I found the EASIEST D&D-like RPG (and it's FREE)

This d20 fantasy RPG has no barrier to entry. It's extremely easy for new or experienced players and GMs, and the PDF is FREE! ▶️ Link below! ⏬

Best ways to support

RPG resources (affiliate links)
*use discount code "BOB" !

Thank you for all your support, and keep building :D

00:00 why this rpg is great for everyone
01:58 main ideas of Cairn RPG
03:33 easy character creation & basic rules
06:24 silly story about equipment...
07:03 Cairn's intuitive core rule & combat
10:04 summary of combat rules
11:33 almost-too-simple spellcasting!

#opendnd #ttrpg #dndosr

[mitchellhowell]

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.

[ariv]

"Crying* thank you! I work at a library I been trying to figure out what campaign to run for a group of teenagers who never played a game I think this works! Thank you!

[lindybeige]

No! Brigandine is very effective metal armour! You made me cry out in anguish when you said that it was leather!

[flyrefi]

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.

[KJMB]

My group has been running Cairn for a long time, we have a pretty solid core group but frequently have very new gamers sit in for a session or two. Cairn is great, it's so simple that new players aren't intimidated by the rules, but deep enough that it handles any amount of luck or chance. It's a great system! Love to see it getting more coverage!

[MasterXander]

It's not the most important thing in the world and rpg's have taught you that brigandine is studded leather (as that's what inspired studded leather) but historically brigandine is plate.
Brigandine is a series of plates attached with studs to a fabric or leather outer coat.

I love your work and enjoy using the dice every time I can, keep it up Bob.

[DungeonMasterpiece]

Fun microcolab! It's awesome to hear your thoughts on one of my favorite games. ❤❤

[Batterydennis]

Cairn is a damn fine game. Glad you enjoyed it enough to highlight it on your channel. It pulls ideas from some of the best TTRPG and mixes them with a pinch of magic! The author is a influence for good in the community as well.

Shoutout to Similar Games
- Into the Odd
- Electric Bastionland: Deeper Into the Odd
- Mausritter
- Maze Rats
- Knave

[tomgartin]

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.

[f.a.santiago]

I've read it a couple of times but I always find myself in the pages of Knave. I like it better. But I do like how Cairn makes combat feel fluid and action-packed.

[witchesbruise]

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.

[freethrall]

It's very cool to finally see Cairn (and Into The Odd) reaching a wider audience.

[axewizard]

Thank you so much for sharing this, my kids love this system! My oldest even felt confident enough to try out playing the role of Warden and we had a fun few hours playing our very first session.

[theastralwanderer]

The thing I love most about Cairn is the subtle genius of calling HP "hit protection." Literally the only way I can imagine tolerating HP bloat at my table is if it is just a measure of how long you can keep avoiding auto-damage.

Cairn does so much right in such a simple, efficient manner.

[FireallyXTheories]

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

[DungeonMasterpiece]

To elasticity: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, uh gimmie a dex check, and 1 day

[enterchannelname]

I noticed at 7:50 something interesting. Every attack always hits, but you subtract the armor value. If the armor value is high and you roll low, it still does no damage, so it's similar to a high AC in DnD. Pretty cool way to simplify it!

[skilfularcher]

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

[tomgartin]

Thanks for the great summary. I bought this for an upcoming youth “D&D” event we’re planning. It’s so digestible. Hardest part was realizing we don’t have all the crunchy skill check stuff I’m used to from 5e.

[jrhon]

Where is the hair?? It's a cool new look.