Games I Play: Pendragon

Pendragon is fabulously flawed. Its a game that only does one thing, and it does it badly. But its great fun to play.

The first thing you need to know about Pendragon is that you are going to play a knight. None of the varied roles that are normal for a roleplaying game are available. There is magic, but you are not going to play a wizard. Its too early for duellist-types, mercenaries and archers are beneath notice. You are going to play a knight, you are going to hit things with swords (and lances when you ride a horse) and you are going to wear the heaviest (and therefore best) armour. That is all.

You may have some hobbies: hunting, singing, poetry, etc. which may distinguish you from the crowd, but really: everyone start out bad at those skills and gets better as they go along. You have lands and rank, but again, there's a simple progression from less to more as you play.

This might sound a little boring, and to be honest, Pendragon doesn't have the staying power of other games. Once you've played a knight a few times, you start looking for other things to do. Which means other games, because there's nothing else to do in Pendragon.

Its a great game though, for those few times. Why? Because even though its a poor roleplaying game, its a great way to really feel like you're fighting with King Arthur. Those old legends didn't feature modern fantasy's list of archetypal characters. The dragons weren't ancient and wise beings, full of advice for the plucky young bakers apprentice. The trolls weren't unionised - they stayed under the bridges where they belonged. Pendragon is a return to twelfth century fantasy.

Admittedly, the combat system is simplistic, with only a few tactical options (each more brutal than the last) and the skill system is easy to break. Characters with a high enough Constitution can live underwater. Lancelot has enough skill to critically succeed on every hit. But there is one area where Pendragon shines, and that is Personality Traits.

Whereas DnD had its Lawful/Chaotic, Good/Evil scales, Pendragon has 14 matched traits, like Chaste/Lustful or Energetic/Lazy. Each is graded on a scale of 1 to 20, and gets modified in play according to your actions. Character development is literally a development of your character. And its not just for fun - having high virtues has a game effect, with a Chivalric bonus for having high scores in the virtues considered chivalric and religious bonuses for both Pagan and Christian virtues. Not to mention the advantages of having a high Valourous trait when its time to fight a dragon.

Having this complex virtue system makes it possible for adventures to be like the old stories. A knight stands vigil overnight, but does not make his Energetic roll and fails the test. You can be tempted by all the evils of the world, and if your stats are high and you roll well, you can find the Grail. Pendragon is the only game I've seen which both encourages and rewards virtue. Its something that a lot of games could do with.

Pendragon is  a classic game, one you'll keep coming back to every 5 years or so. Its also a game where I'd recommend the published adventures. Normally I like to tell my own stories, but all the best stories for Pendragon were written 600 years ago.