I know what you mean. I had a similar experience (and taste in games) Aspects of it are incredibly good, but it is a cumbersome beast.
For me Pendragon was a great solo experience when I was on vacation with a ton of extra free time. Sessions ran long due to writing things down and looking up mechanics. I think it's a game I would prefer to play with other people, a small dedicated group.
Really looking forward too see what your game will become!
Definitely agree. I think this would be an amazing game to play with around 2 to 4 players, who were also invested in learning the rules and the world.
Now that I am also off vacation, the buy-in to pick up and play the solo game feels high, when I could just run a SoloDark or old DND crawl.
Well, I had ordered the new stuff, and then was pretty disappointed when most of it never shipped.
I had to bother customer service to be alerted to the fact that they had run out of stock and get a refund. I have the PDF of the 6e core book and starter set, but to be honest, it is not enough to run a campaign from.
There are no domain management rules, and a lot of other stuff is missing, which I think will be a problem until the GM guide comes out like a year from now.
I went back to using 1e and found it much more easy to manage and enjoyable.
I feel ya. I really tried to love this and get my group to play. But they just couldn't get into it. But thst did turn into my Old Avalon game for OD&D so it all worked out. I'm sure great things will be born from your experience.
I feel you, simply reading pendragon and trying to pierce all together is already a daunting experience that i tried and abandoned some times.
I really hope that you go back with Aeric with Dark Medieval Times though, the story was really cool, one of the best solo play write-ups that i read over here!
And, of course, can't wait for the release of your hack!! i feel that it will be exactly my jam :))
Unrelated to Pendragon but I just my copy of Studded Leather in the mail and it's so sick! I had been waiting to read it till I had the physical copy, its such an evocative setting. I really love the choice to put the comic at the front, feels like the perfect kind of thing to give to players a quick sense of the tone and setting. That character sheet is also an absolute work of art, a perfect balance of cool looking and readable
Up voting a port for Aeric into the next thing. Drowns in a lake; goes mad in a cave, sails down the river of the dead -- wakes in a new kind of hell. Roll initiative.
Sad to hear you’ll be setting aside Pendragon but I’m not surprised. It’s definitely on the more … prescriptive side of things and, man, can I relate to the sense you describe of realizing just how little you actually know of Arthurian lore lol
Here’s one more vote for seeing Aeric appear in another world.
I have wolves of God, but I didn’t really care for it. I thought it was a bit heavy on the history and not as much usable stuff and tables as I was hoping for from a Sine Nomine product. Might need to take another look.
Will DEFINITELY check out anything Bran Mak Morn related.
I loved this post. You often hear the "Never Quit" mantra, but that's not true at all. You should quit stuff, all the time. You just have to quit the right things. If the things you're doing for fun and enjoyment aren't bringing you fun and enjoyment; drop them as fast as possible.
It sounds like you did a good evaluation and decided that this wasn't worth it for you.
I know you liked the traits system (and it sounded super cool from reading it) so I have one postmortem question.
Did playing/reading about that system give you enough insight/clarity on it that you feel you could now port it into other games?
I know what you mean. I had a similar experience (and taste in games) Aspects of it are incredibly good, but it is a cumbersome beast.
For me Pendragon was a great solo experience when I was on vacation with a ton of extra free time. Sessions ran long due to writing things down and looking up mechanics. I think it's a game I would prefer to play with other people, a small dedicated group.
Really looking forward too see what your game will become!
Definitely agree. I think this would be an amazing game to play with around 2 to 4 players, who were also invested in learning the rules and the world.
Now that I am also off vacation, the buy-in to pick up and play the solo game feels high, when I could just run a SoloDark or old DND crawl.
Hah! Funny you mentioned SoloDark. I started a little Shadowdark grid/hexcrawl game in my tiniest notebook. It's so much easier and faster to play.
What do you make of the new materials? I know you ordered all of the new stuff -- how do you find it?
Well, I had ordered the new stuff, and then was pretty disappointed when most of it never shipped.
I had to bother customer service to be alerted to the fact that they had run out of stock and get a refund. I have the PDF of the 6e core book and starter set, but to be honest, it is not enough to run a campaign from.
There are no domain management rules, and a lot of other stuff is missing, which I think will be a problem until the GM guide comes out like a year from now.
I went back to using 1e and found it much more easy to manage and enjoyable.
I feel ya. I really tried to love this and get my group to play. But they just couldn't get into it. But thst did turn into my Old Avalon game for OD&D so it all worked out. I'm sure great things will be born from your experience.
I feel you, simply reading pendragon and trying to pierce all together is already a daunting experience that i tried and abandoned some times.
I really hope that you go back with Aeric with Dark Medieval Times though, the story was really cool, one of the best solo play write-ups that i read over here!
And, of course, can't wait for the release of your hack!! i feel that it will be exactly my jam :))
Yeah I definitely want to know what happens to Aeric myself
Unrelated to Pendragon but I just my copy of Studded Leather in the mail and it's so sick! I had been waiting to read it till I had the physical copy, its such an evocative setting. I really love the choice to put the comic at the front, feels like the perfect kind of thing to give to players a quick sense of the tone and setting. That character sheet is also an absolute work of art, a perfect balance of cool looking and readable
Up voting a port for Aeric into the next thing. Drowns in a lake; goes mad in a cave, sails down the river of the dead -- wakes in a new kind of hell. Roll initiative.
Haha for sure. I’m sure we will see him again!! Thanks for the vote
Sad to hear you’ll be setting aside Pendragon but I’m not surprised. It’s definitely on the more … prescriptive side of things and, man, can I relate to the sense you describe of realizing just how little you actually know of Arthurian lore lol
Here’s one more vote for seeing Aeric appear in another world.
Can’t wait to see what you get going next!
Really can't wait to see these new projects your working on mate!
There are some good OSR type dark ages games that are worth a look - I can recommend Wolves of God, as one.
I’ve also published a Knave hack for running Bran Mak Morn inspired games in Roman Britain, in case it’s of interest (https://alextok.itch.io/knave-the-bran-mak-morn-hack)
I have wolves of God, but I didn’t really care for it. I thought it was a bit heavy on the history and not as much usable stuff and tables as I was hoping for from a Sine Nomine product. Might need to take another look.
Will DEFINITELY check out anything Bran Mak Morn related.
I loved this post. You often hear the "Never Quit" mantra, but that's not true at all. You should quit stuff, all the time. You just have to quit the right things. If the things you're doing for fun and enjoyment aren't bringing you fun and enjoyment; drop them as fast as possible.
It sounds like you did a good evaluation and decided that this wasn't worth it for you.
I know you liked the traits system (and it sounded super cool from reading it) so I have one postmortem question.
Did playing/reading about that system give you enough insight/clarity on it that you feel you could now port it into other games?
Yes, that’s what I’m talking about doing in the later part of the post.
I think it would be super easy for any game to decide what the traits would be and create a “vs” roll system.
Would be great for any setting or style of solo play to help it feel like it had life of its own.
It sounds like the next evolution or two from what I was trying to do with the traits for the characters in my ShadowDark game.
Maybe I'll do a read through of how it works in Pendragon and see about stealing it.