SaxBasilisk

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I'd go with the Bear adventure from the rulebook. It teaches the dice mechanics up front, and it gives you a little skill use, a little combat, a moral choice, and some court activity.

A bit of thread necromancy here, to keep the discussion of this together...

I'm running into a situation where I do have a character who has an Homage and Fealty for competing lords about to go to lord. The Homage should win out, if the character does not choose otherwise... but would their Fealty and/or Honor take a hit in the process?

(In other circumstances, there might be some long-term consequences... but this is the Boy King period, so it should resolve itself quickly.)

On 8/16/2022 at 11:59 AM, Mugen said:

A big change here is that characters with CON 20+ will never fall inconscious because of a Major Wound.

That makes fighting a creature such as the dragon in the quickstart much longer than before. Not couting the fact that their HP are based on SIZx2, which is a change I don't like, TBH

This just changed in the latest adventure. Now Major Wounds mean automatic unconsciousness.

I'm comparing this to some of the material in The Great Hunt - and there have been some tweaks:

• More unified ways Passions work, regardless of value (I did like that lower values were at least semi-viable)
• The idea of a Passion Crisis, that replaces was called "shock" in earlier editions
• Melancholy going away if the person takes 1 point of damage (I think this may be easy to exploit)

There might be others buried in there as well.

EDIT: I did notice one other. If a knight receives a Major Wound, they are immediately unconscious, with no other roll.

I do want to see the new take on the Picts.

Next year is 513, and I'm going to end it with the Guenever reveal.

As part of my prep, and for my own amusement, I've been reading my way through Malory, the Vulgate, and the Post-Vulgate. So far, I don't feel as if I have a great sense of Guenever, save in her interactions with Lancelot. I won't give the players untrammeled access to the queen, but they will be interacting, and I'd like to get a sense for her.

How have you / would you run Guenever in your GPC?

You might not be too far off from GPC, as Jagent's position is... funny.

Yes, GPC assures us that Cornwall conquers Jagent in 499. Yet in 510, the Earl is one of the nobles who pledges fealty to Arthur in Easter. That doesn't mean he's actually in control of the territory... but in 534, there's a tournament in which knights from Jagent oppose those from Cornwall and Brittany, implying independence.

Further complicating the issue, the Book of the Warlord places Jagent castles the hands of King Idres or his vassals up to the Conquest Period. (King Idres should be dead by this time, but whatever.)

Even further complicating the issue, I've been working with one of my players who has decided to update the GPC maps for each year. (I'd post them, but they're essentially derivative works.) If you look really closely at the border between Logres and Cornwall in the Boy King period in the semi-annual maps from GPC, Jagent does appear to be in Logres.

My guess is that Greg changed his ideas of Jagent between Boy King and GPC, and nobody (to my knowledge) caught the difference, because nobody cares about Jagent.

In my GPC, I just shrugged and told my mapmaker that something happened when we weren't paying attention. Your campaign is yours, but I'd definitely give the players a win if I were in your shoes.

(Also, don't forget that Idres and Mark are also the kings of Brittany, so it would be less of a rump state than the focus on Britain would give it.)

Interlude, in which Two Players Plot and Meditate on the Morals of Arthurian Legendary Figures

Player A: Cery has previously planned to get an enchanted spring by basically adopting a young naiad, but that plan is complicated by the lack of young naiads and the lack of male knights in our group that haven't imprisoned their mom for banging

(be honest, you would want to raise a kid related to a guy who did that?)

Anyway, Cery requires someone who has a fairie lore that isn't 1 to give her advice on this issue

Player B: Okay

Neyrs wil point out that her fae lore is like... still not that high?

What may she kniw about this, [Sax]?

Me: This is Fairy Lore. I can roll it, or you can.

B: You can, I'm in a blanket roll and not moving

Me: 8 out of 14

B: That's okay, right? We want under

A: Just so

Me: Nymphs are shifting, changeable, lustful creatures. They can be shy, but they also love flowers, music, and dance.

Now you can decide if you want to tell the other knight this.

B: She'll share the news, why not?

Why does Cery want to trap one, anyway?

A: There's a spring called... my brain is sun addled, so the name's escaping me. but there's a famous roman bath that's considered to be a healing spring

anyway, cery wants one of those because she doesn't want her face getting mangled by her job?

but considering that the process appears to involve getting a naiad to hook up with a knight so she can adopt the kid and use it to power her beauty pool a) makes her sound like a fucking disney villain and b) her motivations are getting a little clouded by the method of doing this

not even one of the more sympathetic disney villains

Me (catching up): There’s a well of the dubiously named St. Hawthorn without a Roman bath up a small mountain in hostile Welsh territory, that is.

B: Okay, but hear me out

Morgan can probably help?

A: The gloomcookie her cousin banged/ wanted to continue banging?

B: (And arguably make things worse?)

The like queen or whatever of that area

A: morgan's up north, wales is mostly westish of us

B: Yes, but Nerys (or Very)could write to her to see if she has a solution

Merlin may also know a way, but he won't do it

A: I feel like magic intervention would only make consent even trickier here

B: And Morgan might

A: and yeah, merlin's a dick.

the one and future dick, rather

B: (Yes, definitely, she'd actually be a bad plan, but Nerys would totally mention her)

A: Cery's idea right now is to go to there, talk with the Naiad and get her thoughts.

Which I will point out is an uncharacteristically reasonable plan, for one of my characters.

Me: Overlooking the fairy, and the sex, and the journey into hostile territory.

And the ultimate goal.

A: Literally all of those things are so baked into the fabric of the setting that it would be weirder if they weren't present

"Merlin! The addict broke my sword!" "Look, just toss it into the nearby lake, some fairy will fix it"

Me: I think you should talk to Morgan. It will probably make things worse.

A: so say we all

B: Except Nerys who says she's just a girl who will settle down someday, it's fine

A: She'll write Morgan a very formal letter requesting advice on a deeply smutty subject

Morgan's just sowing some wild corpses the way some sow oats, it's fine it's whatever why are you concerned

B: There's no proof Morgan's killed anyone. Just that she knows how, and is fine with others doing it.

And aren't we all,  sometimes?

A: They were killed in a way that only she knows how!

B: But we've literally stabby stabby MANY people

A: It's like, oh gosh, how did these people get stabbed? Stabbotron, you know how to stab people, what do you think?

Except it's "explode out from their armor"-o-tron

It was less pithy

B: Remember how we were all like, "Yeah, that's just Owain."

We can't judge

A: I think it was more, "Yeah, sorry, Owain's... our problem. Sorry again."

B: But we let him be him anyway

A: He was very effective at murder! And it was fine when it was state sponsored!

B: Which it wasn't always

A:

B: Nerys's next dissertation "We cannot judge Morgan lest we judge ourselves"

A: "Let he without Owain throw the first Morgan."

B: "Yes"

A: Anyway, vaguely content of the letter: "I would like a spring of beauty to maintain me through my career, and also I've heard there's a hot nymph. I don't know what step 2 is, but I would like a hot nymph spring of hotness and no moral ambiguity."

AD 512

The Knights Perylous joined the royal progress at St. Albans, where Count Robert and Sir Cery reflected upon the night their fathers and a unified Logres died in the castle’s great hall. The Queen Dowager Ygraine asked Sir Harri to speak about King Uther’s last moments. Sir Ulfius, pretending offense, protested at Ygraine’s infidelity. This moment of theater allowed Ygraine, Merlin, and ‘Ector to clarify that King Dalan was not, in fact, a stranger, but the child of her and King Uther, albeit conceived before wedlock and with the aid of sorcery. (But does Arthur take more after Gorlois or Uther?) After elaborating on their relationship, Ygraine passed to King Dalan the gift of a name, taken from his older brother the day he died and the day Dalan was conceived: Arthur.*

Court that year was lively, as it always was. One of the High King’s first acts under his new name was rebuffing envoys from the distant and sundered Roman empire for their requests for tribute. Sir Nerys, naturally, availed herself of the monastery libraries along the route. Sir Harri made the acquaintance of the Brown Knight of the Wilds, who tested his pride to seek out the flaws of his nascent chivalry. Sir Roderick and Sir Queux renewed their friendship with drinks earned after a scramble about the household. Sir Cery, apparently enthused by King Arthur’s new name, pledged her loyalty to him once again; everyone was deeply embarrassed on her behalf. Sir Sara was troubled by Sir Ulfius’s participation in the courtly theater this year, particularly in light of his promotion of Ursus, and looked into his motivations.

Sir Sara also encountered the youthful sons of Lot. Disguised in traveler’s garb, Gawainet, Agravaine, and Gaheriset presented themselves and pledged allegiance to King Arthur. He dispatched them to Fort Broughton on the Saxon border.

In attendance at court, there was also a maiden with a sword on her belt that no one could draw. Her irritation at how the sword was treated as a curiosity was explicit, from all accounts.

During the royal progress’ stop in Rydychan, a gravely wounded knight was carried into the king’s audience, with a plea for justice against his attacker. Ursus, once an unwitting pretender to Arthur’s inheritance, begged royal sanction to become a knight and seek justice against this bandit. At Sir Harri’s urging, Sir Cery and Sara joined him. The newly minted Sir Ursus, though not Uther’s son, was in fact quite well versed in strategy and impressed Sir Harri. He was not quite as adept at combat, so his insistence that King Pellinore, apparently the man’s assailant, quit his pursuit of the Questing Beast and return to court to meet justice was answered with a challenge at which Ursus did not fare well. Sir Harri expertly staunched his wounds, while Sir Cery insulted her way into a duel with the king by making obvious and true assessments of Pellinore’s life and character. She won, but the king continued his pursuit, opting to show up for court another time.**

The next morning, King Arthur and Merlin were absent from court with no explanation. The Knights Perylous sought King Arthur, with the trail leading them back to King Pellinore, rendered unconscious by Merlin’s magic. The knights arrived just in time to see Arthur retrieving Excalibur from a ghostly hand in the lake, having apparently broken it in a duel that Pellinore won. Merlin offered no explanation, but nobody bothered to ask this time, either.

Sir Roderick’s wedding to Lady Carys was attended by the High King, who spoke with Sir Nerys about her hatred of Saxons, a subject that she had a great deal to say about. Sir Sara snagged a wealthy heir(ess), as one does at a wedding. Sir Roderick, perhaps borrowing his deceased brother’s talents, astonished everyone by meeting the high king’s demand for song with a beautiful voice and a quick foot at dance. There are several well-regarded toasts made to King Arthur at this feast, but the most noted is Sir Nerys’; she compared the king to a book and found the King wanting.

Marshal Balan’s request for mercy for his brother, Balin, was answered at Cirencester. The knights met the brothers in the bailey and were wishing them well on their return home when the Sword Maiden also passed by. Balin had not tried his luck before, so he attempted to draw the sword with the Maiden’s permission and succeeded. She asked him to return the sword, warning him (more than slightly belatedly) that should he keep it, he was accepting an adventure and the destiny of killing the one he loves dearest. Balin was okay with this, perhaps because he was possessed by an evil sword that the Maiden did not warn him (or anyone) about prior to their attempt to draw it. Surely this would have consequences years minutes hence.

Balin returned to court and was greeted warmly by the king, who restored his arms and heraldry to him. The king requested he stay, but he excused himself. Then Nineve, one of the Ladies of the Lake, her robes flowing around her as she carried herself with the grace of water, entered court and pleaded for the head of Sir Balin. Balin, in full arms and armor, stormed the court and beheaded her where she stood before anyone could respond, departing just as quickly. Squires were summoned to arm the court as knights rushed to pursue him, but it was too late. Sir Balin encountered Prince Lanceor and left him dead at a crossroad. Prince Mark found him there and lamented the assassination, followed by a conversation with Sir Roderick. Marshal Balan, aggrieved by his brother’s madness, resigned his post and swore to rectify the situation, despite Cery’s insistence that his brother was destined to kill him.

Finally, it was time for the year’s martial service. King Arthur led his troops against the forces of the Centurion King and King Garloth of Nentres at Bassus River (a tributary of the Humber in Malahaut). He found himself at a disadvantage as the forces of the north swarmed down a hill toward his position. The tide swiftly turned, however. King Pellinore, like a singular force of nature, destroyed the Malahaut formation, struck at the Centurion King, and killed his foe in the first charge. King Garloth soon followed, and the battle seemed all but won. Then King Garloth’s son Galegantis rallied his troops and started driving the forces of Logres back. Combat for the Knights Perylous became dangerous; Sir Sara was unhorsed and Sir Roderick was severely injured. The Brown Knight of the Wilds captured Galegantis, yet even in the pursuit, knights of Malahaut unhorsed and grievously hurt Sir Harri. Sir Bryn, beheader of Sir Owain, also died in this combat. 

Sir Harri spent the fall recovering, and the group was able to rest, save for Cery attempting to convince Sir Harri and his wife to take a nymph to their marital bed.

-Excerpts from Volume 5 of Brother Mordecai’s Annales Sorvioduni.

* A welcome development for the players, who were unimpressed with Madoc/Arthur.

** This was also just one pass of the lances. It was enjoyable seeing Ursus and Pellinore play off each other, and the group play off them.

The Story of Merlin also includes dwarfdom being bestowed as a curse. In that work, Evadeam the dwarf comes to court with a lady, who asks as a favor that he be made a knight. After considerable ribaldry from the court and especially Kay, Arthur grants him the status, and he goes out on an adventure.

Later, Gawain is out looking for Merlin, and is so intent he doesn't pay attention to a woman. She curses him to look like the first man he meets - and as it turns out, it's Evadeam. Evadeam takes on his original appearance, and Gawain becomes a dwarf. Gawain alternates between wishing he would die out of shame, and cinching up all his gear and beating up people because he's Gawain.

Eventually Gawain demonstrates he's learned his lesson, and the lady transforms him back.

Malory, Book II, Chapter X:

Quote

So there was a knight that was called the Knight with the Strange Beast, and at that time his right name was called Pellinore, the which was a good man of prowess, and he smote a mighty stroke at King Lot as he fought with all his enemies, and he failed of his stroke, and smote the horse’s neck, that he fell to the ground with King Lot. And therewith anon Pellinore smote him a great stroke through the helm and head unto the brows.

Book X, Chapter XXIV:

Quote

The offence hast thou done, said Gaheris, notwithstanding a man is born to offer his service; but yet shouldst thou beware with whom thou meddlest, for thou hast put me and my brethren to a shame, and thy father slew our father; and thou to lie by our mother is too much shame for us to suffer. And as for thy father, King Pellinore, my brother Sir Gawaine and I slew him. Ye did him the more wrong, said Sir Lamorak, for my father slew not your father, it was Balin le Savage: and as yet my father’s death is not revenged.

I'm not expecting these sources to be consistent, of course - but this does raise an interesting question about the GPC. Is it more interesting if Pellinore kills Lot, leaving to the Orkney feud, or is it more interesting if Balin does so, leading to a feud for no good reason?

It would raise questions about how this would happen. People do swap their armor for fairly ridiculous reasons elsewhere in Malory, so I'm wondering if this could have occurred here. ("Hey, why is Pellinore carrying two swords?")

What do you think would be more dramatic?

13 hours ago, Tizun Thane said:

Guiomar is a man, and Guinier a woman ^^

I know. It also doesn't matter now. 🙂

13 hours ago, Tizun Thane said:

The others pursued avenues for Sir Roderick’s benefit, with Sir Harri giving him love advice and admonishing him for his behavior. Even a match with Sir Bryn, who had slain Roderick’s father, was suggested for a moment. Eventually Sir Roderick realized that Carys was a good match. The two fell in love (?), and they undertook the ritual. Sir Harri performed the serpentine bris. The lady Guiomar left in disappointment to return to her uncle Cador.

It' a bit short to my taste.  Which rolls did you ask for?

I would ask for a valorous or love for the lady to go inside the cuve. Then a chaste or luxurious roll (or maybe some seduction roll) and an App roll to tempt the snake.

Guinier/Guiomar spent the winter with him, and I had him roll his Chivalric traits, just to get a sense of compatibility. Later on, I had him roll the traits I associated with Carys, picking a list off the top of my head: Lustful, Vengeful, Selfish, Prudent, Suspicious, and Deceitful. That was to set a stage for whatever came next. A Romance roll would have helped, but we're playing with the BoK&L rules where Romance defaults to 0. At least he got some pointers from his friends.

I also wanted roleplaying to factor into it. The major factor was when he invited Carys and her son to come live at his estate and protect them from King Ryons' wrath - just before he found out what he needed. He also chose her to help him recuperate after his ill-fated duel.

If he'd chosen to develop an Amor passion, that would have also factored in his favor - but I wasn't really expecting that.

I think we played out the whole affair in about an hour. Maybe if it had been longer, his chosen could have given him some mini-quests to go on, or we could have played up his attempts to impress his chosen lady some more.

Read the outcome in my campaign here. (I did get the names Guinier and Guiomar mixed up, which is fine, as I don't think she's coming back.)

I resolved the matter through a mixture of trait rolls on the part of the prospective women and roleplaying.  The PKs did come up with some interesting solutions, including the mother and the knight who had killed the PK's father. I think the solution was both wrong for the epic and absolutely right for the PK. 

Thank you all for your help!

There was something novel at the court of Logres this year: peace. All the country’s luminaries attended court in Carlion, where the knights tested themselves against the new ideals of chivalry that King Dalan had presented. (None measured up, but what is to be expected?)

Court activities were the usual: Sir Roderick went hunting with Briadanz of Salisbury, and Sir Sara went hunting with Gawainet, the young son of Queen Margawse of Lothian. Sir Harri tried to speak with Sir Queux about the recent robberies of the king’s tax collectors by raiders wearing Cameliard colors. Apparently the seneschal became dramatic in his refusal to answer, especially surprising given how he had squired for the marshal. Sir Brastias instructed Sir Cery on how to use the tourney equipment while she fixated on his bare arms. Sir Brastias didn’t even notice she was visibly flustered, which only made their audience titter more.

In the midst of this peace came danger. When warding off late-night attackers who vanished, Sir Roderick found a bronze serpent in his belongings. Before he could respond, it had bitten down and slowly constricted his arm. He hoped the serpent was sent by an angel and that the church would bring salvation, but after repeated failures of church officials to explain the situation, his companions convinced him that the hated Merlin might do better. 

Merlin offered his services in exchange for retrieving a necklace from Carys, the dame of Middlewich, who was visiting the court. A fellow historian made the scandalous accusation that the necklace in question was linked to the death of Sir Basile of Rydychan and Carys, who then profited from the necklace. After numerous efforts to bribe or cajole the necklace from her, Sir Gwef eventually prevailed by discovering why she was intent on keeping the necklace: to protect herself and her son from King Ryons of Norgales. Sir Roderick offered the protection of his manor in exchange for the necklace. 

Merlin told them how to save Roderick’s arm. Before the end of the year, Roderick had to sit in a vat of vinegar while a woman who loved him sat in a vat of milk, which would cause the snake to leap toward the woman. This would allow another knight to destroy it with a sword. Roderick had to find such a woman before the year ended. 

Apparently, Eliavres had cursed Roderick with the snake after Sir Roderick locked his own mother in a tower as a chastity belt. Sir Cery discovered this when she advocated using Ysave as the woman in the ritual, which resulted in a relatively safe duel with tourney equipment between Sir Roderick and Sir Cery. Sir Cery won (largely because Sir Roderick decided to sulk instead of continuing the bloodless, pointless combat), and Sir Roderick released his mother to Sir Cery’s care, although he refused to apologize to her.

The others pursued avenues for Sir Roderick’s benefit, with Sir Harri giving him love advice and admonishing him for his behavior. Even a match with Sir Bryn, who had slain Roderick’s father, was suggested for a moment. Eventually Sir Roderick realized that Carys was a good match. The two fell in love (?), and they undertook the ritual. Sir Harri performed the serpentine bris. The lady Guiomar left in disappointment to return to her uncle Cador.

Near the end of the year, Knights of Peril attended a holiday celebration at Amesbury Abbey which all but Sirs Nidian and Nerys found frightfully dull. The group killed time boasting about their accomplishments which Sirs Harri and Gwefrfawr “won”. They were spared the remainder of the party when a raggamuffin messenger advised them that there was another White Horse festival - and Saxons crossing the border from Winchester were riding there.

The Knights were administered various trials. One was of truth, when the Marlborough guards called upon them harshly to give their names. Sara and Cery initially passed, with Harri passing once Sir Sara encouraged him. The next was of valor, when they were challenged by the fairy knight Sir Tustin. Although Harri, Gwefrfawr, and Cery overcame their fear, no one unseated the Silver Knight. Before his departure, he passed on the news that Sir Hector was indeed dead.

Next they met a woman that they had sought, but not found, who asked them to rest their horses before making the final sprint. As they came upon Uffington, the knights saw mounted Saxons on the road and charged them, taking serious damage that left Sir Harri unconscious. Their opponents turned out to be Jutes from Kent, there for the celebration of the White Horse; the woman came and asked both Saxons and Cymri to attend the celebration. All but Sir Cery agreed. Harri drank of the water and gained himself and his horse a blessing.

-Excerpts from Volume 5 of Brother Mordecai’s Annales Sorvioduni.
 

On 6/11/2022 at 3:52 PM, creativehum said:

The nub of the issue would have been having to fight for Uther, knowing that Uther is ultimately on a path to rape Ygraine. It is the aiding and abetting of Uther's actions that I think was too much for her. She doesn't what to have to be loyal to a character that she simply has such terrible reaction to in such a moral, emotional, and visceral way.

That gives a different perspective. I think others have offered some good suggestions.

Unless something unusual happened, the group is loyal to the count, not directly to Uther. That gives them the opportunity to petition their lord to do something about the situation, or adjust their attitudes toward it, or just convince him not to go after Gorlois. It's not going to be received well by the other nobles, but that's an interesting outcome.

They could also take off for another lord. I also wouldn't want to deny them an Anarchy of some sorts, so I wouldn't want them to just sign up with Madoc, Gorlois, or Idres and have that go smoothly. You could also send emissaries from Cerdic, who might invade early and offer aid to the knights or to Salisbury.

On 6/11/2022 at 10:57 PM, Leingod said:

Sure, but since Balin had an understandable if not necessarily "good" reason for doing it, and the Lady in question was repeatedly demanding that Arthur kill a woman for her despite Arthur having said he wouldn't grant her anything dishonorable, it isn't out of the question that Arthur wouldn't have as much of a problem with her death itself as he otherwise would, and would focus instead on the breach of his Hospitality.

Oh, I get your reading - I just think there's another way a modern reader would look at it. Let me write it up this way:

Quote

 

A woman goes to a male authority figure. A man has killed people in her family, and she'd like him to do something about it. What she asked for is over the top, so he does nothing to address her concerns.

The man shows up, shouts at her, and cuts off her head. Nobody does anything to stop it. The authority figure asks the man why he did it, and the man accuses her of all manner of things. The authority figure responds, "I'll just accept everything you said about why she needed to be killed. Nonetheless, you infringed on MY rights, so I'll banish you for that."

The man picks up her head and walks out without anyone stopping him.

 

There's a good number of disturbing parallels here with how authorities can handle cases of domestic violence - so I wouldn't be surprised if some readers or players don't view this incident through that lens. Through that lens, Arthur makes several less-than-ideal choices, and the players may hold him accountable for those.

I'm thinking the best way to handle it would be for Balin to flee immediately after the murder...

1 hour ago, Leingod said:

Not sure about Malory, but in the GPC Balin beheads the Lady of the Lake for having killed his mother, and she had just been trying to demand that King Arthur murder another woman for her as a boon. I personally wouldn't be too broken up about that, and it's not like Arthur just laughs it off or anything. As for Gawain, his murder of a woman is, IIRC, not remotely intentional on his part, and he's suitably ashamed and guilt-stricken about it.

The key passage in GPC is taken straight out of Malory. Arthur says he isn't upset the Balin killed the Lady, but that he did so at his court. I think modern readers will be more likely to focus on the violence than the royal prerogatives.

1 hour ago, Leingod said:

No such extenuating circumstances for Pellinore, though. Personally, I'd have part of the denouement of that quest be that Pellinore is informed that for his moral failure he has lost the mantle of "greatest knight" and can no longer sit on the Siege Perilous. Depending on how you want to play it, either he's told he'll die outright if he tries and so takes another seat, or perhaps he's told that he'll be cursed but doesn't buy it, thus dooming him to die an ignoble death at the hands of Lot's sons.

Oh - there's an interesting version in the Post-Vulgate. It doesn't show his death, but Merlin foretells it. For those who are curious:

Gawaine attacks Pellinore and leaves him for dead. Tor is riding through the woods chasing Kay, for unknown reasons. Pellinore calls out to his son for aid; Tor decides it's some sort of trick and keeps going. Later, Gawaine comes back and finishes the job.

23 hours ago, creativehum said:

So I was looking for clues about how KAP and GPC are actually set up. I understand the text can be sanded down to turn Uther into something he is not in the Le Morte or GPC. But that isn't what I'm looking for here.

I appreciate that, and I think you make some excellent points.

I would say, however, this route may lead to problems down the road, if the players are still reading Malory or other sources. Right now, I'm grappling with the Boy King period, with the corresponding passages from Malory including:

• Sir Balin beheading the Lady of the Lake in court and being allowed to leave, leading indirectly to Colombe's death;
• King Pellinore's rape of Sir Tor's mother*, and letting a woman (who turns out to be his daughter) be eaten by lions;
• Sir Gawaine killing a woman while on quest.

In the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate, we also get Arthur sleeping with Margawse when she thinks he's Lot, not to mention Gawaine's acceptance of maiden-killing incel Marhaus.

GPC does lessen the blow of some of these. Balin's escape is due to him being armed when others aren't, and some of his deeds are cloaked in anonymity later. Pellinore is simply Tor's father, without the grisly details. Gawaine's penance is less grisly. Still, this might not satisfy your players.

I thnk the question to consider here is if there is a point where you want to start sanding down a strict Malory/GPC for the group, and have a conversation about how you're using the sources. Then again, a game in which the PKs end up fighting some of the fiercest knights in legend might also be fun.

* He also steals her dog as a trophy of his conquest.

7 hours ago, Morien said:

Yes, I was not contesting that. I was simply pointing out that if one wanted to cast Uther in a better light in their campaign, it would be easy enough to change.

I went this route myself. Setting aside the source texts to look at GPC, I think the only place where this really becomes significant in-game is when Ygraine speaks in 512, and her speech is easy enough to alter.

Uther's actions in Tintagel, as described per Geoffrey, Malory, and other sources, may not fit with a particular group's sensibilities. Others might prefer to play it out as written. I think it's a good question to consider, before your group decides, say, to kill Uther. 

3 hours ago, AlHazred said:

Would this "unnatural obsession" make sense as some early plot of an evil sorceress or faerie? I'm not familiar enough to the characters of the early story to have any ideas I'd be confident enough to propose.

For my part, I'd probably shy away from plots that would take away from the relatable emotions of the story. This is a guy who fell in love with the wrong person, and had the military and magical ability to push his case past any reasonable point. Making magic responsible detracts from that aspect of the drama, IMO.

Malory jumps in immediately with Uther's love for Igraine, so we don't see how he behaves before that. I don't recall anything from the Vulgate Merlin, and I'm away from my copy. Nonetheless, major Vulgate characters having what we consider over-the-top reactions often indicate a day that ends in "y."

My thought process is as follows:

1) I think Greg said at one point that the only characters who he thought were truly important were Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. I suppose Uther is sort of necessary for  a while.

2) Uther is pretty unlikeable, unless you're running the BoU expansion, in which case he is absolutely unlikeable.

3) I interpret Uther+Anarchy as a time when flawed, unlikeable rulers stand in the path of worse rulers. The PKs know the Saxons have done some pretty horrendous things to the Britons - the Night of Long Knives, enslaving their enemies, burning churches...

4) The PKs would be aware that the last two assassinations of kings of Logres ended with all the assassins dead. Further, a Belgae (Silchester) knight was responsible* for one of these assassinations, and all of Silchester is still regarded with suspicion half a century later.

5) They would also know that attacking the king would be a serious hit to their Honor.

There's a great deal that I don't know here - where your campaign is chronologically, what exactly they dislike about Uther, whether they've thought about what happens afterward, etc. 

If this were my players, I'd at least give them the PK information in 3-5 above and see what happened next.

I'm also guessing Cerdic invades the year after Uther dies, whenever that is.

I suppose if Uther and Madoc die early, the succession goes to that prophetic eagle in the tree... He seems all right.

Our monk chronicler was a bit testy about the whole thing in his chronicle, but it went really well.

First player statement upon seeing the huntsman: "If I were playing my new character, I'd ask him if he were Merlin." (Followed by nobody asking.

After some discussion, the knight heading the expedition chose to strongarm Cornelius into coming back. When he came in front of the King, he had a change of heart, asking for fair judgment of the huntsmen. Cornelius changed appearance, handed Kay three geese to be cooked, and walked off.

Later, they heard how their behavior showed how knights could be both obedient and just.

Finally, one of the new knights developed a Hate (Merlin) passion. I think we're at three out of five PK with that passion now.

1 hour ago, Tizun Thane said:

First, do not overuse magic. As a GM, I would let him die to teach a lesson. War is messy. He should have been more careful. Uther's times are brutal, and magic is very rare. Thousands will die this day.

My philosophy is to give the players what they want - but structured so that serious consequences arise from it. I think there's a broader question here about philosophy. If you let this PK survive, surely others will be seeking the same solution later, and you want to be ready for that.

1 hour ago, Tizun Thane said:

If you want to have magic to save him, go for a Merlinus ex machina. Merlin agrees to save him, but asks for a gift. A future unspecified gift, from all of them.

This may be the most elegant GPC solution. In "Sword Lake," Merlin has the power to heal injured knights, so he may be a known quantity to the group in that regard. All he asks for in return is "two hours of each of your time." He collects in 492. That both takes the healing power off the board, and makes the consequences severe enough that all the PKs think twice about seeking this solution.

Another possibility: They can only find someone who has the power to put the PK in a magical slumber, not to heal them. You ask the player to roll up another PK for now, while the players try to figure out how to fix it. Let them pitch you solutions, and pick one that will be the most entertaining/troublesome. Maybe they'll decide they like the new PK better.

I've been researching some information about holy wells in Britain. That could be a mechanism for healing. Maybe the well is in the depths of Cornwall, where many people still hate Uther's knights due to what happened to Gorlois...