Rulings & Ruminations

Yoon-Suin session summary 200401 Resting in the dungeon, the gang sets a bear trap, which breaks the leg of a pale blue Mantid. We scare off his friends, but tend his wounds and return him to his lair, offering information on new fishing spots. The Mantid leader, though, perhaps wisely, doesn't want to speak to us. We find a corpse in an archway, with black ivy stretched out around it. Umesh's war worm sprays the ivy, and it seems safe enough to pass. We reach a large, natural cavern atop a flight of stairs, overgrown and lush with plant life. A great, gaunt statue sits at the cavern's centre, and at the far wall, a dais with a glowing chalice. In the trees, bat-faced monkeys watch us warily. Umesh begins digging for the wizard, but finds only little mirrors instead. Nant digs a little too close to the dais, it seems, and the monkeys attack, shredding his albino form. The gang bails, leaving the Hess for dead. Upon receiving a few reinforcements from Jade's Favour thank...

The Hess' nest stinks of rotting fish. Our Hess partner introduces himself as Jez, along with his friends, rotund Gruzz, who bears a third eye, SaSo, and Nant, whose scales lack all pigment. We discuss the Hess' missing idol until wormlings assault our position from all sides. We take one out with a bear trap, and do our best to spike the doors closed, but a brawl breaks out. Alongside the Hess, we slaughter and loot them all. Umesh scouts our surroundings, finding a pile of "fake dead," before Gruzz reveals a secret door in their lair, filled with loot. With the Hess, we head to the wormlings' hideout and sack it, too. The Hess tell us of their twisted cousins, the Yoch Hounds, and we encounter old writing under algal growth, telling us to "pray before the benediction of Kezek; the blessed may pass the fall and come to the deep." Kezek, we learn, is the Hess' idol. Shortly thereafter, we reach a massive lizard carving with outstretched hands, surrou...

Triangles in the floor beneath the Grand Palm twist and contort, revealing a hole deep into the earth. We descend its slope to find the tracks of man and beast in the sand, and gnarled roots grabbing at our clothes in the cramped tunnels. A glow attracts our attention, and we find elemental faces of moss, roots, and worms. A tangled mass of plantlife steals Bishal's spellbook! Ade fights for it, but Bishal trades Phan's soggy tome for the return of his own. The faces tell is Reincarnate is in these halls, but we enter a natural cavern instead, where graffiti warns us of a dragon in the submerged cavern — so we quickly switch back to worked tunnels. An embossed archway featuring a skeleton turns out to be a dangerous blade trap. Reshma fumbles a spell and erodes, suffering a sleepy second face on the back of her head. Ade revives her with his vital fists. We find statues of human kings — improbable in these lands. Their names are destroyed, lost to time. Then, statues of fish an...

This is a letter I wrote in Discord for the gang after our session today, which was highly rated, if imperfect. I'm trying to grow and develop the game, keeping it fresh and fair, so I try to keep open communication. __**on Stunts & Paladins**__ I'm enjoying stunts in all their Apocalypse World -derived glory. They're from the blog Buildings Are People , source of many of our house rules. I got into RPGs through PbtA, not D&D, so they appeal to me. I think they're a flexible way to handle outside the box requests. I hope you're enjoying having the hit/mix/miss sketched out beforehand, to make the stakes clear. Please offer other suggestions, or yes-and mine, as seems appropriate. Something I'd like to look at more explicitly is specifying our intent. Burning Wheel is big on this: before rolling, players and ref always discuss intent behind the action. We could probably explore this more directly. With the paladin example, reaching out to Prosp...

The gang scours the barrowmounds for loot and surprises, and finds them, beginning with a jewelled broadsword that seems to bring rays of sunlight through the low grey clouds. Six skeletons leave their alcoves in pursuit, but they're turned back in the sun. Another mound yields ragged tapestries of noble visages, old Ironguards. Probing behind, Viktor finds a ghoul and the gang tears it apart. The next tapestry, the same — but this one with a hollow stare, and a raspy question: "Why?" The final tapestry yields (you guessed it) a ghoul. The gang dispatches it and turns their attention to the next chamber. Therein they find statues of helmeted, athletic men, and a simple wooden cup filled with fresh mead. The statues animate and attack when the cup is touched. The party paralyzes one with a ghoul tongue and pulls its head off while another tangles with the group. They escape with the cup thanks to Attraction magic. When cracking another mound, the party is beset by a clutch...

200315 knaves of the earth session summary The party works a family of owlbears into a frenzy, hides from a clutch of vulture-like barrow harpies, and gives their all against a pair of vile purple ghaists. Exploring the barrow mounds further, footlong centipedes rain, zombies are recapitulated, and four giant toads flee a blackened mummy. The party does not, though: they stand against the wretched, dessicated mummy and steal its jewelry. In a wretched blow, its rotting touch kills Luwang for what may well be the final time. Despite the loss, having looted the jewels of an entombed family of four, the party senses yet more opportunity in the mounds...

Yama, Ade, Qui, Bishal, Umesh, w/ tipsta as ref Jade's Favour has been making money and moves in the world; found a new home for a dragon, uncovered the secrets of the sky metal, funded an insurgent group in the Roach Feeders. Now we're on a quest to recover the world's most powerful magic word: Reincarnate. We seek the watchtower in the Topaz Isles. With the help of Spider Climb, Yama reaches the top, spying on the way a family of spiderpedes, as well as some conspicuously tidy rooms. At the summit, he finds four platonic solids of pure sky stone, and vaults them down for the gang to recover. In his descent, Yama encounters a brilliant gold and red elemental lion — the Sakomere Guardian — while the gang below is set upon by a clutch of grim natives bearing spears. Yama pleas his case, and the lion agrees to show the way to the Grand Palm in exchange for the solids' return. The lion and its followers depart as Yama is killed by a spring trap of spiders, so the gang foll...

Barrowmaze session one Intro and prep This was our first foray into Barrowmaze , a module I'd adopted one the fly once when I needed a short, five-room dungeon to fill the back hour of a session, but which I didn't know in any intimate way beyond using a barrow mound on the fly that time, probably 9-10 sessions ago. I read about 100 rooms and two dozen mounds, mostly lower level stuff. The module is rated for roughly 1 to 5s in Labyrinth Lord & other B/X derivatives , and the party spans 1-4 right now, so the encounters this session were below their level, broadly. (This was the right move to prep, though, since they did eventually take the main beginner's entrance to the maze itself, through the plundered mound with the block and tackle in mound 12.) Mapping All the same, I put it on the map, coincidentally near a larger town the party sought to visit. During the Wish segment of our feedback round, and again in discord chat, I heard some excitement to try...

In an effort to learn more of the foul Barrowmaze a few days out from Breakwater Landing, the gang asked around the Brazen Strumpet. Luwang, in disguise as a famous actress, approached the braggadocious Krell Ironguard, and found he knew nothing of the Veins, making his stories of heroics in the Barrowmaze weak tea in the party's estimation. Overhearing talk about runic tablets, chaos gods, and the safety of the pools, the gang did some trading and ventured west, to the sunken, fetid Barrowmoor, and the dozens of burial mounds set within. Surveying the eerie, damp, ancient landscape under a cold, low sky made them uneasy, but they soon began exploring tombs. They found a block and tackle within a plundered mound leading to a dark dungeon below: the very Barrowmaze itself. Opting instead to explore some more, Ferris found and read a weathered pillar, carved in the Black Tongue, extolling followers of the chaos god Nergal. Mirabilis, eager to wield his sledgehammer, went to to...

The gang returns to Isopod Towers with rope and big ambitions. We make straight for the gold brazier, ready to haul it through the roof, and when we spike it, Bishal and Yama suffer an arcane blast, knocking the latter unconscious. Opening the ceiling with a pickaxe takes time, and attracts a handful of cattle-sized isopods. An impressive magical illusion from Qui scares most of them off, but the last one stands fast and cuts Bishal up with its many claws, knocking him out. Ade looses some war oil and Umesh grapples the sea creature into it, but still, it lashes out, KOing Qui! Finally, Ade strikes with his spear, and Umesh's mighty claw rends the thing's armour, leaving it lifeless. After a stop in the Yellow City, including a quick run-in with familiar port authority Nishi, and a meeting with Vazé, master of antiquities, we turn the brazier into cash, selling to House Bipana. The slug we meet is quite agitated for some reason we can't discern. We return to the Topaz I...

Following their intuition and the cool chill coming from above, the party returned to the buried pyramid's torture chamber and tore aside the vertical stretching rank and wich. In doing so, Luwang was buffeted by a forceful blast, the bellowing screech of High Priest Vladdis. The wraith bore an icy longsword and an amulet and charged for Luwang, but failed to injure the skeleton. As Luwang swung his silver greatsword, Mirabilis, sensing the amulet's importance, sprung to the sarcophagus to deface it wih his file. Doing so caught Vladdis' attention, so Ferris sprung in to divert it. Unfortunately, the vandalism was too strong a lure, and Vladdis grazed Mirabilis's helmet, sending a cold, coursing shock through the former thief's body, leaving him stunned. Ferris plunged his icy touch into the spectre's ethereal form, and with an outpouring of willful magic, froze the wraith completely, letting it shatter upon the sandstone floor. Attempting to shake off t...

We reached a sunken city rising from the churning ocean. A watertower, some ruined residences, and a bulbous temple. Reaching the tower was easiest, so we ducked inside to find damp, waterlogged stone. Ade descended a spiral staircase and realized the water inside was fresh — a valuable resource if it could be contained. Following him, the gang found a wall of water held back by powerful magics. We emerged into breathable air and found ourselves suddenly dry. We encountered an enormous isopod, curiously still, and a big barred door, unworn by salty erosion. Pressing through, we found yet more walls of water, and more isopods: these ones far more interested in us than we of them. As they approached, we fled. Trying our luck in the temple, Yama slipped through a tiny crack to find a huge, beautiful mosaic, depicting the endless war between humans and slugs, and a brazier, still smoking, that on inspection was inscribed with an unknown language — and made entirely of gold! Yet another v...

We found that our newly-named island, Big Ratfink, housed a crude mine of human construction. Naturally drawn to holes in the world, we entered the stonework to find a steep incline with rails descending, and at the top, a weathered old cart. Ade, ever the pragmatist, hopped in, and with a shove, we sent him careening down the slope. At the bottom he was tossed bodily into darkness, where he noticed something slinking and writhing. Following, we find the mine filled with the rank scent of livestock, as well as a door striped with banded iron, and beyond, narrow tunnels, too small for Umesh to traverse. Just then, a thick, poisonous splat landed near Ade and Bishal, and they realized a thick worm wriggled above them. Leaping into combat, we rushed the worm, only to realize there were more, including a big one with fierce instincts. It spit goop all over Jamsto, who led the retreat to put the banded door between the party and the worms, but they were too quick, so we duked it out and sp...

Some notes on our budding cosmology. Prospero Description Prospero rigid, authoritarian, commanding. Growth and nothing but growth. Prosperity gospel , endless attainment of wealth. Avarice. Materials Fine brocade, tailored robes, shining armour Language Command, must, insist, duty, honour, justice, order, custom, tradition Traditional Alignment Law Dictums Followers must produce wealth through action: farming, fishing, construction, applied research, preaching. Growth must be orderly, contained, predictable. Listen to your boss. Restrictions Followers must not be too idle: leisure not encouraged. Stand against decay and oppose rapid, surprising, or unusual changes. Do not peer into the unknown, as the work of prosperity is endless. Boons Prospero causes longer growing seasons, temperate weather, favourable rainfall. Prospero may grant control over plants, animals — even wounds and disease. Social Structures Hierarchical, gently authoritarian. Traditional, patriarch...

Prep for Knaves of the Earth -- Creating Caves for a Cave System I've planned a smidge for Veins of the Earth , in case the party wants to explore a crack I've seeded in an established dungeon. I've used a modified version of the Veins caves rules, opting to roll for size and number of exits, too, all in a roll20 macro. This gives me a random cave, along with a shape and stone. I'm connecting them more or less in order, and rolling for distance between caves. Each cave system, composed of 2d6+2 caves, has a name and is effectively a volume ruled by a Volume Lord. (In this case, I rolled a Deep Janeen as an encounter, so I've assigned the volume to her.) Travel between systems happens via exploration, an abstract process of time passing and resource depletion, straight out of Veins. Cave Stocking When populating the caves, I'm using the B/X dungeon stocking rules more or less verbatim, and using Special results to indicate a roll on the 1d100 weird encounte...

Today, a player dropped the campaign just a few minutes before commencement of the session. I wasn't too surprised, as I'd sensed his pleasure in the game was waning, but it still hurt to feel he wasn't having fun. In his abence, we recruited another player who had previously been an observer, who rolled an apothecarist named Nedi who had been part of the heretics from last week's Coming of Sorg (pdf) . She slotted into the party and we were off. The gang had been gifted magic sand by Entropus, which would allow them to instantly transport to the mouth of the Buried Pyramid should they wish to return. They used it, a fist-sized leather pouch filled with a solid pyramidal stone surrounded by sand, by sprinkling it at their feet. (Mechanically, this meant using one of its three charges, represented as Quality in Knave . The sand swelled and rose, consuming their forms, before deposting them magically at the mouth of the pyramid, under a dark sky lit only by stars. I fi...

We reunited after a long six months pursuing personal activities. Ade waxed philosophical with his quarry, opting not to take its horn. Bishal researched magic among the Dwarves, where he met Jamsto Yama. Umesh appeared with a set of muscular, humanoid arms, emerging below his crab claws. Steadfast in his quest, Umesh had found a lead on the resurrection of Magool. We were destined for the Topaz Islands, and its storm-shrouded centre. On arriving, met a boy and his uncle, fishers, who spoke of the legendary isle. On clear nights it rose of the ocean. We set sail, and found a fortified island, with signs of worked stone walls. Opting to explore, we encountered a peculiar floating creature, looking something like a manta ray, with a patchy, mossy hide, and a set of wide, staring eye stalks. Ade, believing it to be an Outsider, attacked, and Jamsto Yama fell in right behind. Still, the beast escaped, leaving us curious about the island's secrets.

Magic item creation Here's a first stab at my magic item creation rules. This was inspired by someone else's idea on /r/osr I think, and adapted to Knave. In practice using this idea has been pretty spontaneous in play, and happened thrice now over the course of around ~18 sessions. So not hugely common. Also, it's only been weapons so far, which perhaps speaks to the style of my game, but I'd like to lean into this idea further for armour, lanterns, rope — perhaps even the party's mule, Clem. The basic setup is magic items can't be crafted, per se, and certainly not purchased reliably. They're created in the heat of the moment, during an adventure. Weapons When a PC strikes a powerful blow that slays a creature — think crits on the killing blow, or juuuust manages on the to-hit but still rolls max damage, that type of thing — the weapon may be imbued with magical force. Mechanically, their formerly mundane weapon gains a +1 echantment and counts as mag...

1d6 rumours for Pithole Village, 200209 When a PC's in a position to learn about something on the list, I'll choose or roll a rumour. These are generally hooks I've prepped so I have a sense of where the session's adventure could go. 1. Omnipotent Dream of All Knowledge asks the best of scholars takes the most from them, waxing philosophical on critical matters, ie, merits of grain of sand. to be asked is a damning honour winding staircase to Flamingo-guarded portal; labyrinth and Omni encounter; he'll want Svarku taken care of 2. definite sounds of metal tools on rock coming forth from the Pit. The clanging of picks in stone, the squeaking of pulleys. Knotsmen ascent in search of Badict and compensation for their debt Knotsmen led by a Bailiff emerge in the shadows to demand recompense, a litany of names felled by the group, esp Zain and Ferris. surprised to find Badict and will insist he return to Forclose to honour his debt to the Knotsmen ruler (no...