SPEAKER_01 0:38

Welcome to Stories with Dice. This is the Sword Campaign, a Pendragon actual play podcast using the sixth edition starter set from

Introduction to the Sword Campaign

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Chaosium. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us, it really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated, share your thoughts, and join the conversation. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. Last time on the sword campaign, the Battle of Carleon reached its bloody conclusion. King Lot and his northern allies retreated in defeat, while our Salisbury knights triumphed over the Saxon Oswolf, once known to them as Sir Owen, and rescued Count Robert. King Arthur emerged alive from the fray, thanks to Merlin's intervention. However, the battle came at a cost. Sir Histolin suffered a major wound and now rests under the skilled care of King Leo de Granz's healers. As the fires of war fade to embers, the winter phase begins.

Winter Phase Begins

SPEAKER_01 2:04

The year is slowly coming to a close. But our story continues. And we're back with the sword campaign episode six. Once again I'm joined by Ed playing Sir Ian. Good day, sir. And Pete playing Sir Histolwin. Hi. And Tony playing Sir Caradoc. Hello. So you've all, you know, you're all you've all returned back to Serum as household nights of Count Robert for the remainder of the year. Two of you are probably taking it very easy and recovering, and you've got attendants who are helping you and cleaning your bandages and tending to your every need, giving you food and water and bathing you and everything else. So we're gonna do personal events. So who rolled 12? That was that Pete? That was me, yeah. Okay, so you rolled a twelve. So trusting is your personal event.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

So let's do that one first. Oh, that's cool. I'm just looking through the book now, and I can see there's a whole list of different things you can pick from. Okay. Or you've roll from.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Make an make an unopposed roll against that trait. The trusting that's clever.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, I'll go 14.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

You gotta flip. So you failed. Okay. So now roll the opposite trait. Pass. And that was suspicious, yes? Okay. You have accused someone in uh Count Roberts court, and you can you can decide what this is of some rumor that that's been going around, and they deny the accusation and demand a duel, which is horrible for you because you're convalescing. Need a second. Do you need a second? Do you mean an undertaker?

SPEAKER_02 3:47

In this case.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

What this what it what is it that you're accusing this other person in in Robert's court of?

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Right, yeah, probably probably besmirching my name over the fact that I was I fell in the battle of Karen.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

So you've accused them of besmirching your name? And they're d okay, so the so this individual denies the accusation and demands a duel. So do you want to fight this duel or do you want to ask Sir Ian to be your champion?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

I'm proud. I'm I'm I'm gonna fight the duel, yeah. There's no way I'm gonna make a make a melee weapon skill roll. I I love a death in the winter phase. Do I get anything from my passions at all?

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah, if you wanna if you want to roll a passion, you can.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Just trying to see if I've got one that's useful. I don't so I don't get any benefit.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

No. You have a success. So you have won you have won the duel in glory equal to twice their weapon skill. So you gain 38 glory. Oh nice. And Count Robert jails the individual.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah, I should think so. Sir Ian, what did you roll? I rolled an eight. I think that's modest or proud, I think. It is modest or proud, that is correct.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

I mean, I passed. You have passed. Okay, so at one of the feasts during the year, people are, you know, they're speaking well of you when you were tasked with with finding Count Robert and then how you acquitted yourself on the battlefield. And so you allow your peers to sit closer to the Lord's table and be served first during Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

So I don't boast as much. I just kind of like take a take a step. That sounds cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

And if the trait isn't already checked, you can check it. So rechecked. Yep. And the same goes for you, Pete. Which one's that? What was your your trusting or your suspicious, whichever, whichever was suspicious?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Right, yeah. So I'm more suspicious now.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Yep. Okay. Now, Tony, let's give us give us a roll, or if you haven't got that ten. So spiritual, yeah. So roll your spiritual trait. And got it. Okay. Success. So a chaplain cited your exemplary conduct as an example of piousness in one of their sermons at the at the cathedral in Sar in Sarum.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

But I guess, you know, because this was my first battle, right? I was exactly, yes. So I think uh I think this brought me closer to to my Lord. I mean to Jesus, I guess. And you know, I think I've been praying quite a bit during winter and trying to you know be thankful for surviving this first battle and see the horrors of war. And I worry brought me closer to my spiritual side. So I I probably have been more going to the cathedral lately because of this.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah, that makes sense. That absolutely makes sense. So now we go to the experience role. You you uh you spend some of this time reflecting on what you know the the year that's gone by, what you've learned from not only your successes, but from your failures as well. So all the skills, the traits, and the passions that have been checked, the procedure to increase any of

Personal Events Unfold

SPEAKER_01 7:09

these is the same. So you would roll 1d20 once for each of those experience checks. And if the number rolled is greater than the current value, then you've learned from the experience and you can add one point to that value.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna push the experience rolls tab and see what happens. So I improve my intrigue, my charge, my sword. I don't improve my horsemanship, my awareness, my indulgent is improved, but my valorist isn't, ratus isn't, energetic is, modest is improved, cruel is improved, chaste is no improvement, my passion for count Robert is also not improved.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

So yeah, it looks like it worked. Okay, so everyone can just on the winter tab of your sheet just click on the experience roles and have at it. Yes, cool, you get to see it. Oh, nice. Get that. So, Sir Histalwyn, your charge has improved, your horsemanship has improved, your intrigue has improved, your sword skill has improved, no improvement on lustful, nothing, nothing on indulgence. Yeah, yeah. Nothing unvalorous, and uh no improvement on your honor passion sacaradoc.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Yeah. I improved my recognize. Interesting, because I recognized these two knights. Uh my sword, so it went to 12. My spiritual part, okay. All this praying was good. And my hate for saxons, which is it makes sense also. I mean, with the battle that we had. So pretty nice.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Excellent. That's really cool. It's nice to you just hit one tab for that. Thank you, ever created.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

So uh because you're household nights, we don't have to deal with your economic circumstances because your liege lord pays for everything for you. So and every every year he gives you fresh horses. If you need them, he gives you new clothes, fresh armor, all of those things. Aging and old age, that only starts when you're 35, and none of you are 35, though you should have all aged up one year. Also, age your squires as well. So everyone, roll your squire skill. Anyone who succeeds, you can raise your squire's skill by one point.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

There's a skill, so it goes from 15 to 16. It's just a shame my squire is never around.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

It's funny, I'm the one who has the lowest skill on the squire.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

He's the one who has something to prove. Now we're gonna go on to the horse survival. Roll a d20 for me for each of your horses.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

I succeed. I mean a nine, I don't know, I succeed.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

You have a nine, okay. Your horse has recovered from his injuries, he is healthy. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

I don't want to play this game. I would have to name my horse.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

No, never name your horse. That's not well. Going, oh look, I'm going to the trenches and here's a here's a picture of my soon-to-be wife. Just, you know, let me just don that red shirt right now.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Uh I wanted to call it Rocinante. I'm so sad. Uh Sir Vistalwin, give me a give me a D twenty. Your horse has your horse has also survived, Sir Ian.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

My horse is about to be turned and lunch meat, I guarantee you. No. I pause.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Your horse has succeeded and the GM will not eat your horse for dinner. It's good, man. So now also during this time, you would be training and practicing, spending some of your time training and practicing. So you can select any one of the following improvements. You can change a personality trait. You can add one point to a trait, decreasing its opposite by the same amount. You cannot give a critical bonus to a trait or increase an existing critical bonus through training and practice. So you can add one point to any trait and then decrease the opposite value. The other option is you can change it, you can change a passion, you can add or subtract one point from any passion, you can change a characteristic, you can add one, you can add one point to strength, dext, con, or appeal.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

If you click the button add a single point to a stat, it brings up a long list and you can pick one.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

I'm gonna do a strength there. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

And you can only increase size when you if you increase size this way, you can only increase it in accordance with the getting fat rule. So keep that in mind if you want to increase your size. I would you can also choose to train skills up to 15 or up to 20.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

You can do one or the other. The player may select one of the following. So change your personality, change your passion, change a characteristic, train

Experience Rolls and Growth

SPEAKER_00 12:06

a skill. So you can either train a skill or add a stat. So one of the points. So how many points can you put into training, did you say? Totally.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

So you can add six points to any skill that's under fifteen in any combination. All the points may be added to one skill or divided between several skills, as long as the values are not raised over fifteen. You can raise one skill that is over fifteen by one point up to a maximum of a value of twenty. So those are your skill options. Write this down so that you can add this all up. So you each get twenty-five glory for the bandits, do you each get a hundred glory for being at Arthur's coronation? Do you each get thirty glory for participating in the Battle of Carleon? And then you would get additional glory. You get fifty glory for the Knights of Lothian, twenty twenty-five glory for the Saxon Warriors, and a thousand for saving Count Robert, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Easily. Easily.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

And a thousand for saving Count Robert, yes. What? I like that. No, no, no, no, no. Five hundred, I'm sorry. Five hundred.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Do you buy it or eat? Eat. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Well done, guys.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

You're welcome, Pete. Well, I don't get that.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Which we did kind of like pick him up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

So histoline was our shield.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yes. So for every 1,000 points of glory that you have, you receive a prestige reward. So you if you're looking at the book, it's on page 233. Yeah. So you could so you have two rewards. And so Karadaka, it looks like you have two rewards as well. So Histolin, I think you probably have two. Yep, so you have two as well. So you can raise any statistic by one point. No restrictions apply to this increase. No penalties pertain. And it may increase their critical bonus for skills over 20. Be sure to refigure your derived characteristics if they apply. You can lower the value of a passion by a point if you want, to guarantee that an heir is conceived and born healthy and of the gender that you prefer. You can use your point to do

Unexpected Marriage Proposal

SPEAKER_01 14:26

that. You can use your point to guarantee for any other child born to a player knight, either the conception, health, gender desired by the players.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Well, that is very sweet. So I'm gonna go up one in size and one in strength.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Okay. I'm gonna click on prestige rewards and see if it gives it to me. Ah, it does. It does? Yeah, click on click on prestige reward and it comes up with all the stuff you want.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Sir Histelwin, during this during this time, a commoner comes to Count Robert's court with a daughter who looks to be maybe seven months pregnant, and he petitions Count Robert to have you marry her because he believes that you are the father of this child. And he comes from St. Albans. Awkward. And if this were a film, there'd be like a little flashback moment where you're like dressing hurriedly, coming out of that house as you're going to the tournament the night after the feast. I'll definitely look closely and see if I recognize her. Oh, you recognize her, alright. All right. What do you do? Are you going to accept that you're the father or are you going to deny that it ever happened?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

I'm honest. So if if I I will admit there is a possibility. A possibility, says Count Robert. Well, I can't speak to the uh the ongoing honour of the uh young lady.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

The the her father says My lord, I I will I will not stand here and be and have my daughter be insulted by a knight of your court. If I must I will take this to King Arthur himself.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Sorry, my friend, I meant no insult by it. I was purely um questioning the truth.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

And the the the young girl says, My lord, I I was a virgin up until that night, as God is my witness.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

And you have lain with no other? No, sir. What do you take me for? I I'm afraid I I don't know you that well, so I could not be the judge. However, I shall take your word on this. So are you agreeing to marry the girl? I will look to my liege lord as to uh decide what should happen.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

He takes you aside and he says, You are you are you are a knight of my court, Sir Histelwin. I know your people do things a little differently, but we are Christian here, and I cannot have a dishonor besmirch my court if there is even a chance that you are the father, you must marry this girl. Yeah, if if that is the tradition of your court, sire, I will abide by it. Very good. We shall have a fine wedding. And they slaps you on the shoulder and he's like, It's not the end of the world, so Histolin, she is a fine looking girl, though it is unfortunate that she is a common.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Yeah. Ah, but the advantage, sire, is that we already know of her fertility. Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

So you have a fine wedding. Count Robert foots the bill. It's it's a beautiful wedding in the cathedral at Sarn. Your your companions are there, even King Arthur shows up. It's a wonderful, wonderful ceremony. Now let's find out what happens to that childbirth. The joys of this game. She has twins, two identical boys. Your life's about to change. Yes, your life is about to change. So Histelwind is now a father to two twin boys.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Indeed, very fertile. She chose well.

The Search for a Bride

SPEAKER_02 18:19

I would probably ask Count Robert. I think uh Sir Karaduk after the battle of Carblion will say, you know, uh I will go to him and say, I want to continue serving my dish, and if marrying a good maiden that can help you on your on your claims, I would happily do so.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I know just the woman for you. And he he introduces you to one of the one of the ladies of of the court, a lady in waiting. Give me a flirting role. That's a skill, yeah. Yeah. Eleven. Five. Success. So yeah, so you've spent several months wooing this lady. We'll uh we'll come up with a name and family history and everything else in between sessions. And let's say we have a double wedding. So Karadoc and this lady in waiting, and Sir Histelwind and his beautiful but poor commoner wife. Sir Ian, is there anyone do you want to also No marriage for Sir Ian? Okay, okay. Yeah, so Count Robert like tries to introduce you to several available women, and you're like, nope, nope, no thanks, nope, nope, nope.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

No, no. Give me another good three or four years, maybe, but Okay. Um well I I shouldn't be in the same situation as a Sivistalin, because you know, I keep it in my pants. You are a good chaste Christian. Well, yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

In that respect, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Yeah. You know, it's winter, you need to be warm at night, and then we'll go battling again. Uncle Felix. And to do one to go battling.

New Adventure Awaits

SPEAKER_01 20:03

So shall we start the beginning of the next of the next adventure or shall we save that for the next episode?

SPEAKER_00 20:10

I I'm do you want to lay us a nice little kind of idea of what's gonna happen so we can kind of wet our appetite, and I suppose for everyone listening can wet their appetite for the next part. So that's it, we've done the first part of the adventure, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yep, you've done the first adventure, yeah. So now this would be the second one in the starter set. So okay. Yeah, so let me let me wet your whistle here. In our cinema of the imagination, the lights dim, and a title card fades into view on the screen, displaying the following text Pentecost eleven AD. Arthur, the boy king, has summoned a council of lords and knights from across Logris to Carleon to confront the mounting challenges to his young and fragile reign. Meanwhile, at the behest of Arthur and the Archduit Merlin, his trusted counselor, three Salisbury knights embark on an urgent mission to foreign

The Urgent Mission

SPEAKER_01 21:09

courts, their charge to secure military aid against King Lot, whose forces even now march south. The camera fades to black, and then fades in on a sunrise over the ancient Roman fortress of Carleon, its golden light breaking over weathered stone walls and spilling into the bustling courtyard. Lords and knights from Logris stir beneath the banners of every hue, their retainers moving swiftly among them, and in the distance we see our three Salisbury knights, Sir Ian, Sir Caradoc, Sir Histelwin, and their squires on horseback, swiftly riding away from Carlia. So King Arthur has asked you all to memorize a message and deliver. Deliver it to King Nim of Galvoy, King Leodegrance of Cameliard, and Count Sanum of Bedegrain, or their most trusted men. You are to return swiftly with their answers. Arthur's army marches to Lambor in three weeks' time. If you fail to deliver these messages before then, you he may not have the numbers he needs to beat Lot's forces. And Merlin has warned you that Cambria's hill tribes are hostile and that King Lot's scouts are patrolling all the roads ahead of his advance. So your best chance lies in following the rivers. So you cross into Glevum and make camp for the night. The Druid's words echo in your minds, beware the eyes that watch, and the ears that listen, for shadows are ever near and the way is perilous. And the night passes quietly, and at daybreak you ride north through Tukesbury, following the river Severin beyond the borders of Logris, and into the kingdom of Galvoy, where a patrol of knights meets you at the edge of their territory, their armor glinting in the early morning sun, and the leader of this group of knights, his broad shoulders and his face is scarred from many battles and many winters, raises a hand in greeting and he says We are to escort you through our lands to King Nim at the castle of Salt. Now you also have gifts. So King Arthur has asked you to deliver a message, and that message, by the way, is My good sir, we have knowledge that King Lot and his allies march to attack us. If you would prove your loyalty, then prepare to meet us at Lambor, from whence we march north to face them in battle. Now he told you to memorize it because he didn't want it written down. So you have the message to deliver to these lords,

Message to King Nim

SPEAKER_01 24:07

you also have gifts for each of them. So your squires are to remain in the inner bailey with your horses, and the guards take you to the great hall, and you come before King Nim, and he's this runty little man, he's got a great golden crown on his head, and he squints down at you from his throne and he strokes his billy goat beard. Why are you here? Speak up. Message from Arthur. This boy king of yours does he want to take my land away from me? No, sir. All right, give me your message. What is it? Give me a give me a courtesy roll, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Whoever's gonna give the message. I'll defer to say and being the senior knight amongst us now. My lord, the message is good, sir. There is knowledge the King Lot and his allies march to attack us. If you would prove your loyalty, then prepare to meet us at Lamborgh from whence we march north to face them in battle. And then you I imagine you also present him with the gift. Yes. Like forget about the gift and kind of like grab the gift and kind of like may I? And I pass it to whoever is. Okay. Give me a courtesy role, please. Courtesy, courtesy, courtesy. Whereas courtesy is a passion, isn't it? No, it's a skill, sorry, skill. Yeah. Yes. I'm actually quite good at this. Not today.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Tell your king that this gift is a good start, but I expect more riches and more distinguished messengers to bring them to me before I lead my mighty army outside my borders.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Well I prepare myself to sort of ask them if we can be let out to the north instead of to the south. Your kingdom is in the south. Why would you go north? We have to go elsewhere as well. We have other we have other things to request. Ah I see.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

And he snaps his fingers, and his the men that escorted you in, they leave the hall. Moments later they come back dragging Felix, and Felix has got the other gifts for the other lords, and they present those gifts to King Nim as well. And he says, I shall keep these gifts as well. None of those lords up there would accept such paltry gifts anyway. They are more likely to feel insulted. So I have done you all a favor. Leave me now. And so his men escort you out of the Great Hall. Well that's a great start. So the the guards don't actually take you all the way south again. They're a bit lazy, and they just point you at toward the way to go. And and then they they make camp because they're gonna make it look like they've escorted you, right? So they're just like hanging out in the woods where

Navigating the Forest

SPEAKER_01 27:13

they are.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

So makes sense. Well, kind of like go a little way and then scout around them to the north.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Yes, exactly. So so now you're pushing on. You each need to decide of these three skills which ones you're going to roll. So I need someone to roll awareness, someone to roll folklore, and someone to roll hunting. My best is hunting, which is only a you can use you can use passions if you want to at this point.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

I'm equally rubbish at all of them.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

I'm better at awareness.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Guess I'm gonna go with folklore. And remember, you can you can do a you can roll a passion to try to get a bonus.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

I'm gonna roll for loyalty king. We need to help. Very disappointed that we didn't manage. You know, I failed thinking about Arthur. And I will roll awareness then.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Okay. And I will succeed. Okay, very good. So, Sir Histelwin, you get a plus five to to the roll if you're gonna do which it's either hunting or folklore. Hunting has succeeded. Nothing for me. Sir Ian has failed. Folklore is not strong. Okay. So, Sir Ian, since you failed that role, give me a 1d3 plus one roll, please. That'll be a two. Two, okay. So after two days of travel through the Yarden forest, you believe you've made some decent time along the backcountry paths and the trails, and you think that you think that you're reasonably close to the borders of Camliard. You may camp for the night in a glade in the woods. There's only a sliver of a moon, so it's fairly dark out. Each of you make an energetic roll. Not good for me, because I'm lazy.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

May succeed with a critical task. Only Celesta Win fans.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Sir Karadoc, you are on watch this evening. Sir Sir Ian, you are having trouble sleeping. So even even though you're not on watch, you're in your tent tossing and turning, you're still pissed at the King Nim who screwed you over. Maybe you're annoyed with Felix, who sort of gave the rest of the gifts away. He didn't even try to try to hide them. So, Sir Karadoc, you can see in that sliver of moonlight people creeping through the dark forest. They have blue paint spirals all over their

Shadows in the Night

SPEAKER_01 29:35

bodies. Surfisti uh, Sir Ian, you hear the footfalls in the woods. You realize you're not alone.