I like compiling the various assets I'm using at the start of my solo play sessions, so to that end, I'm using the following rule sets, supplemental items, and other such physical items:
Rules: Knave 2e
Card decks: Mercs & Masters by Crumbling Keep, and the Outdoor Encounter Cards Philip Reed Games. I'm using a mixed combination of all 4 of the available Outdoor Encounter sets, but I've linked the first set of 36 cards - the rest can be found on the creator's profile. I highly recommend them.
Mapping & Oracles: The Solo Gaming Sheets by Perplexing Ruins. For city maps, I'm leveraging HexRoll 2e.
With our character set up in the prior session, it was time to get to work setting up an initial quest, so I turned to the tables in Knave 2e to get some inspiration, and rolled up:
Initial Quest: Investigate Crime
Reward: Safe Passage
With that to work with, I decided that the quest wouldn't so much be "investigating" a crime, as it would be planting false evidence at a crime scene to draw suspicion away from someone. And, with that idea, I needed to figure out who we were working for and who they might be trying to cover for. Was it themselves? Someone in their family? I needed a map so I could think about NPCs and motivations, so I generated one in Hexroll and while the Shops and Services section didn't do anything for me, I noticed that there's this nicely walled-off little Keep in the center of the map with a big ol' town square in front of it.
So, clearly, the answer was we've been hired by the Lord of Whitecliff, a man named Lord Katunaric.
The Lord's daughter has found herself needing to clean up a bit of a mess in a smaller town nearby, and while I'm not sure what she did exactly, our character has been contracted to plant some false information at the scene of the crime so that suspicion will fall instead on one of Lord Katunaric's rivals.
This works great with our Knave's prior careers and gives us a reason to be immediately carrying Forged Papers.
So, with this very loosely defined quest and a target that puts us heading out to a different nearby town, it's time to dive into our Solo Gaming Sheets and mark out some hexes!
In Knave 2e, the default size of a hex is 6 miles, and I like that just fine as it means that by default you can travel through 3 hexes per day, and then sleep through the night and get a good rest. Rules-As-Written, we can move through one six-mile hex per "watch", up to 3 times per day without taking damage. Each day is divided into six four-hour "watches"; 3 for the day, 3 for night. You need to rest for 2 Watch segments unless you want to take damage (which we don't).
Speaking of, we'll have to discuss how Damage works in this game since it's not what you might expect if you're coming to it from D&D or Pathfinder. In Knave, when you take damage you first subtract from your HP, and then any overflow gets added to your Item Slots. When all item slots are full via damage, you are dead. I've heard folks compare this to a "Sonic the Hedgehog" style of damage where you get smacked and your rings all go flying and that's not a bad analogy. When we inevitably end up taking damage, I'll make a note of this again and show it in action, but I think you probably get the idea. It's a mechanic that I haven't used before so we'll see if I enjoy it or not.
Anyhow! As I mentioned, it's time to roll a few hexes and see what awaits us. Some folks like to craft their narrative as they go, but as I have less time for rolling dice than I do for writing fiction, I'm going to focus on the mechanics first and then come back to fill in the fiction POV after the session.
Our starting Hex is 0403; the town of Whitecliff. Situated amongst rolling hills, we leave town and move to the East heading into Hex 0503. A lightly-worn road leads us through the hills here as rain begins to fall on our first 4 hours of travel. Our first "Watch" segment of our progress clock is now filled.
Progress Clock:
[x][o][o][o][o][o]
We next move into Hex 0603; First, we roll based off of the Solo Gaming Sheet flow to see if this hex is the same terrain as prior (hills). 1-4 it's the same, 5 or 6 it's different.
Roll: 5. New terrain: (5) Swamp.
Weather: (3) Fog
Thanks to the road, despite the fog I think it's fair to say that we are familiar with this road (having lived in Whitecliff for some time) and we don't need to roll for navigation. So, 4 more hours advance within the swamp and we increment the progress clock to 2/6.
Progress Clock:
[x][x][o][o][o][o]
With our third and final travel section, we move south into Hex 0604. The terrain remains the same, so more swamp. The weather finally clears as the sun begins to set after 12 hours of travel. I have one more useable watch that I can spend before I need to take 8 hours of sleep. I could Explore the hex further or Forage for food.
Progress Clock:
[x][x][x][o][o][o]
As I write this I also realized I haven't been checking our Travel Hazard after each watch, so before resolving my 4th watch, I rolled retroactively for travel hazards and luckily got:
(6) Free: No effect, (5) Sign: Players find a sign that a random encounter is nearby, (1) Encounter: The party has an encounter, usually rolled from a table designed for the region or terrain type.
Knave does have a table of Signs and another of Encounters. I may use these both, but we might also throw away these rolls. However, I want to see what it is and weigh my other option before I decide which would be the most fun. So, from Knave on the Sign table I get:
(46) Lair
And on the Encounter table:
(53) Healing
These are a good pair of prompts, but I also want to see what a random flip of the Overland Encounter Cards provides.
Stairs Down: In the shattered remnants of a devastated fortress, you and your companions spot stairs leading into the darkness and, likely, adventure.
An opportunity to explore a dungeon is one that you never pass up! This particular site is small - only 2d6 rooms - and populated by slimes, rats, spiders, and other creepy things. Treasures within are minimal.
Well... that actually all kind of works together. Healing is the one odd thing out, but with "Lair" as a Sign and then this card saying "Stairs Down", I think that's a clear indication that we should perhaps camp a little distance from this location and sleep, and then do a little dungeon delving in the morning. It's important to note that we don't really have room for much of anything, but perhaps we can come out with some coin and XP. Plus, I just really want to do a dungeon map.
So, we'll call finding this site an "exploration" phase, and then we'll rest for two more phases back at camp, which fills the first day's Progress Clock.
Progress Clock:
[x][x][x][x][x][x]
Onward to Day 2!
...Which will happen next time! This is a good place to cut the blog post before diving into a dungeon, so I'll return tomorrow for Day 2 of our Solo Knave 2e playthrough.
Until then my friends, happy gaming!
