On today’s episode of Between Two Cairns, we discussed a module called Gone Fishin’. We mentioned that it is kind of hard to find, and that the original sources were lost in a forest of dead links and old forum posts. Fortunately the original PDF includes the following text:
“This is a free product. Use this, abuse this, distribute this, host this, do whatever you wish with it - it’s all good. But please don’t be a douche and try to sell this. Free should be free.”
With that knowledge, I’m happy to host the file here.
Happy days!
The Kickstarter for the Cairn 2e Box Set will “go live” for backers sometime in late March.
Click here to “follow” it!
Featuring the same rules you already know but with some minor tweaks and clarifications, three new procedures for play, and 20 boutique backgrounds for generating interesting and weird characters. Also, a ton of really beautiful art from Keny Widjaja and Amanda Lee Franck! This is available right now and is entering its final editing stages. This book will be available at cost as an add-on and in the future. And yes the text will still be CC-BY-SA 4.0!
Packed to the brim with advice, resources and procedures for running Cairn (and other old school games). And yes the text will still be CC-BY-SA 4.0!
A list of topics covered include:
Written by me, and illustrated by Ari-Matti Toivonen and Adam Hensley. This is the first “official” Cairn adventure, and part of an ongoing series with lots more to come. It’s long! It’s got lots going on! It’s got dungeons!
Unfortunately I’m not ready to give away the image to this just yet. But I can tell you it’ll have five panels and folds up real nice…
If you’d like to keep up to date with Cairn news, check out my newsletter! Enough, go follow this thing.
Thanks!
]]>I’m very excited to announce that tomorrow, Friday Dec 1st, the Kickstarter for Beyond the Pale is finally launching!
FOLLOW THE KICKSTARTER PAGE TO GET NOTIFIED
Beyond The Pale is an old school adventure module inspired by Jewish history, folk tales, and mysticism. One of the goals of this setting is to highlight the unique folklore and belief cultivated by the Jewish people and present them in an Old School RPG setting. The adventure has themes of oppression and persecution, hope and love, and idyllic country life.
The setting in this book is based on an actual territory in the western part of the Russian Empire known as The Pale of Settlement, which existed from 1791 to 1917. For over a century, Jews were restricted to this region. Jews often lived together in small, market towns called shtetls. During that time, hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed as a result of pogroms. Even with these restrictions, Jews in Europe were able to cultivate a rich culture and language. The village in this adventure, Kest, is based on one such place.
The village (and the surrounding countryside) is populated with all manner of folk: erudite scholars, scheming politicians, jealous tricksters, lumberers, labor activists, folk witches, and many, many more! As they move about the countryside, characters will explore ancient ruins, dark forests, and broken lighthouses in their efforts to prevent - or assist - in a cataclysmic event.
As the PCs explore the town, the forest, and the dungeons of the Pale, they will encounter beasts unfamiliar and wild: an unrelenting dybbuk, a vengeful mazzik, the malicious Alukah, and many more.
The events of this module take place during a week-long celebration, the Days of Remembrance, during which the PCs will need to gather information, solve mysteries, and overcome threats to prevent a great cataclysm.
I am immensely fortunate to have found some incredibly talented people to help make the setting feel real and (hopefully) quite horrifying. One of the goals of Beyond the Pale is to highlight Jewish folklore and belief and present them in an “old school” RPG setting. The adventure has themes of oppression and persecution, hope and love, and idyllic country life, which the artists have captured beautifully.
The core development team (writing, art, layout) identify as Jewish, and members of the religious Jewish were brought in as sensitivity consultants. Great care was taken to ensure that the themes and images represented in the text were not offensive.
The book will be printed by Lost Pages, an esteemed publisher of multiple award-winning supplements such as The Book of Gaub, Wonder & Wickedness, Wulfwald, and more. The book will be printed in Estonia on thick Swedish cream paper, cased in hardcover, clad in black bookcloth, and given an embossed cover with white lettering.
The print copy also gets you a PDF, while the hardcover gets made (delivery in July of 2024). The PDF is fully complete, and will be sent to backers by e-mail upon the success of the Kickstarter.
If you’ve read this far, why not do the thing? Here is that link again.
]]>And one more thing! I’ll be at PAX Unplugged Dec 1st-3rd. Try to find me. I come bearing gifts.
First, the good news: Cairn 2e has a new publisher! Earlier this year, we were very sad to learn that LFOSR would no longer be able to publish the Cairn 2e box set! Well, we are very happy to officially announce that Space Penguin Ink will be our new publisher! We are so excited to be working with them, and frankly we can’t imagine doing it any other way. They have the expertise and skills to make this thing really sing… and that’s where the bad news comes in. We have decided delay the Kickstarter until March, 2024.
SHOCKING!
I know, I know. Honestly, pushing it forward (or is it back… I always forget?) will ensure that the box set is everything we want it to be — and more.
The contents of the box set have not changed, but I am happy to provide some more details at this time:
Earlier this year we released the first update to our Player’s Guide, an 80+ page rulebook for the upcoming Cairn 2nd edition. Since that time, we’ve been very busy playtesting, fixing typos, testing new procedures, and working on the Warden’s Guide.
Once again, please sign-up here if you’d like to get notified about future releases, the Kickstarter, and so on.
The player’s guide playtest URL is still the same.
We are still interested the following types of feedback:
Additionally, we are asking that feedback is only submitted in one of two ways:
And finally: my Cairn adventure Beyond The Pale has a Kickstarter project page! Published by Lost Pages, Beyond The Pale is an old school adventure inspired by Jewish folklore and mysticism. I first started writiing it two years ago, and I am so very excited to share it with the world. The writing, art, and layout are complete, we are just shuffling a few things around in prepartion for print. The PDF will be available as soon as the 15-day Kickstarter ends.
Please click that “notify on launch” button to if you want to get… notified on launch!
I HAVE A NEWSLETTER IF THAT INTERESTS YOU!
Click here to sign up!
That’s all for now - thanks for reading. I’ll leave you all for now, as I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep…
]]>A few weeks ago I released the Player’s Guide playtest, an 80+ page rulebook for the upcoming Cairn 2nd edition. Since that time, I’ve received a flood of positive (and occasionally negative) feedback, including typos, questions about some of the new rules and procedures, play reports, and so on.
This has all been extremely helpful to say the least, and as such we are ready to release the first updated PDF, incorporating much of what we’ve learned from the community. Once again, sign-up here if you’d like to get notified about future releases, the Kickstarter, and so on.
The URL is actually the same as the old playtest! Have at it.
Here is an incomplete list of what to expect:
This time around I’ve created a more formal feedback intake process. Here is what we are looking for right now:
Additionally, we are asking that feedback is only submitted in one of two ways:
At long last, the first playtest for Cairn 2e Player’s Guide is available! But WAIT: Please sign up for my newsletter. I host the software on my own server, so you can be sure I won’t share your info with anyone else. I promise I’ll only use it to tell you about Cairn related stuff. Or don’t, whatever.
If you’re ready to dive in, HERE IT IS: Cairn 2e Player’s Guide July Playtest. Send your letters to the Cairn discord please, I’ll have a channel there for feedback. Also, I plan to continue updating the PDF via Google Drive as random fixes get added.
The layout is by Adam Hensley, and the editing is by Derek B..
Read on to find out what’s different, what to expect in future versions, and more!
The Player’s Guide is just that: a manual for all players, including the Warden. It contains the core rules and procedures, and can be played right now! Also, did you see that sick cover art by Bruno Prosaiko? Expect more of that.
But let’s get to important part: What’s different?
The core rules are 100% compatible with Cairn 1e. Of course, there are some significant changes in store. Let’s talk about it.
Over the years I’ve heard a lot of the same questions over and over again, despite the existence of the Cairn FAQ. Obviously, clarity is the enemy of minimalism here. Fortunately I’ve had a lot of time to think things over, rephrase some things, and (finally) hire an editor. The rules are fine-tuned and less “vague” while (hopefully) still allowing for the kinds of flexibility Cairn is known for.
This is a big one. Character generation hasn’t been changed exactly, but expanded. Instead of simply rolling on a table of generic backgrounds, I’ve written 20 bespoke Backgrounds, each with unique tables (Electric Bastionland style!). The tables help determine both character starting gear and implicit (or explicit) abilities unique to each. These take up the bulk of the book (around 60 pages).
A note: none of the Backgrounds presently have any art. Fear not! That’s happening. I’ve hired the illustrious Keny Widjaja to do all of them!
Characters now roll on a global Bonds table. Each entry is fine-tuned to deliver a modicum of backstory and connection with the game world. This is a bit like Debt in other games, but mixed a bit with Bonds and Flags from Dungeon World (though a bit less prescriptive). Gotta love comparing one game to another to explain a mechanic, eh?
Omens on the other hand are (usually) only rolled once by a single party member. They point to a darkness or aberration on the horizon. This is honestly more for the Warden than anyone else.
Let’s get this out of the way first: a Procedures are rules that provide an order of operation, a framework for rules that can help keep the game consistent, dynamic, and flexible. Or something. Anyway, the current playtest has rules for Wilderness Exploration and Dungeon Exploration! They are a bit different than the way other games do things… but should still feel familiar. Most importantly, these rules (ahem, procedures) are modular, and can be easily dropped if they don’t fit your table.
I’ve been working on a setting for Cairn. There is only a single page at the moment (at least…. in the Player’s Guide) but it should provide a decent framework for setting up a game. It splits the world in two: The Woods, and The Roots. Adventures happen in the The Woods, and dungeons are (usually) accessed in The Roots. Gates are spread throughout the world, and act as portals to The Roots (and make travel fast!).
The Player’s Guide is ready to play, now. However, there is still a lot I plan to add:
No! We haven’t even talked about the Warden’s Guide. A companion to the Player’s Guide, this book will be PACKED with tools to help run a successful game, including:
You can actually see some of this stuff on the Cairn website right now. Click here.
I’m sure there’s more I’ve forgotten. Deal with it.
Yeah this is still happening. Kickstarter in September, I hope. I’m just trying to write the damn thing first, you know?
That’s still happening! The adventure is officially called Beyond The Pale. The writing and art has been finished for about six months, but I took… kind of a long time to get it done, and fell out of sync with the layout person. But fear not! It is actively being worked on. Lost Pages is publishing it, so it should look AMAZING in print, people.
]]>I have a podcast!
It’s called Between Two Cairns. It is co-hosted by Brad Kerr, creator of many popular OSR products. Each week we’ll be discussing a new RPG product (adventure, dungeon, etc), with an aim to shed some light on stuff we think is cool or deserving of attention (even if we don’t necessarily like it)! There are presently two episodes to download. Have a listen!
By request, I put together a list of reading material that directly influenced the writing and design of Cairn, as well as my upcoming setting/adventure Beyond The Pale.
This is not one of those “look at how we’ve grown!” posts. Instead this is one of those “how did we get here?” kinds of posts, which I swear is totally different! To do that, I’ll talk a bit about the definition of the term NSR, as well as some of its associated history and impact.
As of Wednesday, May 4th 2022 you can read the “complete” definition of all the elements of an NSR-style game here on Pandatheist’s blog. This is wonderful on the one hand, as now I can point to this post and say, “here’s a definition for design purposes! Now go make stuff.”
But I know that that won’t be good enough, because the NSR is not simply a play style or game design philosophy. It is so much more than that. And I plan on explaining exactly what I mean… right now. Here it is, folks: I’m going to define what the word NSR means to me so that Google & future historians can reference yet another blog in their endless pursuit to record and destroy the world’s information!
The NSR means whatever the fuck you want it to mean.
I’m not being pithy! I mean it. Go on, take it! If it fits what you’re doing, use it. Welcome to the community. Because to me, the real definition of NSR is not beholden to the definition linked above (though I do appreciate and agree with it as a framework for play). To me and many, many others the NSR is a community, full stop. I talk to my friends on the NSR Discord more often than most of my IRL friends, both publicly and in DMs. I’ve met quite a few in the flesh as well. I rely on their creativity, sensitivity and humor to get through the day (especially these past few years). The community we’ve built is much bigger than a play style or brand. Instead it is a network of people united by beliefs and principles.
Here are a few examples of what regular NSR Discord members have said about the term NSR, picked semi-randomly:
It feels like the NSR “community” is known for being open, creative, supportive… Pretty nice, right? So… How did we get here? How are we doing?
It’s been over two years since the first post of this blog, and the “public” opening of the NSR Discord (currently at 1,260 members). We’ve also launched a Discourse forum that I’m quite proud of, despite failing to post there as often as I’d like. There are 64 games tagged “NSR” on Itch.io Physical Games, and about 8 in their “Games” section. I reckon quite a few of us have likely forgotten to include it as a tag as well (ahem).
Most folks probably already know the term “NSR” owes its origin to a Bone Box Chant post by Pandatheist, though on her blog she points to a slightly earlier conversation between Necropraxis and Brian Ashford:
You can see Pandatheist take up the mantle here:
But that is not the whole story. Because even at our community’s earliest stages, something sinister loomed.
Behind those first few tremblings, something else was stirring:
I get where this person is coming from. Their fear is all too real, a specter that haunts this hobby, and many others as well. And it raises a few questions that I’ve been poring over for some time:
How do we keep our communities safe from the influence, presence and power of nazis, bigots, fascists, transphobes, and the like?
And how well have we done so far?
The OSR/Indie TTRPG community is full of bad actors. Identifying and tracking these folks so that they and their followers do not gain an active presence in our communities is pivotal. For one of my favorite examples of this, read this (anecdotal) story from Twitter about a bartender in Baltimore.
There are generally three types of problematic users (other than SPAM accounts of course):
Within that last category, these types generally they fall into two categories: Racists, Bigots & Transphobes and Enablers & Platformers. The Discord/Discourse mods may maintain a private list of these for reference.
I think anyone reading this knows who these people are. I won’t list them here as it simply fans attention their way. Any user linking to their blogs/products results in a public conversation with the person(s) involved, and (usually) an immediate ban. Not everyone knows the truth behind some of the more popular OSR blogs, so we do take it on a case by case basis.
This bit is a little more complicated but in some ways is more important than the first, so I’m actually going to offer an example in this case.
I’m confident that the majority of folks reading this blog are familiar with the review website tenfootpole.org. I doubt anyone would disagree that the reviews there lean towards the mean-spirited, as do many of the comments below each review. To my knowledge, the website or its owner have never espoused views that would place it in the first category. However, the website actively and unabashedly platforms many, many deplorable people by allowing these bad actors to fill up the site’s comment section with their vitriol and hyperbole and by reviewing these bad actor’s products. That place is a den of snakes.
If a user on the Discord/Discourse server was to link to this particular website, it would not result in a ban, nor would the link be taken down.
HOWEVER
There would be an immediate and public comment from the mods/other community members informing the link poster of the link owner’s status as a platformer. This typically results in a debate with the person linking to the page, or with them saying “I didn’t know, thanks!” and moving on. The former almost always results in a voluntary withdrawal from the server(s).
There are also warning signs from the followers of the above two groups. People that say things like, “I don’t want politics in games” or decry “emotions” in games. I personally tend to be wary of the grognard varieties, especially if they insist on what D&D is or was on a semi-frequent basis. As I elaborate on below, we must be ever vigilant around specific trends away from our status quo.
Identifying problematic folks outside the community is one thing, but how do we combat dangerous trends among our own? Let me introduce you to my two best friends, active moderators and empowered community members. Both forces work with unceasing vigilance to create a default “standard” of allowable discourse in our space, which must be constantly reinforced.
Moderators are trusted users empowered with the authority to enforce our community rules, guidelines, and culture. To be effective they must be both active in the community and ever vigilant. The latter can be exhausting, which is why extant policies that stand against pernicious behavior are an absolute must.
For reference, the following are verbatim the Discord server rules, released as CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Treat everyone with respect. Respect includes acknowledging other people’s boundaries and acknowledging your own behavior. If anyone asks for the conversation to stop, change the topic. If you feel heated, say so, and walk away. If you mess up, own it and apologize if needed. Ask for clarification; assume good faith. Communication is a two-way street.
Hateful ideologies and/or behaviors are not welcome in our community. This includes abuse, harassment, frivolous and false accusations, and discrimination (particularly on the basis of race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, or physical or mental ability). We do not support or engage in Twitter drama, vague posting, or incitement to mob.
Promotions have a place. Put your own promotional stuff in self-promote, cool links in cool-links. If someone asks you for a link to something you’ve created, feel free to share it in conversation then. Note: twitter hot-takes will probably be summarily deleted.
This server is for talking about RPGs. We support the ability to talk about history and current events, the effects on the marginalized, and the various issues facing our hobby, and to encourage the hobby to move forward to better places. However, this must happen within the framework of the rules, especially rule 1. Please try to respect the channel purposes.
Just as you are free to choose who to play with, other people are free to read your words and judge if they wish to play with you.
We have worked very hard to develop a culture that outwardly negates not only the usual bad actors, but also dissuades some of the “bad behaviors” common to this hobby as well. We have pushed back against sincere attempts to “define” what is and is not “NSR” (see above), in favor of tongue-in-cheek descriptions and inclusive definitions. We try to assume good faith and when we encounter someone who isn’t doing so, or is generally not being very nice, we call them out (publicly or privately, as it happens). Mods are not the only folks who do this, many of our more active users also engage in this sort of discussion management, and I think it makes a huge difference. Similarly we try to slow down the mob mentality/pitchforks that seep into this hobby from time to time.
As one of the heavier online users in the NSR Community, I follow these guidelines for interacting with others. I think it helps create the kind of community I want to be a part of, and I’ve seen others adopt it as well.
The RPG hobby is heavily White, American, Male, Straight, and (some would even say) midwestern. This means that anyone not one or all of those things interested in joining an online RPG community is treated as an outsider pretty much immediately. More than that these folks are actively treated as if they do not belong here. Oh, I should also say: If you don’t think this is a problem, fuck off, because it is you who are not welcome in my spaces.
While there are many philosophies on the best approach to handling this problem, I don’t believe that marginalized folks are responsible for doing it. I don’t think that they should have to explain or defend themselves in any way, because that shit is exhausting. What I do think is that those who have the benefits of colonial privilege, those of us that find it easy to have these conversations, we are the ones that must stand and do the work: that’s the double-edged sword of privilege. Feeling guilty about your privilege? Then DO SOMETHING GOOD WITH IT.
Also if you are like me and seemingly have no problem with conflict (perhaps you even enjoy it), maybe you can do the right thing, too.
]]>I reviewed Where The Wheat Grows Tall by Camilla Greer and Evlyn Moreau, for Bones of Contention.
Check it out!
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