Magazines with KAP articles

[AlHazred]

I was able to find a couple more articles, which are now in the spreadsheet.

• The Spanish fanzine El Juglar, issue #2 (January-February 1996), has a two-page article defining a magical tradition for the Herbalist-Hermit. Interestingly, apparently issue #0 (or #1?) of this magazine (published by a group of RPG fans from Málaga) had an article on setting up a Pendragon campaign and included npcs, but I have that from a one-paragraph review of the magazine in Lider volume 3 #47. I'd love to find issue #0 of El Juglar, but I can't find any trace of it online.
• The Spanish fanzine The Elitist, issue #1 (January 1996) has an adventure named "El Torneo Irlanda" ("The Irish Tournament"), which looks interesting. There were at least two more issues of this fanzine, but I can't find these either.

I'm still checking Spanish fanzines, but it's slow going, as it's not one of my primary languages.

Edited January 12 by AlHazred

[mandrill_one]

On 1/4/2024 at 4:53 AM, AlHazred said:

I've heard there was a small Pendragon fan community in Italy. I've heard of Italian gaming magazines Kappa (at least in 1991, the first two issues had RPG content), Fuori dal Tempo (also seems to have published RPG material in 1991), Kaos (ran from 1991-2002), X (a spin-off magazine from Kaos focused on RPG material), and E Giochi and Giochi (these two might be the same magazine -- RPGGeek is less helpful in this regard since "giochi" in this context means "games"). For a variety of reasons, my Google skills are failing me on these. I have no idea if any of these have Pendragon content, sadly.

I know for sure (I am located in Italy!) that until now Pendragon has never been translated into Italian. As a consequence, it is extremely unlikely for any KAP adventure or other content to have been published in any Italian magazine. 
I have read all Kaos and X issues at the time when they were published, and I don't remember any KAP content (obviously, my recollection could be incorrect, since 25-30 years have passed since then).

If someone wants to peruse them, 99 issues of Kappa seem to be available on the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/k-kappa-rivista
 

[mandrill_one]

The Spanish fanzine Rosa Negra published a KAP game aid: "Modificaciones a las reglas de Pendragon" (i.e., "Changes to Pendragon rules"), I think it's a list of house rules for the game.
All 7 issues of RN can be downloaded from this website:

https://ethelnir.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/fanzine-rosa-negra-1-7/

Edited January 6 by mandrill_one
Added the Spanish title

[AlHazred]

5 minutes ago, mandrill_one said:

The Spanish fanzine Rosa Negra published a KAP game aid: "Modificaciones a las reglas de Pendragon" (i.e., "Changes to Pendragon rules"), I think it's a list of house rules for the game.
All 7 issues of RN can be downloaded from this website:

https://ethelnir.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/fanzine-rosa-negra-1-7/

I forgot to list that one! I checked it out, and it looks like maybe errata to the Spanish edition of Pendragon.

[AlHazred]

19 minutes ago, mandrill_one said:

I know for sure (I am located in Italy!) that until now Pendragon has never been translated into Italian.

I did not know that! Reading the fanzines, it really looks like it was translated into every European language in the 90s. Better late than never!

19 minutes ago, mandrill_one said:

As a consequence, it is extremely unlikely for any KAP adventure or other content to have been published in any Italian magazine.

I guess that makes sense, then! I'll check out the Kappa issues, but I'll put that on the back burner!

[AlHazred]

Found another French magazine, Les songes d'Oberon, which has one Pendragon scenario and two scenarios that could be adapted to Pendragon, in issue #02. Added to the list.

EDIT: Incidentally, I failed to mention that Les songes d'Oberon is available for free online.

Edited January 11 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

I acquired a copy of Concepts magazine #2. This was an independent UK magazine that covered RPGs; issue #2 is from April 1988. It has two articles of interest to Pendragon fans:

• Tryfan's Tribulations, by John Williams: I've seen this listed as a Pendragon scenario in online lists in several places. It is, however, not a Pendragon scenario -- it's an AD&D scenario for level 5-7 characters. It's set in Arthurian Britain in North Wales. A dragon is terrorizing the area, and has burned several sacred Druid groves as well. Merlin has created a storm to prevent the dragon from despoiling the area temporarily, however the storm will abate in seven days. Merlin tasks the PCs with traveling to the dragon's lair, a cave at the top of Mount Tryfan, and dispatching the beast. The weather is the main driver of drama in this scenario, as the party must travel from their starting point in Penrhyn Bay to Mount Tryfan in the Snowdonian Mountains, while high winds, driving rain, and unnatural chill plague the area due to Merlin's storm. The path is delineated on an inset map, with three predefined encounters along the way, one of which will be a little tricky to translate into Pendragon terms. Finally, they arrive at the dragon's den; this is a standard Red Dragon from D&D, but it has determined the weather is unnatural and has set several traps to deal with intruders.

Spoiler

The tricky encounter is with a Night Hag masquerading as a widowed farmer, willing to put the PCs up for the night. However, she has a magical crop with several properties: it can transform a victim touched into a horse for a night; and, it can cause the victim to magically forget the events of the previous night when touched to them in the morning. The Hag uses it to ride a victim to exhaustion, then when they're drained in the morning fawns over them and urges the party to stay so the victim can recover from what is certainly a sickness brought on by the weather. If she can ride the same victim three nights in a row, they remain a horse permanently; four such previous victims live as weak horses in her stables.
      While I like this encounter, I'm not sure how willing a group of player knights would be with staying extra nights. The GM will have to make the weather effects pretty severe, I think; if several party members are suffering from the weather's effects by this point, it might be easier for the Hag to convince people to stay. In any case, her stats will need to be worked out by the GM

• Hearts & Knaves: Squires in Pendragon, by Marcus Rowland: This article has two suggestions. One is for each player in a group to play a knight and another player's squire, and then trade off in consecutive sessions; this is because Mr. Rowland feels most scenarios really only allow one knight to shine while the others play second banana. This is not a bad suggestion; players who have also played Ars Magica will recognize this as a form of the troupe style play that game championed.
        The second suggestion is for difficult moral choices (which are represented in the game as opposed Personality Trait rolls) to have weight, have the affected player and a second player each argue one of the two Traits in question (for example, if the PK argues Modest, the second player should argue the Proud side). Then have the players have a vote, and the weight of the vote is given as a bonus/penalty on the Personality Trait rolls.

Edited January 10 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

I got a line on some old Swedish and Danish fanzines. A few of them have Pendragon content:

• Pseudo-Dragen #6, August 1989. Danish fanzine. Pendragon (I guess 1st edition based on the date) gets reviewed in the column "Over disken" ("Over the Counter").
• Legend #4, April 1987. Swedish magazine. A review in the article "Nyheter" ("News").
• Sinkadus #15, October 1988. Swedish magazine, the house organ for Äventyrsspel/Target Games. A review in the article "Engelska Rollspel" ("English RPGs").
• Sinkadus #28, December 1990. A mention in the article "Hemmafronten" ("On the Homefront"). Probably Pendragon in conventions, or new releases.
• Sinkadus #34, January 1992. Another mention in "Hemmafronten".
• Sinkadus #36, June 1992. Another mention in "Hemmafronten".
• The Beholder, Spring 1989. Danish fanzine. The adventure "Sir Draines vilda svin" ("Sir Draine's Wild Boar") is presented, along with a 1-page rules brief (again, of the 1st edition), a scenario background to hand to the players, and 7 pre-generated PCs. This was the convention scenario for Lincon-88.
• The Beholder, Summer 1989. The article "Jag gick upp en Generation" ("I Went Up a Generation") classifies games into "Generations" (meaning increasing elegance in systems) and provides a very short review of each. Pendragon is the author's favorite system, and gets the longest review.
• The Beholder, Spring 1990. The article "Kampanjtid" ("Campaign Time") discusses the author's experience gaming, and recommends the Pendragon system for fulfilling gameplay.
• The Beholder, Summer 1990. The article "Vad är ett bra rollspel?" ("What Makes a Good RPG?") lists Pendragon as a great RPG.

There's a few more listed online that I have to track down, but I think most of the others are reviews.

"Sir Draine's Wild Boar" is an interesting tournament scenario. Done in 1989, when Pendragon was still extremely new, it is somewhat linear (like a lot of tournament scenarios) but it has some nice ideas in it. I could easily see using it as a starter scenario. It's meant for squires, with the potential prize of a knighthood; even with starting knights I think it could be a challenge, since brute force isn't really the answer.

If anyone can confirm the Sinkadus entries, that would be great.

Edited January 13 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

A few more:

• The Beholder, Autumn 1989. The adventure "En Drottnings Heder" ("A Queen's Honor") is presented, along with a 1-page rules brief (1st edition). This was the convention scenario for Lincon-89.
• In Sverox #25, August 2002, is an article "Tärningen, en kraft bortom naturens lagar" ("The dice, a force beyond the laws of nature"), which discusses dice superstitions. One of the author's friends believes he has trained his d20s to roll either low or high (depending on the die), and therefore considers Pendragon a "worthless" game since you generally need something in between for the best successes.
• In Torden og Lynild Vol 9 #2, Autumn 1993, there's an article "Regelændringer: Familiebegivenheder og borgbygning i Pendragon" ("House Rules: Family Events and Castle Building in Pendragon"), which sounds incredibly intriguing but I can't locate a copy.
• Saga #10, November 1991. The Danish magazine, not the Swedish magazine of the same name. The adventure "Ungersvenden" (???). This one was played at Games Weekend 1991 and looks interesting. It appears to be for Pendragon 3rd edition, and has faeries, which is always interesting.

"En Drottnings Heder" looks very interesting. Much more detailed than the previous scenario by the same author. It reuses some characters, but no pregens are provided; maybe Pendragon was popular enough at the time that they figured people would bring their own to the convention?

Edited January 13 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

Good news: somebody posted Fantasy Chronicles #1 and #2 on eBay, so I bought it so I could finally get a chance to look at Olloch's Ring scenario!

Bad news: the package arrived and it only has Fantasy Chronicles #1 in it. I'm currently in communication with the seller, who assures me both issues were in the same polybag; they were not. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined!

But seriously, I'm hoping it was just misplaced or something. If the seller posts it by itself later, I'd buy it alone. (Although in that case I'd feel like there was some chicanery going on, which I don't like to reward...)

Edited January 22 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

Sadly, apparently Fantasy Chronicles #2 is lost. I got in touch with the seller, but they can't find the issue. The hunt for the scenario "Olloch's Ring" goes on. Fantasy Chronicles #1 does have a detailed review of Pendragon, along with a frustrating teaser for "Olloch's Ring" in the next issue.

Edited January 23 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

I found a couple of Hungarian RPG magazines from the 80s, 90s, and 00s, that the original publishers have made available online. There's a lot of Shadowrun and Cyberpunk (seems to have been very popular), but I did find an article of interest:

• In Bíborhold #19 (June 1994), there's an article titled "Keresztes háborúk" ("Crusades") which briefly covers the historicity of the crusades. At the end of the article, the author includes a short paragraph for Pendragon, including giving Muslim virtues and religious bonus.
• In Holdtölte #31 (June 1995), there's an adventure for Pendragon called "Apró szívesség" ("A Small Favor"). Looks like the author is signed Mordred...
• In Holdtölte #32 (July 1995), there's an article "Heraldika" which is a detailed treatment of heraldry. System neutral, but useful for Pendragon.

[mandrill_one]

5 hours ago, AlHazred said:

I found a couple of Hungarian RPG magazines from the 80s, 90s, and 00s, that the original publishers have made available online. There's a lot of Shadowrun and Cyberpunk (seems to have been very popular), but I did find an article of interest:

• In Bíborhold #19 (June 1994), there's an article titled "Keresztes háborúk" ("Crusades") which briefly covers the historicity of the crusades. At the end of the article, the author includes a short paragraph for Pendragon, including giving Muslim virtues and religious bonus.
• In Holdtölte #31 (June 1995), there's an adventure for Pendragon called "Apró szívesség" ("A Small Favor"). Looks like the author is signed Mordred...
• In Holdtölte #32 (July 1995), there's an article "Heraldika" which is a detailed treatment of heraldry. System neutral, but useful for Pendragon.

Thanks @AlHazred! Very interesting!
Can you share the links to these online magazines?

[AlHazred]

6 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

Thanks @AlHazred! Very interesting!
Can you share the links to these online magazines?

Bíborhold and Holdtölte are the same periodical, which underwent a name change after issue #25. The files have been uploaded to the files section of the lfg.hu forums here: https://lfg.hu/forum/files/category/9-magazinok/page/3/

In addition, Alanori Krónika, another gaming magazine from the 80s-90s has been uploaded to the publisher's website here: https://www.beholder.hu/?m=ak&in=ak_archivum.php

[AlHazred]

Found an article called "Les Tournois de Chevalerie" ("Chivalry Tournaments") in issue 18 of the French magazine Graal. Mostly system neutral, it does include a system on the last two pages for jousts, that is supposed to be modular enough to add to any system.

Edited February 8 by AlHazred

[mandrill_one]

On 2/6/2024 at 4:50 PM, AlHazred said:

Bíborhold and Holdtölte are the same periodical, which underwent a name change after issue #25. The files have been uploaded to the files section of the lfg.hu forums here: https://lfg.hu/forum/files/category/9-magazinok/page/3/

In addition, Alanori Krónika, another gaming magazine from the 80s-90s has been uploaded to the publisher's website here: https://www.beholder.hu/?m=ak&in=ak_archivum.php

Thanks!!

Roberto

[AlHazred]

Against my better judgement, I've picked up Valkyrie issues 9, 10, and 11. (9 is still in-transit.) The shipping on these is incredible, from 3x to 7x the cost of the magazine. I guess that's what I get for living in the US!

I've gotten 10 and 11, and "Spear of Wyrds" is a 2-part campaign outline for Pendragon, heavily dependent on the Saxon character generation system in issue 9. It looks like it's very different from what was eventually published in Saxons! and I'm curious to see it. I'll save a review of the scenario for when I have the character generation system in my hands.

[Tizun Thane]

14 hours ago, AlHazred said:

I've gotten 10 and 11, and "Spear of Wyrds" is a 2-part campaign outline for Pendragon, heavily dependent on the Saxon character generation system in issue 9. It looks like it's very different from what was eventually published in Saxons! and I'm curious to see it. I'll save a review of the scenario for when I have the character generation system in my hands.

Very promising, indeed! 

[mandrill_one]

It's not strictly related to MAGAZINE articles, however there is at least one Pendragon adventure available on itch.io:

Enemy of the Hearth, https://we-evolve.itch.io/enemy-of-the-hearth

and one article on hacking KAP:

Hacking Pendragon, https://padgettish.itch.io/hacking-pendragon

There's also a (relative) wealth of adventures/interactive fiction/tales written for the "Pendragon Campfire Tales" system, which appears to be frankly Arthurian and at least KAP-adjacent.

 

[Morien]

3 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

It's not strictly related to MAGAZINE articles, however there is at least one Pendragon adventure available on itch.io:

Enemy of the Hearth, https://we-evolve.itch.io/enemy-of-the-hearth

Very nice little extended adventure! While it makes a reference to Arthur's justice, it could be used with very little adjustment in earlier periods as well. Even during the Anarchy.

3 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

and one article on hacking KAP:

Hacking Pendragon, https://padgettish.itch.io/hacking-pendragon

Death of a child/spouse:
Pretty much my number one advice to new GMs is to fix those darn Childbirth and Child Survival tables. My experience has been the same that you don't need to cripple the generational play in order to motivate the Players to engage in adventure. Indeed, I'd say that it achieves the opposite, in a way, as the Players become more anxious to gain loot in order to keep their families healthy, which is detrimental to the ethos, IMHO. That being said, personally I would not remove the chance completely, as everyone eventually dies in Pendragon. However, if someone at the table has indicated that they'd rather not deal with it, their comfort trumps my simulationist urges, and I'd just adjust the childbirth table a bit to get the same expected family sizes. As for mourning, I'd probably use the Passion Crisis rules from 6e to give some oomph to that, especially in the case of Famous Passions, and the point about letting it show in Christmas and Easter Feasts is well made. But as I said, because I toned down the Childbirth and Child Survival A LOT, this is less of an issue in our game. Off the top of my mind, there was one extremely unlucky PK, who lost I think one or two wives to death by childbirth and at least one to accident/illness. He was starting to get a reputation for it, as he was on his fourth marriage when he died in a duel against Prince Marhaus. There have been some children who died young, but the vast majority again have made it to adulthood and contributed to a wonderful tangle of family trees.
As for the death by childbirth, the 10% chance per year is not only ahistorical, but also detrimental to the story, IMHO. It makes the NPC wives even lesser characters, since they are dropping like mayflies, and distances the Players from them. In our earlier campaign, a player-knight romanced Ahvielle through the years and finally won her hand, only to have her die in childbirth (this was before I fixed the table). It was a very unsatisfying end to that love story. In the current campaign, the wives of the PKs are much more likely to become widows, and get to have storylines of their own, as they survive longer. Also, it helps with the Glory inflation, as the PKs can't just keep marrying yet another lady and gain the marriage glory (and dowry) all over again.

Gender:
I am somewhat less in agreement of which parent takes the risk of childbirth. In the document, this is explicitly in the case of two Player-characters who are a couple, regardless of their actual sex. Now, first of all, as mentioned above I tone down the risks by a lot. Secondly, when it comes to the active player-characters, I don't kill them 'off-screen'. Retired ones are NPCs and hence free game for family events, but since I don't roll for random accidents or illnesses either, I don't impose the death by childbirth on player-characters. Instead, it is a major wound, and it is a way less common than 10% per year, which together make the risk factor much less. That being said, while magic does exist in KAP, my default is that it is quite rare and usually more of an environmental hazard via curses, enchantments, faeries, monsters... It is not something that the PKs control or even have that much access to. Now, as above, if this would be something a player or two felt strongly about, I'd probably have some faerie magic or a magical item that could get the job done, and let the PKs go on a quest to achieve it. But it wouldn't be the default condition, in my campaign, that they could just switch around at will.
As for female/gay/lesbian/bi/non-binary knights, not a problem. We already have a bunch of female knights (usually due to no sons to inherit, and yes, they use the same chargen system as the male knights), and while we don't have any out-and-proud non-cis PKs, it would not change things. I'd certainly not send the inquisition after them. If KAP can have Pagans and Christians living happily together under Arthur, I can tone down the historical intolerances in other areas as well. The Active/Passive Noble is somewhat used in a sense that the female knights often marry esquire stewards, meaning that the steward husband stays home to look after the manor while the knight wife is out campaigning/adventuring for Duty & Glory.

Edited March 7 by Morien

[AlHazred]

7 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

It's not strictly related to MAGAZINE articles, however there is at least one Pendragon adventure available on itch.io:

Enemy of the Hearth, https://we-evolve.itch.io/enemy-of-the-hearth

and one article on hacking KAP:

Hacking Pendragon, https://padgettish.itch.io/hacking-pendragon

There's also a (relative) wealth of adventures/interactive fiction/tales written for the "Pendragon Campfire Tales" system, which appears to be frankly Arthurian and at least KAP-adjacent.

I'm not sure if I want to start a tab for this kind of thing -- that would be an enormous list! I have a day job! 😀

Edited March 7 by AlHazred

[mandrill_one]

9 minutes ago, AlHazred said:

I'm not sure if I want to start a tab for this kind of thing -- that would be an enormous list! I have a day job! 😀

Well, let's just say that any small contribution to increasing our collective knowledge of published (or self-published, in this case) KAP-rlated material is really, really welcome to me and I suspect to most other fans as well!

So, no need to start a comprehensive list of ALL Arthurian games out there, or of ALL self-published KAP or KAP-adjacent products. But if everyone of us posts here the KAP or KAP-related products they find over the web, we would be collectively more informed and richer (in KAP material, at least).

Just my 2 cents. And of course, if you think a new thread should be used for this purpose, more power to you! I'll do just that.

[AlHazred]

3 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

Just my 2 cents. And of course, if you think a new thread should be used for this purpose, more power to you! I'll do just that.

That's not necessary, I think! I appreciate the information, and have already downloaded the products.

[Tizun Thane]

On 1/1/2024 at 4:52 AM, AlHazred said:

The Adventure of the Strangers' Path, by Gareth Jones: This was the tournament Pendragon scenario from Convulsion '94. It's set sometime in the late 540s, and begins at King Arthur's Court, then goes into strange territory. It's an interesting scenario, based on the author's own interpretation of the Arthurian Grail drama. It's also, IMO, somewhat heavy-handed. It has some very evocative and extremely weird encounters, and definitely feels like something that could have dropped out of The Mabinogion or Perlesvaus. 12 pages long, very detailed.

So, I managed to read this nice tale, and I completely agree. Some nice stuff. Some weird stuff, and some weirder stuff. Not playable as written, but interesting ideas to steal for your own games.

3/10 (as written) 8/10.   

On 2/6/2024 at 5:13 AM, AlHazred said:

In Holdtölte #31 (June 1995), there's an adventure for Pendragon called "Apró szívesség" ("A Small Favor"). Looks like the author is signed Mordred...

I badly translated this adventure. Enough to understand what was going on.  It's a magical adventure, too much to my taste, a bit like a D&D Adventure.

Some old friend of your father have a big problem and asks for help. This adventure have a vampire (!), some faeries, and some demons.

I do not like the inclusion of a vampire in a Pendragon adventure, because I never felt the vampire have any place in Pendragon (coming from a different folklore). Demons should be rare and fearsome, not foes to fight.

Some nice ideas.

5/10 (7/10 if rewritten).

[AlHazred]

3 hours ago, Tizun Thane said:

I badly translated this adventure. Enough to understand what was going on.  It's a magical adventure, too much to my taste, a bit like a D&D Adventure.

Some old friend of your father have a big problem and asks for help. This adventure have a vampire (!), some faeries, and some demons.

I do not like the inclusion of a vampire in a Pendragon adventure, because I never felt the vampire have any place in Pendragon (coming from a different folklore). Demons should be rare and fearsome, not foes to fight.

Some nice ideas.

5/10 (7/10 if rewritten).

I agree. It's not a bad idea to start an adventure, the message from your father, but the way it was used isn't great. Magical adventures have their place, but this isn't a great example of one.