thought he was courting lady Gwyona
2. The birth of a mute girl is very intriguing, to say the least.

1 hour ago, KungFuFenris said:

the close cooperation between the newly wedded pair resulted in genuine feelings of love between them, and a blessing soon growing in Bethany’s womb. Two pregnant women in Woodford was quite the event, and also a source of much dread for poor Aurelius.

What exactly is going on at woodford?

Edit: The Pentecost court is interesting as well. Is Tywyn a new player?

19 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Take the character sheet and hold onto it, and maybe charge a few things here and there.

A bit mischievous... I like it!

In my campaign, Morgan have a grudge against the knight, so she will probably capture him quickly for some nefarious purpose, maybe becoming some chained fool for her court, something like that.

12 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

I could see making a case fo the 531 start year. Romance and tournaments give the ladies a lot more to do.

Agree. If you want a game friendly to the ladies, go for 531. 525 or 520 (45 years to 565, so 2 generations) is good two. It's the classical arthurian feel, and a lady can go with the boys as a healer and many other things. There is a bunch of nice published adventures you can play with a lady, like:

• The adventure of the Werewolf in the Spectre King
• The  Adventure of the Mysterious Manor in Tales of Chivalry and Romance
• The Adventure of Cerran Abbas in Tales of Chivalry and Romance
• Even the Adventure of castle Wakely in Tales of Chivalry and Romance

Uther's reign (and Anarchy for obvious reasons) is dark, brutal, with a lot of wars and pillage, and not a nice place to be a lady.

Sure, you can craft a good story for a lady with the same setting, but you have to shift the focus from a male perspective to a female one, and this will not be classical Pendragon, but Jane Austen met Uther Pendragon.

Otherwise, your Player could have a backup character, a knight (her husband, brother, cousin, wathever) she will play when war rages on (It's a suggestion in Book of the Entourage, and a nice one).

To be honest, all the women I play with are happy to play a male knight. I will impose a male knight as a first character to show the setting and the game.

1 hour ago, Morien said:

However, oftentimes they will try to capture their maddened fellow, and try to heal him/keep him safe until he recovers.

My PKs always try the same trick, but they couldn't this time.

By the way, I think it's not faithful to the sources, when it seems to me you always let the madman wandering without interference.

1 hour ago, Morien said:

That is the way I am inclined to GM it, too.

Thank you for your answer, Morien. Useful as usual;)

When a player get mad, there is a nice little Table in the GPC about his wanderings.

1. Did anyone use it? It seems very easy to get better.
2. How to manage his winter phase? Did he get (passive) glory? Training?

The GPC says a roll/6 months, but I am inclined to roll each year, and it looks to me you gain passive glory, but no training. Am I right?

14 hours ago, Username said:

It outputs the rivers in the language in which the majority of the river is located.

OK. Still, it's the Aisne river and the Loir river, no matter what. Thanks to you, I discovered the Conie and the Aire rivers, but they are small, affluents (tributaries? what is the english word?) of larger rivers (Loir and Aisne). According to Wikipedia, Conie is 32,4 km long for example.

And Sane is still a typo.  This modern map is accurate

http://www.grattepanche-mairie.fr/textes/cartefrancefleuves2.htm

14 hours ago, Username said:

But first, I have to tell you that my day job is to make maps for regional level planning.

Congrats! It sounds like an awesome job. I will use your map, don't worry

As I already said, I like your maps. I will probably use one for my game. Some quibbles:

• Castle Pleuré is in Cardigan (Anarchy), not Merionnyd (evil king)
• Newark is in Lindsey, not Bedegraine
• There is an Aisne river in France near Soissons, not Aire
• The Moselle river,  Mosel is the german name
• The Saône River, not Sane river
• The Meuse river, not Maas river (Maas is the the dutch name)
• There is no "Conie" river, it's the Loir river (without "e"), and its riverbed is different [Edit the Conie river exists, but it's just a little tributary of the Loir river, itself tributary to the Sarthe river, itself tributary to the Loire river]
• You forget to draw the Sarthe river beetween Loir and Mayenne (not that important)

Maybe you should name only the big french rivers  (Loire with an "e", Seine, Garonne, Rhône) and let the rest unnamed. It may be more clear that way.

13 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

But then you sort of need to leave some sort of area of doubt so justice doesn't run over the Count before the PKs can prove his innocence. People accused to treason do not usually get a 40 day grace period.

The period of forty days is precisely what I was thinking, to launch the adventure.

On 1/31/2020 at 7:02 PM, Craiger said:

I LOVE this idea! Might have to use it at some point...

Glad to help! I would love to read about it

On 1/31/2020 at 7:40 PM, Atgxtg said:

It's a nice idea, but I think you need someone more important than a squire to accuse the count herein order to make it stick.

The witness does not need to be the accuser himself.

9 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

think DEX all the way probably hurts Horsemanship skill too much.

It is my houserule as well. My players still make plenty of horsemanship rolls, and do not consider horsemanship a "dumb" skill at all.

6 hours ago, creativehum said:

They have fallen for manners over character, and I would let let Cerdic keep the manners but reveal his true character. Let him be horrible. They'll be near him. They'll hear him. They'll see him. They'll be ordered to be party to his plans.

If he is a horrible man (and everyone here seems to think he will be) then let him be such a man...

He is not that horrible. He is an opportunistic king. A bit cruel and cunning, yes. So what? All the campaign have a heavy bias pro-kymric and pro-Arthur. In that light, he became a bad man, that's all.

His dream is to unify Saxons and Bretons, to learn from each other, to make an end to the old feuds and hate, to build a better kingdom, a tolerant one. In that light, he can become an ally, a strong king who can protect Salisbury against other Saxons. To achieve this dream, some blood will be spilled. Of course. It's inevitable.

6 hours ago, Morien said:

DIT2: Cerdic's write-up in GPC actually portrays him as a reasonably level-headed guy. His only 16+ baddie trait is Arbitrary at 18, and a goodie trait of Valorous at 18. He does have leanings towards Cruel and Proud, but also Chaste, Generous, Pious and Temperate. No Passions at 16+. Frankly, other than the high Arbitrary*, he doesn't seem all that bad.

This Cerdic is a good chief, as long as you remain in his good graces. 

15 hours ago, stryker99 said:

More surprising was how sympathetic the PKs found Kind Cerdic. They are currently ACTUALLY considering counseling Ellen to swear fealty to Wessex. I didn't expect that.

I like it very much. Cerdic is the son of Vortigern, and have strong claims to be king of Logres or High King.

I suppose Cerdic would want a marriage with Ellen to seal the deal (or between his son and young Jenna), and full hommage. You have to consider if Cerdic is sincere or not about his dream to unify Saxons and Kymrics in equal terms. Is he honorable (in a saxon way), or a traitorous bastard like his father?

41 minutes ago, Username said:

, I'm going to show it as sunk in the 544 map, but consider it tentative. 

It's really depends if you want to play the adventure "the best wine in the word" in the Savage Mountains.

43 minutes ago, Username said:

To everyone, is the naming issues a big problem for most people? I can make the Caercolun= Essex

I am for Essex, Wessex and the like, because they are real places even today, so your players (if they are not english) can learn something from the game. Personnaly, I am accustomed to the old names (Hertford, Somerset) and will not change it, but I suppose more recent players are more confortable with new names.

I agree. A 3d6 roll is enough. Loyalty (group) is especially useful, because any PK will always have a good excuse to roll for inspiration each year (Oh, my friend is in danger, etc.). It's gamebreaking.

In my game, except the round Table or very exceptionnal circonstances, I don't allow a rolling for loyalty (group). MY PKs are powerful enough without it.

I like your map. Brittany is accurate by the way. Maybe you could color Leon and Cornouaille in purple like Corwall, to show their allegeance. Otherwiste, there is no need for a specific county of Rennes, or Nantes. the kingdom of Vannetais is enough, and works just fine.

With France, I am a bit surprised. Why didn't you make Burgundy a part of the kingdom? Same thing with Languedoc or Provence.

You mention Auvergne or County of Toulouse, which is good, so maybe you should mention the duchy of Normandy, the counties of Flanders or Champagne, the big names.

Otherwise, it's a wise move not to bother with the merovingian kingdoms (Austrasia, etc.). The frontiers change all the time.

Edit: By the way, Anglia and Caercolun are joined into an unique duchy (Anglia).

Hartland became Hertford after Uther's reign? Is it canon in the GPC ?