Chaosium announced today that The Great Pendragon Campaign is coming back for 6th Edition, starting with the rise of The Boy King.
The Great Pendragon Campaign, originally released in 1985, was one of creator Greg Stafford’s labors of absolute love. A vision of Arthurian fantasy, following as complete a “timeline” as could be found from various sources. It was the rise and fall of Arthur, from ascendant conqueror uniting a fractured Britain, to the looming twilight of Camelot with Arthur’s fall. An eighty-year saga. It’s exactly the kind of thing that Pendragon, with its generational storytelling and ruleset, was created to let you play.
After all, who wouldn’t want to play in the realm of Camelot? Especially back in the 80s, when Monty Python’s Holy Grail was truly ascendant, and people would recite the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch just for the love of the game. Since then, The Great Pendragon Campaign has seen revisions and updates, and now, for 6th Edition, it returns. This time in a multipart campaign set, beginning with The Boy King.
New For Pendragon 6E – ‘The Boy King’
Pendragon: The Boy King is the first part of The Great Pendragon Campaign. Set during the reign of King Uther Pendragon, The Boy King follows the rise of King Arthur. In it, you’ll find a Britain in an interregnum period, marred by war. One sorely in need of heroes and knights, devoted to virtue (and plagued by vice).
That’s where the campaign comes in. You play knights, rising along with the new young king. It’s an idealistic time. But there’s still plenty to worry about.
One thing that bears mentioning is that this campaign is going to be a multi-year affair. This is in part because Chaosium wants to keep alive the legacy of Stafford’s great campaign, as explained in the announcement blog post:
“In the decades since the original Great Pendragon Campaign was published in 1985, Greg Stafford added much to his tale as he encountered new sources of lore and made appropriate adjustments to his timeline and notes. We have endeavored to integreate these notes and changes to his original text in as respectful and seamless a fashion as possible. […]
Our aim with the new edition is to take the core of the previous campaign, revise and correct where needed, and apply and expand upon the material Greg collected, collated, and wrote prior to his passing in 2018. […] We are extremely excited to continue to bring Greg Stafford’s vision of Arthur to life. Under the guidance of line editor David Larkins and art director Paul Tobin, we expect this edition of The Great Pendragon Campaign to live on in the memories of gamers for decades to come, just as Greg intended.”
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Which means that it’s going to take time for this all to come out. The Boy King covers around twenty in-game years of events. Huge enough on its own. Then, over the next two years, Chaosium plans to publish additional volumes, building upon the campaign of The Boy King, eventually covering the eightyish-year span of Arthur’s legend.
It’s ambitious, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that the right kind of nerd is going to fall in love with. If you’re a fan of Pendragon or romantic knights, you might want to check this one out. Though you’ll have to wait until after Gen Con.
Look for Pendragon: The Boy King this August!
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