Pendragon vs The Riddle of Steel

Compare Pendragon and The Riddle of Steel side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Pendragon	The Riddle of Steel
Genre	Fantasy, Historical	Fantasy
Tags	Character-Driven, Domain Management, Lore-Heavy, Deadly, Simulation, Crunchy, Social Intrigue	Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Deadly, Gritty, Simulation, Crunchy, Character-Driven, Freeform Magic, Classless, Lore-Heavy
Core Mechanic	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.	Roll a pool of d10s against a Target Number. Each die that meets or beats it is a success. Skill Tests roll an attribute's dice against the Skill Rating, where lower is better. Melee draws dice from a Combat Pool (Reflex plus Proficiency) that must cover attack and defense across a round's two exchanges. Spiritual Attributes add dice when a roll serves their stated focus.
Dice	d20	d10 dice pool
Complexity	High	High
Availability	Paid	Out of print
Runnability	4 of 5 book tools	4 of 5 book tools
License	Proprietary	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	No verified route found
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	Arthaus	Driftwood Publishing
Year	2005	2002
Languages	English, French, Spanish	English
Best For	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.	Groups who want deadly, historically grounded melee decided by how fighters split their dice. It suits campaigns the Seneschal builds around each character's passions, drives, and destinies.
Highlights	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.	Secret red-or-white die declarations and Combat Pool splits make each exchange a contest of reading the opponent. Points earned by acting on Spiritual Attributes add dice in play and also pay for advancement, rewarding characters who pursue their convictions. Sorcerers build spells on the fly from nine Vagaries, and each casting risks months of aging.
Considerations	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.	There are no hit points, and one solid hit can kill a character outright. Sorcery is deliberately unbalanced against fighters, leaving the Seneschal to rein in sorcerer characters. Mass combat gets only an abstract contested Strategy roll, with no dedicated procedures for naval battles or sieges.