I’m launching a new remastered version of Runecairn Wardensaga on Kickstarter and the preview page is live now!

If you want a deluxe hardcover or some of the other Runecairn goodies, sign up to get notified and back on 23 January!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/byodinsbeardrpg/runecairn-wardensaga-remastered

Runecairn Wardensaga Remastered is an 84-page full-colour hardcover filled with black and white and colour illustrations depicting the Norse fantasy world of the Nine Realms.

This book contains everything you need to run the game, from a quick one-shot, short dungeon delve, or epic campaign, including:

• Streamlined d20 roll-under rules based on Cairn and Into the Odd.
• Soulslike mechanics such as resurrecting at bonfires, respawning monsters, and dynamic combat.
• Quickstart dungeon crawl adventure Beneath the Broken Sword, perfect for new GMs and players.
• 4 standard backgrounds: the hearty Warrior, nimble Scout, cunning Seer, or spirited Skald.
• 2 new advanced backgrounds: the devastating Berserkr and fiery Pyre.
• Solo play with a rune-based oracle.
• Delve generator for randomly creating dark fantasy dungeons.
• Drop-in additional players for jolly cooperation or player-vs-player invasions.

What’s new in Wardensaga Remastered?

• Sleek new layout, making it clearer to read and play.
• Tightened up and clarified mechanics, to better convey to new players and GMs.
• Brought in new mechanics introduced in the Runecairn Bestiary like toxic and dismembered status effects.
• Provided answers to common questions like “how do I increase mead flask sips?”, “what do rare items mean?”, and “where should I place bonfires when playing solo?”.
• Brilliant new colour and texture for the illustrations, alongside all new illustrations like the dwarf and lindworm.
• Boring typo and corrections pass to clean things up even more.

• Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/byodinsbeardrpg/runecairn-wardensaga-remastered
• Website: https://byodinsbeardrpg.com/press/runecairn_wardensaga_remastered_presskit

• Dark Souls (video game series, 2012-2016).
• Cairn by Yochai Gal (TTRPG, 2020).
• Into the Odd by Chris McDowall (TTRPG, 2015-2022).
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman (novel, 2001).
• Sagas of Icelanders (c. 1200-1400 CE).

First and foremost, Runecairn is a love letter to Dark Souls. Starting life as my version of a Dark Souls TTRPG, I took inspiration from Norse myths and legends in Icelandic Sagas like the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, and Voluspá, along with the more contemporary representations of Norse gods in American Gods, which shows how belief changes gods over time and how all myths are malleable.

Mechanically, Runecairn is closest to Cairn, with me bringing my love of crunch to make combat more tactical and dynamic, and closer to an actual Soulslike. Working on Runecairn gave me enough experience to write for the official Dark Souls RPG, which was a dream come true!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/byodinsbeardrpg/runecairn-wardensaga-remastered