Screen Shot XVI

How do you like your GM Screen?

The GM Screen is a essentially a reference sheet, comprised of several card sheets that fold out and can be stood up to serve another purpose, that is, to hide the GM's notes and dice rolls. On the inside, the side facing the GM are listed all of the tables that the GM might want or need at a glance without the need to have to leaf quickly through the core rulebook. On the outside, facing the players, can be found either more tables for their benefit or representative artwork for the game itself. This is both the basic function and the basic format of the screen, neither of which has changed all that much over the years. Beyond the basic format, much has changed though.

To begin with the general format has split, between portrait and landscape formats. The result of the landscape format is a lower screen, and if not a sturdier screen, than at least one that is less prone to being knocked over. Another change has been in the weight of card used to construct the screen. Exile Studios pioneered a new sturdier and durable screen when its printers took two covers from the Hollow Earth Expedition core rule book and literally turned them into the game’s screen. This marked a change from the earlier and flimsier screens that had been done in too light a cardstock, and several publishers have followed suit.

Once you have decided upon your screen format, the next question is what you have put with it. Do you include a poster or poster map, such as Chaosium, Inc.’s last screen for Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition or Margaret Weis Productions’ Serenity and BattleStar Galactica Roleplaying Games? Or a reference work like that included with Chessex Games’ Sholari Reference Pack for SkyRealms of Jorune or the GM Resource Book for Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu? Perhaps scenarios such as ‘Blackwater Creek’ and ‘Missed Dues’ from the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition? Or even better, a book of background and scenarios as well as the screen, maps, and forms, like that of the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack also published by Chaosium, Inc. In the past, the heavier and sturdier the screen, the more likely it is that the screen will be sold unaccompanied, such as those published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment for the Starblazer Adventures: The Rock & Roll Space Opera Adventure Game and Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG. That though is no longer the case and stronger and sturdier GM Screens are the norm today.

So how do I like my GM Screen?

I like my Screen to come with something. Not a poster or poster map, but a scenario, which is one reason why I like ‘Descent into Darkness’ from the Game Master’s Screen and Adventure for Legends of the Five Rings Fourth Edition and ‘A Bann Too Many’, the scenario that comes in the Dragon Age Game Master's Kit for Green Ronin Publishing’s Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5. I also like my screen to come with some reference material, something that adds to the game. Which is why I am fond of both the Sholari Reference Pack for SkyRealms of Jorune as well as the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack.

The Pendragon Gamemaster Screen Pack is for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It includes the ‘Pendragon Gamemaster Screen’, the ‘Gamemaster Resources’ book, the ‘Gamemaster Gazetteer’ book, and the poster map of ‘Britain in the time of King Arthur’. The ‘Pendragon Gamemaster Screen’ is a sturdy, three-panel affair in landscape format. On the front it depicts two knights on horseback clashing under the Grail. On the back, the various tables are clearly laid out and each come with page references to the books they are taken from. The centre panel is the most useful, since it includes a list of ‘Combat Action’, ‘Mounted Lance Charge Fumble Table’, ‘Follow-Up Actions’, and of course, the ‘Combat Action Resolution Results’ table, which is probably the most likely referred to table in the roleplaying game. On the right-hand panel, the tables are for the ‘Passion Crisis Outcomes’, ‘Unopposed Passion Roll Results’, ‘’Winter Phase Procedure’, ‘Emergency Dismounts’ table, ‘Ageing’ and ‘Characteristic Lost’ tables, and lastly, the ‘Beginning Knight Skill Values’. The latter arguably less useful than the other tables and it is the same on the left-hand panel. Here the ‘Skill Modifiers for Challenges’ is going to be the most referenced up in the far left corner, whilst the ‘Hunting Vs. Avoidance Results’, ‘Intoxication Results’, ‘Favour Value Synopsis’, ‘Mounted Charge Opportunity’, ‘Battle Sizes’, ‘Glory Distribution Amongst Knights’, ‘Combat Glory’, and ‘Feast Event Cards by APP’ tables arguably less so. This is not to say that their inclusion is anything other than useful, and overall, the ‘Pendragon Gamemaster Screen’ is handy. Unlike other roleplaying games, Pendragon, Sixth Edition is not one that relies heavily on tables, but the most important and regularly consulted tables are included here.

The ‘Gamemaster Resources’ is thirty-six pages and designed to do three things. The first of these is to provide a means of generating a more detailed family history, specifically for Player-knights in the default starting location for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This, of course, is Salisbury, and the ‘Salisbury Family History’ helps a player create a history for his knight’s family, specifically his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father, going all the way up from 437 CE to 508 CE, covering in turn the Tyrant and Uprising Period, Aurelius Ambrosius Period, Uther Period, and the Anarchy. Rolling for the great-grandfather is short and simple; the grandfather’s death is rolled for first and then the player works year-by-year up to the year when it happens; and then the father is rolled for as normal. There is a lot of detail and information to note down, though there is an alternative quick method provided too. The other thing that the narrative does with the ‘Salisbury Family History’ is entwine the Player-knight’s family history with the Counts of Salisbury—Robyn, Roderick, and Robert. The process is detailed and lengthy and probably best done as part of the preparation for play.

The second thing is ‘Finding Spouses’. With this, the Player-Knights can gain the hand of a wife. Several ways are suggested, including questing for a wife, taking a war bride, having it arranged, and more. The wife is determined randomly, her qualities and status heaving influenced by the Player-Knight’s status, favours, gifts, loyalty, and a Courtesy check. There are rules too, for creating husbands for female Player-Knights, but the results are not quite as interesting or as detailed. Lastly, ‘A Mighty Host: Random Knight Generator’ is a means to create NPC knights. This covers everything, including age, Glory, status, outfits, traits, skills, roles, motivations, and more.

The second book is the sixty-four page ‘Gamemaster Gazetteer’. This provides a guide to the places, regions, and landmarks of Britain and a little further away. Whether a settlement, forest, or river, every location is broken down into categories for ‘First Glance’, ‘About This Place’, and ‘Further Investigation’. It covers Cornwall, Cambria, Cumbria, Logres, and the North, but also Brittany, Ireland, and the Continent. The latter includes Aquitaine, Burgundy, Île de France, and Occitania. There is detail sufficient in each entry to help the Game Master bring each location to life and the map excerpts are helpful, though if there is a downside, it is that there is no pronunciation guide.

The Pendragon Gamemaster Screen Pack includes two maps. One is the poster size map of ‘Britain in the time of King Arthur’ seen elsewhere for the line. It is this map that excerpts have been taken from for the ‘Gamemaster Gazetteer’. The other map is of the Hundreds of Salisbury County. It is found on the back of the ‘Gamemaster Gazetteer’ and gives the thirty or so administrative subdivisions of the County of Salisbury.

Physically, the Pendragon Gamemaster Screen Pack is sturdy and well produced. The artwork is good and the cartography characterful. It does need a slight edit in places.

The Pendragon Gamemaster Screen Pack gives great support for the Pendragon Game Master and her campaign. Whilst its contents will help set up a campaign with expanded Player-Knight creation guidelines, the majority of its contents will support that campaign in the long term, both at the table and in preparation.

Companion Chronicles #24: The Adventure of the Deluded Knight

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—

What is the Nature of the Quest?

The Adventure of the Deluded Knight is a short encounter for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, eleven page, 2.16 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, though it does need an edit.

Where is the Quest Set?

The Adventure of the Deluded Knight is a scenario for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It takes place in the year 481 CE, during the events of the Uther and Anarchy Periods near Salisbury, but can be set in any year with little difficulty.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type Player-knight can go on this quest. The scenario suggests that both both Christian and non-Christian Player-knights be included and that Religious Knights will have an advantage.

What does the Quest require?

The Adventure of the Deluded Knight requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

In The Adventure of the Deluded Knight, the Player-knights are sent west towards the Forest of Gloom and in the direction of the market town of Warminster. The town has the ancient right to smelt all the bog iron found on Salisbury Plain. This summer’s mule train which left with the bog iron and is expected to return with Salisbury’s share of the smelted iron has not returned and the Player-knights are sent to investigate. The journey is relatively straightforward barring a possible ambush with bandits/deserters in a chalk gorge along the way, before the Player-knights ride up into the Forest of Gloom. Here they discover the members of the mule train cut down, and its leader, Sir Bursules, missing. Wild-eyed, bruised and bloodied when they finally track him down, Sir Bursules is initially pleased to see the Player-knights, as he is about to pass judgement upon a pair of commoners, whom he accuses of being demons and tools of Satan! The likelihood is that Sir Bursules will soon turn on the Player-knights making the same accusations, though unlike the commoners, they have the means to defend themselves.

Unfortunately, Sir Bursules is a driven individual, even inspired, having been affected by something of a fiendish nature and there is possibility that whatever is affecting him can also affect the Player-knights. Non-Christian Knights have a slight advantage, but Player-knight upon Player-knight action is a distinct possibility and it is not impossible that all of the Player-knights are affected and momentarily made into NPCs! At which point, the players can switch to playing their squires. The scenario accounts for and explores various different possible outcomes that can result from the Player-knights’ encounter with Sir Bursules, but it is likely to get quite chaotic at the end as the finale descends into a mass of whirling blades and cries of “Demon!”

The adventure ultimately forces the Player-knights to confront someone who has fallen prey to deceit and illusion, and potentially themselves, should they also fall prey to it. The scenario lays the groundwork for sequels in which others also fall victim to it as well

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

The Adventure of the Deluded Knight is as written, a solid scenario that can easily be added to a campaign, no matter in which period the Game Master is setting it. However, as a campaign introduction it is slightly underwhelming, only hinting at some of the things to come.

Forest of Fear

From Leicester and Newark in the north, to Oxford and St. Albans in the south, from Banbury and in Kineton in the west to Beford and Peterborough in the east, the forests have become one and as one, they are beginning to spread beyond their former boundaries. As the Forest Sauvage grows wild and unchecked, strangling paths and ripping up fields and starving villages, returning the heart of Logres into a wild forest of years past. When travellers wander too close to its eaves, they wonder where they are and in whose lands they journey, whilst the lords upon whose lands the forest borders worry at the encroaching undergrowth and canopy, fearful that what they hold by right will be lost and turned into an impassably dense morass of trees. Yet this is not a natural phenomenon. The kingdom of Logres has been weakened for decades now, ever since the death of King Uther Pendragon. Not just in terms of power and control, but also spiritually. It is this weakness that Madog de Sauvage, a lord of the fae, has taken advantage of to extend his kingdom into the mortal realms. As the newly crowned king, Arthur seeks to unite and restore his father’s kingdom, but this new realm, this Forest Sauvage, threatens his kingdom from within.

This is the set-up for Pendragon: The Sauvage King, a sandbox campaign framework that expands the world of King Arthur Pendragon and Pendragon, Sixth Edition thematically and chronologically. It can be run using the Pendragon Starter Set or the core rulebooks. As a supplement, Pendragon: The Sauvage King takes content from the start of the highly regarded Great Pendragon Campaign, which explores the spread and threat of the Forest Sauvage and updates it to Pendragon, Sixth Edition. In the previous Pendragon: The Grey Knight, the Player-Knights did enter the realm of the Fairy, but only in a small way, here they confront its power, its majesty, and its unreality in full force. They will discover its growing influence at the edge of the Forest Sauvage as they probe its fringes, hopefully in the process finding a way past the fringes and ever deeper under its canopy, in the process discovering what has happened to the former counties of Lambor, Tribruit, and Wuerensis, as well as their lords, and ultimately forge a path to the court of King Madog de Sauvage.

‘The Forest Sauvage’ is not the only content in Pendragon: The Sauvage King, but it is its feature content. Narratively, its starting point is the spread of the Forest Sauvage, but for the Game Master and her Player-knights, there are multiple starting points and ways into the Forest Sauvage. Four introductory adventures are divided between motivations and plot hooks that are personal or directed. The personal might be that the King Sauvage has kidnapped a Player-Knight’s child and replaced them with a Changeling, compelling the Player-Knight and his companions to go in search of them, whilst the directed include Saint Dubricus and Merlin the Magician becoming worried about the spread of the Forest Sauvage or King Arthur becoming concerned when an ally asks for help or contact is threatened with an important county, and so the Player-Knights are asked to investigate. The plot hook with the replacing of a Player-Knight’s child with a Changeling is likely the one with most interesting and radical of outcomes since it can lead to the creation of an interesting heir. The other adventures in ‘The Forest Sauvage’ take place inside the Forest Sauvage, typically in the towns and villages which have become trapped within the forest realm. Moving through the forest is challenging because like other fairy realms, it is very easy to lose track of time, and unlike the typical adventure for Pendragon, supplies matter. This is also a campaign where the Hunting skill is very important and the Folklore skill a close second. The Player-Knights will need to proceed with civility and their honour and their reputation will be tested throughout.

With multiple entry points, ‘The Forest Sauvage’ can be run by the Game Master more than once, each time with a different starting point. There is the possibility that a group of Player-Knights might try more than one starting point if they fail to make progress with another. The majority of the adventures are short and can be run in a single session, sometimes less than a single session. This does leave some room for the Game Master to insert content of her own, which can be the other two adventures in the book, generated from the tables at the back of the book, or selected from The Companions of Arthur community content. The capacity for this drops the deeper the Player-Knights travel into the Forest Sauvage. Multiple entry points and plot threads means that many of the almost thirty adventures in ‘The Forest Sauvage’ will not be run. That said, the Game Master can take some of adventures she has not run and adapt them to be run later in her campaign. The Game Master will also need to work harder with ‘The Forest Sauvage’ to set it up for her players and their knights than with other content for Pendragon as it is not linear. Fortunately, ‘The Forest Sauvage’ does guide the Game Master through the set-up process and along the possible plot threads. All of the mini-adventures are neatly organized into sections that in turn cover their Setting, Characters, Secrets, Problems, Solutions, and Glory rewards. Often the section of Solutions suggests multiple ways in which issues outlined in the preceding Problems section can be resolved. Many of the mini-adventures are short enough to run from the page.

Another issue in running ‘The Forest Sauvage’ is chronological. Since its events are triggered by the death of King Uther Pendragon in 495 C.E., it can be run from any time then onwards, particularly from 508 C.E. This gives it some flexibility, though if ‘The Sword Campaign’ of the Pendragon Starter Set and Pendragon: The Grey Knight, is being run, the likelihood is that the Player-Knights are going to be occupied! Later in the timeline, after the events of Pendragon: The Grey Knight, as Pendragon: The Sauvage King acknowledges, Merlin is not present in 517 or 518 C.E., so that limits the plot hook involving Merlin for the campaign.

As a campaign, ‘The Forest Sauvage’ present the Player-Knights with a ride range of challenges, whether that is gambling over games of knucklebones in ‘A Game of Chance’ or playing a game of skill to win knowledge in ‘A Scholarly Opinion’, searching for lost dogs in ‘The Baron’s Hounds’, literally overcoming indolence in ‘The Castle of Ease’, racing horses in ‘The Castle of the Race’, evacuating a village about to overtaken by the forest in ‘Cutting Through’, defeating a magical boar in ‘Horror at Alcester’, and more. They will find that many of the lords whose lands lie on the edge of the forest have reacted in many different ways and so have to be entreated in different ways too. This is a mystic maze of often soporific befuddlement, but in turn ‘The Forest Sauvage’ will also horrify and bewitch its Player-Knights.

In addition to ‘The Forest Sauvage’, Pendragon: The Sauvage King also contains two other adventures. Both could be used as introductory adventures, added to an existing campaign, or used in conjunction with ‘The Forest Sauvage’. The latter is quite easy because both adventures take place close to the borders of the Forest Sauvage. Both can also be played through in a single session. In ‘The Adventure of Black Annis’, the townsfolk of Leicester implore the Player-Knights to come to their aid in dealing with a horrifying hag who has been preying on lone travellers and children. Any encounter with her is likely to devolve into a nasty fight and she may even turn the tables and hunt the Player-Knights. She can be defeated though, but dealing with her permanently is an undertaking in itself. The Player-Knights have an opportunity to participate in a moon-lit horse race across the countryside from the Great White Horse of Uffington. This will test much more than the Player-Knights’ Horsemanship skill—though both it and their horses are greatly tested—but this is a thrilling flit across the landscape. Lastly, ‘Other Scenarios’ presents a handful of adventures, some of which could be run more than once as they include tables for generating their precise details.

Physically, Pendragon: The Forest Sauvage is well very presented. The artwork is excellent and the illuminations entertaining. The maps are decent and add much to the manuscript-like feel of the book.

After the rush of the Pendragon Starter Set and the Pendragon: The Grey Knight, which together laid the foundations of what is to come with the Great Pendragon Campaign, what Pendragon: The Sauvage King feels like is the difficult second album. It is both more challenging to use and more challenging to fit into a campaign, primarily because of the open framework of ‘The Forest Sauvage’, but also because rather than a single beginning and middle, it has multiple beginnings and middles. Picking and choosing between these require set-up and development effort upon the part of the Game Master, but the rewards are ultimately worth it, because with more choice, comes the scope to tailor the campaign framework of ‘The Forest Sauvage’ to the players and their knights. Supported by other content, in particular, two good adventures, Pendragon: The Sauvage King is a small campaign in which the Player-Knights can confront a threat to the realm like no other in a framework that lets them make its story their own.

—oOo—

Chaosium, Inc. will be at UK Games Expo which takes place from Friday, 29th to Sunday 31st of May.

A Supernatural Search

Although Pendragon, the roleplaying game of Arthurian chivalry and romance can be run using adventures and stories of the Game Master’s own devising, at its heart is the great chronicle of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the period between his drawing the sword from the stone in 510 CE to his eventual death in 566 CE. It is an epic tale of romance, chivalry, questing, and generational adventure in which great knights uphold ideals, serve the king, and protect all against the threats that beset King Arthur and his kingdom. The heart of this chronicle is the highly regarded Great Pendragon Campaign, which encompasses the years 495 CE to 570 CE, and would win the H.G. Wells Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1985 (as the Pendragon Campaign) and Diana Jones Award in 2007 (as the Great Pendragon Campaign). For Pendragon, Sixth Edition, that chronicle remains at the roleplay game’s core with The Sword Campaign of the Pendragon Starter Set which initiates the Boy King Period with the drawing of the Sword in the Stone, covering the years 510, 511, and 512 CE. Pendragon: The Grey Knight continues the story, laying the groundwork for storylines that will be resolved later in the campaign and covering the years 513, 514, and 515 CE.

Pendragon: The Grey Knight is a scenario that delves into the weirdness and the supernatural of King Arthur’s kingdom, on a quest that will take the Player-knights across a land blighted by the Dolorous Stroke and a fairy kingdom, and back again, their faith tested again and again, and all the while bearded and tempted by those that would see them fail, Arthur’s honour besmirched, and the shining star that is his realm tarnished. It is a reprint and update of the first adventure to be released for Pendragon in 1986, written by Larry DiTillio no less, the author of the much revered Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign for Call of Cthulhu. It can be played using either the Pendragon Core Rulebook or the Pendragon Starter Set as well as a direct sequel to the latter. Where the original consisted of the one scenario, that is, The Grey Knight, this update has been expanded to include two scenarios that make it a trilogy and fills in the years between the end of the Pendragon Starter Set and the beginning of ‘The Grey Knight’. They bridge the gap between the two just as Pendragon: The Grey Knight bridges the beginning and the end of Boy King Period.

The first of the two prologue scenarios is ‘Bearding the Lion’. It is set in 513 CE and when news reaches King Arthur that King Ryons is besieging King Leodegrance at Castle Terrabil, near Stafford in Cameliard, he orders army to war in an attempt to lift the siege. A chance occurs for the Player-knights to shine and earn Glory when they have the opportunity to capture King Ryons on the eve of battle. The scenario ends with the Battle of Terrabil, offering another chance to try out Pendragon’s battle rules, and then with the appearance of the Lady Guenever. This brings in another aspect of the roleplaying, the Adoration Passion, which may have long term effects for the Player-knights. The second scenario is ‘King Pellinore’s Quest’. It takes place in 514 CE and is a slightly busier affair. The Player-knights begin on the road to Carlion, King Arthur’s capital, to attend his marriage to Guenever. Along the way, there is the opportunity to hunt for Questing Beast, chase after a dastardly knight, and rescue a very fair maiden. Both scenarios lay the groundwork for ‘The Grey Knight’ scenario—‘Bearding the Lion’ in particular—and both are playable in a session or so. Given that they are relatively slight affairs, there is scope too for Game Master to insert scenarios of her own in these years and if the Game Master has access to Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook, could add to ‘King Pellinore’s Quest’ using the Feast rules for the wedding celebrations.

In between the two shorter scenarios and ‘The Grey Knight’ scenario, is a description of Carlion, which the Player-knights will return to in 515 CE at the start of the scenario for the Easter Tournament. There are some good roleplaying encounters on the road and at the court, with at least two of the Player-knights irritating to other knights in the process, and others attracting the attention of a lady. This sets up rivalries and love triangles that can be duelled during the tournament the following day, but the event is brought to a halt with a clap of thunder and out of a rolling mist ride a strange trio. A Dwarf, a Lady in Black, and a Black Knight. The Lady in Black makes grave accusations against the king and challenges to have her Black Knight face the king’s champion, and if he loses, the king will have been proven unworthy to rule. It is Sir Gawaine who throws down the mantle, but Merlin prophesises that he will fail unless one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain is found and used to aid him in the duel. The Player-knights will ride forth in search of one of these, the Whetstone of Tudwal Tudglyd.

The Player-knights are faced with three challenges. First, determining where the Whetstone of Tudwal Tudglyd can be found; second, actually finding it; and third, returning it to Carlion in good time. This is because the duel between Sir Gawaine and the Black Knight is due to take place at Pentecost, some six weeks hence. The Player-knights will need to ride north and deep into the Wastelands. Here they will be constantly challenged by the strange encounters they have, especially if they are Christian knights, less so if they are Pagan knights, and not at all if they are Wotanic knights. Nevertheless, the Traits and Passions at the heart of Pendragon, Sixth Edition are given a thorough workout as the Player-knights progress. The trek through the Wasteland is a test of character as much as it is endurance, though there is one such test so severe that it could end the quest for a Player-knight (and the scenario for the player too)—and if too many fails, end the quest for all and place the kingdom in peril. (The scenario does include options as to what could happen if the Player-knights do fail.) After a big fight, the Player-knights can obtain the Whetstone of Tudwal Tudglyd and begin the journey back to Carlion, though this has its own challenges.

‘The Grey Knight’ is a linear scenario with no room for the Player-knights to deviate from the path of the quest. This does not mean that the Player-knights are bereft of agency, they are free to act as they want (or as their much-tested Traits dictate) throughout all of the encounters in this scenario as well as both ‘Bearding the Lion’ and ‘King Pellinore’s Quest’, though of course there are benefits to certain actions and penalties to others. Another point about player agency is that the scenario makes clear that it is the Player-knights who are the heroes of the tales because they are the ones that find and return with the Whetstone of Tudwal Tudglyd and so ensure the victory of Sir Gawaine and that without it, the king’s champion is doomed. Structurally, as written, the Player-knights are always going to arrive during the duel between Sir Gawaine and the Black Knight, the scenario providing the Game Master with extra encounters to run should the Player-knights have managed to have completed the quest in good time. Narratively, this means that six week time limit between challenge and duel does not actually matter, so really it is a means of keeping the tension high for the players and their knights and keeping them focused.

If the Player-knights do succeed, they will, of course, be well rewarded with Glory. There however, two further potential rewards. Both of which are fantastic, but will really only benefit one player each. One of them will grant extra responsibility (and even the potential for early retirement of the knight), but provide ongoing Glory and income. The Noble’s Handbook will be required to get the best use out of the reward. Hopefully future scenarios will offer similar opportunities for reward for the other Player-knights in the future.

There are really only three issues with Pendragon: The Grey Knight. One is that the maps showing particular locations and regions are difficult to locate on the full map of England in the back of the book. Another is that although it is subtitled a campaign, Pendragon: The Grey Knight is really too short to be that. Whilst it does have two extra scenarios before ‘The Grey Knight’, they are more like one session prologues to the main event. Lastly, it would have been useful to have had a pronunciation guide handy. As amusing it was to hear an American mangle many of the place and creature names whilst playing through Pendragon: The Grey Knight, it could easily have been avoided.

Physically, Pendragon: The Grey Knight is well very presented. The artwork is excellent and the illuminations entertaining. The maps are decent and add much to the manuscript-like feel of the book. The inclusion of the author’s notes is a pleasing and informative extra.

Pendragon: The Grey Knight is a great scenario made all the better by the addition of the two smaller scenarios which add depth and lay the groundwork for what is to come, much as ‘The Grey Knight’ does itself for The Great Pendragon Campaign. It tests and pulls at the Player-knights from start to finish, and in doing so, presents some delightful opportunities to roleplay as they are confronted with some of the more supernatural and more magical aspects of Arthurian Britain. Any Game Master and player who enjoyed the Pendragon Starter Set will definitely want to continue the story of their knights in Pendragon: The Grey Knight.

—oOo—

With thanks to Scott Joest and my fellow knights.

Companion Chronicles #23: A Guide to Arthurian Britain

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—

What is the Nature of the Quest?

A Guide to Arthurian Britain is a supplement for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It describes itself as ‘A Resource Supplement for Pendragon’.

It is a full colour, fourteen page, 65.38 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, but it does need an edit in places.

Where is the Quest Set?

A Guide to Arthurian Britain is a supplement for Pendragon, Sixth Edition that provides an introduction to, and an overview of, Britain in the Anarchy, the period of chaos between the death of Uther Pendragon and Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and being proclaimed king and before the chronicles of King Arthur begin.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type of Player-knight can go on this quest.

What does the Quest require?

A Guide to Arthurian Britain requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook in the long term, but also works with the Pendragon Starter Set.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

A Guide to Arthurian Britain can be divided into three parts. The first, ‘Britain, Your Home’ is ‘A Handout for New Knights’ that summarises the history and geography of the land at the end of Anarchy. This is one-page primer that focuses upon the history of Britain after the Romans have left and the resulting conflicts between the Britons and the Picts and Saxons as well as an overview of the country’s geography and politics. Particular attention here is paid to Logres as the main kingdom of Britain and Salisbury, the default starting point for The Great Pendragon Campaign. It is short and snappy and provides a decent introduction without miring the prospective player in detail.

The main part of A Guide to Arthurian Britain is for the Game Master and presents a guide to the ‘Lands of the Cymri’, from Cambria in the west, Essex in the east, from Cumbria in the north to Cornwall in the south. In each it gives a breakdown of each region politics and history, lists its significance during Arthur’s reign, suggests some story themes and hooks, and recommends further ‘Reading and Viewing’. For example, it explains that Cornwall was split between the Duchy of Cornwall and Kingdom of Cornwall, but following the death of King Uther, King Idres of the Kingdom of Cornwall conquered the Duchy of Cornwall and given his support in battle to the Saxons. Thematically, Cornwall remains a thorn in King Arthur’s side even when openly resisting his rule for much of his reign. King Idres also rules Britanny, which many Bretons are opposed to, and so there are seeds for rebellion there as well as the suggestion that an adventure in Cornwall might involve Wreckers—a very Cornish theme—and giants, many civilised, and fairies may be found in the region. In terms of ‘Reading and Viewing’, it suggests the classic film Excalibur, since Cornwall is Arthur’s birthplace (and source of his accent), as well as the film Tristan and Isolde and the poems it is based upon.

In general, more detail is given the kingdoms and regions that surround Logres, whilst the Saxon kingdoms are only given a paragraph each and their primary suggested ‘Reading and Viewing’ is Beowulf. Other lands are not ignored, the supplement providing introductions to the Picts and their lands north of the Two Walls, Ireland, and even further beyond. Lastly, A Guide to Arthurian Britain includes a handy timeline from 410 CE when the Romans leave Britain to the Sword Tournament in Londinium in 510 CE.

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

A Guide to Arthurian Britain is a good introduction to the Britain of Pendragon, Sixth Edition, the ‘Britain, Your Home’ handout being a most useful and excellent introduction for players with relatively little knowledge of the setting, that works for a convention game or a home campaign. A Guide to Arthurian Britain is good for forearming both player and Game Master alike and getting them ready for their Arthurian saga.

Companion Chronicles #22: The Unlikely Hero

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

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What is the Nature of the Quest?

The Unlikely Hero is a short encounter for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, eight page, 5.68 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, though it does need an edit.

Where is the Quest Set?

The Unlikely Hero is a scenario for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It can be set in any year and is easily added to any root with a relatively isolated bridge over a river near a forest.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type Player-knight can go on this quest. It could be run with just a single Player-knight. The encounter will test each Player-knight’s Trusting and Suspicious Traits. Any dog-living Player-knight will also be tested and potentially rewarded. The Chirurgery skill will be useful, or if not, a seasoned squire will do.

What does the Quest require?

The Unlikely Hero requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

In The Unlikely Hero, the Player-knights come across a strange situation. A damsel blocks their way across a bridge. Her clothes are ragged and dirty, she holds her hands to her face, and she is weeping. Yet there is no sign of where she came from, nor any horse or carriage, and no indications as to how she ended up in this situation.

The encounter hinges how trusting the Player-knights are, although the arrival of a large mastiff dog may further arouse their suspicions or it set them on an entirely new direction, depending on how their players roll. The encounter will quickly come to head either way and the truth of the situation revealed. The situation is very simple, and really what the Game Master has to do is to play up the distress of the damsel until either the suspicions of the Player-knights have been allayed or proven. At which point, the Player-knights will have the opportunity to gain a little glory and extend some chivalrous courtesy.

Some players may find it annoying and even frustrating that the damsel is less than forthcoming in her answers, but this perfectly in keeping with the situation. It might also have been useful if there had been a romance and marriage option explored for after the scenario. 

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

The Unlikely Hero is a serviceable encounter that pushes the Trusting and Suspicious Traits of the Player-knights just a little too hard. That said, it is short and easily added as an encounter along the road in any campaign. It can played through in a single session, very likely much less.

Companion Chronicles #21: An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—

What is the Nature of the Quest?

An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs is a supplement for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, eighteen page, 1.23 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy.

Where is the Quest Set?

An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs is a supplement for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It is a collection of NPCs complete with between three and six adventure hooks that the Game Master can develop into full blown encounters and longer term content for for her campaign.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type of Player-knight can go on this quest.

What does the Quest require?

An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs presents fourteen NPCs for Pendragon, Sixth Edition, each of whom can be used in a variety of ways and developed from a single encounter into a longer storyline. Each is simply presented on a single page with their background, anywhere between three and six story hooks, and a stat block. Some are name, others are presented as generic figures that the Game Master can easily adapt to her campaign. For example, ‘The Vengeful Squire’ is unnamed and can be former or current squire who could be spreading rumours about the Player-knight, accuses him of crimes—whether true or not, sowing discontent amongst his fellow squires, or even attempting to seduce the Player-knight’s spouse! Whereas ‘Sir Malcolm de Deux Visages’ is a knight well known and popular because he supports good causes, the church, and sponsors the knighthood of worthy squires. In private though, he is an entirely different character, cruel, greedy, and ambitious. He might persuade the Player-knights to do his bidding based on his reputation, plot to discredit a Player-knight to take possession of his land, and so on. As the entry notes, Sir Malcom’s reputation makes him a good recurring villain.

Many of the entries are magical in nature. For example, ‘Glutoniére, the Knight Giant’ details a French giant who after facing and defeating so many knights sent to kill him has developed a fascination with chivalry and comes to England to investigate and attempt to become a knight! The hooks suggest that he might develop an ardour for a young lady—much to the family’s dismay, actually ask to serve a Play-knight as his lord or squire, and more. The gender-flexible ‘The Knight of the White Hare’ might taunt and trick the Player-knights and ‘Pegleg, the Wooden Horse’ really is a wooden horse, but one who will serve the worthiest of the Player-knights until he returns to the fairy land of Gwneuthurwr Ceffylau!

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs is both a useful and an enjoyable supplement, providing the Game Master with a range of interesting NPCs that will add colour and flavour to her campaign. Many of their accompanying hooks are simple enough that the Game Master can easily prepare a quick encounter, whether to foreshadow later events or simply run something in the here and now when there are fewer players available or between longer scenarios.

Companion Chronicles #20: Sicut Corvus Volat

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—

What is the Nature of the Quest?

Sicut Corvus Volat: Being a Wayfarer’s Companion for Sarisberie is a supplement for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It describes itself as ‘A Resource Supplement for Pendragon’.

It is a full colour, eighty-six page, 18.60 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy.

Where is the Quest Set?

Sicut Corvus Volat: Being a Wayfarer’s Companion for Sarisberie is a supplement for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. Its title is Latin for ‘as the crow flies’ and it fulfils this by providing a gazetteer of the immediate twenty miles around the city of Sarum, the Castle of the Rock, seat of power for Earl Robert of Salisbury, and thus the default set-up in both the Pendragon Starter Set and the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook.

The supplement very much falls under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’ as it suggests that in that it is placed in an alternate timeline in which the connection between the world of men and the Land, caused by an imbalance in reality or ‘The Enchantment of Britain’ by the Great Betrayal of Vortigern on the Night of the Long Knives. The Player-knights are to play a role in Merlin’s plan to heal this imbalance. To reflect this, the supplement uses a fictional narrator of the time, ‘Gregory the Watcher’, who that also serves to strengthen the period worldview. However, this is an overview particular to this supplement and the Game Master is free to use it or not.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type of Player-knight can go on this quest.

What does the Quest require?

Sicut Corvus Volat: Being a Wayfarer’s Companion for Sarisberie requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

The majority of Sicut Corvus Volat: Being a Wayfarer’s Companion for Sarisberie consists of a gazetteer of the immediate twenty miles around the city of Sarum , encompassing much of the County of Salisbury and as far as a knight can ride in a single day. The circular area ranges from the tiny village of Huish in the north to Bisterne in the County of Dorsette in the south, said to be a large hall built from a single tree by the Queen of the Fair Folk for one of her knights and from hamlet of Littleton in Hantonne County in the east to the dwelling of Kingston Deverill in the west in the County of Summerland. The map and gazetteer, inspired by King Arthur’s Round Table in The Great Hall in Winchester, is organised into sixteen arcs and within each arc, towns, villages, hamlets, and places of interest are described in turn. All of the places are taken from the Domesday Book of 1068. (That said, not every location in the region given in the Domesday Book is included. For example, Blaneford, now Blandford Forum, is absent.)

Primarily what this provides is a sense of the geography surrounding Sarum. Many of the details are mundane, but there are locations with interesting hooks that Game Master can develop, such as the aforementioned Bisterne in the County of Dorsette. The Player-knights might be given manors in these locations to manage and live in as well as raise a family, and of course, they might find themselves fighting against invading armies across this land too.

The second half of Sicut Corvus Volat: Being a Wayfarer’s Companion for Sarisberie is dedicated to ‘The Book of Days’, a great calendar that that explores different ways of looking at time and the year throughout this period. Specifically, this includes the years leading up to ‘The Arthurian Break’ when its history breaks from ours, followed by overviews of the Pagan Year, both solar and lunar, including dates of the full moon throughout the Pendragon Era, as well as the Christian Calendar. This includes important dates of celebration and religious observance, which can be effectively used in conjunction with the chapter on religion in the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

Sicut Corvus Volat: Being a Wayfarer’s Companion for Sarisberie is a useful supplement for the Game Master whose campaign focuses on Sarum and the County of Salisbury and wants to add verisimilitude and bring the region, its geography, and its year to life.

Companion Chronicles #19: The Strange Oak

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—

What is the Nature of the Quest?

The Strange Oak is a short encounter for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, six page, 4.28 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, though it does need a slight edit.

Where is the Quest Set?

The Strange Oak is a scenario for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It can be set in any year and is easily added to any rural or forest location.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type Player-knight can go on this quest. The encounter is not recommended for a solo Player-knight as the situation could kill him.

What does the Quest require?

The Strange Oak requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

In The Strange Oak, the Player-knights come across an odd situation. A great tree standing in the woods around which exudes an area of calm suggesting that it is a suitable place to camp. Yet there are no sounds of wildlife around and what look at first to be a profusion of stones upon the ground turn out to be bones, some of them animals and some of them clearly men, and by then, it is possibly too late. The tree has the Player-knight (or Player-knights) in its influence.

The Strange Oak presents a simple situation. Can the Player-knights deal with a benign threat before they fall prey to its influence? What is happening here is that the Player-knights have encountered a fae tree and if they stray too close, there is the chance they will fall asleep and not awaken, starving to death in their slumber, and their flesh feeding the tree. A young boy will warn the Player-knights as to the danger as he has already lost his family (what happens to the now orphan is left to the Player-knights to decide.)

The situation as written is an endurance test for the Player-knights until either they chop or burn the tree down. Encountering and destroying the tree will earn the Player-knights Glory.

However, The Strange Tree offers a number of encounters to flavour the whole affair. This includes a ghost for a supernatural element, a starving wolf-pack for a combat sequence, and even a magical encounter with a pupil of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, who will issue further warnings. Ideally, the Game Master should one or two of these to add a little more detail to the encounter.

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

The Strange Oak is a serviceable encounter easily added to any campaign. It can played through in a single session, very likely much less.

The Pinnacle of Pendragon II

The Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook is the second of the three core books for Pendragon, Sixth Edition, the latest edition of a roleplaying game considered by many to be a classic, and by its designer, Greg Stafford, nothing short of a masterpiece. It is a roleplaying of high adventure, high romance, and high fantasy set deep in the legends and stories of Britain’s golden age, the mythical period when the country had one true king. That king was Arthur Pendragon, his reign the mythical period of honour and chivalry, courtly love and romance, that arose from the unrest following the withdrawal of the Romans, withstood invasions from the Saxons, before falling to evil and the country to the Dark Ages. In the process it inspired great tales of medieval literature and great tales of literature, including the Welsh The Mabinogion, Sir Thomas Malory’s fifteenth century Le Morte D’Arthur, and T.H. White’s The Once and Future King. Pendragon is a roleplaying game in which the Player Characters are knights in service to their liege lord and then to King Arthur himself, managing their manor and serving in his army, but also going on quests and adventures and so dealing with threats and problems that beset the men and women of the land, including their fellow knights, attending court and tourneys and involving themselves in intrigues and romances, and finding a wife and raising a family. Raising a family is important because a knight may adventure for only so long before age catches up with him. Then his eldest son will take up his mantle and inherit his father’s good name and reputation, and not only uphold it, but follow his ideals and make a name for himself, perhaps even more glorious than that of his father. Like his father, he will aspire to take a seat alongside King Arthur and become one of the Knights of the Round Table, to serve alongside the greatest knights in the country. In turn, his son will follow in grandfather’s footsteps and aspire to the ideals of the age, to be a bastion of duty and honour until the kingdom falls. The play of Pendragon is generational, and ultimately, intended to play out over the course of the decades that comprise The Great Pendragon Campaign.

It is not unfair to say to that the Pendragon Core Rulebook does not cover absolutely everything necessary to play Pendragon, Sixth Edition. However, it would be unfair to say that you could not play Pendragon, Sixth Edition using its content and still get a very good feel for how the roleplaying game plays and still have a very enjoyable and exciting roleplaying experience. The Pendragon Core Rulebook is very much as its title suggests, the key title that presents the principles of play and the cornerstones of characters. Further, it is actually possible to run and play Pendragon, Sixth Edition using only the Pendragon Core Rulebook and the Pendragon Starter Set as the latter does include the rules for battles—although in a limited form. Indeed, many of the titles on The Companions of Arthur, the community content programme for Pendragon, Sixth Edition, can be run and played using the Pendragon Core Rulebook and/or the Pendragon Starter Set. Which begs the question, is the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook really necessary to run and play Pendragon, Sixth Edition? To which the answer is a simple yes, not just because it contains the complete rules for battles, but also because it expands on the rules and setting at the core of the Pendragon Starter Set, as well as the wider stage too. Not far, but far enough and more than ready for the next book.

The Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook begins by establishing and exploring where and when Pendragon, Sixth Edition is primarily set. There is an overview of Logres, the part of Britain where much of the Arthurian canon takes place; a good introduction to the primary source material for the roleplaying game—Le Morte D’Arthur, of course, T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, the film Excalibur, are all listed as worthy sources, but many others and their merits are discussed too; and there is a framing too of when the roleplaying game is set. A quick guide to the who’s who of the chronicle across its four periods—Boy King, Conquest, Romance, and Grail Quest—previews their full stats presented for many of the leading figures later in the book. Another element which previews later content is the campaign set-up example of the Holding of Underditch Hundred, the primary holding of the—as will be revealed later in the book—surprisingly young Count of Salisbury.

Advice on running the Game Master is solid, focusing in the main on how to use the different aspects of the rules, including characteristics and handling time in the game. The advice on encouraging player contribution and adding courtly play is good, but elsewhere the advice on campaign set-up is a little light, again, feeling as if it is a preview of something to come. Not though of a section later in the book, but rather of a supplement to come. The Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook really comes into its own with the discussion of Arthurian activities, in particular, the first rules addition that is feasting. A Player-knight gains a new stat, ‘Geniality’, representing his nobility in the eyes of his peers and a combination of his Appearance and his Courtly skills, which comes into play when Feasting. A Player-knight’s Glory will influence where he will be sat at the feast, the closer to the high table, the better the bonus to his Geniality, whilst his Appearance will determine how many Feast Event Cards his player will draw. Feast Event Cards work as mini-encounters much like Opportunities in Battles and the solo adventures that a Player-knight might have at the end of the year that will give him the chance to test a Personality Trait. Ultimately, as with other activities in Pendragon, Sixth Edition, the aim is to earn Glory. This is done by keeping a Player-knight’s Geniality as high as possible, but it gives him a chance to shine in a more civilised setting and use his Courtly skills. Of course, it is also a good opportunity for the players to roleplay. Other activities covered include ‘Fine Amour’ or romance, hunting, intoxication, seduction(!) at court and its consequences, tournaments, and visiting foreign courts. Of these, hunting and tournaments are more mechanically involving, but they are no less welcome for it.

If the section on ‘Feasting’ is entertaining, the chapter on religion in Arthur’s Britain is fascinating reading—and should be required reading for player and Game Master alike, since the Player-knights are classified according to both their cultural background and their faith. In turn, the chapter discusses the beliefs, the ethics and how they relate to a Player-knight’s Personality Traits, the worship, history, holy places, festivals, and notable places and figures in turn of Christianity, Paganism, Heathenism, and Wodinism. To these are added the requirements for religious knights of all of these faiths, details such as the differences between the churches of Britain and Rome, a list of Pagan deities, and more. There is a lot of useful information here that the Game Master can bring into play, especially for her players who have religious knights, but also for her NPCs. Plus, the inclusion of Heathenism opens up the possibility of bringing Pictish knights into play!

Previous versions of Pendragon have allowed for Player Characters who are not knights, but this is not the focus of Pendragon, Sixth Edition, and magic very much remains the province of the Game Master and her NPCs. However, magic plays a strong role in the Arthurian chronicle. Like religion, it is divided according to type. So, for Paganism, there is the four talents—Divination, Enchantment, Glamour, and Healing; for Wodinism there are sacrifices, talismans, controlling the weather, and carving runes; Heathensim employs the four Talents of Paganism, but through a shaman rather than a magician; and for Christianity, there are miracles and saints. They are able to perform Miracles like Divine Manifestation, Divine Intervention, and Divine Retribution. In addition to shaman, other magicians include witches, specialising in folk magic, and enchanters and enchantresses which can encompass druids as well as Pagan and Wodinic practitioners. They also include the Ladies of the Lake. More recently, they have been joined by magicians who have learned their magic from books—sorcerers and sorceresses. Covered here too is fairy magic and also protection from such magics. Religious, chivalrous, and romantic knights can all withstand the effects of magic, but this requires adherence to high ideals. Otherwise, a Player-knight has little innate protection against magic, so avoiding it is likely the best defence.

One issue with both religion and magic is that the examination is a preview for the mechanical treatment later in the book, so that the description and the rules for both are not given in their relevant chapter. Rather they are included in the stats and guidelines for their NPC types in the ‘Game Master Characters’ chapter. Mechanically, magic uses the four talents—Divination, Enchantment, Glamour, and Healing—as skills, adding the non-Knightly skill of ‘Clerk’ to represent book learning and accounting, and treats them as skills. Thus, under the ‘Pagan Religious Folk and Magicians’, an ‘Itinerant Bard’ can have ‘Enchantment 12’ for his Magical Talent, enabling him to immobilise a target with a song by making him fall asleep, weep, or laugh, whilst a ‘Druid’ has values in all four Magical Talents and thus be more capable and more flexible in terms of what he can perform. For the ‘Christian Religious Folk and Saints’, they will have values in the three Miracles—Divine Manifestation, Divine Intervention, and Divine Retribution—and again their mechanics are explained here. The rules are the loosest of those presented in the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook, allowing for more narrative input, whilst avoiding simple, if constant, Game Master fiat.

Perhaps one of the more complex aspects of Pendragon, Sixth Edition is handling battles. Previously presented in a cut-down version in the Pendragon Starter Set, here they are presented in full detail and explanation. The rules cover how to set up a battle and determine the numbers involved, establishing the Player-knights’ conroi (effectively, their cavalry squadron as they will be on horseback), how to fight the battle and face each encounter, through to what might happen after the battle. Oddly only the means of determining victory or defeat during the Boy King Period is given, which limits the utility of the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook. That said, numerous battlefield foes are detailed as well as a six opportunities, such as ‘Capture the Banner’ and ‘Clash of Champions’. This does feel like too few opportunities, essentially extra encounters in the battle where the Player-knights have an opportunity to shine, but in play they do not actually occur that often.

The earlier ‘Who’s Who’ of Arthurian legend is fully supported with stats and details of several figures, including King Arthur and Lady Guenever, and Merlin, alongside those from Pendragon itself, like Sir Robert, Count of Salisbury. Numerous NPC types are given stats—various types of knights, Saxon warriors, nobles, common folk, and practitioners of magic and miracles. The bestiary is nicely detailed, beginning with ordinary animals, amongst which it includes elephants and lions, but also covering a variety of supernatural creatures. This includes the cockatrice, dragons, unicorns (with details of how to employ the Virgin Ploy to put them at ease), giants, and more. Sidebars list the Dwarfs of Arthurian literature, Arthurian fairy knights and ladies, Arthurian fiends, and Arthurian giants, so that the Game Master can take more direct inspiration when using the accompany game stats. Many of the entries in the bestiary will be familiar from folklore or even other roleplaying games, but what makes the bestiary all the more useful is that every is put in an Arthurian context.

Lastly, the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook presents two scenarios. These take place in the years 508 and 509, before the events depicted in the Pendragon Starter Set and ‘The Sword Campaign’. They are both set at Sarum Castle and are designed to help set up the campaign and establish Salisbury as the starting point for the campaign and essentially a home for the Player-knights. Except that the Player-knights are not knights at the beginning of the first of these two scenarios, but squires. To that end, Sarum Castle is fully detailed and mapped and the players have the opportunity to roleplay their squires proving themselves worthy of being knights and beginning their life in service to the young Sir Robert. These are both good scenarios, both easily run in a session or two each. Although designed to be played prior to the Pendragon Starter Set, the problem with this set-up is that some groups may already past the point where these scenarios are of use to them, playing through the Pendragon Starter Set and even the campaign scenario, The Grey Knight. That said, if a playing group has not started playing Pendragon Starter Set, then both scenarios are solid additions as prequels.

The Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook comes to a close with appendices which give a detailed guide to Glory awards and a list of suggested reading. The latter is useful for the Game Master wanting further inspiration, especially in the context of the bestiary.

Physically, the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook is very well presented. The book is also a good read and profusely illustrated. Some of the artwork has a manically cartoonish feel to it in addition to the weirdness of the some of the illuminations.

To be clear, the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook is a very useful book and one that the Pendragon Game Master is definitely going to want and need. The new rules additions of feasting and tournaments are great, the guide to religion is very good, and the bestiary and the guide to magic are good. And yet… the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook, as comprehensive as it is, is not and does not feel complete. Rather, it feels incremental, as if building the next part of Pendragon, Sixth Edition in readiness for the next book in the line. This shows in both the omissions and the focus of the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook. One omission is the absence of the Feast Event Cards for the Feasting rules when the section on Battles has all of its foes and Opportunities given. The Feast Event Cards can be downloaded—and of course, since there are eighty of them, their inclusion would have greatly increased the book’s page count—but their absence is notable.

Also missing is detail about Logres and beyond in terms of setting and background, so that ultimately, the only location that is presented in any detail are the lands of Sir Robert, Count of Salisbury. Similarly, there are no details about running an estate and holding land. Together, this supports the focus of the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook, which whilst supporting long term play with the rules for feasting, tournaments, battles, magic, and the bestiary and guide to religion, concentrates the role of the Player-knights as household knights—ideally in the service of Sir Robert. This, combined with the emphasis on Salisbury as a starting point and the underwhelming advice on campaigns, means that the Game Master wanting to set up her own campaign and not wanting to run the content leading up to The Great Pendragon Campaign is not supported as well as she could have been and that she will have to wait for subsequent books which will support her. And to be clear, if this makes the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook sound as if it is a disappointing book, then it is very much not. Rather that it provides the Game Master with a lot that will support her campaign whilst leaving a few things for latter supplements.

The Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook is a mandatory purchase for the Game Master, expanding the world of Pendragon both mechanically and culturally in an interesting, informative, and entertaining fashion, whilst also proving a new introduction to the roleplaying game and setting that can lead into the Pendragon Starter Set. Whilst in the long term, it will require expansion with further supplements, there is nothing in the Pendragon Gamemaster’s Handbook that is anything less than useful and the Game Master should have this to enhance her campaign.