I am a huge fan of the "Powered By The Apocalypse" style roll playing games (like Dungeon World or Saga of the Icelanders). I have slowly been incorporating some of this style into my own house rules for KAP. Ultimately, I am trying to create a system of house rules that stay true to the core mechanics in KAP and allow me to still use published materials and stats, but mesh together in a style similar to the PBTA games to create a "Hex Crawl" style of game when my player knights are exploring forests. I'm trying to figure out if I can make Forests the KAP version of a Dungeon Crawl. I have no idea if it will work, I can't wait to find out. 8)

I am looking for feedback on my house rules. How can I make things more clear and accurate? Do things seemed balanced and fair. Are they fun and interesting, etc.?

Before we get started on the house rules, I have to write a couple of important concepts for those who are not familiar with the PTBA engine games.


A roleplaying game is about creating "shared fiction." If you want to hear a story, you read a book or watch a show. If you want to follow a set of specific rules to fight monsters, you play a computer, board, or miniatures game. What RPGs offer that no other medium can is the ability for the players and the GM to create a shared story together (PBTA games call this "fiction"). The rules are guidelines to provide a framework to create this shared story, but the focus should always be the fiction. Everything should start and end with the fiction. You don't say "I want to make a Hunting roll", you say "I want to go on a hunt" and then you roll to see what happens.
You always "fail forward." When a PK fails a die roll, you should avoid a "nothing happens" result. Instead, you should roll to see what happens and the die result helps create your shared fiction. Thus, you should only ask for a die roll when you want to see what happens, otherwise it "just happens."
"Moves" are a concept in PTBA games which basically mean "take an action". As a rule of thumb, if the player is successful on their roll, they get to "make a move" and if they fail, the GM gets to "make a move."
"Soft" moves vs. "Hard" moves. Most stories start by putting the heroes in a difficult spot and giving them a chance to get out of that difficult situation before they succeed for fail. For example, Indiana Jones heard a "click" when he stepped on that pressure plate and had a chance to react before the arrows shot. That's a lot more exciting than an immediate "you just got hit by an arrow" result. When the GM gets to make a "move" (usually because a PK fails a roll), he should normally put the hero into a difficult spot first, and then if they fail again, THEN something really bad happens. This makes failure an exciting part of the story because it gives the heroes a chance to be heroic and get out of that spot! This isn't always the case, for example, a fumble will almost always result in an immediate "hard" move, but I've tried to write my house rules in a way that follows this concept. Someone described the "soft" move as the swing and the "hard" move as the "follow through" and that made a lot of sense to me.


There are more concepts, but I think this is sufficient to understand the house rules as I have written them below. Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification. Now, on to the house rules!

IMHO, the hunting rules in KAP 5.1 are a bit on the messy side. You have to look at three separate areas of the book to figure out how to run a hunt, and there are a lot of steps and die rolls that make hunting feel a little more complicated than the other systems. What I've tried to do is consolidate these into two "Moves". There is some cost with this. You don't get as detailed a "chase" mechanic as you do with the rules as written. I also suspect it could make some of the enemies more dangerous as there is no "rush" step and the "surprise attack" only happens if you get a critical success. However, to me the gain in ease of play outweighs the negatives. However, I'm looking for feedback so let me know if you disagree! Moves in the next post!

This is the primary move for "Hunting". Compare with KAP 5.1 page 84.

Search For Prey
When you perform the noble sport of the chase or spend a day seeking food in the wild, roll Hunting to see if you have the necessary knowledge, skill, and gear and can choose one from the list. Ask the GM for any modifiers to your roll. Hunting without dogs and difficult local terrain can make hunting more difficult. Hunting lands you know well can make hunting easier.

You forage enough small game and potable water to sustain your party for 1d3 days
You find signs of a beast of chase. Roll on table 4.4 to see what's out there! Compare the result of your Hunting roll with the beast's Avoidance roll. If your roll was higher, you pick up the trail and begin to Hunt a Beast of Chase!


Critical Success
Choose from this list instead.

You forage enough small game and potable water to sustain your party for 1d6 days
You easily pick up the trail and begin to Hunt a Beast of Chase. Roll on table 4.4 to see what you are chasing. There is no need for an opposed Avoidance roll!


Suggested GM Results
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Soft Move
• You are separated from your hunting dogs. Roll Hunting to see if you find them or if you get -5 to all future hunting rolls.
• You only find enough food to feed yourself
• Your horse trips. Roll Horsemanship to see if you can keep your horse from injuring itself, or if you will get a -5 to all future hunting rolls because your horse has a limp.
• You are confused by the horns and barking and chase vermin instead of a beast of chase. How embarrassing!

Hard Failure
• You encounter a Danger
• You become injured
• You become lost
• Water or food is discovered to be tainted or poisonous. 1d3 rations for everyone you are traveling with are lost due to spoilage.
• Player Knight(s) with lowest CON suffers from food poisoning and become shaky and sick until they are able to recover.


A major change to my house rules vs. the core rules is that I have a success for hunting providing enough rations for EVERYONE in the party, not just for himself. This was a decision on my part to encourage parties to take on "Archetypes" and allow one player to focus on hunting for the party instead of requiring everyone to hunt for their own food. Otherwise, when I turn this into a "Hex Crawl" style game, food management will become more important than anything else. I want it to be important but not THAT important.

I also am working on "Dangers" (which are generally bad like monsters) and "Discoveries" (which are generally good) similar to the Dungeon World Perilous Wilds (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1735046512/perilous-journeys) supplement. This concept is still be fleshed out but should be pretty obvious how it will work. Basically it's a series of tables and this is where you'd insert any information from pre-made adventures (like the Forest Sauvage) into the mix. This is more important in some of the other moves I'm working on (like Blazing a Trail through the woods).

Other than this, I tried to keep the RAW as close as possible, keeping with the previously mentioned principles of course.

This is primarily focused with the chase. Compare this to KAP 5.1 p 84, 181, and 195.

Hunt A Beast Of Chase
When you are on the trail of a beast of chase and there is enough time to hunt for one hour, increase the gap by 1. Make an opposed Horsemanship roll vs. your prey's Avoidance to see if you catch up to your prey and can remove 1 gap. Hunting in difficult local terrain can make this more difficult. Riding a hunt-trained mount makes this easier. If there is no gap, you may try to Corner Your Prey. If there is still a gap, continue the hunt!

Critical Success
You choose the perfect route! Set your gap to 0 and immediately try to Corner Your Prey!

Suggested GM Results
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Partial Success
The GM will choose one and then you may continue the chase!
• Your horse jumps over a fallen tree or you stumble into a hidden ditch; make another Horsemanship roll to see if you stay on your horse and may remove 1 gap.
• Your horse is spooked; Remove 1 gap and make another Horsemanship roll to see if you do not suffer a –5 modifier on your next roll while you struggle to control your horse.
• You are distracted by the sounds of the hunt; make an Awareness roll to see if you stay focused and may remove 1 gap.

Soft Move
The GM will choose one and then you may continue the chase!
• You encounter a stream or get tangled in thick brush; make a Hunting roll to see if you pick up the trail on the other side
• You fall off your horse and take 1d6 damage from the fall
• You are separated from the rest of your hunting party

Hard Move
• You are chasing something more dangerous than you thought, the chase ends and you encounter a Danger
• You lose the trail and your prey escapes
• You and your party become lost in the woods and lose the trail

Edited 7/28/15 to break this move into two parts and clarify the "time" and "segments" concepts from the KAP 5.1 core rules.

This is the last step where you engage in combat after you have found the trail of and then caught up to your prey.

Corner Your Prey
When you are hunting a beast of chase and have successfully closed the gap, make a Hunting roll to see if you corner your prey and can Begin Combat.

Critical Success
You catch your prey by surprise! Everyone in your party can Make a Free Attack and then Begin Combat.

Suggested GM Results
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Soft Move
• Oops! You roused the wrong animal; roll on Table 4–4 again to see what you were really chasing
• Your prey surprises you with its ferocity; make a Valorous roll to see if you decide it is worth it
• Your horse is spooked; make a Horsemanship roll to see if you can keep it from running away and taking you with it
• You fall off your horse and take 1d6 damage from the fall; you may continue on foot
• Your prey is heading towards an escape route; roll Awareness to see if you spot the escape route in time to stop it or if you must Hunt A Beast of Chase again
• You found a lively one! Roll your prey's Avoidance and oppose it with your Hunting roll to see if you can Begin Combat or if you must Hunt A Beast of Chase again
• Your equipment got wet, tangled, or is otherwise in a state of disrepair; Begin Combat but your next combat roll will be at -5.

Hard Move
• Your favorite hound is wounded; you may stop the hunt and come to its aid, or Begin Combat. If you continue, you will have a -5 to all Hunting rolls until you visit the kennels.
• You are chasing something more dangerous than you thought, you encounter a Danger
• Your prey surprises you and Makes a Free Attack against you or your horse before you Begin Combat.
• You realize you have cornered nothing at all and the rest of your party laughs at you. How embarrassing! Roll Proud to see how you respond.

I decided to split up the "Hunt A Beast Of Chase" move. Now the process is three parts (which is closer to the existing KAP rules). Unlike the KAP 5.1 rules, I removed the requirement for this roll to be opposed. You already have to make a bunch of difficult rolls to catch this creature in the first place!

This is how I use the hunting rules:
Step 1: Preparation. Hunters have found a great beast to be hunted.
Step 2. Search the prey. the lead hunter of a group starts by hunting for the prey. This is an opposed roll vs the beasts avoidance. If failed or partial success an hour is gone and they can try again. Usually there are only 6 to 8 hours during a hunt. On a failure usually another prey is found.
Step 3. The Chase. With the trail found it is every man for himself. Everyone rolls his own hunting vs avoidance of the beast. You need to close the gap. the gap starts at 3. A success closes it by one, a critical by 2. Partial and failure means you get an obstacle. If you overcome it you are still on the trail, but did not close the gap. With a partial and a failed obstacle the gap is increased by 1, with a failure you lost the trail (you are out of the hunt).
Step 4. The killing. If the gap is closed to 0 the prey is found and the finder sounds his horn to alert others of his find. Those still on the trail make an awareness test. If successful they are present. The highest in glory present (or the finder) may decide who gets the option for the kill (maximum of 3). The first round is an opposed weapon skill vs avoidance. If the beast wins the gap is 1 again and must be closed again (so return to step 3). If the hunters win they can do damage. If the beast is killed the hunt is over. Otherwise the beast usually fights back (especially in the case of a Hart or a Boar).The fight continues until the beast is dead or all hunters. at any time hunters may withdraw.

Some options:
- Make the gap lower so it takes only one success to find the beast. This will speed it up a bit.
- In a failed obstacle the hunter is out of the hunt, even on a partial.
- A successful Awareness roll closes the gap by 1 (or 2 on a critical). This means that only those who were close by get a chance to get into it. Others may arrive in the subsequent rounds.
- You can have them roll hunting in step 1 and on a success they roll two or three times on the prey table. Lead hunter chooses 1 prey. On a failure the GM chooses. This makes the hunted prey more random.

I really like this, lucky thirteen — a lot. It is very close to my GMing style of creating a narrative and allowing the GM to e surprised as well. Good work. I've just had time to skim the above, so no hard commentary just yet, but I wanted to encourage you to continue to playtest and refine this. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.


Best,


T.