It’s official: White Wolf owns Pendragon

Added details have been released regarding White Wolf and its plans to publish materials for the Pendragon Arthurian roleplaying game. Apparently this is not just a mere license, as we thought earlier: Green Knight Publishing has sold ownership of the game to White Wolf’s imprint, ArtHaus Publishing. Even the remaining copies of old Pendragon RPG products have been acquired by ArtHaus. Should be interesting to see what ArtHaus and White Wolf do with Arthurian legend. World of Chivalry, anyone?

Text of White Wolf press release follows:

ArtHaus Publishing Acquires Pendragon

Atlanta, GA, August 25, 2004 — ArtHaus Publishing and Peter Corless of Green Knight Publishing have reached an agreement for ArtHaus to acquire ownership of the Pendragon Arthurian roleplaying game.

“It’s with great pride that we become the publisher of Pendragon. This game is not only the first roleplaying game that emphatically stressed story over game mechanics, but the game mechanics themselves are so artfully designed that they actually add to the story and character development rather than detract,” said Stewart Wieck of ArtHaus, which is a close publishing partner of White Wolf Publishing. “We’re want above all for Pendragon to remain true to its artistic roots, but because of our position in the industry, we’ll allow even more gamers the opportunity to see and play this great game.”

One of the most admired and enduring pen-and-paper roleplaying games of the last thirty years, Pendragon allows players to take on the role of knights at King Arthur’s court. Originally developed by award-winning game designer Greg Stafford, Pendragon has been widely hailed for its trend-setting emphasis on morality and moving beyond the “slay the monster” archetype that once dominated fantasy roleplaying.

Peter Corless acquired Pendragon from Chaosium, Inc. in 1998 and published under the Green Knight Press banner. “I am very pleased with ArtHaus’ desire to carry on the Pendragon tradition of excellence in roleplaying and trust their dramatic vision and business capabilities,” said Corless. “This will allow Green Knight to return to focus on other projects, such as Pendragon Online and Pendragon Fiction, while allowing the dice-and-paper roleplaying game fans a new source of products.

ArtHaus has acquired all of Green Knights remaining back stock of Pendragon roleplaying products and White Wolf will begin selling them shortly.

ArtHaus Publishing is a special projects publisher partnered with market-leader White Wolf Publishing. Under the ArtHaus banner, White Wolf has released a diverse array of roleplaying games. More information on the White Wolf family of brands can be found at www.white-wolf.com

Green Knight Publishing is a premier publisher of fiction, games and entertainments revolving around the world of King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table. A private company based in Mountain View, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Green Knight Publishing was founded by Peter Corless in 1998.

4 comments

  1. This is dreadful news. I foresee an avalanche of poorly conceived source books written by shag-witted fanboys. On the plus side nobody will be required to go to the trouble of actualy using their imagination when running or playing Pendragon. White Wolf will provide us with their version of events so that we need not trouble our little brains. I call upon all Pendragon loyalists to rally to my banner and boycott this rubbish.

  2. This is great, WW needs money after losing that lawsuit against Sony when WW claimed to have invented Vampires and love stories.

  3. You do realize that those “shag-witted fanboys” are as much a part of the “Pendragon loyalists,” right? Or are you dismissing that portion of the community who have the guts to put their creative muscles to work? No offense to the so-called (*rolling his tongue*) “RRRoyalists” 😉

  4. I am not pleased with that new. I love KAP game, and though I played for several years Vampire I have not good feeling about this new chapter. I personally don´t like WOD setting nor published books, they only seek to sell as many book as they can regardless of the quality.
    It seems they will use Pendragon rules, but I’m afraid (very afraid indeed) about the spirit of the game. Green Knight kept it in the same line of Greg Stafford, with their own style of course.

    This game is one of my personal favourites, with RQ and COC. There is no other chance but see what they publish, and then buy or not. I hope they keep GK writers and the possibility of old reprints may make worth this salement.

    What will be next, Glorantha with AD&D system?

    Keep playing and have fun!!

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