Pendragon the Great Pendragon Campaign

I would like to GM a game using the Pendragon system (a.k.a. King Arthur Pendragon; I'm using the 5th edition rules). I'm aware this is a little known system compared to the "big guns" like D&D, Warhammer, Cthulhu, etc. and therefore I am willing to accept players who have no knowledge of it, and walk them through character creation and so on. It thankfully does not take long to grasp all the basic concepts, and I really do find this system pretty damn interesting, hence why I'm choosing it over better known ones.

This is a game of medieval fantasy set into the world of King Arthur, played using feudal standards and offering a chance to experience vicariously that long-lost world, in both its brutal reality and its fantastic idealism. Every player character is a knight, thus having both the privileges of elite society and also the risky, often deadly responsibilities. These dichotomies — brutal reality versus idealism, elite privilege versus deadly burden — are the basis for the game. Pendragon is a game for knights. It is not about magicians, thieves, or scholars, nor about “might-have-beens” or “could-haves”. But the “reality” of this game is not a specific period of knighthood. The game crowds the entire Middle Ages into its framework, moving your character’s family through the equivalent of centuries of time. It begins in the Dark Ages and ends just before the Renaissance, allowing you to sample the developments of armor, weapons, castles, and customs in a process of accelerating change.

Therefore, you do not forever play with a single character in Pendragon. Your original character will most likely have babies during gameplay, and will age progressively. When he dies, or when he becomes too old to go adventuring, you can then play his heir, who will inherit some of his father's stats, or his younger brother, etc. The focus is more on playing a dynasty. The scope of this campaign is around 80 years; in fact, it starts before Arthur is even born, and ends during the twilight of the round table. Needless to say, no single character can live and adventure through all of this.

Another strength and originality of the game is the use of traits and passions, which describe your character's personality and actually incorporate it into the game mechanics. For example, is your knight known for his honesty? If so, should he try during gameplay to be devious and tell a lie, he would need to roll higher than his "Truthful" trait to be able to do so. Does your character have a high sense of honour? If so, if he feels his honour is at stake during a specific situation, he may attempt to roll under his "Honour" passion and gain a big bonus to any appropriate skill during said situation, as a result of being inspired by his passion. Both your traits and passions are anything but static: your actions during gameplay and the game's events will constantly make them evolve over time.

The world of Pendragon is deadly. Combat is dangerous and can end lives quickly with little warning. This is not a game for the guy who always plays a dwarf with an axe in D&D and swings his weapon at anything that comes his way. Such players need not read further...

Magic exists and plays a very important role at times, but its use is reserved to the GM. Player characters play knights, and magic is very mysterious and often scary to them.