hEj bead ofth

the land in thegrip offeay. Wit], ,,be mi ht o f a f I n Ancient England, a magical sword and the th

rightful heir to the thron

rcerei; this iend holds t e noble, the good, and the true in his ople and d enying the claim ofthe

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Return to a worldyou only think ou know. I, MORDRED returns to the original legends o f

f of justice to usurp hisfather’s throne. And in the backgroun Round Table. His son, Mordf-ed, is the rightful heir an

Movgan le Fey, schemes to control England’s ultimate destiny. This is a land crum ling in decay, desperately in search of heroes.

LS to amass an army in the name Arthur’s wicked ha1 -sister,

King Arthur as a mad dictator, c P inging to power throu h use o his enforcers, the Knights Ofthe

StrY r f APLO912

Avalanche Press LTD, Virginia Beach, VA. 1-800-564-9008 / www.avalanchePress.com

Copyright 0 2002, A v a h c h r Press LTD. All Rights Reserved

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‘D20 System’ and the ‘DL0 System’ logo are Trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the D20 System License version 1.0. A copy of this License can be found a t www.wizards.com.

The Open Game Content in this book includes game rules, character and creature statistics, and similar material using the D20 system.

bordered-style sidebars and by text highlighted in b o l d i t a l i r type within the main body of the text. Additionally, all of the material in Part

bordered-style sidebars and the presentation of this book as a complete work is designated Product Identity. With the exception of the Open Game Content, reproduction of this work without the written permission of the Copyright Holder is a violation of copyright law and is expressly forbidden.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead less than I 500 years is purely coincidental.

Avalanche Press Ltd. P.0. Box 4775,Virginia Beach,VA 23454 USA I -800-564-9008 www.AvalanchePress.com

Copyright 0 2002 Avalanche Press LTD. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States o f America. First Printing, 2002.

LSBN 2 -93 209 1-00-9

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Introduction

Part I: The Legend of Arthur Foundation The First Telling The Vulgate Cycle Morte &Arthur Modern Approaches

Part 2: The Fall and Rise of Camelot The Story Thus Far

Before Arthur The Sword in the Stone Morgan le Fey Lancelot du Lac The Swordbridge and Meleagant Parsifal and the Fall of Camelot Merlin’s Ruin Conceiving an Heir The Quest for the Grail

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Questing Beast (Beast Glatisant)

Part 4: The Campaign Camelot Arthur’s Castle-Keep The Forest of Bur The Camp The Clearing of the Wise The Tower of Bur The Lake of Niniane Campaign Ideas

Getting Your Players Started The Grail Quest Avalon

Part 5: Merlin’s Gambit

Appendix King Arthur Pendragon Merlin Mordred Morgan le Fey Sir Lancelot du Lac Sir Galahad, the White Knight Sir Parsifal, the Brave Sir Tristam of Lyoness Sir Gawaine, the Pure of Heart

Sir Gareth of Orkney

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Introduction In Ancient England, a tyrant king holds the land in the grip of fear. With the might of a magical sword and the threat of the return of a long-dead sorcerer, this fiend holds the noble, the good, and the true in his sway, squelching the will of the people and denying the claim of the rightful heir to the throne. The villain’s name is Arthur.

This is Camelot as you’ve never seen it: dark, moody, and dangerous. Once, Arthur Pendragon was the greatest hero England had ever known. Now, he has brought it to the brink of ruin, and his name is uttered as a curse. The tyrant’s power is still strong, though. Few have the courage to defy his edicts, and many that do have met with horrible ends.

That has begun to change, though. One man has taken up arms against this tyranny: Mordred, Arthur’s bastard son by his half-sister, Morgan le Fey. As the only true claimant to Arthur’s throne, he has begun to rally knights t o his cause, and a rebellion has begun to take shape despite the king’s fervent attempts to crush it. Mordred has summoned all who are loyal to England to his banners, and this call is continually answered, promising that one day soon, a new

Fey remains Arthur’s foe, but Mordred is no longer her agent* and her schemes run in a different direction.

I, MORDRED is a t once familiar and foreign. Everything you read will be recognizable and yet new. This is not the Camelot you think you know. This is a land torn by civil war and in search of heroes. And they will come from places you might not expect.

king will sit on the throne. How to Use this Book But deep in the Forest of Bur, Morgan le Fey has her own plans for the future of the kingdom. Both Arthur and Mordred will have to deal with her before any final claim to the throne can be made, and neither is aware of her insidious plans.

The New Camelot I, MORDRED: THE FALL AND RISE OF CAMELOT is a re-imagining of one of the greatest legends in Western Culture. All of the familiar characters from the Arthurian myths are here, but they are recast in new roles. Here, Camelot has fallen into decline, rotting from within. Arthur has become a petty tyrant holding onto his power solely with the fabled sword, Excalibur. Mordred would still like to topple Arthur’s regime, but his motivations are justice and theprosperity of the land, not thirst for power. Morgan le

I, MORDRED is a d20 System sourcebook detailing a dark Camelot. Everything you need to run a campaign in Ancient England is here. Part I details the Arthurian myth, examining its historical roots and its various interpretations. Part 2 features the recasting of the legend through the dark lens of the I, Mordred setting. Part 3 features new game rules and information for player characters, monsters, and a new interpretation of the Fey. Part 4 is a guide for running an I, MORDRED campaign, and Part 5 contains a short adventure to get you started. An appendix of the key - characters from the myth follows. All of the material in Part 3 and the Appendix is designated Open Game Content for license purposes.

So sharpen your sword and get ready to rally to Mordred’s banner. England needs you.

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Part I :

The Legend of Arthur The Arthurian myth is one of the most enduring legends in Western civilization.

This part of the book looks at its origins and how it has developed over the centuries.

Foundation The story of King Arthur and his magical sword, Excalibur, dates back to the 5th Century. Its origins are in a Celtic tradition that was passed down orally for an unknown number of generations. It is not certain where the tale originated, how much of it is based in truth, or if any of it took place at all, but the story endured until it was finally recorded. There are three major versions of the legend written between the 12th and I 6th Centuries. Each presents a tale with the same basic premise but vastly differemt details.

The First Tellinp 0

Chrttien de Troyes first recorded the tale of King Arthur Pendragon and his Knights of the Round Table in a long series of short poems sometime between I170 and 1190. Collectively, these poems read in a similar fashion to Chaucer’s The Canterbury I d e s with dozens and dozens of characters, interwoven and complex storylines, and plot threads that go in all directions. In this version, Lancelot and Guinevere are not burdened with guilt about their love, Merlin is a key figure representing the forces of nature, and the Grail is not representative of Christianity. The story has much stronger elements of chivalry and magic and is told in a serialized fashion not unlike modern soap operas or comic books.

Each of Chrttien’s tales centers on a knight leaving on a quest o r t o perform a deed and then returning to court

to tell what happened. Each tale spans roughly two years in the life of the king and his reign and is laden with a considerable amount of humor when compared with later retellings.

At times, the stories step all over each other with plotlines never resolved,

and characters’ origins and motivations making I 80-degree turns. Oftentimes, de Troyes will introduce a key element into the story (for example, the Grail) and then move on to another poem, never resolving the previous one. His penchant for uncompleted tales led to the creation of The Vulgate Cycle.

The Vulgate Cycle Between I215 and 1230, another collection of poems emerged attempting to complete Chrttien de Troyes’ unfinished storylines. Compiled by no less than four other poets, The Vulgate Cycle (also known as Lancelot en Prose) is a miasma of composite characters and confused conclusions. It is comprised of three books: Lancelot Propre, Le Queste del Saint Graal, and Le Mort de Roi Artu. The Vulgate Cycle introduces a strong element of Christian theology into the tale not found in Chrttien’s work. Merlin’s role is greatly reduced, the Grail is revealed to be the Cup of Christ, and guilt is introduced into Lancelot’s and Guinevere’s affair. Most confusing is the role of Mordred, who appears to be a composite of Meleagant, a dark knight called Phelot, and Gawaine’s youngest brother (who bore a hateful grudge against Arthur and Camelot in Chrttien’s version). It is The Vulgate Cycle that introduces Galahad, son of Lancelot, as the knight who finds the Grail as opposed to ChrCtien de Troyes, who suggested that Parsifal only glimpsed i t as part o f a funeral procession before returning to Camelot t o get married. In the end, the story is still not resolved to a satisfactory conclusion, which leads us to the third and most popular version of the tale.

Morte D’Arthur In the 15th Century, an English knight named Thomas Mallory wrote what is perhaps the best known version of the legend, the daunting and exciting Morte D’Arthur. Although this version is, in many ways, a rehashing of the previous two works, Mallory makes a much stronger attempt to define the characters and come to a resolution. H e adds a much-needed dose of action, spending a great deal of time on Arthur’s campaigns all over the world, including a war with the Romans. However, he also reduces Merlin’s role to an even greater degree, sapping much of the little mysticism that had still been present in The Vulgate Cycle. Mallory also rushes through Galahad’s Grail Quest, seemingly in a hurry to return to the tale of Arthur’s fall from grace and his war with Mordred. It is in this version that Arthur and Mordred kill each other on the battlefield, each dying a heroic and bloody death at the other’s hand. Mallory also adds an ending in which Lancelot joins Guinevere in the service of the Church - always together but eternally apart.

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