Time Knife

A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Time Knife

Time Knife by N. Masyk is a role playing game supplement published by Monkey’s Paw Games and is an adventure for use with Troika! Numinous Edition.

The supplement is available as a 19-page PDF from itch for $5 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover and one the front matter.

The Time Knife begins with the characters being told they are too late and with little memory. A d6 table is used to determine the appearance and name of the Warlock and the ritual they are doing.

Time KnifeNext is the description for a new monster which is encountered in the next section, The Spiral Stair. The stair has doors to three different places.

Root of the World is the first of these places and has tables of things to find in the water and qualities of any objects found, as well as three new monsters.

Dead Hulk is the second place and has a d6 table of experiences to have whilst climbing an impossibly tall mast.

The Tower is reached from the Dead Hulk and has a d6 table of things to happen whilst climbing with two more monsters.

Moondial is the final place reached from the Spiral Stair with two new monsters.

The Onyx Door is a combat.

The Time Knife is the final combat against the Warlock, who also now has stats.

Time Knife in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of error. There are a number of black and white illustrations, which look to be public domain. Presentation is okay.

The adventure is described as being a weird tale of swords & sorcery and it certainly is weird. Troika!, however, is a weird system, so weird adventures fit in with it. This should prove to be an interesting diversion for a Troika! campaign, or as a standalone adventure. Time Knife can be found on itch by clicking here.


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3 responses to “A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Time Knife”

  1. B avatar
    B

    Isn’t this just the opening to Silent Titans but statted for Toika! and given a different coat of paint?
    From Time Knife:
    The world blurs into shape, and that shape is fractal; a million-million shattered realities, folding into each other like thin sheets of metal forming a single blade, a blade dangling overhead, a temporal Sword of Damocles, smoking with bloody execution. Around you; swirling, churning chaos: a golden staircase, walls of polished marble, etched with mystic runes.

    You have little to no memory of where you are, or what has brought you here. The figures at your side are familiar but unrecognized, like staring at your own reflection through a fogged mirror.

    “FOOLS,” a voice from on high booms.
    “YOU ARE TOO LATE!”
    Far, far above, the Warlock cackles wildly, mantled in coruscating sorcerous power. The ritual nears completion.

    From Silent Titans:
    The world blurs into shape. Wreckage like fractal diamond clockwork is swept into the Time Tornado which writhes like a bound snake in the centre of the Titan’s Tower. You cling to the silver stairs.
    You fools… a voice cries from above.
    My Dementia Bomb has wrecked your very minds!
    Far, far above you, the shape of a fat figure in a top hat, a black enormous ape and a Golden Door. The time-storm is loud, but he is louder.
    You have challenged me for the last time!
    How will you defeat me now?
    You have no idea who this is, where you are or how you got here. You have only vague and general memories of your life. You don’t remember the people with you, yet somehow, they seem oddly familiar…

    1. Admin avatar
      Admin

      I hadn’t heard of Silent Titans before, but I found it on DriveThru and the preview does show that text. The introductions are… rather similar, aren’t they?

  2. B avatar
    B

    There’s more than just that from what I can tell.

    Locations in Silent Titans:
    1. Spinal Tornado:
    A silver spiral staircase runs up the interior wall.
    Closed Ebony and Open Bronze Doors
    It’s like a chained snake or gigantic spine.
    Chained by iron links to the walls and stairs.
    Bronze Doors lead to the Stylite Hulk.
    The Deck sways like an alcoholic on the Stormy Sea.
    Ebony Doors lead to the Pendulous Shaft.
    At the top of the silver stairs is a Golden Door flanked by a huge Clock-Face and a big Bronze Bell.
    2. Parasite’s Web:
    The Parasite
    rhino-sized spider assembled from composite trash…
    …Its face covered by a cracked and ruined Silver Mask of a Saint’s smiling face.
    It likes to talk — it never meets anyone down here.
    3. Pendulous Shaft
    4. The Clock
    5. Stylite Hulk:
    The mastless Ship has a featureless deck except for:
    A crazed 100’+ Tower of bog-blackened planks.
    Signs of a battle
    Black monastic robes obscure the features of the corpses littering the deck.
    You did this.
    Their wounds were clearly made with your weapons.
    Trapdoor leads Belowdecks.
    6. Bronze Bell
    7. Mind of Chronos:
    A hall inside a giant pearlescent skull.
    Beyond Chronos’ big dead eyes:
    Realms swirl like flotsam in the black storm of time.
    The Big Sword
    Dull and rusted remains still lodged in the skull.

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