Knaves in a Fantasy Age of Discovery

Exploration and Adventure in a low-magic, low-fantasy custom setting (late-medieval to early Renaissance ‘Age of Discovery’) using Knave 2E (by Ben Milton) as the primary chassis, albeit including significant home-brew elements such as an alchemy system indebted to Darklands by MicroProse (1992).

 

This Game (KFAD) will be played within the framework of:

1. Knave 2E by Ben Milton
2. Homebrew rules by Vedast that include significant borrowing from Darklands by MicroProse (1992)
3. Other B/X compatible game systems e.g. Old School Essentials by Gavin Norman.

 

Game Rule Resources:

https://questingblog.com/knave-2e/

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/484910/knave-second-edition?affiliate_id=379088

 

The External Forum: the Game from the outside will be characterized by the following:

·        A low-fantasy; low-magic approach. 

·        Human PCs.  There may be halflings or dwarves as variants of human encountered in remote areas.  “Monsters” are not player character races.

·        Considerable grounding in the game-world in terms of locations, NPCs, the economy and resource procurement.

·        The PCs and the Party are nominally a group of explorers working for a trade consortium: the orientation of that discovery mission may, at different times, be based on or motivated by cultural engagement; geographical exploration; geological testing; mineral and material wealth extraction; or agricultural resource development.

·        Although a broadening world will be unfolding as the Game progresses, this is not a sandbox.  The PCs begin as contracted employees of a mercantile consortium.  The Party will receive both support and direction from their boss(es), but as their place within the Consortium rises in ‘rank,' they will have gradually increasing flexibility and scope as to how they carry out their assigned tasks. As the PCs gain levels, their responsibility and independence (and isolation) will increase as well. That said, it is expected that the Party remains within this Consortium’s sphere.

·        A Player should be willing to undertake (and enjoy) the effort of maintaining detailed and changing equipment lists; organizing expeditions;  resource management; directing hirelings;  and operating in a world where magic does not (readily) overcome issues of transport; sustenance; lighting; environmental conditions and mishaps. 

·        A Player should be able to enjoy the sense of participating in an Age of Discovery.  Gaining ‘power’ will allow one to penetrate more deeply into the game world’s mysterious places and inhabitants/creatures.  On the other hand, a Player expecting to acquire a hoard of magical items and develop an optimized festooned PC will likely be dissatisfied with this Game.  Instead, perhaps your financial gains will allow your character to own a brewery or a few merchant vessels that operate independently under hired management whilst you adventure?

 

The Internal Forum:  the key elements of using Knave and the homebrewed variations of this Game.

·        Knave is a sine-Class (see-nay or Class-less) system, and that aspect will be maintained in this Game.  Each character is defined in Game terms by their stat allocations and how they choose to fill their (mostly) fixed item slots with items that support armor and weaponry; utility or specialist tools (specialist in the sense of the word as used in Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG); alchemical preparation and use; and occult (utility) magic.  Of course, personality, within reason, is left to the Player.

·        Since game abilities are not locked behind class features, each character overlaps with the others to some extent, though each can (or perhaps, should) focus on one or two relevant abilities.  A home rule assures that each character will have some ability to engage either with the alchemy system or the occult-magic system without losing the ability to focus on physical prowess.  Conversely, characters who choose to specialize in one (or both?) of those two systems will have some ability to improve physical abilities.  Because both alchemy and magic are limited in scope and effect (compared to many games), all characters will need to have some facility with physical combat. Hirelings will also assist with this aspect of play.

·        In this Game, INT becomes tied to the alchemy system.  CHA takes over the place of INT in the magic system.  Relic magic from Knave 2E is suppressed, at least as being a defining aspect of a ‘cleric.’  Conceptually, therefore, in this Game the ‘wizard’ concept is replaced by ‘alchemist;’ the ‘cleric’ concept is replaced by an ‘adept’ who utilizes the RAW magic system with CHA as the base stat.  A character could well be a person-of-faith – and religion/belief systems will be a part of the world – but there is no mechanical analog to a spell-channeling cleric. Healing will be done through mundane or alchemical means.

·        Fundamentally, the Party will have to plan & provision; negotiate; navigate; explore; establish centers of trade and trade routes; and, yes, defend themselves as they explore the world with a purpose.  The Party must bring to bear their ‘character stuff’ to leverage these multifaceted tasks.  And whilst the archetypes of the muscle; brains; skill; and faith/leadership are always relevant, the sine-class structure of Knave 2E will have those roles blended to some extent.

 

The GM & Philosophy:

Started around 1977 with the supplements - just before the AD&D 1st edition books came out. Been on MW for 2+ years now, all as a Player. Been in a pair of Games that made it to the 1 year anniversary, one of which is ongoing. Been in Games where the GM ghosted before selection or during/after the first combat or where half the Players had plenty of time and energy for character creation, but suddenly none for running the character.

I embrace emergent Gameplay where a combination of the randomness of the dice and imaginative connection of the Players and GM allow a story to unfold that, in part, surprises everyone. Where various threads, whose connectedness was, originally, unforeseen or vague at best, suddenly reveals themselves to have, really, always been there.

I hold to the notion that neither the GM (especially) nor the Players are 'authors' in the sense of directing events entirely according to preconceived notions (no overriding GM 'plan' or PCs working out their protagonist syndrome). Agency? Yes. Authorial control? No.