Vale Greg Stafford

I was originally planning on following up my last post about my campaigns with some details about my Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign and the resources I used for that. Before I got started on that though, I learned that Greg Stafford had passed away. Chaosium’s blog broke the sad news: https://www.chaosium.com/blogvale-greg-stafford-1948-2018/

I never met Greg Stafford, but in a strange way I felt that I knew him, because of what he had written, especially for King Arthur Pendragon. Objectively, I know that knowing somebody’s art is not the same as knowing the person. Despite this, when I read the news, I felt genuine grief for the passing of this man whom I never met.

So why did I feel like I knew Greg Stafford? I think the answer is that Pendragon was a very personal game for Greg Stafford. He has said so in several places (for example, in the welcoming message on his personal webpage about the game, http://www.gspendragon.com/):

King Arthur Pendragon is my gaming masterpiece. I’m very proud of all my gaming work, especially of Glorantha, but Pendragon holds a special place for me. The main reasons for this are:

• It combines two of my major interests: medieval history and mythology. These two come together in the Arthurian legend. 

• It’s a roleplaying game, which have been a major part of my life.

• I did all the work. I have generally worked with committees to develop RPGs, because the task is monumental and requires a team to finish it in a reasonable length of time. However Pendragon was done almost entirely by me, both the game design and the background writing.

• I have accomplished a lifetime goal with these publications, of finding a way to share my passion with others in a meaningful way. 

Greg Stafford, www.gspendragon.com

The current version of Pendragon, 5th edition (including 5.1 and 5.2), including all of its supplements, is almost exclusively authored by him. This is Greg Stafford’s vision of the game, with no adulteration, no “committee” with which to compromise. The thousands of words which comprise the game are his alone.

Pendragon is a unique game. More than any other roleplaying game I have ever played, Pendragon perfectly captures its source material. It feels mythical and historical at the same time, and its system of traits and passions leads to player knights behaving like knights in Malory and other classic Arthurian retellings. The Great Pendragon Campaign book is a behemoth, lavishly detailing the whole mythic history of Arthur, from the reign of his father and the civil war which led to his conception, through to his final conflict with his son. As you play through this epic campaign, you’ll find that Pendragon plays differently in different eras, the rules perfectly complementing the campaign. Greg Stafford was right to call it his gaming masterpiece.

The crazy thing is, Pendragon isn’t his only masterpiece.

Glorantha is one of the great fantasy settings from the early era of roleplaying games, probably the first fantasy gaming setting which felt truly mythic in its scope. Glorantha is the quintessential RuneQuest setting (although there were versions of RuneQuest without it) and is certainly as worthy of the title masterpiece as Pendragon.

I think it says a lot about Greg Stafford as a giant of the gaming hobby that he has two unquestioned masterpieces. There are a lot of designers who have a portfolio of great games, but true masterpieces are rare. The creative genius responsible for creating two such masterpieces is rarer still.

Greg Stafford is dead and I fear our hobby will never know his like again.