Halloween Specials?

[Tripp Elliott]

Bearcat wrote:
>
> >I haven't heard of this one before. Sounds interesting.
> >Could someone give some details on this? Since beheadings
> >have become a little common in my games (bloodthirsty
> >regents), this might be interesting.
> The Green Knight arrives and challenges annyone to strike off his
> head on the condition that he may return the blow the next year, if he survives.
> Te head comes off clean, but the Knight calmly picks it up and
> replaces it proising to return....
> Bearcat

If you don't feel up to reading the Arthurian Legends to get this, you
might try renting the movie with Sean Connery, and I believe Miles
O'Keefe.

This story was also used as the basis for a Dragonlance novel concerning
Sturm. I think it was "The Oath and Measure".

Tripp

[Sepsis]

At 07:21 AM 10/24/97 -0400, Tripp Elliott(kmelliot@erols.com)wrote:
>
>If you don't feel up to reading the Arthurian Legends to get this, you
>might try renting the movie with Sean Connery, and I believe Miles
>O'Keefe.
>

I believe the movie is called, "The Sword of the Valiant". It mutilates the
Athurian legend a bit, but its still an entertaining story.


Sepsis, richt@metrolink.net (ICQ:3777956)

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

BR Netbook: http://webpages.metrolink.net/~veleda/birth.html

[KAI BESTE]

> > Does anybody know the "beheading game"? It's from one of the
> > Arthurian legends. If you're interested I can give you as much detail
> > as I remember. It could be a good one for Halloween.

Quite a few replies, so here's the whole story as far as I recall.
There was a great banquett in Camelot, and most of the knights were
present. Suddenly, the doors burst open a a warrior rode in on his
horse. He claimed to be the Green Knight and challenged the knights
to a game. One of them should behead him, and he would return the
blow a year later. When noone replied, he insulted the king and his
knights as cowards. Finally, Sir Gawain rose and agreed to the game.
He took the Green Knights axe, and beheaded him. The head came clear
off, but its owner calmly picked it up and put it back into place.
(that's the part quite a few people put on the list)
Then he bade Gawain farewell until next year and rode away. Exactly a
year later, Sir Gawain set out in search for the Green Knight,
because he was honourbound to be beheaded. Or so he thought, and he
had come to accept his fate. But when the Green Knight returned the
blow, the axe passed right through Gawain's neck without hurting him.

This could work well if an unknown knight publicly insults a regent
and challenges him. It could provoke quite a bit of roleplaying. The
regent should be really freaked, and you should keep the tension
high. ("It might be a glancing blow. If you flinch, you might avoid
it. No way you can put your head back in place as he did.").
Ultimately, it is a test of courage and honor, but the players won't
know that (hopefully they don't know the legend).

Kai

[john gonzalez]

hey all,

Sorry for the off topicness but I had to reply to someone's post about
Excaliber. No Merlin did not have a metal head, he was wearing a steel
skullcap, ;P. Great movie in my opinion, Patrick Stewart, Nicol
Williamsen? Liam Neeson, Patrick Bergan and others.
And the movie with the green knight and sir Gawain is The Sword of the
Valiant. He even had a can-opener so that he can go to the bathroom in
the armor.
Speaking of the Arthurian legend, what would converting Camelot and its
enemies into Birthright be like? Would each of the knights of the round
table, have their own provinces or just be lieutenants to Arthur with
Merlin providing realm spells.

JMG

[James Ruhland]

> Speaking of the Arthurian legend, what would converting Camelot and its
> enemies into Birthright be like? Would each of the knights of the round
> table, have their own provinces or just be lieutenants to Arthur with
> Merlin providing realm spells.
>
IMO, the Knights of the Round table would form the best stable of
lieutenants in Cerilia, if you translated the Arturian stuff to BR status;
they would (with a few exceptions) not be landed regents on their own.
However, if you read the legends, you'll notice that about every fourth
character is a King or a Queen, and most of these dudes were, to some
degree, loyal to or otherwise afiliated with Arthur; they'd be landed
regents ruling a province (or, at most, two) of their own (historically,
these guys, assuming they were based on reality, were probably like the
countless Irish Righs [Kings]; rulling some hilltop fort, most likely made
out of wood, as their "kindgom" the "king" and his merry band of
brigands...er, knights, would periodically go out into the countryside on
cattle raids...er, sacred quests for the white stag, etc. The Arthurian
legends represent bringing some sense of order and law to this benighted
state; probably, if it is based on history, during the time of the Saxon
invasions shortly after the Romans left the island. Btw, what is "wode" and
why would anyone pack their hair with lye?)
IMO, Merlin, Morgana et al would probably not be very high level mages; in
the legends, these dudes were mostly mysterious sources of power, but their
spellcraft rarely decided anything; the legends were written (originally
just spoken) for a Knightly audience; "real" men decided the matter by
force of arms, bashing at each other with sledges. So Merlin would probably
just have spells like Scry and Stronghold, likely no spells like Mass
Distruction or Summoning, much less battlespells like Fireball.

[RMoraza@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-10-26 17:48:47 EST, you write:

I believe the movie is called, "The Sword of the Valiant". It mutilates
the
> Athurian legend a bit, but its still an entertaining story.

> Are you sure you're not thinking of First Knight (Connery, Richard
>Gere, others, not very good), Prince Valiant (the film of the cartoon
>of the book), or Excalibur (Very odd, with Merlin with a metal head.
>I kid you not)? >>

Nope. Sword of the Valiant came out a number of years ago which may be why
you don't recognize it. Us D&D Geezers remember.

[Tripp Elliott]

RMoraza@aol.com wrote:

> Nope. Sword of the Valiant came out a number of years ago which may be why
> you don't recognize it. Us D&D Geezers remember.

Well, at first I was opposed to being referred to as a D&D geezer, but
since I recall anxiously awaiting the Expert Rulebook being printed and
since I did lots of gaming under the BAsic Rules, I guess I qualify.
Especially since I was the one that mentioned the movie in the first
place.

I loved it. As someone mentioned it butchers the Arthurian tales a
little, but it has a quality about it that few Arthurian Movies do. I
love how it mystically jumps from scene to scene with little or no
explanation. This is how I remember it when read Le Morte all those
years ago. The Mysticism of the tales is what makes them great, and
they did a good job of putting that into this movie.

As an aside, anyone ever seen a movie highlighting Sir Lamorak? I
haven't, but was wondering if one existed.

Tripp