[Actual Play] PenDragon-Blooded: Actual Play

[Future Villain Band]

Okay, so we're midway through Year Two of PenDragon-Blooded. For those who don't know, this is a campaign attempting to blend elements of Chaosium/Green Knight's Pendragon game with Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded.

The characters are:
Colonel Sesus Jazyr: A Dragonlord, who's decided that the Isle of Storms cannot fall to barbarism. He and the mortal troops under his command have decided to stay on the island even as the Realm's garrison moves back to the Blessed Isle.

Tepet Lorena: Graduate of the Heptagram, politically and socially outcaste because of her sterility. She has allied with Jazyr because in the Threshold, she is no longer a mere mule, but a member of the Dragon-Blooded Host.

Summer Dew Falls on Mountain Flowers: Half-fey, son of the ruler of a nearby Freehold. Summer was the Master of Hounds for his father until a falling out over a mortal lover caused him to flee his father's service with a cadre of Wyld barbarian cavalry. He has sworn allegiance to Jazyr so as to avoid persecution and to gain access to treasure and slaves.

Brother Po: An Immaculate Monk of the Towering Fist Temple, Brother Po is a mortal dwarf, standing only four feet tall, he is a fiercesome fighter who has awakened his own Essence while using martial-arts.

Next: Year One and Two.

[Future Villain Band]

Year One:

The game begins with Sesus Jazyr and Tepet Lorena watching the great brigandines of the Realm wend their way out to sea, transporting the Legion that stood guard over the Isle of Storms. A new satrap has come to the Isle, and settled into the city of Wall. He has brought with him an outcaste mercenary band to be his bodyguard and a brigade of mortal mercenaries to serve him. The new satrap is ... concerned that Jazyr isn't leaving with the rest of the troops. The royal family that runs Wall is in chaos since the poisoning of the Princep a year ago, and everyone in the family is jockeying for position -- many of them view Jazyr and his last dragon of Realm-trained troops as potential spoilers in the game for the throne.

Jazyr spends a last hour with the general under whose command he fell before the general leaves for his ship. Word reaches Jazyr that Granam the Bold, one of the chieftains in the interior of the island, is on the move already, heading to Pinnacle Fortress, a fortified manse in the interior that gives one control over the fertile southern valley region. Along the way, Granam hopes to raid the old armory that the Dragon-Blooded used to refit and resupply while in the interior.

Jazyr decides this will be an excellent first demonstration of power -- that the order brought to the Isle by the Realm has not disappeared. He force-marches his troops for days, until weary and tired, they encounter Granam's men outside of Pinnacle Fortress. Jazyr's scouts sight Granam's troops, and they swing into the attack without waiting to parley.

Summer's cavalry hits first, decimating the cavalry of Granam's chief aides. Fearsome half-men on giant wolves slaughter the enemy, while Tepet Lorena engages the bulk of the infantry single-handedly, unleashing "Death of Obsidian Butterflies" while Jazyr holds his medium foot in reserve. The power of the mule's sorcery and the fey cavalry has the desired effect, and 700 men are quickly reduced to 100, and Granam surrenders.

He swears fealty to Colonel -- now "General" -- Sesus. Within weeks, Jazyr has control of Pinnacle Fortress and the surrounding villages as winter sets in. He is already using Lorena to generate a plan to reduce flooding in the rich, fertile valley, while Jazyr plans a taxation scheme and the half-fey and his men wait for the next opportunity to spill blood...

--Eric

[hong]

So, does Sesus have a daiklave whose scabbard protects him from harm? ;)

[Future Villain Band]

The second year begins with Jazyr setting up a primitive bureaucracy for tax collection and militia-control in the villages he oversees now. After this is started, he heads to the Towering Fist Temple, to pay his obeisance to the local abbot and plan for the future. The abbot, pleased by Jazyr's piety, has a handful of Dragon-Blooded monks at his disposal, all working overtime as the region's only still-functioning Wyld Hunt. Jazyr offers to aid the abbot in any way possible, and the abbot loans Jazyr the use of Brother Po, a formidable -- if only mortal -- martial artist.

Back at Pinnacle Fortress, emissaries of King Awain, one of the kings of the upper valley, approach Summer about an alliance between Jazyr and Awain. Jazyr is invited to a great feast in his honor at Awain's castle. Safe in the idea that his previous display of force cowed the local mortals, Jazyr travels to Awain's fortress with only 50 men, Brother Po, Lorena, and Summer.

Awain's offer is simple -- between the two of them, Jazyr and Awain will be able to dominate the fertile valley and then subjugate the mountain folk. Awain desires a standard alliance with the Dragon-Blooded -- he will convert to the Immaculate Faith and rule as High King, while Jazyr acts as satrap. Jazyr, intrigued by Awain's good nature and diplomatic skills, agrees to think on this. To mark the occasion, Awain offers a toast, with wine imported from the Blessed Isle at great expense. Only Brother Po and Lorena fail to partake.

After the feast, each of the guests is shown to a room. After a few minutes, Jazyr and Summer fall ill from a potent dose of arsenic in the wine. Troops attack each of the guests, and Jazyr is taken down by a spear and made prisoner. Summer is sorely distressed by the poison, and may not survive -- the player botched the Sta + Resistance roll.

Lorena unleashes Death of Obsidian Butterflies against the troops sent to take her prisoner and assumes the Invulnerable Skin of Bronze. She is proof against all attacks until, in her flight, she finds that the locals are prepared to drop boiling oil and use target arrows against her. Although they cannot do any real harm to her, she is busy aiding the far more fragile Brother Po in his escape.

They fight their way to the fortress' dungeon, where the discover Awain holding a sword to an unconscious Jazyr's throat. He desires a mighty ransom for Jazyr's life, and sends the two back to Pinnacle Fortress to get it. The pair are already plotting their rescue of the general, while the general himself is plotting the days-long revenge he will take against these mortals daring and stupid enough to lay a hand on a Prince of the Earth...

Now, General Sesus knows that although mortals are fragile, they are cunning, too, and he has been far too merciful...

--Eric

[tetsujin28]

I can't remember, Eric: are you using the Exalted mechanics?

[hong]

Originally posted by tetsujin28
I can't remember, Eric: are you using the Exalted mechanics?

"Sta + Resistance roll" and "Death of Obsidian Butterflies" would seem to indicate that he is.

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by tetsujin28
I can't remember, Eric: are you using the Exalted mechanics?

Yeah, I'm using Exalted, although I've converted over a bunch of important tables from Pendragon concerning Estate Management and downtime, and turned the Lunar Renown system into a kind of Pendragon-esque Glory system.

I find the Virtues in Exalted work pretty well in a Pendragon-esque game, although I do wonder how it would've turned out to use some of Pendragon's personality mechanics.

--Eric

[hong]

Although I'd be curious to know how a mighty dragon-blooded like <s>Arthur</s> Sesus Jazyr fell for the oldest trick in the book; no, not getting involved in a land war in Asia, but the old poison-in-the-wine trick.

[tetsujin28]

Originally posted by hong
"Sta + Resistance roll" and "Death of Obsidian Butterflies" would seem to indicate that he is. Sorry, my eyes tend to blur over things like that :o And I had an exam at 9:30, so I'm not exactly the brightest monkey in the barrel, right now.

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by hong
Although I'd be curious to know how a mighty dragon-blooded like <s>Arthur</s> Sesus Jazyr fell for the oldest trick in the book; no, not getting involved in a land war in Asia, but the old poison-in-the-wine trick.

Cocky, cocky, cocky. It was an in-game and a meta-game issue at the same time.

As far as meta-game goes, the players in question have been playing Solar-level Exalted for a while, and so they're used to being unassailable top dogs. The current PenDragon-Blooded campaign occurs at a much lower power-level -- one of the PCs is a heroic mortal, one is a half-fey not much better than a heroic mortal, and the two Dragon-Blooded are on their own, away from the Realm's support. I decided to hit them with some intrigue and some sneakiness so they'd know that, yes, Virginia, mortals are easy to kill in mass-combat, but they know that, too -- and so they'll engage you some other way.

In-game, it was sheer cockiness on the characters' parts. Jazyr was so convinced that decimating Granam's forces and getting Granam to kowtow to him had sent a message that he seriously thought that Awain would want to kiss his ass and be his minion, despite the fact that Awain was known as fairly sly.

Jazyr's player is now more dedicated to the Perfected Hierarchy than ever -- if he hadn't bothered to treat Awain like a near-equal, this would never have happened. :)

--Eric

[hong]

I just might use the old poison-in-the-wine trick at my next D&D session, actually. 14th level PCs are basically Dragon-blooded in terms of power, yes? Heh, heh.

[Brand_Robins]

I call for a vote of the Senate to make Eric a god.

[Partridge]

I second the motion of the Senator from the Center of the Universe.

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by Brand_Robins
I call for a vote of the Senate to make Eric a god.

I thank you and Partridge for your votes of confidence.

Wait 'til we get to Year Three and the mountain barbarians start getting uppity -- their goddesses have taken form and are leading them now that the Immaculates are weakened, and I borrowed a bit from Tribe 8 to make things interesting. Dragon-Blooded vs. Fatimas: Fight.

--Eric

[Denys]

Eric -- you started this game like 3 weeks ago, right? What's your structure like? Are you doing a year of game time per session?

I'm asking because I'm running something very similar and started a couple weeks back; I'm aiming for a slower progression, with story arcs of five games punctuated by a significant passage of time.

- Ian

[Yo! Master]

Originally posted by Partridge
I second the motion of the Senator from the Center of the Universe.

I'll provide the assassins / ninjae to stop anyone who oposes.

:D

[medivh]

It would seem that Yo! Master, representing southern Europe, votes Eric For God 2004! as well. Let me, as the scandinavian representative, exclaim that you have the support of northern Europe as well.

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by Ian Noble
Eric -- you started this game like 3 weeks ago, right? What's your structure like? Are you doing a year of game time per session?

I'm asking because I'm running something very similar and started a couple weeks back; I'm aiming for a slower progression, with story arcs of five games punctuated by a significant passage of time.

- Ian

Ideally, I want to do a year of game time per session, but as last night showed, it's ending up to be about a year per episode/adventure, with some nights carrying over into the next session. I'm hoping I won't have to stretch out too many adventures across more than one night, since the idea of nice, self-contained units of play is pretty attractive.

How's your campaign going? I remember hearing you talk about it.

--Eric

[Yo! Master]

It seems it is past time i actually sat down and read Pendragon.

Eric,

have you posted anywhere the rules you're using?

Thank in advance.

:)

[Ubermonkey]

Sounding good Eric. Please keep up the actial plays.

*subscribes*

[Denys]

Originally posted by Eric Brennan
How's your campaign going? I remember hearing you talk about it.

--Eric

It's going well but I'm not using Heroquest as I said I would; turns out the players wanted more crunch than that game offers. I can't go into the saga too much since a few of my players read the rpg.net forums but I've loaded their satrapy down with secrets, mysteries and obstacles that will impact their characters as their arcs play out. For me, it's a matter of bring forces to bay in response to PC action, not as a means of provoking it. We're at the tip of a multi-generational thing and I'm hoping to have later story arcs with descendants. The pace of the story is determined by the PCs for the most part; I'm enforcing a structure of an arc of five or six games and then a years-long pause in the action.

The characters are an invented lineage of Tepet -- their own separate house -- and they're trying to cope with the loss to Bull of the North even as they're exiled to the Threshold.

So far we have:

- a failed general trying to pick himself up off the barroom floor and forget how he helped destroy his daughter
- a scandal-ridden mama's boy sorcerer who's dominated by an increasingly erratic parent
- A spy whose legendary artifact daiklave will either save or destroy the Realm
- a financier who desires to build a canal through 250 miles of land to screw over Nexus
- a female Immaculate monk who just happens to be falling in love with a Solar warlord

They're all family and they're all forced to deal with everything the Threshold can throw at them (because they designed their characters that way -- thank the Dragons I have excellent players).

First game they uncovered a gigantic first age manse -- think Gormenghast meets the Pentagon meets Hogwarts -- and are beginning to fathom its mysteries. There are "essence locks" throughout that will unlock further secrets as the characters become more powerful throughout the course of the saga.

Second game they dealt with various factions of the three kingdoms in the satrapy and they're beginning to realize how screwed they are thousands of miles from the Blessed Isle, essentially stranded out in the deep Threshold with little to no allies. How they deal with all these threats will determine future stories.

For the third game...well... I can't say anything in public except that we're skipping volume 11 and proceeding directly to 12.

- Ian

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by Yo! Master
It seems it is past time i actually sat down and read Pendragon.

Eric,

have you posted anywhere the rules you're using?

Thank in advance.

:) I've posted my revised Renown rules at the Wiki here: http://www.lensmen.net/wiki/exalted.pl?EricBrennan I'm thinking about making a minor tweak to them, but other than that, they've been working well.

I'm still finnessing my downtime charts, but when I have them, I'll probably post them somewhere appropriate.

--Eric

[Yo! Master]

Thanks! You DA MAN.
:D

[Denys]

Okay, then... I'm posting here from an idea that sprang up on the God-Blooded thread.

Eric -- since you and I seemed to be running PenDragon-Blooded type games at the same time, I have this question:

I'm trying to come up with another perspective on the events in the satrapy that the PCs are dealing with as Dragon-Blooded. I was thinking of introducing a parallel storyline in which the PCs occasionally play Heroic Mortals . I had done something similar with an expansive Vampire Elders game I ran a few years ago -- there PCs were also playing aging mortal Arcanum characters in a side storyline.

I'm thinking of a Black Company type of group... a stealthy fact-finding task force that the PCs might establish to send out of the satrapy to investigate their many enemies.

The satrapy is located just north of Sijan, to the west of the Black Chase, and there are many elements bearing down on the Dyansts -- pressure from the Blessed Isle, attention from the 7th Legion to the south, Bull of the North to the east and even some Haslanti League stuff from the north. Not to mention a number of anathema elements.

Help me brainstorm more ideas for an alternative heroic-mortal perspective in such a mileu. The idea is, what would compliment Pendragon-ish DBs? The parallel storyline need not have PCs that are sympathetic to the Dynasts. e.g. warstrider pilots from Lookshy, thaumaturgists from Nexus, etc. could work just fine.

- Ian

[Voriof]

Eric must assume his rightful position in the pantheon.

Voriof

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by Ian Noble
Help me brainstorm more ideas for an alternative heroic-mortal perspective in such a mileu. The idea is, what would compliment Pendragon-ish DBs? The parallel storyline need not have PCs that are sympathetic to the Dynasts. e.g. warstrider pilots from Lookshy, thaumaturgists from Nexus, etc. could work just fine.

- Ian

Well, first of all, that sounds ultra-cool.

Second of all, I've got a couple of ideas for group concepts.

The first idea is to embrace the wuxia and sword & sorcery aspects of low-powered Exalted and base the character concepts on common archetypes. The barbarian freebooter, for instance, is Conan as an Exalted Heroic Mortal. The drunken master is, of course, the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hong. Mine old Japanese chanbara, old kung-fu flicks, classic pulp -- I kinda fancy the idea of seeing Toshiro Mifune fighting alongside Jackie Chan. On the plus side, everybody's got an archetype and an idea of what the character should be capable of -- on the down side, without a really good explanation about why they're together, it becomes a disorganized "...and they fight crime!" hodge-podge.

The second idea is probably more what you're looking for. In this case, I'd recommend going with what you're suggesting -- essentially, a Second Age special-ops team. The easiest hook I can think of is a "kept" family of ninja --except they're more generic assassin-martial artists/Chinese forest demon types -- belonging to one of the Dragon-Blooded's line. The ninja genre is wide enough to give you all sorts of team roles, from ghost-eater to poisoner to swordsman to archer/sniper, and you'll get back to the whole root of ninja as "cunning," because they have to be. The Grass-Spider cult in Outcaste could certainly provide a built-in framework for this if you assume they allow mortal members.

The beauty of the whole ninja thing, as clicheed as it might sound at first, is that it gives you a chance to build a clan of mortals like the Lintha, who have adapted to the strange world of the Second Age in some special way. Imagine a clan who, being from so close to the Black Chase and Sijan, are still in contact with the clan ancestors, who aid them from beyond the grave? Perhaps even Ghost-Blooded Arcanoi users, able to traverse Creation and the Underworld equally? Imagine a group who propitiate dark gods or demons or whatever to breed with? Or play them like Rokugani Scorpions, all honorable warriors on the outside, all cunning assassins in their hearts. AND... the best part is, given the power disparity, you could have the clan leader beholden to a "godlike" Terrestrial PC.

Another idea is to flesh out the Henchmen Background in Dragon-Blooded, and use the dots in that as indivudals for use in troupe-style play. In this kind of setup, each of these individuals is an innocuous mortal hanger-on who just also happens to be a trained poisoner, a beautiful seductress, a skilled martial artist, a cunning thief, or a master swordsman. They exist at the edges of the satrapy's notice, disappearing on errands for their Terrestrial masters.

That's off of the top of my head. If you give me a few hours, I can probably think of more. I hope some of that sounds interesting.

--Eric

[Denys]

Originally posted by Eric Brennan
That's off of the top of my head. If you give me a few hours, I can probably think of more. I hope some of that sounds interesting.

--Eric

It does!

The whole ninja thing is cool as hell especially tapping into the Underworld. Awesome stuff. Thanks mucho. I'm gonna do some research and develop the idea further on this thread -- look for resurrection.

The henchmen thing is also very cool too; I had some ideas on this earlier and wondered if playing extentions of themselves might be the way to go...the DB PCs I've already noted above and the spread is disparate enough to have some sharp ideas sprout from each. The thing is, I wonder if this would be too contrived to get them to do "group" stuff. If the DB side of the saga is open-ended and player-directed, I'd be looking for the heroic-mortal storyline to be more plot-centric. Hmm... I've got to think about this.

I'm hoping to get this off the ground soon so I'll try to work out details for the group by their Saturday session.

Thanks again.

- Ian

[Future Villain Band]

[Metagame: The player of the half-fey has PC ADD real badly, and with his half-fey out of commission due to the poisoning last session, built a new "temporary" character. Strangely enough, we all knew that he was going to like this character more, so exit the half-fey in a poisoned stupor, and enter Ledaal Tanayan, an outcaste from the Realm cast out of his family for his sadism and naked lust for power.

Tanayan marks the first night that one of my players really, finally, truly grokked the rules differences between Dragon-Blooded and any other kind of Exalt -- he was specifically built to emphasize Dragon-Blooded strengths (Reflexives, specific anti-Anathema Charms, Safety Among Enemies) and minimize their weaknesses.

Also, Tanayan's shapeshifting via Artifacts through the game for a bit of a loop, but I rolled with it. I had hopes for big showdowns and duels, but his cutthroat assassination of Awain spun things into a spiral -- as long as the players thought it went okay, I'm happy, though.

Also, events are beginning to pick up steam, mainly because the player of Sesus Jazyr is moving to Pennsylvania -- damn Ed Rendell -- and so we want to reach an emotionally-significant conclusion with three weeks to play.]

As the game begins, King Awain mocks Sesus Jazyr as he awakens from his unconscious state. Awain crows about how he's going to ally with all of the northern upper-valley kingdoms on the back of his triumph over the general. The general, of course, says that no matter what, "The last thing you see will be my face, grinning at you as you choke on those words." Awain, somewhat more somber after the threat, clubs the general back into unconsciousness and goes to arrange for the disposition of the half-fey, whose father has offered a ransom for him.

Ledaal Tanayan, outcaste bounty-hunter, shape-shifter (via Charms and Artifacts,) and emmissary, arrives to pick up the half-fey's body. When Awain reveals that he has Sesus Jazyr under his power as well, Tanayan asks how much the ransom is, hoping to pay it. When the amount is too high, he offers Awain his life. Awain and his trio of guards reach for their swords, but too late -- Tanayan deals mortal wounds to all of them in the span of a breath. Tanayan then activates his artifacts and takes Awain's shape, leaving the mortally wounded Awain hanging from a chain in his own dungeon.

Across the countryside, Tepet Morgana and Brother Po deftly disarm and then butcher their escorts. They return to Pinnacle Fortress to rearm and to muster up the rest of the general's forces to free him.

Back in the dungeon, Tanayan spells out his plan to General Sesus Jazyr -- he shall be freed, and then "Awain" will send his most loyal men to fight the troublesome mountain-tribes. Then, Jazyr's forces shall be brought in. With the heart of his forces and his most warmongering ministers gone, "Awain" will then swear fealty to the general, then go off to the mountains to be "killed" in an ambush. Jazyr agrees to the plan, then goes and seeks out the dying Awain deeper in the dungeon. He forces Awain to open his eyes, then watches, grinning, as he takes his last breath.

_____________

The rest of it was mopping up. With Awain's power-base neutralized, the handover of power goes well. Brother Po and Lorena arrive with their forces only to find "Awain" and Jazyr bosom-friends. Jazyr decides to use Awain's lands as the base for his forays into the north and into the mountains, and allows Tanayan into his inner-circle, despite his bloodthirsty and power-hungry reputation -- a little sadism, Jazyr thinks, is perfect after the recent betrayal, and will keep others from hoping to capitalize on his recent weakness.

Jazyr sends out emmissaries to the rest of the island, holding a great feast over Calibration, hoping to iron out alliances with most of them, and murder the rest. That shall, of course, take place next year.

--Eric

[Future Villain Band]

Year Three

General Sesus Jazyr decides that it's time to cement some alliances. Using Tanayan's contacts and knowledge of the island's rites, he sends jade-encrusted shields to four of the greatest kings of the upper and lower valley, inviting them to stay at his new fortress (Awain's old fortress) to feast over Calibration. Each of the other PCs -- Po, Tanayan, Lorena -- all approach their targets. Tanayan is recruiting outcastes while Po seeks out lower valley kings and Lorena goes to the upper valley kings.

[Note: Going along with the Resources system I'm using, Jazyr managed to nearly bankrupt himself this year, between the lavish feast, the jade-encrusted shields, and the expense of keeping two fortresses running and not focusing on taxes for two years running. One of the edges one of the kings holds over Jazyr in the bargaining is his wealth, which was interesting.]

All agree to attend the feast, and Jazyr offers them each dominion over their own land and future lands in eschange for recognizing him as High King. Two of the lower-valley kings -- Temerel the Red, and Tadgh the Bloody-Handed -- begin to argue over insults, and Jazyr doesn't step up to mediate, so another king, Amun-Tet, leaves the meeting. Jazyr, in a bind, consults his inner-circle and tries to arrange it so that everyone reaches an accord in exchange for offices and gems.

In the middle of the meet, a representative of one of the mountain-clans appears and asks for a seat at the parlay, but is coolly rebuffed by Jazyr. Brother Po follows him as he leaves and realizes that this fellow, Fell Wind, is the only clan-leader not following the Ten Ladies in the mountains, and Jazyr blew it.

By the time the night is finished, I've roleplayed 6 different NPCs in a single meeting with the PCs, at times arguing with myself, in-character. Jazyr has come to realize that he will not rule with a velvet glove, but instead an iron fist. We've arranged a marriage between Jazyr and Shaeba, cemented two alliances (between Temerel and Tadgh,) staved off a war (between same) and revealed that the satrap and the family of the Old High King are allying to strike down Jazyr, and have made an alliance with the Ten Ladies so that as the satrap's forces hem Jazyr down in the lower valley, the mountain-tribes will sweep along the upper-valley and wipe out his allies.

Next Year: All Out War.

--Eric

[Voriof]

Someone's been reading "Savage Mountains" again... ;)

Voriof

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by Voriof
Someone's been reading "Savage Mountains" again... ;)

Voriof

What's Savage Mountains?


--Eric

[Voriof]

Hmm. Its a very good Pendragon supplement which... well... pretty much looks like what you're doing.

Voriof

[Future Villain Band]

Originally posted by Voriof
Hmm. Its a very good Pendragon supplement which... well... pretty much looks like what you're doing.

Voriof

Sorry, although I'll make a note to get it now. I have a feeling I'm riffing on common Pendragon tropes, though. (And to be fair, the mountain tribes of the Ten Ladies are basically the tribes from Tribe 8, because I figured I should get some use out of the rulebook. ;))

--Eric

[Voriof]

Originally posted by Eric Brennan
Sorry, although I'll make a note to get it now. I have a feeling I'm riffing on common Pendragon tropes, though. (And to be fair, the mountain tribes of the Ten Ladies are basically the tribes from Tribe 8, because I figured I should get some use out of the rulebook. ;))

--Eric

No worries. The central scenario in "Savage Mountains" is the Cumbrian War - basically you play the South Front in the Just And Righteous War being waged by His Dread Britannic Majesty, Arthur High King of the Britons and Emperor of Rome against Powys (north Wales).

In it, you are given the New Model Army and have three years to:

a) Reinstate the local king who's sort of loyal to Arthur but more loyal to his wallet.

b) Build an alliance with the local clans (some hate you, some hate Powys, most hate each other)

c) Not die. Powys' army outnumbers you horribly at the start.

d) prevent your mercenaries from really annoying the locals

e) build a huge castle without being ripped off by your own engineers

f) convince Gawaine that you're doing a good job when he comes by to drop off your paychest

g) skim enough off to top to play for your own expenses without annoying Gawaine - otherwise you get to talk to Kay. No one wants to talk to Kay.

Tongue in cheek but a hell of a lot of fun. We're working on a Glorantha version in which Argrath has you subdue Imther (or Balazar) while he's busy with the main assault on the Empire.

Voriof

[Future Villain Band]

Wow, that sounds like a fantastic idea for a sourcebook. I kinda wish I could get ahold of it before my PenDragon-Blooded game loses Arthur to a better job in a different state.

I'll try to dig it up, anyway.

--Eric