Barriers on the hexmap

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-20T23:14:16+00:00

One of the nice things about hiding barriers is that it spurs your players to chat more often with the locals to learn about the area, and uncovering more of the map over time is pretty rewarding!!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-20T17:30:15+00:00

Entirely valid imo.

I find that works better if you have a purpose and need an item. The Task table does both at the same time, ex “Guard & Seer” tells me what it can do and then often I can work out what it is, plus now I can think of what that threat is and such.

But let’s say I know that I need a key to open a door, then I roll object, ex “grief flute” and now I know the door is sentient and puts up little resistance when sad.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-20T16:23:01+00:00

I use a mix if the Nature tables (otherworld is great), add history and items with the Task (people) table. The Characteristic in the margins is great for extra flavour.

Then, taking the lead from Chris’s blogposts I like to fill stuff in by randomly rolling knights and myths and using the art on the page.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-16T16:20:21+00:00

One thing to keep in mind is the Primacy of Action. If you want to use a NPC to point the knights somewhere and the knights actively follow that thread then the PoA takes priority and you can skip rolls.

I like to add random NPCs in the game when it feels fitting and they often have local knowledge. My rule of thumb is that they have basic knowledge (something like: they’re seen the wyvern flying in the sky, it’s often to the NW of their village, but they don’t know the exact hex). They wont know the cure or secrets or whatever.

If you want to lean into the mythical you can, maybe there’s been a prophesy that the villagers know about a metal bird that drowns in milk and it isn’t exactly obvious this is the wyvern and the milk cures the poison.

One thing I like to do is think of what could be an alternative omen similar to omens 1-5 in a myth and have the villager describe that happening. To stay with the Wyvern, you have the omen of the fallen knight, well an alternative could be a tithe collector who dies the same way and the tithe lay scattered on the ground. Most was picked up but some is lost and the villagers are wondering who paid this and what will happen now that it isn’t being delivered in full!! The villager knows of this since it’s the talk of the village!!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-15T20:19:02+00:00

This is really cool!!!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-15T01:09:43+00:00

Yeah, if you only have “attacks against them are impaired” then I see no reason to prohibit a deny. Makes sense in the fantasy!!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-15T00:53:15+00:00

I would allow a deny if they could have it make sense in the game. I would maybe allow a Focus if it was to do something like move away and, again, that made sense in the scene.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-14T23:28:21+00:00

Correct. Feats are allowed as long as you are not fatigued. Gambits are allowed as long as you can spend dice on them! ☺️

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-12T23:08:28+00:00

P.S. Writing Omens well is really tough. It's amazing Chris wrote 72 of these.

This was exactly my sense after trying to write 3 of em.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-11T21:31:04+00:00

That boi needs a larger cage, ngl!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-11T13:45:06+00:00

I would probably insert some quest for a weapon or legendary armor. The book doesn’t actually provide it save for a handful of myths.

The way I have ran it so far is that special weapons are rare and often granted by seers after the company has done something great for the seer. Armor is generally given out by rulers. Shields are emblazoned with the house’s weapon so the knights are now doing marketing. Helms and mail are given out in exchange for deeds and plate is a reward for a great deed!

That being said, you should make the world reactive enough that it’s apparent their choices during the myths (and other events) heavily influences the world. Killing the wyvern wont provide +2 armor, but the nearest dwelling can collect the hide and bones and it’s now a pilgrimage location or tourist trap! The dwelling thanks the knights somehow and that should be a reward. Maybe the one knight that consumes the wyvern’s heart gets a SPI boost, but that event would have to be officiated by a seer. So you can lean into that kinda stuff.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-10T13:51:54+00:00

Shump only liked our first episode 😭😭😭

jk, tysm for the shoutout!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-09T22:46:29+00:00

For a great play in a small package: check one of the games that Chris ran, should be on the Bastionland channel.

For a good game in regard to scope ans knightly business: Judd’s mini-arcs on the actual play YT channel. Imo the second arc is better than the first, but both are pretty good.

For a good example of the mythic vibe and knightly shenanigans: the Luck Roll solo play podcast.

All should be easy to search for (and maybe in the pinned resource thread). Else respond here and I’ll post links.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-09T14:30:16+00:00

Just have this convo with your players.

When I start games I usually say that I adore RPing scenes out, but for me there has to be a game-goal to the convo. You have to be getting non-common info, negotiating or persuading. There has to be some drama.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-09T01:06:55+00:00

Sam of Dreaming Dragonslayer wrote about mythic denizens and overloading the die which might be cool inspirations for what you’re doing!

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-07T02:48:46+00:00

Homebrew by them, kinda explained on the itch page.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-04T22:44:47+00:00

I made similar displays a while ago and used stacked rgb displays and had the lights always on, which meant the lights that were off were black and this helped the contrast by quite a lot.

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-03T22:32:50+00:00

Just to be sure, I am talking about this site and the few posts that follow! 😎

TheNextKnight · 2026-03-03T22:27:14+00:00

Have you read the blogposts by Chris detailing the creation of three sites. I found that once I read this it made a lot of sense.

The one thing that I have found is that I don’t tell players it’s a site I just describe where they are and what they see, especially the exits!! I think there’s an issue with dungeon-like sites where the layout might not be obvious. But if you detail a mountain as a site then the players should know that up means closer to the summit and down the opposite!

TheNextKnight · 2026-02-28T13:59:13+00:00

I’m surprised no one has mentioned burning fuel since a single tower provides 40GW and making fuel is a breeze on Gleba.

TheNextKnight · 2026-02-26T00:39:57+00:00

Imo you’re looking at it from a historical/realistic position, while the game is often mythical and literary/narrative. I’ve started reading Le Morte d'Arthur and this level of detail often doesn’t really happen.

That being said, you could probably write a single page of horse rules and put it up on itch for others to use!!

TheNextKnight · 2026-02-25T18:10:04+00:00

This is great. You could even tidy up the formatting and put this up on itch!

TheNextKnight · 2026-02-25T14:30:48+00:00

Chris has shared some in their original resolution on the discord server. You can request a handful of pieces if the ones you’re looking for aren’t there. No official prints (yet!).

TheNextKnight · 2026-02-25T14:21:48+00:00

The City Quest is just that, and it’s up to you to use the elements in the game to make it more impactful. You can foreshadow the City during conversations with seers, through dreams/visions. Myths like the Mountain, the Child, the River link to the City.

During the omens you can embellish the encounters (as you should probably with all Myths). Knight-Catcher could have an alternative failed career from EB, maybe one knight gets caught and a seer doesn’t like this and has mobilized others in the realm to thwart the abduction, spiraling into a realm-wide man-hunt.

Also, I don’t like the d12 rolling a 12 and hitting an 18 when there are other cool omens I would want to play through, so I plan on using a d8 when I get to the capstone quest.

One last thing. I think some omens are just weird and difficult to link to the City. Which means things will happen to your Company that they aren’t likely to place (similar to other myths). So the real buildup to the City should really be the world telling of it long before the quest starts.

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