The Opening Scene
The year is 439 AD, and the fragile peace of Devonshire is shattered. The Saxon raiders have landed again upon the coast of Britain. It is a historic year, as the PKs' (Player Knights') fathers are born to their grandfathers. Yet there is no time to celebrate. Sir Tyther and Sir Gabriel have already gone forth to fight against Irish invaders ravaging the countryside near the Irish and Killinery route. These raiders are striking the high moors of the Dartmoor wilderness, burning the few isolated farms and crop fields the hardy locals managed to build.
While Tyther and Gabriel hold the moors, our vanguard faces the coastal threat. A ruthless Saxon warband has beached their longships in a hidden cove, and they are clawing their way up the rocky ascent of the Cliff Ridge. Sir Edgar, his two sons Miles and Virgal, Sir Alan, and a pagan enchantress are the only things standing between these raiders and the innocent people of Caer Gripmen. It is a desperate, vertical game of King of the Mountain, where one failed swing means a deadly fall to the jagged rocks below.
In Part 3 of our first Chronicle Turn, we dive deep into the brutal clash on the Saxon Shore. We will explore the Pendragon RPG battle mechanics of holding the ultimate high ground, detail the legendary 410 AD origins of our heroes' grandfathers, and roll the dice to see if British cavalry and druidic magic can break a berserker frenzy!
So what happens when an unstoppable force of bloodthirsty Saxon berserkers meets an immovable wall of British steel perched on a seaside cliff?
The Defenders of the Cliff Ridge
Sir Edgar, Lord of Caer Gripmen: The seasoned patriarch and tactical anchor of the defensive line. Sir Edgar is fighting not just for the realm, but for his ancestral lands and the lives of his two sons standing beside him. He is a veteran commander whose booming voice and unyielding presence can break an enemy's spirit before their swords ever meet.
Sir Alan de Breton, The Knight of the Wood: Fierce, untamed, and relentless. Deeply connected to the harsh, haunted boughs of Wistman's Wood, Sir Alan fights with a savage, overwhelming force that rivals the raiders themselves. He acts as the vanguard's shock-trooper, ready to meet the berserker frenzy head-on.
Sir Miles, The Knight Bachelor: Sir Edgar’s eldest adopted son, recently dubbed and hungry for glory. He brings speed, precision, and youthful stamina to the brutal cliff edge, eager to prove his steel, defend his family, and cement his honor in his very first major trial as a true knight.
Yeoman Virgil, The Unblooded: Sir Edgar’s younger son. Lacking the heavy armor and formal title of his brother, Virgil fights fiercely as a yeoman. Relying on his grit and determination, he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the knights, desperate to survive the meat grinder of the Saxon Shore and prove he is worthy of earning his spurs.
Gwyneth, The Pagan Priestess: An enigmatic force of nature clad in green. Perched atop her imposing unicorn, Gwyneth channels the ancient magic of the coastal mists and the deep earth. She is the wild card of the battlefield, ready to alter the terrain and unleash the elements to send the Saxon climbers tumbling back into the sea.
Sir Edgar, Lord of Caer Gripmen: The seasoned patriarch and tactical anchor of the defensive line. Sir Edgar is fighting not just for the realm, but for his ancestral lands and the lives of his two sons standing beside him. He is a veteran commander whose booming voice and unyielding presence can break an enemy's spirit before their swords ever meet.
Sir Alan de Breton, The Knight of the Wood: Fierce, untamed, and relentless. Deeply connected to the harsh, haunted boughs of Wistman's Wood, Sir Alan fights with a savage, overwhelming force that rivals the raiders themselves. He acts as the vanguard's shock-trooper, ready to meet the berserker frenzy head-on.
Sir Miles, The Knight Bachelor: Sir Edgar’s eldest adopted son, recently dubbed and hungry for glory. He brings speed, precision, and youthful stamina to the brutal cliff edge, eager to prove his steel, defend his family, and cement his honor in his very first major trial as a true knight.
Yeoman Virgil, The Unblooded: Sir Edgar’s younger son. Lacking the heavy armor and formal title of his brother, Virgil fights fiercely as a yeoman. Relying on his grit and determination, he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the knights, desperate to survive the meat grinder of the Saxon Shore and prove he is worthy of earning his spurs.
Gwyneth, The Pagan Priestess: An enigmatic force of nature clad in green. Perched atop her imposing unicorn, Gwyneth channels the ancient magic of the coastal mists and the deep earth. She is the wild card of the battlefield, ready to alter the terrain and unleash the elements to send the Saxon climbers tumbling back into the sea.
The Mechanics: The Cliff Edge Advantage & The Berserker Rage
To represent the brutal verticality of the Cliff Ridge, the GM introduces two specific environmental house rules for this encounter:
The High Ground Modifier: The defenders gain a +5 modifier to their Sword or Spear skills as long as they hold the lip of the ridge. Any Saxon who fumbles or fails an opposing roll by more than 10 must make a Dexterity check or immediately plunge down the rocky face, taking 3d6 falling damage.
The Berserker Frenzy: The Saxon vanguard is driven by a terrifying fury. They ignore the first 5 points of damage from any successful hit and receive a +3 to their damage output, but they cannot use shields to defend themselves, leaving them completely exposed to Miles's quick counter-strikes and Alan's brute force.
The Clash: Steel and Sorcery
As the first wave of axes clears the ridge, Sir Edgar bellows his command, locking the shields of his house knights together to form an unyielding wall. Sir Alan de Breton lunges forward, his great blade cleaving through iron-bound round shields, while young Miles ducks beneath a vicious swing, driving his point home to secure his very first taste of combat glory.
Beside them, Yeoman Virgil fights with a fierce, desperate survival instinct, using his lighter agility to parry heavy blows that would shatter a lesser warrior. From the rear, Gwyneth raises her staff, calling upon the ambient energies of the coast to summon a blinding gale of salt-mist, throwing the climbing Saxons into absolute chaos.
The Homefront Stakes: The Manor Defense Roll
The outcome of this cliffside struggle dictates the immediate fate of Sir Edgar’s estate. Under the Lordly Domains system, the manor boasts a pristine starting economy:
Town Population: 240 residents ($3\pounds$ in goods, $4\pounds$ in rights)
Outlying Villages: 720 farming commoners ($2\pounds$ in food)
Total Baseline Income: $9\pounds$ annually
If the defenders break the Saxon vanguard on the ridge, the raiders are driven back to their longships, leaving the $9\pounds$ economy completely untouched. However, if the lines falter, the surviving raiders slip past into the valleys, forcing an immediate roll on the Regional Manor Defense Table to see how many outlying farming villages are pillaged before the winter snows arrive.
Resolving the Cliff Ridge Clash: The Dice Decides
To see if British steel and coastal sorcery can hold the high ground against the Saxon frenzy, the GM rolls the dice for the critical rounds of the engagement for the Saxon side, while the Player Knights roll for their side using the character with the highest Battle or Siege skill on their sheet to coordinate the defense.
The Tactical Command Roll
Before a single sword is drawn, the player characters look to their sheets to determine their tactical anchor. Sir Edgar steps forward, using his veteran experience to roll against his superior Battle skill to dictate the formation.
Critical Success / Success: The PKs successfully exploit the terrain. The shield wall locks tight, and the defenders fully secure their +5 High Ground Modifier, ensuring they can fight from an optimal defensive posture.
Failure / Fumble: The Saxon vanguard catches the line before it completely solidifies, forcing the knights to meet the unarmored berserker frenzy in chaotic, isolated duels along the slippery stone lip.
Round 1: The Shield Wall vs. The Berserker Rage
Sir Edgar invokes his Loyalty (Lord) passion, throwing himself and his house knights into a defensive posture to absorb the initial shock. The Saxon vanguard, operating under their terrifying Berserker Frenzy, completely ignore shields and swing their massive axes with reckless abandon.
Sir Edgar & Sir Alan: Capitalizing on the +5 High Ground Modifier, Sir Alan scores a critical success on his Sword roll. His great blade cleaves straight through a raider's guard. Because the Saxons have no shields to block, the blow lands heavily, bypassing their 5-point damage reduction entirely and dropping the lead raider instantly.
The Sons' Trial: Sir Miles faces a veteran raider. Thanks to the high ground, his defensive parry holds firm, letting him slip his blade past the Saxon's axe handle for a solid hit. Meanwhile, Yeoman Virgil faces a desperate counter-swing. Lacking heavy armor, Virgil relies on his raw agility, narrowly succeeding on a Dexterity check to stay balanced on the treacherous, slick rocks.
Round 2: Gwyneth’s Storm and the Great Plunge
From the rear, Gwyneth unleashes the ambient coastal magic to break the second wave climbing the cliff face.
The Salt-Mist Invocations: Channeling the wild energies of the shore, Gwyneth's spell manifests as a blinding gale of wind and stinging sea-spray. This forces the climbing Saxons to make immediate, penalized rolling checks just to maintain their grip on the vertical ascent.
The King of the Mountain Plunge: Two climbing raiders completely fail their checks by more than 10 against the blinding mist. Unable to secure their footing on the lip of the ridge, they lose their grip and suffer a devastating 3d6 falling plunge, crashing violently onto the jagged rocks and breaking waves far below.
Round 3: Breaking the Vanguard
With their vanguard decimated by the fall and their front line shattered by Sir Alan and Sir Edgar's iron wall, the remaining Saxons lose their momentum. Sir Miles presses the advantage with youthful stamina, driving his point home once more to secure the line. The remaining raiders break formation, scrambling back down the rocky cliffside in total retreat toward their beached longships.
The Aftermath: Calculating Glory and Estate Security
Thanks to the tactical exploitation of the high ground and the devastating interference of Gwyneth's coastal magic, the vanguard achieves a Decisive Victory!
Glory Rewards: Sir Edgar, Sir Alan, and Sir Miles each record a substantial boost to their running Glory totals for successfully holding the Saxon Shore. Young Miles officially earns his first major combat renown, while Yeoman Virgil takes a massive step closer toward proving he is worthy of his spurs.
Manor Security: Because the vanguard successfully broke the raiders on the Cliff Ridge, the Saxon forces never manage to slip past into the interior valleys. Sir Edgar's pristine Lordly Domains baseline economy remains 100% untouched heading into the winter. The $2\pounds$ in food from the 720 village commoners, the $3\pounds$ in goods from the 240 town residents, and the $4\pounds$ in rights are fully secured, ensuring the household remains well-fed, well-funded, and ready for the dark years ahead.
Product Identity & Legal
Product Identity Notice: The following items are hereby designated as Product Identity of Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. / The Adventures of Captain Hedges, in accordance with the Open RPG License (ORC): The specific campaign setting elements of My Pendragon RPG Campaign of Devonshire; the regional world-building adaptations of the Gripmen Mires, Caer Gripmen, and Wistman's Wood; the unique narrative characters of Sir Edger (and his sons Miles and Virgal), Sir Alan de Breton (the Pagan Hunter), and the pagan priestess-enchantress Gwyneth; the specific historical timeline events of the 439 A.D. regional defense; and any unique magical items or ambient magic rules established herein.
Open Game Content & License Attribution: Except for the material designated as Product Identity above, the game mechanics, table structures, and statistical templates derived from open gaming systems are considered Open Game Content. This product uses the ORC License, available at the official repository. The ORC License is © 2023 Azora Law. All Rights Reserved.
Chaosium Fan Material Policy Disclaimer: This blog post is a personal campaign journal and house rules reference, presented as 100% free-to-access material under the Chaosium Inc. Fan Material Policy. King Arthur Pendragon and all associated lore, settings, and basic rules are trademarks and intellectual property of Chaosium Inc.. This unofficial fan-created playtest material is strictly non-commercial, uses no official corporate logos or artwork, and is not authorized, endorsed, or officially sponsored by Chaosium Inc..
© 2026 Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. All rights reserved.
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