Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc From: [p--g--n] at [world.std.com] (Paul C Duggan) Subject: Review of pendragon 4th edition Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 16:38:01 GMT The new fourth edition looks very good. 351 pages, with (only) one fold out insert in the back: a four-color map of Britain south of Hadrians Wall. The cover is a beautiful painting by Stephen King, depicting a Knight reciving a sword from a Druid, within a stone circle. The sun is just peeking over the joint between two topstones. The printing quality of the copy I purchaced is not as high as my third edition, however. Some type is broken, and smudges and bleed-throgh shows on a few pages. This new edition is much longer than the third, with many, but not all chapters from Knights Adventurous included. Included are Advanced Character Gehneration, Lands, Women, Religion, and additonal Ambitions. The full hunting rules and tournament rules were not there, but there is detail on some of these in recent adventure supplements. I missed having a Feast chart. There are no major game mechanics changes, as far as I can see. Hawking is now Falconry, but that change was already indicated on more recnet supplements. I was happy to see that the "Your Own Land" solo now provides some tangible benefit for an excellent harvest. This was a question I'd raised concering the third edition. But I still don't see the fairness of requiring the (very low) stewardship abilities of the Knight to avoid a poor harvest. I also have a minor nit about the introductory adventure (which is the same as previosuly) and that it is not a half-days ride to Imber as stated in the adventure, but at least a full day, if not more. (see the map on p. 231). Scenarios are identical to those of Third edition, except the new magic rules (see below) have been integrated where appropriate. The real excitement of the new system is the rules for magic and Magician charcaters. Magic is powerful, but still enigmatic, even with these rules. Enchanters will not be adventuring with the knights, as their powers need great preperation (waithing for the right time and place) and recovery afterwards (weeks on end). The system begins with Magician character generation. The Magician seeks Insight, in place of Glory. She (the author's usage) gets this by being initiated into her tradition, by maintaining sacred sites and ceremonies, and by expending life force by use of the magic talents. The Magician skill of Sight is useful for (among other things) identifying what level of Insight a given Magician has. There are several traditions of Magician that a character can enter, each with different emphasies, benefits, and resposibilities. There are Pagan Enchaters (Druids), Bards, Enchantresses, and Witches, and Christian Priests, Nuns/Monks (non-players, since cloistered), and Friar/Hermits. Magician generation follows the flow of advanced knight gegeration. First a natural magic Talent is determined. The Magaician will be able to use this talent at a bonus in comparison to other, learned talents. The land and culture of the Magaician is then determined, and the class of the father (Peasant, Magician, or Noble). At age 16 she become initaited into whichvcer tradition is choosen. You may gain divine (if pagan) or saintly (if Christian) patronage, which gives a bonus to some specific taleknt, and perhaps a stricture as well. Training is as per Previous Experience for Knights. At age 21 you try to qualify for the tradition of choice; it doesn't look to me like this is going to be very likely in most cases without additional years of training. The magic system is composed of four basic concepts. The first is Life Force, which comes from various sources: ambient force from the land, the seasonal cycles, sacrifices, and the magaician herself. Two skills, Geomantic Lore and Celestial lore, assist the Magician in making good choices of place and time. The ammount of life force is quantified in the number of d20s rolled. Each effect has a suggested life force cost. The magician has a limit to how much life force she can use at a given time, which is based on the religious traits. This can be increased by high religious traits, critical talent rolls, or grouping together. Magic is time consuming, taking 1d3 hours or possibly 1d6 minutes, at the expense of a talent roll penalty. Magic also has a hight cost to the caster, requiring either weeks of sleep afterwards, or weeks of preperation before hand. Magic forms come classed into Talents, which function as regular Pendragon skills. Things like Glamour (temporary reality, not illusion), Dispel, Travel, Animal Friend, Blessing, Curse, and others. Differing traditions will have differing starting values for these, and some are prohibited. Duration for effects is one hour, standard, and may be increased by paying more life-force. The number of targets may be likewize increased. Some effect descriptions seem to assume a more lasting effect automatcially (a blight on crops doesn't vanish after an hour passes, apparently). Effects can also be placed in Talismans, for discharge at a later time. The magic system is sprinkled through with boxed commentary by Morgan Le Fay explaing the theoretical and religious (Pagan) basis for magic as presented. The game mechanics section ends with a description of various magic sites in Britain and the ammound of ambient life force (some of it specific to a particluar talent) to be found there, and any other curious effects. This is follwed by the chapter on Faerie which was previously published in Knights Adventurous. Some sample magician types are provided in the Characters and creatures section. Morgan Le Fay and Merlin are not detailed, however (which is probably good). The magic system looks like it will provide a flexible and interesting addition to the game system. It will be quite a challenge for a viable magician player character, but the same is true for women characters. These rules do help the gammester be a bit less arbitrary in running magic, and provides a bit of stimulous for additional creativity. The effect lists are not intended to be exhaustive, but to give an indication of the types of things that can be accomplished at various levels of life force. The problems I see with the magic system are as follows: there is much chance for failure, as a both a talent roll must be made, and then life force dice need to be rolled. Even 10d20 might result in very low numbers. There is a concept that a lesser life force than needed might reusult in a reduced effect. Presumably sleep time would still need to be paid. It's also a bit unusual that a high life-force cost effect is no more difficult in terms of talent than a low one, if the life force is avaialble. But most of the time really high life force effects will be restricted by the limitations of the ambient force and the magcicians limit. Also, the skill system mechanics mean that very low level talents will critical a greater percentage of the time they are successful. This doesn't seem to be too much of a problem wehn the only thing happening is a swing of a sword or hunting an animal, but when channeling great magical energies it seems a bit out of whack. But all in all the system seems to be interesting and fun. Magicians will be enigmatic creatures, in the background of the plot, awaiting the planets to be in alignment and searching for ancient sites of power, working astounding acts in their own time. Or they will be sought out long and hard by the Knights to find a cure for the curse put upon them. -- "Everything was a relic. All the world was a relic. paul +|+ I drew off my boots, which had traveled with me so --|-- far, and threw them into the waves that I might not +|+ walk shod on holy ground" -- Gene Wolfe [p--g--n] at [world.std.com]