Arthurian Tale: Camelot [153k] [Sep 29 2023]

Friendship, Slice of Life, Romance.

Inspired by: Arthurian Fantasy and Welsh Mythology.

Uther Pendragon was defeated by your father. He has since been forcibly removed from Camelot by an impostor claiming to be Uther’s chosen heir. An evil warlock known as Merlin is believed to have helped the false claimant. You are sent to Camelot for the sake of peace between both kingdoms. If you wed the pretender, you could have a fulfilling union that turns into love, alternatively, you may prefer to have a purely political arrangement. If you decide against the marriage, there are a number of people you can still pursue. But don’t be fooled—even if you do marry the pretender, it might not prevent you from finding true love with another.

Additional Detail:
  • Play as yourself, or create a new identity.
  • Agree to an arranged marriage, or refuse and find love for yourself.
  • Betray Camelot, or become a steadfast ally.
  • Form alliances, friendships or have an affair.
  • Choose from five romance options. Two men, two women and one flippable.

Total Word Count: 153’000
Without Code: 140’000
Average Playthrough: 49’000

Romance:

King Arthur/Queen Elaine:
King Uther was known to have no chosen heir, as such, this person is naturally a pretender. Or so your father believes.

This person is at the centre of your life whether you marry them or not. An inexperienced monarch, lover and an uncertain leader. Through friendship or love, you could develop a great alliance. Or, through betrayal or cruelness, you could become the greatest of enemies.

Trope: Arranged marriage and royal romance.

Sir Kay:
The foster-brother of Arthur/Elaine. He is known to be very tall.

A heavy distrust towards you is evident with almost every early encounter with Sir Kay. With patience and enough will to stand up for yourself, he may grow to see you as a friend. If you explore a romance with Kay, you will quickly realise that despite how much closer you are, he is still putting up a wall. Once his wall begins to crumble, he will be your fierce protector and a source of great reliability.

Trope: A slow-burn romance. (Cannot be romanced if you marry Arthur/Elaine. He’ll see you as family!)

Lancelot:
Mysterious lake boy.

Lancelot is a man who has grown up in two very different worlds. His childhood experiences have given him a philosophical drive in life. He will become a quick friend and if you romance him, he will see you as his divine other half that he trusts almost implicitly.

Trope: Forbidden romance or the best friend of your ex-betrothed; if that’s even a thing. Choice dependant.

Lady Morgana:
Is Merlin’s apprentice and is the half-sister of Arthur/Elaine.

A sorceress, a witch, a daughter of Uther Pendragon. Morgana is eager to offer her friendship to you initially. She tries her best to make you feel supported and optimistic about your life in Camelot. Being someone who wants to make her own mark on the world, you may find that in romancing her, she is still very much an independent and self-sustaining force upon the world.

Trope: Royal romance and…Grieving Lover (Cannot be romanced if you marry Arthur/Elaine. She’ll see you as family!)

Sar Lunete:
She is a knight who is assigned as your guard. She has taken Camelot’s traditional female title, Sar, an alternate version of Sir.

Having sworn an oath to both her monarch and to protect you, there may be some inner turmoil that comes up depending on your choices. Lunete will be your friend if you offer friendship to her, and she may fall for you rather quickly should you decide to romance her.

Trope: Bodyguard romance and potentially forbidden romance, depending on your choices.

Feedback: Yes please!

  • Why is this game not for you?
  • Spelling/grammar or coding mistakes.
  • What doesn’t work?
  • Point out any inconsistencies or confusing text.
  • What do you like about the WIP so far?
  • What do you want to see more of?
  • Which character/s do you like the most and why?
  • Are there any additional choices you would want and where? For example, a choice selection that didn’t provide you with a response/action that lines up with your MC.
  • How could the choices be more meaningful?

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Updates:

September 29 2023:
Total Word count: 153k
Without code: 140k

Info: Sep

Chapter 1:

  • Added Explanation of why Arthur/Elaine marry quickly if you reject them.
  • Added new reason for why you reject the marriage.
  • Added chance to talk to Lady Anna on the hunt.

Chapter 2:

Siege:

  • Added choice to seek your father out when you join Lancelot on the cavalry path.

Chapter 3:

  • Accolon can now be banished.

++ Some minor fixes and changes.

June 09 2023:
Average Playthrough: 49’000

Info: June

Chapter 3:

  • Increased efficiency of courtship code.
  • Increased limit of how many winter events you can attend. (And hopefully fixed any related bugs)
  • Added choices during A/E’s duel with Accolon.
  • Added choices if A/E won’t help your father.
  • Added new route into Kay’s romance + extra friendship scene.
  • Added a little more to two of Merlin’s one on ones.
  • Added a little more to Lucan’s ride.

April 26 2023: Posted Chapter Three.
Total Word Count: 148’000
Without Code: 136’000
Average Playthrough: 39’000

Info: April

Chapter 3 Added!

Added a skip to Chapter 3 feature.

Chapter 1:

  • God Mode added.
  • Combined Morgana’s QnA of other characters in order to make it less like a QnA and more like a conversation.

Chapter 2:

  • Added optional simple dice games to the end of the war branch.

October 2 2022:
Total Word Count: 79’000
Without Code: 73’000

Info: Oct

Prologue:

  • Added two new selectable names.

Chapter 1:

  • Expanded meeting Morgana.
  • Added more choices to the first feast.
  • Added more to wedding dance.
  • Adjusted/slightly added to talking to your guards at the wedding.
  • Slightly added to your arrival day.
  • Slightly added to meeting A/E.
  • Re-ordered the peace deal and marriage deal to make them clearer.
  • Added explanation of what would happen to your title if you married.

Chapter 2:

  • Less accusatory language if you lied. (Siege branch)
  • Added responses to Kay being rude.
  • Added additional responses to Lunete in several places. (Siege branch)

September 18 2022: Posted Chapter Two.
Total Word Count: 77’000
Without Code: 71’000
Average Playthrough: 26’000

Info: Sep

Chapter 2 added!

Stats Page:

  • Added to the Q&A section in preparation of incoming romance content.
  • Changed how the stat page shows relationships.

Chapter One:

  • Added reaction choices to Kay keeping you from A/E at night.
  • Added a reaction to A/E’s hand hold.
  • Added a reaction to father leaving.
  • Added more reasons for marrying.
  • General spelling/grammar/code fixes.

July 24 2022:
Total Word Count: 35’000
Without Code: 32’000
Average Playthrough: 15’000

Info: July
  • Added new crypt scene, after the missing horse scene.
  • Added new scene if you didn’t attend the negotiation.
  • Added reaction choices to father leaving.
  • Added choices to ask A/E about children.
  • Added conversational choices in one of the skill-up sections.
  • Added internal feeling choices about declining the marriage and actually marrying.
  • Added internal feeling choices about going hunting.
  • Added some flavour choices to your wedding day.
  • Expanded the luncheon scene.
  • Slightly added to the second summoned scene.
  • Slightly added to the garden scene with A/E.
  • Slightly added to the hunting scene.
  • Improved the marriage negotiation scene.
  • Improved the introduction section.
  • Changed dining with father scene into a flavour choice.
  • Changed cathedral into church. (Please point out any instances of ‘Cathedral’ if I missed any.)
  • Also, some general fixes and additional description in places.

June 28 2022: Posted Chapter One
Total Word Count: 29’000
Without Code: 26’000
Average Playthrough: 13’000

527 Likes

This is fantastic! I love Arthurian tales and games, and this one is off to a great start

13 Likes

oh, i love this one already! this was so fun to play, i felt so sad when it ended haha. i’m loving all the characters so far, especially morgana and arthur. can’t wait to see more of your game! :grin:

mc believing arthur is such a child when they’re only two years older than him was really funny to me. very in character for a seventeen year old lol

8 Likes

This is so great. Holy moly. Pardon my grammar, but it was so. damn. funny. Highlights definitely are:

-Awkward teenager Arthur/Elaine and that lunch scene, rolled me over( “Can you read?”)

-Vagrant “objectively ugly robe” Merlin and his tall, very tall tower

-Protective older half-brother Kay

-The father: cartoon villain

-“Strange Latium language”

-the pig

Anyway, it certainly piqued my interest. Looking forward to more.

10 Likes

Too bad we can’t have both siblings.

8 Likes

I’m giddy to play this. The Arthurian Legends is one of the great loves of my life and I always love to see CoG’s based on the mythos. Will be following this thread with great interest.

4 Likes

Hm… What I’m noticing is that this isn’t really about Arthurian legends so much as just sharing some characters with the legends. The story is quite different. The reader kind of has to forget what they know in order to not be confused between what’s actually happening and metaknowledge.

8 Likes

Honestly already a 10/10 for the simple fact Arthur can be Elaine. So many Arthurian games where you’re arranged to marry Arthur and for some reason he’s the only character who’s not gender selectable.

26 Likes

Enjoyed so far. At some point, Diplomacy increased without choosing to raise it.

I will agree with geldar’s point. When the “Black Knight” showed up, I was expecting Arthur, which was confusing. Lancelot’s appearance and “backstory” threw me even more.

1 Like

what about it? everything i remember reading about his past in the game seems pretty accurate to his vulgate cycle story. (memory loss is a bitch though, so i might be misremembering :roll_eyes:)

2 Likes

In Once and Future King, Lancelot was younger than Arthur, and I remember a more “mundane” childhood for him.

2 Likes

that book is from the late 50’s, right? this lancelot backstory is based on his thirteenth century self :grin: where he’s adopted (read: kidnapped) as a baby and raised by the lady of the lake. hence the name lancelot du lac!

can’t remember right now if he’s older or younger than arthur in the vulgate cycle. (i’d guess younger, though!)

1 Like

“Servants pack all of your belongings and load them into carts that will follow your carriage. Despite your father briefly reigning in Camelot, you’ve never actually been before.”

Shouldn’t it be
“you’ve never actually been there before” ?

I think this is a relatively common ellipsis.

1 Like

Is there only one [court] option with Elaine so far, just making sure I didn’t miss any.

1 Like

Yes, there aren’t that many [court] options overall in this chapter. I believe there is also one opportunity with Lunete and one with Morgana, but only if you have rejected Arthur/Elaine by that point in the story.

And I’m glad you appreciate the gender swap. I thought it would be a shame for an arranged marriage and a king/queen character to be stuck as male when I’ve written the world as equal in terms of gender.

24 Likes

This is good…but man, so MANY interruptions! See, this is why Ruling Suck…

You never have time to do fun stuff, like Smooching :joy:

17 Likes

I’m enjoying it so far, I do love a good fantasy story. I would say the pacing is perhaps too fast, but that’s my only criticism.

8 Likes

Which parts of the story suffer the most from pacing, in your opinion? I’m curious.

1 Like

I have to agree with this. This is probably the first Arthurian game I’ve seen with this so it’s extremely refreshing after being turned off by that fact that it seems to be dominantly female and gay readers that can romance only these characters. Queen Elaine ftw.

13 Likes