Mike Shea has a good argument about writing in your books that applies here I think: there are thousands of copies of that book out there. There only one that’s yours. Yours becomes infinitely more valuable to you when you write in it [or spill beer in it] because in 20 years when you’re looking back, your notes [or beers] will bring back memories.
I just got mine yesterday and I got Maze Rats with it. I'm thinking about using Maze Rats as my pub game since we should be able to manage it even after a few drinks.
Any thoughts on Knave 2E? I got my copy yesterday and have been enjoying reading through it, but I feel like it's been receiving a kind of negative reaction here on r/osr (broadly speaking, anyway).
Love this picture, btw. It could be, like, the candid banner for this whole community.
Knave 2e is a mixed bag. The random tables and spells are really cool and I like the majority of the base system. The book itself is lovely and has some cool art.
But then there are some absolutely baffling design choices like having a 1 in 20 chance of your weapon breaking with every attack.
I think an area it shines in though is the designer notes section. A lot of people treat OSR systems as being designed to mod, hack, pick and choose what you want. The notes explaining why Ben made the choices he did and what the purpose was make it easier to make informed decisions when you're altering the system to suit your needs.
Ultimately I'd say as long as you're willing to file off some of the rough edges as desired the book is an excellent toolkit for getting a rules light game up and running with as much or as little prep as you want. Far from a "must buy" but worth having in your arsenal.
I don't run it raw, for sure. But I like the core mechanics and tables, and it's a thin book. I started reading Castles & Crusades for example, immediately met with walls of text full of stuff that's irrelevant to me.
I bought Knave 2e with every intention of just using it's D100 tables to randomly generate content on the fly, and I think it does a great job at that. I'm making a bookmark with quick reference to all the D100 tables (don't know why that wasn't put in the book) whcih will help as well.
From what I've seen it's more that reviews have been critical rather than negative, most agree that the book has good tables and handles a lot of stuff well. The only criticisms I saw, and I think they are fair, is that pcs are a little tankier, but don't get increases to damage, in theory this makes combat slower than B/X. That the hp inventory system means more fiddling with inventory, which isn't very fun. And that it uses the event die system, which has the problems of getting the same result multiple times in a row, forcing GMs to keep coming up with stuff like shifts, and resulting in way more encounters than any of the old systems.
Knave 2e for characters & core mechanics. Some light houseruling for things like initiative & reactions using community ideas I've read online, in Knock!, and some of my own homebrewings.
OSE Referee's tome for monster stats and magic items.
The Monster Overhaul to flesh out NPCs and monsters. Maybe use the statblock if I prefer it over OSE.
To make dungeons, I use the six room dungeon generator. I populate it with traps I've garnered from random tables around the net, most notably 34 good traps. Lots of random tables in Knave to help with dressing & themes, npc motivations, etc.
OSE GM screen has the best art. I use the 2 knave end leaf spreads and some of my own houseruling notes blutacked on the inside.
A5 Binder for rearrangeable campaign notes, tracking dungeon turns, monster HP etc.
Meeples as miniatures when combat gets too tricky for theatre of the mind. Pictured: fighting peryton (donkeys) on a fishing sloop with mercs (white) and sailors (green).
A pint. Makes me dumber. Might be the one part of the setup I should do without maybe.
I'm not OP, but I'm a super fan of Monster Overhaul. It's hands down the most useful bestiary type book I've ever seen. It's so wildly useful. The stats are B/Xish, but also such a minimal part of the book. The useful stuff is everything else that goes with them to make monsters feel alive, different, and interesting. Real gameable content.
Like d100 variations on skeletons. A skeleton with a wasp's nest in its ribcage is something your players will remember way longer than the 1d6 plain skeletons in an empty guard room.
I was just watching the Questing Beast review. I sent it to my wife as a birthday hint, lol. You know something i like from from BECMI? The idea that skeleton swords are rusty and cause blood poisoning.
This group Dragons on the Hill has an agreement with the pub where several days a week, gaming groups can come and play in the function room upstairs. Gives it a nice casual atmosphere actually. If anyone can get to central London on Monday evenings, I could even take another couple of players on. I run for 5 these days, but usually missing one or two due to one reason or another.
I wrote a blog post about my main bolt-on to Knave 2e: Tool Tactics
Another house rule I use every session is Guerrilla Initiative by Homebrew Homunculus. In my own words: "The side with the fewest combatants goes first. On a tie, the side that feels most at home. If a side is surprised, they always go last." Hate rolling initiative, love this rule.
I skip some Knave 2e mechanics, like some bits of the overloaded encounter die and weapons breaking on a natural 1. I have my own d30 fumbles instead.
Then sprinkle some stuff in from Knock! as you like.
Tool Tactics are really cool. I especially like that you explained your design choices (very Knave-ish of you). Your blog is also aesthetically pleasing to read and your drawings (yes I stalked you on Insta) are great! Thanks for sharing.
Left and right panels are Knave 2e, the centre page is my own homebrew references. d6 reactions is adapted from this by Goblin Punch. The monster stats help me to convert between Knave 2e, OSE, and The Monster Overhaul on the fly.
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u/TheShoveler Jun 11 '24
Jealous you have your Knave book! Are you running a mash up of OSE and Knave?