Jump to content

The Man From La Mancha


Recommended Posts

Ironically, I think Pendragon would be the wrong system for a Man of LaMacnha type of game. A good part of what makes the story is that Don Quixhote not only misunderstands the people and situations around him, but also approaches things is a impractical over chivalrous manner. Its like he is playing a dark and gritty medieval setting (like Harnmaster), but expects things to followed the idealized chivalry of Pendragon. 

  • Like 1

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, Don Quixote is a deconstruction and a parody of the whole chivalry novel genre (in the novel, they mock a lot of popular Italian, Catalan and Spanish chivalry novels from the era), so I don´t think how well it would fit in Pendragon. Not very well, I guess.

 

The romances around the Reconquista, like the Cid (who in one of the tales was so brave a pair of lions calmed themselves when seeing him, impressed by his valor! If that is not a Valorous crit, I don´t know what it is!), but also many other lesser known romances, would probably fit Pendragon more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Clophiroth said:

Yeah, Don Quixote is a deconstruction and a parody of the whole chivalry novel genre (in the novel, they mock a lot of popular Italian, Catalan and Spanish chivalry novels from the era), so I don´t think how well it would fit in Pendragon.

The novels that spawned Don Quijote include Las Sergas de Esplandián and were wildly popular: it's how we got the name California, named for Queen Califia of that book, who ruled an island of ferocious amazon woman off of Africa (California was believed to be a very large island by the first Spaniards because they hit Baja first).

Las Sergas de Esplandián was a fanfic follow-up (!!!!) to Amadís de Gaula, which would make a really interesting alternative setting for Pendragon because the characters are quite unfamiliar but the rest is not really.

Edited by Qizilbashwoman
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, it was ans still in popular-that's why the story is still being retold today. The point of the story is that is that they are a parody about changing societal values and perhaps a bit of insanity.. So putting Don Quixote into Pendragon, where the chivalric virtues are aspired to by most knights, sort of negates most of it, or at least changes the emphasis.. It would be like bringing Austin Powers into an actual James Bond movie. It would no longer be a spoof of such films and instead just be about some nutty, comical  spy. Instead of being about the changing values of the age it would be  more like  Mr. Magoo as a knight. 

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about a parodic one-shot scenario where all the PCs are squires of a lunatic knight who has visions of grandeur? The PCs would need to get the knight out of big trouble and all the encounters would be parodies of the King Arthur epic.

CC_2732492_654facebd49942eb9e0870a713f372cc_meme_otros_sancho_panzer.jpg.2e01ea75fa0e52bcf5b01efa08120dcc.jpg

(But without panzers, please)

 

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Runeblogger said:

What about a parodic one-shot scenario where all the PCs are squires of a lunatic knight who has visions of grandeur? The PCs would need to get the knight out of big trouble and all the encounters would be parodies of the King Arthur epic.

That's a great idea. 

The key thing is that to work it has to be recognizable as a parody. If people don't know it is a parody then it comes across as an overly melodramatic story, that is overacted. 

 

 

Edited by Atgxtg

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

Awww!

But I love the one-shot idea.  Protect the boss from himself and make him look good -- no matter the cost!  Because Chivalry.

It's a neat idea but probably won't come across as intended in a Pendragon campaign. Imagine if you did have an older liege lord who was a bit batty and tilted at windmills (assuming you had windmills - in Pendragon, giants are actually more common!). In a comedy story it's funny./ In a serious RPG not so much. As the saying goes, it's all fun and games until somebody looses and eye, and in Pendragon that wouldn't take very long. Unless everybody in the setting is extremely accommodating to the old knight, despite his taking a whack at some of them, said old knight will probably wind up dead or captured, and his loyal players with him. 

So a lot of care must be taken to ensure that the adventure comes across as a comedy and that the game mechanics work to support that.  By RAW the average attack with a weapon by an average combatant will inflict a major wound, and could lead of a prolonged recovery or even death. It would be like trying to run a four color comics Superman in a setting where the laws of physics actually apply. 

 

BTW, running this idea in Prince Valiant would probably work out fairly well. That RPG is more open both in tone and game mechanics towards that sort of idea.

 

Edited by Atgxtg

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...