I realized that while I am starting to run low on some stuff (first edition D&D, 2E RuneQuest) I still have like a giant pile of Pendragon books that I’ve not posted about yet for some reason (the tides of my posting are strange and unknowable). This is Knights Adventurous (1990), one of my favorite Pendragon books, and among my first.
I got my first Pendragon books, I believe, for Christmas in 1991. They were the core rulebook (the second/third edition), The Boy King (have I not posted about that either?) and this lovely book. If the rulebook is 2/3 of the game, KA here is the missing fraction, and pretty integral to the experience! It’s a large expansion of character generation, for one, allowing for Cymric, French, Occitanian, Pict, Roman and Saxon knights. There are knightly orders, roles for women (this section is a little bit tortured, but did allow for female knights, just with some kvetching about how they fit into the simulation of chivalric romance; I much prefer the more permissive approach of the 6e rules for this). The lands for the new backgrounds get some detail. There’s religion (a lot of much-needed context for paganism and Wotanism, and the surprising though welcome addition of Judaism) and tournaments and faeries. It really accomplishes what the cover says: “Expanding the World of Pendragon.”
Sue Krinard, whose name is entirely unfamiliar to me, did the cover art, which I love a lot. There’s a bold, graphic quality to her painting that I enjoy; I especially like the detail of the amphiptere’s tail restraining the woman’s wrist (and the fact that she looks more aggravated than imperiled). Arnie Swekel does all the interiors. I love Lisa A. Free’s work, which dominates 1E Pendragon, but Swekel is all over 2/3E and delivers, I think, some of his best work. I particularly like his various clashes between knights and fae; he really defines a lot of Pendragon for me.
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