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I Sample file

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I

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“Pendragon”? King Arthur Pendragon, or Pendragon for short, is a roleplaying game wherein yo friends participate in heroic adventures set in Dark Ages Britain. One player, the gamemaster, pres story. Everyone else creates and plays a single character: a chivalric knight or lady from Arthur’

mans or Pict. These become the heroes of your own tales of adventure. The gamemaster describes the SUI

f their character’s skill and personality using dice. With Pendragon, you can face the same adventures an erils that Arthur and Lancelot encountered, but this time you decide how the tale ends!

magician or holy person, or someone from the Dark Ages cultures of Britain: Saxon, Irish,

ing, plot and other characters the players encounter. Players respond with their own ideas, and

950-A 56th Street Oakland, CA 94608 Visit our web site at http://www.greenknight.com

King Arthur Perlurayon lnb, or Pendragon, Green Knight Publishing’s fantasy roleplaying game based on the legends of King Arthur. 0699-GK2722 $24.95 ISBN 1-928999-06-9

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9 I 7 8 1 9 2 8 9 9 9 0 6 5

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S ~ O D S !

GREEN KNIGHT Sample

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Thanks The author would like t o thank Anonymous, who has written so much over the years.

The editor would like t o dedicate his work t o the authors of Runequest.

Green Knight would like t o thank o u r playtesters: Malcom Allison, John Walter Biles, Clay Carlow, Michael Cooper, Tara Crowe, David Dunham, Erik Engberg, Timothy Ferguson, Amy Frolich, Dan Frolich, Tom Granvold, Chris Gray, Karl Hanmore, Morgan Hazel, Douglas E. Lampert, Tony Lavalle, Kevin MacGregor, Shari MacGregor, Frederic Moll, lllona Parker, Andrew Pilling, Karl A. Rodriguez, Helen Thomas, Chris Tutt, John van Gulik, Bill Wilson

Saxons! Wolves in the Fold of Arthur’s Britain is published by Green Knight Publishing. Saxons! Wolves in the Fold of Arthur’s Britain is 0 1999 by Green Knight Publishing; all rights reserved.

Similarities between characters in Saxons! Wolves in the Fold of Arthur’s Britain and persons living or dead are strictly coincidental.

The cover painting is 0 1999 by Paul M. Carrick.

Except in this publication and related advertising, or unless otherwise agreed to, art work original to Saxons! Wolves in the Fold of Arthur’s Britain remains the property of the artists, and is copyright by them under their separate copyrights.

The reproduction of material from this book for the purposes of personal or corporate profit, by photographic, electronic or other methods of storage and retrieval, is prohibited.

Address questions or comments concerning this book, as well as requests for notices of new publications by mail to Green Knight Publishing, 360 Chiquita Ave #4, Mountain View, CA. 94041.

Green Knight Publishing products are distributed exclusively worldwide through Wizard’s Attic. For a free catalog of all Green Knight Publishing products, please write to Wizard’s Attic, 950-A 56th St., Oakland, CA. 94608-3129, or call 1-800-213-1493.

Visit our web sites at http://www.greenknight.com for information about Green Knight Publishing, and http:l/m.wizards-attic.com for the Wizard’s Attic online catalog.

You can reach green Knight Publishing via email at [email protected].

Published Feb. 2000. Green Knight Publishing publication GK2722 ISBN 1-928999-06-9

Printed in Canada. Sample

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Con-cen-cs

Introduction 4 Saxon Glossary 5 Roman Glossary 7

Chapter 1 - Saxon Culture 8 Chapter 2 - The Saxon Chronicle 27 Chapter 3 - Southeast England: The Saxon Shore 40 Chapter 4 - Creating Saxon Characters

Chapter 5 - Haestingas Advanced Character Creation

The Adventure of the New Town The Adventure of the Pitiless Tower The Adventure of Hussa and the Marshmen

The Battle Narrative Tables Skirmishes Hastings after Badon

Chapter 7 - Raids and Encounters Chapter 8 - New Rules

Chapter 6 - The Battle of Badon

Glorious Items Noncombat Skills, Traits and Passions Weapon Skills and Battle Saxon Law Goods and Prices Lordly Domains for Saxons Magic Saxon Spellbook Attrition

Bibliography Pendragon Placenames

57 64 70 78 81 85 90 91 94 97 104 108 121 121 122 125 128 130 130 131 135 136 137 139 Sam

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I n-cRoauc-clo n

What is this book? Saxons! is a supplement for King Arthur Pendragon, Green Knight Publishing’s role-playing game of Arthurian Britain. It details Saxon o r Germanic culture, magic, and character generation, as well as a mini campaign of Saxon adventures. It also includes a gazetteer of southeast Britain (the Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Essex, and Wessex), and a chronology of the fifth-century Saxon invasions, prior t o the five phases of Arthur’s reign described in The Boy King. While this book does not describe the geography of Saxon kingdoms in the north- east (Anglia, Sorestan, Deira, and Nohaut) or o n the con- tinent, its treatment of Saxon culture still applies t o those regions.

What other books d o I need? Besides Pendragon itself, the following supplements are useful, though not strictly necessary, for Saxons! readers:

The Boy King: For the chronology of the Pendragon cam- paign, including the Saxon wars.

Land of Giants: For the heroes and gods of the North, including Jutland and Scandinavia.

Blood and Lust: For the rebellious Saxon kingdom of Anglia.

Lordly Domainr: For administering player character lands.

Savage Mountains, Pagan Shore, Perilous Forest, and Beyond the Mall: For Cambria (Wales), Ireland, Western Cumbria, and Pictland respectively.

Who are the Saxons? Pendragon uses “Saxon” as a catch-all term for the Germanic coastal tribes of the later Roman era (A.D. 300- 500) and the Dark Ages (500-1000). These tribes might have stayed on the continent, visiting Britain only as pirates or traders, if not for the collapse of Roman power around 400, which disrupted their old homelands and left Britain open to invasion. Historians may call these people “Anglo-Saxons” or “Old English,” since they are the ancestors of modern English people. In this book, “Saxon” can mean any o r all of the following cultures:

Saxons: These fierce warriors led the invaders in south- east Britain. Their old homeland, near modern Bremen and Hanover, is harassed by Burgundians and Slavs.

Angles: This tribe entered northeast Britain in 500, evict- ed from their homeland (the Jutland peninsula: modern Denmark) by the Danes. Now they cannot turn back.

Jutes: Like the Angles, this smaller tribe fled rising sea lev- els and Danish invaders in Jutland. They are expert sailors. Close-knit Jutish families settle among the Saxons in Wessex and Kent.

Frisians: These people come from the sea-soaked Netherlands. They have a distinct language and a stub- born, pious paganism. Many Saxons distrust them because their king, Finn, massacred his own guests in the Fight at Finns burgh.

Franks: This confederation of “free” (frank) German tribes served Rome by guarding the Rhine frontier. When that frontier collapsed, the Franks invaded northeast Gaul (around Cologne and Trier). A few of them joined the invasion of Britain. They are a bit more Romanized than the other Saxons. They are more liable t o ride horses than use boats.

In Pendragon, the Saxons also borrow traits from later Germanic peoples, like the Vikings, for completeness and game interest.

New Rules Like other Pendragon supplements, Saxons! introduces many new and optional rules. Except for self-contained rules sections (like Character Generation), these have been gathered into the New Rules chapter at the back of the book, for easy reference during play. Notes in the text chapters direct you t o sections in New Rules, so that you can move between essays on Saxon culture and the cor- responding new game mechanics, each elucidating the other.

The Saxon Campaign The year 480 makes a good start for a Saxon campaign. Saxons rule Kent, the northern kingdoms, and parts of Sussex, but the rest of the southeast is still ripe for con- quest - perhaps by your player characters! The enemy king Aurelius Ambrosius has just been poisoned by a

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Saxon spy; his brother, Uther Pendragon, i s newly- crowned and out for vengeance. Players can fight Uther at the battles of Mt. Damen, Windsor, and St. Albans, where Uther finally dies - leading to fifteen years of unopposed Saxon raiding, until the young Arthur draws the sword from the stone in 510. The Saxon campaign culminates at the Battle of Badon in 518, where Bretwalda Aelle fails in his bid to become the High King of all Britain. Saxons! also covers the aftermath of Badon, as vengeful knights from Logres invade and pacify the Saxon kingdoms.

After Badon, the southern Saxons enter the Pendragon social system. They may be Saxon knights, with Glory inherited from their pagan ancestors, but they belong to a Cymric and chivalric culture. The northern lands of Deira, Nohaut, and Sorestan (formerly Lindissi) remain Saxon in culture. Anglia rebels against its duke several times: a Saxon Rebellion campaign could make a change from normal chivalrous duties. At the end of the Pendragon era, Sir Mordred (like King Vortigern a centu-

ry before him) invites the Saxons to fight for him in a civil war, and the Saxons (like Vortigern’s mercenaries) take over the war-torn kingdom, this time forever.

Glossary Simple Saxon Pronunciation

Vowels Pronounce each vowel, including final “e.” Where two sounds are listed, the second (“long”) sound is more com- mon in stressed (usually odd-numbered) syllables.

a as in aha ee e i 0

U

Y as i in bid

a single sound, as in hat as in bed or bade as in bid or bead as in body or bored as in bull or booed Sam

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Diphthongs ea as “a” in hat followed by “a” in Cuba eo as “e” in met followed by “0” in poetic io as “i” in bit, followed by “0” in poetic ie as “i” in bit. followed by “a” in Cuba

Consonants C

f

g

h

r trilled as in rudiment S

j , q not used others as in modern English

Double Consonants cg as “dg” in bridge ng sc as “sh” in shout th as in anthill a as in thorn between vowels, otherwise as in

then

as in chin if followed i or e; otherwise as in can as “v” in over if between vowels; otherwise as in father as “y” in yield if followed by i or e; as “ch” in cloche at syllable ends; otherwise as in gate as “ch” in loch before consonants and at syllable ends: otherwise as in hand

as “z” in prize between vowels; otherwise as in soon

as in finger, rather than ring

Other double consonants are pronounced as two sepa- rate sounds, as in book-case. Thus the Angle king Cwichelm is quick-helm, not quich-elm. Pronounce “cn” as in Monty Python’s “Silly English K-nig-it.”

To make adjectives, add -isc (ish): Wealhisc = “Welsh”

Saxon Words Previous Pendragon products have used Norse rather than Saxon words for Germanic nouns, so Norse-Saxon synonyms are included below, along with their Modern English equivalents. For simplicity, words are usually plu- ralized as in Modern English. We include the aesc (R, a?) and thorn (f), 8) symbols below, but have regularized them to “ae” and “th” throughout the rest of the book.

Rdeling (ath-el-ing Norse “Ethling”) Prince, minor king Adfulturn (ath-ful-turn) Oath-helpers in a court of law Bot (boot) Fine, penalty, compensation Botless (boot-less) Unpardonable Bretwalda (bret-walda) literally “Wielder of Britons”;

Burh (burg Norse “Borg”. “Burg”) Fortified town Byrde (bird-eh) Well born, noble

High-King

Ceorl (churl, Norse “Carl”, “Bonde”) Freeman, farmer

Cniht (k-nekt) Boy, servant (modern “knight”) Cwene (kween-eh) Woman, queen Cyning (kin-ing) King Cynn (kin) Family (modern “kin”) Dome (doom-eh) Judgment, fate Ealdorrnan (a/-der-man; Norse Jarl) Local lord (modern

Feorrn (firm) Food tax for the cyning Folcgernot ( folk-yeh-moot; Norse “Thing” , “Alt h i ng”)

Frig (freeg Norse “Freya”, “Freija”) Earth goddess Fyrd (feerd) Levy of all men capable of bearing arms Gerefa (ye-ree-fa) King’s deputy: reeve or sheriff (“shire-

Cesid (ye-sith) “Companion”; king’s noble (a thegn,

Godere (god-ay-reh; Norse “Gudija”, “Godi”) Pagan

Healsfang (haals-vang) One-tenth of a wergild Heord (herd) A herd of animals, or a herdsman Heordgeneat (herth-ye-na-aht; Norse “Huscarl”)

Heordwerod (herth-wer-od) a unit of heorageneats Hide (hi-deh) Land enough to feed one ceorl and his

Hundred (hund-red) A community of 100 ceorls and

lrrninsul (ear-min-sul: Norse “Yggdrasil”) The world-tree

NiBing (nith-ing) Coward, wretch, outlaw Scildburh (shild-burg) Soldiers in a “shieldwall”

Scilling (shil-ling) Silver coin worth around 20 denarii Scop (shahp; Norse “Skald”) Poet, troubadour Stead (sted, Norse “Gaard”) Farm, village Degn (thayn; Norse “Thane”, “Herse”) Warrior-noble;

Deod (thee-odd; Norse “Haerad”) Tribe, race, earldom,

Deow (thee-o, Norse “Thrall”) Slave Dunor (thoon-or, Norse “Thor”) Storm-god Ut laga (oot-la w-guh) Out law Waelcyrige (wall-kih-ree-yuh, Norse “Valkyrie”) Warrior-

Wealh (waalc) Foreigner, slave, miscreant, Briton

Wecg (weo)) warriors in a “wedge” formation Wergild (wear-gild, Norse “Mansbot”) The worth, in

or crafter

“earl”).

Folk assembly, fair: jury

reeve”)

ealdorman, or just companion)

priest

“Hearth companion;” a lord’s bodyguard

cynn; about 120 acres

their families

from which all things grow.

formation.

equates t o a knight

kingdom, people

maidens of Wotan

(“Welsh”)

coin. of a man’s life

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