Any King Arthur RPGs Out There?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I recently purchased and have come to enjoy King Arthur: The Role-Playing Game for PC, and I was wondering if there were any good table-top games that center on Arthurian legend.

Some of the things I liked about the PC game was how it captured both the idea of superhero-like knights going on adventures as individuals, and the broader idea of Arthur's military unification of Britannia, as well as the odd place Arthurian myth occupies between the pagan ways of his story's origins and how the French took his stories and made him into the ideal Christian king.

Also, are there any such games that are mechanically sound? I know that PnP King Arthur games exist, but I have no idea of their ease of playability, especially since I don't think such games will get reviewed on the Pen and Paper Corner anytime soon.

Thank you!

[Xefas]

You could try out some Pendragon.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Have you played it? How does it handle?

[Totally Guy]

Some cool guys talk about it: Here.

I played it at a convention one time. I didn't get it but I think I'd enjoy it more now.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Well it certainly seemed interesting, but I don't think I learned much about the rest of it.

They described the Content pretty well (Each page in the campaign book is a year!) but nothing about the Mechanics (What dice do you role for this game?), Character Creation (They mention virtues and vices, but what about how strong or wise or whatever you are?), or Gamemastering (because if I get this game, I'm probably going to be the one running it, everyone I know plays D&D and know nothing else).

[Kalirren]

There's a thrift store in the next town over that had two copies of a Pendragon boxed set. I forget which edition it was, I remember looking to see but don't remember finding one. I think it was a pretty old one.

From what I remember of skimming the book, the most salient things to me were that Pendragon has structured story (sensu Kirk 1995, Design Patterns of Successful RPGs) and Narrativistic mechanics (sensu Edwards). If you're interested, and would like me to, I could drive down and see if the boxed set is still for sale.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I don't live anywhere NEAR Michigan though!

[Totally Guy]

Well it certainly seemed interesting, but I don't think I learned much about the rest of it.

It's more of a "why you play" than a "how you play". That's for the book itself to tell you.

(Edit: Dude! That's like, my sig again!)

I downloaded the core rules 5th edition from Drive Thru RPG.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

In other words I can't sample it to see if it's a worthy buy.

[TheHarshax]

I can't imagine anyone that would claim there is a better Arthurian RPG than any version on Pendragon.

FWIW, Pendragon is BRP/Runequest using a d20, focused specifically on emulating (Arthurian) Romantic Fantasy, and incorpating some excellent Fate-like characteristics. (well before Fate existed)

Some would even say it is the RuneQuest that should have been.

Most would say it is Greg Staffords best (most accessible) rpg work.

(edit: It is (was) really well supported)

[Thane of Fife]

Well it certainly seemed interesting, but I don't think I learned much about the rest of it.

They described the Content pretty well (Each page in the campaign book is a year!) but nothing about the Mechanics (What dice do you role for this game?), Character Creation (They mention virtues and vices, but what about how strong or wise or whatever you are?), or Gamemastering (because if I get this game, I'm probably going to be the one running it, everyone I know plays D&D and know nothing else).

I'm talking about Pendragon 4th Edition here, not the newer 5e, but the character sheets look about the same, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that they're pretty similar.

Mechanics-wise, most things are d20-based. You have a bunch of skills, which you have to roll equal to or below to succeed. There's a chance for critical success or for a fumble on every roll. Skills cover everything from sword-fighting to flirtation to oration. Characters also have personality traits, and these are checked in the same fashion. If someone insults your knight, for example, you may have to check your Vengeful score to see if your knight must defend his honor. If Morgana le Fay tries to seduce you, you may have to test Chaste to see if you can resist. Also, there are passions, which are things like Love (family) or Hate (Saxons). When passions are tested, they can bring a character great success, or calamitous failure (If your father were killed by some black knight, you might be so inspired by your love of him that you beat all the other knights in a tourney so that you can face him in the final round, or you could go mad and run into the forest).

Character-wise, most things are based off of skills, but the actual stats are Size, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Appearance, as well as a few others which are derived from those. By default, all characters are from the County of Salisbury, are male christian knights, and begin with fairly moderate stats, but there are rules for much more free character generation as well.

Play-wise, the general objective is Glory, which may be pursued from questing, marriage, courtly love, or pretty much anything which you would expect to be important in an Arthurian RPG. In general, the game assumes a rate of one adventure per game year, with a lot of downtime. As such, there are rules for marriage, and having children, and running an estate, and similar.

All-in-all, Pendragon is considered one of the best RPGs ever made. If you want an Arthurian RPG, I would say that it is the best possible choice. The game covers both superhero-like knights going out on adventures and also "large-scale" military conflicts.

You can check out some Actual Play threads: here or here.

Note that those both touch on the Great Pendragon Campaign, which begins earlier than the rulebook does.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I think the sheer fact that the game is in its 5th Edition and still remains, to a large degree, compatible with all of the earlier books...speaks for itself. Pendragon is elegant, has a wonderful D&D-esque fantasy feel without the kludge that the high-magic emphasis of D&D brings, and it focuses play (appropriately) around the traits of your knights.

Another fun feature which has yet to be mentioned: it's a generational game. You play a knight who goes adventuring and has a family, and when that knight dies, their heir can step up and join the party, inheriting some of his father's Glory, and adventuring with the knights who were brothers-in-arms with his father.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'll check and see if my local game store has it.

[Telok]

I have a 1993 4th edition (damaged: front cover came off) that I inherited over a decade ago from another gamer. I will mail it to you if you PM me your address.

It's a nice game, but not my cup of tea. Getting people to play it can be difficult, even in Alaska during the winter.

[Knaight]

I can't imagine anyone that would claim there is a better Arthurian RPG than any version on Pendragon.

Chronica Feudalis makes a strong showing - though I would still get some Pendragon material, as the documentation of the Arthurian Myth year by year is incredibly useful. As for what Chronica Feudalis is, it is basically a lightweight FATEesque system that centers around a broad overview and four subsystems - combat, chases, parley, and subterfuge.

[houlio]

I'll check and see if my local game store has it.

If you're into electronic formats, DriveThruRPG has quite a selection for this particular game.

I've also heard that edition-wise, 4th allows the largest variety of characters (i.e. pagan knights or magic-using characters) straight out of the core-rulebook, if that's important to you.

[TheHarshax]

Chronica Feudalis makes a strong showing - though I would still get some Pendragon material, as the documentation of the Arthurian Myth year by year is incredibly useful. As for what Chronica Feudalis is, it is basically a lightweight FATEesque system that centers around a broad overview and four subsystems - combat, chases, parley, and subterfuge.

I have Chronica Feudalis and I also agree it is a good game.

[Knaight]

I have Chronica Feudalis and I also agree it is a good game.

It's a much better use of ten dollars than Savage Worlds is, and Savage Worlds is hailed as the best use of ten dollars there is.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Chronica Feudalis makes a strong showing - though I would still get some Pendragon material, as the documentation of the Arthurian Myth year by year is incredibly useful. As for what Chronica Feudalis is, it is basically a lightweight FATEesque system that centers around a broad overview and four subsystems - combat, chases, parley, and subterfuge.

Okay...uh, what is FATE?

[Knaight]

Okay...uh, what is FATE?

Among other things, legally free. However, the brief feature highlight:

1. Skills are judged on a linear adjective scale. For instance, Great Swordsmanship could be a game stat.
2. Characters have qualitative descriptors called Aspects. These aspects can be used by the characters to gain advantage, or against the characters to their disadvantage - they are faults and gifts merged together, and created by the player as a description.
3. There is a metagame economy of Fate Points, which are used to trigger Aspects and recieved when Aspects are used against you.
4. The linear adjective scale mentioned earlier is used for most everything, and die rolls move things around on the scale. One can use a Great skill against a Mediocre difficulty, for instance.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I like this system Knaight. Thank you!

[Knaight]

I like this system Knaight. Thank you!

Again, Feudalis is better for the purpose. If you can pay for it, do so.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'll work on building up $10 (currently between jobs).

[Particle_Man]

There is also the d20 game Legends of Excalibur: Arthurian Adventures. I ran a fun game with that.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I just received a copy of Pendragon's 4th Edition rules for free from Telok (Thanks again!) and I think it looks pretty cool. I'm currently looking for people interested in playing and running a game with me so I can get a feel for the rules over in the Finding Players seciton. You know...in case anyone reading this is interested...