OSR: Magical Murder Mansion 3

This session took place a long while ago, and since then the game disbanded and has been cancelled. I still wanted to put these notes here for completeness sake.

We picked things up where we left them running through Magical Murder Mansion (report to sessions 1 and 2 here). The party has explored a good portion of the mansion already, mainly on the North-West tower area. They get an interesting breakthrough during Session 3, and seem motivated to carry on exploring.

Let's revise the characters again:

Wendell - a Human Fighter type, former butcher. Carries a Battleaxe, Bow and arrows. Likes to boss his underlings around. Gelda Cleanwater - curious Halfling Wizard dabbling in the arcane arts. Also carries a staff.  Grem - a Spiderling Fighter with two spears and a shield. Likes to poke at things, no matter how big. Starting Hirelings - Hammerhead (a dwarf with a short-lived career)

Session 3

Rooms covered: 16: Coal Storage, 15: Boiler Room, 75: Workshop Door, 14: Storeroom, 13: Kitchen Exploration Time: 1h40 (excluding their visit back in town) Session Length: 3h Fatalities: Hammerhead (dwarf man-at-arms)

• Battered from the Art Gallery room, Grem decides to grab a painting (the one shedding light), and the group decides to return to town to lick their wounds.
• There, Grem puts the painting for search of a potential buyer (will take 1-2 weeks, 1000gp potential reward, the Halfling Jeweler will take 15% of the sell).
• Wendell takes his chances to hire yet another man-at-arms
• The mercenary guild grows weary, and he only finds a dwarf fool enough to be willing to follow them to the estate, but demands double price, and 2 days pay up front. 23 gp settles it.
• Back at the mansion, they decide to take in the perimeter, and about 20 minutes walking around the mansion clock-wise they find 1/ stone fence 2/ iron door with coal
• Gilda opens the door, revealing a room filled calf-deep into coal
• Wendell makes an interesting argument to Hammerhead to go and 
• Coal golem fight!
• Hammerhead perishes on the spot
• Grem courageously (stupidly?) charges ahead.
• Gilda casts the Upwell spell. The spring of seawater corrodes the coal and causes significant damage.
• Wendell fires arrows and they in general damage the golem greatly.
• They're able to "kite" and lure the dump construct out of the room, to then dart inside and shut the door.
• The party made it in!
• Inside, they quickly move to the Boiler room, filled with pipes, knobs, and other handles.
• Wendell spins a wheel, the mansion shakes a bit, but there's no other effect.
• Gilda seems keen on a 10 foot pole, and pulls a pipe out.
• A ghost comes out of the steaming water, and puts its hand on her brain! She ages 29 years, now instead of a young adventurer she's a mid-aged lady.
• They move north along the corridor, Gilda and her pole at the front.
• Find door to workshop with 4 key-holes and riddle/clues.
• Before moving to Storeroom, Gilda uses skirt to avoid slimy handle. Acid exposure saved!
• Group moves to Storeroom, and decides to take some sledgehammers, crickets, and teeth. 

• Random encounter: bunch veggie-mites, 17 of them, coming from the eastern corridor! 
• Like minions, they are chaotic and unruly, but willing to "talk" this time around.
• They make it clear that they're after fertilizer and soil.
• Party tosses them the dead crickets, to where they retire happily! Two of them fight for the prize, and one of the Veggie-Mites remains unconscious on the floor.
• Next party goes to kitchen
• Wendell gets smashed by flying knives.
• They explore the kitchen and decide to play "anatomy" with the dead Veggie-Mite, thinking of carving it into a key.
• The tap of water is open in the sink, with a flowing of magical water. (Note: is the water colored differently, octarine? does it have odor? does it give an electrostatic charge?).

Referee Commentary / Things I Learned

• Session 3 went smooth as butter. There were a few interesting interactions and encounters, and the players used negotiation and clever tactics.
• USE REACTION ROLLS!
• The Veggie-Mites could have been a boring hack&slash, but instead the party tossed the dead crickets to calm them down.
• Ditto with the Ghost coming out of the pipes.
• The 4-keys workshop door riddle is nice. Might feel "video-gamey", but it's very fitting for a fun-house dungeon like this. The players greatly appreciated the hints and clues, and see a more focused purpose and approach to the whole thing. Putting that big room in the center was a deliberate good choice. Brilliant.

OSR: Knave Inventories

Knave is all about equipment. Those sweet Item Slots define so much... and present a limit on what and how much can be carried out of the dungeon. But why stop there? Why, indeed, should a single attribute, Constitution, dictate gear interaction? Why not all six of them?

Let's have a look at the following table.

Score	Name	What For?
Charisma bonus	Patron Slots	Hirelings. Mounts, animal companions, beasts of burden, pets, familiars.
Constitution defense	Item Slots	Equipment, gear, weapons and armor.
Dexterity bonus	Handy Slots	How many of the top item slots can be interacted with quickly during combat.
Intelligence bonus	Mind Slots	Languages. Magic dice. Areas of knowledge
Strength bonus	Encumbrance Slots	Act as extra item slots, but then encumbered. Negative HP fills them with grievous wounds. When all filled with wounds, PC dies.
Wisdom bonus	Spirit Slots	Attuned magical items. Faith dice. Areas of knowledge.

Patron Slots

PCs may employ a number of hirelings equal to their Charisma bonus. Alternatively, a patron slot can be used for a mount, animal companion, beast of burden, pet, or familiar.

Item Slots

PCs have a number of item slots equal to their Constitution defense. Most items, including spellbooks, potions, a day’s rations, light weapons, tools and so on take up 1 slot, but particularly heavy or bulky items like armor or medium to heavy weapons may take up more slots. Groups of small, identical items may be bundled into the same slot, at the referee’s discretion. 100 coins can fit in a slot. As a general guideline, a slot holds around 5 pounds of weight.

Handy Slots

PCs have a number of handy slots equal to their Dexterity bonus. These are pouches and items that can be accessed with a swift movement, even in the heat of conflict. Mark the top item slots in the character sheet as handy slots. Swapping those during combat does not require a round of search as usual. Items can be rearranged at any time when out of danger.

Mind Slots

PCs have a number of mind slots equal to their Intelligence bonus. A character can learn a foreign language, filling one of their mind slots. The character can verbally communicate with fluency (granting a 3d6 keep 2 roll to reactions if used), read tomes and inscriptions, etc. In addition, wizards, sorcerers, witches, and other magic-user characters that receive magical training can fill a mind slot with a magic die. This allows them to fuel their spells and enchantments.

Lastly, a character can specialize in an area of knowledge that can aid them in their adventures. See below*.

Encumbrance Slots

PCs may carry items in addition to their item slots equal to their Strength bonus (essentially acting like additional item slots), but they are encumbered when doing so. This will slow them down, make it harder to flee from combat, and so on.

When a character reaches 0 HP, they apply any additional damage into their encumbrance slots. Doing so immediately drops any item in that encumbrance slot, filling it with a grievous wound. Having wounds makes the character encumbered, and gives them disadvantage on all saves. When all slots are wounds, the character dies. With a night of rest and sleep one grievous wound slot can be recovered.

Spirit Slots

PCs have a number of spirit slots equal to their Wisdom bonus. Magic items and artifacts are a burden to the soul. They can be placed in a spirit slot instead of an item slot, freeing the latter. Also, priest and cleric characters can fill a spirit slot with a faith die. This allows them to say prayers and call spiritual favors.

Lastly, a character can specialize in an area of knowledge that can aid them in their adventures. See below*.

 

*A character can specialize in an area of knowledge that can aid them in their adventures. They can use either a mind or spirit slot, in this case they are interchangeable. Doing so adds +2 to a relevant save when applying said expertise (if the referee agrees in the particular application). A maximum of 3 mind slots can be filled with the same area of knowledge. Note that an area of knowledge could apply to a loosely related task, in which case the save is done at disadvantage. For instance, knowing draconic history might be beneficial when dissecting a slain dragon's heart, but only partially so.

Example areas of knowledge could be alchemy, architecture, draconic history, heraldry, foraging, traps&devices, medicine, appraise valuables, etc. Feel free to come up with your own, together with your referee.

This article will see some revision, when I add my thoughts on training costs for areas of knowledge, languages, and magic dice. Faith dice will probably require donations, services, costly pilgrimages, etc.

OSR: The Calaveras Campaign 7

This is an ongoing Knave campaign, a smallish sandbox of sorts with new players to the hobby. Read what happened before here.

Let's look at the characters:

Zemalayou (iagson) - carrying a bow and a spellbook. Face heavily scarred and mutated. Speaks through a mouse. Nerisse (Mo) - redhead bow-woman, who wakes up in the first visited dungeon without any memory of how she ended up there. Angan Enge (Copernico) - beastman of the Biber Hills, assigned by Rhys to accompany the adventurers. Wants to find his family. Hirelings/Animals - Ber (a goat that can carry their stuff)

Session 7

• The adventurers arrive at the southern garrison's tower, a protection point in the Biber Hills. The Grim Kingdom keeps tabs with their neighbors of Diremouth to the West.
• Short wooden walls surround the camp, as well as the tower. Broken entrance doors give way to the muddy yard. Several buildings in sight, one and two stories short. Two dead bodies in front of the central building, face down, with wooden stakes popping out of their backs.
• They investigate the bodies (first "parking" the cargo-goat Ber). Then decide to enter that building (Grim Kingdom shield above door). Heavy smoke comes out. Feasting hall, music, and lots of people feasting in here. Big turkey with shiny knife at the center. (variation of Michael Kennedy's room, see Referee Commentary below).
• They aren't let out of the room! The guards and soldiers get infuriated at mentions of what happened here. Food and drink are actually rotten or gone bad, Nerisse finds out.
  
• Knife is found to be magical, and disperses the illusion when being held.
• They go to the cellar from the kitchen area, all holding the knife. There, they find 3 guards (not illusions!) guarding a barrel. Dizzy and red-eyed. Heavy drug scent in here. What are they guarding? A variation of Delobia, they claim, and in spades.
• Confrontation is avoided, and the PCs leave the scene. Then, a group of guards/soldiers charge into the courtyard, back from patrolling. Three on horse, with 5 dogs sniffing and snapping around (a lucky entry on the random encounter roll!). Angan and company take to dialogue and parlay, explain what happened, and convince the guards to join efforts to go to the basement and retrieve those drugs. Unfortunately, having authoritative figures present, Angan has to refrain from further investigating the drug.
  
• Whilst this is being solved, Zem stays outside keeping watch. He spots the shadow of a big creature at the top of the watch tower. Horse-sized and with wings? The carcass of an animal (deer, pony, or similar?) gets dropped to the feet of the tower.
  
• Next they investigate forge; find a dead dwarf within, again with small stakes protruding from the corpse. Small but vicious chained dog barking. Nerisse tames it with a fantastic performance of her harmonica.
• Move north to a door with several locks outside. Unfortunately, takes them a while, and a flock of crows goes to attack them! (Hitchcock style). Nerisse takes the worst of it, but Zem throws his purse full of silver coins to distract them, and it works! (Of course it does).
• Using the confusion, the groups hides inside another building, empty inside, which looks like soldiers' barracks. After a few moments it is decided; they will spend the night here.
  

Referee Commentary

• The players liked this scenario, the interactions, and the mini-pointcrawl exploration.
• What I did was to: 1/ grab this map by dysonlogos, 2/ come up with keyed locations (points), including a modified version of this one, 3/ make up a random encounter table. That's it, we are ready to go.
  

OSR: The Calaveras Campaign 4, 5, 6

Read what happened on the previous sessions of this Knave campaign. Things are progressing well as we close up the first dungeon crawl, and the group moves to other adventures in the region of Rietikon.

Let's look at the characters:

Pancho (Copernico) - guy with a lance, and a tendency to grab shiny stuff in front of him. Zemalayou (iagson) - carrying a bow and a spellbook. Face heavily scarred and mutated. Nerisse* (Mo) - redhead bow-woman, who wakes up in the first visited dungeon without any memory of how she ended up there. Angan Enge (Copernico) - beastman of the Biber Hills, assigned by Rhys to accompany the adventurers. Wants to find his family. Hirelings - Daniele (woman-at-arms, sword & board)

*Nerisse joined the group at Session 3.

Session 4

• They spend a considerate amount of time debating what the next course of action is, still puzzled at the riddle from the thick prayer book: "Place something cold, my Agent, the color of our essence."
• Zem decides to cut part of his newly lizard-like cheek to let some blood drip, to no effect (other than the damage willingly taken by the attempt).
• They try other objects, and finally with a bit of the separating curtain get the effect of a nearby human-sized cobra to spill a red liquid. PCs are too afraid to come near it, so they move on.
  
• Extremely cautious with the door to the East, Pancho starts working with his trusted lockpicks on the door. After some time (burning torches and resources), he unlocks it.
• There, they are back at a human-sized statue of a cobra (another one) in the corridor, two gems (green emerald and red ruby) on the eye sockets. Of course Nerisse plops them out. Of course the green one turns to dust and blasts chocking poison damage to the group (albeit not fatal). Red ruby hauled though...!
• Stairs go down, turning to the right. Stone door needs further exploration. Inside, a temple-like area, with stone statues flanking the space, columns supporting the structure, treasure scattered on the floor (coffers, bracelets, amphora). And this guy, but in a statue made of stone (cool looking obsidian sword on his hand):
  

• Pancho convinces Daniele to remove the obsidian sword (treasure!), whilst Zem starts pocketing riches, and Nerisse protects the entrance with her bow.
• Of course, the statue animates, mauls Daniele the hireling to a pulp (FIRST DEATH), and recovers the sword. PCs are fast enough to flee, and the creature doesn't seem too bothered to pursue them past this room, which they wisely close behind them.
• ... many torches and plenty of equipment are left behind on Daniele's corpse...
  
• Next room explored has another column with manacles (no skellies there this time), and a cryptic graffiti message on the western wall "Kill the False Heir!".
• Reluctant to waste more time, after investigating the space, they move North to the only available exit. Large corridor, with rubble slowing their steps.
• They find a new room, with 4 stone lamps, and the skeleton of a medusa on the ground with a dagger on the hand. After some investigations, playing with lighting 2 of the stone lamps, and finding some treasure below the skeleton,....
• ... a naked kid shows up, lizard-like eyes. Shouts and commands the adventurers to leave this sacred place. Intruders!
  

Referee Commentary

• Players learnt the hard way that there are fights not worth fighting.
  Running is a viable (and sometimes very advisable) strategy.
• Timing a session is extremely hard, no matter how experienced you are running games, or how much you prepared your session in advance. Glad it worked this time!
  

Session 5

• Pancho is able to convince the lizard-kid to leave them alone, arguing that they are here to help. This buys the group some precious exploration time, as he disappears leaving the adventurers to their task.
• After several turns exploring every corner of this area and room, the group is in the brink of giving up. Including the nearby locked door spitting paralyzing darts to both Nerisse and Pancho, when trying to force it open with the lockpicks.
• Finally, a random encounter is rolled. The dragon-lizard strikes again, this time bigger and meaner. It opens with a tongue of flames, that catch Zem unaware, so the adventurer gets his lower face burned (losing the ability to speak). We all rejoice in how scarred his face is!
• There's a cruel and short-lived combat encounter, where let's remember, Nerisse is still paralyzed. Pancho is able to convince the creature of their good intentions, by showing it the red ruby they found previously.
• Too hurt and frustrated at the lack of a way forward, the treasure hunters decide to call it a day, and make their way out of the dungeon. When exiting, they take a secondary tunnel, and detect a foul ogre as the owner of the barking dog, and the Dragon Skull entrance. Party (wisely) walks away from the brute undetected.
  

• To cash in their acquired treasure, group wants to go to Rietikon. But it's clear, they will have to spend the night in the Biber hills. Unfortunately, they get two encounters, both with Beastmen.
  
• First, just a pair of scouts in the distance. Nerisse scares them off by using her magical spell Disguise.
• Second, during the camp at night, they get ambushed by a bigger patrol of 7. Weapons are surrendered. But they get positive reactions, and hence get an audience with the leader of the Beastmen, "Rhys".
  
• Next day, some rest was taken. With the Beastmen as newly found "guides", the numerous group moves West towards the locals' lair, by a lake. Mid-way they have the unfortunate event of a random encounter with a giant eagle (!) that grabs Pancho and takes to the skies.
• Beastmen pepper the bird with spears, and Zem gives the final blow with this crossbow.
• Pancho however... barely makes the fall, and is carried from now on in a comatose state. (SECOND DEATH)

• With a snail pace, dangers are avoided on the second part of the trek. Beastmen lead the treasure hunters to their lair in the cave system near a natural lake. Carcass of the giant eagle is taken as trophy. And an audience with the leader of the Beastmen is arranged.
  

Referee Commentary

• I agree that players should be able to recoup from a dungeon at any point of their choosing. They were just so close... perhaps this is feedback to the dungeon I designed, and some tweaks are necessary.
• The random encounter proved very fatal. Chance and luck are a pickle. Take precautions, be vigilant. You will die anyway.
  

Session 6

• Zem & Nerisse get an audience with Rhys, shaman leader of the Beastmen of the Biber Hills. They find truce and peace, as there could be mutual benefit. She inscribes a tattoo into Zem's chest, helping him speak through a living mouse. An avatar of sorts.

• Rhys takes Pancho's possessions as payment for their "hospitality". A sour price, but there's not much of a choice here. Promises to try and recover him. However, Nerisse takes a hard negotiation angle, sells off some recovered goods from their first dungeon delve to the Beastmen, and both her and Zem get their first 250XP!
• Angan Enge gets introduced to reinforce the party. A Beastman hunter in search of his lost family. The floods have taken everything from him.
• Rhys has a few quests for the group, to aid the Beastmen in reclaiming the Biber Hills:
• Go kill the fungal midgets that reproduce like vermin! Or at least find out how they come to be. Rhys has a location for the PCs to investigate as a starting point.
  
• Recover a bone hookah adorned with runes. Had a seer dream recently, and saw it on a grove of stone trees. It's undeniably important and related to the floods.
• Marching out to explore the Hills (with re-stocked rations, rope, and a porting goat), after a couple hours they find a grey knight sitting with a greatsword at their lap. "Grey Knight of Bratum"... "failed at my quest; poisoned to death; kill me in a duel to get my title".
• Nerisse accepts, but then starts skirmishing the knight and raining arrows on him. The knight retreats back to his post, claiming this is not the noble duel tradition mandates.
• PCs leave him there to die... "we'll pick up his sword when he's dead!"
  

• Moving on, they decide to take a de-tour to the South instead of running to the fungal midgets' point. There is an abandoned watchtower, and Angan rightfully points out "It could be a good way to scout the area for possible threats".
• Midway there, they run into another group of scoundrels, Auriola and the Crows. Reaction roll is positive, and the groups are for talking. Auriola looks for a sparring partner, but nobody is in the mood, nor do they mention the knight. Their wizard, with a big scarf around his neck, has a speaking method similar to Zem's, but through a crow.
• Groups exchange information; Auriola & co claim to have cleared the ruins of the watchtower already.
  

Referee Commentary

• XP awarded for their first plunder was too low? They missed a big treasure haul by a hair. But hopefully this serves as a lesson to bring more hirelings/torchbearers/mules with them next time, and go better prepared.
• They bypassed several fights. That's good. But maybe Auriola and the Crows should have imposed a more confrontational goal (what do the NPCs want?). I felt they just went past each other, and I didn't give a hard choice. But at least the players know they are not the only treasure plunders in these hills anymore.
  

OSR: The Calaveras Campaign 1, 2, 3

As I already touched on here, a new campaign has started where I try to run Knave in Spanish. The players, old friends of mine, have never played a TTRPG before. So I can proud myself on being their first contact with the hobby, and hopefully a worthy ambassador?

To keep things lean and simple (one of my selling points for Knave has been the 7-page-long rules), the only additions I allowed were an extra item at character generation (choose between extra weapon, lockpicks, or random spellbook), and Snacks (once a day consume a ration during a turn of rest to regain some HP). Hopefully these help counterbalance the group being 2 3 players.

As for how I'm organizing this game, there are two main changes:

1. I switched to Micro$oft's OneNote to keep my notes in one place. So far Markdown text notes were my jam, but the need to embed images and other media in one place made me give this a try. Let's see.
2. On top of that, keeping an analog journal after each session has been a refreshing change. The reports below are expanded mentions of what I have in these notebook pages.
   

Let's look at the characters:

Pancho (Copernico) - a guy with a crossbow and a tendency to grab shiny stuff in front of him. Zemalayou (iagson) - carrying a bow and a spellbook, Zem has showed good and bad judgement alike. Heavily scarred after this first adventure so far. Nerisse* (Mo) - a redhead bow-woman, who wakes up in the first visited dungeon without any memory of how she ended up there. New Hirelings** - Daniele (man-at-arms, sword & board)

*Nerisse joined the group at Session 3.

*Daniele was hired at Session 2 in Rietikon.

Session 1

• A trip on the road from Walfalkon to the hamlet of Rietikon. Word of floods and landslides in that region serve as a hook for the adventurers, with rumors of ancient ruins and sites with potential treasure.
• They travel with a family wanting to try better luck West, and a dwarf called Gunther who's reserved and bookish. The family reduces their travel speed, so Gunther decides it's better to haste to Rietikon rather than be forced to spend the night camping, so he gallops away with his pony.
• Zem and Pancho decide to camp with the family instead of pressing on after the dwarf. Why wouldn't they risk going on? That's their prerogative.
• During camp, they question the family (Honk & co) to get a sense of the current mood in the region, and their motivations to moving. Selling boots and moving on, it seems?
  
• Marching continues with the break of dawn, and close to Rietikon they find Gunther's saddlebags discarded near the road.
• Copernico rolled a spyglass at character creation, so Pancho makes good use of it to scout ahead.
• Investigating the area yields some clues. It looks like this was a violent attack perpetrated by a group. Valuables as coin and books were left on site. So of course, Pancho pockets that.
• They decide to continue to town, escorted by the family, to check out those 3 tomes.
• Once in Rietikon, the Pfaff Lake stands ominously by the fishing hamlet. The lake hosts an endless fog at its center, together with constant lightning. Its nature a mystery, yet it doesn't seem like a threat?
• They get room and carp stew at The Satyr & The Carp, little more than a side cottage with some bunk beds for rent. Lon Abio, both host and major, gives them a sense of the area (and provides some rumors):
• Landslides down South have stirred things up. Why is Walfalkon not sending help yet?
• Beastmen are roaming the region, sprouting out like vermin after the floods.
• A wizard passed by town going South-West to the marshes, about 2 days away.
• There's someone in town (Enric) who might be interested in those books of yours...
  

Referee Commentary

• I'm perfectly aware that this way of warming new players up is sub-optimal. But I knew these friends would be hooked, and decided to take a softer start to facilitate a broader sandbox scope.
• Gunther's dilemma is what Phandelver's start should have been like.
• They were given meaningful choices and a few hooks. Let's see how this continues.
  

Session 2

• Books are dropped to Enric, a sick-looking fella that accepts transcribing them for profit, in the span of weeks.
• With the profits they hire Daniele, a woman-at-arms ready for some mercenary work, and get some provisions. All is ready to venture to the nearby Biber Hills!
• Half-way a couple with their throats cut out is found, killed on site. Few monetary valuables still on them.
• Getting into the hills proper, the trio spends the night and gets some nearby hints but no action:
• Beastmen seen from a distance (again Pancho's spyglass comes in handy), accompanied by a woman.
• Landslide and unsteady terrain not far from their sleeping spot wakes them up at night.
• An owl of titanic proportions flies nearby during the darkest of night.
• The next day, they decide to go for the Dragon Skull of Xaxalar, a known site within the hills.
• On their arrival, there's a column of smoke coming out of the skull's nostrils. Is someone there? There's also a tied dog at the entrance. It starts barking as the group approaches, but no one comes out with the warning. After feeding it some dried fish (a ration), it can be bypassed.
• Inside there are some logs, furs, and discarded bones. Pancho and Daniele investigate the area, whilst Zem serves as lookout with his bow. They find a sizeable sack with teeth and fangs (priced possessions of sorts?), as well as a hidden passage below the furs!
• Following that tunnel, after some minutes of crawling and going underground in this structure, they find the stone ruins of a complex. The closed door has a stone hand, open, instead of a handle. Zem thinks it appropriate to give it a shake. It instantly animates, crushing his hand bones and tendons. Hand is unusable from here on out!
• Pancho takes an iron hook, gets the "shake" on the piece of equipment, but can get the door open.
• Inside, there's a corridor with tapestries left and right, with images of serpent folk, dragons, and other creatures. Serpentine Empire, anybody?
• The next room has a lizard skeleton, impaled on the skull by a javelin. Eyes are glowing. Shelves with moldy old tomes and parchments to the eastern wall.
• Pancho pulls the javelin out, as Zem is investigating the books, which makes them ignite and throw a flame tongue at the already injured bowman! He passes out, face disfigured by the burn marks.
  

Referee Commentary

• Glad that the group chose to feed the dog and not escalate the situation. They also took their time to check the interior out.
• Glad that iagson learned to be more cautious from here on out when encountering bizarre dungeons.
  

Session 3Nerisse (Mo) joins from this session #3 on

• Zem has been burned and is currently down. A reinvigorating Snack and attending by Daniele gets him back up and capable of adventuring, hand still a mess of broken bones.
• Pancho scouts ahead, and in the next room finds a column with 4 sets of chains and manacles. One of them contains a sprawled skeleton, the other a ginger woman, Nerisse. Quickly freeing her with his lockpicks, Pancho questions her, but little she remembers of this place, or what brought her to it.
• A scaly crimson lizard the size of a fat cat crawls through the ceiling, upside down, and attacks the recently recovered group.
  
• Nerisse tries tossing the femur of the skeleton to another direction: "Doggy, fetch". Didn't draw the desired attention, instead the skeleton animated asking "Well, that is rather impolite. Do you mind?"
• After a feral exchange, Pancho goes down, but it's Daniele who deals the final sword blow to the creature, that turns to ash and smoke, and disappears as quickly as it came to existence.
• Time to question the skeleton. Nerisse takes the lead, hoping the bony figure can give some clues. "Name is Daer the fool, I used to brighten up this slumber temple in times past. I remember... a great betrayal. A thief and a mother!". He points to the Western doors claiming that the place of worship is in that area.
  
• Zem moves to the North with Daniele, whilst Pancho fiddles with some locks (lockpicks! equipment!). The archer has 1 unusable arm, and a disfigured face (permanent -1 to Charisma): the (momentary) torchbearer. They find a human size stone statue of a cobra, with a red ruby on one eye socket, and a green emerald on the other. Also some stairs in front, moving down. Too psychologically scarred, and weary of any traps, Zem decides to move back to the group.
• From here on out, moving West thanks to an unlocked door:
  
• There's a chapel area with rotten benches, and a red curtain separating the room.
• A stone tub with goo and liquid reveals to have regenerative powers. Zem quickly puts his hand in, and splashes some on his face too. Hand is fixed! But face scars get lizard scales?
• They get attacked again by the same red lizard, bigger and stronger this time.
• Nerisse and Zem push the basin together, dropping the liquid. The lizard vanishes as it came. Where to?
• Behind the red curtain, a prayer room with a second stone cobra statue (this one without gems in the eye sockets), and a prayer book at the lectern. With riddles and cryptic messages, and some magic even?
  

Referee Commentary

• Very happy with the group's engagement with the game and the fiction.
• In the couple of combats we had, the players' first reaction is to look at their character sheet to look for equipment to use: net, glue, fire, etc. This fills my OSR heart.
• I'm glad the first point of interest was a dungeon of my own design. Means it's rougher on the edges, but it gets playtested.
  

OSR: New Knave Campaign

Rietikon, the Pfaff Lake, the Biber Hills, and region

I started a new campaign with 2 players who've never touched a TTRPG before. Old friends of mine. We have played boardgames, videogames, and consumed plenty of adjacent media together over the years, but never made the jump. Why? Who knows... The prompt came from one of them, so I proposed a game of Knave to test the waters (5e was being pushed, but I gently turned that down, arguing that there are better ways to get started in the hobby).

Blatantly ignoring the common advice of starting directly at the dungeon, I picked a short mystery and provided seeds and rumors, to give them a sandbox in the form of a tiny hexcrawl they could explore in future session. An excuse for me to spend 30 minutes playing with Hexkit to create the map above. They were immediately hooked and really got into the game. Asking clever questions, investigating and getting invested in the fiction. We will be picking things up again with future sessions.

Premise

A recent natural catastrophe in the Biber hills, South of the hamlet of Rietikon, has provoked brutal landslides. Incessant rain and floods. With it, Beastmen have spilled like vermin, causing turmoil in the region. Adventurers want to be first to the site, under the rumor that ancient ruins and dungeon mounds have been resurfacing from beneath the hills after the change in landscape. The promise of treasure and ancient relics, if they are cunning enough to avoid the Beastmen

A day of travel away from Walfalkon, Rietikon sits by the Pfaff Lake. The body of water borders with the neighboring Kingdom, and has fog and constant lightning at its center, a phenomena that for decades has been plaguing the body of water in a mysterious way.

To the South-West, there are deadly marshes and other settlements (and adventures) to be had. Same with the road traveling to the North along the lake.

What I plan to do

• The PCs have arrived at Rietikon, a hamlet with ~50 inhabitants and a few moving pieces. A starting town that can be expanded and fleshed out, under the jurisdiction of Walfalkon. Not enough to overwhelm them.
• Each hex in the map is 1 mile, so the starting area is fairly small and tractable.
• Have created hex events and population tables for the (h)exploration. Sprinkled a bit of faction play and sites to bring it together.
• Picked up several starting dungeons and modules, as well as a dungeon I just created for the occasion. Depending on what players end up doing, we could continue with:
• Tomb of the Serpent Kings
• Bone Marshes
• Tower of the Stargazer
• Dragon Skull of Xaxalar - a little dungeon I created

OSR: Magical Murder Mansion Sessions 1, 2

Covid-19-isolated, it was time to launch a game to keep my mind off the current situation around me. These are dire times. I have family members infected. Stay safe.

This will be a play report of Magical Murder Mansion by Skerples. If we end up covering a significant part of this fun-house dungeon I will write a short review and my opinions on it (because, what might seem brilliant when reading could blatantly fail at the table, and vice-versa). We use play online, with Roll20 and Discord as the tools of choice.

The rules are based on Knave, with a few light additions and modifications (including Ancestries, but no Knacks this time). We start at PCs at Level 4, as the module recommends seasoned murderhobos. 400 gp each at start to boot, to allow some purchases and hirelings. Let's revise the characters first.

Wendell - a Human fighter type, former butcher. Carries a Battleaxe, Bow and arrows. Likes to boss his underlings around. Gelda Cleanwater - curious Halfling Wizard dabbling in the arcane arts. Also carries a staff.  Grem - a Spiderling Fighter with two spears and a shield. Starting Hirelings - 3 Man-at-arms (Billy, Lois, Olaf) and a Laborer (Farmer). New Hirelings - man-at-arms (Soupy)

Session 1

Rooms covered: 1: Cloakroom, 2: Prismatic Wall, 45: Lever Alcove, 46: Pit Trap, 48: Trophy Room, 49: Coffin Storage, 51: Zombie Kiln Exploration Time: 50' Session Length: 2h10' (we took some time to go over character creation before the start) Fatalities: Billy, Lois, Olaf

Group takes the quest by Hubert Nibsley's nephew Heinrich P'flem, to go to his uncle's abandoned mansion 1 hour outside of town, and try to recover an old secret journal by the (in)famed magician. Anything else you find in there "you can find and keep for yourselves". With the promise of riches, the group gathers some hired hands and sets off to the old Mansion.

Heinrich P'flem

•  Group has a peek from the outside, and refuses to make a perimeter check, instead deciding to go attempt their luck at the obvious main entrance.
• The entrance has 8 iron hooks for the coats. Greeted by the ghost butler Albert "Your coats, Sirs". They fall to the ground, Albert retreats frustrated and sad. The cloths lie on the floor, so.... they try to us the iron hooks. Several garments get scorched in the process of the party trying to connect the colored columns with the hooks (since they are the same number!).
• Frustrated at the lack of effect, they decide to go left "Always going left is known as the best strategy, right?", Wendell suggests.
• The Lever Alcove's description makes it too enticing for the players, who know something bad's about to come but WANT to pull at the lever.
• Wendell instructs his hireling Olaf to pull the lever, whilst everybody else cautiously awaits  in the entrance room. He does so... and the octarine light fills the entrance room! Lois and Billy get ignited immediately. Billy dies paifully, the smell of cooking bacon in everyone's nostrils.
• Next, the group decides to go left. There's the red carpet in front, and as is common for now, Olaf takes the front. Wendell is very convincing (even passing a Charisma save), so the hired muscle peaks around the corner. Without further precautions, he walks over the red carpet, springing the pit trap. Quick enough to grab the end of the pit, his leg takes a toll. They quickly pull him up.
• Moving forward (and jumping across the pit), the group moves towards the Trophy Room. There's also a purple-lighted portal in sight. After noticing that the heads on display aren't taxidermy, but just paper replicas, they start smashing some of them to see if they contain any hidden treasure.
• After getting the unicorn's horn, and ignoring the glass eyes, the decide to give the portal a try (after much experimentation, throwing some of the taxidermy heads, poking at it with a spear, etc.).
• We get a random encounter with a Giant Spider, that surprises Olaf and reduces the hireling "Mama? Milk? Food?" and swiftly kills the charred Lois to boot. An exchange after, Grem finally kills the arachnid (the irony? he's a Spiderling).
• Now with time to take in the area behind the "portal", the realization kicks in that this is a coffin storage room, with mist. The group quickly loots the coffins, with sacks of gold and small trinkets in them (20 of them).
• They then take the door to the West, to the Kiln room. It's hotter here (the oven is on), and there's an operational table with servo-mechanical arms. Quickly, the group decides to experiment by putting the corpse of poor Olaf, the man-at-arms, on the operating table. Servos activate, and start operating and injecting at incredible speed. Modified body is tossed into the kiln, and there's some interaction with the temperature (danger is avoided though... after the kiln started shaking).

Session 2

Rooms covered: 51: Zombie Kiln, 47: Record Room, 50: Spiral Staircase, 54: Art Gallery, 55: Statue Alcove, 56: Lounge, 57: Magic Elevator Exploration Time: 1h50 (excluding their visit back in town) Session Length: 1h45' Fatalities: Soupy

• Group decides to go back to town, cash in their recovered treasure, and resupply.
• Wendell hires a new man-at-arms, Soupy.
• They also get some new gear: lockpicks, rations, 10ft pole, etc.
• Back at the mansion, they let Soupy open the door, just in case, and then he's washed by the octarine magical light from the entrance/lowered metallic column. Having a strong mind, he's unaffected by it.
• Moving directly to unlock and diligently explore the Record Room, the lights inside the mansion suddenly turn off, so the Laborer has to light the lantern.
• The group spends 1 hour investigating the numerous coded papers in the records. Find out their names, and those who entered the dungeon before them, as well as their character sheets. They ask clever questions, to which neither I nor the module have the answer. Disappointing results.
• Wanting to ascend to the tower via the spiral staircase, Wendell in front notices the "TURN BACK" sign in front of it. They cleverly decide to use a non-literal interpretation of the message, and ascend walking backwards. To avoid mishaps or surprises, Wendell uses two helmets as improvised rear mirrors. Improvised solution, doesn't help him seeing the glyphs on the last steps of the stairs! Fortunately he makes his save, and warns the others.
• Once above, the group finds itself in an Art Gallery with 8 big (and expensive looking) paintings. Having a cursory look at them, a nude of Hubert Nibsley himself, and one of a young woman wearing a far-off-the-shoulder red dress, catch the group's attention.
• Gilda goes too close to Nibsley's naked painting.
• Grem, keen on exploring this level of the tower a bit more, decides to check the next area. An alcove with 3 statues of Nibsley, covering different parts of his face. A small metal box on a pedestal, and a brass plaque reading "BE NICE". 

This, but with Mr. Nibsley

• Too tempted, Grem decides to go for the box. The statues, as somewhat expected, animate and protect the box as best they can, smashing left and right at Grem. He does avoid the first blunt of the attacks.
• At the same time, Gilda notices what she needs to do to be able to move again: she has to compliment Hubert! A cocky magical effect of sorts. After that, the statues stop their offense, but are still "awake".
• Fearing another pummeling by the stone statues, the group circles around the tower to see what else is here. They discover a lounge area with 3 couches, a zombie with sunglasses and a floral shirt snoring on one of them. They also find an elevator, with buttons going "UP" and "DOWN".
• Too fearful to touch anything and potentially activate new hazards and traps, the adventurers are queasy on what their next action should be. Finally, they decide to circle back to the paintings, focusing on The Fallen Madonna.
• Gilda explores the painting, together with Wendell and Soupy. "Hands off!", the lady on the painting protests. "I'm warning you!", as Wendell tries to pry it from where it's hanging. Gilda tries to cover it with a coat (they got new ones in town after having the old ones burnt at the entrance). "You asked for it...". The lady on the painting pulls out a magical wand, quickly produces a lightning that fills the room.
• Soupy turns to ash on the spot. Gilda manages to duck away and avoids the blunt of it, and Wendell is hurt but still walking.

Referee Commentary / Things I Learned

• It is capital to remember rolling for random encounters every turn of exploration. It keeps things moving and players on their toes, especially when exploring rather "static" rooms. And there are a fair share of those in here. Our rolls showed only one of them, and at some point I forgot to throw an encounter (for example after they spent the hour in the Record Room).
• The best traps are the ones that are obvious, and the players facepalm themselves "How did we fall into that one?!"
• Criticism on 47: Record Room
• This room seems like a pun or gimmick, but a bad thought out one. After finding their character sheets my players tried to do all sorts of clever things, but aren't rewarded by them "I try to write 100 on my HP".
• Or also asking clever questions, like "Who was the last person who entered here", "When is the last time Hubert entered here"
• It is very loose, extremely powerful, and a gimmick, that I think didn't see a lot of playtest. It left a sour taste on my mouth, and I think my players were quite disappointed by the room.
• Criticism on 54: Art Gallery
• There is a LOT to describe here. 8 paintings, where the players are not really sure what is relevant and what not.
• The lack of doors between rooms 54 and 55, and 54 and 57, made the players believe that the whole floor-plan was a complicated puzzle, including the statues. And frankly there's no way to discourage them of that suspicion.

 

Find out what happened in session 3 HERE

Knave++, my Knave Hack

Knave++ is my Knave hack. I intend to test this system from now on. This is v1.0.

At this point it barely resembles the original game that Ben Milton designed (with a very generous Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license). I added enough bits and bobs to please my taste. And as an exercise, building a hack from the ground up, with the very strong core that Knave provides, has been very educational.

Casque Knight!

Knave++ Player's Guide Doc

Knave++ Features

What follows is a scattered list of changes and additions compared to the "vanilla" Knave.
The solid Knave core remains: ascending d20 rolls tied to the 6 standard ability scores, item slots based on constitution (and a general focus towards equipment), quick character generation, high compatibility with B/X and other OSR games.

• Character Creation
• Classic class features called Knacks. Abilities and powers that PCs can pick up.
• Ancestries as a random table. A light way to imprint the game setting. These are specific to my Maienstein/Stonehell game. List can be replaced with whatever Ancestries tingle your fancy. Or drop them altogether. It's meant for flavor and a minor ability boost and drawback. Differentiation, nothing more.
• Playing the Game
• Healing is slightly modified, and adds the concept of Snacks as quick healing bursts. Additional rules for starvation.
• Combat 
• Alternative initiative system to have individual rolls for each PC and antagonist NPC group. Henchmen always go last. Still rolled every round for extra randomness.
• Easy to use death & dismemberment table when a PC drops to 0 HP.
• Spellcasting
• Keep arcane level-less spellcasting, but replace the original list by the Magic Dice system from GLOG. I really like the MD mechanic as a whole, and it's easy to stick to Knave.
• Add cleric spells, called Prayers, which contrary to Magic User spells have no Miscasts/Dooms. Reduced spell list, but more reliable. Flavor as herbs, bells, tablets, or some similar equipment that eat up Item Slots, called Clerical Implements.
• Advancement
• Advancement and experience taken from LotFP, and with different numbers to use on a currency=XP game.

Changelog

There is no way to get everything right on the first go. This is to keep track of future changes.

• 23.12.19: version 1.0. A baby is born.

Things To Add

• Referee facing rules
• Overloaded Encounter Die
• Wilderness travel
• Summary of rule terminologies: Advantage, Save, MD, turn, round, Knack, Ancestry, etc.
• Fatigue
• Ranged weapons range?
• Cover from ranged attacks

Spell: Summon Avatar*, pt. 1

As I was recently working on Prayers (a small system to introduce Cleric spells for Knave), there was a rough equivalent between B/X systems (mainly taken from BFRPG and LotFP) and the essential Prayers. I chose 25 such divine powers, that in my eye capture what a Cleric should be capable of, and what makes them distinct. Prayers go up to 5 Clerical Implements, which roughly translates into spell Level 5.

But hold on, that means you allow Level 5 spells at PC Level 5? U crazy Hammer?!?!
Yes and no. The cost to use Prayers is bound to taking a Knack and more importantly owning Clerical Implements (CI). Filling up the precious Item Slots of the Knave PC. Oh, and CI break fairly easily. And their appearance in the game is completely up to referee's fiat.

There are exactly 3 Prayers out of the list of 25 that I put together myself rather than adapting from other OSR systems:

• CI 1: Divine Ceremony
• CI 3: Summon Avatar*
• CI 4: Consecrate Land*

Let's take a closer look at the second.

Its intent is twofold. The reversed spell (Dismiss Avatar, marked with the *), takes the form of a creature banishment. There are several equivalents we can find for this reversed form in other systems. For instance the Cleric Level 7 spell in LotFP Holy Word*, the Cleric Level 5 spell in BFRPG Dispel Evil, or the 5e Cleric Level 4 spell Banishment. Remove a being that doesn't belong to this place from existence, be it temporarily or permanently. The original of Summon Avatar* is in the title: you call the physical manifestation of your god (although one of their lackeys may suffice) to come to your aid. Of course, such a request will go through the tightest scrutiny, and could go awfully wrong.

But let's take a step back and take in some adjacent media, specifically the Die story line, which started as a comic book and (naturally) evolved into a ttrpg. In there, a bunch of kids are transported to the D&D stories they play in a Jumanji style tale, each taking up a class represented by a die (d4: Dictator, d6: Fool, d8: Grief Knight,...). The dice they take are not like your typical Fighter/Cleric/Thief/MU, but interesting twists coming close to these trope archetypes.

The Cleric in the group is instead called a Demonbinder (although Godbinder makes more sense, see below), and acts as a Summoner of Gods, giving and claiming favors from deities. Like a warlock dominatrix. I love it. This, perfectly embodied in the following excerpt from the comic book, is an accurate representation of what Summon Avatar* should feel like if saying the Prayer goes well:

From Die Issue #2

From Die Issue #2

"Godbinders are Clerics as demonologists."

Summon Avatar*

Duration: 1 round/[Level]
Range: 40'
Save: Yes|Yes
Clerical Implements: 3+. This is the only Prayer that allows you to use more CI at saying time. Minimum is 3, but you can go above that.
Effect:
This Prayer requires strenuous concentration. If at any point during the duration you take damage, do a Save. On a failure, the spell ends.
Summon Avatar
Choose number of [HD] to summon an Avatar of your deity, god(s) or authority. Up to double the CI used. Do a WIS save. Negative modifiers to the save for:

• -1 for each HD chosen.
• -1 if you've never summoned this Avatar before (blind call).

Positive modifiers to the save:

• +1 for each [CI] you choose to destroy during the summoning.
• +1 for each d12 HP you sacrifice.
• +1 for each other creature you sacrificed the last turn (live stock, humanoids, etc.).
• +1 if on appropriate Consecrated/Desecrated land (see the Consecrate Land* Prayer).
• Advantage if you know the Avatar's True Name.

If you get a Critical success on the roll, the Prayer duration is 1 turn/[Level] instead.

Dismiss Avatar
Target a creature that doesn't belong here (celestial, demon, elemental, etc). Its HD have to be up to double the CI used. Do an opposed WIS save against the creature's CHA. Modifiers:

• You have Disadvantage if target has more HD than your [Level].
• You have Advantage if you know the target's True Name.

If you succeed, the creature is dismissed to where they came from for the duration. If you get a Critical success on the roll, the creature is permanently dismissed and the spell ends.

But Hammer, what IS an Avatar??
Fear not, I will explain how I intend them to work in game (apart from HD, which is an obvious measure already baked in), and prepare some random tables to determine what Avatar you actually summon. They'll be linked here when they are finished in a coming article.

Reference Reading List

• Die comic book
• GLOG Summoner and Entities
• The Summon LotFP spell
• These handy monster and Christ figure generators (sorry, I just had to include the latter)

Knave Spellcasting (and Clerics)

This is the third post in the series, where I try to develop my Knave hack. The ultimate goal is to have a ready to use modern interpretation of old B/X rules for play in my games. Even though Knave is brilliant in its simplicity, it also provides a solid foundation to start building and adding.

First I tackled Ancestries, and then decided to go for Class-like abilities called Knacks for Knaves.

Fighter/Thief/Magic-User/Cleric are a must options to be conserved in my game. Knave doesn't bother with these distinctions with the "equipment is all" philosophy. That's fair. But players tend to favor distinction and character customization. Hence the Knacks, to add options and distinctions. From the four, the first three are even covered in "vanilla" Knave. Not the Clerics though.

Magic-User spellcasting is intuitive and described by "vanilla" Kave in the following (Designer Notes removed):

The spell lists from any old-school RPG will work perfectly well in Knave, provided that they go up to 9th level. There are many free lists of classic spells available online.

In Knave, PCs may only cast spells of their level or less, so a level 3 PC could only cast spells of level 0 to 3. Spells are cast out of spell books, which must be held in both hands and read aloud. Each spell book can only be used once per day. Importantly, each spell book only holds a single spell, and each spell book takes up an item slot, so if a PC wants to be able to cast a wide variety of spells, they’ll have to fill most of their inventory with spell books.

PCs are unable to create, copy or transcribe spell books. In order to gain new spell books, PCs must adventure for them, by either recovering them from dungeons or looting them from other magicians. The higher the level of the spell book, the rarer and more valuable it is. PCs openly carrying high level spell books are likely to be hounded by bandits and wizards looking to “acquire” them.

When a spell allows for a save, make an opposed Intelligence save against the defender’s relevant ability, usually Dexterity for ranged attack spells, Constitution for life-draining spells, Intelligence for mind-altering spells, or Wisdom for Illusions.

Arcane Spellcasting

Magic-User spellcasting something easy to expand and adapt on. My take on Arcane Spellcasting:

• Instead of the default list, I will be using spellcasting from GLOG, since my love for the Magic Dice (MD) mechanic is unconditional. This conserves the level-less spells from the original list in Knave, but adds depth.
• Every spell can be cast as many times the MU wants, as long as they have a spellbook in their inventory, and available Magic Dice. Reputable wizards will fill their Item Slots quickly.
• There are actually 3 ways a PC can cast arcane spells, and they all involve taking a Knack.
• Student of the Arcane gives the ability to read spellbooks. This Knack will be the bread and butter of many PCs.
• Spell Tattoos gives a signature spell.
• Chaos Mage is a nice way to get a random spell per day. It could be useless, or a campaign-changer. 
• The saves for spell effects are conserved pretty much from the original 4th paragraph above (from "vanilla" Knave).

Easy, just use GLOG arcane spellcasting for Magic-Users, à la Skerples.

What IS a Cleric?

A B/X Cleric usually has part or all of the following features:

1. Decent HP. Better than Thief and Magic-User, worse than Fighter.
2. Can wear heavy armor, wield shields, and use (blunt) weapons in combat.
3. Very effective against undead. Either by a specific Turn Undead feature, or by means of Cleric spells.
4. They can create holy water, very effective against certain foes. Consecrate sites too.
5. Can cast divine spells. Usually up to a level or two less than the Magic-User. These include, unique to a Cleric:

• Healing and curse removal spells
• Bless/bane
• Silence, dispel magic
• Protection to different hazards (poison, certain alignments)
• Divinations (detect evil, detect magic, locate object, commune, etc.)
• Some "biblical" damaging hazard: insect plague, wall of fire, earthquake, etc.
• Some include a regeneration/restoration resurrection spell. That restores lost level drains, limbs from the dismemberment table, or a brings back a dead character entirely.

Let's go ahead and list again the Knacks of Faith I wrote for Clerics, and see what is covered and how:

• Blind Faith: Take a sacred oath with your faith/authority. You gain the ability to use Clerical Implements (bells, candles, herbs or similar), and gain one. You can use it with one hand to cast Prayers.
• Turn Undead: Level# per day, force up to WIS bonus+Level HD worth of undead to make a morale check using your action. Apply a negative modifier equal to your WIS bonus to the check.
• Pacifist: Whenever you get a reaction roll to resolve a situation that could end up in combat, if you and your allies remain calm, the roll is with Advantage.
• Hammer of The Authority: Grant Advantage to any morale checks your retainers/hirelings/acolytes make as your below a holy litany and lay waste with your warhammer.
• Sacred Feast: Out of combat you can bless Rations or Snacks that are meant to regain HP with your Clerical Implement. Creatures add your WIS bonus to their HP healed.
• Witch Hunter: You smell the presence of Magic Users, Witches, or other Clerics.

1. and 2. are not explicitly covered. And probably don't need to. All Knaves already have the same HD size (d8), and can wear as much armor as they want. As always, the limiting factor are the Item Slots, and the hands carried. By allowing Clerics to cast spells by still holding a shield or wielding a sword, we make a clear distinction to the Magic-User.
3. Turn Undead has its own Knack.
4. These don't need a specific feature, and are better covered by spells (if at all).
5. The Blind Faith Knack covers spellcasting. Still need to check what these have to cover. But the other Knacks are also important (and probably not part of the B/X repertoire, but rather a more modern Paladin or Knight).
Pacifist and Hammer of The Authority focus on the social aspect of the Cleric. In my mind, a zealot priest is a holy warrior that leads with word and pose. Their usefulness is very campaign dependent, and if hirelings are a thing on your game or not.
Witch Hunter is a version of the Detect Magic spell, that can pin-point spellcasting individuals. It doesn't work on objects or places, so it is again useful on a specific type of game/campaign.

Spell selection will be key here, to have the iconic Cleric spells included, and roughly scale them by level. Contrary to Arcane spellcasting, Prayers should be reliable (no Mishaps/Dooms), but there should be a finite number of castings per day (some save?). My 5e past tempts me to make all spells available at a certain level, the same way cleric/druid/paladin work in that edition.

TL;DR: Enter the Knave Cleric

A Clerical Implement can take many forms... by Jens Kuczwara

Clerics, priests, paladins, zealots and holy individuals fuel their powers by saying Prayers to their deity, god(s) or authority. More reliable power than an arcane wizard could ever dream of. A PC that has taken a sacred oath, and taken the Blind Faith Knack, is able to use Clerical Implements (CI). These take the form of bells, candles, herbs or similar tools, and are the fuel of these divine Prayers. You could design some CI for your game this way.

CI are rare and obscure items. They can't be crafted or bought, but could be traded, found, or retrieved. To a fellow priest or scholar they are invaluable. To most peasants, useless trinkets.

Saying a Prayer requires an Action (unless otherwise specified), and the CI held on one hand when doing so. The rest of the CI can easily sit on the backpack and still be serviceable. Each CI takes up an Item Slot. The more CI carried, the more numerous and stronger the available Prayers become. Note that some Prayers require a Save during the saying (WIS Save, unless otherwise specified in the Prayer description).  In addition, the character level has to be equal or higher than the number of CI required for a certain Prayer. Otherwise, there are no restrictions and all Prayers are automatically available.

Example: Merrick the priest is Level 3 and has 4 Clerical Implements. They can use any of the 15 Prayers in the lists below up to and including "3 Clerical Implements".

After using any number of CI for a Prayer, do a WIS Save. On a fail, lose the ability to use those CI again until you rest for the night. If the number rolled on the save die is equal or lower than the number of CI used, the CI break completely (the bells crack, the incense rots, the candles melt, etc.), and you lose those items.

Spells marked with an * are reversible, and can be used in either form, separated with |. Some spells have a varying [Level] value of the Cleric saying the Prayer. A round is 10 seconds, a turn 10 minutes.

1 Clerical Implement

• Bless*: Duration 1 min/[Level], Range: 40', Save: No|Yes
• Creature of your choice gets +1 to hit and +1 to save vs fear effects (incl. morale)|Bane is opposite
• Cure Light Wounds*: Duration: Permanent, Range: Touch, Save: No|Yes
• Heal d6 + [Level] HP from a creature OR remove one temporary condition (stunned, deafened, blinded)|Deal d6 + [Level] HP to a creature. Double if undead.
• Divine Ceremony: Saying time: 1 hour, Duration: Special, Range: Touch, Save: No
• Choose one of the following. Each can only be done once on a creature:
• Funeral: preserve a dead body for [Level] days from becoming undead.
• Join: willing creature joins your faith. They gain advantage on next [Level] saves.
• Wedding: marry two willing creatures. +1 to saves for next [Level] days as long as within 40'.
• Purify Food & Drink*: Duration: Permanent, Range: 30', Save: No
• [WIS bonus] portions of food & water edible|non-edible
• Remove Fear*: Duration: Special, Range: Touch, Save: No/Yes
• Subject on effect of Fear, can do a Save adding your [Level]|Touch a creature and cause them to do an opposed Save, or they run hysterically for [Level] rounds in Fear.

2 Clerical Implements

• Augury: Duration Instantaneous, Range: 0, Save: No
• Ask if particular actions will have good or bad consequences. 70%+ 1%|[Level] chance for answer. Event up to 2 turns in advance.
• Command: Duration: 1 round/[Level], Range: 20', Save: Yes
• One word command to a creature that can hear you. Opposed save their CHA vs your WIS. On fail they must follow command as best they can. No directly harmful words (e.g. die, jump (off cliff)).
• Delay Poison: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: Touch, Save: Yes
• Creature that was poisoned in the last 24 hours gets a Save to resist.
• Resist Cold*: Duration: 1 round/[Level], Range: Touch, Save: No|No
• Temporary immunity to minor cold|fire weather conditions (e.g. blizzard, dessert). +3 to saves against major cold|fire effects (e.g. fireball). Reduce [Level] damage from such sources .
• Silence 15' Radius: Duration: 2 rounds/[Level], Range: 150', Save: Yes
• 30' diameter area of absolute silence. No spellcasting possible. Stationary area if object targeted. If creature targeted, they get opposed save.

3 Clerical Implements

• Dispel Magic: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: 120', Save: Yes
• Save WIS for spell to work. Affects a 20' area. All spell effects in the area end. If spell is targeted at creature or object, they lose the ability to create magical effects for [Level] turns (includes magical potions). Creatures can do an opposed save to avoid.
• Remove Curse*: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: 20', Save: Yes|Yes
• Save to remove one curse from an object or creature. Does not remove the curse from the object, but allows a creature to take it off (shield, weapon, armor).|Bestow curse if creature fails opposed save. Referee has to agree on effects. Examples: -2 to Saves, -4 to hit, etc.
• Sacrifice*: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: Touch, Save: No|Yes
• Transfer any number of HP from Cleric to the target creature|Drain 1d6 + [Level] HP to the Cleric. The creature gets a save.
• Summon Avatar*: Duration: 1 round/[Level], Range: 40', Save: Yes|Yes
• See the Prayer description
• Speak with Dead: Duration: 1 turn, Range: 10', Save: No
• Corpse answers up to [Level] questions (sometimes cryptically) with knowledge it had in life. This is imprinted knowledge "stored" in the body.

4 Clerical Implements

• Consecrate Land*: Saying time: 1 hour, Duration Permanent, Range: 300', Save: No|No
• Choose an area [Level]x10' in diameter. It becomes holy land. +3 to any Turn Undead and +1 to saves against fear. Undead also suffer -1 to all rolls.|Opposite effect can neutralize an area, or desecrate it.
• Create Water: Duration: Permanent, Range: 20', Save: No
• [Level] gallons are created with the saying (1 gallon suffices for one day for 3 creatures). Containers are needed.
• Cure Serious Wounds*: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: Touch, Save: No|Yes
• Heal 2d6 + [Level] HP from a creature OR remove one condition (stunned, deafened, blinded, paralyzed)|Deal 2d6 + [Level] HP to a creature. Double if undead.
• Detect Lie: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: 0, Save: No
• Determine if any one statement made to you in the past hour was true or false. Honest mistakes are not detected as lies, nor are untrue statements made by charmed or bewitched individuals, for they know not what they say.
• Spell Immunity: Duration: 1 turn/[Level], Range: Touch, Save: Yes
• Make a WIS save. On success, target gains resistance against spell and spell-like abilities: Advantage to such Saves. On fail, it is Disadvantage. Duration can be divided with up to [Level] targets.

5 Clerical Implements

• Commune: Saying time: 1 turn, Duration: 1 turn, Range: 0, Save: Yes
• You get in direct contact with your authority. You get to ask [WIS bonus/2] (rounded up) questions with "yes" or "no" answers. During the spells duration, you are incapacitated in a trance. After you are done, Save or fall in a coma for [Level] hours.
• Create Food: Duration: Permanent, Range: 10', Save: No
• Create 3x[Level] rations that rot in the next 24 hours. Saying Purify Food & Drink extends duration by another 24 hours.
• Insect Plague: Duration: 1 turn, Range: 300'+[WIS bonus]x10', Save: Yes
• A 60' diameter swarm of locusts are summoned, which heavily obscure the area. 9HD creature with 3 attacks dealing d3 damage (double damage if unarmored). Creatures of 2HD or less in the area must make a morale check when this spell is cast. Every turn, do a WIS save. On a fail, the locusts turn to dust.
• Raise Dead*: Duration: Instantaneous, Range: Touch, Save: Yes|Yes
• Restore to life a deceased humanoid, that has been dead no longer than [Level] days. Soul has to be willing. They come back with 1 lost level (or HD). Undead can't be restored this way. Spell can't bring back someone who died of old. Do a WIS save. On a fail, the spell consumes a random life within 40' of the subject.|Opposed save against touched creature. If failed, they are killed instantly. Otherwise, they take 2d8 damage. Undead can't be affected this way.
• True Seeing: Duration: 1 round/[Level], Range: Touch, Save: No
• Target sees things as they actually are. See through normal and magical darkness, secret doors, illusions, invisible creatures, transmuted, etc.

Knacks for Knaves

This is version 1.0 1.1 of some powers for Knave, with aim to be a modern interpretation of old B/X rules for play in my games. Knacks for Knaves. First use for them will be a run on a megadungeon aimed at Labyrinth Lord, Stonehell. They will be part of the Knave hack I'm working on for said game, after I tackled Ancestries, now come a concept similar to Class. Special abilities and powers called Knacks, that give that power advancement feel.

Some scattered notes on adding these to the streamlined machine that Knave is:

• For a recurring campaign, players should feel enticed to gain new powers as they level up (aside from gear and coin, of course). Knave is very strong for one-shots or short games, but how good does it hold up for longer campaigns?
• We make them optional. Idea is to give to choice of score improvement (default choice with vanilla Knave), or take one of these powers to the players. Hopefully most will choose the latter.
• We give choice. 48 Knacks, no less. They are also completely independent, so there's no requirement to pick any Knack. Of course there are obvious synergies, but that's for the Munchkin players to figure out.
• They are not balanced between each other. Things like Blind Faith and Student of the Arcane will be picked a lot, since they are basically the spellcasting for Cleric and Magic User - like characters.
• In my Knave hack I took spellcasting from GLOG, since my love for the Magic Dice mechanic is unconditional. You will see references in the entries below about that. Blind Faith introduces spellcasting for Clerics, which is a different mechanic, with Prayers (but more reliable than MD are).
  

As any good Thief, I've taken many of these powers from different sources. I rest on the shoulders of heroes. They're meant for personal use in my home game, and if you find use for them that's an achievement.

• Marshall Brengal’s list of Knave Talents.
• Some adapted from D&D 5e.
• From the folks of the OSR Discord. Especially the original list by Sketchy McBeardo.
• This Knave hack called Brave. 
• d66kobolds blog

Knacks for Knaves - The Rules

The Doc In case you want to have a living document to print out, or leave me some commentary

Knaves start at Level 1 with one Knack from the list below of their choice.

When a Knave gains a level, instead of increasing a single Ability Score by +1 a Knave may select one Knack from any of the categories below, without restriction. Limited to one Knack per level up.

The categories are for flavor only, and very broadly separate Knacks into different buckets.

Values within squared brackets [] are variable.

WARRIOR (Knacks of War)

A knight with the "Great Weapon Fighter" Knack, by Valery Klishevich

• Duelist: On a critical you may choose to either:
• Disarm your foe (assuming this is possible), or
• Put them on the backfoot, granting you Advantage on your next attack or stunt.
• Great Weapon Fighter: when wielding a two-handed weapon, reroll damage < 3. Keep the second result. 
• Protector: Sacrifice your Action to absorb damage inflicted on an adjacent ally. STR save for half-damage.
• Riposte: When a creature misses you with a melee attack, make an immediate counter-attack. This does not cost you your normal Action. Only possible once/round.
• Shield Master:
• Advantage on STR attempts to knock an opponent prone w/a shield bash.
• When an effect allows a DEX save for half damage take no damage if you save as your shield absorbs the blow (-1 quality to shield).
• Two-Weapon Fighting: When you hit a foe while wielding two weapons, roll damage for both and apply the higher.

BARBARIAN (Knacks of Brunt) 

Barb with "Muscle Armor", by Daniel Zrom

• Berzerker: When reduced to 0HP, become frenzied and continue fighting for a number of rounds equal to your [Level]. You always attack the nearest creature whether friend or foe. Afterwards, make a CON save. On a fail, roll on the Death and Dismemberment table.
• Pugilist: Your fists and feet count as martial weapons and inflict 1d4+[STR bonus] damage.
• Girded Loins: You have Advantage on saves made to resist fear and mind bending effects.
• Favor of The Gods: Once a day as a free action you can heal [CHA bonus] HP. 
• Muscle Armor: CON is your Armor Defense when you wear no other armor. May wield a shield or helmet.
• Cleave: When you strike and kill a foe immediately make another attack on an additional adjacent foe. Cannot be “daisy-chained” through a mob.

SCOUT (Knacks of Wild)

The hunt is mine! Michelle Tollo

• Hunter’s Mark: As a free action once per day, mark your target as living on borrowed time. You have Advantage on your next [Level] attacks against them.
• Deft Quartermaster: Your rations, potions, and equipment from the Dungeoneering Gear in the Starting Gear section can be bundled two to an inventory slot.
• Survivalist: You thrive in the Wilds protecting the realms of Man from the horrors that lurk in dark wood and deep cave. You have Advantage on saves to track, navigate, hunt, and forage in the wilderness.
• Trick-Shot: Targets only receive half of their normal cover bonus. When you shoot into melee enemy combatants count as two combatants for the purposes of randomly determining who you hit.
• Night Vigil: When camping, you can gain advantage on the encounter die after describing your watch routine and setting up a perimeter by means of your choosing.
  
• Skirmisher: Immediately after you are attacked in melee, you can move up half your speed without provoking opportunity attacks. Once per round.

ROGUE (Knacks of Trickery)

Daria Rashev

• Acrobat: You gain Advantage on saves to balance, climb, leap, and tumble.
• Burglar: You gain Advantage on saves to hide in shadows, move silently, and climb.
• Backstab!: When you attack a foe with a melee weapon who is already engaged by an ally inflict an addition 1d6 per [Level] damage. You attack with Advantage if you attack from hiding.
• Dungeoneer: You have Advantage on DEX saves to disable traps, assuming you have the proper tools. Three times per day you may ask any of the following questions and must be given an honest answer:
• Is there a trap here? (Y/N Answer)
• Is there a hidden door here? (Y/N Answer)
• Lucky AF: Once per day you may reroll a Critical Fail or force a foe to reroll a Critical Success that would affect you.
• Evasive MF: Once per round you can reduce damage taken by your [DEX bonus], if you can see its source.

CLERIC (Knacks of Faith)

Xabi Gazte

• Blind Faith: Take a sacred oath with your faith/authority. You gain the ability to use Clerical Implements (bells, candles, herbs or similar), and gain one. You can use it with one hand to say Prayers.
• Turn Undead: [Level] times per day, force up to [WIS bonus] HD worth of undead to make a morale check using your action. Apply a negative modifier equal to your [WIS bonus] to the check.
• Pacifist: Whenever you get a reaction roll to resolve a situation that could end up in combat, if you and your allies remain calm, the roll is with Advantage.
• Hammer of The Authority: Grant Advantage to any morale checks your retainers/hirlings/acolytes make as your below a holy litany and lay waste with your warhammer.
• Sacred Feast: Out of combat you can bless Rations or Snacks that are meant to regain HP with your Clerical Implements. Creatures add your [WIS bonus] to their HP healed.
• Witch Hunter: You smell the presence of Magic Users, Witches, or other Clerics.

DRUID (Knacks of Nature)

Druid with mutated "Owl Eyes" by Rebecca Blackie

• Bear Strength: Gain +2 Item Slots. This allows you to go above the 20 Item Slots limit.
• Gliding Wings: You have gliding appendage wings below your arms. You don't take any damage from falling, as long as you can extend your arms.
• Owl Eyes: Gain darkvision. Useless the moment there’s a light source present (sunlight, torch, candle, lamp).
• Spider Feet: For [Level] of turns per day your bare hands and feet allow you to walk on vertical surfaces or upside down without the need of equipment or saves.
• Animal Talk: You can verbally communicate with animals as if you shared a language. This doesn't make them smart. 
• Forest Step: You can step from one tree to another, as long as they are on the same grove/forest/garden, [Level] times per day.

MAGIC USER (Knacks of Magic)

Getting a "Student of the Arcane" Knack, by Albert Urmanov

• Student of the Arcane: Gain 2 random spell books. You have a number of Magic Dice (=MD) equal to your [Level]/2 (rounded up). All saves associated to casting arcane spells are based on your INT.
• Sword Wizard: You can cast spells while wielding a weapon in one or both of your hands. You still need the spell books/scrolls/magic items on your own inventory.
• Manifold Cerebrum: You have Advantage on INT Saves vs magical attacks/effects.
• Companion: Gain a mystical cat (darkvision) , mouse (burrow), squirrel (climb) or toad (swim) companion with [Level] HP. You can communicate with it telepathically as long as you can see it. If it dies it can be re-summoned spending a night’s work.
• Spell Tattoos: Your skin is covered with tattoos of magical glyphs. Anyone who sees them knows what you are. Gain one random spell (roll [INT bonus] times and choose one). Whenever you cast this spell, do so with +1MD (this die doesn't return to your pool). You still require MD and free hands to cast the spell.
• Chaos Mage: Gain one random spell to cast from your mind per day. Each morning roll [Level] random of spells and pick one to store for the day. Whenever you cast this spell, do so with +1MD (this die doesn't return to your pool). You still require MD and free hands to cast it.

WITCH (Knacks of Wyrd)

Witching around, by Tatyana Kupriyanova

• Read Leaves: Assuming you have water, a pot, and tea, you can spend 1 turn every morning performing this ritual. Roll a d20 and store that number. You can replace a result on a d20 from a creature you can see (yourself, allies, or foes) once that day with the stored number. You do this after learning the roll, but before knowing the outcome.
• Familiar: You gain a mouthless humanoid, magically created with mud and sticks. d8 + [Level] HP. Doesn't eat or drink, but needs to breathe. Follows all your commands, although it's extremely incompetent in combat. You can resummon your familiar 1/day.
• Spell Eater: Once per day when a spell is targeted at you, you negate the spell's effects. Do A CHA save. On success, you absorb the spell and can cast it once as if it were your own, with the MD the rival intended for the casting. On a fail you need to eat double the rations for one day. You can only have one eaten spell at any time.
• Devil's Contract: If someone makes a bargain with you and breaks it you instantly know about it. If you have their signature on the bargain you know how to locate them by general location (North, East, up down, etc.)
• Hint/Jinx: Once per turn do a CHA Save when another creature you can see attempts an action that requires a d20 roll. On success, add(hint)/subtract(jinx) your CHA bonus to the roll. On a failure, you loose [Level] HP. You do this after learning the roll, but before knowing the outcome.
• Alter Ego: Choose a second persona of your same Ancestry, regardless of features, sex and age. You can shapeshift to that persona a total of [CHA bonus] hours per day.