In reply to Sir Daron (msg # 422):

Thanks <3 so far it's mostly like a bad flu, but the sore throat is so much worse than what a flu is IMO

well, it's starting to clear up for now, and i'm looking forward to continuing.

Hey guys.

Glad to hear you are all ok and are starting to feel well again. I knew COVID was nasty but I found out it was a bit more nasty than I had expected. I consider myself rather healthy but still ended up with blood clots in my right lung and have only just now returned to work. Made me feel old for a while.

Wow, sorry to hear that Sir Abloc. I'm glad you are at least doing a bit better now.

Sorry this has taken forever and a couple of weeks.  But uh . . . you all have had COVID, so I was keeping the recommended 6-weeks distance.  Yeah, that is it!  Fortunately, none of my immediate family have gotten COVID yet, just hoping to keep the streak alive.  Hope the rest of your doing better.

I have a lot going on IRL at present and when I have to think too much about what to post, I put it off, indefinitely.  I will endeavor to be a bit more productive.  ;)

*Cringe* I have ZERO excuse.  Pendragon dropped off my radar for a while.  I went on a spring vacation, went climbing in the Italian Alps, then got super busy with a huge project when I got back to work.  And suddenly I stopped and thought, oh gosh, I'm forgetting something!  I'm awfully sorry to hear of your illnesses, brothers, and I'm very glad you're recovering well.

So here I am, and Sir Aeddan is back to fumbling around in his usual gangly manner.  He has no idea that somebody named Arthur is fumbling around, too, and his ideal of power is definitely the Lady Morgana, though he realizes how uncomfortable that makes his friends.  He'll do what he can to represent his heroic brethren in interactions with her.

In reply to Teller of Tales (msg # 427):

Hey, all good, life happens. I'm definitely doing better than I was.

Oh gosh, Lady Morgana knows which of us is good at intrigue, but Sir Aeddan doesn't know whom she means.  Which I guess rules him out  ;)  Who's our intriguer?

It is a mystery.  The scores are 4/6/9/13 in Intrigue.

Sir Abloc is Mr 4 :)

And I am so so sorry for my silence. I meant to reply on RPOL but then I kept being called away. I posted now and hope Real Life will stay quiet for a while now.

Nothing of note happens overnight.  Plans for the morning?

In reply to Teller of Tales (msg # 433):

If we'd be allowed to go to that meeting with the Countess, that's where Rhydwyn would be.

Sir Daron will be trying to gather some gossip from the Salisbury noblewomen under the guise of seeing if any of them might have heard of the wherabouts of his sister. He is not a fan of flirting (to put it mildly!) but they might provide some interesting intelligence.

INTRIGUE!  I need to know who's good at intrigue!  Morgana can help one of us get into the meeting, but we need to act, and we need to run it past Prince Mark first.  He's gonna owe Morgana one BIG favor for this kind of interference, so he's the only one who can decide whether it's worth the debt.

Abloc got 4 so dont waste it on him :)

Oof... I really wish you hadn't gone to talk to her Sir Aeddan. :(

Sir Daron will refuse to work with Morgana or be part of her plan. He intensely dislikes her and fears her and the idea of actually being in her debt would be absolutely horrifying.

I guess that means that you have the highest Intrigue? :)

Abloc would accept the task but he would be useless.

I face a quandary.

The setting of the game aligns with the Great Pendragon Campaign, except that the players are from Cornwall rather than Salisbury and are generally to be aligned against Arthur rather than for him.  If events pass as they are set to in the GPC, Arthur emerges victorious with the help of Merlin.  To put it in perspective, Arthur has a Battle of 7 and will defeat King Lot (Battle 25) and King Ryons (Battle 22) in battle because Merlin is giving him a +10 in addition to other aid.

To balance Merlin out, I have provided Morgana as a foil to counteract Merlin's influence and to provide things for the players to do that normally Arthur's knights would accomplish.  However, the party's inability to work with Morgana makes all of this impossible.  She has the ability to help the players work with her brothers-in-law in the North, to aid them when needed, and to use her magic to counteract Merlin's.

This campaign is called "Against the Beardless King."  Cornwall would not normally be involved in the Arthurian question for at least a decade.  The game I've conceived of allows the four of you to become involved much sooner, in large part due to Morgana's influence and ties to the Northern Kings through her sisters.  Without her, your four knights aren't on a path to participate at all in the conflict that is central to the game.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this, I am open to suggestions.  Otherwise, I am just going to shutter this as there really isn't any path forward.

I'll need to think on it, but I'd be willing to work with Morgana IC. Either way, I just don't want to see the game go, I've been enjoying it.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:13, Fri 27 May 2022.

Oh, wow I didn't realise I was being so disruptive or that Morgana was so vital. :(

Under the circumstances I think it's best if I leave the game then since it is really only my character that has issues with Morgana.

In reply to Sir Daron (msg # 442):

I'd be sad to see you go, but if you'd prefer to leave, I hope your other campaigns go well. <3

Sir Daron! Noooooo ... please dont go!

@ToT

I dont know much Arthurian lore and I dont know the details of your plans for the campaign. But I will hate to see the campaign end and I will hate for Sir Daron to leave.

Personally I enjoy the campaign. Yes, ToT is a magnificient storyteller and he knows I enjoy his campaigns. I enjoy how the campaign isnt just about the grand scheme but becomes personal with lost siblings and crooked artisans. With marriages, kids and combat that can go so very very wrong. And while I absolutely suck at puzzle-solving and intrigue (mostly because of my lacking when it comes to your language) then I enjoy reading every single post you make and listen to every single crazy plan you guys come up with.

But what I have enjoyed just as much are you guys. Your characters are interesting. I am still wondering in what direction Sir Rhydwyd will go. I am looking forward to see how Sir Daron manage to get married. I predict a great future for Sir Aeddan - and a terrible end when he learns never to trust a witch.

And while your characters are funny then it is you players I have enjoyed the most. There are none of the drama I have experienced in other campaigns. I suspect most of us are of a certain age. I like to see how people can handle a joke when their characters mess things up and cant stay on their horses.

So I will hate for Sir Daron to leave. I will hate for the campaign to end.

And if it does end then I hope you are willing to play again. I will certainly enjoy your company :)

I've been worried about this for months now, feeling like we were headed toward a dead end.  When ToT asked me to join the game, I definitely had the impression that job #1 was to get on friendly terms with Morgana.

Daron, you're a wonderful player.  Is it possible that your character would have an "epiphany," and change his attitude toward Morgana on his own?  That's what I've been hoping would happen.  But instead, as she's done things for us, it seems like Sir Daron (the character) has taken that as further evidence that she's crafty and therefore NOT trustable.

Sir Aeddan would definitely agree that dealing with Morgana is like dancing with a dragon.  A really pretty and graceful dragon  :)  But she's been generous to us, and her actions (while decidedly witchy) suggest that she's motivated by justice and loyalty.

I did *not* expect Sir Aeddan to become so interested in intrigue and larger politics, but that's how he's turned out.  My last Pendragon character was so different!  (He really liked nuns.)

Also, it's fun for me to write in really lofty English, but would everyone prefer that we write the story in more conversational modern English?  Would that make participating a little easier?

I am sorry if I didn't communicate that Morgana was becoming central to La Resistance, it is something I thought I made clear but honestly have no idea if I actually communicated.  I know we discussed her a year or so ago when I was thinking of bringing on a PC to play her because I was concerned about having an NPC sort of leading the effort.

I try very hard to create a story that has some sort of logic behind it.  So the Prince of Cornwall does not just invite 4 fresh knights to accompany him to Salisbury.  Instead, the fathers of two of their amors invite them to a hunt, the Count is close with the Prince and they get information on impressing the Count.  The Count invites them to join a private sortie and Sir Daron meets Prince Mark.  Impressed, Prince Mark invites them to another hunt.  And so it goes.  Morgana is someone who can easily make things happen and move the story along logically because of her ties to Britain's nobility and she is willing to do so because the knights' fathers were loyal to her mother even after Merlin's meddling drove a wedge between them.

There is no doubt that Morgana is powerful and vindictive.  Getting on Morgana's bad side is likely a death sentence for most people.  However, she is far more complex than that.  She is extremely loyal and, at least in her mind, an honorable person seeking to thwart the meddling of a power-hungry mage (Merlin) whose plans for Britain are self-centered and destructive.  For the most part, your aims and goals are likely to align.  As things go on and the players become more powerful and wise (ok, maybe not wise) they may run into conflicts with her on how to proceed but should be in a position to negotiate compromise.

My hope was that by getting to know her a little and seeing what she is willing to do for you without ever asking favors in return, that people would be a bit more receptive.  Perhaps feeling like you are making a deal with the devil or being enticed by her beauty.  Ultimately, her designs on the players are benign and perhaps the more the players get to know her the less concerned they would be?

All that said, Sir Daron's departure would sadden me and I don't know that I would be willing to continue.  As was seen in the previous campaign, it starts to get far more difficult to run when there are not enough players and part of the impetus for starting this game was because of how well Sir Gracian (Abloc) and Sir Dalen (Daron) worked together in the previous campaign and seem to work together with Sir Rhydwyn and Sir Aedden.  Trying to recruit new players turned into a disaster and one I have little interest in repeating.  :P

If there is a way to salvage things, I am certainly all for it!