[TQB] The Matted Lion

[Matt Gwinn]

Well, we did character creation for The Questing Beast last night and I'm pretty excited about running it.

The Accord
It actually took us quite a while to settle on an Accord as there was a bit of disagreement about whether or not Arthur and the Land were actually one.  In the end we reluctantly chose to answer that question in play.  Anyway, here is our Accord:

- Arthur has been King for many years.
- Guinevere and Lancelot have been missing for 5 years.
- Arthur has sent many knights looking for them never to return.
- Arthur has become depressed and withdrawn.  His strength and leadership are but a shodow of what they once were.
- The Round Table is divided over how to handle the situation
- Mordred is dead leaving no heir to the thrown

That's pretty much the basic jist of where we are starting.  Did I forget anything guys?

Premise
We had a really hard time finalizing a Premise.  The group had desided that they wanted to be involved in some quest type scenarios, but wanted the Premise to reflect the relationship between the state of the King and the State of the Kingdom.  These are the two we debated over:

- "By healing the kingdom do you heal the King?"

- "Can you heal the kingdom without healing the King?"

The players were evenly divided and I didn't see enough difference between the two to cast the desiding vote.  Again, the big issue was whether or not the King and the Land were actually one.  I suggested that we make that the Premise, but we quickly came to the conclusion that the Premise would be desided by the first Monolog of Victory.

After much debate, we set both ideas aside and chose

- "Do the Quests of knights represent hope for the kingdom?"

Characters/Players

- Scott is playing a dalmation knight who is still loyal to the King.  He considers himslef to be a spin doctor of sorts dedicated to maintaining Arthur's good image.

- Tom is playing a Skunk knight who is also loyal to the king.  Having been knighted in the field he is considered by many established knights to be untested.

- Danielle is playing a honey badger female knight.  That's all I wrote down for her, so maybe she can give you a little more detail.

- Paul is a Crow knight and is the son of Mordred and a peasent girl.  He is twitchy, despised and a bit off kilter.  He is mentally conflicted over being Mordred's son and often hears his father's voice.



Feel free to post anything I forgot guys.

,Matt gwinn

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Matt,

- "By healing the kingdom do you heal the King?"

- "Can you heal the kingdom without healing the King?"

The players were evenly divided and I didn't see enough difference between the two to cast the desiding vote.

I'm with you, man. Those are totally synonymous as I see them too, and I think your deciding vote should have been "Yes."

Sometimes I think the Narrativism essay should have included another form of dysfunctional play - the "Too much reading Ron fallacy," which is to say, an overriding desire to articulate the content of one's game in Lit 101 terms prior to play.

Consider this to be advice to boot Paul and Scott (yes, you two!) wherever it takes, to get them out of "gee, what's this about" mode and into "my guy does this" mode.

Best,
Ron

[hardcoremoose]

Consider this to be advice to boot Paul and Scott (yes, you two!) wherever it takes, to get them out of "gee, what's this about" mode and into "my guy does this" mode.

For the record, Paul and I were on the same page regarding this debate!  It was Tom and I that were at odds!

And like Matt said, it wasn't so much the reading of the stated premises that was the problem (I eventually agreed that they were synonomous), but that we were divided about Arthur's relationship to the land itself.  Some of us were very much into the idea of Arthur being magically and spiritually connected to Britain, such that when his health fails, so does the kingdom's.  The rest of us (that is, Paul and I), were interested in something slightly less fantastic, in which the woes of the kingdom couldn't be explained (or fixed) magically, but were rather a result of Arthur's deterioration as a leader.  In the end, we decided to sidestep the whole issue, intentionally leaving it out of our Accord, just like we did any mention of Merlin or Morgan le Fey.

- Scott