Cairn 1st Edition vs Dungeons & Dragons
Compare Cairn 1st Edition and Dungeons & Dragons side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Cairn 1st Edition | Dungeons & Dragons | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Classless, Deadly, Attacks Always Hit, Random Character Creation, Inventory Management, Dark Fantasy, Fiction-First, Sandbox, CC-Licensed Rules | Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Vancian Casting, Ascending AC |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under STR, DEX, or WIL to pass a save; 1 always succeeds and 20 always fails. Attacks always hit: the attacker rolls a damage die, subtracts the target's Armor, and applies the remainder to Hit Protection. When HP reaches 0, damage spills into STR and triggers a critical damage save; reaching 0 STR means death. Characters have 10 inventory slots, two for hands, with bulky items occupying two slots. Fatigue from spellcasting or deprivation fills slots like gear. Spells are cast by holding a Spellbook in both hands and reading aloud, adding one Fatigue per cast. | Make a D20 Test by rolling d20, adding relevant modifiers, and comparing the total to a target number. Ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls use this procedure. Advantage and disadvantage use two d20s and keep the higher or lower result. |
| Dice | d20, d4–d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | CC BY 4.0 (SRD); core books proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Publisher | Yochai Gal | Wizards of the Coast |
| Year | 2020 | 2024 |
| Languages | English | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want a free 24-page toolkit for fae-haunted woodland adventure where character creation takes minutes, equipment defines the character, and any fight can kill you. Especially well suited to one-shots, hacking into custom settings, and learning rules-light fantasy. | Groups who want heroic fantasy with configurable tactical combat, broad character options, and campaigns that span multiple levels. |
| Highlights | Entire game fits in 24 pages, released under CC BY-SA 4.0 with full rights to remix and republish commercially, the ten-slot inventory unifies equipment and Fatigue into one resource, character generation rolls on d20 tables for names, traits, backgrounds, and starting gear plus a d100 spellbook table, a Scars table produces lasting consequences when HP is reduced to exactly 0 | Advantage and disadvantage resolve common situational effects by selecting the higher or lower of two d20 rolls. Backgrounds, classes, subclasses, and feats distribute character choices across creation and advancement. Weapon Mastery gives qualifying weapon users distinct tactical effects without replacing the action economy. |
| Considerations | Almost no setting detail beyond a vague mysterious Wood, only five creatures in the core bestiary, no structured procedures for exploration turns or dungeon rounds (added later in 2nd Edition), classless design offers no character build mechanics for players who enjoy optimization | Spell preparation, spell slots, class features, and conditions create several interacting resources for players to track. High-level characters combine many spells and features, increasing adjudication work for the DM. Bastions add a separate downtime procedure for campaigns that use the stronghold rules. |