We've got a smaller-than-usual crew this week, but that doesn't stop the dramatic moments from coming thick and fast. Fiends both real and metaphorical are battled, some with success, others with tragic failure...
Featuring:
Des
Jade
And…Edie the Dog
The campaign's wiki can be found here.
Damn...I didn't want that.
ReplyDeleteOn another note I picture Edern having a small shrine devoted to his lord Duke Morvid and he gives prayers or offerings to it before he starts the day.
A Glooming peace this morning with it brings.
ReplyDeleteThe sun, for sorrow, will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned, and some punished.
For never was a store of more pain
Than this of Branwyn, and her Morian.
- Attributed to Sir Edern in 528. Later plagarized by some unscrupulous hack
You know, I was kind of expecting Edern and Morien to switch arms and go into the tournament in disguise. But the win and hand over the prize plan is a literature-appropriate plan, too.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you mentioned was what to do in a joust when one side is super impassioned. Something I've toyed with in the past is an homage to Excalibur, where a tied crit in a joust sees both knights unhorsed to continue fighting on foot (where they would probably need to use new passions, though I guess Spear Expertise might ruin that). Mixed opinions on it - while it does improve the case where you have two really impassioned knights, it can also screw a deservedly impassioned knight whose opponent gets lucky.
And as one last thing, while I almost hate to mention it, if Lady Branwyn was only at -1, is it not possible that some good first aid could have revived her? Though Sir Morien was probably in no state to consider such a thing.
I had thought so also, but given that the Curse of Dave had clearly descended on this table there was only one way that a first aid roll to save someone from death would have gone.
DeleteAlso this is a better ending because I can believe Morien would still have killed himself even if Branwyn survived.
The idea of both knights getting unhorsed on a tied crit was such a good idea, I went to add it to the campaign's house rules--then saw I'd already done so! #womp #WhenGMsForgetTheirOwnHouseRules
DeleteOk, so I'm walking home. It's cold (because some of us don't live in New Mexico). And as I walk, as per normal, I'm listening to a podcast to make the time pass more quickly.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I say, out loud - *very* loud: "OH MY GOD!"
You know how I commented a while back that the tone of this Pendragon campaign was lighthearted swashbuckling heroics? Yeah, about that...
(Even if Desirée doesn't want to play him, I'd like to hear about Rune from time to time, so perhaps the player knights could run into him occasionally?)
I hope that she does, as I doubt Morien would leave behind a legacy - other than perhaps another epic poem composed by Edern. Playing Rune allows for a chance for whatever Morien taught to live on and be passed to the next generation. Maybe he'll even take up the golden arrows to honour his former master.
DeleteA few things of note after this year: Sir Edern will break a major point on the glory track that being 16,000 glory making him a truly extraordinary knight. Count Cynrain will break the 32,000 glory marking him as the truly legendary knight he is. Also, Sir Edern has now beaten all three Orkney's in the joust, just something to consider.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Des is letting her regular dice touch the dice I gave her...
ReplyDeleteWho knows, but people kept talking about how they were using your dice all session and look how it ended up. Last time you weren't at a session and everyone was fumbling all over the place too, so I think it's actually a function of you not being present. Which is unfortunate because there's a good rhyme that can come out of this session
DeleteYour encounter needs a little bit of spice?
Feeling your knights are caught in a vice?
Need your players to be lions not mice?
Try to empassion once, twice or thrice.
You can't succeed with David Schimpff's dice.
I thought that when a Knight gets melancholy, there was a rule that said they wouldn't attack Ladies, I remember when we first encountered that, that was mentioned saying that 'It was always good to have a Lady about for those situations, because she could lead him around and ensure he eats.'
ReplyDeleteThat said, the situation was VERY interesting and shocking, very Shakespearian as said.
Oh yeah, you seem to be right. They also have had people deal damage to multiple attackers when splitting attacks instead of limiting themselves to just one foe even on multiple successes. I just put it down to house rules made for excitement.
DeleteIt was definitely more dramatic this way though. More reason why people are more likely to believe Edern's story.
Just went back and double-checked...
DeleteThe rule for knights attacking ladies applies to simply "disturbing" a knight. So if another knight comes upon a melancholic knight and goes up to him and tries to talk to him, he'll get attacked. But a lady can go up to him and take his hand and lead him away, as you say.
However, when either a knight OR a lady attempt to get the knight to "Snap Out of It!", then all bets are off. The rules are specifically gender-neutral as to who the Healer is.
ah then it ended up all right and proper, so it told a great, tragic tale AND was rules accurate, I believe that's a GM's Fiatopia or something :D
DeleteYeah, I don't like to let the rules get in the way of a good story, but there is something smugly satisfying about hitting that trifecta. ;)
Delete