King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame II Developer Diary

“The Once and Future King Reborn” is the title given to the second King Arthur II developer diary to make its way online over at RTSGuru. This time around, Neocore Games content designer Viktor Juhász talks about the game’s storyline and world:

The story begins with certain standard events from the mythology (the easily-recognizable stuff, if you are familiar with the popular interpretations, anyway). Before Arthur, there was a great king, Uther Pendragon. He visited the wife of his arch-enemy in a magical disguise, which resulted in the birth of young Arthur. And then, he died. There followed a dark age; the realm was in chaos, and all the lords of the provinces were very busy fighting with each other over who would be the next king. Then there came the mysterious and ageless wizard, Merlin, with a magical sword that only the young Arthur, foster child of Sir Ector, was able to pull from the stone. Unknown to him, Arthur was the true son and the rightful heir to Uther Pendragon, and the one fated to be the next ruler of Britain: The Once and Future King.

Fairly familiar so far, but beyond this point, King Arthur The Role-playing Wargame strays from the beaten path. In most versions of the story, young Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, gathers an army, defeats his enemies, and summons the Knights of the Round Table (who will later swarm over the world seeking adventure, damsels to rescue, and even the Holy Grail itself); meanwhile, Arthur builds Camelot, marries Guinevere (who has her own romance with Sir Lancelot), while the whole realm falls apart once more by the hands of Mordred. Then in a final, epic battle, Arthur is victorious but pays a terrible price.