Comrades vs Pendragon
Compare Comrades and Pendragon side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Comrades | Pendragon | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Historical | Fantasy, Historical |
| Play Style | Playbook-Driven, Narrative, Fiction-First, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Faction Play, Deadly, Worldbuilding, Drama | Character-Driven, Domain Management, Lore-Heavy, Deadly, Simulation, Crunchy, Social Intrigue |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat (Body, Mind, Spirit, Guile, or Bond, ranging from -3 to +3). On a 10+ it is a strong hit, on a 7–9 a weak hit with complications, on a 6- a miss and the GM makes a move. Basic moves cover combat (Get Rough), persuasion (Sway), infiltration (Sneak), mob incitement (Start Something), and interpersonal moments (Share a Quiet Moment). At the end of each session, the party rolls Pathway Moves to advance along five tracks toward revolution: Force, Organization, Zealotry, Mayhem, and Fellowship. Reaching level 5 on any pathway triggers the final attempt to seize power. | Roll d20 against the relevant skill or attribute: a result equal to or under its value succeeds, a roll exactly equal to the value is a critical success, and a natural 20 is a fumble. Opposed actions have both sides roll under their value, with the higher success winning and a beaten-but-successful roll scoring a partial success. Personality traits and passions use the same numeric scale and are rolled the same way when a knight's character is put to the test. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d20 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | High | High |
| License | Proprietary (PbtA) | Proprietary |
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Akers Games | Arthaus |
| Year | 2019 | 2005 |
| Best For | Groups who want to tell stories of revolutionary struggle against an oppressive regime, exploring the costs of political violence and the bonds between comrades willing to die for their ideals. | Long-running Arthurian campaigns where a knight's aging, death, and dynastic succession are part of the genre, and where playing out a character's traits, loyalties, and passions matters as much as winning fights. |
| Highlights | Pathways to Revolution system gives campaigns built-in momentum and a definitive endgame, 10 playbooks embody distinct revolutionary archetypes from Artist to Soldier, first session includes collaborative worldbuilding where players choose the setting and define the oppressive regime, Bond stat mechanically reinforces relationships between comrades | Thirteen opposed pairs of personality traits and a set of named passions are rated numerically and rolled like skills, and a passion roll can leave a knight inspired to heroics, disheartened, or maddened beyond the player's control: the heightened behavior that drives Arthurian drama. Every chivalric act (combat, generosity, romance, piety, holding a title) feeds a single lifelong Glory total that sets social rank and rewards embodying knightly ideals over simply winning fights. A yearly Winter Phase resolves aging, estate income, and family events between sessions and passes the line to an heir on death, so a campaign can span generations from Uther's court to the fall of the Round Table. |
| Considerations | Strongly political subject matter requires buy-in from the entire table, no included bestiary or detailed tactical combat rules, Khresht 1915 is the only fully developed setting: other included settings are brief outlines, GM receives principles but limited structured prep tools beyond fronts | Core rules restrict player characters to knights, with no mechanics for playing magicians, priests, or commoners, which narrows the cast to the warrior aristocracy. The Winter Phase's multi-step annual procedure adds meaningful between-session bookkeeping to every campaign year. High-damage attacks such as a couched lance or great sword can end a fight in a single exchange, making disadvantaged or improvised fights disproportionately dangerous. |