Great Pendragon Campaign Errata, Clarifications, and Notes

[SaxBasilisk]

There's material on running the GPC scattered here and there. For ease of reference, I thought I'd consolidate this in one thread. (If I've missed one elsewhere, please let me know.)

First, there's Greg's own errata for the GPC (archived at Internet Archive).

Next, there was a sub-forum on the Nocturnal Media forums for GPC material (archived at Greathall).

Also, if you're using the Uther-era material, the Book of Uther contains not only the years 480-484, but also suggested changes to 485-495 (p. 102).

I'll add other material here if and when I see it.

Edited September 13, 2022 by SaxBasilisk

[SaxBasilisk]

Other items, by year. Some of this is errata, some of it is suggestions for resolving gaps or problems in the material, and some is clarification from literary sources on items not explained in GPC.

Introduction, page 6 - Conquest Period is 519-530, Romance is 531-539 (h/t Greg Stafford)

Logres in 485, p. 33 – “London is part of the Duchy of Salisbury” – should be Silchester (h/t Taliesin)

Marlboro should be Gentian here and elsewhere, as per newer material. (h/t Jeff Erwin)

Britain 485, p. 26 - Duke Galeholt begins his rise to power in 521, unless you want to assume this is the name of a previous ruler.

Britain 485, p. 26 and elsewhere - Much of the material on the rulership of Gomeret and Norgales – Ryons, Pellinore, the three Cadlews, Maelgwen – is quite muddled. (h/t Morien)

Logres in 485, p. 31, map – "Manchester" in Lambor should be "Mancetter." (h/t O Dinas Powys)

480-495 vs. 514 - The "Round Table of Uther" never shows up in any of the material on Uther.

485, p. 35 - "Sir Amig... the old knight who taught them" - Amig should be Elad (h/t Greg Stafford)

487, p. 40 – The Great Sword Feast should technically take place at Christmas of 486, so run it how it best works for your game. (h/t Gorgon)

488, p. 46 – “Earl Robert’s force” – should be Roderick (h/t Morien)

490, p. 49 – Octa’s major wound stat should be 13 (h/t Nicolas)

490, p. 50 – “Earl Roderick is going to remain in Eburacum” – should be Lincoln (h/t Cornelius)

492, p. 56 – “King Nanteleod of Estregales” – should be Escavalon (h/t Skarpskytten)494, p. 62 - "Nimue is present to tend to the king. She keeps the knights from announcing the news about the Saxons to the king." - BoU has Nineve performing this action. Given that the GPC characters file has Nimue born in 483, this is probably a deliberate change.

492, p. 59 - Roderick's son Robert is born this year. (h/t Greg Stafford)

495, p. 63 – “Glory: 60 per round” – this is inconsistent with the “large” size of the battle. (h/t Vedrenne) - Octa and Eosa are not mentioned after this year, so consider whether they should die at St. Albans.

Uther Period Adventures, p. 66-7 - The Raid/Pillage - Greg wished to have this replaced with another adventure, possibly this one: https://web.archive.org/web/20170226155156/http://gspendragon.com/misctables.html

Anarchy Period, p. 72 – “Also therein is the healing temple of Lydney.” – Lydney is not in the Forest of Dean. (h/t Nicolas)

Anarchy Period, p. 73 - "They generally unite as the Kingdom of Gomeret [Gwynedd]..." Gwynedd is incorrectly spelled as Gwynned elsewhere in the book.

505, p. 88 - "Battle of Royston (in Hertford)" - Royston is in Huntingdon. Also correct the sentence, "The armies meet at Hertford" (h/t Greg Stafford)

505, p. 89 - "King Cerdic (Battle = 18)" - should be "King Aethelswith of Essex (Battle = 21)" (h/t Greg Stafford)

"Battle of Hertford" - should be "Battle of Cambridge (in Huntingdon)" (h/t Greg Stafford)

"Then King Aethelswith of Anglia comes marching down with his wounded forces. Full battle is met south of Hertford." - should be "Then King Aethelswith of East Saxony marches to battle with his wounded forces. He is outmaneuvered and full battle is met near the city of Cambridge." (h/t Greg Stafford)

"Length of Battle: 2 rounds" = should be 6 rounds (h/t Greg Stafford)

"and the Angles are decIsively defeated" - should be the East Saxons (h/t Greg Stafford)

Greg says that Robert is now 13 and should be trained as a page. I think he meant a squire.

506, p. 90 – “Aescwine is now the new king of the Angles” – should be Essex (h/t Vedrenne)

508, p. 92 - "Irish warriors and Galis warriors" should be "irish warriors and Cambrian hill tribes" (h/t Greg Stafford)

"Victor: King Cerdic. Decisive Victory." - cut everything in this paragraph after this. (h/t Greg Stafford)

"Glory: 60 per round, x 1/2 for Decisive Victory" - should be Decisive Defeat (h/t Greg Stafford)

The Forest Sauvage, p. 99-100 - The maps on this page have serious errors in them. (h/t Greg Stafford)

Adventure: Black Annis, p. 106 - Greg made a number of changes to Black Annis.

* The glory amount is 150 for killing her, and then 300 the next year if she is slain permamently.

* Black Annis' claws do 3D6 damage if she attacks with both.

* Spit Acid should be treated as a missile attack

* She has a jump attack. The victim can try to hit her at -15 to a skill, and she does her full damage when she lands.

* Secret: A dagger negates her armor.

Cumbria, p. 126 - Elmet, and mentions thereof elsewhere, should be Roestoc. (h/t Greg Stafford)

510, p. 132 - "You might send the characters to ask the Saxon bretwalda...)" The bretwalda would be the high king of the Saxons, of which there is none at this time. This probably means the cyning, or local Saxon king.

511, p. 136 - Greg adds that Margawse comes with two of her sons during the winter - but the rest of the entry for this year has her arrive during the summer with three sons. I'm not sure what the intent was here.

This also begins the Virtue test. All knights should roll all six chivalrous traits, based on conversations at court. Anyone who succeeeds on all six may attend a dinner with the king (50 Glory in Boy King, 25 at other times). Elsewhere, Greg excludes those knights who are already chivalrous.

512, p. 137 - "Then, without hesitation..." Greg suggests replacing the rest of the paragraph with "Then she begins to weep silently, but between her gasping sobs she tells the story of how she was visited by someone with the semblance of [her = SB] dead husband on the night he was killed. She bore that child, and with the aid of traitors [likely the PCs!] Merlin took her baby. She does not know where that child went."

512, p. 139 - Early Summer - should be "Early Summer: May Babies Incident" (h/t Greg Stafford)

Nineve appears in early summer, although Balin murders her in mid-spring. The Lady of the Lake mentioned here is either Vivianne or another unnamed lady. (h/t Morien)

512, p. 140 - "Malahaut: Land was raided" should include Cameliard, Lambor, Wuerensis, Escavalon (h/t Greg Stafford)

513, p. 141 - "First, on the night before the battle, two knights, unrecognized by the guards, approach Arthur's camp and turn over a prisoner." These are Balin and Balan.

The Tomb of Twelve Kings sidebar should be after the Battle of Terrabil (p. 143) (h/t Greg Stafford)

"By the time King Lot..." - Strike this setence and the next one. (h/t Greg Stafford)

513, p. 142 - "Two knights burst from cover and fall upon Lot's flank..." Once again, Balin and Balan. 

514 - GPC doesn't give Gawaine's year of knighting. This is the first time he appears after Margawse visits court. (As a side note, he's knighted at Arthur and Guenever's marriage in the Post-Vulgate.) 

514, p. 144 - Replace "Upon First Beholding Guenever" with the rules on the 6e Grey Knight, p. 10.

514, p. 145 - An average assal knights should provide a gift of about 3 libra. Household and mercenary knights are not expected to give anything. (As for what such knights get in the Gifting, I'm not sure.) (h/t Greg Stafford)

514, p. 146 - "Excellent jousting by Sir Lamorak..." According to the 501 birthdate in the GPC characters file, Sir Lamorak would be thirteen now. 

516, p. 150 – “’Abbey of Beale’ Adventure” – does not appear in the book (h/t Nicolas)

516, p. 151, "Morning Ambush" - The length of battle is 3 rounds, but the fight lists rounds 1-7. Pick one, I suppose.

517, p. 154, "Saxons Raid Logres" - The book mentions the bretwalda, but doesn't say who is he or when he was appointed. This is King Ælle of Sussex. The Saxons! supplement says he takes on the title this year; not everything in Saxons! corresponds with GPC, of course, but it might be useful to note this occurrence for the players.

518, pp. 155-158 - Badon. The Book of Armies description differs considerably from what is provided in the GPC; do what you will with it. I've been informed that the first day in GPC just isn't counted for BoA, but there are other changes.

The scenario also doesn't raise the question of whether weekly healing kicks in during the battle.

Also, the entry for 519 states that survivors receive income for every critical roll they make during the battle, so don't forget to keep track of this.

518, p. 157 - Badon, Day 3, Round 4: "Aelle fumbles his modified Battle roll, and Arthur criticals his." I don't think this has any significance in the current rules.

High Adventure in the Wastelands, p. 170 - "Second, dissuade our enemies.." - According to page 171, Lord Eurain will only respond to the mention of Balor on the list of foes - but Dame Brisen does not explicitly list them. The GM may wish to do so.

High Adventure in the Wastelands, p. 172 - “Round Table Knight” – Sir Lamorak joins the Round Table in 520 (h/t Nicolas) 

High Adventure in the Wastelands, p. 172 vs. 540, p. 277 - Dornar is previously Lamorak's brother, but in 540, he's a cousin. The first is more literary-based, but there could be two...

High Adventure in the Wastelands, p. 176 - "The Gamemaster may remind the players that they know the truth, having seen Balin's tomb and heard the story from Princess Alis." - Nothing on the inscription on Balin's tomb (p. 161) indicates he was not killed by King Fisherman, although this is a plot point in Malory. (h/t Morien)

519, p. 185 - Pretending not to receive Arthur's order's provides a "Dishonest" check, but one of the checks possible for further plundering is "Deceitful." I suggest dropping the Deceitful check for plundering additional funds.

Knights may consult the eagles, paying 1 Librum for a yes/no answer. (h/t Greg Stafford)

520, p. 186 - "Sir Yvaine Knighted" - Sir Yvaine is later spelled Sir Ywaine, although the two sometimes overlap.  The index file lists them as two separate people, but both names are used for the same person in "The Basket Knight" and elsewhere. 

521, p. 188 - All knights are expected to go to Sarum and swear Loyalty (or Homage/Fealty) to Arthur, with the player choosing a value between 5 and 15. This also occurs in subsequent years. (h/t Greg Stafford)

522, p. 191 - "'Bring the children out'" - should be "in" (h/t Greg Stafford)

523, p. 192 - Nimue imprisoning Merlin differs from the material in Appendix 5, which makes Vivianne responsible.

524, p. 193 - "Ywaine, the Knight of the Lion" - Ywaine has the lion from Chrétien de Troyes by now (and it reappears in 565) - yet that lion is not mentioned in any of his subsequent appearances in "Outlaws in Gwynned," "The Basket Knight," etc.

524, p. 194 - "A knight is brought to court on a litter." - The Vulgate gives his name much later as Sir Melian. The story doesn't seem to come up in the rest of the GPC, so I'd send interested readers to that material.

524, p. 194 - "Nimue and the Squire of the Lake," and "the queen glances at Nimue, whose realm is indeed far away." - The Ladies of the Lake writeup at the end of GPC and the GPC stats indicate that it should be Vivianne who brings the Squire to court.

525, p. 196 - Lancelot's shield is incorrect (h/t Greg Stafford), but I'm not 100% sure which one is correct, as the image isn't on Internet Archive 

526, p. 203 – Round 6: “Bedivere’s forces gain a +5 modifier” – should be -5 (h/t Vedrenne)

527, p. 204 - "Clovis" should be "Claudas" (h/t Greg Stafford) - this is probably a distinct king from the one in earlier periods called both Clovis and Claudas

529, p. 211 - Dubricus has retired, so he should be replaced with David.

529, p. 213 - Strike "King Gilmaurius escapes and returns to his kingdom of Dal Riada in Ireland. The Picts flee, but reassemble nearby at Loch Lomond." This is text repeated from 519; we have no Picts, and Galeholt is king of Dal Riada.

528, p. 210 - "Away from Court" should include Sir Lamorak, here and in many subsequent years (h/t Greg Stafford)

530, p. 214 – Carlisle should be Carduel. (h/t jmberry)

530, p. 215 - note that the article on these individuals is on p. 232 (h/t Greg Stafford)

530, p. 216 - “forces suffer a -5 modifier” – should be +5 (h/t Vedrenne)

"After the Battle" - strike this paragraph (h/t Greg Stafford)

Island of Fees adventure, p. 224 - "Unknown to anyone for many years, the murderers are actually four of the five Orkney brothers, all except Gaheris." Greg points out that this should be Gareth - but also, Mordred is eleven, so you might consider whether he's involved.

531, p. 237 – Lancelot should be inducted to the Round Table by the end of the year (h/t Greg)

532, p. 242 - "a youth, barely more than a boy" - According to the GPC characters, Percivale is about thirteen here. (I saw at least one online play where the timeline got a bit confused.)

535, p. 252 - “Percivale was the seventh legitimate son of King Pellinore. The king and his six elder sons were all slain in the wars and the countess was driven to distraction by her grief." - This doesn't account for Lamorak or Aglovale or maybe Dornar (see High Adventure in the Wasteland note), unless you want to consider them illegitimate. Or the dwarves are lying about this.

540, p. 276 – “There sits my father…” – Mordred has not revealed his parentage yet (h/t Karmi)

559, p. 356 – Carlisle should be Carduel. (h/t jmberry)

559, pp. 356, 358 vs. 562, p. 362 - Greg mentions that Sir Lavaine is named to the Round Table twice, but his timeline is even more complicated because Greg swaps the Lady's Day Tournament and the healing of Sir Urre from the Malory timeline.  Thus, Lavaine, Lancelot's friend, is gone from court, then marries Urre's sister, then meets Sir Lancelot for the first time...

563, p. 363 – Carlisle should be Carduel. (h/t jmberry)

563, p. 368 – Carlisle should be Carduel. (h/t jmberry)

565, p. 376 - "from out of the wilds comes young Sir Ywaine, and with him is his great lion..." - Sir Ywaine is about sixty at this point. I suppose you could have a younger Ywaine, who also happens to have a lion, if you want.

Edited July 12 by SaxBasilisk

[SaxBasilisk]

I've made a few changes here, most recently to 494.

[Morien]

On 9/8/2022 at 7:44 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

494, p. 62 - "Nimue is present to tend to the king. She keeps the knights from announcing the news about the Saxons to the king." - BoU has Nineve performing this action. Given that the GPC characters file has Nimue born in 483, this is probably a deliberate change.

I can confirm, it was.

[SaxBasilisk]

Latest update: material on 524 and the Island of Fees.

[Morien]

On 9/8/2022 at 7:44 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

515 - If you run Grey Knight this year, the Lady of the Lake here should probably be Viviane, not Nimue. (It may also alter the dynamic between the Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.)

The Adventure says Nimue, and I don't see any reason why it should be Viviane.

On 9/8/2022 at 7:44 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

523, p. 192 - GPC canon is that Viviane imprisons Merlin, not Nimue.

No, it is Nimue.

The Appendix 5 on the Ladies of the Lake is wrong on this one. The reason being that Nimue and Viviane occupied the same role in two different versions of the story, hence the confusion (and in the movie Excalibur, this role was given to Morgan Le Fay). But in GPC, it is Nimue. Viviane is busy in France raising Lancelot.

On 9/8/2022 at 7:44 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

524, p. 194 - "Nimue and the Squire of the Lake," and "the queen glances at Nimue, whose realm is indeed far away." - The Ladies of the Lake writeup at the end of GPC and the GPC stats indicate that it should be Vivianne who brings the Squire to court.

Agreed; here it should be Viviane, IMHO.

On 9/8/2022 at 7:44 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

Island of Fees adventure, p. 224: "Unknown to anyone for many years, the murderers are actually four of the five Orkney brothers, all except Gaheris." Greg points out that this should be Gareth - but also, Mordred is eleven, so you might consider whether he's involved.

Mordred should not be there, either, simply because he is too young, IMHO

[jmberry1s]

I agree with Morien on the Nimue/Viviane thing. Viviane probably should have a larger role in the GPC, but that's not the point of errata.

Edited July 31, 2023 by jmberry1s

[SaxBasilisk]

Thanks for your feedback!

I'm dropping the reference to the 515 appearance of Nimue. I'm shifting the language in 523, because I'm not sure why one part of GPC should be canon over another. I could be persuaded of this.

Since I'm not creating errata or explanation in this particular post, I can editorialize here. The Merlin/Nimue interaction in GPC, Gray Knight, and the literature will probably read differently to a modern audience, making Merlin quite unsympathetic. Thus, I'd suggest that Vivianne be substituted so players don't entirely hate him. If Pellinore's kids turned out all right, Vivianne can certainly leave Lancelot with the servants from time to time.

[Tizun Thane]

6 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Merlin quite unsympathetic

Merlin is unsympathetic in the old texts, even from a medieval perspective.

To be honest, Merlin as the archidruid of Britain sounds fake to me. There is no such thing as an archidruid. I much prefer the son of the devil explanation.

Anyway, in the sources, Nimue and Viviane are the same character. The GPC decided to make them distinct characters (why not, but I always wonder why). So you have to draw a line somewhere.

[Call Me Deacon Blues]

Which Lady of the Lake is killed by Balin? And gave Arthur Excalibur? Is it one of them, or the other Lady, Nineve? Is she even in the GPC? I can't remember 

[Morien]

7 hours ago, Call Me Deacon Blues said:

Which Lady of the Lake is killed by Balin? And gave Arthur Excalibur? Is it one of them, or the other Lady, Nineve? Is she even in the GPC? I can't remember 

Nineve, by KAP canon.

[SaxBasilisk]

On 8/12/2023 at 3:42 AM, Morien said:

Nineve, by KAP canon.

And Viviane, according to the rulebook. 🙂 Hopefully it will be updated in 6.0.

[SaxBasilisk]

Update on Sir Dornar's parentage, prompted by Lamorak marrying a PK's mom and us trying to figure out his family tree.

[SaxBasilisk]

Updated Battles of Surluse and Tara text for 529 and 530. (I think I saw this information somewhere else, but I couldn't find it on a quick check.)

[SaxBasilisk]

Included a note on Norgales / Gomeret, thanks to Morien. I don't feel like trying to track them all down at this point.

I did try to pull some notes out of the old archives, crediting people for their discoveries, so they're more accessible when the first 6e rulebook is released.

Please let me know if you see any corrections needed.

[SaxBasilisk]

Update to information about Percivale, along with a note on Gwynedd.

[SaxBasilisk]

Update to High Adventure in the Wastelands material.

[Morien]

Re: Balin's & Balan's tomb incription.

This is an omission in the GPC for brevity, and Princess Alis does recount the story in the very next scene anyway. It is explained in Le Morte thusly:
"Now, said Balin, when we are buried in one tomb, and the mention made over us how two brethren slew each other, there will never good knight, nor good man, see our tomb but they will pray for our souls. And so all the ladies and gentlewomen wept for pity. Then anon Balan died, but Balin died not till the midnight after, and so were they buried both, and the lady let make a mention of Balan how he was there slain by his brother’s hands, but she knew not Balin’s name."
"In the morn came Merlin and let write Balin’s name on the tomb with letters of gold, that Here lieth Balin le Savage that was the Knight with the Two Swords, and he that smote the Dolorous Stroke."

So there should be an inscription of the two brothers killing one another, with Balan's name mentioned as being killed by his brother and killing his brother in turn, and then Merlin adding the Balin's CV.

 

Re: Dame Brisen & list of enemies.

Neither does she explictly mention any kinsmen nor allies, save Alain le Gros. Granted, in this particular case, the PKs are more or less on a railroad, talking to each of the potential lords in turn anyway. However, I think it can be assumed that Dame Brisen would give the PKs an account of the enemies that they expect to attack Castle of Joy, or how would the PKs be even able to try to fulfill that part of her request?

 

Re: 512 May Babies and the Lady of the Lake.

It occurs to me that this shouldn't be Nimue (she is not introduced into the story until Arthur's and Guenever's Wedding), but probably another Lady of the Lake, replacing Ninieve.

[O Dinas Powys]

On 9/8/2022 at 6:44 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

Logres in 485, p. 31 – Manchester is in the wrong place on the map. (h/t Stoo)

 

This is actually a typo: the place marked on the map is Mancetter, mentioned in the text on p33, not Manchester. 

[SaxBasilisk]

Added notes on Sir Yvaine / Ywaine.

[SaxBasilisk]

I'm also thinking about including Greg Stafford's insights - but not his language - into this document, but I didn't know if this would be a bone of contention. Anyone have insight?

[SaxBasilisk]

Integrated Greg Stafford's errata, which I can remove. If he didn't suggest a specific rewording of the passage, I paraphrased it.

Also, nobody's perfect, so I made some suggestions where there seem to be a couple problems in that errata.