How exactly is Arthur incompetent? The only stupid decision we’ve seen him make is to let sheep inside the castle (and to a lesser extent, letting the rebellious lords live, but since they haven’t tried another rebellion yet and we haven’t seen the details, I don’t think we can judge the stupidity of that).
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For me, ofcourse Arthur isn’t incompetent. It is stated that he is a good ruler, he is very good strategist and warrior. He was pitched by Merlin to be the king, and the country did prosper under his rules.
By no means Arthur is incompetent, but he is considered naive and too forgiving by some (although i think that people exagerate those parts of his personality too much 
). Also his incompetency may depend on the setting. As i and poison_mara talked a while ago here, someone like him would be quickly overthrown in medieval Spain as being to trusting and not cunning enough, while in medieval Poland he would be strong and praised ruler for his battle skills and abiding the honour code.
So the question would be here what type of setting Jean’s medieval-ish england is. I think that, given that he is shown here as ruler loved by his people, army and friends, and that the country is doing good under his rule, that in this setting he is not inompetent. (even the sheep thing ended badly, only because of malicious meddling of Meligaunt and Grimald)
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@skulls: Maybe I’m crazy but you seem to be confusing honorable for infallible, even honorable people have faults. Make mistakes; true Lance makes a ghastly one in kissing a married women without her consent but aside from that, Lance has done almost nothing to paint him in the despicable light you refer to him with.
You say that Lance hides the truth/lies constantly and does a bunch against the will of Guen but last I checked, his feelings towards Guen aren’t entirely of his own volition and the part that is, he tries to struggle against. He fails but he tries. If Lance was truly such a deplorable he wouldn’t try to resist his feelings in any way.
Lance develops feelings for Guen yes but people often aren’t in control of their feelings/emotions. What do you expect him to just severe himself completely and totally from his emotions? It’s not that easy. Aside from developing the aforementioned feels, what else does Lance do to the unwilling Guen? He kisses her, a foolish act but one that he both apologizes for and shows a level of regret for doing, which is surprising seeing as how he “loves” her.
I don’t deny that the kiss is wrong but love/obsession makes people do foolish things. In the same vain, you say it like the other people in this WIP haven’t/don’t do things just as bad and with far more callous intent. Arthur is willing to marry a woman regardless of whether or not she wants to marry or even says her vows; sure that kind of stuff is expected for the time but that doesn’t make Arthur any better. Pursuing any romance aside from Arthur breaks the same vow of marriage as sleeping with Lance does.
Now to address that: You say that Lance claims to be this and that but from what I recall, he doesn’t, the rest of the world does. You say Lance slept with Guen as though he forced himself on her; as though she weren’t a willing party in the encounter. Lance sleeping with Guen while “wrong” isn’t him breaking his already broken knightly codes further, just him straying down a path he’d chosen already; Lance broke parts of the code the moment he kissed Guen.
Lance sends the trophies to his queen as an act of loyalty and devotion, with strong undertones of love, but primarily loyalty. What need does Lance have to prove his loyalty to Arthur? Hasn’t he proved such tenfold by serving at Arthur’s side before he became king, pledging loyalty afterwards, going on to preform numerous actions in the name of king and crown; deeds which are acknowledged within the world of Guenevere as heroic/valorous/etc?
As you said Lance barely knows Guen (at least as far as we’re shown), so why shouldn’t he send her trophies to prove his loyalty? At that point in time he’s not trying to send some sort of ambiguous message of love, he’s trying to prove that he respects her decision to reject his wrongly given advances and that he wants to be a good, loyal knight to both Arthur and Guen.
You say that Lance is dishonest but as a knight isn’t supposed to lie, isn’t it in some ways better for him to admit his feelings for Guen to her rather than hide them? If Lance were soooo horrible then he wouldn’t feel in any way conflicted about his feelings for Guen. He wouldn’t reject Guen’s advances in the part one if she chooses to romance him.
You want to know why Lance would trust a Queen that says she didn’t want to marry his Queen? Forget sympathy or caring about Arthur’s jurisdiction. A knight is supposed to be sworn to the pursuit of honesty, yeah? So when his new Quen honestly tells him that she isn’t/wasn’t comfortable going into this forced/arranged marriage, why shouldn’t Lance find Guen more trustworthy because she told the truth rather than lie.
Maybe I’m cray but don’t Lance’s declarations of love only come after YOU ask him how HE feels about you? If I’m wrong and he tells you no matter what, the only excuse I have is either idiocy or the enchantment getting stronger.
You have a problem with Lance devoting tributes to his queen, the wife of his ruler, his shared sovereign? Not to debate politics but people support presidents and monarchs allllll the time, and I’d say more than half the time they’ve never met the person.
Saying that Lance is a complete and total hypo and has no honor, I find to be a bit extreme. I never said that Lance is a great man, he’s not, undoubtedly; but I do find him to be caring/have a sense of honor.
If I have anything else to say I’ll probably PM you, just had to get this off ma chest.
Lastly; I do love me some Morgana; granted there isn’t really a character I dislike even Lance for all of his many flaws, if anything it’s his flawed personality that makes me like Lance in anyway.
@Jeantown: I apologize for stirring the pot/starting a “discussion”, twas unintentional.
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Yay, Lancelot debate!!! 
It’s about time he got some character discussion. As with the Arthur discussions, I’ll mostly stay out of it (since, as with Arthur, I deliberately wrote Lancelot to be open to different interpretations), except maybe to clarify a couple of things:
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Lancelot dedicating his victories to Guen is totally acceptable, even praiseworthy, according to chivalry. The game even says that people approve of it. But that doesn’t mean the reader has to think it’s good, any more than the reader has to think that Morgana being married at age 15 is good.
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If Guen tells Lance she doesn’t want to be married to Arthur, his trust goes up not because he necessarily approves of her feelings, but because (he thinks) she trusted him enough to make such a personal confession. She’s made herself vulnerable by admitting it, and he appreciates that.
He cares. A lot. He’s just had more time to accept the idea. I’ve been trying to find a way for him to acknowledge his feelings of guilt more clearly and consistently.
Other stuff:
(also @Kinruush and @WulfyK) Yeah, it’s not so much that naval battles weren’t fought pre-cannons, but they’re just not part of Arthurian legend. I’ve already strayed really far from the source material by including made-up “Frankmarch” because I wanted there to be at least some political/economic stuff (which Arthurian legend has almost none of), but I learned my lesson from that, and in the future I’m going to try to stay closer to more traditional Arthurian elements.
Even a nice sling would be considered odd (like, idk, wearing diamond-studded overalls), but if you want to imagine your Guen having one for some reason, go ahead – I just don’t think slings are going to come up in the plot. As I said, it’s not an inventory-building game. Maybe I’ll write more item-focused game someday.
I still haven’t decided on exact stats for the other characters, but Guen’s high stat can slightly exceed the other characters’ high stats by part 5.
Mordred is not a fighter.
I hope you’re kidding.
This actually gets a little mention in the next scene of part 2, where Guen, dressed as a peasant, has to hide her sword under her cloak if she goes into a town or city. In the non-historical Guenverse, it’s not illegal per se for peasants to carry swords, but swords are so expensive that if someone sees a peasant with one, they’ll assume it’s stolen and act accordingly.
Usually I love rain, but now that I have a heaving basement floor… owning a house really changes your perspective on everything. Sigh. (The good news is that we were able to seal the cracks in the basement floor with masonry caulk, and the humidity levels have dropped back down.)
@fairlyfairfighter Yay, I’m so glad you like the game and Morgana! I’m quite fond of her, too, and very excited about her character development in the parts to come. 
Interesting idea… The only reason not to include it would just be scope-creep and trying to account for too many variables, but maybe something like that will show up in the options for how Guen is raising her child. Like, will she try to influence the child against Arthur and/or Lancelot? Hmm… long way in the future, but worth thinking about.
I had a specific plan for this, and then I changed my mind, and then I sort-of changed it back, and now I’m just waiting until part 4 to make that decision. It probably won’t be random, though; I like to give the reader control over all variables. I will say that Guen will be able to tell who the child’s father is.
Agree 100%. Another f/f romance is at the top of the list of stuff I want to add someday.
That would indeed be cool, though right now there isn’t an appropriate character… but who knows?
I’d say 30-40 is well above average, just not expert yet. Perhaps if Guen can achieve a 40 by the end of part 2, then projecting forward, maybe 100 will turn out to be “best in the world?” I’m keeping it all fuzzy for now, with the intention of really nailing down the stat system once the story is all in place.
OH MY GOD I AM COMPLETELY TOTALLY 100% IN LOVE WITH IMPERATOR FURIOSA THIS IS NOT A DRILL SHE IS MY HERO AND I ADORE HER
There’s a chance.
Mordred will indeed be conceived first, and his conception can affect both Arthur and Guen’s feelings about having a child.
Weeelllll… theoretically, Guen should be able to succeed on any path with any skill combo, if she plays her cards right. Leadership makes a big difference in both Frankmarch and Camelot, but it won’t be as useful in Michaelsmount, since there aren’t a lot of people to lead or negotiate with there – it’s more of a solo or small-group dungeon crawl, where sword and magic skills will be useful. Dark magic is turning out to be tons more useful in the Camelot battle than I’d expected, but I’ve only written the first few rounds, so Guen isn’t on the front lines yet, where light magic and sword should also be very useful. I guess I’d say, as things look right now:
Frankmarch: Leadership is most important; Guen can succeed without it, but she’ll need some other advantages.
Camelot: I think all four skills are going to turn out to be equally useful, but leadership and/or sword will probably feel the most glorious.
Michaelsmount: Leadership is least important. If Guen has sunk most of her points into leadership, she’ll need some other advantages to compensate.
That’s what I’m hoping for!
Are you kidding? These discussions are exactly what I dream of when I’m writing…
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Wow so much stuff…
I’m just gonna… not read all of it…
…No offense.
Though maybe you could all fill me in on what went on starting from like… last wednesday?
Ooh, I can imagine my MC mercilessly cutting down Frankish soldiers as she inspires the soldiers.
“FOR CAMELOT!!! KILL THEM ALL!!! SHOW NO QUARTER!!!”
The soldiers shout as loud as they can in acknowledgement of my words while cutting down more Frankish soldiers.
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@Jeantown, Oh. Can’t say I was expecting that response. I’m glad this “discussion” wasn’t hindering.
So my Guens shouldn’t feel inadequate? Good to know.
I’ve got no beef at all with Furiosa, in fact I think she was quite dope buuuuuuuuuuuut: I Live! I die! I live again!!!
Also MAAAAXXXXaaaaaY!!!
All in all it was a really enjoyable movie. Definitely on the level of Jurassic World for me.
@NJG: I believe Mordred takes after his mother. I.E he’s a master of Dark Magic.
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Nooo, 
Come on Camelot is all about leadership. I admit in direct battle all others are important too. But zero leadership in Camelot is directly a bloody failure. You could control an army without martial skills or being an old fat man always you have the knowledge and the charisma.
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Please.
A dark/light magic combo is where its at
Guen stands alone face down an army of five hundred men as a slight smile creeps on her face
This will be fun…
*As she launches the arrow carrying the spell it bursts into a cloud of golden ashes that glisten as they land on the soldiers suddenly they turn and start slaughtering each causing guen to laugh hysterically but her laughter was cut agort as upon tudning arounds she saw that it was soldiers from Camelot coming to “capture”(read kill) her after the “successful” escape attempt (she killed 15 people after using some dark magic it wasn’t easy)
The ending is debated upon by scholars for centuries.
Some say she turned into a wolf and fled into the forest others say she used a mixture a black and light magic that turned the soldiers into rabbits and others yet say she turned into a dragon and flew off into a mountain but none may know.
(That story took a randon turn)
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Yay!!! I was ‘@td’
On a more relevant note, I think Morgana is one of the best characters in a choice script based game, aside from Patch and that dark loch in that thing about a wizard… But I’m sure you’ll develop Morgana more, right? Right?? RIGHT???
Has mental breakdown
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On the debate about Arthur’s intelligence, he seems dumb to me. It is common knowledge to know not to bring sheep into the castle and I think the Frank’s only wanted them for their wool or meat. It would be more understandable if he was a born Nobel and knew nothing about livestock, but he grew up as a commoner ( I think?) and he knows how to dress himself and he sleeps like his soldiers, so he should know this.Arthur is in a high positions so his obvious mistakes can and are getting people/ peasants killed. He was advised about the Saxon’s untrustworthyness and still trusted Hrothgar and the Saxons to not continue being antagonistic when the Saxons never had a real reason to attack in the first place. Arthur’s best friend told him that the Guen he was after was fake, but he didn’t listen when he had no reason to not trust lance.The only reason Arthur has made it this far is because Morgana and Lance protect him and his enemies might think it’s too risky to try to directly take advance of his nieveity ( Hrothgar underestimated Britain and attempted to pretend to surrender, but my Guen knew Hrothgar didn’t really change and now he’s dead).
My Guen personally doesn’t like Arthur because he doesn’t listen to or respect my Guen. He didn’t listen to Guen when she tried to warn him about Lance’s more than friendly interests (but, Guen took this to mean that he’s OK with Lance dating his wife), and Jean says he won’t even remember the conversation. She had to practically beg Arthur multiple times to let her have a say in political affairs and he still leaves her out of plans (sheep). Lance makes dumb decisions too (abandoning Guen for years for no reason and breaking Guen’s heart by forcing another woman into an unjust marriage ) , but he has redeeming qualities like the spell and battle scene. All my Guen wants is someone to respect her ( and underdogs in general like Elaine and peasants) even though she’s a woman and not worth much and Arthur keeps (unknowingly) rubbing his superiority in her face ( he could have stopped the marriage, but she couldn’t, body guards stay because they can’t refuse an order from the king, sheep).
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cough Julia cough 
I assume it begins with a chalk board and an intense theoretical lesson led by Lance, and ends with Arthur huddling in a corner while crying “The images! Oh, the images!”, Lance having a near-death experience due to excessive and uncontrollable laughter, and (my) Guen and Morgana taking off to leave them alone and make out in the royal bedchamber which Arthur will not be able to enter without having an intense PTSD flashback to the Sex Ed, right? Right? Please tell me I’m right!
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Inspired by @Nasdaxow’s post,
Duchess Tilda? Queen Ragarund? Cornelia Saxonica? Lady Elaine of Shalott?
Edit:
Romancing Cornelia is a very interesting plot twist.
Adding onto this. This was an aspect of courtly love, actually. Courtly love really stood for a knight being able to have a romantic relation with a married woman (usually their leige’s woman) so long as that relationship didn’t turn physical. Otherwise they could shower their lady in all sorts of gifts and praise and it was all considered chivalrous.
Later down the road, courtly love really just meant a noble could take a girls virginity/sleep with a woman so long as she was from a lesser rank than him. This was considered fine by her father or future husband as well, as it was considered an honor.
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That wouldn’t work with me.
I would slay that fool.
Sleep with my spouse is a no no.
It ends with an axe to the throat.
You as someone from our era might think that way, you as someone born in the 1400s might not.
You underestimate me.
I’m very dishonorable at times.
Also jealously
And I hate people that think they’re superior.
I would not do well with my personality in the 1400
If you were someone born in the 1400s, I find it incredibly difficult to believe that your views and values would be identical to the present day you.
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