Monday 26 December 2016

King Arthur in Romance of the Perilous Land


If you've read through the RotPL book, you will note the tie to Arthurian lore. I would hesitate to call the game an Arthurian one, but I couldn't ignore the massive folklore impact the stories have had on Great Britain.

However, rather than talking explicitly about Arthur, he and his Knights are alluded to throughout the book so I wanted to make some clarifications about how he fits into the Perilous Land.

Here, Arthur still reigns over Camelot, which lies to the south west in the Perilous Land. Both he and his Knights of the round are the pinnacle of chivalry, their stories told throughout the land. Arthur is a famed monster hunter - with some saying he single handedly slayed a questing beast. In this way, Arthur is a knight class at the peak of his form at 10th level. He carries Excalibur (details in the rules) and wears chainmail.

In the Perilous Land there is no grail legend because there is no Christianity. That isn't to say in your game Arthur can't go hunting for a mythical artefact, but it just wouldn't be tied to Christ. Here, Arthur is a 'pagan' king. I will get into the Perilous Land pantheon at a later date, but he is in fact a follower of traditionally Welsh gods like Cerridwen, Dylan and Elaine.

Using Arthur in your game is pretty simple. The party could be on a quest from Camelot on the orders of the king to span the country looking to right wrongs and slay monsters. You could have Arthur become a legendary character that is only heard about but never actually seen.

I'll be detailing more about the Knights of the Round Table later.

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