Team Camelot

[RocketLord]

@RedSpine @Thunder King @KnightDisciple

 

RedSpine talked about Camelot and doing something with that in the chat! The rest of us were inspired and jumped on the bandwagon, so, let's figure out what exactly we'll be doing!

 

My basic idea, which are of course completely open to change and we can do something entirely different if you want, would be to play with a Camelot Recurrence: There's have been a lot of Camelots in the past, there will be a lot in the future. The names, locations and specifics might be different, but they all followed the same basic myth cycle of a rise and a fall, they all had different persons falling into the same roles: The Arthur, the Merlin, the Galahad, the Lancelot, etc. Now the time has come for Camelot in the Age of Super Heroes.

 

Discuss, give ideas! Throw things on the wall and see what sticks!

[RocketLord]

More ideas from me from discord:

 

KnightDiscipleToday at 3:31 PM
@RocketLord so a bit more like King Arthur And The Knights Of Justice?

 

RocketLordToday at 3:49 PM
@KnightDisciple I guess? Not outright "Now you put on his armor and travel to Camelot", more like "This is the Pendragon, he becomes the leader, etc., this is the Grail Knight, this is (whatever we'd call Lancelot)"
elaborating a bit as ideas start to form: Merlin would maybe be the same guy every time, but since he's, well, old and multiple generations pass between each Arthurian cycle, he wouldn't remember everything exactly, and is very much focused on "Well, maybe this time it will be different and it won't fall"
I was thinking going very much for Arthurian Knights filtered through super hero lenses
like, Camelot would be a flying castle that's a headquarters. They ride flying robo horses. Their armor is high tech. They probably each have their own specific things and powers they can do

 

Again, this is just my ideas, I'm open to making it very different from this or doing it completely differently.

[KnightDisciple]

Hm. So many things we can mine for ideas here!

 

Offhand, I'm wondering if we should maybe have it where none of the PCs are either Arthur or Merlin, who we build as NPCs? That way we can kind of avoid too much of a sense of "I'm in charge of you!" stuff going on. There's a deep enough bench of Knights of the Round Table we can still do a lot. Especially if this is a "stepping into their roles".

 

So, if this is about "Camelot in the age of supers", is the idea that Arthur and Co are less "here to rule" and more "help protect the world, provide a shining example, etc"?

 

Also! Do we want to go full fantasy with magical everything, fantasy-stylized super-tech, magitech, or something else? 

[RocketLord]

I was mostly thinking super-heroic magitech, if that makes sense, but still making sure to keep the Knight aesthetic.

 

As said on discord: I agree completely with Merlin being NPC. For Arthur, I'm good with either. If anyone wants to play him, they can be my guest, I'd rather play some other role.

[RocketLord]

Atomic Steeds!

 

[KnightDisciple]

From some brainstorming with RocketLord, a few more thoughts:

 

-Calling their tech-base "WonderTech", to give a slightly more fanciful name to "magitech" or the like. The idea being it's more than just "really good technology".

-Bouncing off of the "atomic steeds" concept, everyone has a hoverbike but they each have slightly different properties?

-The Knights all use some form of power armor, but we all have a lot of freedom to customize what that looks like and what powers it grants.

-Depending on the Role/Knight you pick, maybe you still have some level of innate powers. Bedievere might have some level of magical ability, for example. 

[Thunder King]

I think nobody gets to be Merlin or Arthur. They're NPCs. I also propose the idea that Merlin is an AI. Not set in stone, of course, just a thought. 

 

Magitech armor with individuals having their own potential magic powers. Customized armor connected to the themes of each knight?

[RedSpine]

What if we don't have an Arthur? An empty seat at the Round Table, waiting to be filled by the Once and Future King. And until that time the Knights stand truly as equals fighting for the Ideals of this Cosmic Camelot.
Hrm actually if we play up the title of Once and Future King it could imply that no matter which version of Camelot comes into existence it's the same Arthur who arrives to rule it, just resting in Avalon until the cycle starts again.

[KnightDisciple]

50 minutes ago, Thunder King said:

I think nobody gets to be Merlin or Arthur. They're NPCs. I also propose the idea that Merlin is an AI. Not set in stone, of course, just a thought. 

 

Magitech armor with individuals having their own potential magic powers. Customized armor connected to the themes of each knight?

 

2 minutes ago, RedSpine said:

What if we don't have an Arthur? An empty seat at the Round Table, waiting to be filled by the Once and Future King. And until that time the Knights stand truly as equals fighting for the Ideals of this Cosmic Camelot.
Hrm actually if we play up the title of Once and Future King it could imply that no matter which version of Camelot comes into existence it's the same Arthur who arrives to rule it, just resting in Avalon until the cycle starts again.

 

I'm also of a mind of NPC/Absent King Arthur.

 

For "AI Merlin", what if we go with the bit from the Excalibur movie, and Merlin's trapped in a giant crystal...that turns out to be superconductive, so it's plugged into a super-computer! He's got AI-like analytical and processing abilities, but his magic is extremely limited (maybe only to things he either has physical hard-lines to, or complicated and resource-intensive "wireless nodes" or some such)? That gives us a sort of magi-tech feel, a Merlin who's been around the block, but we have a really blatant reason he can't just hop around and magic away the problems (can't use the excuse of scaring the Muggles, since supers are a dime ad dozen these days!). 

 

A few more random thoughts:

-This idea feels like a good fit for Space, High-Tech, High-Magic/Fantasy, Dimensional, and Cosmic threats. Two-bit thugs, drug-smuggling rings, and "average" super-crime don't feel like they should be regular fare.

--This could lead to intersections with the European team whose name I am blanking on that we have on this site, since they interact with the high-tech robo-nation. 

--And also the various big space factions at times.

-I feel like they should probably pretty quickly end up as something of a widely-recognized "official group", because nothing about them says "secret mission". 

 

Yeah, customized armor connected to the themes of the knights. Maybe some of us have latent/minor powers amplified by the suits, and others are 100% suit-only powers. 

 

Offhand, I'm currently leaning toward a big, tough, strong looking build. Personal weapon is some kind of axe/halberd. Not 100% sure beyond that yet though I have some future upgrade ideas.

 

I'm figuring we're shooting for starting at PL 10/150PP, and working from there? Potent heroes but plenty of room for upgrades etc? 

[RocketLord]

Hear me out here... Cosmic Camelot

 

They might be based on Earth, but we give the whole thing a bit of a New Gods-inspired angle? They can deal with Earth stuff, they can go into Space. We put a bit of a cosmic angle to the whole thing?

 

We need to set aside some PP for a sweet HQ, maybe donate a bit each. I got 4PP worth of unused vet reward for Equipment atm.

 

I'm good with PL10 with room to grow, though whether people wanna use 150 or 180PP slots are up to them. 

 

I like the ideas for Merlin and Arthur being absent. Maybe that's something that'd be an underlying storyline for them: They can't find Arthur.

[KnightDisciple]

I'm down for Cosmic Camelot, thematically. I think that we're probably on the same wavelength there?

 

I'm going to be freeing up some "space" on my character board, so having some Vet Equipment rewards assigned for the HQ and the Bike shouldn't be an issue. 

 

Do we want Merlin completely absent, or more of a "limited" presence, like the AI/Trapped In Crystal ideas from above? 

 

Also, at least for the starting group, do we want to try and find inspiration/reference artwork that's similar to each other? To show a sort of common design root? 

[Thunder King]

I'm gonna go stream-of-consciousness here, sorry for the relative lack of coherency from idea to idea, but each idea should be understandable by itself. I'm not going to be disappointed if any or all of these ideas are turned down. This is just spit-balling. 

 

Arthur is Missing. He might be out there somewhere, or he might not, the characters don't know. Merlin is Zordon in the hawthorn tree Nimue trapped him in.  

 

Color Coordinated: every character has a color scheme. The armor is the unifying concept, actual aesthetics vary from person to person, but I think color is a neat way to separate the PCs. Lean on the Power Rangers/Arthur and the Knights of Justice/Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog idea. Also crests/heraldry. 

 

If Cosmic, Camelot is a castle built into a meteor? Internal atmosphere makes it look like a castle? Hawthorn tree sits at the center of the courtyard that uses artificial lighting to look like a sky?

 

Code names are the knight's names, but their real names aren't? Lancelot, Galahad, etc, are the superhero names, even if that's not their real names.

 

How do they find out about their roles? Are they semi-reincarnations? Are they chosen based on the original knight's legend and how they live up to it? Are they called to Camelot by Merlin? Who put Merlin in the castle? Does anyone know? Is that a mystery the team doesn't know about?

 

Is Avalon another dimension? Is that where Arthur is? Did he come back before, is he refusing now? Where is Mordred? Is that a Big Bad we're going to work against? I mean I'm assuming we go with a version where Arthur killed him, but who's to say if he didn't also cycle through.

[KnightDisciple]

I like Tree!Zordon!Merlin. 

I think maybe we could go with Merlin having had to take decades or more to "assemble" the castle? Something like slowly pulling pieces to gather the Castle, put it on the asteroid, etc. Gathering the Knights was his final act. 

I love the idea of Cosmic Camelot as a castle built into an asteroid/meteor (maybe it's one that's in an orbit closer to Earth, but not a collision course?). I like the idea of the courtyard with with Merlin's tree in the center. Maybe we catch glimpses of the roots all over? And the castle's a mix of classic architecture and WonderTech futuristic stuff? 

 

Color Coded For Our Convenience is a good way to do it, yeah. Maybe we just try to not get too wildly different in descriptions/inspiration pictures? 

Do we want to try and all pick "theme animals" for the knights, or just kind of do whatever? 

I think having the classical name of the knights be the code names works well. If someone plays up their character getting "lost in the role", they could start referring to everyone as their "code" name all the time. 

 

I would lean toward the team being less reincarnations/semi-reincarnations, and more something like "you fit the character profile". Maybe there's hints at a sort of "mantle", but the flip side is that if you lean into the "mantle" too much (developing Powers that are in-theme, rather than mostly your armor), you risk being more immersed in the Myth, aka getting stuck in the Cycle? Merlin's probably involved, but maybe the Round Table is up there and is also a mystical artifact that helped him choose? So even Merlin isn't 100% sure, and we have some mystery. If Arthur ever did show up, he'd be able to commune fully with the Table and tell us, but for a long while that won't be a thing. 

 

I'd vote for Mordred, if he shows up, being at least ambiguous at first. Arthur should be in Avalon, which I'd vote can be a sort of small parallel dimension. Less something like Earth XX or whatnot, more like a place removed from time. Sorta like Valinor in LOTR? And even then, it's likely he's still asleep/recovering. Maybe the old bit about "when Britain needs him most" has morphed to a more generically-heroic "when Earth needs him most"? We're going thoroughly heroic, so I feel like Arthur should be firmly in the "Right Makes Might" camp; thus, he's less concerned about ruling than he is protecting.

 

Maybe one of our big thematic villains is parallel or pretender Arthurs who aren't as good and wholesome? That'd give us some fun angst and questioning on everyone's part. 

 

 

 

[Thunder King]

I like the idea of having the original table, and Merlin slowly assembling the castle before calling the knights. There's a power rangers type situation there that I like.

 

 

[RocketLord]

I like all the ideas here! Adding to the Power Rangers/Sentai/Etc. thing with colors and armors, should we go full on mecha at some point? We could, eventually or at the start, spring for a Morph power with Metamorph each, which would be for a big armor with Growth, maybe bumping their PL up a bit, if we want to lean completely into that part of the theme. Giant Knight Armor. Look at my Justice sheet for how that could work.

 

I got a good idea for an Arthur pretender type villain, actually, so that fits well.

 

As for Mordred, @RedSpine had some plans for potentially playing one in that role, which I think we should leave open, in case they want to do that.

 

I'll try to do a post to summarize everything so far in the thread when I got the time/brain power, then maybe its time to start building characters soon.

 

So, what are your ideas for what knights you're going for?

Edited September 26, 2020 by RocketLord

[Thunder King]

I'm not sure what we'd even fight in a giant robot though. I'm not necessarily against it, but would we break it out all that often?

[RocketLord]

Rule of cool.

 

But yes. Can just be a stunt or something

[Thunder King]

IDEA

 

All of Arthurian Myth Is True. All of it. Any inconsistencies are owed to various incarnations having different versions of the events. Also, I think I'm gonna stake my claim on Lancelot. I propose that each of us present a brief overview of our concept, like, so;

 

Knight: Lancelot

Secret ID: Ordinary human woman, mid-20s, tall, fit, blond.

Character Themes: The Best Knight in terms of pure combat ability. (mostly just really good in a fight)

Extra Powers: None

Armor Colors: Red and Gold

Concept: Lancelot and Guinivere was his fault. She was infatuated with him and he seduced her because he could. He was an arrogant jerk, and later in life, he blamed himself for the fall of Camelot. If only Arthur hadn't had to worry about him AND Mordred, none of that would have happened. Now a woman takes up the mantle of the legendary knight. She's resentful and ambivalent towards the legacy of Lancelot. What she doesn't realize is that she is exactly what he had in mind in his old age. 

[RedSpine]

To be fair, if somethings big enough to threaten the entire planet/dimension it's by definition big enough to threaten Britain. It'd be pretty easy to handwave his return condition away as a kind of cosmic game of telephone.
I like the idea of the authentic Round Table being there. It calls to those who souls it needs for the Knights to stand against evil, but also presents a mystery. Who built it? Merlin may not be the only force of good with skin in this fight.

I'm going to stake a claim on Mordred myself.

Knight: Mordred
Secret ID: Human Woman, 20 years old, petite, Raven Black hair. Literally the soul of a previous cycles Mordred in new flesh.
Character themes: Can you ever rebuild what you've destroyed? Or are you doomed to the fate chosen for you by others?
Extra Powers:extra charismatic/leadership ability, possibly some fire abilities to represent them as the "Dragon who brought ruin to Camelot"
Armor colors: Silvered Armor, orange accents. Scaled patterns in places to reinforce the Dragon theme.
Concept/backstory: Mordred never intended for Camelot to fall. After Lancelots seduction of Guinivere and subsequent retreat to France people within Camelot were divided. Many questioned if they could truly follow a king willing to execute his own Queen, it was the punishment for the crime sure but it was still seen as heartless. And so to reestablish support Arthur lead a campaign to bring foreign lands under the sway of Camelots protection, leaving Mordred in place as regent even though they proclaimed they were not ready for such a position. It was in this climate Le Fay struck her most subtle but devastating blow, forging a letter of seemingly noble writ that described the death of King Arthur on the battlefield after being separated from the sheath of Excalibur. Here Mordred made his first mistake, instead of sending the likes of Hen Beddestyr to swiftly confirm the contents of the letter were true he panic'd and claimed the Crown so he could use the Powers of State the position supplied in order to prepare against what he thought would be an invading foreign army. He opened the gates of the treasury to renew the oaths of Nobles to the standing King and raised levies in preparation for the conflict to come. Mordred would make another mistake again when Arthur returned from foreign shores and started waging his war to retake Camelot. Mordred, in part due to the words of his advisors,  could not be certain if this was in fact his father, a simulacra, Illusion, or perhaps even a puppet under the thrall of a vile necromancer and therefor ordered his armies to defend the realm. It was finally at Camlann when envoys from both sides were able to convince each other to risk a face to face talk between both Kings, and both fearing treachery ordered their men to attack if they saw naked steel in their foes hands. One snake and clueless footman later and fate was decided. Over a Thousand Knights died including both Father and Son. And Mordreds side of the tale was given the least favorable interpretation by historians and myth makers thereafter.
Having fallen to the spear Rhongomyniad instead of Excalibur however left a mark on Mordreds very soul, and so with Merlin calling to those whose wills resonate with the Round Table his memories have reawakened. Mordred hopes that this time they'll get it right. This time Camelot will stand.

Edited September 29, 2020 by RedSpine
boldness editing is all.

[RocketLord]

Lancelot the Best Knight. 

Mordred the Traitor Knight.

[KnightDisciple]

If we're rolling with "The Table is an independent mystical artifact", maybe the Table is what chose New!Mordred? I feel like most people wouldn't be all "I SHALL BE MORDRED" while wanting to be a hero. 

 

Also, posting this handy bit from Dok's Tumblr about myths around the Knights. It's at least some idea seeds. 

 

As for the Megazord idea, that is fun but definitely late-game. 

 

Knight: Gawain
Secret ID: Human Man, 25 years old. Mixed Arabic and Caucasian/European descent. 5'10" tall, about 175lbs; fit but lean. Dark black hair, grey eyes, clean-shaven but sports a modest pompadour. 
Character Themes: Strength, Endurance, Moving Forward, Facing Evil Head-On. Gawain was the Knight who stood up for the challenge of the Green Knight. Today Gawain's powers and armor have inherited the mantle of the Green Knight, at least to a degree. More than many of the Knights, Gawain seems focused on moving forward to face the threats of, and in, the future...
Extra Powers: None yet. 
Armor Colors: Primarily dark/forest green, with bronze highlights.
Concept/Backstory: The man who takes on the mantle of Gawain also serves as the major "tech head" of the group. While his knowledge of magic and the arcane seems limited to how it interacts with the WonderTech of the suits and vehicles the Knights use, his knowledge of technology is extraordinary. Gawain's personality tends to swing a bit between dour but determined, and a bit bombastic, depending on the circumstances. His preferred approach to a fight is just to wade in and use his axe to deal with the problem. 

Edited September 28, 2020 by KnightDisciple

[Cubismo]

Knight: Sir Bedivere
Secret ID: Human Cis-Female. 20 year old university student. Kind of short. Caucasian and either a Brit or a proud Canuck schooling across the pond. Hair used to be blonde but turned bleach white when she got her magical abilities during her call to adventure. Eyes are naturally brown but change to a variety of colors whenever she's in Sir Bedivere mode. Totally not gonna steal the look of Sabrina. Nope. Definitely not. 
Character Themes: MAGIC! But more importantly a quest for magical knowledge and self-knowledge. The learning and accepting pitfalls of the latter and the danger of the former, and avoiding both naivety and arrogance along the way. Really wants to react the plot of Sorcerer's Apprentice with Merlin.

Extra Powers: MOAR MAGIC!
Armor Colors: Purple, black, and yellow stars.
Concept/Backstory: A college/university student and a real big nerd for the Arthurian Romance and fantasy. Likely the least physically capable member of the Round Table and one who prefers to handle things without resorting to swords. Has a weird relationship to her identify as the successor/reincarnation of the spooky Sir Bedivere. Really doesn’t want to be seen as a scary witch despite her powers being rather trippy and akin to 70s Doctor Strange. Would love to teach the magical arts to "normal" people make the whole art safe for the masses to practice. Kind of an Indiana Jones for magical artifacts and lore.

[RocketLord]

Original idea was Galahad, but honestly, I'm not sure what I'd do there. 

 

I've started considering using Ywain/Owain (I kinda like Owain better, but eh), going off his Lion motif. Going from that, he would be a proud leader type, getting most of the different leadership, inspire, etc. feats.

Not really sure what to do beyond that yet, or if that's what I'll go for.

 

Or maybe Sir Kay. Go for the size-changing, always wanted to make an Atom/Ant-Man type character... decisions, decisions...

Edited September 29, 2020 by RocketLord

[RocketLord]

Alright, I got something now

 

Knight: Owain, the Lion Knight
Secret ID: Human Man, mid 20'es. Caucasian/European. Has a beard, slightly long hair. Black hair.
Character Themes: Pride, leadership, force of personality. Owain is a proud knight, a leader of men. While this gives him great strength, it also makes it difficult to admit his mistakes or to forgive and forget. He has a lot to live up to for the Owains in the past.
Extra Powers: None yet.
Armor Colors: Blue and Gold, lion imagery.
Concept/Backstory: The man that becomes Owain knows little of Arthurian myths, though he is slowly awakening memories of different versions of Owain. These are disjointed, random and from many different cycles, giving him a sometimes skewed image of what happened in the past. He is a leader, coordinating the others and establishing communication using his psychic powers. He is a proud individual, often taking a dim view of anyone wrongdoings from the past, including Mordred. I imagine that he will be the most opposed to Mordred among the knights, with the two being positioned with a bit of rivalry: Lion vs. Dragon. He will have psychic powers granted by his armor, full on telepathy and telekinesis, or whatever other abilities like that I find interesting.

[RocketLord]

Also, as discussed with KD, some potential titles for the five knights:

 

Owain the Lion Knight

Gawain the Green Knight

Bedivere the Wizard Knight

Lancelot the Best Knight

Mordred the Dragon Knight