Greetings!

In my Thandor world, I have an area of the world, the Alben Isles. They are essentially a Dark Ages Mythical Britain region.

I work in all kinds of Celtic and Saxon mythology, and then throw in lots of the traditional Norse elements of mythology and history. Lots of Viking raiders plundering the land throughout the seasons, naturally. I also have Fomorach groups and kingdoms that influence the region. The Fomor are a race of evil, mythological giants in Celtic lore. The Fomorians are mutated and often horribly ugly and gross, and they eat people. They also enslave people, and promote war, hatred, and slavery everywhere. Some of them are however, very technologically and magically advanced, so the Fomorian giants can be very dangerous. The Fomorians also practice breeding and cultivation of genetic mutations amongst their slaves and tribal members, often creating *enhanced* citizens and tribe members. So, that is definitely a strong element in the campaign region as a whole.

Beyond that, though, I have several local kingdoms composed mostly of humans. There are also elves, of course. *Laughing* The Human kingdoms have embraced a form of monotheism, following the Dharyaan Faith. In these various areas, Chivalry is a very important cultural value, as well as patriarchy, marriage, virginity, and classical virtues. It is all very rustic and heroic, which can be very different and distinct from say, a Sword & Sorcery vibe, or "Grimdark" and that kind of thing. The Thandor world can be pretty harsh and brutal, fantastic and realistic simultaneously, while the kingdoms of my Alben Isles region are definitely on a different wave length. It creates a localized campaign environment that operates very differently, which can be refreshing. Embracing classic Arthurian Mythos elements can be refreshing to begin a new campaign in, or also, as a place for other Characters to visit.

Do you embrace Arthurian Mythos in your campaign? What elements of Arthurian Mythos and this kind of classical, romantic genre do you find attractive?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

What I like about the Arthurian mythos is that the Matter of Britain is unapologetically about the objective reality of good, divine things, about the worth of aspiring to an ideal, the realities that chivalry is so often accused of only feigning: honour, justice, law, faith, defending a worthwhile way of life and a home, the in-your-face demonstration that contra Sandor Clegane, a knight is not just a thug with a big knife, a horse and a steel tuxedo. At the same time, it's inescapably about the fact that all mortal efforts in that direction, no matter how successful they may be for a time, come with a built-in expiration date that comes straight out of a human nature even the best people can't transcend. The Just King is also the Fisher King who ultimately has to die; the parfait gentil knight can only stay parfait and gentil by ultimately leaving the world behind. The glory and the tragedy of Camelot is that it has to fall, that it can only have that one brief shining moment. The awesome triumph of the Grail coming to rest in human hands leads inexorably to the heartbreaking grief that it cannot stay there.

I've never managed to pull off a full campaign with an extended Arthurian-style arc, mostly because when I was actively gaming I was too young to appreciate tragedy over pulp excitement, but I think any RPG campaign bearing any of these elements definitely shows an Arthurian mark:
- Anything involving classic AD&D1E paladins, which are straight out of Chretien de Troyes and Malory;
- Campaigns where "the rightful king" has meaning beyond whoever has the fortuitously best confluence of legal and blood rights;
- Campaigns where the health of the land is related somehow to the moral character of those representing it;
- Campaigns which explore the differences and tensions between clerics and druids, or even recognizes that going by their classic definitions they should have differences and tensions;
- Campaigns where at least one realm actually pulls off a semi-decent job of being "the shining city on the hill", the unquestionably heroic (even if flawed) culture and way of life worth defending and emulating;
- Campaigns where the adventuring heroes have something other on their mind than pure mercenary profit, even if that's just personal glory rather than noble questing.

In other words, Arthuriana is what you get when you combine explicitly Christian tropes and themes with the pulpy heroism of pagan antiquity and the legalistic character of English monasticism, which is as fundamental a root of our own culture as anything else.

Hey, for once one of SHARK's posts directly pertains to a campaign of mine! My Dragon Warriors campaign as it happens. That was my attempt to be as folkloric as possible, so I built quite a lot of that campaign around Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian legend. The most directly Arthurian bit was that in an early adventure, my players stumbled upon the tomb where the local equivalent of King Arthur's knights rested in enchanted slumber, and learned they could only be awoken to serve the rightful king. Secretly, I was tracking my PCs on metrics of wisdom, justice and courage, which were to be the key to earning the sleeping warriors' allegiance.

There were several quests designed to be potential pathways to kingship of the various kingdoms of not-Britain, including one to retrieve a memento of a virgin queen from a tribe of giants, and thereby win her hand in marriage. Plus the King and Queen of Elfland having a spat, a dancing stone which is actually the cursed paramour of a lovesick troll, a bugbear angry at the racket of a church being built, knights bound by oath to challenge all comers, the works. I loved that campaign, but sadly real life brought it to an end before any of my grander ambitions could pay off.

Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser on January 06, 2025, 09:41:52 PMWhat I like about the Arthurian mythos is that the Matter of Britain is unapologetically about the objective reality of good, divine things, about the worth of aspiring to an ideal, the realities that chivalry is so often accused of only feigning: honour, justice, law, faith, defending a worthwhile way of life and a home, the in-your-face demonstration that contra Sandor Clegane, a knight is not just a thug with a big knife, a horse and a steel tuxedo. At the same time, it's inescapably about the fact that all mortal efforts in that direction, no matter how successful they may be for a time, come with a built-in expiration date that comes straight out of a human nature even the best people can't transcend. The Just King is also the Fisher King who ultimately has to die; the parfait gentil knight can only stay parfait and gentil by ultimately leaving the world behind. The glory and the tragedy of Camelot is that it has to fall, that it can only have that one brief shining moment. The awesome triumph of the Grail coming to rest in human hands leads inexorably to the heartbreaking grief that it cannot stay there.

I've never managed to pull off a full campaign with an extended Arthurian-style arc, mostly because when I was actively gaming I was too young to appreciate tragedy over pulp excitement, but I think any RPG campaign bearing any of these elements definitely shows an Arthurian mark:
- Anything involving classic AD&D1E paladins, which are straight out of Chretien de Troyes and Malory;
- Campaigns where "the rightful king" has meaning beyond whoever has the fortuitously best confluence of legal and blood rights;
- Campaigns where the health of the land is related somehow to the moral character of those representing it;
- Campaigns which explore the differences and tensions between clerics and druids, or even recognizes that going by their classic definitions they should have differences and tensions;
- Campaigns where at least one realm actually pulls off a semi-decent job of being "the shining city on the hill", the unquestionably heroic (even if flawed) culture and way of life worth defending and emulating;
- Campaigns where the adventuring heroes have something other on their mind than pure mercenary profit, even if that's just personal glory rather than noble questing.

In other words, Arthuriana is what you get when you combine explicitly Christian tropes and themes with the pulpy heroism of pagan antiquity and the legalistic character of English monasticism, which is as fundamental a root of our own culture as anything else.

Greetings!

Outstanding, my friend!

Yeah, I agree. All of those distinctions and differences are very important, and also meaningful. Players need to get with the program to make such a campaign work. When I have had Players "visit" such realms, well, there can definitely be some friction. Characters approaching everything like selfish, violence-prone mercenaries tend to get dealt with pretty swiftly in such a strict, uncompromising environment.

Players that are prepared for such a heroic, Chivalrous environment can be in for a lot of fun, and a great kind of deeper experience. I have also had visiting Characters change gears quickly, and embrace it enthusiastically without too many problems. They generally have then really enjoyed the Chivalrous Environment, as everyone and virtually everything in the environment, the culture, all that--operates on different dynamics than what we call a harsh and brutal Sword & Sorcery kind of environment.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: ForgottenF on January 06, 2025, 10:52:17 PMHey, for once one of SHARK's posts directly pertains to a campaign of mine! My Dragon Warriors campaign as it happens. That was my attempt to be as folkloric as possible, so I built quite a lot of that campaign around Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian legend. The most directly Arthurian bit was that in an early adventure, my players stumbled upon the tomb where the local equivalent of King Arthur's knights rested in enchanted slumber, and learned they could only be awoken to serve the rightful king. Secretly, I was tracking my PCs on metrics of wisdom, justice and courage, which were to be the key to earning the sleeping warriors' allegiance.

There were several quests designed to be potential pathways to kingship of the various kingdoms of not-Britain, including one to retrieve a memento of a virgin queen from a tribe of giants, and thereby win her hand in marriage. Plus the King and Queen of Elfland having a spat, a dancing stone which is actually the cursed paramour of a lovesick troll, a bugbear angry at the racket of a church being built, knights bound by oath to challenge all comers, the works. I loved that campaign, but sadly real life brought it to an end before any of my grander ambitions could pay off.

Greetings!

*Laughing* That sounds awesome, ForgottenF!

I think that chivalrous, heroic, Dark Ages campaigns can be really awesome, and a lot of fun! Such a campaign environment provides entirely different dynamics and motivations for so many things. The people are different, the cultures are different, the villains are even different. And of course, the heroes and champions are also very different.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK