What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

For Arthur to defend Britain against the Saxons, it would have to be c. 490 AD
That's a definite yes but. In this case, there was no Kingdom of Cornwall at that time so Tristan and Isolde could not have occurred in that historical period, even though it takes pace during the time of Arthur. Really, you are talking about the Arthur stories taking place in a fantasy version of post-Roman Britain. It's a very early version of a Genericfantasyland.
 

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This might be another reason why Arthurian RPGs aren't popular. It's difficult for a lot of players to get into the mindset that seems so very different from ours. "Wait a minute! Arthur, our hero, the dude who created Camelot, ordered a bunch of babies born on May Day to be murdered?"
There is somewhat of an ugly undercurrent of "might makes right". With Greek myth, heroes being successful typically meant they had the favour of one or more of the gods, and this attitude seems to have carried over into Christendom: that if one was successful, clearly they had the favour of capital G God, and filtered through Christian morality, that must mean they are inherently righteous, right? Given Monmoth and de Troyes writings were during the time of the Crusades, I suppose that's to be expected.
 


There is somewhat of an ugly undercurrent of "might makes right". With Greek myth, heroes being successful typically meant they had the favour of one or more of the gods, and this attitude seems to have carried over into Christendom: that if one was successful, clearly they had the favour of capital G God, and filtered through Christian morality, that must mean they are inherently righteous, right? Given Monmoth and de Troyes writings were during the time of the Crusades, I suppose that's to be expected.
That’s quite right, and more besides. To some degree, tales of chivalry were knights telling each other that they were good people really, that everything they did - the murder, the looting, the brutality, the other terrible stuff - was justified, normal, and blessed by God. They were the enforcers of a terribly unequal, oppressive, precarious, sexist, classist, racist society. Do we want to replicate those things in our games? Well, that’s up to the table. The same can be said of many games set in the past, such as games set in Imperial Rome or Sengoku Japan. We can choose to run games set in versions of those societies that are more equal and kind if we wish - female knights are common, no chattel slavery, the rule of law for all.

This is a bit like what T H White tries to do in The Once and Future King, now nearly a century old. His Arthur is enlightened by the standards of 20th century England and is thus appalled by Might Makes Right; he determines that his reign will be marked by Right Makes Might. So he speed runs medieval legal reforms (courts, magistrates, etc) and distracts his disgruntled nobles with the illusion of equality (the Round Table) and as many magical quests and adventures as he can find. It all comes crashing down, of course, but at least he tried.

And to this day we retcon what Camelot and Arthur mean to us. Here’s an exchange from Justice League Unlimited, of all things:

Shining Knight, the last survivor of Camelot in the modern world: Do your worst. I'll not let you harm another.

General Wade Eiling, now the Shaggy Man: I do what I do in service to my country.

SK: Once at the word of my lord, King Arthur, I was ordered to lay waste to an entire village. I knew my king's heart could not be so unjust. So I spared them all.

WE: Then you're a lousy soldier.

SK (sighs): There it is, the creeping moral decay of the past thousand years! Arthur thanked me, oaf. Had I been wrong, I would have handed over my sword and left the court in shame.

The above exchange would probably have been unrecognisable and farcical to many medieval writers.
 




Trust me, I can inject horror into anything.
That doesn't mean it's a good idea. A knight's life is hard enough without things scarier than the Fey... I don't remember faerie knights in Mabinogion or LeMorte, but there are enough Faerie stories in Arthuriana that Faerie nights.
When the Arthurian stories do go horror, it's not modern style. It's the characters dealing with the mad machinations of a Fae or the Fairy-touched casters who delusionally think they're in control.
Think Alice in Wonderland but with Lewis on PCP laced LSD...
Or medievalizing Heavy Metal. (The Movie).
Or Golden age supervillains turned up to 11... and the heroes have zip for super power.
Thank you for the recs!
Welcome.
Remember that the actual historical period of most Arthuriana is high medieval, despite the calendar being dark ages. Which is where Name of the Rose comes in; it's a look at a one of the two parallel medieval justice systems. And a great period piece.
White reads somewhere between Victorian and it's author's period. And trippy. Makes me wonder if White liked Rye bread.
Mabinogion and T&I are set in the Dark Ages, and Mabinogion is dated to them, too.
Prince Valiant also should have been mentioned, too. I find PV drier than Mallory... Grew up trying to understand why it got so much sunday space.

Lerner and Loewe's Camelot was my first real exposure to non-disney Arthurian. It's best live.
The Princess and the Pea is not Arthurian, but is a great story that could easily be a fae in a pissy mood.
 

It does. Quite frankly, given RPGs are in and of themselves a niche, we should count our good fortunes to even have Pendragon. When I was in high school, we read several Arthurian stories at different points in our English Literature courses, and in particular I remember reading Le Morte d'Arthur (at least part of it), The Once and Future King, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and some of The Canterbury Tales (I know it's not Arthurian). They didn't let us read The Miller's Tale in high school for some reason.
You got lucky. I got forced to read 3 zane grey novels.
I understand Avalanche Press, the company behind some questionable covers for their products in the early 2000s, had a great Arthurian supplement in their d20 line. I suspect most gamers aren't into Arthurian games because they favor fantasy species, flashy spells, and a more epic story.
That was I, Mordred. Which I mentioned above. Noble Nights and Noble Steeds are the two least BSDM-looking covers, I, Mordred the next tier..
I wish Avalanche's owners would rerelease those three in PDF...
Their Nordic ones are decent.
 

Some further RPG resources, not necessarily all relevant to OP but of general interest in creating an Arthurian style campaign or using wholesale:
Legends of Avallen (D&D 5e and Unique System): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/383977/legends-of-avallen-core-rulebook-pdf
Cities of Myth: Fallen Camelot (D&D 5e): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/321779/cities-of-myth-5e-fallen-camelot
Relics & Rituals: Excalibur (D&D 3e): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/1017/relics-rituals-excalibur
Legends of Excalibur: Arthurian Adventures (D&D 3e and True 20): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/19237/legends-of-excalibur-arthurian-adventures-hc and some associated additional books
Age of Arthur (Fate): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/111752/age-of-arthur
Trials of the Grail (Unique System): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/19199/trials-of-the-grail-distilled?keyword=questor
Dark Camelot (Unique system): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/123163/dark-camelot?src=hottest_filtered
Of varying quality and price.

RPG-related but worth having:
The King Arthur Companion: The King Arthur Companion: The Legendary World of Camelot and the Round Table: Karr, Phyllis Ann: 9780835936989: Amazon.com: Books

As mentioned previously: Keltia, Mythic Britain, GURPS Camelot, and Pendragon also good resources.
 

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