Character Creation: Cairn 2nd Ed

It's that time again! 

THE FIRST GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-FIVE, 
IS CAIRN, BUT THE OSR ONE, NOT THIS ONE! 

The Game: Cairn 2nd Edition
The Publisher: Yochai Gal
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the PG, to make a character

Cairn is one of those OSR games. You know the ones. The system is real simple, the game is all about "rulings not rules" (which basically means "hey GM it's your show"), and the vibe of the game is very dungeon-crawly.

I've softened somewhat on my attitude toward such games, mostly because, in thinking about it, I came up as a GM running games in this manner. Pretty much every game I read or played from 1985 through the mid-90s had some version of "you're the GM, so you're in charge, so you can interpret the rules how you want" in it. 

A lot of games now vibe a little differently - the rules aren't meant to be all-inclusive, but they're meant to apply all the time (I often say about PbtA vs. trad games than in trad games, there are a million rules but you can ignore them when you want to, while in PbtA there are a dozen rules but the game doesn't work if you don't use them). But I've been running D&D 5e for about a year now, which is kind of in between - it's very much a trad game, but it's much more user-friendly than a lot of OSR games.

And I gotta say, Cairn hits a sweet spot for me. Yeah, system-wise it owes a lot to 1st ed D&D, but it also has a hugely extensive kingdom/dungeon/woods generating system that I really like. There's a setting, but it's not overly detailed with history taking us from the creation of the world to now. You roll for most of chargen, but the classes are all interesting and have more personality than "fighter" or "bard." 

And - most important from my point of view - there are fucking examples of play, so the principles in the game get contexualized. I could kiss someone. 

Anywho, Cairn is the first game of Xmas (TWENTY-TWENTY-FIVE, sing along!) because my buddy Gus saw it on my list and thought it referred to the game of the same name where you play fuzzy animals. Sorry to disappoint, but this is pretty cool, too. 

First, we roll or choose a Background. I am absolutely going to roll. I get...Greenwise! Kind of a druidy sort of thing. I'm all about the Wood (which is a big thing in this game; the Wood is all forests, and it's a living thing). Sounds good.

So now I go to the Greenwise section in the Player's Guide, I get a list of names and some equipment. One of my stuffs is a Twine Bauble; once per day I can put it down in a circle and it creates a Ward that a particular species can't cross. I'll decide that species later. I will take a name, though. I'll name my guy Yarrow. 

I've got two tables to roll on for Greenwise. First: How has the Wood failed you? "Your radical experiments turned your skin green, and you now gain nourishment as a plant. You don’t need rations, but a day without sufficient sunlight and water leaves you deprived." I can deal with that. 

Next: What keeps you safe while in the Wood? Delphinium. I can eat to breathe water for an hour (I only have the one dose, but I can break it up into fractional doses, which is nice). 

OK, now we roll Attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Willpower, in that order, but then I can swap two of them). Strength 7 (ew), Dexterity 18 (fuck yeah), Willpower 7 (SERIOUSLY?). Well, fine, I'll keep those. 

1d6 for Hit Protection - 5. Cool.

Traits: Roll a d10 for each of these and I get:

Physique: Rugged.
Skin: Weathered (and green, though that's not on the list).
Hair: Braided. I like that, it can look kinda like vines.
Face: Pale. Pale green, anyway.
Speech: Formal.
Clothing: Soiled. Well, yeah.
Virtue: Tolerant. 
Vice: Aggressive. 

Now we roll a d20 for Bonds. Nat 20! Does that matter? One of my ancestors angered a Moss Witch, who cursed my family. My visage shatters mirrors, but the shards can sometimes reveal illusions. I think that Yarrow's experiments were probably trying to break the curse. 

Now we roll 2d20 + 10 to determine Age. 42. If we were making characters and I was the youngest (unlikely), I'd get to roll on Omens. But since I am the youngest out of all of the (1) character being made, I'll do it! TRY AND STOP ME.

"It feels like winter has arrived too quickly this year, frost and snows making their appearance much earlier than expected. There is talk of a pattern to the frost found in windows, ponds, and cracks in the ground. It almost looks like a map." Neat!

I picture Yarrow as having a kind of Chiwetel Eijofor-in-Multiverse of Madness vibe, except, y'know, green.  

And that's it, kids. This is totally going on the one-shot list, I think.