Arthurian RQ Setting?

mthomason

Mongoose
Without mentioning the names of any specific products by competing publishers, obviously.

(except in parathenses - I'm now grabbing the Great Pendragon Campaign too ;). )

The cool thing of course is you can't slap any kind of copyright on the *idea*, so if we all just wanted to chat about an Arthurian setting running under RQ rules we could probably

a) get away with it
and
b) have stats close enough that they'll fit anything with similar rules *cough cough*
 
Well, consdieing the similatries with rules and source material it isn't impssible to swipe Pendragon stuff for RQ and vice versa. I used the Vogue writeup for RQ for my Pendragon campaigns.

(It's an impressive book. Especially to the unitiatiated. Could be the sourcebook to go with the MRQ Arthurian book).

({[Pendragontheses? ]})
 
No, non no...

The Arthurian conversation is going on in the "What is your Favorite RQ" Thread. Shouldn't we discusss halflings or something in here?

Seriously though, The material out there available for use with Runequest in an Arthurian setting is plentiful and high quality. I would like to look at the aforementioned 434 page mostrosity. After reading its description it seems I may have alot of the material already as I have most of the supplements already.

I am very curious to see what people think of it.
 
Rurik said:
I am very curious to see what people think of it.

Should have it tomorrow :)

(oh, the joys of free next-day delivery from the distributors, its times like this that remind me why I quit a nicely paid job to run a store. It's times like the bill arriving next week that make me wish I hadn't :) )
 
Rurik said:
No, non no...

The Arthurian conversation is going on in the "What is your Favorite RQ" Thread. Shouldn't we discusss halflings or something in here?

I thought it was best just to have them hung, drawn, and halved.
 
Rurik said:
No, non no...

The Arthurian conversation is going on in the "What is your Favorite RQ" Thread. Shouldn't we discusss halflings or something in here?

Halfing knights? On shetland Ponies or Quarterhorses?

Rurik said:
Seriously though, The material out there available for use with Runequest in an Arthurian setting is plentiful and high quality. I would like to look at the aforementioned 434 page mostrosity. After reading its description it seems I may have alot of the material already as I have most of the supplements already.

I am very curious to see what people think of it.


Well, I'll probable end up gioving more detail in the new Arthuian RQ thread, but...

Yes there is a lot of stuff in it that you probably have from before. especially if you are a long term Pendragon fan. What you don't have it all of it together in one book organized into a massive campaign. Even the stuff you already have has probably been expandided on in some way. Theere are a lot of nice touches, like all the new maps. Basically there is a map of soemthing every other page or so. Little character portaits. There is so much stuff that there is writing in the margins on some pages with minor stuff, like what sort of problemes the peasants are having.

Wow. I just noticed this. Right after the Table on Contents there is an Index of adventures, and then an index of maps. Something like 130 adventures and 70 maps.
 
mthomason said:
Rurik said:
No, non no...

The Arthurian conversation is going on in the "What is your Favorite RQ" Thread. Shouldn't we discusss halflings or something in here?

I thought it was best just to have them hung, drawn, and halved.

I for one, don't care if halfings are hung or not.
 
atgxtg said:
mthomason said:
Rurik said:
No, non no...

The Arthurian conversation is going on in the "What is your Favorite RQ" Thread. Shouldn't we discusss halflings or something in here?

I thought it was best just to have them hung, drawn, and halved.

I for one, don't care if halfings are hung or not.

Well they do have big feet....
 
I think that that "In Print Arthurian Game by other publishers" by the same original author as RQ/Glorantha could quite easily be adapted to RQ mechanics... essentially, the biggest difference is the D20 vs d100 for skill rolls.

The "Was in print as recently as last year by another d20 publisher" dark-arthurian also has some nifty concepts to steal. Arthur as madman, rather than hero.


We've got the weapons and armor, or at least a good start, in the core.

Which kind of arthurian do you want? I kind of like Stafford's approach with the anachronistic tech, and it's easily doable... but I'd kind of like to see, maybe do, an arthurian that is more in line with a more quasi-historical Arddur PenDragon, Dux Bellorum of Logres... Kind of the tack that McCaffrey uses in Black Horses for the King. A darker, more brutal setting, but not as dark as I, Mordred.

I'd say we definitely need the correct backgrounds and professions... and I think the 50% professions are probably too small to do it right, unless we give PC's two.
 
AKAramis said:
I think that that "In Print Arthurian Game by other publishers" by the same original author as RQ/Glorantha could quite easily be adapted to RQ mechanics... essentially, the biggest difference is the D20 vs d100 for skill rolls.

Nah. THe skill difference is easy. The biggret differences are the other things. Specficially:

1) Attributes: Pendragon beginning PC stats fall in the RQ range, but stats for experienced PC and monsters do not. Having people like Lancelot riding around with a 40 STR is a bit tough to handle in RQ

2) Traits & Passions: THese rules really help to flesh out the characters. THey are also not incldued in RQ. Since there are game bonuses associated with them, RQ looses out.

3) Glory Points: The GLory award iin PEndragon for 1000 Glor allows a character to adjust any value by 1, even circumventing other limits in the game rules, allowing people to have superhuman stats.

4) Crtical System: Pendragon's critical system makes critical more likely for skilled characters. THis mades a 24 worth more than 120%.

So in the end it isn't quite a stratiforward coversion.


AKAramis said:
The "Was in print as recently as last year by another d20 publisher" dark-arthurian also has some nifty concepts to steal. Arthur as madman, rather than hero.


We've got the weapons and armor, or at least a good start, in the core.

Which kind of arthurian do you want? I kind of like Stafford's approach with the anachronistic tech, and it's easily doable... but I'd kind of like to see, maybe do, an arthurian that is more in line with a more quasi-historical Arddur PenDragon, Dux Bellorum of Logres... Kind of the tack that McCaffrey uses in Black Horses for the King. A darker, more brutal setting, but not as dark as I, Mordred.

Orginally, Pendragon was going to allow for mutiple approaches to the Arthurian tale. But as the game expanded and revised edtions came out, it became more more firmed tied to Malory's rendition.

I have used GURPS Camelot in the past, and I've also ran a "historcial" Arthurian campaign in RQ before. In both cases it was becuase those games gave me options that Pendragon did not. Priamily, I wanted to start the PCs off young and spend some time developing them and giving them a good backstory to make the knightly stuff more interesting. SOmething that was difficult with Pendragon's 1 year per sesson approach. I even turned back the clock a bit, used GIldas, and started a campaign back with King Constans and Vortigern. I kept that very dark and used 5th centruy gear, until COnstans returns from Armorica/Brittany with Knights.

AKAramis said:
I'd say we definitely need the correct backgrounds and professions... and I think the 50% professions are probably too small to do it right, unless we give PC's two.

Yeah. THe bnasic noblem doesn't quite cover it. WE will have to wait and see what they put in the MRQ Arthurian book.
 
I'm still trying to find enough time to go through ({[ The Book ]}) ;)

At first glance though, I'm *impressed*. I much prefer this style of campaign book to an incredibly detailed single scenario - I like a framework to fit my game into, cause then I can always go find individual adventure scenarios to plug into it.

Sure, I can sit and design something to play myself, but I'm lazy that way :)
 
My last PD campaign petered out due to two players leaving of 5, due to work, plus heavy coursework for me... too much work to pull together...

But I was going to work in "I, Mordred" elements in to it.

I was also thinking of never leaving phase 1 for tech purposes...

So, is Mongoose doing an Arthurian setting? If not, well, I might do some research!

Also important is handling the Catholic, Celtic, Pelagian and Gnostic churches right... and I dare say, RQ may be the best engine for that.

While waiting for my D&D game to go off (Cyclopedia Rules == B/X/C/M), one of my players decided to try CharGen... his commment as he was finishing up was "This is cool... why does it feel a lot like Pendragon?"

Tossing a few ideas about...
Initiate of Catholics would probably be subdeacons and deacons. In the 5th & 6th centuries, many were permanent, and many others went on to be priests; the celibacy rule was that once ordained, they could no longer marry; until the 1200's, most priests were married. Many monastics would also qualify...
The Acolyte level really compares best with Priests, Archdeacons, and Rectors, and somme friars ('tho friary was somewhat new).
The "Runepriest" would probably equate to major Abbots, most bishops and archbishops, and some archpriests.

Let's see, cult skills... Lore (Bible)*, Persistence, Influence, Language (Latin)*, Language (Greek)*, Sing, Healing*, and First Aid.

In case you are wondering "Why Greek?": Greek was the language in which many of the new testament books were written. Many of the Apologia (letters of explanation) were also in Greek. Much of scholarly writing was in Greek. Most lay members would not be taught greek, nor healing and first aid, but most of the clergy would. The term "acolyte" was in use, but I can't ascertain for certain if the lesser ordinations (Porter, Lector, Cantor, Acolyte) were actually ordinations yet... or just appointments.
 
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