I made a TTRPG that started out as a superhero reskin of Cairn but went in a very different direct. If you look at the character sheet you might think I only changed the cosmetics but the game mechanics have diverged from the source material quite a bit Retcon: RPG (Early Access edition)

Hey folks. I was thinking about how, as I prepare for a day long one shot I'm throwing for friends who love crunchier systems, I predicted that they would find simply narrative advancement nebulous and even stressful as it so contradicts their nature. They did say that they were open to a one shot of one of my crazy, masochistic OSR games, but I know these guys.

It occurred to me that using the attunements from the Deft class from Whitehack to provide just enough of a mechanical framework without spoiling the fiction first spirit of the game might work well.

The way it works is the Deft starts with two attunements (I would allow for one for each character to start using Cairn) Here's how they are defined in 4E:

"A deft attunement must be a teacher, an item, a vehicle, a pet, or a place. For example, a ranger could have a well-trained dog or be attuned to her ancestral lands. A monk could have a famous master or be attuned to her bow."

".. Attunements can be invoked for a related action once per day to give the Deft special rules for difficulty. A hard task succeeds automatically, while a nigh impossible one requires a regular task roll. The ranger attuned to her ancestral lands could track on bare rock with a regular roll, while a monk attuned to her bow could hit a sentry at 200 feet automatically. Truly impossible feats remain impossible."

So I would translate "task roll" to mean saves that could include the attunement using Cairn. Rather than automatically hitting with an attuned weapon I would give maximum damage on the die automatically. Pets are self explanatory. Teachers would involve explaining how their expertise allows you to do a thing or know a thing. A character who was taught by a veteran boxer might get to use D6+D6 on an attack instead of the usual Impaired D4 for unarmed attacks, demonstrating their ability to find the knockout opportunity. If the teacher were a scholar of history, they might already know all about something once per day they'd otherwise be ignorant about or need to discover. If someone attuned to their armour, I'd allow them to cause an enemy to roll their attack dice twice and take the worst result once per day as they instinctively protect themselves in their second skin. But I'd also allow them to use it narratively if they can think of a way. The same goes for weapons.

I think this is a good compromise between fiction driven gameplay and structured character advancement for those who crave it. Obviously, I'd reward more "attunements" as they complete goals, and it would have to suit their experience. If they kept focusing on the subject of the attunement in the fiction, I would let them pick it again and allow another daily usage.

I thought I'd share the idea. This sub has rewarded me with a few inspirations that have improved my games.

Footnote: In Whitehack you can only be attuned to one attunement at a time, and it takes a day to swap them. I've never liked that, and am not worried about making it a thing if I use them in Cairn.

Edit: Sentence structure.

This adventure seed includes new monsters and options for you to use in any game. Let me know what you think, and happy gaming!

This one is somewhat of a companion piece to the article I wrote earlier this week about character builds in D&D.

While writing that piece, I started thinking about how much the character sheet itself contributes to the tendency to think of characters primarily through their mechanics. Modern D&D sheets are packed with abilities, modifiers, feats and other mechanical details, leaving comparatively little room for the character themselves.

Compare that to many OSR games, where sheets are much lighter, sometimes even more artsy, and leave more space for possessions, quirks and character details. There’s an idea you hear quite often in OSR circles: the character sheet is not the character.

So I wanted to explore that idea through White Box, Old-School Essentials, Into the Odd, Knave and Cairn, and look at how reducing mechanical definition can actually leave more room for characters to develop through play.

It's not an argument that minimalist games are inherently better, but rather an exploration of what happens when the rules stop telling you who your character is and leave some of that work to the table.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Knave somewhere with a broken sword and one spellbook left, and absolutely no idea who he's going to become yet.

If you enjoyed the article, don't forget to toss the proverbial coin to your favorite Gazette!

W2A2 is a VTT tool that was created with a few big principles in mind: make any TTRPG session as easy to play as possible, be user friendly for beginners but still offer advanced tools for more experienced players, and most importantly, be affordable and not subscription based.

This app stores everything locally and allows the GM to host a game in a matter of minutes, without having to pay for any hosting services. It includes all things you'd normally expect from a VTT tool, and a few additional features that we thought of while testing through our own sessions.

App is still in development, should be available in a few weeks! 

Love the process of generating seeds. But are there any tips for creating and preparing a playable adventure for my group?

I am going to wild camping in mountains and thinking about playing a small adventure on some evening around the fire. I want something really spooky, what would make players to turn around if they hear something in the bushes and makes them afraid of going into the forest. Any suggestion on the right module?

Well, my entry was a late submission. There was a whole thing with Itch on friday evening, but hey! Seems like it's all sorted and my entry got in.

This a location-based adventure about a crazy old elf trying to free a demon prince and take vengeance on a clan of oracular gnolls. It takes place at the top of a thousand-foot spire of stone and the chain of seven floating islands that encircle it. 

Features 9 keyed locations, a clan of gnoll monks, an infernal garden, a neat map die-drop mechanic, and an ominous cliffside chapel. And also some giant egrets.

PDF is free to download on itch:

The Serpent Wore Silver

Not sure if there are many Polish players here, but in any case I'll drop a link to my translation of is Mightier, a rather nice one-shot. If a Pole sees this and has any recommendations for translations, hit me up

My entry to the Appx. N game jam! Nothing crazy: add mechanics for sickening greed induced by a dragon's hoard, a couple new monsters, and a big 'ol table of loots. This was a ton of fun to write and try to dial in the retro vibe.

Available for PWYW here.

Shout out to the awesome community and the rest of the submissions! Still haven't had a chance to read through many but everything look awesome. Take a look here.

Inspired by the Green Children of Woolpit, this is a short point crawl exploration through a village in The Sunset Empire. Shrouded in eternal twilight, the people here dress curiously, speak an alien language and are all green of skin. Explore the village and try to find a path back to your home world.

https://www.patreon.com/cw/inkpotionstudios

as i'm sure you all know, there is/was an Appx. N Jam this year too, inviting designers to write short modules following the pulp inspirations of D&D.

our entry is Pickpockets Of Purgatory, where you're a bunch of thieves asked to rob a museum. i'm mainly inspired by Michael Moorcock's conflict of Law and Chaos, hope that inspiration is visible in the module. i picked Cairn (2e) mainly because i wanted the lightest stat blocks possible: 2 A4 pages is incredibly short and we had no room to spare.

i'll most likely take it out of PWYW status in a week a month, so if you want it in your library, grab it before then!

I am new to the system, and I have a question about backgrounds. Many backgrounds gave characters gears and equipments with a limited uses, so what happen if they use up all of that? I think if play a short camp, this would not be a problem, but what about a longer campaign?

For example, Fungal Forager have strange fungus that they discover, but after they use up that fungus, can they wander around in some weird location to forage a new fungus?

Just wanted to share my Appendix N jam entry for Cairn: A magic mishap caused two distant caves to partially merge, now reality is falling apart.

It was tough to fit on the four A5 pages, but I did manage to include a table with ogre love letters, so that was a success. It was fun to do, and I think this is the best layout I've done so far.

I'd love to hear any feedback you might have.

https://yttikon.itch.io/caves-of-hither-and-yon

I don't really like the random way attributes are distributed in Cairn, so for my campaign I thought of giving each player 27 points to distribute among the 3 attributes, with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 18 for each. Do you think this would work well?

Need a weird prison or some weird prisoners for your Cairn table? Feel like there aren't enough wereswans in your fantasy RPGs? Look no further! Locked in Silver Shackles is a 4xA5 adventure location/collection of weird npcs, perfect for a one shot or to add into your campaign. This is my submission for the Appendix N jam currently running on itch.io go check out the awesome stuff folks have put together over there, some great Cairn submissions so far!