My current pet project is running a game set even earlier than the Uther period (largely just because I've never done it and I've played through most other phases of the GPC)--during the time of Uther and Ambrosius' exile in Brittany, the war against Vortigern, and finally during Ambrosius' reign. My plan is to start players out as young warriors/cavalrymen companions of Uther's. Ambrosius is leading troops loyal to him and archers from Armorica to join General Aetius for the Battle of the Catalaunion Fields against Attila. Ambrosius is trying to raise money and gain Roman support for his grandiose plans to return to Britain and expel Vortigern and his Saxon allies. Ambrosius is the planning, scheming, intrigue oriented brother, Roman to his very core. Uther, however, is the headstrong, kind of wild, impetuous younger brother--a born horseman, and much closer to the Cymric culture. When Ambrosius negotiated for gold for his contribution to Aetius' forces, Uther threw in a request for samples of the Hunnish saddles--complete with stirrups, taken after the Battle of Orleans.
Uther and his companions have been training on new ways to fight from horseback using the stirrups (inventing the idea of the "Knight" in the process). At the Catalaunian Fields he and his comrades will make the first Knightly charge in battle against the Huns and their barbarian allies.
After that the campaign would follow the Companions as they travel about Brittany, raising support and making contacts for Ambrosius and bumping into Knightly Adventures--albeit ones that are grittier, grimmer, and a bit more bizarre than those the standard Pendragon game.
Most of the work I've done so far has been researching the Breton kingdoms and adjusting rulers for the period. Things like--Bristec is still running "Ker-Brist" (Brest) as an old man, a salty crafty pirate captain of an old man. Ker-Brist is going to be the "Port Royal" of Brittany, an open anything goes port town where bandits, pirates, smugglers, and grave-robbers come to sell their ill gotten goods. Anything, and just about anyone, is for sale there. Irish rovers, Britons, Saxon raiders, and more exotic types roam its streets.
I've got a good bit of work to do, but I'm probably still a couple of months out from being able to run anything anyway.
Any and all suggestions, NPC's, or words of encouragement are welcome!
(At the top of my wishlist is stats for Uther, modified down for his Young Knight phase.)

Sounds great, although ambitious! Do you plan to follow the whole GPC, or just end it at, say, Uther phase? Even playing a few decades in Pendragon can easily take several years IRL :P

The stats for Uther certainly depend on your campaign's power level. Since it sounds like a fairly low-fantasy setting at first glance, with outlaw cities and courtly intrigue being at the forefront, I would suggest something like this for a young, mad and bad Uther:

Uther ap Cystennin, Cymric/British Christian, Glory 2500 (due to glorious parentage and wild exploits)

SIZ 15 Distinctive features: Red hair, Powerful physique
DEX 13
STR 16 Famous traits: Lustful, Energetic, Generous, Proud, Reckless, Valorous
CON 18
APP 13 Famous passions: Love (Family), Loyalty (Warband) + possibly Love for Madoc's mother at some point...

Notable combat skills: Sword 15, Spear Expertise 15, Battle 16, Horsemanship 18

Notable (and notably low) skills: Courtesy 10, Flirting 15, Hunting 12, Intrigue 3, Orate 15

Gear: Roman chainmail (8 points), War pony

Actually, he seems to resemble King Pellinore quite a bit...
You might also wish to make him a Roman Christian at first, whom later converts to British Christianity.

My goal is to run up to the end of Ambrosius' reign and end with the surviving knights taking their places in King Uther's court. (If continued after that, it would be a pretty standard Phase One campaign--just with a deeper history and older characters than usual.) In truth, I'd consider it a great success if I manage to run up to the return of Ambrosius and Uther to Britain.
Many thanks for the young Uther write up! Snatched, transferred to character sheet, and printed up in a flash, that was.

Right now I've just about settled into a fair understanding of the layout of Brittany that I'm going to use. It's still very much a Roman territory--with three major Roman roads and all the major cities have Roman names. The first wave of Cymric immigrants that came with Magnus Maximus and Conan Meriadoc are all well settled in and are thoroughly Roman. The next wave, dislodged by the early Saxon invasions are fairly well entrenched in thoroughly Cymric enclaves and are into their second and third generations. A new wave is scheduled to hit the shores in about two years game time when Vortigern transplants the Cornovii noble houses to Cornwall and the previous rulers have to flee with their families, retainers, and supporters.

Farther from the cities and the roads, scattered remnants of the old Gallic tribes (at least the ones that weren't exterminated by the Romans--like the Venetii) are still lingering and maintain their own culture (which would be very similar to the Cymric culture of their fellow Celts, but must have some little differences for flavor). Past that, there's impenetrable forests and wilderness and faerie-haunted dark places that the Romans knew well-enough to leave alone.

I imagine it's going to be quite a chore to come up with proper homeland charts. There's Cymric refugees, Romans, settled Cymric enclaves, Gauls, and--heck!--there'd even be a few Alans since some were resettled in Armorica after the battle with Attila.

I might try to tackle that one homeland at a time, focusing on Ambrosius' followers and the area around Vanne. (hmm, just ran across mention of an "island of women" that should keep my potential female players (far too feisty to play Ladies, for the most part) happy.

Many thanks for the young Uther write up! Snatched, transferred to character sheet, and printed up in a flash, that was.



You're quite welcome. Good luck with the campaign, it sounds very interesting!