In my game for some reason which is still a mystory to both me and my players. The daughter of one of the earls of logres have run away and the Earl is planning on putting up a bounty for bringing her back, but what would a fitting price be?

Do you have any suggestions?

(the girl is hidding on one of the players manors as the lady in waiting to his mother and concubine of the player. Them being none the wiser to her true identity)

Do you have any suggestions?


If it were my game...

Assuming she fled by her own initiative and the Earl knows it:
This is not something the Earl would like to advertise. So he would get a group of his best, most trustworthy household knights and tell them to go and find her. They probably know her by sight, which some random knight/bounty hunter would not, and can be trusted to keep their mouths shut. Once that girl is returned to her family (with the PK running a high risk of being returned with her, for having 'despoiled a noble woman'), get thee into a nunnery. Unless the PK is Very Glorious, marriage is likely out of the cards. If a marriage does result, chances of a dowry are next to non-existent given the circumstances: the PK has basically made the daughter unsuitable for a proper marriage befitting her station!

If the Earl thinks she has been kidnapped:
Possibly more of a hue and cry, petitioning King Arthur and the RTK to help him find his beloved daughter. Her hand in marriage to any knight who rescues her! Probably going to be very displeased when the concubinage is found out... This is NOT NOT NOT proper with a noblewoman (unless one happens to be a king or a prince and even then, it is not concubinage, but being a mistress, hopefully officially 'not known')!

I am going out on a limb here, but, this sounds like a normal fantasy plot twist. However, the game is Pendragon where such things would indeed be frowned upon. So, my question first would be, did the gm know this type of situation is normally 0ut of Bounds? If so, then perhaps a twist in the original plot. Why did the Earl's daughter leave? Did the PK have full knowledge?

In one of my earlier campaigns, my character did indeed come across a woman who was fleeing from her father. Happens that father was actually King Ryons! My character did indeed woo and succeeded in marrying her during the early years of King Arthur. A grand story that was.

However, back to my original thoughts: Why was the Earl's daughter out and about?

However, back to my original thoughts: Why was the Earl's daughter out and about?

I am the GM but the players are encouraged to make their own winter stories which they write in between sessions. These stories is the primary driving force of the ingame roleplaying, i tend to let the players getaway with cool stuff in their stories, as long as they do not use it to power game.

Nobody knows for certain if this girl is the daughter of the earl yet and if that is the case for which reason she left home.
The player just wrote in his winter story that he had heard that the earl had put out a reward to anybody who could bring home his missing daughter, and that his knight now suspect that his mysterious mistress might be this daughter.

but maybe the daughter disappeared under more mysterious terms, and by the way we are in the Uther period.

well, depends on what type of campaign you want to run. Uther and Anarchy are perhaps the best times to let players get away with whatever they want. Once Arthur starts codifying everything, that changes, including, possibly all that land back to the heirs that the PKs gained during the anarchy phase.

So, yes, I think the back story could have come about. Could be the real daughter, a look alike, an ensorcelled daughter, a sorceress who has taken on the guise of the daughter with all the implications that could about. The mistress could be just who she says she is and the rumormill is working overtime. You could have lots of fun.

Just remember it is your story and how far you stray from "canon" is up to you and your players. Have fun!

In my game for some reason which is still a mystory to both me and my players. The daughter of one of the earls of logres have run away and the Earl is planning on putting up a bounty for bringing her back, but what would a fitting price be?

Do you have any suggestions?

(the girl is hidding on one of the players manors as the lady in waiting to his mother and concubine of the player. Them being none the wiser to her true identity)

My suggestion: whatever you think is enough to hook the PKs. Arthur offers 5 manors to whoever finds Merlin so, let's say, £10 or more if the Earl really loves his daughter. This is the equivalent of the yearly income of a single manor. The earl could offer more if the daughter is to marry to a powerful figure. Even if we assume that everyone will be looking for her, the PKs are the protagonists so it's up to them to solve the situation. Perhaps she doesn't want to come home and the PKs want the bounty (Merciful / Selfish), perhaps she persuades the PKs to defend her or spirit her away. If the Earl is also their liege this could test their Loyalty. You can throw her would-be husband into the mix to complicate things. In the end, it's less about the money and more about how they will handle the situation.

If the Earl is also their liege this could test their Loyalty.

I think it is very unlikely that the knights wouldn't recognize their own liege lord's daughter. They would have been in and out of the court throughout her growing up.

Back to question at hand, since the Earl is declaring a reward, it sounds like he believes the daughter has been kidnapped. £10 would be pocket change for him, I could go as high as £100 or even a manor. This is his daughter, after all, and he wants her safely returned.

It doesn't change the fact that he is going to be absolutely livid when/if he finds out that the PK has been keeping her as his mistress (assuming the mistress is actually the daughter, of course). Given that this is Uther's time, the Earl might go for the PK's head or the offending member, and Uther would probably let him. The mere thought of that ought to be giving the PK some nightmares, if he thinks the mistress is the daughter, and spur him to action one way or another.

That being said, it does have a kernel of a quite interesting story. (Again, assuming that the mistress IS the daughter.) Why did the daughter disappear from home? Was she kidnapped or did she run away on her own? Why did she end up at the PK's place? Why did she become his mistress, given that she must have known the social consequences for such a choice? I'd be tempted to steal a page from Tolkien (if you are going to steal, steal from the best :P ), and have her being enspelled, losing her memory like Nienor in The Children of Hurin. The baddie being some sorceress looking to avenge herself on the Earl or something like that.

I also echo Hzark10's point: It is your [Debelen's] campaign, so feel free to do whatever is fun for you and your players. :)

I think it is very unlikely that the knights wouldn't recognize their own liege lord's daughter. They would have been in and out of the court throughout her growing up.

Unlikely but not impossible. In a year, a person changes a lot. You would be surprised at how many people fail to be good at recognizing faces (even faces of public figures). Even knights in the literature fail to recognize each other sometimes, and these are the guys from the same Round Table. A failed Recognize roll (or, worse, a Fumble) can lead to good stories. The point being: whatever the GM decides, either it's easy to recognize her because story dictates so (automatic success) or hard (because it makes for good story situations).

This being Arthurian, the Earl calls for every able-bodied knights of his county to search for her. The reward could be a manor (or equivalent treasure). What happened between she fled and the time she entered the knight's home? How did she become his mistress? First and foremost, talk to the player about these things. Here are some stuff you can discuss with that player:
A) If she is returned, she is expecting a child. After accusations of fornication and sinful behaviour, does the PK defend her?
B) Did something happened that compelled her to leave? Is sorcery at work? Did she loose her memory?

Also, you know your players better than anyone else. If you are using the Earl's reward to hook the players into action, use whatever forces them into action.

Unlikely but not impossible. In a year, a person changes a lot. You would be surprised at how many people fail to be good at recognizing faces (even faces of public figures). Even knights in the literature fail to recognize each other sometimes, and these are the guys from the same Round Table.


In the stories, the knights wear face-covering helmets and often use the heraldry of their host/hostess, thus obfuscating their identity.

That being said, one trope that could explain their own liege lord's daughter being 'unknown' would be to send her off into a nunnery or to a female relative to be educated or something like that. Especially if the Earl himself is a widower. If she has been missing from the Earl's Court since reaching puberty and now instead of a child is a beautiful young woman, it could be excused by the PK wouldn't recognize her. Still, this would be definitely something to talk over with the Player, before pulling something like this with his own liege lord's family...

In the stories, the knights wear face-covering helmets and often use the heraldry of their host/hostess, thus obfuscating their identity.

There's that and there 's also Lancelot fumbling his Recognize and mistaking Elaine of Carbonek for Guinevere. :-)

There's that and there 's also Lancelot fumbling his Recognize and mistaking Elaine of Carbonek for Guinevere. :-)

Wasn't that in the pitch black darkness, and he had all the expectation that she would be Guinevere, since he was told by 'a reliable source' that the Queen was arranging it. However, as soon as he saw her in the light of the morning, he did see that she wasn't Guinevere after all.

Thank you for all the great feedback. It is the daughter of the earl of Hampshire (he is an earl in our game). The knight haven't met her before so he do not recognize her, but arter our last session it seems that hos new mistress is in fact the handmaiden of the earls daughter, and in turn the daughter of a somewhat wealthy vassal knight but nothing is certain yet.

I am thinking the earls daughter ran away because she was ensocceled. The handmaiden has gone slightly mad a result of her failed passion trying to bring her to her senses.

I am thinking the reward fore bringing the earl news of her daughter is 15 libra and there is a manor at stake if anybody Can bring her home unscathed.

Sounds like a good way to handle it.

IMHO, £15 for mere news might be a bit too high. I'd go with something like £4 for news leading to her rescue, and maybe £15 could be for the assist in the rescue, or something like that.

An assist wouldn't get you much from me. It would get you invited to the feast when the lady is rescued and depending upon how much help you gave the rescuer it will give you some treasure. 'She went that way' is not enough to merit any of that. You have to know something and then go put it to use. Ideally the PKs all help out when one of their own's mistress asks him to do so (and hopefully compels his passion for her!) and then they fight whichever wicked magician/faerie/beast took her and claim the true reward.

Surely how many children the father had, and how many were sons, would matter. If she was the only one to live to adulthood and thus an heiress it'd be a much bigger deal. If she's the youngest of six daughters and three sons, they'd be more interested in just resolving the situation swiftly and quietly.