itch.io

Ah, I see the issue here. At the moment, you either get a Dire Strike with every use of Dead Eye or it never triggers, depending on how you interpret it. I’ll fix this in a future update to have Dead Eye grant Damage Advantage instead of Max Damage; this gives double the chance to get a Dire Strike.

The Special Attack Dire Strikes do only trigger when using the Special Attacks, not in standard use.

Good question! You’re right that since you didn’t roll any dice, you can’t trigger a Dire Strike. Thanks!

Yup, you could easily run HOWL in We Deal in Lead; the gunslingers could walk through a slip door onto the cliffs and encounter the Barghest, or even appear on the beach after the shipwreck.

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

Wardensaga is the whole package and includes the Core Rules, plus an introductory adventure and solo rules. Thanks!

Here’s an update on where development is at the moment, talking through some of the exciting new additions to the game like new Specialisms, investigation generator, and more!

Hello and thank you for the detailed feedback! You’ve given me some things to ponder and think through. It was especially useful hearing from a GM and player with experience playing other investigation TTRPGs. Glad you enjoyed it! All the best.

Hello and thanks for posting this! I really appreciate the time and detail you put in. I love the fact your player used their haven to draw the killer in! It’s awesome to see how players react differently to the same problems.

Thanks again, all the best.

Hello and thanks for picking up a physical copy! I’ve been trying to restock the remastered at Exalted Funeral for a while but I think they’re snowed under. Please drop me an email on colin@byodinsbeardrpg.com and I’ll send you an Itch key for the remastered version. Thanks and all the best!

Thanks for the play report and feedback, I really appreciate it!

Hosted a livestream today where I talked about the development process for Midnight of the Century, including current progress, future updates, and what to expect in the full book.

I also ran through character creation for a Profiler and Occultist, so check it out!

This is terrific feedback, very thorough and useful. Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed running it. I’m looking forward to hearing about follow-up sessions, if you’re happy to talk about those as well. Thanks again!

Thanks! Yup, solo rules are on the roadmap, along with random investigation generators.

Yup! I’ve just updated the Dropbox link with the player maps. If you no longer have the confirmation email, just drop me an email on colin@byodinsbeardrpg.com and I’ll send you another link.

Hi all, have you run any sessions of Midnight of the Century? If so, I’d love your feedback and play reports.

• How many players did you have?
• What Specialisms did they choose?
• What investigation did you run? The introductory investigation (The Widening Gyre) or something else?
• How did the investigators use their skills, general and specialist?
• How were the rules in terms of clarity and ease of use?
• What stood out as especially fun or interesting (if anything)?
• What slowed down the session (if anything)?

Thanks and I hope you have fun playing!

Colin

Here’s an older video where I talk about developing the mechanics and design choices.

For skills like Volley and Hack, you roll damage twice rather than have damage advantage. So you roll damage twice and take both totals rather than choosing the higher total.

If an adventurer starts with 1 Vigour, then their max Vigour is 1, meaning they’re more at risk of permanent death. The Warden may choose to allow a re-roll for characters with 1 Vigour, or it could become a more challenging adventure. Wardens can also choose to include ways to increase Vigour, through a relic or as a reward for slaying a powerful boss.

Sorry for the confusion. Drop me an email on colin@byodinsbeardrpg.com and I’ll send you a link for the EP.

Relics take up inventory slots but rings do not. However, you can only wear a maximum of two rings, one on each hand.

You gain Fatigue when using special skills, casting spells, and through some enemy attacks. Once your inventory is full, you can’t gain any more Fatigue or use abilities that cost Fatigue.

You can choose to fight with no armour or weapons but you’d only do 1d4 damage (unarmed) and you wouldn’t have any special abilities. You can absolutely choose to run a so-called speedrun build (naked with one weapon) to maximise the amount of special attacks you can use.

Thanks for sharing this, it’s awesome! Please release them on Itch and I’ll add a link to the Runecairn Itch pages.

I’ll leave up to you whether to charge or offer as PWYW (pay what you want) or for free—I’m happy with any of the options.

Thanks again!

Here’s a refreshed and updated trailer for 2025!

I’ve refreshed and updated the Runecairn trailer for 2025!

I built the Shoot table as it is for a number of different mechanical reasons:

1. Guns are rare in the Drifted World and gunslingers are even rarer.
2. Making gunslingers feel different and special compared to other Into the Odd classes.
3. Building the core combat mechanic around gunslingers and artefact guns.
4. Building in compatibility with other Into the Odd games that already have guns and firearms.

All this is also under the assumption that players would prefer to play as gunslingers with artefact guns for flavour and narrative reasons rather than optimising damage output and min-maxing.

Ultimately, there’s no right or wrong way to play and every table’s different. There’s no one design or solution that works for 100% of players, so folks should make the choice that suits their table the best.

Hope this helps clarify things.

That’s right, if you don’t reach your Objective, you keep rolling encounters until you eventually locate your Objective or reach 4 setbacks (at which point the delve fails).

The Bits and Mortar files for We Deal in Lead have now been updated. Thanks for the heads-up.

Hello and thanks for the kind words!

1. Ability score damage is there for wardens to implement and for future books. There are some monsters in the Bestiary that do ability damage, for instance. Your first thought was right about ability and fatigue. You need to make the save and you take a point of fatigue.

2. Think of Resilience as your ability to stay in the fight. That’s depleted first, then you take Strength damage when Res is 0. Having a full inventory reduces your Resilience to 0, it doesn’t kill you outright. Essentially, you’re overburdened by fatigue and have no more fight in you, therefore you’re easier to kill.

3. Perplexing Ruins and Chaoclypse on YouTube are both great resources for solo play, as is Stoneaxe Tabletop Gaming. The various Vaesen RPG books are great for creepy Scandinavian folklore and mythology. The Dictionary of Northern Mythology by Rudolf Simek is also a great reference book.

Hope this helps!

Thank you! Those fields are auto-filled and calculate according to what’s been ticked or entered in the relevant fields. So Resilience will add up Vigour and Vitality, etc.

The broad axe can replace any key item, really. It offers a slightly different approach with a 2-handed weapon rather than a 1-handed one. That’s the cool thing about key items and backgrounds—since backgrounds just determine what items you start with, you can essentially change your class by changing your key item. The broad axe would work well with someone used to playing a warrior, however. Hope this helps, thanks!

Gunslinger orders exist because I think it’s cool to be in a group of gunslingers, facing the dangers of the Drifted World together. Some elements are mainly intended to enrich the narrative experience rather than having a mechanical benefit.

Hello and thanks for the kind words!

1. This is a mistake on the example character sheet and I’ll be fixing it in an update.

2. This is to keep the option open for the future and to allow wardens to create new creatures with attacks that cause fatigue.

3. They’re meant to be used right away but this can depend on the warden. If you’ve got a fresh group of prentices who’ve just become gunslingers, they might have to learn the skills from a different gunslinger.

4. Yup, these will be fixed.

Thanks and all the best.

Typically a remnant would hold one soul, but this can vary according to how difficult it was to find, etc. You can break a soul remnant with your hands, though wardens may choose to make it more difficult for rarer remnants. They can also accidentally break, leading to interesting situations in the middle of a fight.

Runecairn Bestiary has been nominated for Best Monster at the 2024 ENNIE Awards!

Vote here: https://vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2024/ballot.php?category_id=15

Here’s a quick overview of Runecairn from the How to Be a Great GM channel!

Yup, I still plan on updating the ashcan and turning it into a more polished version. That’ll probably be later in the year but everyone who has this version will get the new one too!

Apologies, the paper version used to be print friendly but that was over-written. I’ve uploaded a new paper version of the character sheet PDF. You can also download it directly from the Runecairn website:

https://runecairn.byodinsbeardrpg.com/sheet/

Thanks!

The hardcover books have arrived from the printer and they look GREAT! Here’s a quick flipthrough and look at both versions.

Yup, it was designed to be played with one Warden (GM) and one adventurer (player).

Check out this actual play with PlusOneExp to see it in action:

Nope, but I’ve just updated it to include player-facing maps for the town and dungeon!

Yup, I’ll be sending out PDF links for BackerKit pre-orders after cards are charged in April.