Thursday, May 19, 2011

besmirching Jeffy Plantagenet

Yesterday's outline of Geoffrey of Anjou's personality got some interesting responses. A couple people felt that my characterization was a bit of a disservice to the patriarch of the Plantagenet dynasty. Dangerous Brian notes:
While matilda was making a hash of things in England, her husband was kicking ass and taking names all over France. In fact, Matilda's son Henry probably owes his military genius, energetic enthuisiam and penchant for womanising to the teachings and example of his father.
And Don McKinney, one of the niftiest guys I've ever known, reminds us:
Henry I had heard reports of Geoffrey's talents and prowess. I suspect that would be more military that bardic... Remember that Geoffrey's father gave him Anjou because he left to marry and become King of Jerusalem (1131-1143), so Geoffrey's family isn't exactly a bunch of unknowns.
These are excellent points.  The wikipedia article on Geoffrey of Anjou also provides this interesting detail:
John of Marmoutier describes Geoffrey as handsome, red-headed, jovial, and a great warrior; however, Ralph of Diceto alleges that his charm concealed his cold and selfish character.
I don't think I've read those particular chroniclers yet, so those guys can be added to the pile of fun stuff to check into while researching for the campaign.  Anyway, all this stuff suggests that my take on this guy is a gross oversimplification at best and outright erroneous at worst. The thing is, I'm okay with that.
 
Dude's been dead for the better part of a millenium and frankly I feel like I don't owe him jack and/or squat. Getting Geoffrey of Anjou 'right' just isn't a priority for me.  I'm much more interested in doing something interesting with the materials available, whether the result comes out exactly in line with history or not. The research is fuel for the process, not the point of the process. The point is to end up with fun stuff for the game. 
 
Geoffrey of Anjou may never even show up in my campaign.  As Dangerous Brian notes he hangs back in Normandy while his wife leads an invasion of England. But as a VIP of the setting he casts a long shadow. Geoffrey as a useless dandy fits in with an overall theme for the upper crust in the campaign: these are all terrible people.  Matilda and Stephen's family spat over who gets to sit at the head of the table at Christmas dinner costs thousands of lives and pretty much wrecks up an entire country (and much of France, too)  for two friggin' decades. Under my interpretation no one at the top of the Wessex social hierarchy is going to come off as a swell guy to go have a beer with.  Incidentally, this means Empress Matilda is going to be tricky, as it would be super duper easy to just pretend "she's a bitch" counts as characterization.
 
But anyway, let's say we want to keep the prettyboy fancy dresser angle, but give Geoffrey a harder edge, make him a cruel bastard who can kick more than a little ass.  There's at least one superb model to go for in characterizing this version, Tim Roth's character Archibald Cunningham from the Liam Neeson flick Rob Roy. Man, I hate that guy. Neeson's Rob Roy pulling himself up by his foe's sword and just stone cold chopping Cunningham down is a great "Fuck yeah!" moment.

Mr. Roth plays an excellent Deadly Douchebag.
He was also great in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

9 comments:

  1. Sometime reader, first time commenter...

    I love the Deadly Douchebag characterization (and Rob Roy kicked all manner of ass). Any leader who wanted to hold power in that snakepit of politics pretty much had to be ruthless and me-first. Something I'm trying to do in my games is make the nobility and rulers less likable (something I've struggled with, since I identify too much with the PCs). I salute your use of Archibald Cunningham as a character type.

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  2. I think there is no problem using Geoffrey this way. Besides medieval chroniclers and descriptions are often wildly innacurate and/ or contradictory.

    Also wasn't there contemporary stories about the Avegins having demonic origins? Political stuff surely but cool.campaign fodder.

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  3. Also wasn't there contemporary stories about the Avegins having demonic origins?

    Yeah, I've seen at least one tale about an ancestress of Geoffrey that refused to attend Mass. When she was literally dragged to one she melted or disappeared in a puff of smoke or something like that.

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  4. Love it! It's hard to go wrong with a cruel, vicious, fancy boy.

    Also great: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I was really impressed with Tim Roth and Gary Oldman in that movie, and the writing was amazing. My friends and I played "Questions" for months.

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  5. Love that characterisation of Geoffrey. He'd be a right good nasty B****** for your campaign.

    And yeah, the story goes that the Angevin wife was the devils daughter. When forced to take mass, she turned herself and her daughters into ravens and flew out the church window (no stained glass in those days) never to be seen again.

    Great myth. it's why HenryII's rebelious hell-raising and scheming sons were known as the "Devils Brood".

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  6. Rob Roy killing Cunningham was the most memorable scene in the movie. Followed closely by Cunningham, at his most effete, humiliating the Scottish champion early in the movie.

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  7. Note to morons: anyone reading the play reports of Dave arneson's first fantasy campaign or gygax's greyhawk will see that both (especially the former) have more in common with skirmish wargaming than the group fan fiction masquerading d&d sessions that take place on any---any, of the old school board pbp games.

    Dave arneson and gygax played their d&d as wargames or as boardgames--I don't fault them for cashing in on all the amateur thespians, but it doesn't change what the game actually was written for.

    Arneson never spoke in funny voices with sir fang.

    Personally, I don't play 4e, I play 0e and I'm not going to be lectured by bad actors who's reading comprehension never got them past Holmes basic (d&d for kids!) and who never could grasp the rules for CHAINMAIL so continue to pretend. BtB 300 orcs with catapults seems pretty "skirmishy" to me.

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  8. Hey, UWS. If you want to write off OD&D as just another miniatures game that's no skin off my back. I'm amazed to find someone who cares enough about the game to get huffy and puffy on some nerd's blog who feels that way, but different strokes for different folks and all.

    But please at least link back to the blog where this argument started. I don't remember where this fight began and you're undoubtedly confusing everyone else with your nonsequitur.

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  9. people sure are freaks.

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