Cairn vs Knave
Compare Cairn and Knave side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Cairn | Knave | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Rules-Light, Exploration, Classless, Deadly, Dungeon Crawl, Attacks Always Hit, Open Source, Gritty, Inventory Management, Fiction-First, Dark Fantasy, GM-Friendly | Classless, Rules-Light, Dungeon Crawl, Hackable, Ascending AC, Vancian Casting, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under one of three attributes (STR, DEX, WIL) to make a save; 1 always succeeds, 20 always fails. Combat is simultaneous and attacks always hit — the attacker rolls a weapon die, subtracts armor, and applies the rest to HP. When HP reaches 0, damage spills into STR and triggers a Critical Damage save. | Roll d20 + ability score (1–10) vs. 11 + difficulty modifier. No classes — your abilities come from what you carry. Item slot inventory means every piece of gear is a meaningful choice. Spellbooks occupy an item slot and can be cast once per day (INT times per day total). 100 random careers provide starting equipment and flavor. Wounds reduce ability scores directly. |
| Dice | d20, d4–d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very Low | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Very High | Very High |
| Community | Medium | Medium |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Proprietary |
| Cost | Free / $ | $ |
| Publisher | Cairn Press | Questing Beast LLC |
| Year | 2024 | 2024 |
| Best For | Groups who want a fast, classless fantasy game where equipment defines the character, expeditions into the Wood are tense and lethal, and the GM can roll most of their prep from tables. | Groups who want a classless, inventory-driven OSR game where characters are defined entirely by their equipment — with brilliant random tables and a full worldbuilding toolkit. |
| Highlights | Inventory and Fatigue share the same 10 slots, so every spell cast, wound, or burden taken on competes with the equipment that defines a classless character. The Scars table turns surviving a near-death hit into permanent character development — a hit that drops a PC to exactly 0 HP rolls a unique injury or trait that often raises an attribute, making advancement a consequence of surviving danger rather than an XP track. Dungeon turns and three-watch wilderness travel each have their own resolution loop and event table, giving the Warden a structured procedure for both exploration modes instead of freeform improv. The Warden's Guide bundles procedural setting, faction, dungeon, and forest generators alongside the bestiary, so prep can be rolled rather than authored. | Classless — gear defines the character, item slot inventory makes every choice meaningful, extensive random tables for worldbuilding, CC BY license allows free modification, fits in a small book |
| Considerations | Starting HP is rolled on 1d6, so first-session characters can be killed by a single hit — Cairn assumes attrition and replacement rather than long heroic arcs. Combat is deterministic: attacks always hit and damage is rolled by the attacker, removing the to-hit decision space some tactical players want. There is no Charisma or Intelligence attribute and no fixed spell list — social conflict resolves through WIL saves, and a character's magical capability is shaped by which spellbooks the party finds rather than choices made at creation. Advancement comes through the Scars table rather than XP or milestones, so growth is a byproduct of surviving damage rather than a steady level-up curve. | No character classes may feel directionless for some players, very swingy d20 rolls with low ability scores, minimal rules means heavy GM improvisation, combat is basic by design |