The year is 535 AD and I'm going to run the Queen's Knights contest from Blood and Lust. I'm just confused about something: when a knight is chosen to become a Queen's Knight, is it only for the following year and then he must compete again? The Blood and Lust scenario seems to imply that but the rulebook does not.

The rules for the Queen's Knights are contradictory even within Blood&Lust.

1. The opening explanation of Queen's Knights in the beginning makes no sense, since it implies that the Queen only has 5 bodyguards: the winners of each the five skills each year. This is way too little, and would be swamped by the RTKs: no PKs need to apply, until they reach that level.

2. KAP 5.2 is along the same lines, talking of annual contests AND tourneys, and mentions that the Queen can test for other skills, too. Still, you'd be limited to only a few knights here, again, so same complaint as the above.

3. The Contest of Queen's Knights in Blood&Lust is my favorite. It sets down the number of Queen's Knights, 50, which seems like a proper bodyguard for the High Queen of Britain. Also, it says that 25 places are filled this year. To my GM brain this implies that the other 25 knights might be appointed. That way, the Queen can ensure that she has a core of skilled, proven, trustworthy knights, and also brings in some promising outsiders yearly, so that she may evaluate them and perhaps pick the best from them to refill the appointed ranks when there are openings. Chances are that the most eager & courtly RTKs are already appointed, taking them out of the running, which again opens up the chances for the PKs to get in. Also, the appointed knights can act as the impartial judges, hence allowing the other Queen's Knights to compete again for the following year.

If it wasn't clear, my recommendation is to go with The Contest. :)

Thanks, Morien. In fact, I did not consider the number of knights to as low as you say since I assumed, this being a knightly order that there would be a lot of knights (like the KoRT or the Templar Knights). I'll go with the Blood & Lust scenario. My question was about the repetition of the contest, though. If a PK is chosen as a Queen's Knight, must he compete on the following year to maintain his standing? In other words, is this a permanent thing or temporary?

Thanks, Morien. In fact, I did not consider the number of knights to as low as you say since I assumed, this being a knightly order that there would be a lot of knights (like the KoRT or the Templar Knights). I'll go with the Blood & Lust scenario. My question was about the repetition of the contest, though. If a PK is chosen as a Queen's Knight, must he compete on the following year to maintain his standing? In other words, is this a permanent thing or temporary?


Temporary. Longer answer below.

I actually misread the description of the contest yesterday: ALL 50 positions are up for grabs. It is just that about half of them are filled after the Day Three, leaving 25 openings for the Last Day. It is also clear that this is an annual thing, i.e. the knights serve for a year, and then a new contest is held to select the Queen's Knights for the next year. It is also clear that the luminaries such as Gawaine, Tor and Amren completed the previous year and won their seats. There are no appointments.

What is a bit troubling is the implication that the current Queen's Knights are not allowed to compete, since they are acting as testers. (This is not explicit, but at all points, Queen's Knights appear as separate from the Contestants, only in tester roles. Hence, my impression that they are not allowed to compete.) Not a big deal, but it means that Sir Tor, for example, would NOT be a Queen's Knight every other year, being ineligible to compete. On the other hand, this does mean that there are even fewer RTKs per year, which means there are better chances for the PKs, which is nice.

So, in summary, as far as I understand it:
1) The 50 Queen's Knights are selected in an annual contest and serve for a year.
2) The outgoing Queen's Knights act as testers during the contest and are hence ineligible to compete.
3) Thus, the PKs, who win a position in the Queen's Knights, serve for a year, act as testers and are then dismissed. They have a leap year before they can be contestants again.

I would add, though, that while there is a contest with scoring, Queen Guenever's favor would certainly be worth many points. In other words, while everyone competes, if the Queen wants a certain competitor to be in the Queen's Knights, he will become one. This is probably not that important for the PKs, unless they have done something to gain the Queen's favor.

Regarding Scoring:
- I'd award double checks for critical successes, too.
- The Just question is a bit odd. Ignorance ought not to be a defense, especially since the cow MUST have belonged to someone, and certainly Generous and Loyalty would argue for compensating the fellow knight, once the truth is known. I'd change that answer in my campaign.

Thanks, Morien, I rather like the idea of having half of the knights appointed (or having earned the favor of Queen by contest, they were later appointed by virtue of their outstanding service) and the other half by contest. This is what I will do, adapting the scenario to the current group (one of the PKs is a Romantic Knight, several others have Amour: Guinevere, and one even saved Arthur during Camilla's rebellion in 532 AD. Also, I rather like the scenario as presented in Blood & Lust because it's a court adventure and those are rarer than the more "knightly" stuff.

In my campaign, once you made Queen's Knight, it was a yearly honorary thing that the Queen could revoke. One of my player knights was removed for being a bad lover