Hey have you actually tried Maze Rats? I picked it up with my roommates recently and although we've only played one session so far we've been loving it! Fast character creation much like Cairn and very whacky magic. But the best thing imo is it's got the perfect tables for instantly generating the entire adventure before or during play if your players are a little tiny bit patient.
10:22 Small correction: Monsters *do* lose Strength after running out of HP, and they make Critical Damage Saves just like PCs. It’s a common enough misconception that I believe it’s addressed in Cairn’s online FAQ.
Brigandine can look like leather armor, but it is actually relatively advanced flexible steel armor made of a series of overlapping steel plates sown to the inside of an overcoat. It's really cool stuff.
Isn't it better than chainmail? Because the metal plates and leather block stab attempts, where the rivets in mail would let it through to some degree, but is still able to block shear force (slashes) just as effectively as chain?
@@FireallyXTheories I have the impression that brigandine is nearly as effective as plate armor, while being much easier to mass produce for an army. I could be wrong, though. I haven't looked up any tests on it.
Older versions of D&D share some of the qualities you highlighted here: Less defined, relying more on rulings, death is possible, etc. Also 40 ft/round is the base unarmored unencumbered move rate in B/X D&D. It's interesting to see how some OSR games lean in to some OSR principles more and some less. For example, the spells in Knave/Cairn are very open (by the way, in Knave they last 10 minutes per level of caster - not sure about Cairn). But at the same time Cairn and Knave aren't really quite as deadly as B/X D&D. I think a cautious party could always avoid a death unless they got sloppy or careless or bit off a bit more than they could chew.
I like the death not being random, in the TTRPG I’m making there are sounds which characters take whenever their health bar hits 0 (characters usually have between 4 and 7 HP at lvl 1). And some of these wounds go away at the end of combat. Others don’t, some of them are tied into each stat, and while you have them, every time you suffer a wound, you make a check with a dc equal to the total wounds you have. If you fail, you start to die. So death doesn’t feel random, once you get one of yhe wounds that can lead to death, there’s this encroaching feeling of dread til you can rest for 8 hours straight to attempt to get rid of it
Thank you! I was over due for a change. Very long time viewers will know I started the channel with short hair haha PS: I cut it myself -- homebrew for life!
I don't like when I have to be the backbone of all spells as the GM because it makes me have to make a list of what spells can and can't do during session 0 so my players know how the magic works at my table or I risk blindly shutting them down when I say elasticity can't make you a flying squirrel for a day, not knowing that was the whole reason they took the spell in the first place and ruining part of their fun. But at the same time, if they ask me "what can this spell do?" I have to make up an answer, setting up those parameters weather or not I'm realizing it. And in that situation, every table is a different system based on how the GM interperated the rules as written. It's GM-interpretation-dependency that made me have a falling out with Worlds Without Number (another indie ttrpg, anf what used to be my favorite system.) It was simple and easy to grasp on the surface, but as a GM I had to determine the fine rules of everything and entire classes and builds were made or broke by my rulings and I didn't quite realize it until I talked with a fellow GM of the system. Here's an example from its skill check system alone: A skill check calls for a skill + ability score combo chosen by the GM, based on what a player wants to do. A skill like "Administration" became worthless in my game because I figured it only worked for knowing laws and regulations as an intelligence-predominant call, when later a fellow GM of mine let players use Administration/Intelligence to forge, or just make, legal documents and Administration/Charisma was how you "sold" it to the guard or whomever and "Know/Intelligence" was for knowledge of how the town's regulations/laws and Administration/Wisdom was for spotting flaws, holes, or forgeries in documents, scrutinizing them. That same player who built around being a legal weasel with a high investment into the Administration skill, would not exist at my table simply because I interpreted the rules differently from the start and had no guidance to offer something like that to my players until the other GM blew my mind with his ruling. I still, to this day, do not know how the designer intended Administration to be used or what pairings he uses for it most often. tl;dr if the GM has to do all the fine details, two tables are more akin to two seperate ttrpgs than different flavors of the same ttrpg
Cairn is great. I especially like how it has PbtA/FitD-like principles of play for the GM and players. Really enjoy seeing you talk about all the lovely variety of RPGs out there!
I kind of love the character not knowing the limits of there spells until they try and the DM tells them, like the bit in supper hero movies where they are testing out there new powers.
I can do it in 10 or less. First give me a map, my empty chessex map. The characters take a portal to another world. I start grabbing miniatures, based on the ecology. Once characters achieve the heroic goals, they have to return thru the portal back to the ordinary world. That is authentic hero's journey adventuring in actually less than 5 min. D&D is easy and for everyone!
@@BobWorldBuilder definitely. I downloaded the game and printed it off into a little booklet already!! Three, actually.... as I have to always have some player copies. LOL.
Cairn is good, the character creation reminds me of Mork Borg. Character creation is about the same speed for both games. For starting out games I have to say that Index Card RPG (ICRPG). It is system agnostic however it does Fantasy very well. Its rule system is light BUT it gives clear tasks for the players to follow. 1. solve the encounter 2. Do something that makes the difficulty numbers easier for everyone 3. Prevent the next complication in the encounter from happening. I have played with new and old players and they have found it very clear and easy to learn.
Very cool. I had never heard of Cairn but will jump over to DTRPG and pick it up. I appreciate you covering lesser-known games; even within the OSR community, we tend to hear about the same dozen games over and over.
Great video! I'm happy to see more people branching out of the strict rules to more open styles of playing. It can be a great time. One of the most fun times I've had gaming, was playing All Outta Bubblegum with some friends. No prep, no idea what was going to be the inciting incident to kick off the game. It was a blast
Might've been covered by other comments already, but monsters are subject to critical damage rolls as well. Reducing their HP makes it more likely you'll be able to damage their Str and force a critical damage save.
I'd really love to see you do a mini campaign or a one shot of this, to help those interested in trying this out get a better grasp of how it runs, how the players get to grips with it, and to show how to DM this. That'd make a great set of videos. Cheers, James
Cairn! It's a great game, so simple and open to interpretation. What I like the most of the "Into the Odd" family of games is that because the rules are so similar, you could start a Cairn campaign, then do a Mausritter interlude about mice in the tiny town you're in, and even play in an alternate universe of western gunslingers with We Deal in Lead. And all of them have the same basic rolls!
Regarding spell descriptions: Most spell books are put in to the game by the game master, so the GM has til to decide the details before the player stars asking questions.
I've never played Cairn, but I've played Into the Odd and ran Mausritter, which are related. Also I've been following Yochai's podcast Between Two Cairns, which I'd recommend. Yochai is an amazing guy, and really wants to help people to play games. Update: I've been running Cairn for the last couple of months, and it's working very nicely.
To add to what @Mitchell Howell said: Examining medieval effigies of warriors wearing brigandine is what caused the Victorian era historians to think that studded leather armor was a thing historically...it wasn't. Brigandine was a transitional armor between earlier mail and later plate armors. However both mail and brigandine were still in use by the common soldier when full plate was the preferred armor type of the wealthy. Both mail and brigandine are cheaper to make, easier to maintain and 'one size fits all' compared to the very expensive high maintenance plate armor which must be custom fit to the individual.
Nice, I'll grab a PDF when I get a moment. My first thought is I'm not too hot on the classless, idea. Got plenty of that from Elder Scrolls Online. but the rest of it looks pretty fun to play.
I'd use the spell book fatigue like sockets. You want elasticity? You keep it as long as your inventory slot is taken up by it. Have fun being Jake the dog until you find that magic sword...
Cairn, Troika, Into the Odd, Knave, Basic Fantasy, Whitebox, World of Dungeons, and more. There are lots of really quick to set up systems that are cheap or free. If you want scifi and a little more meaningful fast random character creation, Classic Traveller Facsimile edition is very easy to start up. But combat is deadly, and probably to be avoided until people are really ready for the risk.
I really like pick and play rpgs, Beyond the wall has the whole Playbooks and other stuff for the Dm and player to make a charcter and get an adventure going.
I have played in Cairn multiple times. My only criticism of it is that the lack of leveling always feels weird to me as a player. I like knowing a guidance to advance as a character and this game doesn't really provide it.
There are some guidelines on the website (I can't put them here or the message will get deleted). 2e will have an entire fictional advancement section as well, tied to downtime.
Cairn is great for "learning how to play" - especially for GMs. It is really focussing on the "good parts" as RP and Fluff and is very low on Crunch - and all of it is defined by GM and Players inteaction, not by one solemly and not by some pregenerated Stuff even though you can implement it easily.
When you're unsure of miscellaneous details of a spell, talk it over with your GM. The ruling they make sets a precedent for future iterations of that spell. Each campaign is a law onto itself.
Goblin slayer has a pretty quick gen, 2d6 system, smooth and straightforward, and while it isnt free, all rules and the setting is in one book. Looking forward to running it.
While I haven't played this game, I have back the Kickstarter for Knave 2E and outright bought a copy of We Deal in Lead, 2 games I've been told are very similar. (Heck, the backside of the book for WDIL says it's compatible with Cairn adventures, so I basically have the cowboy add on for Cairn. lol)
Cairn is so cool, i didn't have many occasion to start d&d or other ttrpg and i never felt really good when i was a player, and when i wanted to try being a GM but some "friends" just tried to stop me because i "didn't play enough as a player'' but with cairn oh boy, i started GM'd with it and did an homebrew for me and my friends after some time and i can't thank enough this game for helping me to feel confortable with ttrpg
If you haven't checked it out, I'd recommend DURF, also inspired by some of the same games and free on Itch. It appears to be similar to Cairn, but might be even more economical and easy to learn, and has (in my opinion) a more compelling hit dice/health system. Love the videos, Bob!
The biggest challenge is getting 10 adults who want to play TTRPGs to be available at the same time, let alone in the same room 🤪 ...but I really like discovering new systems so thanks for that!
Space Kings is a very fun TTRPG that breaks away from dice. There has been a learning curve of at least one session for people to get the hang of it, but once they did it became a regular for game nights when we want a break from D&D.
Huh, this system does sound like a fun thing to experiment with. If I ever get to meet with my end group again, I might bring this system up and see if anyone is interested in giving it a go.
I like the simplicity of this system. Especially for teaching my elementary students some ttrpgs. This sounds really similar to Mouseritter. They system I'm going to be using soon to have my kids play.
I always wonder how people assumes making a character in D&D or Pathfinder takes like, half hour. I've never seen a character done in less than 2 hours, unless it is a pre-generated one or a literal level 0 without anything to personalize. Just flipping through the books takes a huge amount of time.
I just bought six copies from Amazon and printed off 25 character sheets for under thirty bucks! Cannot wait for the ensuing chaos on Saturday😂🤣😂 Thanks for this amazing recommendation👍
This game looks awesome! I'm always looking for a classic RPG system and this one really looks like a TTRPG version of those 80's-90's point-and-clicks which were my childhood.
Great vid! Nice visual of highlights as rolling during game mechanic example. And flexing that Bob World Builder genuineness with the fellow creator callouts and links, nice. Plus, non-relevantly and no one asked: nice haircut! More flex. Love these explorations of alt-systems, especially ones that were played.
How would you say it compares to Mausritter, another tiny, free, game that seems extremely viable for players new to OSR (and which has an absolutely delightful inventory system, where the inventory items are physical cards of various sizes you manipulate around your inventory space)
I'd say that Cairn to Mausritter is like Basic D&D to 5e D&D. The two games share the same core mechanics and underlying principles, but Mausritter (like 5e) give the players and GMs a lot more material and advice. I recently read Mausritter, and it honestly feels like it could be the best-built rulebook I've read yet. It packs in so many helpful tools and tables! Still have to try out the game though :P
Love the game, also loving the new hair. I've got long hair too, thinking about cutting it short but wonder if people would even recognise me with such a drastic change!
I kinda want to take this and hack in white hacks race, background and group traits to allow rerolls when those things would apply since I love that part of white hack but hate the class system as overly complex. It would require a bit of balance changes for the monsters but not a whole lot.
Definitely worth the price. I own it, but probably won't ever bring it to my table. I don't like that every attack hits, though I understand the reason for it.
“Character creation with that many brand new players could easily soak up an hour of your game time.” Heck, I recently did a session zero for a new 5e group. Two new players, two players with some experience. Three hour session, first two hours were character creation 🥴
I'd rule the stretching thing like Elastigirl in The Incredibles. You can stretch for very brief (like, one attack) periods of time without putting yourself at any sort of disadvantage, and for hours if you *really need to* but it'll leave you fatigued.
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Pretty nice, would have enjoyed a quick demo of combat.
Hey have you actually tried Maze Rats? I picked it up with my roommates recently and although we've only played one session so far we've been loving it! Fast character creation much like Cairn and very whacky magic. But the best thing imo is it's got the perfect tables for instantly generating the entire adventure before or during play if your players are a little tiny bit patient.
10:22 Small correction: Monsters *do* lose Strength after running out of HP, and they make Critical Damage Saves just like PCs. It’s a common enough misconception that I believe it’s addressed in Cairn’s online FAQ.
Brigandine can look like leather armor, but it is actually relatively advanced flexible steel armor made of a series of overlapping steel plates sown to the inside of an overcoat. It's really cool stuff.
It's assumed to be the type of armor that studded leather is supposed to actually be in D&D. Just don't tell that to people using shocking grasp.
Brigandine effectivenes is on par with plate armour. In Cairn it should be changed to Gambeson - realistically.
Isn't it better than chainmail? Because the metal plates and leather block stab attempts, where the rivets in mail would let it through to some degree, but is still able to block shear force (slashes) just as effectively as chain?
I own brigantine for my larp. It is the coolest stuff
@@FireallyXTheories I have the impression that brigandine is nearly as effective as plate armor, while being much easier to mass produce for an army. I could be wrong, though. I haven't looked up any tests on it.
I cannot emphasize enough how much I’ve been diving into Cairn in the four days since you posted this video. This is why I subscribe.
Older versions of D&D share some of the qualities you highlighted here: Less defined, relying more on rulings, death is possible, etc. Also 40 ft/round is the base unarmored unencumbered move rate in B/X D&D.
It's interesting to see how some OSR games lean in to some OSR principles more and some less. For example, the spells in Knave/Cairn are very open (by the way, in Knave they last 10 minutes per level of caster - not sure about Cairn). But at the same time Cairn and Knave aren't really quite as deadly as B/X D&D. I think a cautious party could always avoid a death unless they got sloppy or careless or bit off a bit more than they could chew.
That's how it should be in any game
I like the death not being random, in the TTRPG I’m making there are sounds which characters take whenever their health bar hits 0 (characters usually have between 4 and 7 HP at lvl 1). And some of these wounds go away at the end of combat. Others don’t, some of them are tied into each stat, and while you have them, every time you suffer a wound, you make a check with a dc equal to the total wounds you have. If you fail, you start to die. So death doesn’t feel random, once you get one of yhe wounds that can lead to death, there’s this encroaching feeling of dread til you can rest for 8 hours straight to attempt to get rid of it
Where is the hair?? It's a cool new look.
Thank you! I was over due for a change. Very long time viewers will know I started the channel with short hair haha
PS: I cut it myself -- homebrew for life!
Such is getting older..... the hair is the first to go.... .
@@BobWorldBuilder beard + short hair on man = medieval respect. Lol
Was scrolling through comments waiting to find someone mentioning it 😂 It looks really awesome!!!
Rambo, Commando, Rambo, Commando, where did the hair go?
I don't like when I have to be the backbone of all spells as the GM because it makes me have to make a list of what spells can and can't do during session 0 so my players know how the magic works at my table or I risk blindly shutting them down when I say elasticity can't make you a flying squirrel for a day, not knowing that was the whole reason they took the spell in the first place and ruining part of their fun. But at the same time, if they ask me "what can this spell do?" I have to make up an answer, setting up those parameters weather or not I'm realizing it. And in that situation, every table is a different system based on how the GM interperated the rules as written.
It's GM-interpretation-dependency that made me have a falling out with Worlds Without Number (another indie ttrpg, anf what used to be my favorite system.) It was simple and easy to grasp on the surface, but as a GM I had to determine the fine rules of everything and entire classes and builds were made or broke by my rulings and I didn't quite realize it until I talked with a fellow GM of the system. Here's an example from its skill check system alone:
A skill check calls for a skill + ability score combo chosen by the GM, based on what a player wants to do.
A skill like "Administration" became worthless in my game because I figured it only worked for knowing laws and regulations as an intelligence-predominant call, when later a fellow GM of mine let players use Administration/Intelligence to forge, or just make, legal documents and Administration/Charisma was how you "sold" it to the guard or whomever and "Know/Intelligence" was for knowledge of how the town's regulations/laws and Administration/Wisdom was for spotting flaws, holes, or forgeries in documents, scrutinizing them. That same player who built around being a legal weasel with a high investment into the Administration skill, would not exist at my table simply because I interpreted the rules differently from the start and had no guidance to offer something like that to my players until the other GM blew my mind with his ruling.
I still, to this day, do not know how the designer intended Administration to be used or what pairings he uses for it most often.
tl;dr if the GM has to do all the fine details, two tables are more akin to two seperate ttrpgs than different flavors of the same ttrpg
Props to the Runehammer sticker on the flask in the background.
Thanks! I had my bottle there as I was setting up and was going to move it, but then I thought, nah someone out there will appreciate this :)
Cairn is dope! Can't wait for Bob World Builder indie TTRPG arc
Cairn is great. I especially like how it has PbtA/FitD-like principles of play for the GM and players.
Really enjoy seeing you talk about all the lovely variety of RPGs out there!
I kind of love the character not knowing the limits of there spells until they try and the DM tells them, like the bit in supper hero movies where they are testing out there new powers.
Damn, that's a fresh cut.
I can do it in 10 or less. First give me a map, my empty chessex map. The characters take a portal to another world. I start grabbing miniatures, based on the ecology. Once characters achieve the heroic goals, they have to return thru the portal back to the ordinary world. That is authentic hero's journey adventuring in actually less than 5 min. D&D is easy and for everyone!
First of all, nice hair and beard.
I would really love seeing Cairn being played, and maybe playing it myself!
Thanks! I'm thinking about recording audio of a Cairn session for my other channel. If it happens, I'll make a post about it on this channel!
Your voice is clear and pleasant, and you explain everything at a good, easy to absorb pace. Keep up the good work!
You know, I kept seeing Cairn online... and admit that I was curious... but I never checked out. Looks like now is the time!
It's never too late!
@@BobWorldBuilder definitely. I downloaded the game and printed it off into a little booklet already!! Three, actually.... as I have to always have some player copies. LOL.
Yes! i knew it was Cairn from the thumbnail and holy hell is this game rock solid, as are its many OSR constituants
... I just can't stop staring at Bob's hair...
Cairn is good, the character creation reminds me of Mork Borg. Character creation is about the same speed for both games. For starting out games I have to say that Index Card RPG (ICRPG). It is system agnostic however it does Fantasy very well. Its rule system is light BUT it gives clear tasks for the players to follow. 1. solve the encounter 2. Do something that makes the difficulty numbers easier for everyone 3. Prevent the next complication in the encounter from happening. I have played with new and old players and they have found it very clear and easy to learn.
Very cool. I had never heard of Cairn but will jump over to DTRPG and pick it up. I appreciate you covering lesser-known games; even within the OSR community, we tend to hear about the same dozen games over and over.
Brigandine was cloth and/or leather armor with metal plates in. It was historically quite common armor despite how little we hear about it.
I can't thank you enough for this video. I've been looking for a system like this where equipment can really shine. Thank you!
Saw video posted 4 minutes ago and never clicked so fast.
I appreciate your enthusiasm! :D
From the blurred cover, and from the title of the video, I knew this was gonna be about Cairn right away. 👍👍👍
Great video! I'm happy to see more people branching out of the strict rules to more open styles of playing. It can be a great time.
One of the most fun times I've had gaming, was playing All Outta Bubblegum with some friends. No prep, no idea what was going to be the inciting incident to kick off the game. It was a blast
IS NO ON GOING TO MENTION THE HAIRCUT?!?!?!
Just bought the pdf and soft cover book! About $8 in total with shipping. Very much worth it! Thanks Bob!
Might've been covered by other comments already, but monsters are subject to critical damage rolls as well. Reducing their HP makes it more likely you'll be able to damage their Str and force a critical damage save.
I'd really love to see you do a mini campaign or a one shot of this, to help those interested in trying this out get a better grasp of how it runs, how the players get to grips with it, and to show how to DM this. That'd make a great set of videos. Cheers, James
Cairn! It's a great game, so simple and open to interpretation. What I like the most of the "Into the Odd" family of games is that because the rules are so similar, you could start a Cairn campaign, then do a Mausritter interlude about mice in the tiny town you're in, and even play in an alternate universe of western gunslingers with We Deal in Lead. And all of them have the same basic rolls!
Regarding spell descriptions: Most spell books are put in to the game by the game master, so the GM has til to decide the details before the player stars asking questions.
I've never played Cairn, but I've played Into the Odd and ran Mausritter, which are related. Also I've been following Yochai's podcast Between Two Cairns, which I'd recommend. Yochai is an amazing guy, and really wants to help people to play games.
Update: I've been running Cairn for the last couple of months, and it's working very nicely.
You're cool too
Huzzah! Welcome to the club Bob! Great to have you :-) (psssst, now go check out the Escape the City module by Jim Hall) Cheers!
To add to what @Mitchell Howell said: Examining medieval effigies of warriors wearing brigandine is what caused the Victorian era historians to think that studded leather armor was a thing historically...it wasn't. Brigandine was a transitional armor between earlier mail and later plate armors. However both mail and brigandine were still in use by the common soldier when full plate was the preferred armor type of the wealthy. Both mail and brigandine are cheaper to make, easier to maintain and 'one size fits all' compared to the very expensive high maintenance plate armor which must be custom fit to the individual.
This is pretty cool! I can actually see myself playing this.
Go download it! It is super easy to understand and play. Then Baron's video should help with planning your session! :)
Nice, I'll grab a PDF when I get a moment. My first thought is I'm not too hot on the classless, idea. Got plenty of that from Elder Scrolls Online. but the rest of it looks pretty fun to play.
Great overview. I'm definitely going to check this one out.
I can't focus on this RPG when i don't see Bob's hair!
I'd use the spell book fatigue like sockets. You want elasticity? You keep it as long as your inventory slot is taken up by it. Have fun being Jake the dog until you find that magic sword...
Cairn, Troika, Into the Odd, Knave, Basic Fantasy, Whitebox, World of Dungeons, and more. There are lots of really quick to set up systems that are cheap or free.
If you want scifi and a little more meaningful fast random character creation, Classic Traveller Facsimile edition is very easy to start up. But combat is deadly, and probably to be avoided until people are really ready for the risk.
Nice Haircut!, Bob! Looks good.
Thank you so very much for this video! This seems absolutely perfect for a noob like me, that wants to start playing TTrpgs with his noob friends.
I really like pick and play rpgs, Beyond the wall has the whole Playbooks and other stuff for the Dm and player to make a charcter and get an adventure going.
I have played in Cairn multiple times. My only criticism of it is that the lack of leveling always feels weird to me as a player. I like knowing a guidance to advance as a character and this game doesn't really provide it.
There are some guidelines on the website (I can't put them here or the message will get deleted). 2e will have an entire fictional advancement section as well, tied to downtime.
Hell yeah to Bob for showing some indie RPGs
Cairn is great for "learning how to play" - especially for GMs.
It is really focussing on the "good parts" as RP and Fluff and is very low on Crunch - and all of it is defined by GM and Players inteaction, not by one solemly and not by some pregenerated Stuff even though you can implement it easily.
Thank you! CAIRN needs more support.
Never forget to bring a sponge! And a towel! 42 out.
Kinda sounds interesting & something 😊
instantly knew it was cairn from the title and blurred photo. Love into the odd and all it's hacks
When you're unsure of miscellaneous details of a spell, talk it over with your GM. The ruling they make sets a precedent for future iterations of that spell.
Each campaign is a law onto itself.
Goblin slayer has a pretty quick gen, 2d6 system, smooth and straightforward, and while it isnt free, all rules and the setting is in one book. Looking forward to running it.
After seeing your intro, I thought you where going to talk about Pocket Fantasy RPG. It is not a D20 but a D6 system. It is one of my favorites.
We played a session of Cairn last week and it was a lot of fun!
Nice quick spot on this easy pickup game. The stats/mechanics, though not the same, really remind me of the Fighting Fantasy books dynamics.
Thanks for this, I am going to probably implement it into my westmarch server!
While I haven't played this game, I have back the Kickstarter for Knave 2E and outright bought a copy of We Deal in Lead, 2 games I've been told are very similar. (Heck, the backside of the book for WDIL says it's compatible with Cairn adventures, so I basically have the cowboy add on for Cairn. lol)
Brigandine is basically what Gygax thought "studded leather" was. It's leather reinforced with metal plates.
Why is no one talking about how bob cut off his lushes locks? I mean the new hair looks great and I love it but this is a decently big change, no?
Pretty cool. If you prefer same, but more in arthurian myths lore, there is Mythic Bastionland now (from the same guy that made Into the Odd)
Gonna try it out! Ordered a print copy too.
Cairn is so cool, i didn't have many occasion to start d&d or other ttrpg and i never felt really good when i was a player, and when i wanted to try being a GM but some "friends" just tried to stop me because i "didn't play enough as a player'' but with cairn oh boy, i started GM'd with it and did an homebrew for me and my friends after some time and i can't thank enough this game for helping me to feel confortable with ttrpg
If you haven't checked it out, I'd recommend DURF, also inspired by some of the same games and free on Itch. It appears to be similar to Cairn, but might be even more economical and easy to learn, and has (in my opinion) a more compelling hit dice/health system.
Love the videos, Bob!
thanks for continuing to produce non-wotc content!
"27. Elasticity" I picture one Elastigirl action for however many turns it takes to complete.
The biggest challenge is getting 10 adults who want to play TTRPGs to be available at the same time, let alone in the same room 🤪
...but I really like discovering new systems so thanks for that!
Brilliant, straight forward summary
Space Kings is a very fun TTRPG that breaks away from dice. There has been a learning curve of at least one session for people to get the hang of it, but once they did it became a regular for game nights when we want a break from D&D.
Huh, this system does sound like a fun thing to experiment with. If I ever get to meet with my end group again, I might bring this system up and see if anyone is interested in giving it a go.
DnD group, not end...stupid autocorrect.
I like the simplicity of this system. Especially for teaching my elementary students some ttrpgs.
This sounds really similar to Mouseritter. They system I'm going to be using soon to have my kids play.
I always wonder how people assumes making a character in D&D or Pathfinder takes like, half hour.
I've never seen a character done in less than 2 hours, unless it is a pre-generated one or a literal level 0 without anything to personalize. Just flipping through the books takes a huge amount of time.
I just bought six copies from Amazon and printed off 25 character sheets for under thirty bucks! Cannot wait for the ensuing chaos on Saturday😂🤣😂
Thanks for this amazing recommendation👍
Definitely wanna check Cairn out now
If you like the idea of attacks always dealing damage but wants a more "rules heavy" you may check Eldritch RPG
i was searching a rules lite system to play a diablo 1 one shot, and this one seems perfect! TY!
Nice “new” haircut Bob 👍
This game looks awesome! I'm always looking for a classic RPG system and this one really looks like a TTRPG version of those 80's-90's point-and-clicks which were my childhood.
13:06 - Yes, yes to all 😂
Also, check out Mutants of IXX!
It's is Skill Fungus' Mark of the Odd, post-apocalyptic, pamphlet RPG and it's amazing! 😀 🙌
May we all find "kind and reasonable people" to play with
Great vid! Nice visual of highlights as rolling during game mechanic example.
And flexing that Bob World Builder genuineness with the fellow creator callouts and links, nice.
Plus, non-relevantly and no one asked: nice haircut! More flex.
Love these explorations of alt-systems, especially ones that were played.
How would you say it compares to Mausritter, another tiny, free, game that seems extremely viable for players new to OSR (and which has an absolutely delightful inventory system, where the inventory items are physical cards of various sizes you manipulate around your inventory space)
I'd say that Cairn to Mausritter is like Basic D&D to 5e D&D. The two games share the same core mechanics and underlying principles, but Mausritter (like 5e) give the players and GMs a lot more material and advice. I recently read Mausritter, and it honestly feels like it could be the best-built rulebook I've read yet. It packs in so many helpful tools and tables! Still have to try out the game though :P
Love the game, also loving the new hair. I've got long hair too, thinking about cutting it short but wonder if people would even recognise me with such a drastic change!
Thanks for this coverage! I would love to hear more of your experiences with this system!
That’s dope, I like how your strength is your hp! Definitely gonna use that
Looking fresh with that haircut, Bob.
Loved this, would like to see more alternate ttrpg reviews
Your haircut looks good! :)
I kinda want to take this and hack in white hacks race, background and group traits to allow rerolls when those things would apply since I love that part of white hack but hate the class system as overly complex. It would require a bit of balance changes for the monsters but not a whole lot.
Great video. Love cairn and you gave an engaging and informative review. I think monsters in cairn lose STR just like PCs.
I am commenting to increase engagement. Cairn seems super neat!
Definitely worth the price. I own it, but probably won't ever bring it to my table. I don't like that every attack hits, though I understand the reason for it.
“Character creation with that many brand new players could easily soak up an hour of your game time.”
Heck, I recently did a session zero for a new 5e group. Two new players, two players with some experience. Three hour session, first two hours were character creation 🥴
I'd rule the stretching thing like Elastigirl in The Incredibles. You can stretch for very brief (like, one attack) periods of time without putting yourself at any sort of disadvantage, and for hours if you *really need to* but it'll leave you fatigued.
Correct
Thanks for covering this, sounds like fun.
Cairn and it's many hacks are my favorite TTRPGs!
I wrote the first ever third party module for this! ((what's more it's surreptitiously based on Joe Manganellio's star chart!))
Like the fresh new look! Great channel. Thanks for the great info!
Great recommendation, thanks
this is a really cool system, I can't wait to try it out.
Always fun to hear about where Mausritter copied its homework.
Cairn came after Mausritter. Both are descendants of Into The Odd.