The Great Pendragon Thread

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Does anyone know if you can purchase a hard copy of Pendragon 5.2?
I know itis pretty much the same as Pendragon 5 in terms of mechanics, but the artwork in my Pendragon 5.2 pdf looks absolutely beautiful, something that really needs to be in a hardcover book.
My google-fu is weak, I just can't seem to find a place to get 5.2 and I am wondering if it ever made a hard copy run?
 
Mankcam said:
Does anyone know if you can purchase a hard copy of Pendragon 5.2?
I know itis pretty much the same as Pendragon 5 in terms of mechanics, but the artwork in my Pendragon 5.2 pdf looks absolutely beautiful, something that really needs to be in a hardcover book.
My google-fu is weak, I just can't seem to find a place to get 5.2 and I am wondering if it ever made a hard copy run?
Click to expand...


You will be able to. Nocturnal wants to fullfilmen their KS backers first before they open it up to the public. I’d expect it to be for sale after Gencon to general people from what I’ve read online
 
Can you still get the Book of Knights for free in PDF? Because that'd probably be a good start
 
TristramEvans said:
Can you still get the Book of Knights for free in PDF? Because that'd probably be a good start
Click to expand...
Not only is it not free anywhere legal that I see it, it's ridiculously overpriced. You'd think it was still with Chaosium! :wink:

But I'm not saying I haven't seen free PDFs elsewhere...:hmmm:
 
Mankcam said:
Does anyone know if you can purchase a hard copy of Pendragon 5.2?
I know itis pretty much the same as Pendragon 5 in terms of mechanics, but the artwork in my Pendragon 5.2 pdf looks absolutely beautiful, something that really needs to be in a hardcover book.
My google-fu is weak, I just can't seem to find a place to get 5.2 and I am wondering if it ever made a hard copy run?
Click to expand...
POD might be available, possibly, but with the hardcopies now starting to get released to backers (I have mine), it probably is just a matter of a month or two I guess.
 
Oh, I didnt realise that it is a crowd funding project - I havent really been keeping up with Pendragon news, or even watching this thread closely.

The first I knew of the current version with new artwork was when DrivethruRPG updated its Pendragon 5 pdfs.

I will keep an eye out for hard copies over the next few months!
 
Just thought I'd inject a bit of life back into this thread. I'm having a blast with Photoshop putting together crests for the pregens in my convention adventure for Pendragon. Here's what I've put together so far. They're probably not "proper" in the sense of some of the heraldry rules, but they range from simple to a little more ornate and look good (to me). Feel free to use them on your own character sheets if you want. All the art comes from the Pendragon 4th edition rulebook as well as the 1st edition rulebook and Nobles Book (at least that's where I think I got the bee and antelope from... it's way past this vampire's bed time).

Anyhow, enjoy!
Black Knight's Crest.jpg Crest 6.jpg Crest 7.jpg Crest 11.jpg Crest 12.jpg Crest 13.jpg Crest 14.jpg crest 15.jpg crest1_zps8mcaup5c.jpg crest2_zpscov6gqw1.jpg
 
I dunno...I think you need some that are split down the middle and a few more bends sinister and dexter! :grin:
 
Hear ye, hear ye! For those who are interested, Paladin has arrived in PDF! I've already got money earmarked in my next paycheck for it. What's more, I've looked at the preview PDF and I have to say it's a nice, clean layout. Really looking forward to getting and reading through it. :grin:
 
Mankcam said:
Does anyone know if you can purchase a hard copy of Pendragon 5.2?
I know itis pretty much the same as Pendragon 5 in terms of mechanics, but the artwork in my Pendragon 5.2 pdf looks absolutely beautiful, something that really needs to be in a hardcover book.
My google-fu is weak, I just can't seem to find a place to get 5.2 and I am wondering if it ever made a hard copy run?
Click to expand...

Mankcam Mankcam 5.2 KAP and Prince Valiant are now both up for sale in hardcopy on Chaosium's site. I'm going to wait for them to pop up on Amazon.ca as the shipping to Canada is usually ridiculous.
 
Harl Quinn said:
Hear ye, hear ye! For those who are interested, Paladin has arrived in PDF! I've already got money earmarked in my next paycheck for it. What's more, I've looked at the preview PDF and I have to say it's a nice, clean layout. Really looking forward to getting and reading through it. :grin:
Click to expand...
I look forward to hearing your opinion.
 
I think 1E is honestly the edition I like playing best. I own an absolute shit ton of 4E materials and played a lot of it, but it is a seriously wordy slog and most of those words are not things that influence play at the table. 1E is a tight game that contains all the iconic elements of Pendragon, and you can wrap your head around the materials of the game in an hour of reading.
 
Moonglum said:
I think 1E is honestly the edition I like playing best. I own an absolute shit ton of 4E materials and played a lot of it, but it is a seriously wordy slog and most of those words are not things that influence play at the table. 1E is a tight game that contains all the iconic elements of Pendragon, and you can wrap your head around the materials of the game in an hour of reading.
Click to expand...
It was also a free download on one of those drivethrurpg-type sites for a while. Might still be.
 
Moonglum said:
I think 1E is honestly the edition I like playing best. I own an absolute shit ton of 4E materials and played a lot of it, but it is a seriously wordy slog and most of those words are not things that influence play at the table. 1E is a tight game that contains all the iconic elements of Pendragon, and you can wrap your head around the materials of the game in an hour of reading.
Click to expand...
Yes. I like 4E, but like a lot of '90s RPGs, there were more words than were strictly needed.
 
I have 1E, 3E, 5.0, and 5.2 in print and 1E and 5.1 and 5.2 in PDF. If I ever get a group interested in playing it, I'd probably use 5th (either 5.0 or 5.2) as I have the 5th edition Campaign book in print.
 
Harl Quinn said:
From what I've seen, there's not much difference between third and fourth editions. The fourth edition gave the game a magic system, rules for PC magicians, and collected the material from the rulebook and Knights Adventurous into one book. Overall, the fifth edition took the game back to its roots, putting the focus back on the knights, removing the magic system and giving guidelines on how GMs should handle magic in their games. The first run at fifth edition (5.0) had a number of errors according to the errata on Greg Stafford's site; 5.1 fixed them and 5.2 is a continuation of correcting minor writing errors and introduction of spot color and color art prefacing each chapter.
Click to expand...
Can you still write a mocking poem or buy a gross of unusual dogs?
 
Chaosium has released a preview of the 6th edition here along with an adventure:

The biggest differences compared to 5.2 from my perspective are:
  1. Crits in combat now do +4D6 rather than double damage. This is better for weak characters and worse for strong characters.

  2. The groupings of weapon skills have been changed. So Maces, Hammers and Axes are together under a single Hafted weapon skill, with the division instead being between Hafted and Two-Handed Hafted (the latter taking in Great Axes, Heavy Maces and so on). Both types of spears together with the javelin are a single skill. In general it simplifies weapons into skills based on how they handle rather than their exact type.

  3. Passions now have different effects depending on how extreme they are. On a crit a Passion of rating 1-15 will grant +5 to a skill, but 15+ will grant +10

  4. Horsemanship caps other weapon skills when on a horse. Although doesn't prevent the +5 bonuses from charging. Significant in quests through forests.

  5. Trait roll crits may (DM decided) grant +5 to a subsequent Skill or Passion roll.

  6. You can apply First Aid on yourself now, just with a -10 (very heavy penalty in Pendragon terms).
The last three are the most significant I feel, especially for GPC and solo/manor quests.
 
Last edited:
I picked up the 5.2 (?) edition specifically as it was the last edition written by Stafford, presumably his ultimate vision for the game.
So I'm probably off the edition train at this point.
 
TristramEvans said:
I picked up the 5.2 (?) edition specifically as it was the last edition written by Stafford, presumably his ultimate vision for the game.
So I'm probably off the edition train at this point.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm not exactly that enthused by it, would have rathered further development on the supplements or the parallel games set in Greece and Japan.

5.2 didn't really have any need for new rules I think and got a beautiful edition with the Jaime García Mendoza art. So this just seems sort of pointless for me.
 
Last edited:
I want a hardcopy so I'm keeping an eye out for it as a reasonable price online.
 
Last edited:
I have a hardcopy of 5.2 and a POD hardback of the the GPC, and curiously I’ve had a few offers already. I’ll probably sell it next year (I am using them currently).

Regarding the 6th edition, I was also skeptical. I’m basically thinking it was inevitable anyway though - it’s an important game line for Chaosium and they only took it over a year or so ago. If they get round to printing a new edition of the GPC, then it is worth having a matching core rule book to go with it.

With the new Quick Play, I’d say the layout looks promising, although I am not sure why it is particularly beneficial to the game to alter/add rules to the crits.
 
TristramEvans said:
I picked up the 5.2 (?) edition specifically as it was the last edition written by Stafford, presumably his ultimate vision for the game.
So I'm probably off the edition train at this point.
Click to expand...
What's the edition with the giant boar on the cover? That's the one I have.
 
That edition of the GPC works with all of them.

Between 5.0 to 5.1 grappling was reworked, axe damage changed, you can hit multiple people in combat, simpler rules for when Chirguery is no longer needed and a method of generating opposing roll scores on the fly is added.
Rebated and withheld blows do half damage (halving stacks) rather than doing no damage except on a crit.
In addition several errata were corrected such as the Glory tables being included, Glory from high Passions and Traits, Glory adding to Courtly rolls and landholding Glory capped.

5.1 to 5.2 is a single actual rules change of manor income going from £6 to £10 to match the Book of the Estate. Also the Pious trait was relabelled to Spiritual to reflect both Christianity and Celtic Paganism.
 
Last edited:
Séadna said:
Chaosium has released a preview of the 6th edition here along with an adventure:

The biggest differences compared to 5.2 from my perspective are:
  1. Crits in combat now do +4D6 rather than double damage. This is better for weak characters and worse for strong characters.

  2. The groupings of weapon skills have been changed. So Maces, Hammers and Axes are together under a single Hafted weapon skill, with the division instead being between Hafted and Two-Handed Hafted (the latter taking in Great Axes, Heavy Maces and so on). Both types of spears together with the javelin are a single skill. In general it simplifies weapons into skills based on how they handle rather than their exact type.

  3. Passions now have different effects depending on how extreme they are. On a crit a Passion of rating 1-15 will grant +5 to a skill, but 15+ will grant +10

  4. Horsemanship caps other weapon skills when on a horse. Although doesn't prevent the +5 bonuses from charging. Significant in quests through forests.

  5. Trait roll crits may (DM decided) grant +5 to a subsequent Skill or Passion roll.

  6. You can apply First Aid on yourself now, just with a -10 (very heavy penalty in Pendragon terms).
The last three are the most significant I feel, especially for GPC and solo/manor quests.
Click to expand...

I would worry about 6th Edition now that Greg isn't around, especially after disliking the changes made Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition.

However, none of those sound bad. The pre-amble says this was Greg's work, which is cheering.

I wonder, does this mean that 5.2 won't see print except to Kickstarter backers? If 6th Edition isdue in 2021, a belated 5.2 print run seems costly and needless.
 
Malleustein said:
Ah, I had missed it.

Not that I desperately needed yet another edition of Pendragon.
Click to expand...
It's really just 5.1 reprinted with the Spanish edition art, so there's nothing major if you have 5th or 5.1
 
Séadna said:
That edition of the GPC works with all of them.

Between 5.0 to 5.1 grappling was reworked, axe damage changed, you can hit multiple people in combat, simpler rules for when Chirguery is no longer needed and a method of generating opposing roll scores on the fly is added.
Rebated and withheld blows do half damage (halving stacks) rather than doing no damage except on a crit.
In addition several errata were corrected such as the Glory tables being included, Glory from high Passions and Traits, Glory adding to Courtly rolls and landholding Glory capped.

5.1 to 5.2 is a single actual rules change of manor income going from £6 to £10 to match the Book of the Estate. Also the Pious trait was relabelled to Spiritual to reflect both Christianity and Celtic Paganism.
Click to expand...
Is ther an update document anywhere? Would be interesting to see what the full changes were.
 
The art in 5.2 is nice, resembling stainglass windows, but my .."holy grail" (ahem) version of Pendragon would be a leatherbound edition that makes full use of all that beautiful Pre-Raphaelite Arthurian artwork that is in the public domain...

71yksnwgIAL._AC_SY741_.jpg

imagesCASJ5DMW.jpg

morgan-le-faye-frederick-sandys.jpg

the-beguiling-of-merlin-edward-burne-jones.jpg

accolade.jpg

Tristan.jpg
 
TristramEvans said:
The art in 5.2 is nice, resembling stainglass windows, but my .."holy grail" (ahem) version of Pendragon would be a leatherbound edition that makes full use of all that beautiful Pre-Raphaelite Arthurian artwork that is in the public domain...

View attachment 23412
Click to expand...

The Accolade would be an excellent cover piece.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top