Knightfall

[aprewett]

Hello,
Is it me or is some text missing from this adventure?
The Trading chapter mentions 'random nuggets', I don't see them. There is some trade house rules and cargo items. The only other, is some basic news reports.
And then the prisoner later in the adventure, talks to the PC's like they are hot on the missing noble story, but other than the news reports mentioned above, there is no adventure driving the PC's towards the plot.
It must have been in the Trading Chapter but was let out. There is no 'potpourri of trade encounters'.
Strange that I can find no internet mention about this.
Its like the entire plot hook is missing.

Allan

 

[aramis]

Pages 15-18 are two tables of random trade nuggets.

Nugget is DGP speak for a situation encountered in play. Each table entry is a mini-nugget - a situation that may last many scenes, but has a trigger and resolution, and may (but not must) affect the overall story progress.

 

[aprewett]

Ok, so originally I had glossed over those, as they just looked like detailed possible cargo items to add flavour. Are you saying that one of those has mention of the missing person.
Its just that the part on 'Using these Nuggest'
Goes like this;
'Each of these random nuggets is designed to be reused several times. Each nugget has a general-purpose opening scene followed by an action with several paragraphs - each paragraph providing a different outcome to the opening...'
It goes on to mention 'Bits of Adventure' and random dice roll or picking the outcome you want.

This reads like the Patron style format, and there isn't anything in this chapter that read like that.
We have, Enchancements to trade, For Transport - that above mentioned cargo lots and News reports.

Something is missing, at least how I read this chapter.

Allan

 

[Lycanorukke]

Each table entry is a mini-nugget - a situation that may last many scenes, but has a trigger and resolution, and may (but not must) affect the overall story progress.

I think the problem is that the only mention of the 'missing person' prior to meeting the NPC prisoner is a few news blurbs on page 18 on worlds a long way away from the cluster the adventure starts off in. Then on page 35, the NPC prisoner introduces themselves with "Hi. You know that missing person you're looking for....". To which the PCs would go 'Huh? Missing who?' if they followed the adventure as written.

I'm pretty sure there isn't anything missing from my paper copy, and while the players do eventually head in the right direction as the plot progresses, the NPC introduction is not well done and requires a bit of GM tweaking to make it work. Easy enough to do given the situation they are in at the time.

 

[aprewett]

Its just that the blurb introducing the content of the chapter, does not jib with what is actually there.
No short adventure summary's with GM options, as I mentioned and is clearly written.

I only came to this, as a person on another forum mentioned Knighfall as being one of the best adventures they had run and I had a what the *&^% moment, as I did not recall it being equal to The Traveller Adventure.
So I picked it up and had a look.

Allan

 

[aramis]

Its just that the blurb introducing the content of the chapter, does not jib with what is actually there.
No short adventure summary's with GM options, as I mentioned and is clearly written.

I only came to this, as a person on another forum mentioned Knighfall as being one of the best adventures they had run and I had a what the *&^% moment, as I did not recall it being equal to The Traveller Adventure.
So I picked it up and had a look.

Allan

It's good, but for me, it's never made it to the point where that happened. The three times I've run it, it was a TPK.

 

[Lycanorukke]

I only came to this, as a person on another forum mentioned Knighfall as being one of the best adventures they had run and I had a what the *&^% moment, as I did not recall it being equal to The Traveller Adventure.

To be fair, TTA had its share of wall clangers - "Yes Mr Vargr who we just met. We'll rob that museum and become wanted criminals for some dime store brooch"

But as always, a good GM/ST/DM/whatever can make an adventure dance no matter how badly written or what genre it is. The module is a tool and the GM the craftsman.

And that's why you make sure that when you get a good GM, you make sure to keep them one way or the other - bribery with food is preferable to physical restraint (unless they like that sort of thing )

 

[Whipsnade]

Is it me or is some text missing from this adventure?

It's you.

Get out your copy and re-read page six. It explains how the campaign progresses. It also explains how and when searching for the "Missing Knight" becomes the players' goal.

What you've failed to comprehend is that finding the missing knight is not the player's goal from the start.

During the first section of the campaign, you as the referee present the setting: Massilia during the Rebellion. The players start off with the sale-to-the-miners-gone-wrong session and then travel about immersing themselves in both the region and current events. A few news items mention the missing knight so, later in prison, the offer Narva makes them isn't some bolt out of the blue. The "Trading Along" along nature of this section eventually puts the PCs in the right place at the wrong time.

The next section see the players imprisoned and their ship confiscated. In prison they meet several NPCs and begin plotting an escape. The most helpful of those NPCs is Narva, an employee of the missing knight. She's well along in her escape plans and will take the players along if they help her find her employer.

That is when the campaign's plot begins. Re-read the last sentence of the Section 3 paragraph on page 32. It is explained there.

After the campaign's focus has finally been introduced, the following sections see the players recover their ship,

Spoiler:

... discover that the knight has been executed...

.., and follow the information the knight uncovered to determine the location of and eventually visit the Primordial City.

TL;DR - The Missing Knight goal is not introduced at the campaign's beginning but is instead presented as a "natural" part of the players' on-going adventures. The players don't know that the missing knight and Primordial City are the campaign's focus until those events happen.

 

[robject]

And you can design your very own Primordials' City here:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showpost.php?p=511786&postcount=6

 

[aprewett]

Ok,
I get the style and flow, what I am saying is the Chapter has a big heading called;
Using These Nuggets and then a detailed description of doing that.
I don't see those nuggets as discussed in this chapter.
I see some random cargo lots, but definitely not what is mentioned.
As I mentioned, it feels like it should have been a selection presented in the style of Patrons with a brief adventure summary and then different options to choose the real story. It says with a little tweaking I can reuse these again and again.
Its not there.

Allan

 

[Whipsnade]

I see some random cargo lots, but definitely not what is mentioned.

Cargo lots like this one?

Freight Table

• 3: Minor Lot, Informaton/Novelty (New Computer Software)
  A local firm has just come out with a new grav module calibration software package and wants it to market on the next world. The software is highly sought after, and many of the firms competitor's would like to get their hands on a copy before it reaches the market on the other world. The local firm would like a reputable merchant with an armed vessel to transport the goods, just in case their competitors decide to try something while the software is in transit.

Typical routes: Anamoni-Hasaggan, Riarette-Iggarir, Wikk-Murcia​

Looks like an immediate "bit of adventure" to me; patron, plot, enemy, suggested locations, etc. All I need do is pull a few names out of my slushpile, roleplay the negotiations, and let encounter rolls plus some referee savvy determine whether the opposition makes a play or not. What's the problem?

As I mentioned, it feels like it should have been a selection presented in the style of Patrons with a brief adventure summary and then different options to choose the real story.

So you wanted something in the style of 76 Patrons? Can't you see that all the important elements are still there? All that's really missing is trivial stuff like the names of people and companies or exact credit amounts.

It says with a little tweaking I can reuse these again and again. Its not there.

Ahhh... I see. You don't want to do the work. You want everything spelled out, listed, named, priced, and then handed to you. You think that tweaking means all you have to do is roll 1D6 to make selection from an already written list complications.

Those nuggets you can't quite understand are actually more useful than the usual 76 Patrons encounters because they've been stripped of everything but the bare essentials. They're encounter "tofu" ready for you to "spice". You should be able to take the idea presented, tweak it, and set it down anywhere.

Of course those nuggets are only useful if you bother to do a little work.

Good luck.

 

[aprewett]

Oh boy, I read other peoples posts that degenerate into some weird space and now its happening to me.
Your tone is a poor reflection on me as a ref; your opinion, but I was not talking about any quality of what is in the module already, if you want to post snide remarks, try reading what the thread was about mate.
4500+ posts and this is what you write on a public forum...

I started this thread simply as it appeared on reading that some material was missing.
As mentioned by another poster you do get to the point of meeting the first major NPC and they seem to have an opinion of your desires.

But up until that point, unless the Ref has put in some ground work, there is no plot. The other poster recognized this exactly.
I was only speculating that some connection in the published works was missing.
Pardon me for miss understanding the text that says;
Each nugget has a general-purpose opening scene followed by an action section with several paragraphs -... cricky people can read the it for themselves, I am over typing.
If everyone thinks its fine, so be it.
Enough said. Move along.

 

[Kilgs]

All of the DGP MT adventures have that similar format so if you're familiar with it, it comes easy. I was in your place when I first picked them all up also. I generally skim modules for the "spine" of the main campaign before digging into the guts. In those modules, that results in some confusion since some of the "spine" is embedded in those reusable encounters.

No worries, mate, you're not alone.

 

[robject]

All of the DGP MT adventures have that similar format so if you're familiar with it, it comes easy. I was in your place when I first picked them all up also. I generally skim modules for the "spine" of the main campaign before digging into the guts. In those modules, that results in some confusion since some of the "spine" is embedded in those reusable encounters.

No worries, mate, you're not alone.

I'm there, too. Knightfall's plot seemed to be hard to tease out. I am impatient.

 

[mike wightman]

Knightfall is a bit like Twilight's Peak in structure.

Imagine you have never heard of the Twilight's Peak adventure and one evening your referee says you are starting a new Traveller campaign as the crew of a merchant. As you jump from world to world you trade, you gather rumours, you play out random patron encounters etc. Eventually you stumble upon the plot.

Knightfall is like that.

I remember one time running the Traveller Adventure campaign that the players had a lot more fun and freedom playing out the random encounters - both the ones in the book and ones I made up - rather than the main story scenarios.

Maybe there is an audience for this sort of sandbox adventure, while others want a bit more of a linear do this then this then this.

 

[robject]

I can see that - but only now that you've drawn the parallel.

Twilight's Peak had the Rumor Matrix driving things, whereas Knightfall has a nugget diagram. Though I think the nugget format is excellent for referee guidance, the rumor matrix is excellent when running the game.