King Arthur and DnD

[Felix]

I saw King Arthur last night and about halfway through I said to myself "Self, I want to play a DnD campaign set in 5th century Britan". The campaign can be a low-levelish thing where the PCs act as the rearguard to the leigons and straggling Roman citizens.

There will be barbaric Picts.

There will be mean-looking Saxons.

There will even be, as the old man in Braveheart put it, Insane Irish.

Leigonaires. Centurions. Vikings. Welshmen. Angles. Gauls. Picts. The stray Hun or Visigoth.

Clan warfare. Sacking. Pillaging. Being mean. Slaying. Blue body paint. Hadrian's Wall. Londinium.

My goodness, it would be glorious. Anyone else feel this way? And does anyone know a good pre-dark ages setting guide?

 

[JoeGKushner]

D20 does some things well and at low levels, its fairly easy to do this sort of campaign. However, it's something I've run in the past with variosu systems and find it a tad boring. Part of d20's charm for me is the magic, monsters, and other goodies via unusual locations.

 

[Gregor]

If you are seriously interested in running a campaign in that particular time period, read Jack Whyte's A Dream of Eagles series. Whyte looks at Arthurian legend from a "here is what could have happened given what we know about the Romans in Britain and their relationship with the Cambrian Celts.

The writing is fantastic and the story is captivating - it spans about 7 books (The Skystone, The Singing Sword, The Eagles Brood, The Saxon Shore, The Fort on the River's Bend, The Sorcerer, Uther and now Clothar the Frank). The story goes into incredible detail about celtic clan life (Cambrian and Hibernian), Saxon, Frank and Anglo culture etc. Whyte spends ALOT of time on Roman and Celtic wars, military makeup and equipment, armor, weapons, architecture, engineering etc.

I guarantee you'll love the books and it will give you SO much material to draw upon to plan your campaign.

Cheers,

 

[Stormborn]

IF you are willing to try a different system then go find Pendragon. It was written for what you are talking about.

 

[Wombat]

If you are seriously interested in running a campaign in that particular time period, read Jack Whyte's A Dream of Eagles series. Whyte looks at Arthurian legend from a "here is what could have happened given what we know about the Romans in Britain and their relationship with the Cambrian Celts.

The writing is fantastic and the story is captivating - it spans about 7 books (The Skystone, The Singing Sword, The Eagles Brood, The Saxon Shore, The Fort on the River's Bend, The Sorcerer, Uther and now Clothar the Frank). The story goes into incredible detail about celtic clan life (Cambrian and Hibernian), Saxon, Frank and Anglo culture etc. Whyte spends ALOT of time on Roman and Celtic wars, military makeup and equipment, armor, weapons, architecture, engineering etc.

I guarantee you'll love the books and it will give you SO much material to draw upon to plan your campaign.

Cheers,

Actually, if you want something much more factually based, I would strongly suggest the Bernard Cornwell books The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur. This is a period of vast confusion (and very poorly chronicled) and Cornwell, better than anyone else I have read in fiction, captures the double battle of Britain -- the battle of the physical land itself and the battle over the soul of the British Isles, and showing that the battles were not two-sided, but multi-sided, with supposed allies often at each others throats.

While Whyte has spent a lot of time apparently involved in his research, he gets a great number of points dead wrong, including facts regarding metallurgy, military equipment, political movements, taxation, and the ability to hide large numbers of people in convenient little hollows. He has a more modern political agenda that he is trying to put forward that, quite sadly, gets in the way of his history and storytelling.

 

[Aaron2]

While Whyte has spent a lot of time apparently involved in his research, he gets a great number of points dead wrong, including facts regarding metallurgy, military equipment, political movements, taxation, and the ability to hide large numbers of people in convenient little hollows. He has a more modern political agenda that he is trying to put forward that, quite sadly, gets in the way of his history and storytelling.

Do you know of a web page that lists the things that were wrong? I'm interested in the period.


Aaron

 

[ssampier]

Dark Ages Flavored Campaign

I, like you, enjoyed the movie and I love the dark ages period. I, however, am not a fan of "historical" games (except for the possible exception of mythic Bibical games). For me, the fun of RPGs is going out and slaying the beast and becoming a hero, not worrying about disease and an early death.

I would take the historical Dark Age trappings and use them as "flavor" for your own campaign world. I would be leery of making outrageous modifications, such as taking away magic or monsters, but you could have PCs as defenders of a wall or stronghold against the barbarians and creatures of Greco-Roman myth (gorgon, minotaur, harpies, dragons, etc.) Strange monsters like beholders and displacers beasts do not exist.

I'm sure with a little research you could have a dark aged 'flavored' campaign without removing options for the players and being too slavish to history.

 

[Gez]

You may be interested in Sword & Sorcery's Relics & Rituals: Excalibur.

I will use that post to mention that it is, indeed, Excalibur, not Excaliber (see? unborn link).

 

[Turanil]

You may also be interested in Green Ronin's Medieval Player's Manual
This book would be nice to make a more realist (less D&D) European setting, even if the book was originally intended for the 11th century rather than the 6th.

 

[Gregor]

While Whyte has spent a lot of time apparently involved in his research, he gets a great number of points dead wrong, including facts regarding metallurgy, military equipment, political movements, taxation, and the ability to hide large numbers of people in convenient little hollows. He has a more modern political agenda that he is trying to put forward that, quite sadly, gets in the way of his history and storytelling

Do you know of a web page that lists the things that were wrong? I'm interested in the period.


Aaron

I'd also like to see a list of sources that contradict Whyte. I am not a student of history or military history but I try to read as much as I can on the topics so I would enjoy seeing what he got wrong.

It all seemed quite plausible in my opinion and isnt that the point - plausibility for the non-expert? Also, I assumed that the "error" in metallurgy (ie. use of steel for Excalibur) was explained as being a rare discovery (discovering steel in the skystone well before it was widely employed giving the appearance of a magical weapon). Its supposed to be an error...at least that is what I got from reading the book and a published interview with Whyte himself. However, you could be referring to something else such as how Publius Varrus goes into detail about actual sword-making.

One potential error I did notice was how the Britons entered into skirmishes with Berber raiders. Did the Berbers ever reach the British Isles?

However the books are still fantastic and they will still give the original poster alot of good material to draw upon.

edit - forgot the last line.