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What are you getting?
In Pendragon players take on the role of Knights living and adventuring against the background of the Arthurian legends. It is now in its 5th edition, and this edition returns the reigns to Greg Stafford, the original creator, which sees the game regain its former focus on simply being a game of chivalrous knights. Physically it is a half inch thick hardback in the style of most commercial RPGs, attractively illustrated and laid out in a very readable style.
Inside you'll find rules on creating and playing Knights and Noble Women only. Unlike the 4th edition there are no rules for playing foreign knights or wizards - this is a welcome change as Pendragon has always thrived on its focus on Knightly doings and the broader spread of 4th edition detracted from that. You'll also find some pretty detailed information about the nature and traditions of Knighthood, an overview of the county of Salisbury (the default setting for the Player Knights), the requisite system for resolving skills and combat, an equipment list, rules for Character Advancement (and decline) and a bunch of things to kill.
The basic system
Pendragon uses a slightly counter-intuitive system of rolling under your skill on d20, with higher rolls being better and matching your skill being a critical. Modifiers are added to your skill, not the roll but if your skill is over 20, the amount over twenty is added to the dice roll and the final result is capped at 20 (a critical). If your skill is less than 20, a 20 is a fumble and has bad (sometimes very bad) side effects. All of my players have found this difficult to remember, and still - after playing for almost a year - get confused between adding the modifier to the dice and to the skill. However, the system is used consistently, and lacks any great complications so it is easy to learn, if not apply. Stats and skills in Pendragon are very much separate with stats not factoring into skill values at all.
The combat system is simplistic, and simultaneous, with one roll being made by each combatant and the highest roll winning. There are a few combat options but they don't add up to a tactically interesting system. Damage is determined by a characters strength and size, and to a lesser degree the weapon they use. Each weapon has a special effect, making weapon choice an interesting part of the game, much more so than systems where each weapon simply gets a damage or hit modifier. Armour is implemented as damage reduction and the system suffers from the same problems that this usually brings: namely, low damage levels are basically ignorable but the actual damage ramps up very quickly after the damage reduction is overcome. This happens particularly fast when a critical is scored and the number of dice is doubled. Player Knights can easily be slain in a single lucky hit, especially if carrying a minor wound.
What makes Pendragon special
So far so dull. The basic system is sound enough but it doesn't do anything we haven't seen before. Where Pendragon does do something interesting and distinctive is in its personality mechanics and year-a-session time frame. Each Knight gets a set of Traits in pairs, such as Selfish/Generous or Pious/Worldly, with each pair adding up to 20. These function to both describe and control the Knight's personality; at various times, or at the player's whim rolls can be made against a personality trait to determine how the character acts. In addition to the set of Traits, each Knight gets a set of Passions, such as Honour, Loyalty (Lord) or Hate (Saxons), these can be used to inspire the knight to great deeds (but it's risky, a failed roll has dire consequences). Both systems elegantly support the Arthurian feel of the game, of Chivalrous Knights driven by great passions and fierce beliefs.
The second distinctive system is the campaign structure, instead of sessions representing roughly continuous periods of time and game time passing only at the GM's decree, Pendragon adopts a system where each year in game time is covered in a single session - often with one significant adventure occurring. This system is tied to the advancement system where characters advance only during the winter phase. This allows the game to cover very much longer periods of time, with a full campaign covering the lifetime of a Knight, his Children and Grandchildren in a dynastic epic.
The problems
Pendragon is not without its flaws, however. The book, while infinitely better than the last edition, is not well organised with rules tucked away in difficult to find places, for example, fighting without armour gives a +5 bonus to weapon skills but this rule is not found in the combat section, the armour section or the weapons skills section but instead tucked away in a discrete note in the encumbrance section. While the random brutality of the system adds something to the gritty feel of the game it can be quite frustrating and count against the dynastic element that gives such a strong backbone to the game, one of my players has lost several Knights in recent years and each new Knight needs time to work themselves back into the politics and weave of the game.
The battle system is oddly lacking in any mechanical link to the outcome of the battle and often dissolves into a simple exercise in number crunching punctuated by sudden and unlucky death. It is also obvious from Greg Stafford's comments on the Pendragon bulletin boards that he does not run it according to the rules as written, and there are already a host of replacement rules for some sections of the game either published on his website or in the Great Pendragon Campaign book.
Conclusions
Pendragon is a great game, but it's not perfect. It's central premise of playing Knights against an Arthurian backdrop is a strong one, and the yearly campaign structure really makes it stand out but be prepared to be frustrated by the organisation of the rulebook and willing to apply a judicious helping of GM fiat to keep the game running smoothly.
If you've already got a previous edition of the game this doesn't do much, or change much, from what you already own. You're looking at minor tweaks and a big change in organisation only. Compared to 4th it is more compact and organised and drops many of the misguided editions from that version; compared to 3rd I can see little reason to change.
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