Magazines with KAP articles

[mandrill_one]

I've found another 2 official Spanish products (from Nosolorol) in my archive:

La Dama Misteriosa (The Mysterious Lady) - stand-alone introductory adventure

A la Caza de la Bestia (Beast Hunting) - stand-alone introductory adventure

I don't know whether they can be considered "magazine articles" or "supplements", probably the latter...

They were sold as PDF-only products, as part of a multi-system adventure collection that was directly crowdfunded by the publisher a few years ago. Unfortunately, in the meantime Nosolorol has stopped translating Pendragon and is no more selling ANY Pendragon products.

[AlHazred]

6 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

La Dama Misteriosa (The Mysterious Lady) - stand-alone introductory adventure

There was an adventure "La Dama Misteriosa" in the magazine Nivel 9 #10, written by Ricardo Dorda. I wonder if it's the same one?

6 hours ago, mandrill_one said:

A la Caza de la Bestia (Beast Hunting) - stand-alone introductory adventure

Awesome! I'll have to check it out.

[mandrill_one]

14 hours ago, AlHazred said:

There was an adventure "La Dama Misteriosa" in the magazine Nivel 9 #10, written by Ricardo Dorda. I wonder if it's the same one?

Yes, at first sight it's the same identical adventure (identical chapter names, etc.), but with a different layout. The only difference is that the stand-alone version also includes 5 pregenerated Player-knights, with a relatively brief background for each one.

I completely forgot that the same adventure was published in Nivel 9!

[AlHazred]

So, I noticed somebody (or somebodies) tagged a lot more Pendragon articles in RPGGeek, so I had more things to track down and put in the sheet. Most of them are reviews, so, not terribly exciting. But I noticed one of them, Die Sanduhr, a German RPG fanzine I'd never heard of, apparently had an adventure in issue #4. From RPGGeek, it looks like it's called "Holde Lady Ginevra" ("Dear Lady Ginevra, i.e. Guinevere"). Does anybody have this fanzine?

[AlHazred]

Somebody added 40 Ans de Jeux de Rôle to the list as a Periodical. I've moved it to the Supplements tab, but thank you very much for the addition! There are currently 3 of 4 projected volumes of this book. Each one covers a decade of the existence of the Cour d'Oberon forums, and they consist of a bunch of short scenarios for different games that came out in that decade, written by forum members. Tome 2 covers 1984-1993, and has both a Pendragon scenario and one for Premières Légendes de la Table Ronde that could be easily adapted to Pendragon.

The PDF versions are freely available at the link below, and softcover editions can be purchased at Lulu.com. The price is at-cost, with a small additional proceed going to a charity (a different one for each volume). The charity for Tome 2 is RESF, the Education Without Borders Network.

What a fantastic idea to celebrate forums that have been around for a long time! These books are highly recommended; even if French isn't one of your languages, it's easy enough to cut-n-paste into Google Translate!

http://couroberon.com/site2/

Edited June 20, 2024 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

On 5/19/2024 at 5:57 PM, AlHazred said:

So, I noticed somebody (or somebodies) tagged a lot more Pendragon articles in RPGGeek, so I had more things to track down and put in the sheet. Most of them are reviews, so, not terribly exciting. But I noticed one of them, Die Sanduhr, a German RPG fanzine I'd never heard of, apparently had an adventure in issue #4. From RPGGeek, it looks like it's called "Holde Lady Ginevra" ("Dear Lady Ginevra, i.e. Guinevere"). Does anybody have this fanzine?

Through the kindness of somebody on RPGGeek, I was able to add "Holde Lady Ginevra" to the list. It's an interesting scenario, written by the fanzine editor after he bought Pendragon and was super-impressed with it.

[AlHazred]

So, I was watching yet another Role Player Independent auction on eBay start to head to collectors' prices, when somebody I know told me they'd let me peruse the issue I was interested in, #10. Then, he mentioned another article of interest, in issue #06. So, there's updates happening.

Edited June 25, 2024 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

Role Player Independent #6 (May 1993)

"The Wicker Man" is less an adventure and more of an adventure outline. It's meant for Pendragon, Ars Magica, and Chivalry & Sorcery, which are three very different games with wildly different mechanics; there are no mechanics in the module. There's a tie to Beowulf which, eh, might or might not work; I feel like it's probably better to use an actual Arthurian element. The scenario centers on a druid assembling a Wicker Man; the druid has ulterior motives. I feel like there are a couple of good ideas in the scenario, but there's a lot left to the individual GM to develop.

Spoiler

The Beowulf element is a troll related to Grendel who is assisting the druid assembling the Wicker Man. That's not a terrible idea, but it would be better in Pendragon to use an Arthurian beastie, like a giant or something.

The druid is apparently "worshipping dark gods" and unleashes "demons" if he succeeds, which seems weird. I feel like, if you're adapting this for Pendragon, there's the potential for some interesting Paganism vs. Christianity dynamic you can do here, but it requires more nuance than was fit into the 3 pages here.

 

Edited June 29, 2024 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

Role Player Independent #10 (September 1993)

"An Arthurian Faerie Tale" is a scenario taken from the author's home campaign, it's set in "Woodly County... on the very fringes of Arthur's kingdom." The knights' sire, "Sir Aeron, a Banneret," loses his young five-year-old child, Germaine, to a "mist" that rises off of the sea. From there, the scenario takes the players to Faerie, as might be obvious from the name. The scenario is a little long-winded, as, for instance, the initial setup takes up two of the five pages.

It's not a bad scenario. It has a real whimsical faerie-tale feel, which is rare in published scenarios. I would redo parts of it to use NPCs from other scenarios to do a little foreshadowing. The scenario reads a little roughly in parts, but it's memorable, and that counts for a lot. I have spoken to people who remembered playing this scenario 20 years ago, which is a good enough recommendation to give it a shot if you have access.

Getting it is tricky. Role Player Independent shows up relatively reasonably often on eBay; it's not impossible to find like, say, the UK fanzines Beaumains or Maelstrom. So, good luck!

Edited July 12, 2024 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

So, some of the items on the list are extremely problematic. Most of these were fanzines with extremely limited distribution, and many of them I've never seen pop up in auctions online. In the interest of maybe finding someone who owns them and can comment on the contents, here is the list:

• Aslan International, #11 (a UK fanzine produced by Andrew Rilstone, it had a focus on story games.)
• Cent Prétentions, le n°8 (a French fanzine from 1993, issue #8 was apparently focused on Pendragon.)
• Interregnum, #29 (Pete Maranci's APAzine, I've read that there's a scenario that can be adapted for Pendragon called "The Adventure of the Whispering Hill" or "The Mystery of the Whispering Hill" or something.)
• El Juglar número 0 or 1 (a Spanish fanzine from the 90s from Malaga, apparently the first issue (0 or 1) had Pendragon content.)
• Machicoulis, le n°2 (a French fanzine.)
• Maelstrom #1 (Jun 1995) (a UK fanzine.)
• Œcumen, le n°0 (Oct 1995)(a French fanzine.)
• REVES, les n°3 & 8 (a French fanzine.)
• Torden og Lynild 1993 #2 (a Danish fanzine, this was the club periodical for CONSIM. This issue has an article with house rules for family events and castle building.)
• The Unnamed #3 (1993) (a UK fanzine.)

@Tizun Thane will find several of these familiar, I suspect.

These are drawn from previous threads about Pendragon, and from reviews in other periodicals of the fanzines. 

EDIT: I've had communication from @SirGarethBeaumains and removed Black Mole from the list. It was a general-interest RPG 'zine and had only a few Pendragon articles, which are already on the article list.

Edited August 26, 2024 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

Noticed somebody had updated RPGGeek to include Rúna, a professional Hungarian RPG magazine from the 90s, and that someone has uploaded (as far as I can tell) the whole run into archive.org. I have now added another adventure from Season 5 issue 1, "A Bajba Jutott Hölgy" ("The Damsel in Distress"), which involves King Bagdemagus' daughter, Lady Elenore. It's only two pages, but there's a nice twist to it. I don't know that I would necessarily use it as written, it needs to be fleshed out, but it's better than the other scenario called "A Damsel in Distress" that was in The Great Book of Pendragon Treasures.

Spoiler

Players expecting an easy time dealing with bandits or Saxons can be properly overwhelmed when it turns out Lady Elenore is in the company of a delusional Fairy Knight and his Giant squire. It feels like the kind of episode that might have been in one of the wilder Arthurian stories, and I like that it effectively encourages the PKs to try roleplaying solutions, since those opponents will be difficult for all but really powerful groups!

 

[Tizun Thane]

On 6/25/2024 at 10:08 PM, AlHazred said:

"The Wicker Man" is less an adventure and more of an adventure outline. It's meant for Pendragon, Ars Magica, and Chivalry & Sorcery, which are three very different games with wildly different mechanics; there are no mechanics in the module. There's a tie to Beowulf which, eh, might or might not work; I feel like it's probably better to use an actual Arthurian element. The scenario centers on a druid assembling a Wicker Man; the druid has ulterior motives. I feel like there are a couple of good ideas in the scenario, but there's a lot left to the individual GM to develop.

I read it recently for the first time, aind I agree with everything. Not a big fan of the dark druid trope. It's too much D&D to my taste. And the troll is a bit out of place. 

But the adventure itself is still ok, and could work. It could be provide a nice change of pace for your campaign. 6/10.

On 6/27/2024 at 9:57 PM, AlHazred said:

Role Player Independent #10 (September 1993)

"An Arthurian Faerie Tale" is a scenario taken from the author's home campaign, it's set in "Woodly County... on the very fringes of Arthur's kingdom." The knight's sire, "Sir Aeron, a Banneret," loses his young five-year-old child, Germaine, to a "mist" that rises off of the sea. From there, the scenario takes the players to Faerie, as might be obvious from the name. The scenario is a little long-winded, as, for instance, the initial setup takes up two of the five pages.

I agree with everything. Good adventure, with lots of potential, but very chatty. It's understandable, because it's an intro adventure. A solid 8/10. I really liked it.

[Tizun Thane]

thanks to @AlHazred, I checked "Holde Lady Ginevra", a german adventure written for the year 519.

I read it after an automatic translation, so if I understood the core concepts of the adventure, I am sure the poetry was lost in translation.

The adventure presents an interesting challenge for the year 519. Guenever is kidnapped and your PK have to rescue her.

As it stands, the adventure is unplayable. But there are many good ideas, the seeds of what could be an extraordinary quest. 

 

[mandrill_one]

It isn't a KAP magazine article, so maybe this is the wrong forum thread, however someone on Facebook's "Pendragon RPG" group has posted images of a CCG called "Quest for the Grail", which is obviously thematically linked to KAP. They also say that it plays a lot like KAP (whatever this means for a CCG), and that it's been out of print since 20 years at least.
I have found the discussion there very interesting and informative. Really recommended!

 

Edited July 13, 2024 by mandrill_one
Changed “forum” to “thread”

[Tizun Thane]

On 2/1/2022 at 6:05 PM, AlHazred said:

nciens Mystères (Ancient Mysteries): From Casus Belli, issue #40. I agree with @Tizun Thane, this one feels like an AD&D scenario restatted and modified for Pendragon. It is also poorly laid-out: each encounter is introduced with a "narration," as from a player knight describing it briefly, and then has "notes" which are typically very brief and don't go into the sort of detail you would want. That makes it annoying to read and comprehend, but by itself isn't enough to give it a poor rating. Its other problems give it that rating.

I read again Anciens Mystères. It was worst in my memories. Your ideas to improve the adventure are very good. It could be indeed a nice adventure for a pagan knight!

[AlHazred]

On 7/27/2024 at 10:58 AM, Tizun Thane said:

I read again Anciens Mystères. It was worst in my memories. Your ideas to improve the adventure are very good. It could be indeed a nice adventure for a pagan knight!

I think it could be good, but you're basically taking a few ideas and rewriting the bulk of it. But there are very few published Religious quests for Pagan knights, so it might be worth the effort.

Edited July 29, 2024 by AlHazred

[AlHazred]

I have won auctions for Beaumains #3 and #4, put up by our own @SirGarethBeaumains! I am overjoyed to finally get these items! Expect to see the spreadsheet updated with new info once they arrive!

[AlHazred]

The sheet has been updated for specific articles in Beaumains issue #3 and #4. There are six adventures, three in each magazine.

"The Adventure of the Mysterious Manor" by Heidi Kaye I remembered from The Great Book of Pendragon Treasures; this must be it's origin, and it's memorable, albeit very different from the usual scenario as it's a murder-mystery.

"From Dubglas to Loch Lomond" by @SirGarethBeaumains takes source material that Greg Stafford spread into three years around the Battle of Badon in the GPC and fits it all into AD 517. It's more roleplaying-oriented than Greg's battle-system-oriented version. I like it, but it'll take a bit of shuffling to fit it into the GPC. However, it might free up time for some smaller one-shot adventures in the early period.

"The Adventure of the Blind Knight" by Nathan Gribble is... weird. It's exactly the sort of thing you might find in one of the wilder adventures of the Round Table, but a little fraught in the modern day. It's basically two pages of backstory and set-up, and the actual scenario falls to the GM to create.

"The Adventure of the Castle of the Cursed Isle" by Tim Harris is interesting. The players have the chance to dramatically alter what are normally background events central to the campaign. I like that the author includes ideas on what to do if a character famously slain in the canon ends up surviving due to player interference.

"A Saint to Quest For" by Jackie Duckworth bemoans the lack of religious quests and then provides a good one, involving several interesting events and giving ideas for later adventures. A good one for religious Christian knights who want to be more involved in religious events.

"The Adventure of the Five Ladies" by Heidi Kaye is another one pirated in The Great Book of Pendragon Treasures; I feel like Ms. Kaye was pirated so much because her adventures are pretty good. My only real complaint here is, you are splitting up the player knights into groups, since each of the five ladies has a quest for a single knight. I could see this being difficult to organize for some groups; players will need to be comfortable waiting.

[AlHazred]

The Adventure of the Mysterious Manor, by Heidi Kaye

This one was originally a Pendragon 3rd edition scenario published in Beaumains #3, but was later updated to 4th edition and reprinted by Green Knight in Tales of Chivalry & Romance. It's a murder-mystery, but still quite in-keeping with Arthurian feeling. I read a letter Ms. Kaye wrote to Beaumains, where she bemoaned adventures putting a more modern flavor on Arthurian stories, but this is a good scenario as it fits in really well with standard stories. I want to say I remember Ms. Kaye posting it to the old Pendragon listserv, as well, in its 3rd edition form.

In the short form, the PKs stay overnight at the castle of Sir Barrius, who is planning a tournament to start soon. During the knight, a serving maid who showed particular interest in one of the PKs is murdered, and suspicion naturally falls on the player knight. It's up to the PKs to clear the name of their comrade (or not) and do so before tournament (so that they can compete).

There's a bit of intrigue going on, but nothing otherworldly or not in line with Arthurian trappings. I think it's a solid scenario, and definitely has the potential to have repercussions later in the campaign. It's worth noting that the original form is shorter, with less detail -- only one of Sir Barrius' household knights is given a lot of detail in the 3rd edition version, while the 4th edition form fleshes out all four of them. It also has very handy sidebars with a list of names of all residents of the manor, for instance, and other very useful tidbits. I'll recommend this to anyone who wants something not run-of-the-mill.

[AlHazred]

The Adventure of the Blind Knight, by Nathan Gribble

This is a two-page scenario which is almost one-and-a-half pages of exposition; the GM will need to provide the meat of the actual scenario for the PKs. A blinded knight comes to court and tells his tale of woe: he has encountered a beautiful young man, and

Spoiler

every time he has seen him, lust has taken over and he lies with the youth, only to awaken some days later covered in blood and gore, having murdered an entire village during a post-coital period of insensate rage and madness. The young man is actually a malevolent faerie.

That's it. Stats are provided for the knight (who blinded himself to try to prevent it from happening again) and the antagonist.

I have no comments I think I can tactfully make about this scenario. I mean... It's the sort of wild, weird thing you might read in one of the Arthurian tales about the adventures of one of the sideline Knights of the Round Table, but there's not a lot of meat to it. The GM must supply the trail, the locations, and other components, since the two pages only give you stats and the knight's tale of woe.

[AlHazred]

I see I let this slip to page 2 again. I have several reviews to write! But the new Companions of Arthur program means there's so much more material available now. I don't want to add those items to the list, as they're not Magazines or hard-to-find print-only supplements, but it would also be really useful to know the Date and Location for the published items, so it would be easier to integrate them into a campaign. I'm torn.