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Toni Sihvonen (order #92780) 6
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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 or 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 to 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 northeast
(Anglia, Sorestan, Deira, and Nohaut) or on the continent,
its treatment of Saxon culture still applies to those
regions.
What other books do 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 campaign,
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 or all of the following cultures:
Saxons: These fierce warriors led the invaders in southeast
Britain. Their old homeland, near modern Bremen
and Hanover, is harassed by Burgundians and Slavs.
Angles: This tribe entered northeast Britain in 500, evicted
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 levels
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 stubborn,
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 to 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 to sections in New Rules, so that you
can move between essays on Saxon culture and the corresponding
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 conquest
- perhaps by your player characters! The enemy
king Aurelius Ambrosius has just been poisoned by a