Pendragon 5th Edition.pdf

5 TH EDITION

Let us win glory for our king,

who will reward us with honors and lands;

and the devil take the hindermost!

BY G REG S TAFFORD

C REDITS

Author: Greg Stafford

Preliminary Editing: Anna Branscome

Editor: Scott Holden

Managing Editor: Stewart Wieck

Art Director: Aileen E. Miles

Book Design: Aileen E. Miles

Interior Artists: John Bridges, Talon Dunning, Eric Hotz, Larry

MacDougall, William O’Connor

Cover Artist: Michael Phillippi

Cartography: Jeff Holt, based on the originals by Darrell Midgette,

Carolyn Savoy, and Gus DiZerega

Border Designs & Graphic Elements: Jeff Holt

Published by Arthaus Inc, 2005

CONTRIBUTORS: Frederick Blayo, Bill Bridges, Heather N.

Bryden, William Dunn, D. Hudson Frew, Sharon Grant, Darren

Hill, Roderick Robertson, Sam Shirley, Peter Tamlyn, T. Michael

Trout, Anne Vetillard.

SPECIAL THANKS FROM THE AUTHOR to the following people

who contributed, whether greatly or a little, but whose impact has

nonetheless affected this game: Stephen Abbot, Don Alaman, Mar-

cie Alaman, Shannon Appel, Matt Bailey, Mike Beavers, Christopher

Beiting, Michael Blinde, Derek Boain, Martin J. Bourne, Les Brooks,

Heather Bryden, John Carnahan, Tim Carrol, Yurek Chodak, Morgan

Conrad, Peter Corless, Suzanne Courteau, Bogdan Dabrowski, Gigi

D’Arn, Donald Dennis, Philippe Dohr, Bruce Dresselhaus, Christer

Edling, Steve Englehart, Jason Fink, Scott Fitz, Sean Fitzpatrick,

Lis Free, Don Frew, Rick Geimer, Sharon M. Grant, Marc Grossberg,

Steve Hartman, Keith Herber, Ed Holtz, Jim Hooker, Tony Hughes,

Bill Johnson, Sherman Kahn, Ken Kaufer, Steven Kaye, Katharine

Kerr, Bill Keyes, Eric Krupa, Mike Koop, Freya Reeves Lambides,

Peter Larsen, Greg Maples, John Markham, Gary May, Treesa

McLean, Anne Merritt, Hal Moe, Ed Mooring, Mark Morrison, Ellen

Munro, Henri Naccah, Helmut Nikel, Daniel Nolte, Michael North,

Carol Parker-Pollock, Gleb Perﬁloff, Sandy Petersen, Jon Quaife,

Richard A. Rian, Roderick Robertson, Rory Root, Eric Rowe, Wolfe

Schaaf, Doug Schnur, Bob Schroeder, Michael Schwartz, Studette

Scoﬂaw, Frank Shewmake, Leigh Skilling, Benjy Sikora, Noah Staf-

ford, Bob Starﬁre, Jennifer Starling, Richard Strong, Andy Tauber,

Marcus Thomas, Anne Vetillard, Stewart Wieck, David W. Wilkins,

Lynn Willis, Marc Willner, Elizabeth Wolcott, Bill Zurn, the Player’s

Guild of Central Oklahoma, and the Berkeley Gaming Group... and

my apologies to any others who were unrecorded.

SPECIAL THANKS ALSO from the editor to Dave Mann

for his able assistance.

This work was prepared using the Penguin Classics edi-

tion of Le Morte D’Arthur, edited by Jane Cowen.

The arms of King Arthur’s Knights are based on the

15 th -Century French manuscript known as La forme quon

tenoit des tournoys from the collection of Harvard Univer-

sity, attributed to Jacques d’Armagnace, Duc de Menours.

A BOUT THE C OVER

A RTHUR AND THE T ROIT B OAR

King Arthur had a young cousin named Culhwch who sought to marry the beautiful maid Olwen. Yet to achieve

that love, the young chief had to fulﬁll a series of tasks so seemingly impossible that only a man as great as Arthur

could accomplish them, and then only when accompanied by his amazing band of heroes.

The greatest of these tasks was to get a comb, scissors, and razor — symbols of manhood and initiation —

from between the ears of the gigantic Troit Boar, known to the Welsh as Twrch Twyth . This monstrous creature was

accompanied by its seven piglets, each of which alone was nearly invincible. Arthur and his men pursued this army

of swine through Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall, slaying them one by one until at last only the greatest remained.

Sword to tusk, they fought for nine days before Arthur’s valiant huntsmen and warriors were able to seize the trea-

sures. That ﬁght is what we see on the cover of this 5 th edition of Pendragon .

The original story is a savage and wild tale of the Welsh Arthur, a supernatural chief of superhuman men in a

fairy-tale world of wonder and terror. The game herein is set in a world based on later sources, where Arthur and

his court are the sophisticated Knights of the Round Table, a court of knights both chivalrous and brutal. Yet it also

includes the legends of the more primitive Welsh stories, the more reﬁned French epics, the gentlemanly English

poems, and the Grail legends. It is the world of the greatest king in the world, where you participate in the realm of

King Arthur Pendragon.

the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposed of reviews, and for blank character

sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. Pendragon is a registered trademark of

places and the all text herein are copyrighted by Arthaus, Inc.:

For a free catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF.

Check out Arthaus online at www.arthausgames.com.

PRINTED IN CHINA

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

Traits

C HAPTER E IGHT :

M ATTERS OF W EALTH 156

Understanding Wealth 156

Standards of Living 156

Starting Equipment 158

Standard Price Lists 163

A PPENDIX O NE : I N THE F UTURE 167

Chivalry

Magical Virtues

Playing Pendragon

Directed Traits

Which Arthur Is This?

Trait Descriptions

When Is This?

Passions

About This Book

The Dexterity Roll

C HAPTER O NE :

T HE P ENDRAGON R EALM 10

Famous People 11

Britain and Europe 12

The High Order of Knighthood 15

Feudalism

Skills

C HAPTER F IVE :

G AME M ECHANICS 92

Die-Roll Resolution 92

Time Scale 95

Experience 96

Movement 97

Glory 100

The Winter Phase 106

C HAPTER S IX : C OMBAT 112

The Melee Round 112

Basic Rules 114

Actions in Melee 116

Special Combat Rules 117

Mounted Combat

167

Customs

172

Organizations

173

Knightly Equipment

174

Customs and Laws

A PPENDIX T WO :

C HARACTERS AND C REATURES 176

Non-Player Characters 176

Creatures and Beasts 179

Monsters and Fabulous Beasts 184

A PPENDIX T HREE : S CENARIOS 191

Introductory Scenario 191

The Questing Beast 197

Solo Scenarios 199

A PPENDIX F OUR : B ATTLE 205

The Battle System 206

Battle Enemy Tables 213

A PPENDIX F IVE : T OURNAMENTS 219

Suggested Reading

C HAPTER T WO :

C HARACTER G ENERATION 25

Creating a Character 25

Preconstructed Characters 35

Squires 36

Women in Pendragon 38

C HAPTER T HREE :

F AMILY AND F ATHERLAND 44

Salisbury Family History 44

Family

121

Injury and Health

122

Skirmish Rules

129

Your Home

C HAPTER S EVEN :

A MBITION AND F AITH 132

Roleplaying Nobles

Castles

Travel in Britain

132

220

C HAPTER F OUR :

S TATS AND S KILLS 65

Using Traits and Passions 66

Religion

138

Designer’s Notes

221

Magic

153

Index

224

Character Sheets

227

T ABLES I NDEX

Table 2–1: Cymric Attributes 28

Table 2–2: Additional Belongings 31

Table 2–3: Family Characteristics 32

Table 3–1: The Salisbury Army 61

Table 4–1: Standard Trait Roll Results 67

Table 4–2: Standard Passion Roll Results 73

Table 4–3: Dishonorable Acts 76

Table 4–4: Hunting — Normal Prey 85

Table 4–5: Hunting — Special Creature 85

Table 5–1: Basic Glory Awards 101

Table 5–2: Aging 107

Table 5–3: Statistics Lost 108

Table 5–4: Random Marriage 109

Table 5–5: Childbirth

Table 5–6: Child Survival 110

Table 5–7: Family Events 110

Table 5–8: Scandalous Rumors 110

Table 6–1: Armor 115

Table 6–2: Combat Modiﬁers Summary 117

Table 6–3: Tactics Modiﬁer 129

Table 6–4: Followers’ Fate 130

Table 8–1: Food and Drink 163

Table 8–2: The Horse Market 164

Table 8–3: Knightly Equipage 164

Table 8–4: The Stock Yards 164

Table 8–5: Clothiers and Jewelers 164

Table 8–6: Common Services 165

Table 8–7: Miscellaneous Goods 165

Table 8–8: Major Investments 166

Table 6–1B: Armor (Augmented) 174

Table B–1: Creature Size 177

Table B–2: Surprise Attack vs. Avoidance 181

Table C–1: The Bear Hunt 195

Table C–2: Lost in the Woods 201

Table 6–4B: Followers’ Fate (Amended) 211

Table D–1: Battle Results 212

Table D–2: Battle Enemy — Knights 214

Table D–3: Battle Enemy — Footmen 214

Table D–4: Battle Enemy — Saxons 215

Table D–5: Battle Enemy — Irish 215

Table D–6: Battle Enemy — Picts 216

109

Introduction

Welcome to Pendragon.

Pendragon is the game of King Arthur. It brings the ex-

traordinary world of Arthurian chivalry, magic, and romance

to life, with you playing one of the knights of the realm. You

start off small, but through action, intelligence, and luck,

you have a chance to join the Round Table. As time passes,

your knight may establish a famous family and participate in

the wondrous events of the most famous king of ﬁction.

This is a game of medieval fantasy, played using feudal

standards and offering a chance to experience vicariously

that long-lost world, in both its brutal reality and its fantas-

tic idealism. Every player character is a knight, thus having

both the privileges of elite society and also the risky, often

deadly responsibilities. These dichotomies — brutal reality

versus idealism, elite privilege versus deadly burden — are

the basis for the game.

Pendragon is a game for knights. It is not about magi-

cians, thieves, or scholars, nor about “might-have-beens”

or “could-haves” (though these options will appear in later

supplements). In this core game, designed for playing the

heavily armed and armored chevaliers of Arthurian litera-

ture, knighthood is complex enough!

But the “reality” of this game is not a speciﬁc period of

knighthood. The game crowds the entire Middle Ages into its

framework, moving your character’s family through the equiv-

alent of centuries of time. It begins in the Dark Ages and ends

in the War of the Roses, just before the Renaissance, allowing

you to sample the developments of armor, weapons, castles,

and customs in a process of accelerating change.

This setting is not “fair” to people outside Britain, and

does not strive for game balance for everyone. The un-

tamed Celts, Saxons, and Picts who defy Arthur’s rule must

rely upon their own barbaric cultures, devoid of the anach-

ronistic gifts that feudalism, chivalry, and romance deliver

to the player characters. Their warriors might be addressed

as knights, and their chieftains might be called kings, but

these enemies of the Pendragon are deluded, destined only

to be conquered by him.

Between the kingdoms of men lie the mythical domains

of Faerie — great dark woods and bright shining ﬁelds un-

explored by human foot or thought. Entire kingdoms of im-

mortals lie both beyond and within Arthur’s realm. Their

cities and castles appear and vanish like mist. Their magical

residents, such as the Green Knight, often visit the world

of men. In turn, bold human questers sometimes enter the

Faerie realm to seek the greatest adventures.

P LAYING P ENDRAGON

Most of us, as children, engaged in some sort of make-

believe. “Cops and Robbers” is common, or some variant

of “guns.” (Or the ever-present “knights,” if swords and

shields were in fashion that year.) Playing Pendragon is like

that style of childhood play, but instead of running around

the backyard with sticks, the players use their collective

imaginations. And instead of the incessant “Got you!” and

“No you didn’t!” arguments, you use dice to settle disputes

and arbitrations. Game play consists mostly of talk about

and on behalf of your character, who is your “pretend guy”

in the imaginary world. If it seems strange at ﬁrst, give it

a try. It is something you have done in the past. And it’s

entertaining fun. If it seems embarrassing, relax — Fun is

its own reward and needs no justiﬁcation.

Playing Pendragon is simple. Players start by creating

an imaginary character, a knight who will do — or at least

attempt to do — whatever the player wishes in the world of

King Arthur. Normally, several player characters adventure

together to help each other obtain common aims.

Each character has its own character sheet , a piece of pa-

per that categorizes all of his (we use the masculine pronoun

because most player characters will tend to be male) game-rel-

evant information. This sheet lists statistics to show his physi-

cal characteristics, his prowess at various knightly things, and

his behavior. These statistics change as time goes on, for as the

knight uses his abilities, he gains experience and has a chance

to improve. After many game years of play, though, he begins

to age so that certain attributes deteriorate.

Introduction to King Arthur

Listen and hear the life of a great lord who,

while he lived, had no equal in cottage or castle.

This event took place in the time of Arthur, that

King, courtly and royal, and is about one of his

great adventures. Wherever he went, of all kings,

Arthur bears the ﬂower; of all knights, he bears the

honor. The whole country was chivalrous in those

days. All knights were valiant, and cowards were

forever disgraced.

—from The Wedding of Sir Gawaine and

Dame Ragnell

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