| "Now
it is your turn," said Sir Ector to Arthur.
"I will," said Arthur. And
he drew the sword out easily.
Then Sir Ector and Sir Kay kneeled down
on the earth before him.
And Arthur cried, "What is this?
My own dear father and my brother, why do
you kneel to me?"
Sir Ector said, "My lord Arthur,
I am not your father nor of your blood. I
believe that you are of nobler blood than
I."
Then Sir Ector told Arthur how he had
taken him to rear and by Uther's order. And
he told him how it was Merlin's doing.
When he heard that Sir Ector was not
his father, Arthur was sad and even more sad
when Sir Ector said, "Sir, will you be
my good and gracious lord when you are king?"
"Why should I not be?" Arthur
cried. "I owe you more than anyone in
the world, you and your wife, my good lady
mother who nursed me and kept me as though
I were her own. And if, as you say, it is
God's will that I must be king - ask anything
of me! I will not fail you."
"My lord," said Sir Ector,
"I shall ask only one thing of you, that
you will make my son Sir Kay, your foster
brother, seneschal and keeper of your lands."
"That shall be done and more,"
Arthur said. "On my honor, no other man
but Sir Kay shall have that office while I
live."
—John Steinbeck, Acts of King Arthur
and His Noble Knights
Arthurian myths have captured the fantasies
and dreams of millions throughout history
and throughout time. Who hasn’t heard
of or read about King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table? Who hasn’t dreamed
of putting on some armour, taking up a sword
to punish the wicked, riding through the countryside
and winning the heart of a radiant lady of
unearthly beauty? You can do all of this,
thanks to the Pendragon RPG. This game is
not extremely popular or even known by most
role-players, despite the fact that it’s
been out since 1990. Originally a Chaosium
game, Green Knight Publishing has bought the
rights for this one, and have recently started
to create new sourcebooks.
Pendragon has many advantages that make it
a lovable game. The setting is dreamlike (as
I said before, who hasn’t dreamed of
becoming a knight?), the system is very easy
and covers many emotional aspects of the character,
usually left out by most RPGs, like passions
and respectable behaviour. One thing I also
love about the system is the combat and healing
bits. Combat is very deadly, sometimes not
immediately, but from you can die from infections
and other problems related to the bad tending
of the wounds.
Let’s start with the setting. The game
is set in 531, a time when, according to the
game, the Arthurian kingdom was at its apogee.
It is not historical, however. Clothing is
more in the style of the Renaissance and of
the late Middle Ages, and you can say the
game condenses the whole Middle Ages and Renaissance
into a seventy year period. Fairies are also
real, and so are wizards like Merlin. Since
Arthur’s rise to the throne, Britain
has been enchanted again and we can see dragons
stalking the countryside, just waiting for
a brave knight to take care of them. Giants
and basilisks are also real, as are many other
strange beings.
You play (usually) a recently knighted 21-year-old
man, who starts living adventures and gaining
glory in a peaceful time. It’s also
possible to play women (as knights or otherwise)
and magicians. As you seek adventure and save
damsels in distress, kill dragons and meet
fairies, the kingdom changes. Slowly, decay
sets in, and more and more struggling nobles
arise, while the evil Sir Mordred plots Arthur’s
fall. One interesting feature of this game
is that once your character dies (sometimes
of old age) your character’s son takes
over (and you play him) with similar starting
attributes but with some glory inherited from
your older character.
As the setting grows darker, technology,
the clothing styles and all of those features
move more into the XIV and XV Century. Another
interesting aspect from this game is heraldry.
You’ve got to design your character’s
coat of arms, and the place of the character
sheet usually employed to display his face,
in this case boasts his blazon. I also like
the fact that you (at least as a knight) have
your own supporting character, your squire,
who can assist you in a lot of ways. I’ve
run games where the squire NPC’s helped
the PC Knights to pull through when they screwed
up. Never underestimate your assistants.
Now, a little more about the system. It’s
designed to use D20’s and D6’s.
You can spot its Chaosium origins here. The
system is akin to the percentile dice of Call
of Cthulhu but, to put it this way, divided
by five. Your attributes range from 1 to 20,
and you roll a D20. If you score below the
number of points you have in the attribute,
you succeed. Rolling 1 or the exact value
of your attribute marks a critical success,
and rolling 20 (except when you have 20 or
more) means a fumble.
As a reward for Glory, you can score over
20 in some traits, which gives you more chance
for a critical. The combat system is deadly,
though it’s uncommon for you fall from
a single blow. Yet, recovering is very difficult,
and the “medicine” of Pendragon
is deadly in itself. Your character’s
passions and emotional traits are dealt with
mechanically, which is a great help for the
Game Master. You cannot usually act against
your character’s nature, plus, you can
draw strength from your passions.
Pendragon is a very interesting game, with
a pretty solid system, and I think it’s
a shame that most people haven’t even
heard about it. Anyways, I have to leave you
now, for I have a joust to participate in.
Therein lies the fate of one young girl, who
is to be burnt alive if no champion is to
fight for her on the Judgement of God. Thus,
my friends, I must leave you, but mark my
words: we’ll meet again…
Reviewed by Matías Timm
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