Pyramid Review
King Arthur Pendragon
Published by Arthaus, Inc.
Written by Greg Stafford
Cover by Michael Phillippi
Illustrated by John Bridges, Talon Dunning, Eric Hotz, Larry MacDougall, & William O'Connor
Cartography by Jeff Holt
234-page b&w hardcover; $34.99
Although there have been several RPGs devoted to the Arthurian legend, none have acquired the reputation and acclaim of King Arthur Pendragon. First published by Chaosium in 1985, it went through four editions with the fourth being regarded as the most complete version. Unfortunately out of print for some time, the new edition published by White Wolf Studios under its Arthaus imprint sees the designer revisiting the game, reorganizing and redesigning for a fifth edition.
When first published, King Arthur Pendragon was regarded as a highly radical game, introducing several revolutionary concepts. The first was that only a single character type, the knight, was available to play and that in order to play a knight, the character had to be male. Although later versions of the game allowed female knights and magic-using characters, the game's emphasis meant that any druid or sorcerer character was always secondary to the knights. Second, a character undertook adventures, quests, tasks, and battles during only part of the year, the rest of the time being dedicated to the upkeep of family, possessions, and lands. Third, long-term play was designed to be dynastic, with a character being expected to marry, procreate, and will his possessions . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 14, 2007
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