Block, Dodge, Parry is now in version 1.32! Below, I'll elaborate on some of the changes and additions made. Art: Bertdrawsstuff The 1.32 rules are available for free in the Systems Reference Document. If you’d like to support the continuous development of Block, Dodge, Parry, and gain access to all the additional explanations, commentary, and examples … Continue reading Design Notes: Block, Dodge, Parry 1.32
The latest update for Block, Dodge, Parry includes a system for wounds & injuries. Since it also works for base Cairn, I figured I'd dedicate a blog post to it! Art: Dragon's Breath 2 by Greg Rutkowski Adventuring is a dangerous profession. A way to reflect that is to use these rules for wounds. Wounds … Continue reading Wounds & Injuries for Cairn
A big distinction that's often made between modern RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons 5e and OSR RPGs is combat as war vs. combat as sport. Combat as war frames combat as, well, life-or-death. It's about surviving, not how you survive or what dirty tricks you had to pull to survive it. Combat as sport frames … Continue reading Defense & Survivability in the OSR, Cairn & Block, Dodge, Parry
I've been continuously working on Block, Dodge, Parry ever since it released - and version 1.23 is out today! A short overview of all the changes: Character Sheets are now available, both plain and form-fillable! Added optional Attribute-related rules to the Time, Gear, Skill dynamic. Added optional gear-related rules for Blocking & Dodging. These rules … Continue reading Block, Dodge, Parry – Version 1.23
This amazing blog post by @riseupcomus was stuck in my head - much like a song, ironically - and this article hopes to build upon the ideas a bit, and make it easy to integrate into non-Tolkien settings. Also, HIS MAJESTY THE WORM is shaping up to be amazing, so go check that out. Image: … Continue reading Songs of Adventure: Using Songs To Boost The Party in Cairn & Block, Dodge, Parry
In my previous post, I already lauded Cairn's WIP 2e Wilderness Exploration rules. They got me thinking - how would mounts, specifically horses, interact with this system? (I've also been playing Red Dead Redemption 2, and Arthur's confirmation that horses are, in fact, good boys/girls still rings in my head, so yeah). Image: Horse Riders … Continue reading Giddy Up – Horses for Cairn
Image: Breath of the Wild Study 3 by Anato Finnstark I spent quite some time during the recent holidays working on a new hexcrawl setting, as a sort of 'happy place'. Inspired by the tone of Breath of the Wild and Dragon Quest, I set out to create world of 'adventure is exciting!' and 'travel … Continue reading If You Smell What The Party Is Cooking – Gathering & Crafting in Cairn
I'm a simple man - Netflix's Edgerunners has rekindled my interest in the Cyberpunk aesthetic (though I've loved and revisited it many times already over the last decade). Here are a few byte-sized ideas I put together for running something Cyberpunky in Into The Odd, Electric Bastionland, Cairn and similar games. Image: Cyborg Yakuza self-tuning … Continue reading Various Cyberpunk Musings for Into The Odd-Style Games
I'm in the midst of playtesting Block, Dodge, Parry, and I'm doing so with a 1-on-1 campaign with a friend. The campaign centers around a dethroned noble trying to seize back control of the land he lost, and in the most recent arc, he has arrived in a border city in order to gain some … Continue reading Intrigue & Investigation: A System for Urban Suspense
First off: I'm making a thing! I'm working hard on combining, tweaking, expanding, and upgrading my Cairn-related posts into a full publication. It aims to be both a toolbox you can pick-and-choose from, as well as a neat way to combine everything together to get a sort-of Advanced Cairn, if you will. I've dubbed this … Continue reading Modular Magic for Cairn
