Three of my online gaming friends joined tonight to play on Owlbear Rodeo. Total game time tonight was about 90 minutes. Using Cairn 2e playtest rules, we created three characters, I went over some of the background of the setting, and the players had two forays into the wilderness (a couple of hexes away from the fort), a cave opening was uncovered and a small bit of information was gleaned from the lips of a dying goblin. All of this in 90 minutes! My overall impression is this…get the Cairn rpg and give it a try. The rules allowed for some interesting tactical moments during combat and I’ve found that the rules don’t get in the way of my world creation. I really appreciate the advice given by Chris McDowell, creator of Into the Odd. (Cairn is based on Into the Odd.) My take away from this is that challenges don’t need modifiers (or things like rolling for advantage/disadvantage). Instead, the GM takes into account the prepartions made by the character and also the characters background. With this information, the GM explains what will happen on a success and a fail. The player then decides to roll or not. It is starting to make sense to me how this changes the game. I’m finding that players need to be more engaged in planning before these challenge rolls. In my opinion, more thinking as the character and more immersion in the game. Other things I noted is that filling in the hexes on our starter map has been a fun and doesn’t feel like a chore. It was a really good session and I’m hoping the start of more great gaming to come!
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Characters created in Sesson Zero
Pall B. Earer (Bonekeeper) ~ weapons are a sharpened stake and a sling! He has a Raise Spirit spellbook.
Fletcher (Fletchwind) ~ owns a white ash war bow that does blast damage on first attack and can be used as a shield in melee, a heartroot salve (restores 1d4 STR), and a mysterious letter to be given to the Lord of Winter.
Brother Osbert (Hexenbane) ~ has taken a vow of poverty, owns a ley compass which points to the nearest ley lines of magical power, weapons are a silver knife and a crossbow, and carries a spellbook with the spell Disassemble (body parts can be separated and act independently).
Damn Elf Press 