The Great Pendragon Campaign

[Totally Guy]

I'm considering buying this on DriveThruRPG. They've got that fancy print on demand service going on.

Anyone ever played in this? I've heard good things about the writing but not heard much about the play.

[The Big Dice]

I've got it, and the 5th edition Pendragon that goes with it. In dead tree form, no less! And no gaming material has me as thoroughly intimidated as Pendragon and the GPC. Which is to say, I've never played it, though I would dearly love to. The problem is, it's a 90 year campaign where each session is roughly a year in the life of the characters.

Stop and think about that for a moment. That's approximately 90 game sessions. Maybe more. Are you and your players willing to commit to that?

Yes, Pendragon is set up to accommodate play over that kind of time scale, with it's Winter Phase and generational design. And the source material is exquisite, not to mention much more "authentic" than shows like Merlin. I mean, you can play a knight and that's it. Even playing a woman puts different social expectations on you and gives you a different character sheet.

And that's part of the problem. It's a masterpiece of design and it does look like a true epic to play. But it's also fairly linear. Getting to the end of that could feel like the final stagger to the finishing line, or it could be utterly triumphant. And i'm scared to find out which.

[Greylond]

Pendragon is one of the BEST RPGs ever written, IMO. If you are a fan of the Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, a la Le Morte d'Arthur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d'Arthur), then you MUST play this.

Even if you aren't a rabid fan, it's still a great game. The Personality Traits alone are worth it. Good Skill/Combat system, good rules for dealing with an adventuring Lord with lands, etc, etc...

Overall, Great Game.

[The Big Dice]

Even if you aren't a rabid fan, it's still a great game. The Personality Traits alone are worth it. Good Skill/Combat system, good rules for dealing with an adventuring Lord with lands, etc, etc...

Overall, Great Game.
It is a fantastic game. But the GPC is still a scary, scary prospect if you're thinking of running it.

[JustIgnoreMe]

The problem is, it's a 90 year campaign where each session is roughly a year in the life of the characters.

Stop and think about that for a moment. That's approximately 90 game sessions. Maybe more. Are you and your players willing to commit to that?

And that's part of the problem. It's a masterpiece of design and it does look like a true epic to play. But it's also fairly linear. Getting to the end of that could feel like the final stagger to the finishing line, or it could be utterly triumphant. And i'm scared to find out which.

I've run it, for a core group of three players with another three for various parts of it. It took a while (3 years at one session a week?), but it was totally worth it. You don't need to feel like you're committing to the whole campaign, there are plenty of jump-on and jump-off points (remember, each player will play multiple characters over the years, most likely their starting characters' children and grand-children).

It's also surprisingly not linear. Sure, each year has its own section detailing what's going on with Arthur in Camelot... but there's nothing to say your players are going to be involved in that, or anywhere nearby. There is immense scope for going off the main story: the entire world can be your sandbox. My players got to Iceland, North Africa, Rome...

The end of the published campaign... well, we all know how the story ends. It's always going to be a downer. There is no triumph at the Battle of Camlann (unless your party are fighting alongside Mordred, which is always a possibility). It's about the journey, not the destination.

I thoroughly recommend it. Your players will tell stories about the deeds their knights did for years to come.