GPC Adventure Supplements

[stryker99]

We are currently in 489 GPC, and I am looking for some adventure supplements I can drop into the campaign to break up tempo of the years rolling by. I could have sworn I read a discussion about adventures in older supplements that broke down by period and discussed quality/quantity of content in various older supplements. But I cannot find it, I have tried at least 3 times, no love.

While I will probably end up diving into most of them, I was wondering where to start/priority considering we are in the middle of the Uther period right now. If anybody could point me in the right direction either with where to find the previous discussion or with some specific suggestions on which supplements to start with I would greatly appreciate it! Just scrolling through the old supplements on DriveThruRPG makes this seem like a monumental task as there is so much content to wade through...

[Atgxtg]

First off, do you have the Book of Uther? It specifically covers the time in question and might help to give you ideas. Likewise the Book of the Warlord, although not to the same extent as the Book of Uther. Note that neither book gives adventures, but they do fgive lots of information that can help you come up with adventures.

As for the older supplements, yes, most of the older supplements contained several short adventures broken down by Phase (prior to KAP5+, the Pendragon timeline was divided into five 15 year phases. The Anarchy Period was Phase 1, Boy King Period Phase 2, and so on). This is similar to what you get at the end of each Period in the GPC, in fact some of the adventure are the same. 

One problem, in regards to your situation, is that most of the supplements were by region or culture,  not by Phase/Period. So if you were to buy one of them, you might get a half dozen adventures., but none that you can use now, or maybe one or two. Perilous Forest is one that might best fit your needs. It has 15 short adventures (most are a couple of paragraphs, similar to what you see in the GPC), of which about half are free to be run at anytime. Still, the bulk of Perilous Forest is information and adventures set in the North, including some longer adventures, but you won't be able to use a lot of it for another 30 years or so. It is available on DrivethruRPG as a PDF for $8.

Many of the other 3rd and 4th edition supplements are similar in layout, but don't have as many short adventures in them. Again, most are about a specific region and/or culture so you'd wind up buying a book for maybe 6 pages that are relevant to what you are doing now. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of great stuff in those supplements, just that most of it won't be relevant to what you are doing now. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Atgxtg

[Morien]

Here you go (Warning, contains hella spoilers for players, so don't read unless you are the GM): http://kapresources.wpengine.com/Pendragon Forum Archive/index.php/t-2802.html

 

The downside is that most of the pre-5th edition stuff started from Boy King or later. So most of the published (long) adventures are explicitly or implicitly in Arthur's time.

I have often spoken about my love for the Adventure of the White Horse (part of 3e and 4e rulebooks), since it is very easy to move it around in time and even use it as a recurring event once per generation or so. It is also a nice palate-cleanser after all the military action in Uther Period, as it is very combat light and shows off a more mystical side of Pendragon.

Tales of Magic & Miracles ( https://www.chaosium.com/tales-of-magic-and-miracles-pdf/ for just $5.99) has two faerie related adventures, Deceitful Faerie and Faerie Road, both of which can easily be run at Uther Period. Given Salisbury's closeness to Somerset/Summerland, and the fact that the PKs would be crossing Summerland to and from Cornwall, such encounters would be quite possible.

Spectre King ( https://www.chaosium.com/the-spectre-king-pdf/ for the 3rd edition one, $7.99) has the Horned Boar, which is also very suitable for Uther Period, once you adjust the background of one of the characters a bit (it references events in 520s, but you can easily make that to refer to 480s with some handwaving). A slightly bigger issue is that it is set near the Wall, so it is somewhat harder to get the PKs there, especially with all the fighting going on in Malahaut in 489. That being said, Spectre King is one of my favorite adventure supplement book (Tales of Mystic Tournaments is another contender, thanks to the Grey Knight, the Tournament of Dreams and the Circle of Gold... unfortunately all set post-513 time frame), and I personally prefer the older 3rd edition with the Grand Tourney of Logres rather than the White Horror in the 4e re-issue, Tales of the Spectre Kings.

(As for regional books, I would say my favorite is Blood & Lust, thanks to the Heart Blade mini-campaign, and yes, I count it as a regional book due to the Anglia section. Savage Mountains with the Cambrian War is very good as well. Perilous Forest suffers a bit for having the Wasteland stuff being already in GPC, but the adventures themselves are nice, as is the regional overview.)

Finally, there was a con game Siege of Castle Pennith that was explicitly set in pre-Arthurian anarchy, when Saxons were kicking ass. However, I have been unable to find it online.

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Morien

[creativehum]

@Morien Thank you so much for your list!

Also, my Google Fu is strong so I poked about for "Siege of Castle Pennith."

I stumbled across two pieces of it in archives of the old Chaosium mailing list. But then found a document called The Great Book of Pendragon Treasures which contains the entire adventure.

The Great Book of Pendragon Treasures is described as a collection of contributions from the old Chaosium listserv containing NPCs, adventures, new rules, essays, and other material for the King Arthur Pendragon RPG.

It is five hundred pages long (!), and includes all kinds of things, from summaries of the lives and adventures of key Arthurian figures, to customs of Britain and other cultures, and 275 pages of adventures. 

There is no table of contents. And the page numbering on the document restarts within each of the document's three sections:

1. People
2. Rules and Essays
3. Adventures

With this in mind "The Siege Of Castle Pennith" can be found on p. 10 of the "Adventures" section, and on page 243 of the document as a whole.

The adventure was an event at Gaelcon '92, and copyright Fergal Somers.

It is introduced with this text:

Quote

This adventure is non-standard for two reasons: (a) it is set before Arthur becomes king, in the dark anarchist times of Saxon raids (b) since it is set before Arthur, the chivalric ideal is not widespread. This adventure is supposed to be dark in style. Britain has fallen into warring factions, saxons are invading and peasants are mistreated. These are the grim and nasty dark ages where power is everything. Mysterious ground fog, unholy dark woods and that sort of thing should set the tone of the adventure, essentially the opposite of the bright coloured tents and pavilions, shining knights and chivalric courtesy that will characterise the reign of Arthur. In addition, the characters are not evenly designed. Good roleplaying opportunities exist between the characters Ieuan and Domicus. Rivalry also exists between Gwair and Robert; Amig and Peter are there to prohibit the party from dividing into factions.

A quick skim of the Adventure section of the document reveals that while most are set after Arthur's arrival, several of them are pre-Arthur or can be re-worked to earlier phases "with minimal effort."

Enjoy!

Edited October 27, 2019 by creativehum

[Tizun Thane]

In Savage Moutains, the "adventure of the best wine in the world" is perfect during the reign of Uther. The PK are sent to scout Gwaelod to look if a conquest is possible if the king refused to submit to Uther, and things happened. There is an ancient feeling for this adventure perfect for this rough times.

Otherwise, the list of the old forum is interesting, but not really useful, especially during the Anarchy. There is plenty of odd choices, with little freedom for players.

 

[creativehum]

3 hours ago, Tizun Thane said:

list of the old forum is interesting, but not really useful, especially during the Anarchy. There is plenty of odd choices, with little freedom for players.

Could you talk more about this? About the list not being usefu, the odd choices, and the lack of freedom for players?

Edited October 28, 2019 by creativehum

[Tizun Thane]

Like Morien said in the old post. The Anarchy is supposed to be free-play, not railroaded. It's a bit strange to be gallivanting in Britain during the Anarchy, and there is no hint of the repercussion of the choices of the players (tributes, alliances, etc.). In every campaign, you have to react to the choices of your players, so the list is abstract and can not be played per se.

Ultimately, the choice to place an adventure in 535 or in 540 is subjective.