#yochai gal
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Cairn (2020) is a neat little skeletal OSR system, born in part out of Ben Milton’s Knave and Chris McDowall’s Into the Odd. Yochai Gal’s stated intent is to make something that allows Into the Odd to be used for OSR settings like Dolmenwood. The result is a fast, light, classless game that feels, in a sort of surprisingly non-specific way, like a D&D experience, without any of the usual headaches.
A lot of stuff actually reminds me of other non-D&D-based systems. Reducing attributes to three (Strength, Dexterity and Willpower) feels pretty Dungeoneer to me. The combat reminds me a bit of HeroQuest, actually. You roll your weapon die, subtract the opponent’s armor value and subtract the balance from their HP. HP is Health Protection, not traditional hit points. They can be restored with a brief breather and a swig of water. If they are reduced to exactly zero, the character gets a scar. Damage exceeding HP is taken out of Strength — once that is gone, the character is dead. Magic is similarly unusual, facilitated by scrolls and spellbooks that any character can read. Casting spells (which are leveless and extremely open-ended) costs fatigue, which is logged in inventory, which I think is an odd, but exceedingly clever, mechanic.
And that’s about it. Light, flexible, keyed to OSR experience without feeling particularly OSR in its mechanics. This is a great introductory system. Its flexibility has sparked a surprising creator community which has produced hacks and Cairn-specific adventures. Good stuff.
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AVE NOX & BEYOND THE PALE
Two HUGE kickstarters that I am really excited about today! I've gotten to watch their development from early on and I can say that I've not been more excited for any TTRPG books for quite a long time!
Ave Nox, a system neutral megadungeon of Forgotten history and disaster deep in the dark of the Earth!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/appalachia-gothic/ave-nox by @feralindiecharlie
Beyond the Pale, a horror Osr adventure, inspired by Jewish folklore and mysticism!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lost-pages/beyond-the-pale-a-folktale-adventure by Yochai Gal, @sheydgarden, Shari Ross, Eli Seitz and Paolo Greco as well as an extensive team
#ttrpg community#ttrpg#indie ttrpg#roleplaying games#ttrpg design#ttrpg art#ttrpg stuff#megadungeon#dnd#osr#dungeons and dragons#adventure#jewish folklore#illustration#character design#jewish art#jumblr#beyond the pale#yochai gal
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The Vortsl Witch for Beyond the Pale (forthcoming from Yochai Gal)
"an excellent tunneler that hides underground near water. wiggles tiny fronds in the air as lures. above-ground, appears vaguely humanoid with the face of a rotted tree stump. will exchange rare minerals for a 'fresh corpse' of any kind. easily takes offense, especially if offered anything more than a few days dead."
a character design from an upcoming Jewish TTRPG i'm very excited about! this is a unique creation by the game designer, but many of the other characters and creatures are based in Jewish folklore.
[ID: a black and white drawing of a hunched creature (the Vortsl Witch) which seems to be made out of gnarled roots. it wears wrapped rags, a necklace of trinkets, and many little pouches.]
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Jewish Roleplaying Games 3e
Hanukkah may be over, but there's never a bad time of year to play Jewish tabletop games.
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#beyond the pale#chickadee tales llc#dice#esther and the queens#grandma&039;s drinking song#hanukkah goblins#helka björk unnardottir#heroforge#if i were a lich man#jewish ttrpgs#keeping the lights on#lucian kahn#max fefer#ritualwell#same bat time same bat mitzvah#society of rafa#tabletop miniatures#ttrpg#yochai gal
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1d8 "Free" Fantasy RPGs To Replace 5e At Your Table
D&D 5e sure is a roleplaying game, and it's one that I have enjoyed a lot. However, that doesn't mean that I'd recommend it automatically for other people. This has many reasons, which I won't elaborate here. It has also shaped the perception of TTRPGs significantly thanks to its market dominance, and not in a good way.
5e has a reputation for being an expensive, complex game, and 5e players fear that other RPGs might just be the same. That it's too much of a hassle and too much of a financial burden to switch systems.
So, to help 5e players pick out a different system, I've made this handy 1d8 rolling table to help them pick a fantasy TTRPG with a combat component that they can try instead!
Let's now go through these eight nine RPGs and see what's up with them, right below the "Keep reading" section!
I'll be listing some metrics like the page count for the rulebook(s), the core resolution mechanic, how complex the game is in terms of character creation & combat, and how well-supported the game is by their publisher and the community-at-large.
1. Cairn
Author: Yochai Gal
Release Year: 2020
Cost: Free PDF, printed copies cost between $3 to $10 depending on the print quality.
Page Count: 24
Website: https://cairnrpg.com/
Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 Roll Under system for ability checks/saving throws, attacks hit automatically, "fiction-first".
Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.
Characters: Random character creation, class-less and level-less, advancement based on "Scars" (suffering damage that reduces your HP exactly to 0)
Setting: Implied. Low-magic European-style fantasy; mysterious woodlands.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Hit Protection and Ability damage instead of HP, Slot-Based Inventory.
Degree of Support: Very high. Available in fifteen languages (e.g. Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and German); full rules text is under CC-BY-SA 4.0; multiple published third-party adventures & supplements available; some official bonus material (e.g. bestiary, magic items/relics, and spells) is available for free on the website.
Addendum: An expanded 2nd Edition is currently on Kickstarter (ends April 26th 2024); Cairn is legitimately easy to learn, however the Hit Protection system and the connected Scars system is a very different abstraction to health and advancement compared to 5e.
2. Cloud Empress
Author: worlds by watt
Release Year: 2023
Cost: Free PDF of the rulebook and the creator-written sample adventure "Last Voyage of the Bean Barge", $20 for the print edition of the rulebook, $12 for PDF supplements, $25 for print + PDF supplements; free solo rules also available as PDF only.
Page Count: 60
Website: https://cloudempress.com/
Resolution Mechanic: d100 Roll Under system for stat checks/saving throws, critical successes or failures on doubles (11, 22, 33, etc.), 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, attacks generally hit automatically.
Action Economy: Two actions per round with no free movement.
Characters: Semi-random character creation, four classes ("jobs"), no rules for character advancement in the ruleset.
Setting: Specific. "Ecological science fantasy" heavily inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind"; costly magic, giant insects, dangerous mushrooms; only human player characters.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Damage points culminate in Wounds; Wounds and Stress as ways to track your character's physical and mental state; slot-based inventory system.
Degree of Support: Low-ish. Several official supplements exist, however third-party material is very sparse. May improve due to the recent establishment of a Cloud Empress Creators Fund, has a simple 3rd party license system.
Addendum: A supplement, "Cloud Empress: Life & Death" is currently on Kickstarter (ends April 26th 2024, yes, the same day as Cairn 2e) and as a disclaimer I even backed that current Kickstarter; Cloud Empress is built on the engine of the sci-fi horror RPG "Mothership"; clearly built for one-shots and short campaigns; has a wonderful resting system that encourages roleplay between players.
3. Iron Halberd
Author: level2janitor
Release Year: 2023
Cost: Free PDF of the rules; no print option available.
Page Count: 60
Website: https://level2janitor.itch.io/iron-halberd
Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 + Bonus Roll Over system against difficulty or armor rating, however most non-combat-related actions follow a fiction first approach without dice rolls.
Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.
Characters: Semi-random character creation, class-less but there are four different "gear kits" that nudge your character towards certain archetypes, levelling up with XP.
Setting: Essentially non-existant. General European fantasy with magic, gods may or may not exist/shape the world, various fantastic ancestries included.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Includes rules for building strongholds and maintaining warbands; slot-based inventory with a durability mechanic.
Degree of Support: None. The game is intended to be relatively compatible with other OSR content and the creator suggests using adventures made for the D&D retroclone Old-School Essentials if you wanna use pre-published ones. An official introductory adventure, "Sea-Spray Bay", is apparently in the works. No 3rd party license available, as far as I know.
Addendum: One thing about Iron Halberd I like especially is how it uses random tables for generating equipment. Most of the equipment is listed in a numerical order by category, and the various gear kits include references on different rolling formulas for those equipment categories. For example someone taking the "soldier's kit" rolls twice on the d20 Weapons table and takes their preferred pick, while someone taking the "sage's kit" only rolls a d4 on that table.
4. Mausritter
Author: Isaac Williams
Release Year: 2020
Cost: Free PDF of the ruleset available; box set with the rules and several goodies including an adventure costs $55; additional box set + PDFs containing eleven official adventures costs $55 (or $20 digital-only).
Page Count: 48
Website: https://mausritter.com/
Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 Roll Under system, 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, attacks always hit.
Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.
Characters: Random character creation, class-less, levelling up with XP.
Setting: Vaguely specific. You play as mice and everything is related to mouse-size; cats are the equivalents of devils or dragons; humans exist as a setting background but may or may not be present in a campaign.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Includes rules for recruiting warbands; slot-based inventory with a durability mechanic.
Degree of Support: Very high. Several official supplements exist, as well as loads of content, be it adventures or supplements, made by other creators. Available in seven languages (all of them however are European). Has a simple 3rd party license system.
Addendum: Mausritter uses the phrase "adventure site" instead of dungeons. On the website a free adventure site generator is available, as is a digital tool that can be used to generate your own item cards for the slot-based inventory system.
5. Maze Rats
Author: Ben Milton
Release Year: 2017
Cost: $4.99 for the PDF, no print option regularly available.
Page Count: 32
Website: https://questingbeast.substack.com/
Resolution Mechanic: 2d6 + Bonus Roll Over system; advantage system that uses 3d6 drop the lowest + Bonus.
Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.
Characters: Semi-random character creation, class-less but instead there are character features (e.g. spell slots or attack bonuses), levelling up with XP.
Setting: Essentially non-existant. Magic is very irregular (s. the section below), but otherwise it implies a vaguely European fantasy setting.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Spells are randomly generated each adventuring day and spell effects are negotiated between the GM and the spellcasting player; includes several fantastic d66 tables that can be used to randomly generate worlds.
Degree of Support: Decent. The rule text is licensed under CC BY 4.0 and unofficial translations are available. Some third-party content has been made specifically for the game.
Addendum: The only purchase-only game on this list. However "unofficial" distribution of the PDF is very common. Also this is the oldest game on the list. Ben "Questing Beast" Milton is a prolific OSR blogger and runs a YouTube channel on the OSR. Great dude.
6. Sherwood - A Game of Outlaws & Arcana
Author: Richard Ruane
Release Year: 2022
Cost: Free quickstart PDF titled "Sherwood - A Quickstart of Outlaws" available; digital rulebook costs $7.50 and the print edition (including PDF) costs $15.
Page Count: 25 (Quickstart), 32 (Rulebook)
Website: https://www.r-rook.studio/
Resolution Mechanic: 2d6 + Bonus Roll Over system for skill checks (including attacks), 2d6 Roll Under system for saving throws; advantage & disadvantage system that involves rolling 3d6 and using the higher/lower of the two results; almost all rolls are player-facing
Action Economy: "Conversational", assumption of movement + action.
Characters: Largely choice-based character creation. Combine two (of six) background abilities with the benefits of seven different careers. Big focus on interpersonal relationships during character creation. Limited character advancement takes place during downtime.
Setting: Specific. Takes place in a fantastical version of 13th century England, with fey and magic coexisting with outlaws and crusaders.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: The group of outlaws possesses two shared resources (Resources and Legend) that can be spent to gain certain benefits; spellcasting is divided into two categories: arcane talents and sorcerous rites, with the former being immediate and the later taking significant time; slot-based inventory.
Degree of Support: None. No further publications exist for the game and while it is published under the CC-BY 4.0 license, no third-party content exists as far as I know. It does include a guide on how to convert D&D and Troika (N)PCs into Sherwood characters, as well as three adventure seeds (one in the Quickstart, two in the rules), which is at least something.
Addendum: Might just be the game on this list that encourages the most roleplaying; the character sheet is sadly very provisional-feeling and the Quickstart feels outdated compared to the finalized rulebook.
7. The Electrum Archive
Author: Emiel Boven
Release Year: 2022
Cost: Free Rules PDF available, zines cost $12 as digital PDFs or $24 as print + PDF combos; the first zine contains the entire contents of the Free Rules PDF
Page Count: 26 (Free Rules), 72 (Issue 01)
Website: https://www.electrumarchive.com/
Resolution Mechanic: 1d10 Roll Under system, attacks always hit.
Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.
Characters: Largely choice-based; three archetypes roughly corresponding to fighters/rangers (Vagabonds), rogues (Fixers), and spellcasters (Warlocks); player characters are presumed to be human; levelling up with XP.
Setting: Specific. Mechanics heavily tie into the lore; humanity has abundant access to minerals but requires a rare substance known as Ink to operate certain pieces of tech (like guns) and cast spells but cannot produce Ink themselves; spirits of various sorts can be foes, targets of worship, or sources of power.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Uses a spellcasting system for the Warlock archetype that's heavily based on the one used in Maze Rats, as in it uses randomly-generated spells whose effects are negotiated between the player and the GM; slot-based inventory with a durability mechanic.
Degree of Support: Minimal. The game consists out of the free rules and (soon) two zines; a third party license exists but content produced under it is very rare.
Addendum: I need to disclaim that I recently backed the Kickstarter campaign for the second zine for this game; the free rules feature wrong page numbers in its table of contents which is unfortunate; The Electrum Archive uses incredibly simple stats for NPCs which makes creating new ones based on other games rather simple.
8. Shadowdark RPG
Author: Kelsey Dionne
Release Year: 2023
Cost: Free player and game master quickstarts exist as PDFs and are available in print for $19, the core rules cost $28 in PDF form and $57 in a print + PDF bundle
Page Count: 68 (Player Quickstart Guide), 68 (Game Master Quickstart Guide), 332 (Core Rules)
Website: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/
Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 + Bonus Roll Over system, 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, natural 1s are critical failures and natural 20s are critical successes.
Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.
Characters: Largely choice-based; players have a fantasy ancestry and a class; levelling up with XP; class progression largely random.
Setting: Vague. General (dark) western fantasy conventions apply; alignment is a force in this universe and a sample pantheon is provided; the most potent enemies in the rules are named individuals that fit classic TTRPG monster types; illustrations and lore snippets have recurring motifs.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: The key mechanic of Shadowdark is how the game handles light, namely that light sources are tracked in real time (i.e. a normal torch lasts 1 hour), which increases tension; slot-based inventory; has a 0th-level character creation option using an eliminationist "Gauntlet".
Degree of Support: Fantastic. Several official supplements and offically sanctioned digital tools exist; lots of third-party content available under a generous third-party license.
Addendum: Definitely the most similar game to 5e on this list besides the next entry; very robust mechanically and the Core Rules features extensive lists of magic items, monsters, and spells; also for early play giving your players only access to the quickstart is a totally valid choice; and finally, before Dionne made Shadowdark, she made 5e adventures for years and it shows (affectionate).
9. Pathfinder
Authors: Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mark Seifter
Release Year: 2019 (initial release), 2023 (remaster)
Cost: Free and comprehensive SRD available via the platform Archives of Nethys, free "Pathfinder Primer" abridged rulebook available via the Pathfinder Nexus (powered by Demiplane), Core books are priced $20 for PDFs and $30/$60 for print as a softcover/hardcover; a Beginner Box set with shortened soft-cover rules costs $45
Page Count: 464 (Player Core), 336 (GM Core), 376 (Monster Core), 160 (Combined Beginner Box Softcovers)
Website: https://paizo.com/pathfinder
Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 + Bonus Roll Over system, 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, four degrees of success based on result compared to target number.
Action Economy: Three action points per round; various actions may require more than one point; every character can use one reaction per round of combat.
Characters: Choice-based; players first pick an ancestry and a background and a class (the ABCs) and then tend to have meaningful choices after each level-up; levelling up with XP.
Setting: Important. Golarion, the game's setting, is a world that has been long in development and it shows; powerful magic and influential gods; very clear notions of what the societies of the various peoples of the world are like and how they should behave.
Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Balance between character classes and reliable combat challenge calculations are an important design goal; weight-based inventory system; archetype system for "multiclassing".
Degree of Support: Fantastic. Loads of content gets regularly produced by the game's publisher Paizo; the Pathfinder Infinite program (similar to D&D's Dungeon Master's Guild) provides lots of lore-compliant third-party content; uses the ORC third-party license for content produced outside of the Pathfinder Infinite program. Translations into other languages available but Paizo does not provide a comprehensive list of available languages (only German and French confirmed after brief personal research).
Addendum: The most popular and commercially successful of the listed games; but also by far the most complicated, though it is easier to GM for specificallty than 5e; also I dislike how certain feats create situations where fairly mundane actions get mechanics through these feats instead of being things you can generally do; anyway the reason why it's a 9 on a 1d8 table is because if you wanted to try out Pathfinder 2e you already would have and because while Paizo is better than WotC it's still a flawed big company.
...
So this was an exhausting little project. I hope you found this helpful and I hope you give at least one of these games a shot! A follow-up to this post is not out of the cards, but I don't plan on one.
Before we go, have this poll about which of these systems you're most looking forward to try! Shame it can only be open for one week...
#thehomelybrewster#dnd 5e#dnd#indie ttrpg#tabletop roleplaying#ttrpg community#Cairn#Cloud Empress#Iron Halberd#Mausritter#Maze Rats#Dungeons and Dragons#Sherwood#The Electrum Archive#shadowdark#pathfinder
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Have you played RUNECAIRN ?
By Colin Le Sueur
Runecairn: Core Rules is a 44 page, black and white RPG zine, which includes a Norse fantasy setting, a full game system, and character creation rules for adventures set after Ragnarok destroyed most of the Nine Realms of Norse mythology. Runecairn is based on Cairn by Yochai Gal, with streamlined rules, fast character creation, and gameplay based on exploration and player choice.
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I’ve been a big fan of northern fantasy, but especially viking sagas, epics and of course the Eda, are there any games that fall into genres similar to the Volsung Saga or The Epic of Ragnar Lodbrok?
THEME: Viking Sagas
Hello! The following recommendations are either based on Norse Fantasy, Viking Fantasy, or historical Norse societies. Some are more realistic than others, but they run the gamut from light-hearted to serious, and from fantastical to realistic.
9 Lives to Valhalla, by Gem Room Games.
9 Lives to Valhalla is a frenetic, gleefully ultraviolent ttrpg about death metal viking cats earning their seat in Valhalla through glorious violence and death (all 9 of them)!
Nine lives to stalk the earth! Nine times to die with sword in paw! Nine Lives to Valhalla!
You are a death metal viking cat, earning your place in the drinking halls of Valhalla by casting a wake of blood and carnage upon the blighted earth in each of your 9 lives. Guided personally by DEATH, your merry band will leave a wake of ruin ending only at the hands of a truly worthy foe. Find treasures, trade with merchants, mercenaries, or ghosts, and follow DEATH to seek worthy foes, fiendish traps, and ensure your place among the greatest warriors of catkind!
This is absolutely the kind of game you want to pull out for players who want to dive into violence with glee. This is a death-metal dark-fantasy world, with dangerous opponents, a pantheon of cat gods, tons of character abilities, and GM advice on how to design your own foes on the fly. If you want a game that indulges a party of murder hobos and sends nods to the pop-culture tropes of Vikings, you might want to check out 9 Lives To Valhalla.
Ydalir, by Loreshaper Games.
Ullr took something that is rightly yours. He reigns in his court, Ýdalir, and that is where he has taken your treasure. It may be your beloved, a prized possession or tool, or even your honor—and you will get it back.
One player will take on the role of GM. They will guide the saga as it unfolds. They will tell players when to roll, and what the threshold is. The other players will make heroes seeking to reclaim what Ullr stole from them—they may be after the same object or several different things, but getting them back is a shared quest.
This is a one-page bluffing game, in which you don’t have to tell the truth about what you rolled. However, other players can take on the role of Ullr call your bluff. If you lied (or failed), you suffer a Loss, while if you tell the truth, you gain a Focus, which forces other players to tell the truth, or reveal their next roll and gives your player a step up in the future. If you like the idea of characters bluffing their way past a God to get their treasures back, or you just want a small game interacting with Norse mythology, you might want to check out this game.
Runecairn, by Odin’s Beard RPG.
In a long forgotten age, a raging war shattered and devastated the worlds of gods and men. Now green life blooms amidst the ruins of the lost worlds. Wondrous and terrible beings roam the Nine Realms. Civilization stumbles forward, fresh and reaching.
Strap on your bearded axe and linden wood shield, delve into the forsaken barrow and cleanse the draugr within. They will overwhelm you at first so prepare to die. But when you wake up at the bonfire, you'll know what to expect for your next attempt. Parry their attacks, disarm them, and hack them to pieces. Defeat the mad jotunn within and claim the soul remnant they protect.
Death is not the end.
Runecairn: Core Rules is a 44-page, black and white tabletop RPG zine, which includes a Norse fantasy setting, a full game system, and character creation rules for adventures set after Ragnarok destroyed most of the Nine Realms of Norse mythology. Runecairn is based on Cairn by Yochai Gal, with streamlined rules, fast character creation, and gameplay based on exploration and player choice.
This game is designed for the OSR gamer, which means that death is likely and character creation is quick. This game has quite a few supplements that you can pick up to enhance your play, from the Advanced Rules, (solo play, advanced character options), Beneath the Broken Sword (an introductory dungeon crawl), and Wardensaga, a package that contains everything in one place. If you’re interested in a rules-set that is easy to pick up and carries time-honoured nods to the fantasy game, with a Norse Mythology twist, I recommend Runecairn.
Blood Feud, by Bläckfisk Publishing.
Blood Feud is a game about toxic masculinity: certain common attitudes and behaviors among men, that cause great harm to them and to others around them. This is a game about people being nasty to each other and about figuring out why.
It’s also a game about vikings of pre-christian Scandinavia; about honor and blood feuds, courage and brutality, corruption and consequences. Above all it is a game about what it means to be a man in such a world—and what consequences that has on the communities they live in.
The goal of the game is to explore and experience toxic masculinity, while at the same time creating a thoughtful drama about relationships, competition and social consequences. Blood Feud is decidedly different from the other games on this list in that it takes away fantastical elements and focuses on the intertwined relationships of Vikings through a critical lens. It does this using the well-matched Powered by the Apocalypse system, which is a hallmark for dramatic role-players. If you’re interested in Viking life as well as exploring public and private relationships, you should absolutely check this game out.
Iron Edda: World of Metal and Bone, by Tracy Barnett.
Dwarven Destroyers stretch shadows across Midgard, a harbinger of war to come. Brave human warriors abandon clan and holdfast to bond themselves to the bones of dead giants, hoping to push back the Destroyers. Strangers from others lands appear in Midgard, bringing with them strange powers, and tales of war abroad.
Seers advise and divine the future, but the fate of the world is murky and dim. Jarls, thralls, and warriors fight in common cause, shouting “victory or Valhalla!” as they charge into battle. Ragnarok has come, and you live in a World of Metal and Bone. Will you dine with the gods in Valhalla, or dance with the dishonoured dead?
Another Powered by the Apocalypse game, World of Metal and Bone lets you tell stories of brave warriors, Jarls, Bone-bonded giants, and their defense of their holdfasts. Based on Dungeon World, this game includes something that not a lot of PbtA games have - established lore. There’s not much of it, but characters are presented with names that follow the naming conventions of different cultures and locations, and the book begins by presenting the reader with different factions and neighbouring countries.
If you’re interested in this setting but you would like a different system, Iron Edda Accelerated is in the same world but uses the FATE rules system instead. There’s also Iron Edda Reforged, a side-story game about building a neighbourhood community and taking down the gods - although this is less Norse Mythology and more a modern-day post-apocalypse.
Godtale, by Bläckfisk Publishing.
GODTALE is a Norse mythological micro RPG about escapades and rivalries, about cunning and vainglory. You portray aesir, asynjur and vanir of your own creation. Together you go on adventures in the Nine Realms. But each of you wants to be the deity who earns the most glory—not infrequently at the expense of your companions.
Godtale is a game in which you can win or lose. You will compete against your fellow players to gain the most Glory by the end of the game. You do so by overcoming Trials, using your Domains, Attributes, and Possessions to do so. You must also be careful not to accumulate too much Pride, which will negatively affect your dice rolls.
As for the GM, this little game provides a few pieces of advice on running the game, as well as some roll tables to give the characters interesting Trials. Overall, this game is quick, simple, and a great way to establish new myths about the deities of the Norse Pantheon - maybe even a great way to set the stage for another game on this list!
In The Time of Monsters, by Possum Creek Games.
It was the final age — the old world was dying, and the new world was struggling to be born. Every day Ragnarok drew closer, the end of the world heralded by churning seas and raging skies. The gods grew rotten and weak, their greedy eyes sunken into rotting skulls. The great heroes were reduced to grist in the mill of war. It was the final age before all things ended, and as the world-tree rotted, everyone knew … Now is the time of monsters.
In The Time Of Monsters is a tactical combat TTRPG about bloodsoaked heroes vying for power at the end of the world. It's inspired by Norse Mythology, Lancer, and Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition.
Jay Dragon is more known for games that are diceless or centred on storytelling, but this game seems to be a divergence from this pattern. This is meant to be tactical, it’s meant to be combat-focused, and it carries the familiar character elements of stats, special abilities, and inventory. That being said, characters will also answer questions about where they got their weapons and magic items and what they want in regards to the end of the world.
If you're looking to tell dramatic fables about tragic warriors on a grid while rolling dice and getting big numbers, this is the game for you. If you’re looking for an adventure to drop into this game, you can check out Ullr’s Revenge, a third-party supplement written by Ripley Caldwell.
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Now at IPR: Runcairn!
Runecairn: Core Rules is a 44 page, black and white RPG zine, which includes a Norse fantasy setting, a full game system, and character creation rules for adventures set after Ragnarok destroyed most of the Nine Realms of Norse mythology. Runecairn is based on Cairn by Yochai Gal, with streamlined rules, fast character creation, and gameplay based on exploration and player choice.
It's also two player! So if you're looking for something with a little more crunch (and plenty of tables) to play with just one other person, Runecairn is definitely worth checking out.
https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Runecairn-Core-Rules-Print-PDF.html
We've also got four supplements for Runecairn available: Runecairn: Advanced Rules, Runecairn: Beneath the Broken Sword, and Runecairn: Bestiary.
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¡Cairn, edición en español!
Basado en Knave de Ben Milton e Into The Odd de Chris McDowall, Cairn es un intento de hacer que Into The Odd sea semicompatible con ambientaciones OSR populares como Dolmenwood.
La generación de personajes es rápida y aleatoria, sin clases y se basa en el desarrollo del personaje en lugar del avance del mismo por puntos de experiencia o mecánicas de nivel.
El juego en sí tiene reglas ligeras pero funcionales, dejando la mayoría de las decisiones en manos del Guardián.
La edición en español incluye Barrow Delver escrito por Matthew Morris, así como tablas generadoras y reglas de viaje para jugar en solitario.
Descarga gratis en:
Jugadores: 1-5
SRD en español:
Nota: Preparado para jugarse en solitario.
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Here we are in the brambles. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re looking at Cairn, Yochai Gal’s ultra-lite hack/remix of Into the Odd and Knave. How few mechanics can you have and still have a D&D-esque RPG? It’s both more and less than you expect, probably. Cairn actually highlights Into the Odd’s differences from D&D by pulling the Odd mechanics in a more old-school direction (Into the Odd lacks a recognizable spellcasting system, for instance). We run it all down. Next up: Liminal Horror!
#RPG#TTRPG#Tabletop RPG#Roleplaying Game#D&D#dungeons & dragons#Podcast#Yochai Gal#Cairn#Into the Odd
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Key Links
A list of OSR keystones by Chiquita Fajita.
A comparison of OSR systems by Leyline Press.
The New School Revolution (NSR) by Yochai Gal (Cairn).
The Into the Odd syllabus, compiled by Yochai Gal (Cairn)
Game Design
Variations on “leveling up” by Sean McCoy (Mothership).
Blogs
Failure Tolerated by Sean McCoy (Mothership).
Bastionland by Chris McDowall (Into the Odd).
Writing Hours by Zedeck Siew (Thousand Thousand Islands).
Monsters
Creating set-piece boss monsters that players have to solve before they can kill.
Making horrifying monsters encounters with description, not mechanics.
Infusing monsters with myth and Medieval-weirdness.
Using slow actions to create a deadly Souls-like experience.
Combat
Diceless violence using HP-as-a-resource.
Executing combat maneuvers and called shots, also using HP-as-a-resource.
Using Mettle, Trauma, and Grit as a replacement for HP.
Story
Using powerful or cursed weapons as characters and motivators.
A soothsayer who can learn a truth from the DM. But if the Player relays the truth specifically, it changes.
Graphic Design
A primer on text formatting.
A list of classic D&D fonts.
Adventures
A repository of all One Page Dungeon submissions, 2009 to present.
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Cairn: the Little Game That Could.
The mail carrier has been dropping surprises on my doorstep. My copy of Cairn arrived the other day. It's a cute little game. I'd say give it a shot for a night or two.
My print copy of Cairn by Yochai Gal came today.
For the low, low price of $3.00 I couldn’t pass this one up. I heard a couple of YouTubers talking about this thing and thought I’d give it a shot. Your mileage may vary. The link to the PDF and ridiculously low priced print version are here.It’s an okay game weighing in at 24 pages. I get the impression Yochai Gal must be fairly new to the…
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Liminal Horror: A fillable, custom character sheet for the Horror RPG
I just finished up a one-shot of Liminal Horror, a modern horror RPG from Goblin Archives. It’s a simple system, heavily inspired by Yochai Gal’s Cairn. Characters have three stats: Strength, Dexterity, and Control. Players roll a D20, and try to get equal to or below their stat to succeed at tasks. In combat, there […]Liminal Horror: A fillable, custom character sheet for the Horror RPG
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The Demon Tree
There was once a tree, and within lived a demon. It stretched itself over the Rab’s house, and often the Rab’s son would play nearby. One day the boy saw a finger poking out of the tree, and thinking that one of his friends was playing a trick on him, he fished a ring from his pocket and placed it on the finger. Suddenly a face appeared beneath the bark of the tree, a great smile upon it. He ran away from it, screaming.
The boy eventually forgot the event and grew up, himself becoming a Rab as well. He wed a respectable and wealthy woman, then settled into his father’s house. One day a branch from the tree slammed into his new bride, killing her instantly. Although the new Rab had not cared deeply for this woman, he still grieved for over a year before again agreeing to wed another woman of means. She too was struck by a branch from the tree and was killed instantly.
Finally the Rab decided that G-d must be punishing him for only wedding for social status and wealth. Thus he married a poor woman whom he loved very deeply, and they quickly made a life together. Knowing what had befallen his two earlier wives, the woman set herself to avoid the same fate. Eventually the tree did mean to strike her, but she was able to avoid its quick branches and declare, “Why do you do this? Why do you kill all who love my husband?”
The demon within tree then revealed itself and replied, “Because we were wed long ago, and he is mine under law.” The woman returned home and recounted the tale to her husband, who then recalled the events of his childhood and confirmed the demon’s story. Hearing this, she decided to go to the demon and treat with it.
The woman admitted that the demon was right: her husband belonged to the demon, as was law. A deal was then struck: the demon would abstain from harming her, provided that the woman brought it an offering each day of its favorite food: smoke captured in a pot. A deal was struck, and thereafter each morning the woman would return to the tree and find a pot resting there. She would light a piece of wood within it and close the pot. And so it went.
A few years later the wife became pregnant. Knowing that the demon would likely harm her child, or worse claim it as its own, the woman returned once more to treat with the demon. A new deal was struck: in exchange for her family’s safety, the demon could have her husband every Saturday for one hour.
And so it went for seven years. The child was healthy and the family happy. The demon wife even came to the family’s aid at times. One Saturday evening when the husband came to the demon’s tree he found the pot sitting there before it. Within was a familiar gold ring, and he knew that now the demon was gone.
Retold by Yochai Gal.
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Is Necronautilus part of the NSR?
Is Necronautilus from @WCGameCo part of the NSR? And does it matter?
In Necronautilus, which I reviewed earlier this month, players act as Death Agents, solving problems and cataloguing the galaxy for the Blind God Death. At their disposal, they have Words of Power (effectively acting as spells, abilities, whatever), Memories (of their life before), and, well, Luck. The setting feels like Spelljammer if Sunn 0))) had written it, and in fact they even have a…
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#Adam Vass#Electric Bastionland#Into the Odd#Necronautilus#New School Revolution#NSR#Pandatheist#Troika!#World Champ Game Company#Yochai Gal
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