King Arthur Pendragon RPG returns to original publisher Chaosium

King Arthur Pendragon, the Arthurian roleplaying game designed by late RuneQuest co-creator Greg Stafford, is back in the hands of its original publisher.

Chaosium – which was founded by Stafford and first put out Pendragon in 1985 – announced that it had reacquired the rights to the seminal fantasy RPG, as well as Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game, Stafford’s 1989 roleplaying game based on Hal Foster’s Arthurian comic strip.

Stafford passed away in October this year. The return of Pendragon and Prince Valiant to the company he founded is said to have the blessing of his family.

Pendragon passed through several publishers after leaving Chaosium, including Green Knight, White Wolf and Nocturnal Publishing, which returned ownership of the franchise back to Chaosium.

Nocturnal put out several new supplements for Pendragon, as well as a second edition of Prince Valiant this year. The latest version of Pendragon was a minor update to its 2005 fifth edition released in 2016.

As part of the deal, current Pendragon line editor David Larkins will continue to work on the RPG at Chaosium, having been appointed in the role by Stafford during the summer.

No plans for new Pendragon or Prince Valiant material have been announced yet, though Nocturnal’s Steve Wieck hinted at future instalments in the series in his announcement of the return to Chaosium.

“We pass the torch to our friends at Chaosium, knowing that greatness awaits,” he said. “The Boy King is ready to become a Conqueror. Long live the King."

We spoke with Stafford and his RuneQuest co-creator Steve Perrin earlier this year to mark the 40th anniversary of their fantasy roleplaying game, in what would sadly turn out to be Stafford’s last major interview before his passing. You can read the piece in full here.