I cannot believe this game flew under my radar for this long and I only discovered its existence by happenstance as I was having an unrelated conversation about Cairn and Into the Odd. Someone in the conversation offhandedly mentioned The Knights of the Road and the conversation went like this;
Me: "Whats The Knights of the Road?"
Other Person: "Its an Into the Odd Hack where you play monster hunting hobos in an alternate history of the Dust Bowl era."
Me: "That sounds completely Rad!"
Other Person: "Ya, its great. I have always wanted to run that and have the characters end up in The Land of Oz"
Me: *Furiously takes notes and starts googling* "That is an epic idea. I will have to look up the game."
So, after some googling I discovered that The Knights of the Road had a successful Kickstarter in July of 2021. It is a hack using the rules of Into the Odd and was for all intents and purposes a labor of love with a strong DIY vibe. Below is the first thing you read when you open up the Players Guide.
- Emperor of the North (Movie, 1971)
- Oh Brother, Where Art Thou (Movie, 2003)
- Road to Perdition (Movie, 2000)
- Ironweed by William Kennedy (Book, 1984)
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Book, 1937)
- Tortilla Flats by John Steinbeck (Book, 1935)
- Big Rock Candy Mountain (Graphic Novel, Vol 1. 2017 and Vol. 2 2018)
- Hobomancer (RPG by Hex Games)
- Cthulhu Hack (RPG by Just Crunch Games)
- Call of Cthulhu (RPG by Chaosium Games)
I would like to personally add the following:
- The Night of the Hunter (Movie, 1955)
- Carnivale (HBO Television Series)
- A Dozen Tough Jobs by Joe Lansdale (Book, 1989)
- The Road by Jack London (Book, 1907)
- Trail of the Tramp by Leon Ray Livingston (Book, 1913)
Then out of left field (has nothing to do with the era) but for some good monster hunting inspiration and tongue in cheek humor:
- Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (Book, 2009)
Presentation: The PDF has the usual fair of spreads, pages, covers, a badass full color map of the area, and instructions on how to assemble the three little booklets. The physical copy is what surprised me. The game comes in three little stapled booklets that measure 2.75x4.25 in dimension wrapped in twine with a tag on it (I wish I would have taken a picture of it before I unwrapped it). The booklets follow the classic set up of a player guide, a book of monsters, and a Conductors Guide (GM's guide).
Per the author, all of the physical copies were printed out on an fancy Brother Laser printer and hand assembled. All this was done at home (they have a professional print shop feel) as well as the author being the artist.
Speaking of the art, the art is hand drawn in black and white with a style that matches something that would come out of a 1920s print shop's comic section. The art has an rustic edge to it that real fits the era and gives it unique flavor.
Character Creation: Creating a character is similair to creating a character of Into the Odd because its a hack of it. It follows these basic steps:
1. Roll 3d6 in these three stats: Vim (V) physical fitness etc., Sense (S) Reflexes, perception etc., and Wit (W) Knowledge, Intelligence, etc.
2. Roll for or make up a name.
3. Roll or choose Starting Set/Background.
4. Roll d6 for Dumb Luck (Hit Points).
5. Start with a good luck charm.
6. Roll d6 for starting cash.
The game includes a flavorful name generator.
The Starting Set includes what you were before you became employed by the IBIS, some gear, a talent, and a lucky charm.
Resolution: Outside of the story driven/fiction first focus of the game, when the dice hit the table the resolution for any skill/narrative needs a pass or fail/etc is a d20 roll under the appropriate attribute. The game also boasts a Advantage (roll 2d20 take the lowest) and Disadvantage (roll 2d20 and take the highest).
Combat is handled by the characters always going first (unless they are surprised) and hits are automatic with damage being rolled and taken off of Dumb Luck first then Vim. If Vim is reduced, the character is required to make a Vim save with the new rating and if the character fails, the character falls unconscious and is out of the fight. If damage is taken that reduced Vim beyond zero the character dies but if Vim is exactly reduced to 0, the character survives and gets to roll on a radical Scars Table.
A 10 minute smoke break heals all Dumb Luck and a days rest (with some possible medical attention).
Final Thoughts: I am going to try to organize the beginnings of my final thoughts by the three little books and go from there.
The Players Guide includes some intuitive rules for vehicle combat, hired hands, and advancement. Characters basically advance their rank in the Knights tagging their exploits on a water tower. This advancement come with a possibility of a stat increase.
The Monster of the Rails has a great selection on monsters and beasts from urban legends and supernatural sources. A lot of good inspiration right there.
The Conductors Guide has a few tips about running a game, a disclaimer about some of the adult and sensitive themes in the era and safety tips, a quest generator, possible rewards for said quest, a map, encounters and events, and of course an example of play. One of the possible rewards for a completed quest is an artifact that increased Dumb Luck by 2.
The Knights of the Road is an amazing light little game with each booklet being 16 pages long. Cram packed in those books is a lot of inspiration, flavor, and setting and I cannot recommend this game enough. Plus, it uses Into the Odd as a base so that is always a bonus in my book.
With that being said, I think this game has a missed mark and has a missed opportunity. The missed mark is that mechanical parts of advancement feels lack luster and is split into exploits and quest rewards. It is a little confusing. The missed opportunity is that I think the author could have dropped acid with the Into the Odd framework and expanded it with the setting without adding extra crunch.
The most important take away that I have is that I want a campaign book, additional monsters, additional sets, towns with problems big and small, an alternate timeline that is spelled out, and just...
You can find The Knights of the Road at the following places:
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