Pendragon

I love Pendragon. I think it can be a good change of pace, but I dislike Chaosium's house system - the Pendragon-specific stuff is brilliant, though. I converted some of it over to both 1e and 2e, but I can't locate my notes from back then.

The game itself can be limiting with the down time each winter, but if you make that the time for the roleplaying-intensive stuff, it can be OK.

I think it's good to convert traits and passions over to 3e. Using traits to track alignment is a cool idea.

I read somewhere that Green Knight was against doing Pendragon as d20, which is a mistake. They could easily release a d20 conversion manual or book and keep the Chaosium system for other releases. Chaosium's system seems to be a "Sacred Cow" for them, which seems ironic, given that it was originally devised for Runequest, and has since been used for Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Ringworld, and a few other games lost to antiquity. The stuff that makes Pendragon unique is fairly easily portable to other systems - which we've seen right here on this thread.

The game itself can be limiting with the down time each winter, but if you make that the time for the roleplaying-intensive stuff, it can be OK.

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I guess I don't see how the Winter Phase slows things down. In D&D you'd finish Sunless Citadel, chit-chat about what you do afterwords, play out the Winter Phase, then start Forge of Fury, knowing that Tordek started courting the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Stonesplinter clan and Regdar fathered a child out of wedlock (or whatever).

I read somewhere that Green Knight was against doing Pendragon as d20, which is a mistake.

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I think Green Knight Publishing is basically a guy who really enjoyed Pendragon, so I can see why he's not quick to embrace alternative rulesets; he has neither the resources nor the inclination. Too bad though, since classes would certainly fit perfectly.

Just a quick note, since we've started a new page, that the alignment tracking rules we were discussing earlier on this thread are now being hashed out at...

http://www.enworld.org/messageboards/showthread.php?s=&postid=133674#post133674

Stop on by and drop your 2 pence off

Winter Phase in D&D

Speaking of Winter Phase, what would make for a good Winter Phase in D&D? Not everyone's a knight with land, after all. What should they do in their off time?

In Pendragon, the Winter Phase comprises nine steps:

1. Perform Solo -- Participate in a solo scenario, maybe administering your own estate, serving your lord in some manner (escorting someone, border patrol, etc.), starting (or continuing) a romance, challenging all who pass a particular bridge (for "love of battle"), etc.
2. Experience Check Rolls -- Characters improve between adventures.
3. Aging -- Pendragon campaigns don't squeeze dozens of adventures into a year or two.
4. Check Economic Circumstances -- Pay cost of living and collect income.
5. Stable Rolls -- Horses age and injure themselves, and they're very important to a knight.
6. Family Rolls -- There are rules for marriage, children, and family events (births, deaths, marriages, scandals).
7. Training and Practice -- Players can direct some of their characters' progress.
8. Compute Glory
9. Add Glory Bonus Points

Some of those steps are very game-mechanic-specific (Experience Check Rolls, Training and Practice, Compute Glory, and Add Glory Bonus Points) and would probably get rolled up into one D&D step: Level Up. Others would carry over quite easily: Perform Solo, Aging, Stable Rolls, and Family Rolls. Either they'd use the same rules (Stable Rolls and Family Rolls), or they'd use D&D equivalents (Aging). The solo scenarios are obviously quite open ended. Checking Economic Circumstances might take some work, but you can start with the Upkeeps rules.

More than any other class, I think Wizards would benefit the most from having a "winter phase". No longer would they have to worry about missing out on the adventure while conducting research or creating magical items.

Whether or not this is a good thing I leave to you to decide

More than any other class, I think Wizards would benefit the most from having a "winter phase". No longer would they have to worry about missing out on the adventure while conducting research or creating magical items.

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I was thinking just the same thing. Wizards have spells to research, magic rings to forge, etc. Fighters, especially at higher levels, have fortresses to raise, troops to train, etc. (The Pendragon rules fit pretty well for them.) Rogues have lots of solo adventures to go on: spying, theiving, fencing goods, etc.

Anyone have any more suggestions on what D&D characters could do in their off time, during the "Winter Phase"?

mmadsen said:

Anyone have any more suggestions on what D&D characters could do in their off time, during the "Winter Phase"?

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Breed.

WHOOOHOOO I'm veiw #1001 whoohoo

mmadsen said:

Anyone have any more suggestions on what D&D characters could do in their off time, during the "Winter Phase"?

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(a few rambling ideas)

Craft skills take a LOT of time. IMC, I have a feat called "Forge Magical Weapons and Armor" which is distinct from "Craft Magical Weapons and Armor," and gives highly skilled weapon and armor smiths a way to get in on the magic item creation act without taking wizard levels. There's a smith in the party who would love some down time to work on her axe.

Winter may be a good time for a charismatic character to be sent on a diplomatic or espionage mission, especially if there is a war or some other situation that may come to a head in the spring. Planning for the spring's military campaigns may also be appropriate.

Clerics and druids can work to alleviate the problems that winter brings to local peasants by creating food, curing disease, etc., while at the same time being able to preach to captive audiences.

The default prevalence of magic in D&D makes control over the environment in a small area a feasible proposition. This makes a D&D winter potentially vastly different from a Pendragon one.
Certain building projects can continue in a D&D winter, for example, and may even benefit from the fact that there are fewer monsters prowling about.

It was stated above that Wizards are the greatest beneficiaries of the winter phase, but I think it benefits another group even more: villains. A villain who escapes from the party can use the winter to lick his wounds, make plans for his revenge using their knowledge of the party, and acquiring magic items that can exploit the party's weaknesses. Villains based underground, underwater, or on another plane, where winter's effects are less severe, benefit from the winter phase by acting normally while the rest of the world slows down.