Mark Shirley – författare

Welcome to the feudal fantasy world called Perceforest! A World of High Chivalry, Wonder, Existential Menace, and Sacred KingshipPerceforest is a fictional world of high chivalry set against the forces of the primal wild. It is based on a vast epic of the same name, written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous author about the lands that would later be known as England and Scotland. The author introduces a vast array of characters: kings, knights, damsels, sorcerers, and even the occasional talking animal.The setting described in these pages is that of the Perceforest saga, modified and expanded to create a new fantasy world with all the adventure of the original work, but one without the explicit connection to Britain, Arthur, or his Knights.It is expected that one or more players will have knight characters, even if this is not their primary career. Being a knight is more than just being in charge of a horse and harness: a knight is expected to uphold the code of chivalry and act with honour and courage; caution and fore-thought are foreign concepts.Perceforest is a world rich in magic. There are evil sorcerers and enchanter-knights, damsels steeped in secret lore and witches weaving spells. The land is strewn with wonders — invisible castles, magical swords, men made of iron, and even fish on horseback! Players can have characters such as talking animals, playful badger knights, magpie heralds, or snake magicians.A hostile force looks on the civilised land with envious eyes; this force is commonly called The Forest, which is a shorthand term for the primal wild that created all living things save for mankind.The settlers brought with them the gentle culture that now permeates much of Bretaigne society, along with new laws and the rigorous policy of land clearance that robbed The Forest of its territory in order to plant crops and raise livestock. The player characters are at the forefront of defending this way of life, having been placed in charge of a village and charged with making it prosper.The fortunes of a kingdom are tied to the health and character of its king, and when one prospers so does the other. As the saga opens both of the Twin Kingdoms are ruled by ailing kings, a state of affairs that results in lawlessness and chaos. As members of the ruling elite, the player characters are expected to take up the fight against injustice and help to keep the kingdom safe until the king recovers.

A Mythic adventure.Kales Pegonites is the man that everyone wants. He's gone missing, and there are several people looking for him for different reasons. But finding him is only part of the deal; Kales has found himself mixed up in a mystery as old as The City itself. Life's Long Consequences is intended to showcase some features of Mythic Constantinople, particularly the seedier side of life. It is suitable for characters who have newly arrived in the city as well as those who have been here longer. It is designed to have a little of everything: investigation, social interaction, skulking and sneaking, as well as combat, emphasising that surviving the City of Wonders requires more than just a strong and sharp blade.But the adventure can be adapted to any large city without too much trouble; the only requirement being a foreign enclave of merchants, placed on the other side of a river or on a nearby island. In fact, owning Mythic Constantinople is not essential to run this scenario, although it does provide context and background information that will bring this adventure alive. The scenario can easily be set, with a little adaptation, in Thennla, perhaps, or Mythic Rome. And of course, the Greek nature of the city makes this scenario ideal for intrigue in Meeros.Welcome, then, to a Byzantium that never quite was, and join the search for Kales Pegonites. Why do so many want him? What will they do when they find him? Indeed, is there anything left of him to be found… These answers, and more, await in the labyrinthine streets of the Queen of Cities…

A comprehensive Mythras campaign resource that mingles meticulous history with legend, myth and adventure set in medieval Byzantium.Byzantium, Queen of Cities, Constantinople, bridging Europe and Asia like a jewel, the epicentre of medieval culture. The year is 1450 or, as the Byzantines reckon it, the 6,958th year since Creation. This is an age of exploration and invention; an age of intrigue, and an age of empires. The known world congregates here: mercenaries from England and Russia; the wealthy merchants of Genoa, Venice and Tunis; the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate face off against each other while the iron-clad Knights of Rhodes debate theology with Neoplatonists.And it is home too to the non-human species of the world, such as the inscrutable Astomatoi, the fearless Minotauroi, and the headless Blemmyai. In the Undercity are ancient horrors with agendas of their own, things of legend and myth that have inhabited Constantinople for thousands of years.Meanwhile the Muslim Ottoman Empire eyes the city with envy and draws up its plans. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches seek to dominate Christianity while, elsewhere, pagan forces and cults wait for their own opportunities to surface.Mythic Constantinople is a thorough and comprehensive campaign resource that mingles meticulous history with legend and myth. It presents Constantinople in astonishing detail, covering the city's geography, history, politics, and culture alongside its landmarks, personalities, organisations, and religions. It takes a unique approach to generating street-level details of the city, and taking care to connect places, people and organisations to both describe Byzantium, and aid Games Masters in bringing the city to life in their campaigns.Play characters from dozens of cultures: native Byzantines, European mercenaries, wily Italianate merchant-venturers, intrepid emissaries of Islam, or even a non-human occupant of the city, rubbing shoulders with the Varingian Guard and schemers of the Serene Republic of Venice. The options are vast.Everything you need to campaign in medieval Byzantium is here. Welcome to Mythic Constantinople.

A thrilling supplement for Mythic Britain set in the extensive fenlands of 5th Century Britain.The fenlands of eastern Britain, where Celtic and Saxon tribes clash, and where old enmities between Britons do not always mean a united front against a common enemy.The spirits are quiet. The goddesses shackled. And a murder has been committed...

Gwynedd...the Shame of Britain This war-torn land has been the target of near-constant conflict for centuries. The native tribes have all but vanished, replaced by successive waves of Roman, Irish, Manx, Silurian, Pict, and Ordovician invaders, all of whom covet its fertile valleys and gold-rich mountains. It has been twenty years since a king ruled a united Gwynedd: eight contenders compete for the Oaken Torc of Gwynedd, divided into two major factions and a handful of minor ones. Only strife rules here, abetted by the interference of foreign powers and secret conspiracies at the heart of its princely courts; and it seems that Gwynedd is not destined for peace. This campaign book for Mythic Britain describes the clans, cabals, and coteries that fight for Gwynedd's throne, employing the rules detailed in Mythic Factions; along with the history, geography, and motivations that drive the conflicts. The adventure "Quarrelling Princes" adds another chapter to the Mythic Britain campaign, concerning Arthur's attempts to recruit Gwynedd into the Alliance of Britain. Three other adventures are outlined: "The Flooding of Maes Gwyddno" has the characters racing to save a land from the sea; "The Head of Bran the Blessed" sees the adventurers questing for a mystic artifact; and "The Madness of Ynys Mon" explores the cursed heart of druidic power in Britain.

Everyone loves a good villain, and the Elder Isles are full of them. Rogues, Rascals, and Rapscallions is a resource to the beleaguered Games Master. It has a cornucopia of criminals, a superfluity of scoundrels, a mass of miscreants, and a surfeit of scallywags. The book is divided into five chapters, respectively covering ne'er-do-wells, cults, societies, places, and schemes, each accompanied by multiple stories that can embroil the characters in villainy, either as victims, witnesses, investigators or – heavens forfend! – perpetrators.

Adventures in the Three KingdomsAcross the Narrow Sea separating Britain from Europe, lie the three kingdoms of Armorica: Poher, Benoic, and Broërec. And across the heartland, the mighty, enchanted Forest of Broceliande.Settled a 150 years ago by Britons from the mainland, they displaced the native Gauls and created their own lands. But now Armorica is under siege.The Franks and the Visigoths fight on the eastern border and threaten to make Armorica their battleground. Meanwhile,the bishops of Armorica fight a war against pagan practice, and under their urging, Broceliande is shrinking every year.Finally, a dark force is working from within, waging a covert war of conquest against the three kingdoms.Mythic Britain: Armorica is a campaign expansion for theMythic Britain setting. You will need both Mythras and Mythic Britain to make full use of this book.