Pendragon 1st Edition as a Supplement for Runequest 2nd Edition

 Delays delays delays

Lets get a few of these out of the way.

Pendragon 1st Edition cam out in 1985, at the same time that Runequest 3rd Edition was coming out. But t that time, I think it fills a specific niche in Runequest 2nd Edition as well.

Runequest 2nd Edition didn't have very many rules except for adventuring, Runequest 3rd Edition added more but still focused on adventuring or religious activities. Even Pendragon took a more knightly focus with a sharp divide between Chivalrous and Peasant skills. But we do know there were some 2nd Edition rules on managing a farm or herd in the the never otherwise published Sons of Sartar segment in the The Wild Hunt APA (Now avaliable as the Stafford House Campaign from Chaosium) which does mention Farming and Herding and Craftng as skills along with a revised occupation chart and starting magic chart (badly needed in the 80s Runequest editions). So it's not unreasonable to suggest a more "Domian" level of gameplay was in Runequest at one point.

Some may ask why I don't just use the Runequest Glorantha (7th Edtion) household management rules. It's becuase I don't want to, I want to use the rules avaliable at the time, including all the werid edge cases and things later editions would patch out of the setting.

Looking at Pendragon 1st Edition, we can see the basis is a Knight gets £1 per hide/herd (hyde/hyrd in this edition) or POP in food or taxes. I decided that £1 was 1000L and began to reverse it from there using the cost of daily food from the 2nd Edition core book and the Pavis City of Danger book.

I found that the daily cost to buy gruel was 2C, since they had to be turning a profit, the cost couldn't be higher than 1C, so actually 500L per £1 fitted it better if you were feeding a family of five. 500L was enough to buy gruel for everyone for a Gloranthan year (about nine Earth months), with meat and beer occasionally if you assumed it was being made on site and not bought for double cost.

It also meant that a peasant's starting cash of d100L represented about their yearly worth as an individual or inheritance.

Now I had the baseline £ to L established, everything else began to fall into place. It also mans weird stuff in the Pendragon costs list convert over too unless it is in pennies, which are like 2C each.

Land costs in Pendragon were £7 per hide in a bad year, £14 in a good year and £21 in an excellent year.
Which is 3,500L/7,000L/10,500L respectively. Some people might say that no one in Glorantha buys land becuase it's all property of the Land Goddess temples, but Pavis works under a different economy to the rest of Glorantha and you shouldn't be able to just purchase land in Pendragon either, this represents bribes and donation to be exclusive access to the land.

Now an Ordinary Knight requires £2 per year to maintain himself and his family for his station. That was 1000L per year. Since he is splitting this with the family farming it for him, it actually means 1 hide make £2 a year with half paid up. This does do weird things for populations because in reality a Knight wouldn't be getting 50% of the harvest. But Pendragon doesn't go into those kinds of details so I won't either. But since 1 family works 1 hide, 1 POP is 1 family of 5 people.

Taxation is 10% to the lord and 10% to the Church which funnily enough is how it works in Glorantha as well, but the lord can be the domiant male temple and the church represents the Earth Goddess of the region.

Now each culture must have different modifers to these base rules (which are made for some mash-up of Dark Age to High Medieval setting).

Western Culture

These started as Knights and Arthurian legends before kid Stafford realised that wasn't how antiquity worked and they remained like that until Mongoose Games stuck their foot in it by using Gothic plate andother blatently anachronisitc stuff in their art. Otherwise if it had remained Prince Valient, I don't think people would have cared.

Western Culture works exactly the same as standard Pendragon. This includes toruneys. But the count 10 people per POP or Hide because they have a caste system which allocates more famrland to other castes upkeep. Maybe a slightly more efficent farming system to to allow for that popualtion too but it's unimportant.

Orlanthi Culture

An adventurer in orlanthi culture can farm their own land of 1 hide and get £2/1000L per year from it, but they can only train for a maximum of 2 hours a day, 4 hours daily during Dark and Storm Seasons. I they own 2 hides they hire a family to work the other. Giving them £3/1500L but fighting vastly below their effectiveness.

These people are called Carls, and if they are called to fight, they fight as Poor Knights. Carls do not have a penalty to Horse Survival Rolls but also only own 1 horse, if they own more they start rolling with a penalty for being Poor Knights.

Orlanthi landowners must fill up or pay up all their lands with vassals. A Thane (more on that later) with 11 hides of land, therefore has himslf at 4 hides, 3 Ordinary Knights at 2 hides each and the last hide he must give to a Carl or support a Poor Knight in his own household. This means they get more £s by raiding or going on adventues to aquire the 500s of Lunars they need.

Orlanthi must pay for Footmen/Men At Arms, they don't automatically recruit them.

Orlanth do not joust at tournaments.

Praxian Culture

Praxians generally only have herds for their Knights (called Braves). Hides and POP represent Oases and Oasis folk under their control and can be lost in preference in a raid against them. If they receive Tolls, it's from taxing or threatening caravans and they can get this in Goods or Money.

Herds are split into Sacred Animals and Non-Sacred Animals, A Brave requires at least 1 Sacred Animal herd, every 2 herds generates £1/500L of Goods a year. This is to support the extra Squire.
Praxians do not have Footmen/Men At Arms at all but each level of Knight has +1 Squire.

Poor Knights do not suffer Horse Survival Roll Penalties as they can choose new beasts from their Sacred Animal herd.

But herds require constant fodder and water or they start dying with a Horse Survival Roll at -1.

The amount of sustenance per year required is equal to the number of herds and comes back every year (unless a drought or flood). 5 miles/8km of chaparral/1 hex of the Nomad Gods board game contains 2d6 herds worth of grass and puddles. Vulture Country and the Wasteland has 1d6 per 5m/8km hex. The River of Cradles has infinite sustenance, but a Horse Survival Roll per each herd with no penalty is required due to the insects.

Non-Sacred Herds can only be exchanged for Goods outside of Prax or at Pavis.

Bison, High Llama and Rhino riders joust, all else have bow contests with the same rules. Those others get the Bow Skill instead.

Pelorians

The Landlords own all the land and hand it out to the Knights and farmers as non-hereditary grants or pay them wages.

Knights have the Bow skill.

Pelorians can fight with their Knights horsed or unhorsed, representing a cavalry or spear focus. This also applies to the Sun Dome Temples though otherwise they use their own cultures rules. These Knights cannot swich and must be decided upon when recruited. A horsed Knight fights like a normal Knight, an unhorsed Knight cannot charge, only 1 riding horse and for every 5 footmen/Men At Arms they personally contribute to the total forces, gives +1 KV so long as those footmen are fighting and they are all armed with Greatspears/Pikes. A horsed Knight can pay £1/500L per 5 footmen for the same effect.

They have bow contests instead of jousting, though the more barbarian horsed Knights from the redlands will joust as well.

Extras

Stewardship is a Knowledge skill that starts at 05%, it represens the ability to manage multiple hides of agricultural land and tenants throughout the year. It works exactly the same in Runequest as it does in Pendragon except Orlanthi and Pelorians can learn it. Praxians use Find Water and Find Cattle Food together from Cults of Prax. Carls use Farming or Herding, both of which are Knowedge skills with a base of 05% and work the same.

Orlanthi settlers in Prax need Find Water in addition to a successful Herding roll.

Alternatively Orlanthi and Pelorian Knights can hire a Steward, who has a Stewardship score of (2d6+8) x 5%. Who makes the roll for them at the cost of 100L per 500L harvested, which comes out of the landowner's excess profit.

These different ideas give each cultue a distinct set of advnatages and disadvantages

Westerns work and fight just like Pendragon characters

Orlanthi get more out of land with more Poor Knights, but Poor Knights are worse than others and it's hard to passively build wealth.

Praxians hit really hard with more KV but are always outnumbered and losing herds is a constant concern.

Pelorians have great flexibility with their forces but are limited in movment with their infanty or have to pay to avoid it. Also losing that KV advantage as their footmen die.

Rough Chart for Titles

Squire/Sergeant/Poor Knight = Carl

Knight = Praxian brave or what a Thane is in King of Dragon Pass

Banneret = Orlanthi Thane/Sheriff in 1600s Sartar (of Apple Lane)

Baron = Praxian Khan or Orlanthi Clan Chief (of the Red Cow Clan)

Count/Earl = Orlanthi Tribal King (of the Colymar)

Duke = Prince of Tribal Confederation (of Sartar)

King = King of a Geographic Area (of Dragon Pass)