Hengist the Dane - Saxon Roleplaying in Arthurian Britan

[HOT]

Ok heres an Idea that's been rolling around in my head for a while. The concept is that you are first- or second-generation immigrants to Britan around 500 AD. "Fleeing from strife and starvation they came to a rich fertile country. They were hard men and women and were soon sought after as mercenaries and soldiers. They fought for land and the right to stay at this fertile isle. The greatest of them were Hengist the Dane." This is a sort of Pendragon in a mirror where Arthur and Camelot are the villains. Arthur has won most of southern Britain through wars and deceit, and has cast the Saxons out of every kingdom he has conquered. I think I will try to take a simulationist outlook on the technology level so no plate armour, longbows or heavy cavalry. The starting setting would be in Vortigern's kingdom of Cambria(?) where the Saxons and Britons live in peace together some years before Vortigern's death. I don't have a system as of yet, but I guess I can use Ars Magica until I figure out something better. If someone has ideas for systems or other comments please post them!
Haakon Olav Thunestvedt

[Kryyst]

A few systems that immediately come to mind are

Pendragon
Harn
Riddle of Steel

It all just depends on what you want your players in that setting to be doing.  Riddle of Steel being more combat intensive from the rules side then the others.

[RaconteurX]

Have you taken a look at Saxons! for Pendragon? If not, you probably should... it has done most (if not all) your homework for you.

[Shreyas Sampat]

Hello, Haakon.

I'm not sure this is the forum for this kind of discussion; Indie Game Design is specifically for the discussion of designing new roleplaying games. You might want to put future posts of the form, "I need a system for this idea" in RPG Theory instead.

That said, what do you want the characters to be doing? You've given a lot of setup, but I'm not feeling any hooks for players to grab onto.

[Valamir]

Have you taken a look at Saxons! for Pendragon? If not, you probably should... it has done most (if not all) your homework for you.

I'd say all actually, including setting up a Saxon centric campaign that corresponds to Phase 0/1 of the Pendragon Timeline (which was pre plate mail and heavy cavalry) and which Uther/Arthur is the principal antagonist.

I hate to breat it to you Haskon, but your game idea has pretty much been done.  You could, if you wanted, convert it to another system, but the campaign info is about as good a job at merging authentic Anglo Saxon history with the romantic history of Arthur that its possible to do.

[HOT]

I am familliar with Pendragon but haven't read The Saxons. If I ever get behind the idea-stage I'll use it for reference. Pendragon of course has a strong "British" bias, while the bias for Hengist would be "English"/Saxon. I'll try to define my concept a bit clearer so you can see where I differ from Pendragon and if I at all differ from The Saxons. I see I should have been clearer in my first post. The point isn't to take the arthurian setting as is and see it from the other side. It's to take the time 5XX AD shake of most of the frippery and keep some of the core trappings, THEN turn it 180*. Of course this has probably been done before, but most things have been done before, it's the nuances that makes things important.
The style of the setting is gritty rather than romantic, with a few of the arthurian trappings. It will probably be heroic in the sense of the presense of larger-than-life C's (at least NPC's, I don't know yet if I'll let the PC's start or get to this level). Heroic in the Achilles, Eigil Skallagrimson sense rather than chivalric heroism. Britain is in this period is of course a mess, that's why it's interesting to play there. What themes are there in this game? Well I'll try to skecth up a few: One is survival in a foreign land where most people are hosile towards you. Another is co-existance: Is it possible to peacefully co-exist with the britons or need every strip of land be carved from their hide? A third is a new beginning, but it's more "out of the frying pan into the fire"- sort of new beginning but it's still a new place with new chances. Another is technology and culture: Camelot is trying to save civilization on the british isles, but by not being open to new impulses, they become stagnant
What do the characters do? The most obvious option is characters as mercenaries for a warlord/king doing escort, scouting etc. Another option is to play people in a colony in a Ars Magica covenant-style where the colony becomes a sort of character in it self. A city campaign is possible, there are several cities even now so it's certainly an option.

I must admit that the idea wasn't as complete as it could have been when I posted it here. I just thought it would be a nice concept. Another motive for posting this here was of course to try posting something of substance on the forum instead of lurking all the time. Sigh: Better luck next time I guess.
Haakon