#cairn ttrpg

[inspirationaljunkyard]

More samples from the Cairn 2E bestiary. Today we have a green hoarding dragon, a goblin, and some gnolls. Now live on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1557907976/cairn-2e-boxed-set

[thehomelybrewster]

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...

[vintagerpg]

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.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played CAIRN ?

By Yochai Gal

Cairn is an adventure game about exploring a dark & mysterious Wood filled with strange folk, hidden treasure, and unspeakable monstrosities. Character generation is quick and random, classless, and relies on fictional advancement rather than through XP or level mechanics. It is based on Knave by Ben Milton and Into The Odd by Chris McDowall.

[peregrine-coast]

Milk Bar: sci-fi OSR roleplaying in post-Communist Poland

Bełchatów exemplifies what the paypigs called Total Fucking Vertical Integration. They dug out coal from a hole in the ground 300m deep and 10km across, wheeled it 17km across a field, and burned it to produce 50TWh of energy a year. The city, this city, sprang up around it to keep those functions and those conveyor belts alive at any cost; total fucking vertical integration.

Eventually, the coal ran out. The Soviets found a more lucrative source of energy in the south and they would wheel it back here to justify keeping hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of nowhere. An explosion at the plant sent them reeling, leaving only you—the Communards—to pick up the pieces. 

🧑‍🔬sci-fi OSR roleplaying in the vein of Cairn and Mothership 🇵🇱 set in an alternate timeline, post-Soviet Communist Poland 🏠 unique progression system tied to basebuilding 🥟 pierogi

Coming soon! Follow the project on Kickstarter to get updates 👀

[ostrichmonkey-games]

More Riverlands thoughts

So as I slowly work on more Riverlands Stuff (hexcrawl, rule conversions, etc), general survey - which of the original Riverlands backgrounds (excluding the Empire and Further Afield backgrounds for right this second), would you want to see expanded into a full Archetype (basically a class in my Ostrichmonkey Hack ruleset). Not all of them necessarily would work as archetypes, but I'm interested to see which ones might resonate with people.

Basically based entirely on vibes, pick your favorite, but feel free to ask for more info on any in the notes.

[franciscolemos]

This was an early cover for The Lair of the Alchemist, which was not used as I ultimately did not include that creature in the Dungeon.

[tabletopgayventures]

What I look for in a tabletop role-playing game

Just my thoughts on what makes a game interesting.  Not necessarily good or bad, just what I would like to see in a game.  

First off, I want my games to be all in one book.  All you need to get started playing is just a single rulebook.  I prefer physical books but I’ll take both physical and digital.  I want the book to include a brief intro about the game, have the next section go over the game rules, then go over the setting, and the final part of the book will go over character creation.  Referee options, like challenges or bestiaries, can either be with the game rules or in a section after character creation.  I have yet to find a book that puts things in this order, but hopefully with my large collection of books I’ll finally find the order.  

The reason I want the book organized like this is that you need to understand the game mechanics in order to know how you want to build your character.  You also need to know the game setting to come up with a story for your character.  Finally, in most systems, character building takes up the majority of the book.  Especially in more complicated games with lots of character options.  Having the book organized this way will also increase the likelihood of players actually READING THE DAMN RULES.

Last thing about the game book.  Hardcover, paperback, pdf I don’t care.  But make your books easy to read and navigate!  Have a key on the fore-edge of the book in different colors so if you know the colors you can jump to that section.  Also an index!  Have an index please so you can find which pages talk about your special game mechanics.  Use colors and font size to define both hierarchy and sections in your layout, please don’t just have a white page with black text.  Finally, please use sans-serif fonts!  They’re so much easier to read than Times New Roman or Baskerville.

I also like looking for safety tools in my game books.  People who regularly play ttrpgs tend to know about lines, veils, surveys, and x-cards.  But not everyone does!  If a new player picks up your game and you don’t have a safety section you as a designer are depriving them of an important resource.  Also sometimes game designers think up new ones or have an interesting take so I like to learn.  

I don’t care how complex or simple the game system is, I just want it to be interesting and work.  I started with 3.5 and Pathfinder 1st edition so I do have a preference for more complicated games with lots of character options but only if they’re interesting or established.  I also like my systems to be loose enough that you can easily homebrew additional mechanics, change mechanics, or make new in game material.  I like to homebrew, it’s fun.  

[zedecksiew]

GRANDAUNT NGENG WILL NOT MARRY

Ngeng ap Ten was no grandaunt then—her breasts stood high, her arms were masts, her hair flowed like the night breeze freely.

And like all young chieftesses she was quick to folly. She would not flee from a fight. She looked at the Zum King, saw his soft belly, his pale lips. She judged that she could not lose. She would have been right.

She kissed her spear and said: “I accept your challenge, o king. Should I win you will never seek me again, and live in peace always.”

He pointed his sword and said: “I accept your terms, o queen. Should I win you will give me your hand, and rule with me in splendor now and ever.”

Ngeng ap Ten laughed aloud and answered: “Never!”

She was no grandaunt then—her eyes glared fire, her fists were mallets, and her hair swirled like a storm approaching.

Spear haft sang, spear point shrieked. But though the Zum King was slow, unskilled, she found she could not fight him. Her thrusts were forced away. Her slashes she threw aside. She found she would not spill his blood.

She dropped her spear and said: “Calumny! Treachery. My own right hand betrays me!”

He sheathed his sword and said: “I am a son of the gods of heaven. No mortal arm may hurt a star.”

The Zum King offered her his open palm and said: “Come!”

Ngeng ap Ten was no grandaunt then—her heart beat steady, her brow an unbowed arch, her hair hung still like a veil never to be parted.

With her left hand she seized his sword. With his sword she severed her right arm at the elbow. This she offered to him, in accordance to his terms. He asked for her hand, if he won. It was her hand that she gave him.

Thus the Zum King, who thought to trick Ngeng ap Ten, was tricked in turn, and went home to his city with a wife he could not marry.

So it has been to this day: that the kings of Zum rule palace and markets with an arm now bone as their scepter. Thus Ngeng ap Ten, who thought to best her enemies with might, learned guile instead, and paid a limb for wisdom.

So it has been to this day: that she is our Grandaunt Ngeng, living ever free and alone in the heart of the wood.

+++

This is a self-congratulatory post.

The above fable is part of an adventure I have just I have finished writing, for the Cairn 2E Boxed Set. The adventure itself is titled: A Tide Returning.

It is now in layout, and will receive proper art and cartography by proper artists. (These sketches are my own personal studies.)

Of late I have been doing poorly, mental- and emotional-health-wise---so it is a wonder I finished anything at all. I am glad I finished A Tide Returning. I am pretty proud of it.

A little shy, because it retreads the same general themes as a lot of my past work---the mangrove setting; colonial-capitalist violence done to a people and landscape.

Am rationalising the above worry thusly:

I have now written a trilogy of TTRPG adventures, set at the beginning (Lorn Song Of The Bachelor), middle (A Tide Returning), and end (Spy In The House Of Eth) of a settler-colonial project. Taken together, they make the point that:

Colonial projects are long-term, violent throughout, and an evil not simply halted by the defeat any single Big Bad.

But also that:

Resistance is as long, and as tenacious, and righteous action is its own victory.

Thank you Yochai for letting me write this thing.

PS: the header image is that of the Heritiera littoralis, or looking-glass mangrove---the kind of tree Grandaunt Ngeng appears as, in the adventure.

[catshavenolord]

🚨FREE DUNGEON ALERT 🚨

Step right up for a 14-room cavern dungeon featuring:

A dangerous environment with oppressive heat and dense crystal formations based on the real-world Cueva de los Cristales.

A crazed cult obsessed with a cosmic dragon and mixed up in faulty time-reversal rituals.

Four alien creatures ready to eat any player characters that come near to them.

One little green lady mysteriously growing potatoes.

A series of open challenges focused on creating interesting player choices.

Also with art from the amazing @evlynmoreau-blog and @betterlegends

Just head on over to Itch.io now to get it for yourself:

[roobiedo]

oc-tober 2024 day 4: under-appreciated oc

posting some old art today! as a forever GM, i rarely have a chance to play my own characters, so these guys are from two different oneshots that my lovely friends ran a while back <3 my poor goofy babies are gathering dust, i miss them so much 😩

On the left is Prince Marigold de Clair, or just Rigo! He's a kalashtar wizard who dreams of being a baker but has zero baking skills oops. They ran away from home because they have the whole ✨worldussy✨ Made for a DnD oneshot about acquiring the recipe to apple pie!

On the right is Esme Swinney, a rat bastard (affectionate) miner made for @ashleys-doodle-corner's Cairn oneshot! (She's also the one who rendered Esme's drawing — our first collab yay — and did the alt text! thank u bestie <3) Esme has 1 HP :)

[inspirationaljunkyard]

Mew creatures, fresh from the Cairn 2E bestiary: minotaur, mind lasher and night hag Cairn 2E is now live on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1557907976/cairn-2e-boxed-set

[ultimavela]

The dammed that roam dead-holy-towns, part III: Encounters for OSE, Mörk Borg, and NPFTH

Traversing the streets of this dead holy town, overtaken by the twisted magic of the Chasm (gap that lies between the world as seen by invaders of the north and the people of Isla Grande), you come across with something on your way.

Roll for an encounter! (1d4)

Pallbearers of the sinners’ dreams.

Plague bearers.

Ink-covered scribes.

Shadows of greed.

Spirits that roam dead wheeled holy towns

1. Pallbearers of the sinners’ dreams

These are the souls of the colonists who have been condemned to lead burial rites for eternity. In deep fear as they faced the end of their lives, the twisted energy of the Chasm fed on the last images that took hold of their minds; that of a limbo, as the only place where they could hide so as not to pay their sins to their god.

To be fit to serve their eternal fate, their skin has become marble, strong, and durable. They do not need to sleep or eat, but they feel tired and hungry. They all carry on their backs a stone coffin, without a lid.

STATS

For OSE

Armour Class → 19 Hit Dice → 10 (45 hp) Attacks → None, they just walk away toward a graveyard. Movement → 60’ Saving Throws → D6 W7 P8 B8 S10 Morale → 12 XP → 50 ▶ Unstoppable: Nothing can stop them. Only if they are destroyed they will fall and crumble. ▶ Undead → Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep). ▶ Weapon Immunity: Unharmed by all attacks made with slashing or pircing weapons. ▶ Energy immunity: Unharmed by fire, acid or cold. ▶ Bearing your sins: When they cross someone's path they will absorb their sins, and will continue to do so until they are destroyed. Every turn after a person encounters the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams", they will feel a pull from their chest to one of the coffins, they will lose 1 HP, and they will forget something they regret, or the details of it will become fuzzy. The coffins on the back of the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" will glow brighter with every HP and memory they take from the people looking at them. ▶ Buring your sins: They will carry the sin of those who have looked at them to a graveyard. Each turn there is a 1-in-6 chance that the graveyard will emerge from a magical fog. The "Pallbearers of sinners' dreams" will enter the graveyard and begin to bury the coffins they carry. They do so in 1d6 turns. If all the coffins are buried anyone inside the cemetery falls unconscious and wakes up hours later in the same place where they first saw the "Pallbearers of the coffin of sinners' dreams". The memories they lost are lost forever and now their current HP is their maximum HP. ▶ Looking at the coffin on their backs: If anyone looks into one of the glowing coffins, they will see the sins it has been devouring. The people to whom these memories belong will feel a tug, as if a rope is pulling them from their chests into the coffin. Whoever enters a coffin will fall into a pocket dimension inside the "Pallbearers of sinners' dreams". ▶ The pocket dimension: The pocket dimension is a catacomb, with four exits. If someone crosses one exit they return to the catacomb through one of the other exits. There is an open stone coffin in the center. Next to it, looking inside, the person who became the "Pallbearers of sinners' dreams". If someone enters that coffin, they come out of the pocket dimension. If the person who was the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" enters it, (he is afraid of it and thinks that if he enters he will die and be punished by his god), the catacomb will start to crumble, the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" will be destroyed, and any memories or HP that this "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" took with him will be returned. If the person who was the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" is killed, the catacomb will crumble, but any memories or HP they stole will not be returned. Anyone who does not escape from the catacomb when it crumbles becomes the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams".

For NPFTH (to use with Mörk Borg → Blood=HP)

They do everything with Imposing +4. Blood → 45 (all white) Attacks → none Movement → 30' Armor → 1d10 (the armor is their marble skin, if the armor breaks their body crumble and they are destroyed). Morale → 12 ▶ Unstoppable: Nothing can stop them. Only if they are destroyed (loosing all their blood or by breaking their armor) they will fall and crumble. ▶ Undead → Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep). ▶ Weapon Immunity: Unharmed by all attacks made with slashing or pircing weapons. ▶ Energy immunity: Unharmed by fire, acid or cold. ▶ Bearing your sins: When they cross someone's path they will absorb their sins, and will continue to do so until they are destroyed. Every turn after a person encounters the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams", they will feel a pull from their chest to one of the coffins, they will lose 1 Blood or 1 Grief (the player chooses), and they will forget something they regret, or the details of it will become fuzzy. The coffins on the back of the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" will glow brighter with every Blood/Grief and memory they take from the people looking at them. ▶ Buring your sins: They will carry the sin of those who have looked at them to a graveyard. Each turn there is a 1-in-6 chance that the graveyard will emerge, from a magical fog. The "Pallbearers of sinners' dreams" will enter the graveyard and begin to bury the coffins they carry. They do so in 1d6 turns. If all the coffins are buried anyone inside the cemetery falls unconscious and wakes up hours later in the same place where they first saw the "Pallbearers of the coffin of sinners' dreams". The memories they lost are lost forever and now their current Blood becomes their maximum Blood. ▶ Looking at the coffin on their backs: If anyone looks into one of the glowing coffins, they will see the sins it has been devouring. The people to whom these memories belong will feel a tug, as if a rope is pulling them from their chests into the coffin. Whoever enters a coffin will fall into a pocket dimension inside the "Pallbearers of sinners' dreams". ▶ The pocket dimension: The pocket dimension is a catacomb, with four exits. If someone crosses one exit they return to the catacomb through one of the other exits. There is an open stone coffin in the center. Next to it, looking inside, the person who became the "Pallbearers of sinners' dreams". If someone enters that coffin, they come out of the pocket dimension. If the person who was the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" enters it, (he is afraid of it and thinks that if he enters he will die and be punished by his god), the catacomb will start to crumble, the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" will be destroyed, and any memories or Blood that this "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" took with him will be returned (Grief is never returned). If the person who was the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams" is killed, the catacomb will crumble, but any memories or Blood they stole will not be returned. Anyone who does not escape from the catacomb when it crumbles becomes the "Pallbearers of Sinners' Dreams".

2. Plague bearers

These are the undying bodies of those colonists who carried in them the northern diseases that killed many of the island's inhabitants.

Seconds before they died, they remembered all those who died from these diseases they brought. With shame and regret, they remembered how they kept the cure of these diseases a secret to themselves, either out of self-righteousness or by order of their king. The Chasm fed on these memories of regret, turned them into what they themselves now facing death discovered they had been in life, bearers of death and plague.

Always triple their number when they are part of an encounter.

STATS

For OSE

Armour Class → 10 Hit Dice → 1 (4 hp) Attacks → 1 × infected nails (1d6 + disease) Movement → 60’ Saving Throws → D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 Morale → 7 XP → 5 ▶ Disease: Anyone slashed by the "Plague bearers's" nails, or ingesting slime from a Exploding pustule, contracts a horrible rotting disease. When sick with this disease, rest only heals half and magic cannot restore HP. The disease can only be removed by magic. If the disease is not treated, every day there is a 1-in-6 chance that the maximum HP of the patient will decrease by 1. If the maximum HP reaches zero then the patient dies. ▶ Exploding pustule: Anyone that hits a "Plague bearers" with a melee weapon has 1-in-6 chance to hit a pustule and make it explode into an infictious slime that burns the skin as an acid (1d4). There is 1-in-10 chance that the explosion cause the slime to fall onto the eyes or the mouth, infecting the cvictim with the Disease that it carries.

For NPFTH (to use with Mörk Borg → Blood=HP)

They do everything with Imposing +1. Blood → 5 (all black) Attacks → 1 × infected nails (1d6 + disease) Movement → 60’ Armor → none Morale → 12 ▶ Disease: Anyone slashed by the "Plague bearers's" nails, or ingesting slime from a Exploding pustule, contracts a horrible rotting disease (condition Roting disease -0). When sick with this disease, rest nor food restores Blood. The disease can only be cured by a "rite of calling" or by an expert healer. If the disease is not treated, every day there is a 1-in-6 chance that the maximum Blood of the patient will decrease by 1. For every Blood that is lost in this way, add -1 to the Roting disease condition modifier. If someone loses all their Blood because of this, they die. ▶ Exploding pustule: Anyone that hits a "Plague bearers" with a melee weapon has 1-in-6 chance to hit a pustule and make it explode into an infictious slime that burns the skin as an acid (condition burned -1d4). There is 1-in-10 chance that the explosion cause the slime to fall onto the eyes or the mouth, infecting the victim with the Disease that it carries.

3. Ink-covered scribes

These are the keepers of knowledge, those historians who have come to the island to rewrite history by the command of their kings and following the words of their god-man-king. They write words of conquest, they write words of wrath and righteousness.

As the wheeled holy village got stranded, and the Chasm overflowed it, their profession became their necessity, and in hunger they recorded the pain and insanity that took over the other inhabitants of the village.

With each word, with each fragment of madness they collected from the ones that died, they also anchored the soul of those they wrote about to their skin.

They walk covered in ink, and the weight of the twisted visions of those that already died. They are mortals vessels for the lost souls of the deceased.

STATS

For OSE

Armour Class → 15 Hit Dice → 4 (18 hp) Attacks → 1 × {sharp quill (1d6, branded) or Ink hands or Ink spines} + 1 × {Ink transfer or Ink recovery} Movement → 60’ (20’) Saving Throws → D11 W12 P14 B16 S15 Morale → 9 XP → 50 ▶ Branded: The "ink-covered scribes" will experience the dreams of those they marked and, by writing in them on their skin, slowly absorb the souls of the owners of those dreams. The marked victim will lose 1hp of their maximum hp. If their HP reaches 0, their souls becomes a tattoo on the scribe's skin. It can only be released by killing the scribe. ▶ Ink hands: From any type of ink, they can summon hands that can grab or strike those near the ink. These inky hands do 1d4 points of damage and have the strength of an average person. ▶ Ink spines: "Ink-covered scribes" can cause the ink on their body to turn into thorns that do 1d6 points of damage to all creatures that are in melee combat with them. ▶ Ink transfer: By touching any being, they can transfer to them one of the souls they carry. The soul is transported by a tattoo that moves from the skin of the scribe to the skin of the target. The target will be flooded by visions of madness suffered by this soul, taking 1d6 points of psychic damage. There is a 1-in-6 chance that the vision will provide useful information to the target. ▶ Ink recovery: By touching a being to whom they previously transferred their ink, they can recover the tattoo and the soul. In doing so, the target loses 1d6 hp and the "ink-covered scribe" recovers the same amount of hp.

For NPFTH (to use with Mörk Borg → Blood=HP)

They do everything with Imposing +2. Blood → 15 (all black, it is ink) Attacks → 1 × sharp quill (1d6, branded) or Ink hands or Ink spines + 1 x Ink transfer or Ink recovery. Movement → 60’ Armor → 1d8 (represents the souls inside the scribe's body. When the armor deteriorates it represents the destruction of a dozen of these souls. When all the souls are dead the scribe will fall to the ground, and begin to write with despair on his skin, feeling overwhelmed by the silence of his soul). Morale → 9 ▶ Branded: The "ink-covered scribes" will experience the dreams of those they marked and, by writing in them on their skin, slowly absorb the souls of the owners of those dreams. The marked victim will lose one Condition, one Compulsion or one point of Grief. If they lose all of their Compulsions, Conditions and Grief in this way, their souls becomes a tattoo in the scribe's skin. It can only be released by killing them. ▶ Ink hands: From any type of ink, they can summon hands that can grab or strike those near the ink. These inky hands do evrithing with the scribe's Imposing + 1d4. ▶ Ink spines: "Ink-covered scribes" can cause the ink on their body to turn into thorns that hit with their Imposing + 1d6 to all creatures that are in melee combat with them. ▶ Ink transfer: By touching any being, they can transfer to them one of the souls they carry. The soul is transported by a tattoo that moves from the scribe's skin to the target's skin. The target will be flooded by visions of madness suffered by this soul, loosing as much blood as their Grief. There is a 1-in-6 chance that the vision will provide useful information to the target. ▶ Ink recovery: By touching a being to whom they previously transferred their ink, they can recover the tattoo and the soul. In doing so, the target loses 1d6 of Blood and the "ink-covered scribe" recovers the same amount of Blood.

4. Shadows of greed and grief

These are the last echoes of all the greed and grief of colonists.

Keep alive by the Chasm, these aspects of the colonist souls have interwoven to become an ethereal force that takes the shape of a wraith.

These remnants feed on the Grief of those they meet in their path, and their most vital instinct is to push other creatures to indulge in greed, for they desire one thing more than anything else: to bear their greed in the company of other beings, so as not to feel guilty of what is their nature.

STATS

For OSE

Armour Class → 19 Hit Dice → 6 (27 hp) Attacks → 1 × touch (Grief draining) or Paranoia or Hurled object (1d4) Movement → 90’ Saving Throws → D6 W7 P8 B8 S10 Morale → 10 XP → 500 ▶ Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep). ▶ Mundane damage immunity: Only harmed by silver weapons or magic. ▶ Aura of greed: All seeing a "Shadows of greed and grief" must save versus spells or they will feel compelled to indulge in their greed. ▶ Grief draining touch: Victim permanently loses all feelings of grief they behold for any of their actions. They lose 1d4 points of WIS. If reduced to 0 WIS, the victim loses their moral compass (they alignment changes to chaotic evil). Someone changed in this way can only return to their previous state by killig the "Shadows of greed and grief" that siphoned their grief. ▶ Paranoia: A victim within 60’ must save versus spells or become paranoic. When paranoic a victim will suspect everyone of wanting to steal what they cherishes the most. ▶ Hurled objects: Range 30’. Can only throw objects which are nearby.

For NPFTH (to use with Mörk Borg → Blood=HP)

They do everything with Imposing +3. Blood → 20 (all black) Attacks → 1 × touch (Grief draining) or Paranoia or Hurled object (1d4) Movement → 90’ Armor → 1d8 (ethereal form) / none if attacked with silver weapons or weapons stained with fresh blood. Morale → 10 ▶ Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep). ▶ Aura of greed: All seeing a "Shadows of greed and grief" must make an opose roll of Imposing. If they loose they will feel compelled to indulge in their greed. ▶ Grief draining touch: Victim permanently loses all feelings of grief they behold for any of their actions. They lose 1d4 points of Grief. For each point of grief they loose in this way there is 1-in-6 chance of loosing their moral compass (they get the condition cold hearted -1/+1). Someone changed in this way can only return to their previous state by destroying the "Shadows of greed and grief" that siphoned their grief. ▶ Paranoia: A victim within 60’ must make an oposse roll of Imposing. In a fail they become paranoid. When paranoid a victim will suspect everyone of wanting to steal what they cherishes the most. ▶ Hurled objects: Range 30’. Can only throw objects which are nearby.

[seedlinggames]

A Gathering Storm for Cairn is out

Hopefully it works this time because I managed to crash the editor. A Gathering Storm is an adventure for Cairn. It probably takes about 2 sessions unless your players really don't like talking to people. There is a village that will have to be abandoned if nobody figures out why it won't stop raining, because the rains are flooding everything. There's a strange and isolated monastery with a famous library which is being weirdly unhelpful to anyone who comes around asking questions. There's a forest which is also a god. Most of the adventure takes place in this forest.

This is my first time doing not just all of the writing and layout but also the art. It took way too long but I'm pretty proud of the results. There's no dungeon crawling, but it is very exploration focused. There are also hooks to start a larger campaign based on these locations, a bunch of new bestiary entries, and tables of 36 books, 24 names, and 10 types of merchants.

You can find the pdf on #itchio https://seedling.itch.io/a-gathering-storm-cairn

or on #DriveThruRPG : https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/437505/A-Gathering-Storm--Cairn

You can also get physical copies from the Cairn store: https://store.cairnrpg.com/products/a-gathering-storm

Third Kingdom Games: https://www.thirdkingdomgames.com/product-page/a-gathering-storm

And (soon) Ratti Incantati, in Canada (will update when they're available there): https://rattiincantati.com/

[goblincow]

The Perilous Pear & Plum Pies of Pudwick | coming soon | read about it at http://tppappop.carrd.co

| 🐛 | 52 page full-colour, fully illustrated creepy-crawly micro-setting for Melsonia written and illustrated by Josh Blincow (@goblincow). Shrink to insectoid size and adventure into the uncanny world that exists inside a sapient pear tree in this system agnostic weird fantasy pointcrawl.

| 🐜 | INSPIRED BY | HOLLOW KNIGHT | BUG FABLES | THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP | HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS | A BUGS LIFE

| 🐞 | MINIATURE MISADVENTURE | A well-meaning outsider brings reckless magic into a small community on the eve of the local bake off. Hijinks ensue as chitinous consequence follows behind on a thousand scuttling limbs.

Explore the dawn of a new insectoid world ripe for adventure! Shrink down to size and take your first furtive steps into the alien world living inside a sapient pear tree filled to the brim with insect communities, conflicts and (relatively) ancient secrets. Your actions will decide the destiny of a dungeon that was never meant to be delved. Will you find the adventure you were seeking, or discover another path entirely? Unravel the mystery at the heart of the tree, and make your proportionately tiny mark.

| 🐝 | FEATURES | 39 mischievous & menacing tritone illustrastions | vivid writing that animates a rich interconnected world | evocative pointcrawl-&-table adventure design | approachable, colour-coded information design that comfortably facilitates both table reference and playful reading.

| 🦗 | MANAGEABLE MECHANICS | self-contained adventure bookended with a food fight inciting incident and 5 villager NPCs | a perilous ticking clock | carefully interweaved pointcrawl map with 17 locations, 6 d3 vignette tables, 5 d4 rumour tables and 2 d4 encounter tables with location specific encounters | d100 worldly possessions table | d100 random encounters table | d20 bug name generator | 3 unique treasures | 6 page insectuary & 23 minimalist enemy statblocks | faction reference matrix | system agnostic rules for generating bug player characters.

| 🦟 | SYSTEM AGNOSTIC | compatability with old school TTRPGs like CAIRN | LABYRINTH LORD | OSE | KNAVE | DCC | B/X and easily adaptable for other fantasy tabletop roleplaying games like MAUSRITTER | TROIKA! | TUNNEL GOONS | MÖRK BORG and more.

| 🦋 | follow @goblincow for updates | goblincow.carrd.co

[daarka]

FROG !! FROG ALERT!!!

A very special attack for a very special friend ( @feelingkindawoozy ) of his very special character, Cairn! (Character art above is by him, not me!)

This is yet another one that's super hard to photograph well, so head to the post on my Instagram to see better videos--including ones before mister frorg was entombed eternally in resin!