I'm about to start the grail quest in my campaign. This is of course the quintessential Christian quest, which is also borne out by the published material for Pendragon.

Only, I have on player with a Pagan knight, and I don't really want to force him not to attend. I have introduced some Grail Christian thinking into my campaign, and I have also indicated that for pagans Cerridwens Cauldron and the Holy Grail is really the same.

But now I am a bit at loss for ideal. What is a Pagan knight supposed to do during the Grail Quest?

Is there anyone who has faced this "problem" before? How did you solve it? Is there any other ideas?

The Grail Quest for me has always been about spirituality, not religion. Anyone can achieve the Grail, in theory. Pelagianism, the basis for British Christianity (which in turn should be the basis for Grail Christianity in my book), denied the existence of Original Sin and contended that a virtuous individual could achieve salvation even had he or she never heard the Word of God. A further tenet insisted that grace, necessary for salvation, descended directly from God without need for the intercession of the Church. All this is very much consistent with the spirit of the game and the high ideals of the Grail Quest.

In my personal gaming experience, it has always been the Pagans who achieve the Grail rather than the Christians. Not sure why, but the dice consistently fell that way four separate times. Had Jewish and Mithraic knights achieve the Grail, which I think is pretty cool. It made Arthur's age seem that much more inclusive. Also, it's not about the numbers on the character sheet. A notable trait is fine, but a knight has to both feel that trait strongly (i.e., succeed in a check) and act upon it in a meaningful and appropriate fashion. Failure to do both (and indeed, a failure on just one important check, or to act meaningfully and appropriately in each and every case) means you might never achieve the Grail. It's not meant to be easy.

The Grail Quest for me has always been about spirituality, not religion. Anyone can achieve the Grail, in theory.

I agree. This is important; pagan knights should not be disqualified.

But this do mean that what we see in Mallory for example - lot of devils and tests of Christian virtues - isn't very useful when designing Grail Quest adventures. "Okay, in this adventure, if you fail Chaste and Modest, you're out of the quest". Useless. You have to test PC in another way during the Grail Quest. The whole Christian thing have to be deemphasized.

But the word "spirituality" is perhaps also the key. Do a lot of Pious/Worldly-test (if you think that pagans can be pious; I am not sure they should be, but mine are anyway). And test their commitment to the Grail by testing their "worldly" passion: Loyalties, Loves, Honor. Those who but these things before the Grail are knights of the Mortal World and will never achieve the Grail.

Thanks. I think you made me think a bit clearer.

An interesting thing about the Grail Quest is its ambiguity. Christian knights faced with a temptress need to rebuff her in order to display their transcendence of worldly desires, whereas Pagan knights must embrace her to display their sacred generative power. That conflict is a fundamental (and funky) part of the Grail Quest which needs be celebrated.

One nuance of Pendragon's original design which always pleased me tremendously was the fact that the "mainstream" religions each had a pair of traits overlapping with Chivalry. Christians had Merciful and Modest, Pagans had Energetic and Generous (but were penalized for Proud), Jews had Energetic and Just, etc. while the "outsider" religions had just one (or none, for Heathens).

The current edition, including BOKL, adds Arian Christianity (Just, Merciful), British Christianity (Energetic, Generous, Modest), Orthodox Christianity (Generous, Just, Merciful, Modest), Neoplatonism (Just), Manichaeism (Generous, Modest), various flavors of Germanic Paganism (Generous), Catharism (Generous, Modest), Nomad Animism (Energetic), and Saracen (Just, Merciful).

I can see giving British Christians an edge when it comes to Chivalry, given that they are, insofar as the Arthurian legends are concerned, its originators. Not as sure about Orthodox Christians, but if you justify it as a benefit of their being the oldest and most civilized realms still extant in the world... I guess could see that. Still, the old balance is mostly preserved even if certain of the new religions seem there only for the sake of historical color.

Where is this all going? Well, the more traits a religion has in common with Chivalry is a good way to gauge the degree to which its adherents will do on the Grail Quest. Heathens have almost zero chance of success, Germanic Pagans too since both Heathens and Germanic Pagans have Worldly as a religious trait. But there should be as many Arians, Jews, Cathars, Manichaens and Saracens at the High Mass of the Holy Grail as there are Roman Christians and British Pagans, so it seems a specific set of religious traits isn't as important game-wise and you should challenge each quester as an individual of his or her own faith rather than use one overarching set.

An interesting thing about the Grail Quest is its ambiguity. Christian knights faced with a temptress need to rebuff her in order to display their transcendence of worldly desires, whereas Pagan knights must embrace her to display their sacred generative power. That conflict is a fundamental (and funky) part of the Grail Quest which needs be celebrated.

Certainly! But it offers a problem for adventure design. That is, how to set up situations in which both pagans and Christians can succeed or fail, and that still feels logical. It's is not easy.

I'm thinking, that since Chivalry has very much to do with the Material realm, perhaps it should be downplayed during the Grail Quest. Or be the basis of though challenges. "Chivalry dictates that I save the maid from Sir Brutealot, but that will force me to give up the lead to the Grail that I'm following. What is the right thing to do?".

In some ways, the early portions of the Grail Quest are best handled as a solo. Knights are often separated from one another along the Grail Path, only coming together again when they pass the individual tests they've faced or near the culmination of the Quest. Look to the Adventure Of The Richmond Tunnels (Perilous Forest, pp. 55-8) for inspiration.

The transcendent properties of Chivalry are many, in my opinion, hence its enduring appeal through the ages. It is as much a "higher calling" as the various religious ideals, and more universal in game terms. You are correct that it is worldly, however. Chivalry in many ways equates to the modern philosophy of secular humanism.