Review: Bone Marshes

This is a review based on a read-through, not a playtest.

Bone Marshes is a 45-page sandbox setting for Knave. It focuses on a salt-marsh region undergoing an ecological catastrophe caused by (this isn't much of a spoiler) ancient alien technology hidden below the surface. The sun is stuck at noon twenty-four hours a day, the marshes are slowly burning hex by hex, and only the PCs can figure out what has gone wrong. The module includes a hexmap, a cave crawl inspired by Veins of the Earth, and several interlocking dungeon areas.

This is a great example of a well-written, table-ready sandbox. Each hex has something for the PCs to actually do, not just look at. The NPCs all have goals and opinions - there are at least four who could take the role of "quest-giver" depending on how the PCs interact with them. The random encounter tables are stocked with actual situations, not just names of wandering monsters.

One thing that really stands out about Bone Marshes is its focus on ecological and environmental factors as gameplay elements. Spreading wildfires and fluctuating tides create dynamic environments for players to explore. Mud is a dangerous enemy, and fresh water a valuable resource. All these things are not just set dressing, but are backed up with hard mechanics that will force the players to engage with them.

The overall tone of the module is a little scattered. Some things, like the above-mentioned mud rules, point to a grim and gritty tone, something like the Dead Marshes scenes from Lord of the Rings. But this bleak and cruel environment is populated by a cast of rather whimsical characters: a seacaptain whose boat fell through a portal in the sky; mud-people who sell mud items but only in exchange for mud coins... The contrast is reminiscent of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories. I think with the right attitude from the GM, it could work very well in play.

The useability of the text is generally good. The hex descriptions are laid out in spreads, the prose is slim and functional, and the whole document is hyperlinked. There are a few places where the text could have been cut more, and a couple of others that are vague or semi-contradictory.

For some reason, the author decided to include the entirety of the Knave rules text inside the module. It's a cute idea: you can run the whole game with this book and nothing else! But it's not helpful if you want to use a different system, or your own hacked version of Knave. Plus, important setting-specific rules (for things like mud and fire-fighting) are mixed in with the generic Knave rules, making them harder to isolate.

I like every individual part of Bone Marshes, but I don't feel that urge of "I need to run this!" which will actually get it off my shelf and onto the table. Maybe my problem is that the central quest line is a bit dull. It basically boils down to the PCs collecting a bunch of batteries so that an NPC wizard can fix everything off-screen. Also, the final area (the inside of an ancient alien spaceship) is pretty generic and doesn't have the same sense of atmosphere that the above-ground sections offer.

Here are some ideas for how I might change the module if/when I get a chance to run it:

- Although the quest-giving NPC Azimech is a well-written character, I think her presence detracts from the agency of the PCs. What if she wasn't there at all?

- Instead of mapping the Marshes for Azimech, the PCs have a royal charter that gives them exclusive rights to trade in the region. The safer they can make the trade route to the King's City, the more merchants show up.

- Instead of collecting VoltCells for Azimech, the PCs have to figure out the ecological problems on their own through experimentation and/or advice from NPCs like the Swurmp Queen and the Guardian.

- I would rewrite the Vault section to be a little more Prometheus. That's just my style though.

Despite these criticisms, I really liked Bone Marshes overall and would consider it well worth the asking price. Even if you don't run it in total, elements like the hex descriptions, the mud rules or the tide system could be transplanted easily into other adventures.

The Monsters' Saves in Knave are Too High! 3 Reasons Why

In Knave, the monster conversion/creation rules state:

Saves: Since OSR monsters usually don’t come with ability scores, assume that monsters have ability bonuses equal to their level, with the corresponding ability defenses.
Example: A typical 4 HD monster would have a bonus of +4 and a defense of 14 in all of its abilities by default, unless modified by the referee.

This makes the monsters' saves too high! Here are 3 reasons why:

1. It's not in line with classic D&D. The monster save tables in classic D&D (I'm look specifically at Old School Essentials here) give the monsters lower chances of saving. It's hard to compare one to one, because the old-school saves vary more and only change once every three levels. But in terms of average save value, Knave monsters are at least equal to OSE monsters, and sometimes have up to a 10% edge. (All this is assuming that the monster is saving against a static DC of 15. If the monster is making an opposed save against a PC's stat, then the variables are multiplied again - but in general the PC's stat is likely to be lower than 15.)

2. It's not in line with the way player characters progress. PCs only get to raise 3 of their 6 stats when they level up, but monsters gain +1 to all stats per level. Now, you might say that PCs who rolled well in character creation can start with higher than +1, which is true. But as you go up the level chart, most PCs will eventually be eclipsed by monsters.

3. It punishes rather than rewards creative play. This is the most important one. By the book, Knave monsters will usually have saves that are at least equal to their armour class, and sometimes even higher. Generally speaking, boring attack rolls will target AC whereas interesting stuff (spells, combat stunts, clever plans) will target the monster's saves. When the players use clever tactics they should have better chances of success, not worse.

The solution I propose is to assume that monsters have saving throw bonuses equal to half their level rounded up. This ensures that even against tough monsters with many hit dice, clever plans have a reasonable chance to succeed.

(P.S. - I didn't miss the phrase "unless modified by the referee" in the above quote. Of course you can and should modify saves where it fits the fiction. A lumbering armoured tortoise might have a crappy DEX save but a great CON save, for example. Nevertheless, I think it's important to have a suitable default that you can fall back on whenever you're not sure.)

More Slot-Based Classes for Knave

Assassin
You can fill your inventory slots with 'Prep'. This represents binding your pack, muffling your shoes, and other such preparations to improve your stealth ability.
You can have up to L slots of Prep at the start of each day.
Erase a slot of Prep for one of the following effects:
- Reroll a save made to avoid detection
- Automatically hit with an attack made from stealth
- Double your number of damage dice on an attack made from stealth

Shapeshifter
You can use totems, which are items linked to a particular animal.
Each totem allows you to transform into that animal once per day for Lx10 minutes. When transformed, you gain the appearance and abilities of the animal, and can communicate with other animals of the same type, but your ability scores and hit points are unchanged.
You can carry up to L totems at a time.
Do a favour for an animal and it will give you its skin totem.
Kill an animal yourself and you can use its organs to create a blood totem. When transformed with a blood totem, animals of the same type hate and fear you.


Warlord
You can create Bonds with your allies by carrying items that they have given you.
Any item can be associated with a Bond as long as it was given to you as a gift. You can only have one Bond per ally.
You can carry up to L Bond items at any time.
Once per Bond per day, you can grant that ally one of the following advantages:

- An extra action during a combat round
- 1d6+1 temporary hit points
- Reroll a morale check or a saving throw against mental effects

Using a Bond is a free action and can be done outside of your normal turn order.

Runecarver
You can engrave runes on your items to improve them.
You can carry up to L engraved items at a time.
Items cannot be engraved with more than one rune.
You know the following runes:

Uruz: engrave on armour for +1 AC
Thurisaz: engrave on a weapon for +1 attack and damage
Fehu: engrave on a tool to gain advantage when using the tool for its purpose
Algiz: the item will not break except under extreme circumstances
Naudiz: the item is always to hand and can be used without awkwardness
Tiwaz: the item can affect intangible objects and creatures.

Alchemist
You can carry solvents - powerful potion bases that are too dangerous for other characters to handle. You can carry up to L solvents. You can make more solvents in town for 10cp each.
You can dissolve any number of items into a solvent to create a potion.
- The first item confers its primary function upon the potion.
-  Adding more items improves the potion's efficacy. By default, the potion is about as useful as the item that was dissolved. As a rule of thumb, 100cp or 1HD of fresh monster parts is enough to improve the potion by one 'step'.
- The Alchemist can choose whether to make the potion as a tonic (effective when drunk) or a grenadoe (effective when thrown).
Mixing a potion takes 10 minutes. The duration of tonics is 10xL minutes and the splash area of grenadoes is 10'.

Example: Annie the Alchemist dissolves a 10' pole into her solvent. The DM rules that the pole's primary function is "to prod", so the potion grants the imbiber the power to stretch their fingers up to 10' long. Annie adds 100cp of treasure and the guts of a 1HD monster to get two improvements. She asks to make the "prodding" telepathic and to make it stronger so it can knock enemies down.
If Annie had made a grenadoe instead, she would have a prod-bomb that prods everyone in range of its explosion.

Priest
You can use reliquaries - holy items that contain body parts or personal effects from saints. You can carry up to L reliquaries at a time.
You can pray to your god for a miracle. A miracle has one of the following effects:

- Heal 1d6+1 hp
- Reroll any one die rolled by another character
- Terrify L+1 hit dice of undead
- Negate a spell as it is cast
- Dispel an enchantment for Lx10 minutes

After a miracle, roll d20 + the number of reliquaries you carry. On a 15 or less, your god finds you unworthy and will send no more miracles until you make a burnt offering: Lx100cp worth of food, or L hit dice of monsters.
You can acquire reliquaries from senior members of your faith. You can also create a reliquary from the corpse of a character who displayed holy virtue in life.

Class Hack for Knave

Here are some simple but effective character classes to bolt onto Knave. These are not playtested so exercise your own judgment.

Magic-User
You can use panoply items to focus your magical power. Panoply items are wizardly accoutrements such as a staff, robes, amulet or pointy hat. Each panoply item must be different from the others.

Each panoply item can be used once per day for one of the following effects:
- Restore a spellbook that has been expended
- Force an enemy to reroll a saving throw against one of your spells
- Supercharge a spell as you cast it. Supercharging generally doubles the effect of the spell. The exact details depend on the spell and GM adjudication.

You can carry a number of panoply items equal to your level.

Fighter
You can exert yourself for extra power in battle. Exerting yourself means filling one of your empty inventory slots with "Exerted". The slot must already be empty - you cannot throw away an item and exert that slot on the same combat round. Exerted slots are cleared after a night's rest.

By exerting yourself you can use one of the following effects:
- Gain advantage on an attack or defense roll
- Add 1d6 damage to a successful attack
- Add a stunt to a successful attack

The maximum number of slots you can exert is equal to your level.

Rogue
When purchasing items in town, you can instead opt to fill one slot with a "Useful Item" and note the value of the item. At any time, you can declare what the Useful Item is. It must be a mundane item you could conceivably have purchased for that value or less. It can also be a specific magic item (not a spellbook) that you already own but left in storage.

The maximum number of slots you can fill with Useful Items is equal to your level.

Notes

- Credit: the panoply items are from Benjamin Baugh and Courtney Campbell, exertion is based on the stamina rules from Grave, and the Useful Items are found in Kidnap the Archpriest, Dungeon World, and probably others.

- What I like about these classes is they are simple, but distinctive and relatively potent. I've seen a few class hacks for Knave that add very light classes with just a few minor bonuses. This might seem in the spirit of the base game, but I feel that it's better to have noticeable classes or none at all.

- The Fighter's ability encourages them to carry minimal items "Conan style". I restricted them from tossing items in combat because I thought it would get silly if they were shedding random stuff during every battle (a problem I also have with the "shields will be splintered" rule).

- One issue with this system is that PCs' item slots might get chocker-block at high levels. A 10th level Fighter will have 10 Exert slots, but how many will they actually be able to use if their Constitution is at 15 or 16?

- A lot of Knave hacks seem to interact with the encumbrance system, unsurprisingly since it's at the core of the game. But the more things you load up into encumbrance slots, the more likely it is that Constitution becomes a must-have stat.

- The Rogue's ability might not scale up very well compared to the other two classes. The idea is that at low levels the Rogue is whipping out useful mundane items, but at high levels they are more focused on magic items. The limitation on not bringing spellbooks is rather inelegant, but I think if it weren't there then the Rogue would end up being a bit of a "spellbook valet" for the Magic-User.

- One oddity about the Rogue's ability is that you can use it to "protect" valuable items. Say you have a McGuffin that mustn't fall into the villain's hands. You can leave it in town and bring a "Useful Item" which might be the McGuffin if you need it, but won't be the McGuffin if the villain captures you and searches your pack. I think this is a feature, not a bug, since it lets the Rogue be Grant Morrison-era Batman, always two steps ahead of the enemy. But some people might find it a bit weird.