Knights of Camelot is a fantasy board game published in 1980 by TSR.
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Knights of Camelot is a fantasy board game published in 1980 by TSR.
Knights of Camelot is a board game set during the reign of King Arthur. The players take on the roles of chivalrous new knights who go forth to fight evil and right wrongs. The Knight earns Chivalry Points and Virtue Points in the hopes of one day becoming a Knight of the Round Table. [1] The mechanism to discern a Knight's true worth is Virtue Level, which is calculated by dividing Chivalry Points by Virtue Points. The lower the Virtue Level, the more virtuous the knight. As game designer Charles Vasey pointed out, "a Knight who grows mighty without caring for his immortal soul, or remembering the Poor and the Church of God, will find his Virtue Level getting bigger (whereas in this game ... a low Virtue Level is what you want). [1]
The game comes with:
Knight of Camelot was designed by Glenn and Kenneth Rahman. The box art was by Kenneth Rahman (under the pseudonym Eymoth) and Erol Otus, and interior art was by Jeff Dee, David S. LaForce, David C. Sutherland III, and Kenneth Rahman. The map was designed by Darlene Pekul.
In the February 1982 edition of Dragon (Issue #58), game designer Glenn Rahmann published alternate rules for players who wanted to play evil knights, called knaves. [2]
In the August–September 1980 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #26), Charles Vasey found the game had "a pleasing design [and] a helpful set of counters." However, he found that because the game's random encounters came from finite tables, "you will find that the game gets samey after quite a few plays", although Vasey did admit this would take some time, since "the designers have provided lots of these tables." Vasey admired the Virtue Level mechanism for judging a knight's purity. But he found the map "a little unexciting and rather small, and hence rather featureless"; he suggested swapping the map with that of another game such as Chaosium's King Arthur's Knights . He concluded by giving the game an average rating of 7 out of 10, stating that this was "a well-designed game that succeeds at all it essays." [1]
In King Arthur in America, Alan Lupack and Barbara Tep Lupack identified Knights of Camelot as part of a growing trend in the 1970s to move games involving Arthurian legend from simplistic fare for children to increasingly sophisticated adult games. [3]
In Marketing Arthur: The Commodification of Arthurian Legend, Elizabeth Sklar differentiated between exploitative and glib promotional Arthuriana, which uses the Arthur legends to sell things, and games like Knights of Camelot, an Arthurian product that "treats the legend seriously, even reverentially." She pointed out that the counters "include all major and many of the minor figures, both male and female, from the Morte d'Arthur , and for those that prove themselves sufficiently worthy, the game culminates in the Grail Quest." [4]
At the 1980 Charles S. Roberts Awards, Knights of Camelot was a finalist in two categories: Best Pre-Twentieth Century Game, and Best Fantasy or Science-Fiction Board Game.
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world.
King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and modern historians generally agree that he is unhistorical. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the Historia Brittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as Y Gododdin.
The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table.
Gawain, also known as Gawaine or Gauwaine, among various other forms and spellings, is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. Under the name Gwalchmei, he is introduced very early in the legend's literature, being mentioned in some of the earliest Welsh Arthurian sources. As Gawain and related variants, he appears in Latin, French, English, Dutch, German, Spanish and Italian texts, notably as the protagonist of the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Other tales of Gawain include Historia Regum Britanniae, Roman de Brut, De Ortu Waluuanii, Diu Crône, The Awntyrs off Arthure, Ywain and Gawain, Golagros and Gawane, L'âtre périlleux, Le Chevalier à l'épée, and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, as well as the works of Chrétien de Troyes and the prose cycle Lancelot-Grail.
Lancelot du Lac, also written as Launcelot and other variants, is a character in some versions of Arthurian legend, where he is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. In the French-inspired Arthurian chivalric romance tradition, Lancelot is the orphaned son of King Ban of the lost kingdom of Benwick, raised in the fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot becomes the lord of Joyous Gard and personal champion of Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. But when his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that is exploited by Mordred to end Arthur's kingdom.
Mordred or Modred is a character who is variously portrayed in the Arthurian legend. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle Annales Cambriae, wherein he and Arthur are ambiguously associated with the Battle of Camlann in a brief entry for the year 537. His figure seemed to have been regarded positively in the early Welsh tradition and may have been related to that of Arthur's son.
Sir Galahad among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity as the most perfect of all knights. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, Sir Galahad first appears in the Lancelot–Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. His name should not be mistaken with Galehaut, a different knight from Arthurian legend.
The Lady of the Lake is a name or a title used by several fairy-like enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. They play pivotal roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.
The Matter of Britain is the body of Medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany, and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great story cycles recalled repeatedly in medieval literature, together with the Matter of France, which concerned the legends of Charlemagne, and the Matter of Rome, which included material derived from or inspired by classical mythology.
Pendragon, or King Arthur Pendragon, is a Tabletop role-playing game (RPG) in which players take the role of knights performing chivalric deeds in the tradition of Arthurian legend. It was originally written by Greg Stafford and published by Chaosium, then was acquired by Green Knight Publishing, who in turn passed on the rights to White Wolf Publishing in 2004. White Wolf sold the game to Stewart Wieck in 2009. Wieck formed Nocturnal Media, who updated and reissued the 5th edition originally published by White Wolf. In 2018, it returned to Chaosium.
Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail is a graphic adventure game released in 1990 by Sierra On-Line. It was the first game in the Conquests series designed by Christy Marx and her husband Peter Ledger. The only other game in the series was 1991's Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood. Marx did the majority of the design work while Ledger created the game and package art.
Sir Ywain, also known as Yvain, Owain, Uwain(e), Ewaine, Iwain, Iwein, etc., is a knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urien of Gorre and the sorceress Morgan le Fay. The historical Owain mab Urien, on whom the literary character is based, was the king of Rheged in Great Britain during the late 6th century.
Sir Balin le Savage, also known as the Knight with the Two Swords, is a character in the Arthurian legend. Like Sir Galahad, Sir Balin is a late addition to the medieval Arthurian world. His story, as told by Thomas Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur, is based upon that told in the continuation of the second book of the Post-Vulgate cycle of legend, the Suite du Merlin.
Divine Right is a fantasy board wargame designed by Glenn A. Rahman and Kenneth Rahman. The game was first published in 1979 by TSR, Inc. and a 25th Anniversary Edition was published in 2002 by The Right Stuf International.
Sir Dinadan is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition, appearing in the Prose Tristan and its adaptations including a part of Le Morte d'Arthur. Best known for his humor and pragmatism, Dinadan is a close friend of the protagonist Tristan.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is a Japanese anime series based on Arthurian legend. Produced by Toei Animation, the series consists of 30 half-hour episodes released between 9 September 1979 and 3 March 1980. The series achieved great popularity in its non-English translations.
King Arthur's messianic return is an aspect of the legend of King Arthur, the mythical 6th-century British king. Few historical records of Arthur remain, and there are doubts that he ever existed, but he achieved a mythological stature that gave rise to a growing literature about his life and deeds. One recurrent aspect of Arthurian literature was the notion that he would one day return in the role of a messiah to save his people.
The Matter of Britain character Morgan le Fay has been featured many times in various works of modern culture, often but not always appearing in villainous roles. Some modern stories merge Morgana's character with her sister Morgause or with aspects of Nimue. Her manifestations and the roles given to her by modern authors vary greatly, but typically she is being portrayed as a villainess associated with Mordred.
King Arthur's Knights is a 1978 Arthurian board game, designed by Greg Stafford, and published by Chaosium.