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, Sandbox, Attacks Always Hit, Freeform Magic, Open Source, Gritty | Classless, Rules-Light, Dungeon Crawl, Hackable, Ascending AC, Vancian Casting, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 equal to or under an attribute (STR, DEX, WIL) to avoid risky outcomes. No to-hit rolls — attacks always deal damage directly, minus armor. When HP reaches 0, damage goes to STR and triggers a Critical Damage save. Classless — 20 backgrounds and inventory define your character. Spellbooks are found treasures that occupy inventory slots and cause Fatigue when cast. Structured procedures for dungeon and wilderness exploration with watches, weather, and event tables. | 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 | Yochai Gal | Questing Beast LLC |
| Year | 2024 | 2024 |
| Best For | Groups who want ultralight, classless fantasy adventure where equipment defines your character and every expedition into the Wood is tense and dangerous. | 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 | Completely free under CC BY-SA 4.0, character creation takes minutes, classless design lets equipment define the character, combat is lethal but telegraphed, detailed dungeon and wilderness exploration procedures, large third-party community | 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 | Very swingy d20 rolls at low ability scores, GM needs to be comfortable improvising without detailed rules support, limited guidance for mysteries or social encounters, sparse bestiary in core rules | 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 |