Winter’s Toll: Mastering the Winter Phase in Pendragon

The Winter Phase in Pendragon isn’t just an end-of-year wrap-up. It’s where time starts to speak. Characters age, land shifts hands, and families begin to take shape or fall apart. This part of the game carries weight more than any battle or banquet. It connects each knight to something larger than themselves.

For the Game Master, it’s the place where a campaign begins to feel generational. When done well, the Winter Phase turns sessions into seasons, and campaigns into stories remembered.

Why It Matters

Pendragon is built for the long view. The knight you play now may not live to see Arthur’s high days. But their choices will shape those who do. The Winter Phase tracks that shift.

Each year, the world changes. A knight returns home from a campaign. Their manor needs tending. A child is born. A steward fails. Time passes, and it leaves marks.

Skipping this phase shortens the story. Letting it breathe gives the tale room to grow.

Running the Winter Phase: A Game Master’s Guide

Experience and Glory

Begin with what the knights earned. Update traits, passions, and skills that qualify. Let players narrate how the year shaped their character—what changed and why.Glory is added based on major events, titles, beauty, and family status. This isn’t just bookkeeping. It’s your chance to mark reputation and legacy.

Aging

Once a knight turns 35, aging begins. Roll annually to determine if any stats decline. The process is simple, but the results should feel personal. Mention the first gray hairs. A hesitation before a charge. The quiet need for warmth at court.

Family Events

Use the Family Event Table to see what unfolds at home. Possibilities include births, deaths, marriages, rivalries, or unexpected heirs. Don’t treat these as side notes—they’re ready-made plot hooks. If a cousin dies mysteriously or a sister elopes with a rival’s squire, that’s a story waiting to unfold.

Managing the Estate

Knights with land roll Stewardship or Appraise to manage income. The result affects whether the manor brings profit or hardship.

• Critical success might yield a surplus or offer investment options.

• Failure could mean poor harvests, poaching, or tenant unrest.

Expenses must also be paid: household staff, maintenance, tithes, and horse upkeep. Even small manors can stretch thin during lean years.

When using the Simplified Manor Rules:

• Income: 1d6 + Stewardship modifier

• Expenses: 1d3 + household size modifier

• Adjust based on improvements or setbacks like war or storms

Encourage players to choose upgrades like a chapel, a granary, or improved roads. These details affect story and standing, not just income.

Marriage and Children

Roll for childbirth, marriage prospects, or betrothals. Use the results to deepen ties between characters and the wider setting. Winter is when alliances are forged. A daughter’s dowry might earn favor. A son’s engagement might spark a rivalry.

Training and Squires

Each knight can train one skill, trait, or passion. Game Masters should ask how this training happens. Does the knight seek a tutor? Practice alone in the snow? Track the development of squires, too. Over time, they may rise or reveal secrets.

Solo Vignettes

Short solo scenes can add emotional depth. One knight oversees a dispute among tenants. Another receives a vision in the woods. Someone faces temptation or judgment. Keep these short, but meaningful. They provide texture and give quieter players room to grow their characters.

Inheritance and Legacy

Older knights should plan for the future. Who inherits? What’s left behind?

Encourage players to write wills, arrange matches, or divide land. If they don’t, unresolved claims may stir conflict later. Even a dying wish can turn into a story.

Enhancing the Phase

• Estate Sheets: Use simple ledgers to track income, improvements, and family events.

• Legacy Cards: Record each year’s major moments on an index card: births, deaths, scandals, investments.

• Recurring NPCs: Let stewards, reeves, or clerics age with the knight. These small relationships build over time.

• Local Events Table: Include one regional event per estate—floods, tithes, banditry, noble demands. Keep the world alive.

• Political Consequences: Maybe a rival’s land prospers while yours withers. Why? Is it their steward—or something deeper?

Letting Time Speak

The Winter Phase reminds players that this world has seasons, and each leaves its mark. Over years of play, you’ll watch children rise, manors fall, and aging knights try to finish the work they started.

Some characters will die in bed. Others in battle. Some will simply vanish from the record. But if you run this phase with care, they will all feel real. Let the knight grow old. Let their home change. Let winter arrive, and with it, the sense that something larger is always turning.

Next Steps

• Learn how to create a player-knight

• Get the Starter Set on Quest Portal's Marketplace

• Join our Discord to talk Pendragon in #chaosium