Review - King Arthur Pendragon

A review of Greg Stafford's masterful King Arthur Pendragon role-playing game and The Great Pendragon Campaign.

DriveThruRPG links:

Selection of Supplements:

[johnherkert]

The dragon trademark for Chaosium Inc. is a hardcore relic among role-playing game publishers.

[lennyblade]

Wow what a great overview! Just watched the whole thing with my morning coffee (based in Thailand). As always, top notch vid!

[PossumMedic]

1:41 - This describes me running a sandbox perfectly! 😭/😂
If it's all stuff I came up with we are good!
If I need to fit something into existing lore I have to work 10x as hard! 😅

[anna-elizabeth]

"O me! for why is all around us here
As if some lesser god had made the world,
But had not force to shape it as he would"
~ Tennyson "Idylls of the King"

I was not previously aware of the "Pendragon" system, I think I would enjoy it. I'll have to find a copy of "Paladins" and "The Great Campaign". Thank you, Ian, for another in-depth and fascinating review.

[stephenclements]

Yes, a great overview of an enjoyable game. I agree with your point that the portability of the ruleset to other historical settings is tantalizing.
Personally, I found Pendragon to be a gussied up version of En Garde!, A game I dearly love.

[NefariousKoel]

Agreed about 4th edition. I can understand why they cut out the magic bits in later stuff since it's basically just slow ritual style and often subtle, probably best for GM NPC reference. However, all the extra cultures/backgrounds for PC knights was wonderful. Later editions just seem to have chopped out content like that which is sad to see.

I, somehow, still have my original Chaosium 4e book along with The Boy King campaign. Such a huge trove of goodness. Ended up grabbing the massive Paladin book awhile back and it's another impressive one with tons of goodies within. I still need to get the Great Campaign in print format, but am always worried about print-on-demand books of that size as I'm a bit obsessed with keeping my book spines in good shape for the long haul.

[enderunkin]

I have watched enough of Willy's videos to know, when he suggest something I should just pick it up myself, because it's going to change how I think about TTRPGs and what they have to offer. The Great Pendragon campaign is incredible. Thanks Willy!

[Gialmere]

Maybe it's different in England, but in the U.S. I find it difficult to run a Pendragon game. The problem is finding a group of people who are decently versed in literary Arthurian legend and thus know what's expected. The core knowledge here seems to be the films by Walt Disney, John Boorman and Monty Python. (The first is useless, the second is semi-useful and the third is just annoying after you've heard every quote from it at the gaming tables for over four decades.)

So I end up with a group of D&D players used to nitty gritty low fantasy who are looking for a dungeon crawl and some hack and slash monster action. And I what? Send them to a jousting tournament? Place them under the spell of an enchantress? Have them fruitlessly look for the Questing Beast? It just hasn't worked out for me. (I'm hoping when my kid's throw me in a home I'll end up with some English lit guys who will love to play.)

You have a point though. Like MERP supplements, the Pendragon books do enhance one's appreciation of the topic.

[TheJDough]

The starter set for 6e drops june 29th 2023!! Hopefully its not outrageously woke.

[fatanimetiddies]

While it's not essential, AI can't imagine myself playing Pendragon without the Book of Feasts. Feasts are so much fun.