''Pendragon'', or ''King Arthur Pendragon'', is a

Tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

(RPG) in which players take the role of

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s performing

chivalric Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed by ...

deeds in the tradition of

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

. It was originally written by

Greg Stafford Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism. Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Glorantha ...

and published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

, then was acquired by

Green Knight Publishing Green Knight Publishing was founded by Peter Corless in 1998. He had acquired the rights to Chaosium's award-winning ''Pendragon RPG, Pendragon'' role-playing game after they defaulted on a loan from Corless with Pendragon as collateral. From 1999 ...

, who in turn passed on the rights to

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

in 2004. White Wolf sold the game to

Stewart Wieck Stewart Douglas Wieck (May 10, 1968 June 22, 2017) was one of the founders of the publishing company, White Wolf, Inc. He was also one of the original writers of Mage: The Ascension. Career Stewart Wieck was born in Freeport, Illinois in 1968. H ...

in 2009. Wieck formed Nocturnal Media, who updated and reissued the 5th edition originally published by White Wolf. In 2018, it returned to

. After it was published in 1985, ''Pendragon'' won several industry awards, and reviewers highly recommended it; in following years, it was included in several "Best of" industry lists.

Setting

Like several other RPGs from Chaosium (most notably '' Call of Cthulhu''), ''Pendragon'' has a literary basis, in this case the fifteenth-century Arthurian romance, ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...

''. It studiously avoids fantasy RPG cliches in favor of its source material. This has caused it to become something of a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

game, even within the narrow confines of the RPG market. Adventures are often political, military, or spiritual in nature, rather than

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...

s, and are often presented as taking place congruently with events from

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a Legend, legendary king of Great Britain, Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest tradition ...

legend. An important part of the game is the time between adventures, during which player characters manage their estates, get married, age, and have children. Typically, the characters will have one adventure per year, and campaigns often carry over across generations, with players retiring their character and taking the role of that character's

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

. This is quite different from most role-playing games, where one set of characters is played fairly intensively, and there is typically little consideration made of what happens to their family or descendants. The influence of this idea can be seen in the ''

Ars Magica ''Ars Magica'' is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Mi ...

'' RPG, which also encourages stories taking years or decades to unfold (and which is also set in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Europe). The default ''Pendragon'' setting is a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

of actual fifth- and sixth-century British history, high medieval history (10th to 15th centuries), and Arthurian legend. The political forces are roughly those actually present in

sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hint ...

: Celts fighting Germanic, Irish, and Pictish invaders in the wake of the collapse of Roman authority. Technology and many aspects of culture, however, progress in an accelerated fashion, such that

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

's Britain is depicted as thoroughly

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

. Knights bear unique coats of arms,

joust Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponent w ...

in tournaments, follow chivalric customs, and pursue

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

. In effect, many trappings of the milieu in which the Arthurian romances were composed are projected backwards. Many of the campaign events and personalities come from the great mass of Arthurian literature composed from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. That being said, it is also possible to run a ''Pendragon'' campaign set firmly in the Dark Ages or in a more fantastic vision of Arthurian Britain.

System

The rules system of ''Pendragon'' is most notable for its system of personality traits and passions that both control and represent the character's behavior. Otherwise, it uses fairly traditional game mechanics for normal play, based to some degree on the ''

Basic Role-Playing ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQu ...

'' (''BRP'') system,. It also has a set of charts and tables for determining what happens to a character's family in between adventures. The characters'

ability score In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game, game mechanics and dice rolls determine much of what happens. These mechanics include: * Ability scores, the most basic statistics of a character, which influence all other statistics * Armor cla ...

s are based on ''BRP'' standard, but skills are resolved using d20, rather than d100.

Personal Traits

These are thirteen opposing values that represent a character's personality. The Traits are: Chaste / Lustful, Energetic / Lazy, Forgiving / Vengeful, Generous / Selfish, Honest / Deceitful, Just / Arbitrary, Merciful / Cruel, Modest / Proud, Pious / Worldly, Prudent / Reckless, Temperate / Indulgent, Trusting / Suspicious, and Valorous / Cowardly. The values on the left side are Virtues and the values on the right are Vices. The Traits are 1-20 points split between the opposing values (e.g., 10/10, 14/6, 5/15). For every point above 10 on a Virtue, a point must be placed below 10 on another Virtue. Characters start during character creation with a base of 15/5 in Valorous/Cowardly (because they are heroes), a base of 13/7 in their Religious Virtues (because they are the good guys) and a base score of 10/10 in the remaining values. A d20 roll is made to use a Virtue (e.g., Merciful to show mercy towards a captive mortal enemy) or resist a Vice (e.g., Deceitful to deceive a friend). If the roll is at or below the value, it Succeeds and the desired result occurs. If the roll exceeds the value, it is a Failure and the opposite result occurs. If a Virtue or Vice is rated at 20, the opposite is rated at 0; any roll on this trait is automatically successful (e.g., an Energetic character's attempt to persist in a difficult or arduous task) or automatically unsuccessful (e.g., an Indulgent character who must use Temperate to resist gluttony or intoxication). This is congruent with Arthurian legend, in which a hero's weaknesses are his downfall (like Lancelot's lust for Guenevere) or a villain has a moment of nobility (like King Uriens of Gore showing mercy to Prince Arthur rather than striking him down). The Chivalric Virtues are: Energetic, Generous, Forgiving, Just, Modest, Temperate, and Valorous. Characters possessing point values in these seven Virtues totaling above 80 are granted a bonus to Chivalry rolls. The Chivalric Vices are: Lazy, Selfish, Vengeful, Arbitrary, Cruel, Proud, and Cowardly. Characters possessing point values in these seven Vices totaling above 80 suffer a penalty to Chivalry rolls. The Christian Religious Virtues are: Chaste, Forgiving, Merciful, Modest, and Temperate. Christian Characters possessing one or more of these traits at a value of 16+ gain a Religious bonus. The Romantic Virtues are: Forgiving, Generous, Honest, Just, Merciful, and Trusting. Characters possessing point values in these six Virtues totaling above 65 are granted a bonus to Romance rolls. Later on, other cultures were added for players who wanted to play a non-Christian character. The Heathen Religious Virtues are Vengeful, Honest, Arbitrary, Proud, and Worldly. This covers Saracens and Picts. The Pagan Religious Virtues are Lustful, Energetic, Generous, Honest, and Proud. This covers British and Welsh pagans. The Wotanic Religious Virtues are Generous, Honest, Proud, Worldly, Reckless and Indulgent. This covers Germanic and Scandinavian pagans.

Passions

Passions are higher values that influence a character's behavior. They are generated by rolling 2d6+6 or 3d6 and adding or subtracting various modifiers. Passions roll on a d20, just like Traits. If a character fails a Passions roll, he goes into a state of Melancholy (hopeless depression) for violating his core belief. A critical failure or failed attempt to recover from Melancholy can lead to Madness, which forces the character to go into retirement until such time as he can redeem his actions or be forgiven by those he wronged. *''Loyalty'' is a sense of duty to obey a liege, ally, or friend. *''Love'' is a feeling of affection for another person (a parent, sibling, friend, or lover) or people (allies / followers, friends, or family members) that the character has strong emotional ties to. *''Love (Family)'', an affection for family members, is common for daughters and firstborn sons. *''Hospitality'' is the courtesy of providing shelter, lodging, and protection towards a guest. *''Honor'' is a sense of duty towards following the rules of proper and noble behavior. Later editions added new Passions. *''Amor'' is Romantic love for a person, replacing ''Love'' for a lover. *''Hate'' is the obsessive dislike for a person, nation, or race. A character's Passion is often used to create dissonance and conflict. An example would be a Loyal knight faithfully obeying a cruel order from his unjust liege (or an Honorable knight refusing to do so, no matter the reason or excuse). Another would be an Hospitable host giving protection to a rude and discourteous guest (or an enemy who abuses the custom for insidious ends).

Magic and Magic-Users

Only the fourth edition of ''Pendragon'' included mechanics for magic and magician characters. All other versions of the game, including the later fifth edition, assumed that the character was a knight or lady and restricted magic to game master-controlled characters.

Character Generation

The first through fourth editions allowed random character generation of characters from a wide variety of cultures of Great Britain and western Europe, which was expanded by later supplements. The fifth edition supports only point-based creation of young landholding knights from the default homeland of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, which was a preferred option in the third and fourth editions as well. The supplement ''Book of Knights and Ladies'', self-published by Greg Stafford in 2008, allows creation of more diverse characters for fifth edition. The regions of Logres, Cumbria, and Cambria profiled in the following three supplements were internal to Arthur's realm, and thus used standard character generation. * ''Savage Mountains'' (1991) -

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity). It emerged later, in the medieval period, a ...

(Wales);

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

characters. * ''Perilous Forest'' (1992) - Cumbria (Northern Britain); describes the lands of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

(Northwest Britain) and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

(Northeast Britain). * ''Blood and Lust'' (1995) -

Logres Logres (among various other forms and spellings) is King Arthur's realm in the Matter of Britain. It derives from the medieval Welsh word ''Lloegyr'', a name of uncertain origin referring to South and Eastern England (''Lloegr'' in modern Welsh ...

(Southern Britain); loosely describes the lands of

Lindsey Lindsey may refer to : Places Canada * Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia England * Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 ** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, a ...

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

Middle Anglia The Middle Angles were an important ethnic or cultural group within the larger kingdom of Mercia in England in the Anglo-Saxon period. Origins and territory It is likely that Angles broke into the Midlands from East Anglia and the Wash e ...

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

, and

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

and the

Saxon Shore The Saxon Shore ( la, litus Saxonicum) was a military command of the late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the "Count of the Saxon Shor ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Over its history the game spawned a number of supplements dealing with areas within or beyond Arthurian Britain and creating characters outside the culture of the

Celtic Britons The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', la, Britanni), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were people of Celtic language and culture who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age and into the Middle Ages, at which point th ...

: * ''Pagan Shore'' (1994) -

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

; Irish character generation, including Feudal Irish and two types of tribal peoples: the '' Cruithni'' (Irish Picts) and ''

Lochlann In the modern Gaelic languages, () signifies Scandinavia or, more specifically, Norway. As such it is cognate with the Welsh name for Scandinavia, (). In both old Gaelic and old Welsh, such names literally mean 'land of lakes' or 'land of ...

ach'' (somewhat ahistorical Norse raiders). * ''Beyond the Wall: Pictland & The North'' (1995) - Pictland (

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

, roughly modern Scotland);

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...

character generation. * ''Land of Giants'' (1996) -

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

and the Nordic areas of Britain during the era of ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

'';

Northmen The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...

character generation. * ''Saxons!'' (1999) - The origins of

Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...

(Southeast Britain);

Jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

(

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

Angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two Ray (geometry), rays, called the ''Side (plane geometry), sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex (geometry), vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two ...

(

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

), Frisian (

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) &

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) character generation.

Publication history

The first edition was a boxed set published by Chaosium in 1985, and was designed and written by

. Chaosium planned a second edition, with minor changes to the rules, but this was never actually released. They released a third edition, with rules revised by Stafford, as a single softbound book in 1990. The fourth edition, published by Chaosium in 1993 and reprinted by

in 1999, was also released as a softbound manual: the core rules remained consistent with the third edition, but the book was expanded to include rules for player-character magicians and for advanced character-generation (the latter had originally appeared separately in the third-edition supplement ''Knights Adventurous''). Green Knight Publishing also released a cut-down version of the fourth edition aimed at beginning players, ''The Book of Knights.'' Original designer Greg Stafford produced a much-streamlined fifth edition, which was published as a hardcover book by

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * Whi ...

in December, 2005. The most notable supplement for this edition is ''The Great Pendragon Campaign'', a massive (432-page) hardcover scenario book which details events, adventures and characters from

Uther Pendragon Uther Pendragon (Brittonic) (; cy, Ythyr Ben Dragwn, Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon), also known as King Uther, was a legendary King of the Britons in sub-Roman Britain (c. 6th century). Uther was also the father of King Arthur. A few m ...

's reign in 485 through to the end of the Arthurian era. In Ownership passed from White Wolf to Nocturnal Media. In 2017 Nocturnal Media Kickstarted Paladin: Warriors of Charlemagne!. Using the Pendragon rules system, it is set in medieval Europe with players playing young Frankish squires or knights in the service of Charlemagne. The Pendragon line returned to Chaosium in 2018. In 2020, a Quickstart preview for a sixth edition was published by Chaosium.

Reception

In the December 1985 issue of ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'', Graham Staplehurst gave an effusive review, saying despite the very high price (£25.95) ''Pendragon'' "looks to be one of the best systemised role-playing games around." Staplehurst liked the fact that the Arthurian background was generally known by players already, and lauded the research done in order to produce a timeline, and British folk beasts. He called the character generation system "adept." Staplehurst gave an overall rating of 9 out of 10, saying, "I would not hesitate to recommend the game to any rolegaming aficianado... were it not for the dreadful price." In the March 1986 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' (Issue 107),

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...

was effusive in his praise, calling it "in subject, mechanics, and presentation... the best designed, most attractive, and most effective traditional role-playing game I have ever seen. The process of playing the game, from the reading of the Player’s Book through the creation of a character to the playing of a simple introductory scenario, was one of the most satisfactory role-playing experiences of my life." Rolston noted the simplified combat system, saying "''Pendragon'' has attractively simple and streamlined versions of conventional RPG combat mechanics while offering innovative mechanics supporting role-playing and character development. (If you are interested in the wargaming aspect of fantasy role-playing, you may prefer another system with greater detail in combat mechanics and with player-character magic.)" He concluded by recommending it: "In presentation, ''Pendragon'' is attractive and pleasurable reading. The ''Pendragon'' boxed set is an excellent value, certainly one of the most important RPG releases of 1985, and belongs on every serious fantasy role-playing gamer’s shelf. In the February–March 1987 edition of '' Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer'' (Issue No. 77), Steven List recommended it, saying, "It presents ample opportunity for both desperate combat and imaginative interactive play, with an orientation different from the typical fantasy campaign." ''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' is a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published ''CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', ''Amtix!'' and other magazines. History The magazine ran head to head with ...

'' reviewed ''Pendragon'' and stated that "In ''Pendragon'' Greg Stafford and friends have produced a truly outstanding game, treating their theme with all the respect and thoroughness it deserves. Any gaming group with an interest in the Arthurian theme should give this game a try." Andrew Rilstone reviewed ''Pendragon'' 4th Edition for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it a 9 out of 10 overall. Rilstone comments that "Every rule and every bit of background meshes together to produce a game in which you can't help but think and act and even feel - like one of King Arthur's knights. Running a full campaign, and seeing the young squires from the first session growing up to be the veterans in the final battle, has been one of the best experiences in my roleplaying career. And, contrary to popular belief, you won't have to push the pram a lot." In 1996, ten years after its publication, in a reader poll of the top 50 role-playing games of all time in ''Arcane'' magazine, ''Pendragon'' was ranked 12th. Editor Paul Pettengale commented, "Pendragon is a game with a huge amount of charm. It's extremely character orientated, and so players have the opportunity to spend time developing a separate persona, rather than having to deal with too much action. It has intrigue and complicated plots, but these are geared around the characters instead of merely being an excuse for the characters to do something." In 1999, ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'' magazine named ''Pendragon'' as one of ''The Millennium's Most Underrated Games''. Editor

Scott Haring Scott D. Haring is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Scott Haring began working in the adventure gaming industry in 1982. Haring had a long career with Steve Jackson Games, having worked at the company five d ...

said, "''Pendragon'' is one of the few RPGs that has a moral point of view ... And it's a great melding of game system with game world." In 2006, ''Gaming Report'' called the 5th edition of ''Pendragon'' one of the "Best Retreads" in 2006. In 2007, over twenty years after its publication, ''Pendragon'' was given a place in the book '' Hobby Games: The 100 Best''. Shannon Appelcline stated, "''King Arthur Pendragon'' could be lauded as a top RPG solely based upon the innovation it brought to the industry. Its concentration on epic storytelling and its traits mechanic were both notable and original when the game was released in 1985. However, even today, ''Pendragon'' remains vital. It provides a picture-perfect model of literary knighthood and, through its well-crafted and well-considered design, effortlessly conjures its theme — so successfully, in fact, that few other publishers in the last 20 years have even tried to bring another Arthurian roleplaying game to market. You just can't improve on perfection.'' In a retrospective review of ''Pendragon'' in '' Black Gate'', John ONeill said "''Pendragon'' had lots of interesting ideas. The game mechanics included ways to trigger powerful passions — love, hate, and loyalty — in your player character, which could in turn produce feats of valor, acts of mercy or cowardice, cruelty, and much more."

Other reviews

*''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

'' #42 *''

'' #7 (1987) *''

'' #24 (Dec./Jan., 1990) *''

'' #41 (March, 1994) * ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one b ...

'' #27 (Aug 1985) * ''

'' #36 (Feb 1987) * ''

'' (v4, Issue 13 - Jan/Feb 2015) *''

'' - Arthaus

Awards

*At the 1986

Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

, the supplement ''

The Pendragon Campaign ''The Pendragon Campaign'' is an Arthurian tabletop role-playing supplement, written by Greg Stafford, with art by Tom Sullivan, and published by Chaosium in 1985. This was the first product for the award-winning ''Pendragon'' game, an eighty- ...

'' won "Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1985." *At the 1991 Origins Awards, the third edition of ''Pendragon'' won "Best Roleplaying Rules of 1990." *In 2007, the revised and retitled supplement ''The Great Pendragon Campaign'' won the

Diana Jones Award The Diana Jones Award is an annual award for "excellence in Role-playing game, gaming". The original award was made from a burned book encased in lucite. The award is unusual in two ways: first, it is not an award for a specific class of thing, b ...

for "excellence in gaming."

Pendragon Fiction Line

The Pendragon fiction series was a trade paperback line that offered reprints of "lost" classics of Arthurian fiction, as well as original novels and anthologies. First published by

, the line was taken over by

when they acquired rights to the Pendragon role-playing game in 1998. Scholar

Raymond H. Thompson Raymond H. Thompson is a Canadian scholar of medieval literature specializing in King Arthur and the Matter of Britain, and in the reinterpretation of this material in modern literature. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of English at Aca ...

served as consulting editor for the entire series. Green Knight hired

James Lowder James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963 in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American author and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular ...

to direct the line as executive editor in 1999. * Expanded and corrected edition of Pendragon series 6200. * * * * ''To the Chapel Perilous'', by

Naomi Mitchison Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, Baroness Mitchison (; 1 November 1897 – 11 January 1999) was a Scottish novelist and poet. Often called a doyenne of Scottish literature, she wrote over 90 books of historical and science fiction, travel writin ...

. (6203,

, 1999); reprint of the 1955

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

edition. * ''Kinsmen of the Grail'', by Dorothy James Roberts. (6204,

, 2000); reprint of the 1963

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

edition. * ''The Life of Sir Aglovale'', by

Clemence Housman Clemence Annie Housman (23 November 1861 – 6 December 1955) was an author, illustrator and activist in the women's suffrage movement. She was the sister of A. E. Housman and Laurence Housman. Her novels included ''The Were-Wolf'', ''Unknown Se ...

. (6205,

, 2000); reprint of the 1905 Methuen & Co. Ltd. edition. * ''The Doom of Camelot'', edited by

. (6206,

, 2000); original anthology. * ''Exiled From Camelot'', by

Cherith Baldry Cherith Baldry (born 21 January 1947) is a British writer of children's fiction and fantasy fiction. Beside publication under her own name, she is the author of some works published under the pseudonyms Adam Blade, Jenny Dale, Jack Dillon, and ...

. (6207,

, 2001); original novel. * ''The Pagan King'', by

Edison Marshall Edison Tesla Marshall (August 28, 1894 – October 29, 1967) was an American short story writer and novelist. Life Marshall was born on August 28, 1894 in Rensselaer, Indiana. He grew up in Medford, Oregon, and attended the University of Oregon f ...

. (6208,

, 2001); reprint of the 1959 Doubleday & Co. edition. * ''The Merriest Knight: The Collected Arthurian Tales of

Theodore Goodridge Roberts George Edwards Theodore Goodridge Roberts (July 7, 1877 – February 24, 1953) was a Canadian novelist and poet. He was the author of thirty-four novels and over one hundred published stories and poems. He was the brother of poet Charles G. D. R ...

'', edited by Mike Ashley. (6210,

, 2001); original collection of Roberts' stories, including previously unpublished material. * ''Legends of the Pendragon'', edited by

. (6211,

, 2002); original anthology. * ''The Follies of Sir Harald'', by Phyllis Ann Karr. (6212,

, 2001); original novel. One additional title in the series — a reprint of William Henry Babcock's 1898 novel ''Cian of the Chariots'' — was announced for 2002, but has not seen print.

References

External links

*
RPG Encyclopedia entry for ''Pendragon''

Greg Stafford's archived Pendragon page

Chaosium resources for Pendragon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendragon (Role-Playing Game) Basic Role-Playing System Fantasy role-playing games Games based on Arthurian legend Greg Stafford games Historical role-playing games Origins Award winners Role-playing games introduced in 1985 White Wolf Publishing games Chaosium games