Beginners Pendragon - BOOKS for inspiration

[Scotty]

I'm looking to start some resource pages on greathall.chaosium.com.

What short single book would you give to following to read, that captures the flavour of Pendragon without scaring them off.

An adult friend

A young person (12-18)

A child (5-11)

I'm fully aware that there's an appended bibliography in KAP 5.2 page 238. For example, my go to book to lend is King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table written by Roger Lancelyn Green, works great with 8+s, most find the cover enough:

Please no comics, films, learned tomes or RPG material (we will do them soon enough).

One suggestion per age group per reply, should keep it followable?

Non-english suggestions welcome.

[sirlarkins]

Great topic!

For an adult friend, I'd recommend Steinbeck's The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights.

For a younger reader, Rosemary Sutcliff's King Arthur Trilogy.

For a child, I'd track down the out-of-print books Merlin Dreams and Castles, which I consider companion pieces. Both are gorgeously illustrated by Alan Lee and filled with enchanting imagery and Arthurian tales.

[Atgxtg]

For a a young adult I'd recommend King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Stephen Colborurn. It gives a nice overview of the King Arthur tale broken up in 13 stories of about four to six pages each, in modern, easy to understand language, along with descriptive illustrations, a list of who''s who along with who exercises to help understand the material. All in under 100 pages. Frankly. I might recommend it for an adult too. it makes a nice reference books for a Pendragon GM who wants a quick overview of a story without having to wade though/figure out/develop an appreciation for the prose of medieval text. It's also available as an audiobook, which probably increases the acceptable age span a little. IMO this book is probably about as good at a book can get while covering so much so well in under 100 pages. It lacks the style and feel of something like Le'Morte or the HRB, reading much like a scholastic book for young readers (which is is) but that keeps things simple and accessible in a way most of the older sources aren't.