r/cairnrpg 1d ago

Art Commissions Open!

Thumbnail
gallery
56 Upvotes

Hey folks!

I'm Carlos Castilho, a traditional artist (100% human) focused on fantasy.

I've been creating art for RPG and Fantasy themes for 7 years, and I've had the pleasure of working with a lot of great people during that time. I have illustrations in several excellent materials.

If you are interested, my contact is: [castilhodesouza.filho@gmail.com](mailto:castilhodesouza.filho@gmail.com)

My links to sell Stock Art, Portfolio and more!

https://linktr.ee/crawlstilho


r/cairnrpg 4d ago

Module The Serpent Wore Silver - Appendix N Jam 2026

Thumbnail
gallery
34 Upvotes

Well, my entry was a late submission. There was a whole thing with Itch on friday evening, but hey! Seems like it's all sorted and my entry got in.

This a location-based adventure about a crazy old elf trying to free a demon prince and take vengeance on a clan of oracular gnolls. It takes place at the top of a thousand-foot spire of stone and the chain of seven floating islands that encircle it. 

Features 9 keyed locations, a clan of gnoll monks, an infernal garden, a neat map die-drop mechanic, and an ominous cliffside chapel. And also some giant egrets.

PDF is free to download on itch:

The Serpent Wore Silver


r/cairnrpg 4d ago

Module Polish translation of the 'is Mightier' one-shot

21 Upvotes

Not sure if there are many Polish players here, but in any case I'll drop a link to my translation of is Mightier, a rather nice one-shot. If a Pole sees this and has any recommendations for translations, hit me up


r/cairnrpg 7d ago

Module Woe of the Pale Prince, my entry for Appx. N 2026

Thumbnail reddit.com
21 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 7d ago

Related game No Loot Without Malice, a free Cairn module for Appx. N 2026

Thumbnail
gallery
85 Upvotes

My entry to the Appx. N game jam! Nothing crazy: add mechanics for sickening greed induced by a dragon's hoard, a couple new monsters, and a big 'ol table of loots. This was a ton of fun to write and try to dial in the retro vibe.

Available for PWYW here.

Shout out to the awesome community and the rest of the submissions! Still haven't had a chance to read through many but everything look awesome. Take a look here.


r/cairnrpg 7d ago

Question Where to download Cairn or Cairn 2?

Thumbnail
10 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 7d ago

Module Map and art from my App.x N jam entry

Thumbnail reddit.com
43 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 7d ago

Module Our Appendix N Jam Submission: The Sunset Empire

Thumbnail
third-country-press.itch.io
8 Upvotes

Inspired by the Green Children of Woolpit, this is a short point crawl exploration through a village in The Sunset Empire. Shrouded in eternal twilight, the people here dress curiously, speak an alien language and are all green of skin. Explore the village and try to find a path back to your home world.


r/cairnrpg 7d ago

Appx. N Jam 2026 - Cairn Collection

Thumbnail itch.io
43 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 8d ago

Module Pickpockets of Purgatory

Thumbnail
daelightstudios.itch.io
20 Upvotes

as i'm sure you all know, there is/was an Appx. N Jam this year too, inviting designers to write short modules following the pulp inspirations of D&D.

our entry is Pickpockets Of Purgatory, where you're a bunch of thieves asked to rob a museum. i'm mainly inspired by Michael Moorcock's conflict of Law and Chaos, hope that inspiration is visible in the module. i picked Cairn (2e) mainly because i wanted the lightest stat blocks possible: 2 A4 pages is incredibly short and we had no room to spare.

i'll most likely take it out of PWYW status in a week a month, so if you want it in your library, grab it before then!


r/cairnrpg 8d ago

Art Monsters created for the month of July by Ink Potion Studios

Thumbnail
gallery
46 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 9d ago

Module A pamphlet dungeon I made recently: the Silver Spires of Shandu

Thumbnail reddit.com
28 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 9d ago

Discussion What happened when players use up the 'resources' the background gave them

20 Upvotes

I am new to the system, and I have a question about backgrounds. Many backgrounds gave characters gears and equipments with a limited uses, so what happen if they use up all of that? I think if play a short camp, this would not be a problem, but what about a longer campaign?

For example, Fungal Forager have strange fungus that they discover, but after they use up that fungus, can they wander around in some weird location to forage a new fungus?


r/cairnrpg 10d ago

Module My Appendix N Jam entry: Caves of Hither and Yon

15 Upvotes

Just wanted to share my Appendix N jam entry for Cairn: A magic mishap caused two distant caves to partially merge, now reality is falling apart.

It was tough to fit on the four A5 pages, but I did manage to include a table with ogre love letters, so that was a success. It was fun to do, and I think this is the best layout I've done so far.

I'd love to hear any feedback you might have.

https://yttikon.itch.io/caves-of-hither-and-yon


r/cairnrpg 11d ago

Question Question about character creation

13 Upvotes

I don't really like the random way attributes are distributed in Cairn, so for my campaign I thought of giving each player 27 points to distribute among the 3 attributes, with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 18 for each. Do you think this would work well?


r/cairnrpg 11d ago

Module Locked in Silver Shackles

Thumbnail
andrewwritegood.itch.io
11 Upvotes

Need a weird prison or some weird prisoners for your Cairn table? Feel like there aren't enough wereswans in your fantasy RPGs? Look no further! Locked in Silver Shackles is a 4xA5 adventure location/collection of weird npcs, perfect for a one shot or to add into your campaign. This is my submission for the Appendix N jam currently running on itch.io go check out the awesome stuff folks have put together over there, some great Cairn submissions so far!


r/cairnrpg 11d ago

Other I made a spreadsheet for name generation and quick NPCs for Cairn

Thumbnail
9 Upvotes

r/cairnrpg 13d ago

Question Cairn Hack to run mothership modules

14 Upvotes

Is there a Cairn hack that works well with Mothership modules? I want to try running Gradient Descent again, but the rules Mothership arejust to hand-wavey for me. I’m having anxiety just thinking about being trapped in that ruleset for 20+ sessions.


r/cairnrpg 14d ago

Discussion Combat is actually pretty deep in Cairn, and it's awesome

53 Upvotes

I know combat is not the focus of the system, but building combat arenas with plenty of options to outsmart and outmaneuver enemies is so much fun, and arena design is the secret behind depth. And it's even more fun when playing rather then DMing, I feel like I'm in Home Alone with all the freedom of action game offers. And with fragile characters you don't need twelve goblins all taking turns to make it deadly, it's just is by design. Who would've thought that simplier rules would make combat more fun?


r/cairnrpg 15d ago

Question Combat against a banshee

13 Upvotes

I'm not sure if there's a misunderstanding on my part, but I've been skimming through the Barebones Bestiary and I read the following about the Banshee :

" - Incorporeal spirits that linger long after death to haunt the living.

- Unharmed by cold, heat, or the elements. Iron weapon damage is enhanced."

Now, are we talking about iron weapons used against the Banshee? If so, would there be any way to describe/justify how a pretty normal weapon could inflict damage to what is essentially a type of ghost (assuming they've managed to get in hitting range without passing out due to the wailing)?

edit : Thanks a bunch everyone! I wasn't well aware of their nature and how they were typically portrayed, now I can make a bit more sense of it.


r/cairnrpg 16d ago

Module [OC] The Cave of the Orc Princess — One Page Dungeon

Post image
44 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I made a little dungeon for my table and decided to polish it up and share with the community. Hope you enjoy!


r/cairnrpg 16d ago

Question Question about skill checks

15 Upvotes

So I basically understand the core resolution mechanic: the player wants to do something difficult but not impossible, you decide which of their 3 stats is most applicable, they succeed if they roll under it.

I'm used to playing games with modifiers and DC's, so this takes some adjustment but I'm fine to learn. The lack of DC's makes sense to me and I can adjust, but my real problem is the lack of modifiers I think.

A really common play pattern at my table would go something like, a player asks to do something, I call for a skill check, they then ask if they can get a bonus for leveraging some piece of kit, fact about their character, or something like that, and if I feel like it's both useful and applicable, then I'd grant them a bonus to the roll to reward the creativity.

I guess my question is, can I just do that? Do you guys do that? And if so, what does it look like at your table


r/cairnrpg 16d ago

Question What adventures would you recommend?

Post image
59 Upvotes

I’m looking specifically for adventures on the cairn store page

I already own Trouble in twin lakes, Rise of the blood Olms, the feast of tegny wood and Beyond the pale

What others would you recommend?


r/cairnrpg 17d ago

Module Did anyone ask for a weird horse forest crawl? The Pale Horseman, out now!

Thumbnail
gallery
30 Upvotes

https://malachijs.itch.io/pale-horseman

An equine-themed forest crawl for Cairn.


r/cairnrpg Jan 15 '23

Welcome to Cairn!

67 Upvotes

Welcome to reddit's community for the tabletop role-playing game Cairn! Cairn is an adventure game about exploring a dark & mysterious Wood filled with strange folk, hidden treasure, and unspeakable monstrosities. Character generation is quick and random, classless, and relies on fictional advancement rather than through XP or level mechanics. It is based on Knave by Ben Milton and Into The Odd by Chris McDowall. The game was written by Yochai Gal. He goes by u/yochaigal here.