Cairn 1st Edition vs Wyld
Compare Cairn 1st Edition and Wyld side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cairn 1st Edition | Wyld | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Classless, Deadly, Attacks Always Hit, Random Character Creation, Inventory Management, Dark Fantasy, Fiction-First, Gritty, CC-Licensed Rules | Rules-Light, Classless, Dark Fantasy, One-Shot Friendly, Roll to Cast, Inventory Management, CC-Licensed Rules |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d20 equal to or under STR, DEX, or WIL to pass a save; 1 always succeeds and 20 always fails. Attacks deal rolled damage directly, reduced by Armor and then Hit Protection (HP). Damage beyond HP reduces STR and requires a STR save to avoid critical damage. | Roll 2d6 plus the relevant ability point (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Empathy, each rated 0–4) for any risky action: 10+ is a Success, 7–9 a Partial Success that lands with a complication, 6 or less a Failure. Double 6 is a Critical Success that grants the player a Fortune Point (spendable to boost any later roll, max 3); double 1 is a Critical Failure that hands the GM a Misfortune Point (spendable for out-of-turn foe actions, max 5). Physical attacks bypass the test: the attacker rolls the weapon's damage die, adds STR (melee) or DEX (ranged), subtracts the target's Armour Protection, and applies the remainder to Hit Points. Spellcasting reuses the 2d6 test against INT (Primordial utility) or EMP (Elemental damage), with a partial success triggering a d20 Wyld Flare table for unintended magical chaos. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Very Low | Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | CC BY 4.0 |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Cairn Press | Quest Giver Games |
| Year | 2020 | 2026 |
| Languages | English, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Toki Pona, Turkish, Ukrainian, Belarusian | English |
| Best For | Groups who want dangerous woodland expeditions where equipment defines characters and creative problem-solving matters more than character builds. | Small groups who want a short, classless fantasy zine for anthropomorphic animal-folk in a pastoral world that gradually darkens: built for the tonal slide from cozy Wyld Folk daily life into encounters with corrupted Ravenous, Carrion undead, and ascending Mythics. |
| Highlights | Equipment and spellcasting Fatigue share ten inventory slots, making magical power compete with carrying useful gear. Scars from attacks that reduce HP to exactly zero can increase attributes or maximum HP, tying mechanical growth to surviving danger. Characters can gain new abilities through training and experiences in the fiction rather than following classes or levels. | Weapons strike without a roll: physical attacks resolve as damage die plus STR or DEX minus Armour Protection, removing the to-hit layer that slows similar 2d6 systems and reserving the test mechanic for risky non-attack actions, spellcasting, and contests. Magic splits into Elemental spells (EMP: damage with element-specific riders such as Air pushing the target, Earth knocking them prone, Fire bypassing armour, Light blinding, Dark dropping Strength) and Primordial spells (INT: non-damage utility from 25 paired opposites like Repel/Attract, Heat/Cool, Shrink/Grow, Slick/Friction), with a partial success on either rolling on a d20 Wyld Flare table for chaotic side-effects instead of a wasted turn. Hitting exactly 0 HP triggers the Scars table: rather than wound penalties, every entry pairs a permanent cosmetic mark (a limp, coloured-vein blood poisoning, lingering green spots, an inner-child episode) with a chance to raise an ability score or add to maximum HP, so near-death consistently bends toward leaving the Wyld Folk marked and more capable. |
| Considerations | Attacks require no to-hit roll, making avoiding or controlling a fight more important than relying on a missed attack. Spellbooks cannot be copied or manufactured, leaving new spell acquisition dependent on discoveries in the world. The core leaves exploration timing to the Warden rather than providing a dungeon-turn or wilderness-travel procedure. | Combat is one-way damage (attackers roll, defenders don't, with no dodge, parry, or active defensive reaction beyond Armour Protection), so player agency in defense is limited to wearing or removing armour rather than mid-combat maneuvering. The world of Sunder is sketched in broad strokes: its history, factions, geography, and the nature of the encroaching darkness are conveyed across a few paragraphs and bestiary entries, leaving the GM to fill in most lore at the table. Character growth caps at level 10 with a hard ceiling of 4 in any ability score: numerical advancement runs out quickly, with later gains limited to extra Martial Foci or additional spells slotted within those existing caps. |