Arthurian Adventures (in Ireland)

[Particle_Man]

Oh, part of that "sorcerization" was for my benefit. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to do npcs if I don't have to pick their spells, and if every spellcaster is sorcerized with "knowledge: all spells" then I don't have to worry about having my spellcasters metagame their spellcasters' memorized choices. We are both pulling out stuff on the fly.

Mind you, the player of Christina the Hedge Mage is facing a real trial by fire here: this is an almost new player (I think she played one simplified rules one-shot (I am not sure if it was 3.x or something else) before she met me), and she is frantically looking at a borrowed phb to pick appropriate spells! That said, she is a good sport about it, and she wanted to play a spellcaster. I have suggested that she focus on some "favorites" and learn all about those. But she also does "nonspell" actions a lot, like rescue others, go for help, whip out that morningstar, etc. And since she wants to keep her magic use a secret (from most), that also is a factor. So the player is actually playing a character stuggling to understand the magical forces at her disposal, by, well, struggling to understand the magical forces at her character's disposal!

Another way to save time is for npcs to have all spare feats be toughness. If a specific npc has a reason to take a different feat, I will do so for that character, but otherwise toughness is just fine. Gives the mooks a little more durability, anyhow.

So my priorities seem to be: a) enjoyment of the game (by them and me), b) simplicity in preparation and with dealing with out of game oddities (like players not being able to make it), c) consequences of player actions (see a), d) tying earlier stuff in to later stuff, e) npc characterization that makes sense, f) using the rules mechanics, especially the cool Arthurian ones on jousting, nobility, fate, destiny, etc., and then, g) realism. It is strange what you find out about yourself when you DM.

 

[Black Bard]

I like the story... Interesting plot and how you have handled the intrigues and character interaction...
I also liked the "Fairyland" thing... I had a campaign which the characters were suddenly by the "Missing Man fever"... You know, unable to fight, unlikely to talk...
Just one more question: what`s this Arthurian Rulebook you are using???

 

[Particle_Man]

The book, by RPGObjects, is called either "Legends of Excalibur: Arthurian Adventures" or perhaps "Arthurian Adventures: Legends of Excalibur". It is by Charles Rice. It rocks! I read a review, bought the book, and decided I wanted to run a King Arthur campaign then and there. The book is d20, and has the OGL page, but adds new classes (and suggests you remove old ones) and adds rules to reflect the "Arthurian heroic" rather than "standard D&D" feel. Basically, it changes the rules to fit the setting, where necessary. It sells either as a hardcover or as two pdfs. I got the hardcover. The art is beautiful, as are the maps.

One cute thing is that humans are divided by bloodlines (social class) which is a replacement for races, since by the standard rules only humans are PC characters (I allow dwarves and elves; both are modified). Anyhow, nobility points play a factor, and the higher social classes have higher starting nobility (So it's true! The king really IS noble, and the peasants really ARE base!)

 

[Particle_Man]

Interesting complication in my game:

The King Arthur campaign tends to be about heroic single combat. Ganging up on an opponent (unless it is an animal or something like that) is seen as unfair and ignoble (and can cost nobility points). Now in standard D&D ganging up on the BBEG (big bag evil guy) is SOP (standard operating procedure). So how do I balance things so that a party member is not SOL (uh, you figure it out) due to not getting any help? I can no longer rely solely on CR. Also, not all members of the party do the noble thing, so sometimes pc’s will “cheat” in some fashion, so it is not always a good idea to just have a weaker BBEG.

Well, one thing that works is to make sure the bad guys cheat first and worst. That “takes the gloves off”, so the good guys can cheat without penalty. Of course, some players decide to “play by the rules anyway”, which gives them nobility points. Another is to have lots and lots of mooks. Then ganging up on a single opponent is not an issue (the mooks lose nobility, but they are the bad guys anyhow, and disposable bad guys at that). A third thing I do is allow players to give up a fate point (giving me 2 destiny points) to maximize their hit die when rolling hit points for a new level (the knight is a d12 hit die character, so this has proved popular, and destiny points are fun for me). This gives them more survival value, and perhaps allows wounded one’s to “retire from the battle”, sort of a “tag-team” approach. Still, perhaps I might tinker with a larger “unconsciousness zone” than –1 to –10. I have allowed players to blow fate points to autostabilize, or to “come back somehow” when they are dead (that was the guy who came back as a fey dwarf – that took 3 fate points, which is a lot).

Another complication I wanted to avoid at first was the "Darth Vader syndrome", where the pc's are constantly overshadowed by "big name" arthurian characters. The characters are starting at low-level, and I don't want them to be constantly overshadowed by high level and powerful Knights of the Round Table. That is why I set them off to the side in Ireland. They still interact occasionally (Morgan le Fey at a banquet, for example) but it is not the major focus of the campaign at this time.

Oh, dwarves are a bit different from standard, a la house rule. With the bonus to dex and not con, and with the lack of orcs and dwarf exotic weapons, some of the “uber” edge is taken off of dwarves. Some. Also, dwarves and elves do not hate each other, but dwarves are almost extinct, so elves (formerly the defensive forces of fairyland vs. giants) are being sent occasionally from fairyland to help out the dwarves (formerly the offensive forces vs. giants trying to conquer fairyland). Goblins are fey, but traitors (they originally helped the giants invade Fairyland), so goblins ARE hated by dwarves and elves (and vice versa, of course). Oh, and when I say fey, I don’t mean that goblins, dwarves or elves take the fey template or anything (though as a roleplaying thing, touching cold iron does hurt. A lot. (not hp damage hurt, but certainly will save to avoid screaming hurt)).

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

This Fate/Destiny point thing sounds interesting. Reading your posts, I get the idea that players have a pretty generous pool of them but every time they spend a fate point, you get a destiny point or two that you can spend to do things like bring back villains. How does that work? It sounds pretty neat.

 

[Particle_Man]

Well there is how it works in the book and then how I changed it a bit. By the book, a character can choose one or more fates (this doesn't affect their number of fate points). I then choose an equal number of tragic destinies, hopefully ironically related to those fates. Characters can add fates, and I then add destinies on a one for one basis. The character starts each level that that level's number of points (old unused fate points are lost at a level up). I start with zero destiny points per character, but I don't ever lose unused destiny points. When a pc spends a fate point and it is in line with their stated fate, I get one destiny point. Once per session, they can spend a fate point not in line with their stated fate, and I then get two destiny points. I cannot use destiny points to directly kill the pc's (though I could set them up for a killing blow). By the book, spent points add 1d6 (this increases every 4 levels over 1st by 1d6) to most d20 rolls or damage rolls (the latter not meant to be used except if you allow pc killing by destiny, but what the heck, I use em when I want to, as long as it is not a killing blow).

I added the idea that they could maximize a hit die roll on a 1 for 2 trade, and also allow generic "good luck" to save their lives on a 1 for 1 trade (the latter requires some trust on their part). I also find it easier to think of the destinies as characters, with personalities (a la Eddings, I guess). For instance, one character has the fate to spread the Christian faith to all of Ireland. Another has the fate to protect the old (non Christian, druidic) faith in Ireland. So I have their desinies setting things up so that they fight in jousts, "Friendly" contests of swordsmanship, etc. and that they accidentally keep hitting each other for real instead of for nonlethal damage. It is a bit like two people being friends at the conscious level, but bitter enemies at the subconscious level. Works pretty well.

That said, if a character never spends fate points, I don't get destiny points (barring something really unusual happening) for that character.

Frankly, I would highly recommend something like this, no matter what game system you use. It gives players good luck when they need it, and can give you some campaign ideas to work with. Mind you, the Arthurian legend is a fairly tragic one, so destinies might be more acceptable to the players there than in regular D&D, where they might scream "you are screwing over my character! you hate me! wah!" Here I screw over their characters and they LOVE it! Well I hope they do.

Oh, and last session, I got a TON of destiny points, and didn't have to spend one! Heh heh heh!

 

[Vigilance]

Wow this looks great Particle Man-

This is the second time (We were like Gods once being the other) that one of my games has gotten some story hour love and I am once again jazzed

I like the fairyland take and the fact that you've set your campaign in Ireland, away from the "main" action of the tales. Its a great device that allows you to hook into the established legends when you want (since you are so close to Britain) but also draw the campaign back to Ireland whenever you want the main legends to take a back seat.

Chuck

 

[Particle_Man]

That reminds of a minor problem (or so I thought) and a running gag.

The minor problem deals with an optional rule: Nationalities. This basically is like a human (subrace) that gives you an extra favored class or a few permanent class skills. But looking at the Scottish one, the class skills are Bluff and Hide. My new player was half-Scottish, and I thought "uh-oh!" But she just looked at it and said, "yeah, that sounds like my uncle." So that was ok. Not sure how your book is selling in Scotland, though.

The running gag is that we have all these knights, and they usually play it to the hilt. So when sneaky bad things happen (like a necklace being stolen) you get things like. "But the place was guarded!" "Those dishonorable folk must have been HIDING in SHADOWS and MOVING SILENTLY!" (group gasp) "The FIENDS!" Well, we think it is funny.

 

[Roman]

Hello everyone,

I am one of the players in Particle_Man's campaign. More specifically, I play Sir Anton von Mu(e)nchen whose family holdings in the Holy Roman Empire were lost causing the family to move to the British Isles - some to Britain and others, including Sir Anton, to Ireland.

Just as a note of explanation on Sir Anton's conversion to the Old Faith: Sir Anton studied in the seminary in Mu(e)nchen and grew up a relatively religious Christian man though not as religious as Sir Andrew. In any case, as the game began he soon began to experience doubts and his faith began to weaken. This culminated in his eventual conversion to the Old Faith in the encounter with the Lady of the Lake.



BTW: Well done on the story hour - Particle_Man - this excellent campaign needs to be saved for posterity.

As to correcting mistakes, as you asked us to do, the one mistake that I did notice is that with the 'children' (goblins) it was not Sir Anton who flaggelated himself and underwent the 'ritual bath' (cooking) - that was Sir Andrew, although admittedly Sir Anton only reluctantly conceded Sir Andrew the honour to commit this sacrifice. Nonetheless, Sir Anton was lucky to escape this particular humiliation. It was the last session that got him!

Frankly, I would highly recommend something like this, no matter what game system you use. It gives players good luck when they need it, and can give you some campaign ideas to work with. Mind you, the Arthurian legend is a fairly tragic one, so destinies might be more acceptable to the players there than in regular D&D, where they might scream "you are screwing over my character! you hate me! wah!" Here I screw over their characters and they LOVE it! Well I hope they do.

Well, it is a love-hate relationship - but certainly makes for an interesting game!

As a sidenote, I too very much like this fate point / destiny system and would recommend it even for other games.

Oh, and last session, I got a TON of destiny points, and didn't have to spend one! Heh heh heh!

Very true if what happened last session can happen without spending destiny points I shudder what can happen if destiny points are spent.

Once again, well done on both the story hour and the campaign!

 

[Particle_Man]

But sometimes I spend desitiny points and they fizzle. I added 4 destiny points to a giants roll for damage and got 1,1,1,3! arg!