Cairn vs Knave
Compare Cairn and Knave side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Cairn | Knave | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Classless, Deadly, Dungeon Crawl, Exploration, Inventory Management, Fiction-First, Random Character Creation, Random Tables, Strong GM Support | Classless, Rules-Light, Dungeon Crawl, Hackable, Ascending AC, Vancian Casting, Random Tables |
| 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 + 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 | d20 |
| Complexity | Low | Very Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Paid |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Creative Commons text reuse | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Cairn Press | Questing Beast LLC |
| Year | 2024 | 2024 |
| Languages | English, Finnish, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English |
| 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 a classless, inventory-driven OSR game where characters are defined entirely by their equipment: with brilliant random tables and a full worldbuilding toolkit. |
| 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. | 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 | 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. | 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 |