Hi

I am going to run a one off session of Pendragon for 4 - 5 friends (for 3 hours) that have never played Pendragon before
but have heard a lot about it (mainly from me)

I was thinking of running a regal tournament (perhaps the Grand Tournament of Logres or the like) to convey
the majesty, pagentry and chivalry of the age (looking at 531+) as well as jousting, a grand melee and challenges
This way each knight will be involved in hunting, fighting, feasting and flirting

The main reason I thought of a tournament was due to the greatly reduced risk of injury
Serious injury would sideline a character and therefore the player would have to move on to a backup character to still
be involved

I was thinking of making one of the characters the son of Earl Robert of Salisbury (not sure whether legimate or illegitmate
as yet) who has gathered together a band of knights (each having a specialty skill - which is why they have been selected)
to beat his rival, a Saxon knight and his retinue from Hampshire, as the Saxons beat him in the same tournament the previous
year, so it is time to get even (and a great chance to show off some passions at work)

I was thinking of other characters such as the Earl's son's right hand man & best friend (the son of the Marshall of Salisbury),
a courteous de Ganis Jouster, an Welsh pagan hunter, a hardened mercenary veteran melee monster (knighted at Badon) and
Irish social character with bardic type skills (no magic) and all would be knights of course

The reason for the one off session is that my friends have a monthly rpg podcast that reviews old school or out of print rpgs
and since I have played Pendragon for approximately 10 years or so, they would like to give it a go (as they have heard quite
a bit about my gaming sessions) and then review it on the podcast (http://miragearcana.podbean.com/)
With most of the podcasts they also highlight the main themes of the game and how they can be explored

I guess my main concern is that I have played Pendragon for some time (and it is my favourite RPG of all time) but I have never
GM'ed it before, so it is a bit daunting, as I wish to try to capture the atmosphere and essence of Pendragon so that my friends
gain an appreciation of why I love the game so dearly

So if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, feedback or hints please reply, as I would appreciate all the assistance that I can get
(I have about 80% of the published Pendragon books so if you need to point me in the right direction in a book or if you need to
reference a certain adventure or quest please let me know)

Cheers
Jeff

Ps. Greg is there any chance that we might be able to arrange an interview with you, to talk about Pendragon for the podcast, please?

Good Luck.

Doing a one-off adventure makes a bit more difficult to capture the feel of the game. Much of the game's unique features, such as building a family, come about through the scope of a campaign. Doing a one-off is tough, since there is so much to choose from. I think your idea of running a tournament is a good way to try and squeeze in as much as you can.

But, don't be surprised if the game doesn't go over as well with your friends as you hope. In my experience, it usually take a few sessions for new players to get into the game. In fact, you might want to run a simpler adventure to avoid confusing the players with too much to learn, too soon.

I suggest encouraging the players to liberally use traits and let the game drift according to the whim of these rolls. I am constantly thrilled with my players making both good and terrible decisions based on a few trait rolls (they will sometimes choose 3 or 4 to roll to guide decisions for seemingly arbitrary things) that they take without my suggestion or input.

They even do something akin to inner dialogues to explain how a certain course of action is decided upon. It can really add a good dose of flavor to the game. Using this technique with a few NPCs to demonstrate its usefulness might get the players creative juices flowing.