Cairn vs Dungeon Crawl Classics
Compare Cairn and Dungeon Crawl Classics side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cairn | Dungeon Crawl Classics | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Classless, Deadly, Dungeon Crawl, Exploration, Inventory Management, Fiction-First, Random Character Creation, Random Tables, Strong GM Support | Dungeon Crawl, Deadly, Random Character Creation, Roll to Cast, Random Tables, Corruption, Gonzo, Exploration, Sword & Sorcery, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | To avoid a risky outcome, roll d20 equal to or below STR, DEX, or WIL; a 1 succeeds and a 20 fails. Only the participant most at risk rolls an opposed save. Attacks deal damage automatically, reduced by armor and then Hit Protection (HP). Damage beyond HP reduces STR and requires a save against the reduced STR to avoid critical damage. | Roll d20 plus modifiers to meet or exceed a difficulty or Armor Class. Circumstances shift the die up or down a chain from d3 to d30. |
| Dice | d20 | d3–d30 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Open Game License 1.0a; DCC Indie Publisher license |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Creative Commons text reuse | Commercial publishing allowed — Publisher-approved compatibility license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Cairn Press | Goodman Games |
| Year | 2024 | 2012 |
| Languages | English, Finnish, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want dangerous woodland expeditions where equipment and preparation matter more than optimized character builds. Suits campaigns shaped by exploration and the consequences of encounters. | Groups who want dangerous dungeon expeditions with randomly generated adventurers and risky magic. Campaigns can begin with several peasants per player and follow the survivors into classed adventuring. |
| Highlights | Fatigue occupies the same ten inventory slots as equipment, making spellcasting and hardship compete with useful gear. Dungeon turns and wilderness watches tie exploration choices to events and resource costs. Training and significant encounters can change abilities without an experience-point track. | The character funnel lets survival determine the starting adventuring party. Mighty Deeds let warriors and dwarves attempt improvised combat maneuvers alongside attacks. Spell checks scale magical effects with the casting result. |
| Considerations | Automatic attack damage makes direct confrontation dangerous even when characters wear armor. The Warden decides when fictional advantages remove the need for a save instead of using graded difficulty targets. Advancement depends on experiences and negotiated training rather than a predictable level progression. | Random starting attributes and occupations limit planned character builds. The default funnel puts several fragile characters under each player’s control. The dice chain uses unusual die sizes with ordinary-dice substitutions. |