Now this is the stuff: The Great Pendragon Campaign. This massive tome of over 400 pages details a campaign and metastory spanning 82 years. This is the whole point of the Pendragon RPG and it didn’t surface in a complete form until 2006.

Chaosium tried twice, first with The Pendragon Campaign in 1985, which only covered the first 25 years or so, and The Boy King in 1991, which covers only the first 40 years. The Great Pendragon Campaign, published by White Wolf’s ArtHaus imprint, covers the entire reign of Arthur and then some – there’s many years detailing his father Uther’s wars to unite Britain as well as a few years denouement after Arthur’s death.

The bulk of the book is concerned with plotting the entire Arthurian metastory – the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot; the plotting of Mordred; the hunt for the grail and the seemingly endless wars – along a workable RPG timeline in order to allow three or so generations of player knights the opportunity to witness, effect and participate in major events of the saga. The metastory is not meant to be the game, but rather a rich tapestry that functions as a cohesive backdrop to the players’ stories, giving them greater context and thematic meaning (it would be pretty dull to simply Forrest Gump the whole thing).

It’s was a massive undertaking by author Greg Stafford and it incorporates a staggering amount of Arthurian lore from sources both familiar and strange. I can scarcely believe it exists and it redefined what I thought an RPG campaign could be. If there ever is an RPG hall of fame, The Great Pendragon Campaign belongs in it.