[Chaosium] Pendragon: Where It All Began - design journal by David Larkins

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By David Larkins, Pendragon line editor.​

A new edition of the Pendragon RPG is coming! The intention of this series of design journals by Pendragon line editor David Larkins is to trace the path of development, starting in the early 1980s and culminating with the forthcoming new edition of the Pendragon RPG, which will be first to be wholly published by Chaosium in a quarter-century.

For this first article, David takes a look at where it all began...

The path to the forthcoming 6th edition of Pendragon formally began on April 5th, 2010, when Greg Stafford sent out an email to his team of collaborators (whom he referred to as his “Household”) outlining his vision for the new edition—his Ultimate Edition.

When Greg passed away far too soon in 2018, he left behind decades’ worth of material, both paper and digital, tracing the game’s development. Most of these archives are currently in my care (from where I sit, I can see the shelf of vertical files containing dozens of detailed “hundred maps” of every county in Logres…), but there was one artifact that has remained out at Greg’s home in California: the original two-volume set of Le Morte d’Arthur from which Greg first began formulating the mechanical underpinnings of Pendragon.

Thanks to Greg’s friend and longtime Pendragon contributor David Zeeman, I recently received photos of the marginal notes Greg scribbled all those years ago, some of which (for there are many) are shared here for the first time.

We see Greg zeroing in on the core concepts of the game in Caxton’s Preface (“For herein may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate, virtue, and sin. Do after the good and leave the evil, and it shall bring you to good fame and renown.”).

Then, as the tale unfolds, we see Greg marking incidents in the book as he refines his ideas for Traits and Passions, and how those mechanics will work in play: “Mark gets a passion”; “Jealousy”; “Lancelot fumbles Energetic”; “Madness strikes Lancelot”.

Some terms are already there (Heraldry, Awareness); others are still in development (Injustice, Courage).

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The note that brought me the greatest delight had to do with Greg’s thoughts on Queen Guenever: “Gwen is honorable & I’ll kill anyone who disagrees.”

At some point, I will be writing about the revised Great Pendragon Campaign project currently under way, which includes a more detailed and nuanced treatment of the queen in the overall story arc. I’m tempted to include that bit of marginalia as a quote somewhere in the text…

For now, though, look forward to more details in forthcoming articles on the development cycle of 6th edition, including Greg’s journey from that first announcement back in 2010 to how we’re carrying on his vision and legacy today.

Until then, “Let us win glory for our king, who will reward us with honors and lands; and the devil take the hindermost!”

 

[Michael O'Brien]

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By David Larkins, Pendragon line editor.​

A new edition of the Pendragon RPG is coming! The intention of this series of design journals by Pendragon line editor David Larkins is to trace the path of development, starting in the early 1980s and culminating with the forthcoming new edition of the Pendragon RPG, which will be first to be wholly published by Chaosium in a quarter-century.

• Pendragon Design Journal #1: Where It All Began
• Pendragon Design Journal #2: Bringing the Light
• Pendragon Design Journal #3: A Modular Approach
• Pendragon Design Journal #4: Refining Traits and Passions
• Pendragon Design Journal #5: Honor and Glory
• Pendragon Design Journal #6: Combat!
• Pendragon Design Journal #7: The Social Game
• Pendragon Design Journal #8: The Battle System
• Pendragon Design Journal #9: Of Horses and Squires
• Pendragon Design Journal #10: Arthurian Acts
• Pendragon Design Journal #11: Writing the Starter Set
• Pendragon Design Journal #12: Writing the Starter Set, Part Two
• Pendragon Design Journal #13: Outstanding Art

Last week we were excited to announce the Pendragon Starter Set is having its worldwide release on June 29th! Here's our special release video, narrated by Mark Meer:


So what will you find when you've got your own Pendragon Starter Set box and opened it? After paging through everything and admiring the gorgeous art, you’ve played through the SoloQuest and gotten an idea of how the game works and know a little bit about the fantastic world of King Arthur. Now it’s time to dig into Book II: The Fabled Realm and see what makes the Pendragon RPG tick.

Our goal with this book was to present the game’s setting and mechanics as succinctly as possible while still conveying what makes Pendragon such a special gaming experience. Those of you who have downloaded our free quick-start scenario, The Adventure of the Sword Tournament, already have a super-streamlined version of the rules; this book takes that structure and expands it to allow you to play through the campaign in Book III (which we’ll be talking about in our next and final Design Journal!).

At the same time, we felt it important to keep the game as accessible as possible for newcomers. In that spirit, we don’t spend a lot of pages talking about the game’s setting; not in this book. The SoloQuest and Sword Campaign, along with a series of handouts triggered by various events in the campaign, do most of the heavy lifting in that regard. In playing through the scenarios, the Gamemaster and Player-knights will get fully immersed in the experience of this world. Book II starts with the broad strokes: customs of the realm, and the rights and responsibilities of knighthood, as well as a look at a typical day in the life of a knight.

Next, we dive into the game system itself, expanding on what you learned in playing through the SoloQuest: how the core dice mechanic works, what the various Statistics mean, and so forth. After that, we look at the Traits and Passions system, Skills, how Honor and Glory work, and combat.

As you might expect, the combat chapter, in concert with the following three chapters which cover weapons and armor, horses, and how to track injuries and recovery, respectively, constitute the most detailed portion of Book II—a fitting focus for that most definitive of knightly duties. After all, what is a knight if they cannot lay their lives on the line in answer to the call of their lord or for a righteous cause?

And so here you find the many possible actions available to knights, including mounted charges (and the soon-to-be-infamous Mounted Charge Fumble table!), reckless attacks, what happens when you get trampled by a horse, and even grappling rules. You’ll learn the advantages and disadvantages of an axe versus a mace in battle, and how many volleys you’ll be subjected to as you charge towards that mass of cowardly archers on the battlefield—and how well your armor will protect you or your horse from the arrows that do strike home!

The remainder of Book II examines the knight’s life during downtime: the value behind ransoming prisoners, and, of course, the Winter Phase, presented here in a streamlined version that focuses on the relatively simple lives of the pre-generated mercenary and household knights that come in the box.

Much as the Pendragon Starter Set rules expand on the quick-start version of the game, so too do the core rulebooks expand on what is found here in The Fabled Realm. But there is plenty here to allow for many sessions of play. In fact, it is my personal hope that players use Book II as a sort of quick table reference even when playing the full game. One of my design goals when editing and developing this book in particular was that it stand on its own and be of utility to all Pendragon players, and I feel we have achieved that.

Next time: The Sword Campaign revealed, and much more!​

 

[Michael O'Brien]

By David Larkins, Pendragon line editor.​

A new edition of the Pendragon RPG is coming NOW OUT IN RELEASE! The intention of this series of design journals by Pendragon line editor David Larkins is to trace the path of development, starting in the early 1980s and culminating with the forthcoming new edition of the Pendragon RPG, which will be first to be wholly published by Chaosium in a quarter-century.

• Pendragon Design Journal #1: Where It All Began
• Pendragon Design Journal #2: Bringing the Light
• Pendragon Design Journal #3: A Modular Approach
• Pendragon Design Journal #4: Refining Traits and Passions
• Pendragon Design Journal #5: Honor and Glory
• Pendragon Design Journal #6: Combat!
• Pendragon Design Journal #7: The Social Game
• Pendragon Design Journal #8: The Battle System
• Pendragon Design Journal #9: Of Horses and Squires
• Pendragon Design Journal #10: Arthurian Acts
• Pendragon Design Journal #11: Writing the Starter Set
• Pendragon Design Journal #12: Writing the Starter Set, Part Two
• Pendragon Design Journal #13: Outstanding Art
• Pendragon Design Journal #14: Writing the Starter Set, Part Three - Plus, we have a release date!

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Well, folks, this is it! The big day is here—the Pendragon Starter Set is released into the wild! For this final installation of our deep dive into the set and its development (see here for Parts One, Two, and Three), I want to talk about the included campaign, as well as the pre-generated characters and other goodies packed inside.

If you’ve had a chance to check out the free Quick Start scenario, The Adventure of the Sword Tournament, then you have already seen the first act of the very first adventure in The Sword Campaign, Greg Stafford’s wonderful introduction to Pendragon and the world of King Arthur.

The reason it is called The Sword Campaign is because the three scenarios are bookended by the appearance of two legendary blades. We begin with Clarent, the Sword of Peace, drawn by Squire Arthur from the stone in front of St. Paul’s. And we end, of course, with the appearance of a legendary blade, a moment your own Player-knights are present to witness!

As befits an introductory set of adventures, The Sword Campaign is an excellent primer on all things Pendragon. Players (and novice Gamemasters) learn the rules along the way, starting with the basics of the system and gradually adding in activities like battles and courtly protocol. They get to participate in the chaotic early days of the Boy King’s reign, taking his side in desperate battles and running covert missions of diplomacy on his behalf. Along the way they will encounter magic and strange beasts, be tested in their resolve and honor, and face death many times over. There is, of course, plenty of room for Player-knight agency within these stories, setting up the group for their own unique mélange of loyalties, rivalries, loves, and losses that are the hallmark of any Pendragon campaign.

The Sword Campaign is intended to serve as a launchpad to continuing campaign play. Our first adventure due for release, a revised edition of the classic The Grey Knight, will come with two new scenarios that specifically dovetail with the events of The Sword Campaign. With the aid of the forthcoming core rulebooks, or just their own imaginations, Gamemasters should be able to carry on running games for their group of Player-knights long after the nominal endpoint of the year 512.

I’ve talked in past Design Journals about one of the goals for the new edition being modularity, and that holds true here as well.

The Pendragon Starter Set comes with eight pre-generated characters, and The Sword Campaign is written with the assumption that some selections from this pool will form the group of Player-knights. However, this need not be so! Each adventure in The Sword Campaign can stand on its own, ready to drop into existing campaigns set during the Boy King Period of the Pendragon timeline. Different characters, created using the rules presented in the forthcoming Pendragon Knight’s Handbook, may venture The Sword Campaign just as easily as our pre-generated friends.

Speaking of which, we designed the Starter characters to showcase the wide variety of knights one can play in Pendragon, both in terms of their background as well as their personalities.

Each of the eight Player-knights represents a classic Arthurian trope, from the would-be chivalrous do-gooder (Sir Clarion) to the woman-knight in disguise (Dame Lynelle). Do you like playing bruisers who can dish out lots of damage? Choose Dame Cwenhild, but don’t be surprised if the “eager young squire from modest means,” Cadwallon of Salisbury, treats you with some suspicion due to his distrust of Saxons. If you like playing characters from foreign climes, Dame Tamura and Sir Asterius should scratch that itch nicely. If there was an online quiz called “Are You a Sir Tristram or a Sir Dinadan?”, depending on the answer you might choose to play Sir Evrain or Sir Avalloc, respectively.

Why eight pre-generated characters? Well, variety of course. But also: part of learning to play Pendragon, especially for folks used to games with more complex, less excited combat systems, is finding out just how deadly the game can be…

The Sword Campaign doesn’t pull any punches, either. The hallmark of the Boy King’s early reign is battle, and the Starter Set marks the debut of the definitive Pendragon battle system in the form of the Battles of Carlion and Bedegraine. To facilitate these epic clashes, the Starter Set comes with a complete set of Encounter and Opportunity cards. I talk in more detail about the new system in this previous Design Journal, and I’m super excited for everyone to finally get a chance to try it out.

In fact, I’m just super excited in general! I know it’s been a long time in the pipeline, but we wanted to make sure we had everything ready to go when we launched the new edition. This release marks not only the debut of Greg Stafford’s “ultimate edition” of his magnum opus, but kicks off a whole new era for, in my opinion, the greatest fantasy role-playing game ever written. (I may be a bit biased…)

The PENDRAGON STARTER SET is out now in worldwide release.

Chaosium.com (US, EU, Australia warehouses*)​

• Box Set - $29.99 - price includes PDF
• PDF - $14.99

*please note, the Pendragon Starter Set cannot be ordered from the UK due to a customs issue. We hope to have it available soon!

DriveThruRPG​

• PDF - $14.99

Roll20​

• All maps, art, multi-sided tokens, and character sheets fully integrated and ready for the virtual tabletop - $14.99

nb this is the final Pendragon Starter Set Design Journal. We hope you found it of interest and that you enjoy the new edition.