I'm getting set to start running the GPC in my group. It will be the first experience with KAP for all of us. Some of my players have expressed interest in playing knights that aren't from the default Cymric or Roman backgrounds. I have the Book of Knights and Ladies, and I'm ok with this in theory, but I'm trying to figure out how to ensure that all the PKs have a reason to work together. It seems pretty important that they all have Roderick as a liege to kick off the campaign, otherwise the foreign knights should all be off doing their duty to their own lords, especially during all the battles. So I'm looking for advice on how to incorporate these characters.

My first thought is:
A) No continental knights. Those lands are just too far away during this period.
B) A knights that is not from Salisbury will start as a household knight. He is a second son, sent to Salisbury as a squire, and sponsored by a Salisbury knight after his elder brother inherited their father's manor in his homeland.

Of course, the players are all interested in having manors - one of the reasons we wanted to play KAP was for the land management part of the game - so this will push most of them to playing Cymric or Roman knights from Salisbury. Are there plausible reasons why a Saxon, Pict, Irish, or Aquitanian knight might start the GPC as a landholder in Salisbury?

Any other ideas for how I might work foreign PKs into the campaign?

You haven't said what time period you are starting in but there are two fairly easy ways to intergrate two racial groups in:

a) Aquitainians are Ganis Exiles. Forced to flee because of the fighting - remember King Bans and Bors - and they are now in Exile. The father is an exile position can work with any setting, but aside from the Ganis exiles who are a mass group, I would only want the exile background for one player in a group.

b) Saxons fostered on Cymric families after Badon by Arthur, who come of age some years later. The Jesuits have a saying ""Give me the child for the first 7 years, and I will give you the man", which is probably plagiarising "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." -- Proverbs 22:6;

c) Have the son be that of an officer in the household of the Earl of Salisbury. I can easily see a Pictish Knight ending up a Forester. With the Irish love of horses then an Irish Constable or Master of Horse is possible.

d) Ending up as a landholder in Salisbury as a foreigner. Inheritance through his mother if there are no other male relatives. Ok, so her husband should strictly get to run the estate so you are looking at someone whose fatherr is dead, but if you want to give them manors then unless they get them on marriage or as a gift then their fathers are going to have to be dead anyway.

e) Fathers were mercenary knights who end up as Household Knights or officers in Salisbury. Thus their sons get trained in Salisbury.

f) They are nephews of the Earl of Salisbury. His sisters are married for political reasons, and as their sons come of age they are found training in Salisbury. The same could be true of nephews of his wife. Neither of these really give a reason why they should start with land, and potentially gives them too close a link with the Earl.

g) It's expanding the game here by giving you someone out of the direct chain of command, but the Knight is oversseing a Church Property (Manor) in Salisbury on behalf of the church.

h) Explain the way Feudalism works and get the players to come up with a background to justify thier choice of character?

Chris

http://www.gspendragon.com/roundtable/index.php?topic=646.0

The Roman Empire was present in Britain until 410, at the very edge of living memory, and we know that they brought servants and soldiers from all corners of the Empire there (for example, some people think that the legends of King Arthur were inspired by Sarmatian soldiers stationed in Britain). A knight could be descended from a Roman officer, his family having resisted integration into Cymric society until this point, and had not become wholly Romanized before then.

My first thought is:
A) No continental knights. Those lands are just too far away during this period.
B) A knights that is not from Salisbury will start as a household knight. He is a second son, sent to Salisbury as a squire, and sponsored by a Salisbury knight after his elder brother inherited their father's manor in his homeland.


My usual approach early in the campaign is A, especially if the players haven't played Pendragon before.
Often players want something 'different', without realising that the variety among traits and skill will make them all different, and after playing a little while they'll realise that.

But I do like your option B, and it's very compatible with Avalon Lad's (a) (b) and (e) options.

We'll be starting in the Uther period.

I'm liking the idea of making them be household knights more now that I realize it will give those players extra incentive to pursue marriage with some of the wealthy widows at court, which will be fun.

We'll be starting in the Uther period.

I'm liking the idea of making them be household knights more now that I realize it will give those players extra incentive to pursue marriage with some of the wealthy widows at court, which will be fun.


It is actually much easier to pursue duties as a knight and have the lord ust assign a rich wife, rather than courting her.

You haven't said what time period you are starting in but there are two fairly easy ways to intergrate two racial groups in:

a) Aquitainians are Ganis Exiles. Forced to flee because of the fighting - remember King Bans and Bors - and they are now in Exile. The father is an exile position can work with any setting, but aside from the Ganis exiles who are a mass group, I would only want the exile background for one player in a group.

Chris



Another way to have foreigners are as in a, but you can have players from anywhere. This will be expanded and explained in the "Book of Grandfathers" where the Previous History chapter in Pendragon will be expanded to include a knight from anywhere, and not just Salisbury. Roll up a land (say Cambria), and during the reign of Vortigern, your family fled overseas to escape persecution. When Ambrosius returns, so does your father and is given land in Salisbury for his contributions and fights at Mt. Damien with Uther. He dies, and now you are ready to play during Uther's time. The Book of Grandfathers gives you a year-by-year detailed history of events, battles, possible passions, so your character will have a rich detailed history.

Stayed tuned for more information.

Bob

I basically use option B with outright banning of foreign knights until the Boy King period. I say that there's basically no interest in coming to Britain to pursue knighthood until it becomes a beacon of chivalry and wealth, not to mention knighthood not spreading across the channel "officially" until about this time. Once the initial PK or two of a given player dies I offer the choice of switching to a more exotic ethnic background and conspire to get some land to them in return for meritorious conduct during a battle. The peasants, of course, don't really care for their new, strange lord....

Foreign Knights are NO GOOD!!!! DONT DO IT!!!!! ;D