Disclaimer: This series is made possible by the generosity of the fine people of Chaosium, who provided me with a review copy of the game on PDF. No further compensation was provided to me, and all opinions in this series are mine.
Pendragon is, next to RuneQuest, one of the most intimidating games to me, on a personal level. It’s appeal is undeniable, with the Arthurian myths and legends behind it, but as someone who was born and raised in Southeast Asia, it all feels a bit overwhelming.
What if I do it wrong? What if I’m not *getting* it?
Thankfully, when I heard that Chaosium was going to release a new edition, I was determined to finally get my hands on this and sit down and learn to run the game, and run it well.
For those who are unfamiliar with my blog, a Let’s Study series is a multiple-part rundown of the book, breaking it down into chunks like the setting, mechanics, combat and character creation. I’ll weigh in on my opinion of each section, and may spin off examples of how mechanics work but I’ll avoid quoting large chunks of the book.
Welcome to Camelot
The book opens up with an introductory chapter called Welcome to Camelot, which serves as the primer to the Arthurian setting as it is presented in this game. This is a fairly lengthy section covering some very key concepts that I found very reassuring, as someone who is new to the game and the genre.
Of particular interest here was the explicit calling out that the game itself is centered on noble knights and ladies, not all of which are equal, and not all of which are virtuous. It’s a tragedy, where the pursuit of Honor and Glory doesn’t often lead to a long life. Couple this with the fact that the characters aren’t entirely always expected to behave rationally all the time and you get a game that is ripe for drama.
A elegant game for a more civilized age
I want to call out that despite the feudal trappings of the game, Pendragon explicitly calls out that the game world allows for more equality: Lady Knights, Non-Christian Knights, a better portrayal of Pagan beliefs and a stronger focus on justice and equality are baked into the game. These aren’t “homebrew” rules, and are expected to be the norm for any Pendragon table.
Time Passes. The World Changes.
What follows next is a primer of the chronology of the setting, before an interesting sidebar discusses the way that the Arthurian ideals of Chivalry is a light that brings improvements to the world. It was not universally embraced, but slowly, things got better.
At this point, the chapter segues neatly into a discussion of what life is like as a knight, with new player characters starting as squires waiting to be knighted. This is an interesting choice as it does highlight the moment of knighthood as a crucial turning point in their lives.
The measure of a knight is also discussed with the concepts of Glory and Honor. Glory is a knights fame and reputation, and I find it interesting that the book literally says, “Nothing is important to a knight if it does not contribute to their Glory.” That said, this is somewhat mitigated by Honor, which is a measure of a knight’s own integrity, reliability and decency, which then follows up with the quote, “Glory without Honor is the measure of a bad knight.”
The treatment of Female Knights is also given attention here, with attention given to the options of how they’re portrayed in terms of their rarity. Some tables might prefer Female Knights to be commonplace, where the setting assumes they’ve always been this way. Others, on the other hand might prefer it where the Female Knights are Trailblazers, or Rarities which bring their own twist to the setting. The game itself assumes a Variable setting, where the reaction to female knights change depending on the place or time the game is set.
At this point we get to the details of the various Knightly ranks, ranging from Mercenary Knights all the way to Bannerets. Each one gets a fairly lengthy treatment, showing their advantages, disadvantages, and some concerns with regards to maintaining their gear. Needless to say being a Mercenary Knight isn’t the ideal situation, but the freedom afforded by their lack of a Liege Lord might be worth it for some people.
Have Lance, Will Travel
Now that we know that knights are like, the book goes on to talk about what they do. Aside from their unquestioning service to their lords, knights also go through adventures and quests. I find it interesting that there’s a distinction between the two, as Adventures happen, but Quests are undertaken.
It’s a neat little explanation given that a Quest is a goal that a knight willingly undergoes, as a unique undertaking that is triggered by undertaking a formal sworn oath, as witnessed by their liege lord.
In addition to these details the chapter goes on to describe the daily life of knights, as well as their lords and ladies. As someone not so well-read on this era, I’ve found this rather educational and helpful for painting a picture of how things were back then.
All the single (and non-single) ladies
Ladies of the courts are among the most important and ever present characters in Arthurian myths and Pendragon plays this up in the game as well. While some ladies serve as background characters, Important and Extraordinary ladies are powerful characters that can change the course of history with their actions without even taking the field.
The book goes on to explain aspects of a lady’s life, from Handmaidens to marriage and being widowed, of being an Heiress and touching upon the nature of fine amor, or courtly romance. Even nuns are given a short treatment here, with an explanation of their unique place among the clergy.
It’s important to note that the corebook is focused on playing knights, and as such Nobles and Ladies are not playable at the moment. There is however, mention of upcoming supplements such as the Noble’s Handbook and Knights & Ladies Adventurous that will expand on this and allow for playable character options of this nature.
Impressions
Pendragon’s new edition corebook is off to a very strong start. Approachable in tone and writing, it manages to avoid intimidating the reader with detail and instead uses broad strokes to block in the bigger colors needed to paint a picture of what to expect from the game. The introduction of Knights and the nature of their tasks helps refine that into building proper expectations of what the game will be like.
I want to take a moment to talk about just how gorgeously illustrated the book is, as it’s made to resemble an illustrated manuscript of the era. It’s a stunning volume and I would not hesitate to buy myself a physical copy for on my coffee table to show off to guests. In addition the inside illustrations are also amazing, and I was delighted to see that Mark Smylie of Artesia fame was doing the cover and some illustrations for the line.
Next up, we’ll be taking a look at the game system behind Pendragon 6e.
I hope this series has been helpful to you, and if you’d like to get physical or PDF copies of Pendragon books, you can find it over at the Chaosium store HERE.
If you prefer PDF copies from DriveThruRPG, you can find it HERE for $24.99
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