Barrow of the Elf King (Cairn, w/Commentary)

I run the excellent Highland Paranormal Society's dungeon Barrow of the Elf King using my system, Cairn. Enable English subtitles to see my commentary.
Barrow of the Elf King: natetreme.itch.io/botek
Cairn Conversion: cairnrpg.com/adventures/conve...
Cairn: cairnrpg.com
Character portraits (Face Folio): www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...

[@jaguartony]

Very helpful for first time DMs and players.

[@CyanMentality]

Dude, Yochai, excellent work conjuring such an elegant system. Bob World Builder made a video about it and I went on a little adventure of research and now I'm here. I really dig the system! I love how aspects of the design fold in on themselves, like spells exhausting inventory, and strength representing health beyond HP. Can't wait to share with my playgroup! Thanks for the upload! Have a great day.

[@Giles29]

Surprisingly solid for a minimalist system. I'm certainly going to try it.

[@TroyBanks]

I dig this RPG. The threat of death in combat keeps characters thinking out the box.

[@rolanejo8512]

I just received my new spiralbound edition of Cairn in Spanish in the mail. Thank you for fostering such a wonderfully diverse gaming community. שנה טובה

[@scottosau]

55:00 I really enjoyed the portrayal of Sargmotra

[@zeddouille]

Thank you for this AP, very interesting. I'll give it try to both. Adventure and Cairn 😉

[@RikThunder33]

wait. you made the system? O_o surprisingly. Thank you for putting your work out there :) It is very useful and inspiring!

[@nerdyride]

This is one of my first dungeon runs as a new GM/Warden. This video is eye opening, as I have so much to learn about TTrpgs.

[@CaptGeoff]

Fantastic video, its nice to see how someone else runs it (especially the creator)!!

[@cdlord80]

Excellent playthgrough, I will be running my group through this on Sunday in our first ever session of Cairn.

[@MrAroone]

Hi I suggest this adventure hook: (it might requieres to alter the architecture) A servant of the Spider has kidnapped the goblin child (or any child to fit the universe). But the Child has escaped within the dungeon and the servant has lost the child in the Dungeon. The servant goes back to town to get a new offering. He is nervous because the clock is ticking and he starts to feel ill. He needs the blessing. The game start when he convinces the party to help him explore a dungeon (rich treasure). On the way to the dungeon the servant develop a fever. The moon is full. One month has passed since the last blessing. With a successful save he has a fever but can walk (HP 0 though), with a failure he dies. Roleplay is possible before the death. If they enter without the servant, they can save the child who describes the kidnapper as the guy who brought them here. With the servant there will be a confrontation and interesting roleplay. The servant has dark mark around the last bite (to give hint about the Spider). This adventure hook explains the presence of the child and connects it with the existence of the spider. Then one need to explain why the worms are active right when the players are exploring. I would hint by having a colony near the entrance. The jar were broken when the servant was searching for the child. Some rumors: "People have been missing the last 12 months. Usually during the new moon." (the servant has been using the new moon as a timer to make sure he doesn't miss the blessing and he thought people would think about a werewolf. "There is a place in the forest where the birds never sings" and other lore useful to the adventure.

[@jimjones7980]

I really enjoyed the actual play with your commentary alongside. I am sure these are a lot to do, but I'd love to see more. Maybe a Trilemma conversion?

[@yochaigal]

Winter's Daughter

[@jimjones7980]

@@yochaigal That would be excellent!

[@bonsaipropaganda]

woah you made this system?? that's crazy!! it's crazy seeing you run your own system

[@tonyennis1787]

I cannot believe they let the worms eat the dead Elf Guy. I guess that's one way to check for traps!

[@francoisdumont4105]

Yea they were careful. Avoiding danger as much as possible.

[@kingbeans6947]

i love it i am a dnd dm and i may create a small champing with this context like somethin like the dangeon of the elf mage this is awsome

[@AdventuresofTheGreatBanana]

Thanks for the video! I was wondering how I could find groups that are looking for players. I have played D&D on and off for many years and I'm looking to join a game that focuses more on the story telling aspect as much as the dice rolling. I will be living from a boat in the mediterranean soon so a virtual group would be necessary :) Would you have any suggestions?

[@mrz87456]

Fantastic video Yochai. Been doing research recently and I think Cairn is just what I'm looking for! Really helps to see it played. Question: at 1:08:52 when Nine gets bit by the spider, shouldn't his armor be 4? I notice he has a helmet. Thanks

[@kenttae]

From the Cairn rulebook: "No one can have more than 3 Armor".

[@dragonboyjgh]

They discussed that in the character generation actually. Plate doesn't stack with any other armor cause it's already at max.

[@samakechijowo]

Hi, Yochai! Thank you for this session recording! And also for creating this game. I understand a lot more about system after I watched this video. I planned to run this solo and I have some questions (that might seem stupid) : 1. The rules mentioned about reducing STR on taking damage, but also mentioned reducing DEX and WIL. I can kinda guess how you reduce WIL but when do you reduce DEX? Do you reduce it when a player failed DEX save and got injured or sth? Won't then need to also reduce their STR? And how do you restore those stats? 2. When you attempt to kill a foe, do you have to reduce their STR to 0 or just the HP? Im guessing STR but just need to make sure. 3. You also mentioned that ranged weapon can't work in close range. Does that means in close range you downgrade the dmg die? Like in some other games you can still attack but at disadvantage. How do that work here? Thank you in advance!

[@yochaigal]

Poison or paralysis could affect DEX. Possession and spiritual attacks could impact WIL. Monsters make critical damage saves as well, yes. Yes ranged attacks would be impaired (d4) but more likely you'd use a different weapon.

[@samakechijowo]

@@yochaigal whoa that was fast, and it's weird because I am watching one of your interviews while replying to this lol. Thanks so much for the answers!

[@yochaigal]

@@samakechijowo no problem, check out the FAQ on the website! It answers a lot of these kinds of questions.

[@janet.snakehole]

I've never played TTRPG, especially Cairn. But I'm curious... about a quarter of the way through the video, one of the players wanted to get into danger and the other two didn't and they kinda out voted him. Is it possible if he/they were stubborn n wanted to branch off in their own adventure... would that have been possible?

[@yochaigal]

Yes! This is called "splitting the party" and has a long and storied history.

[@elfrate]

Hi Yochai. Thanks for Cairn manual! I have a question about the critical damage: do I have to roll for cd when both having 0 HP and str loss occur (in the same turn) or anytime there's a str loss? Ex: in a combat my pc gets damaged, hp falls under 0 and my new str is, say, 9. Then I have to roll under 9 for cd. Suppose in the same combat (no hp recovered) my pc gets damaged a second time and str drops to, say, 7. Do I have to roll again (under 7) for cd? Thanks!

[@yochaigal]

Hello! Only when STR loss occurs in combat, every time. HP loss (even down to 0 HP) doesn't require a CD save. In your example, you'd make a CD save the next time you took damage as well.

[@tonyennis1787]

1:43:46 you forgot to take her armor into account. She should have taken 3, not 5.

[@brunopassos9008]

Hello! Thank you for the vídeo. What is the name of the program you use for the map and dices?

[@mayosuke]

It’s Foundry Virtual Tabletop. Foundry VTT/FVTT for short.

[@kaifuller3535]

I felt like without some attack of opportunity or save to break melee, that essentially, ranged weapons are just mechanically better than melee weapons. Thoughts on that?

[@yochaigal]

They are. Usually they do less damage, though. Ranged attackers still need to save to break combat though (depending on the fiction).

[@kaifuller3535]

@@yochaigal Right on, sounds good!

[@learningdm851]

True, but also true in many systems, including the most popular.

[@krinkrin5982]

How would you handle containers? For example a box of tools? Would it take one slot, two slots, or would it take as many as the sum total of tools inside?

[@yochaigal]

Bulky, most likely.

[@krinkrin5982]

@@yochaigal After playing a pointcrawl adventure in which a character had started with a hand cart (namely A Fistful of Feathers), we decided to rebalance the containers thus: Large sack: uses 1 slot, contains 2, 1 slot net gain. Hand cart: uses 2 slots, contains 8, 6 slots net gain. Horse, donkey or mule: uses 1 slot (your guiding hand), carries 6, 5 slots net gain, increased travel speed and enhanced damage while mounted. Wagon: takes up 6 slots, contains 12, 6 (if pulled by a character) or 11 (if pulled by an animal) slots net gain. This was done for two reasons: 1. The hand cart is a fairly big thing (50-100cm wide and 100cm long according to period illustrations) while the 4 slots in the original feel more like a wheelbarrow. 2. The characters have 8-9 out of the 10 slots filled after character creation without buying any extra equipment (sometimes all 10 are filled, and in extreme cases you get 11 slots worth of items). This makes it almost impossible to stock up on food for a longer journey, especially for a larger group. This particular adventure, assuming the shortest route is taken with no interruptions or delays, takes 16 days of travel, meaning 6 slots worth of food are needed per character. So either almost a full wagon or the whole backpack (per character) needs to be stuffed with food exclusively to even attempt the scenario with any chance of success. This of course can be an intentional challenge, and that's ok, but it still shows that using normal rules, escapades longer than 2 days in each direction (plus however long it takes to actually get stuff done once the characters get to their destination) are prohibitively expensive.

[@tonyennis1787]

3d6 was a ton of trap damage to deal. On average no one can survive that. Average damage would be about 11, minus 3 for armor, so 8 HPs taken.

[@PhilippeLemaire]

Characters don't die at 0 HP in this system. Damage beyond their HP would be substracted from STR, then they would do a STR save (roll d20 below or equal to STR). If the save is passed, they're hurt but still standing. If they fail the save they're incapacitated. Char die at 0 STR.

[@age-of-adventure]

I notice the characters were able to light their torch without having a tinderbox as part of their inventory, yet a tinderbox is an item you can start with?

[@yochaigal]

I consider torches self-lighting. Tinderbox is for lighting other things.

[@age-of-adventure]

Oh thanks, I’ll have to let my Cairn GM know that 😊

[@capi3101]

Quick mechanics question in the early portion of the video - should not Lirann/Nine's plate mail counted as two items for being bulky? I do like that format for summarizing the character traits though - I'm going to have to emulate it, methinks.

[@yochaigal]

It should count as two slots, yes. I'd have to rewatch the video to see if I messed up, though.

[@hamtaroes]

Hi Yochai, I have questions regarding Scars. An enemy attacks my character for 2 damage, and my character has 2 HP, according to the rules, that means my character will get a scar. According to the Scars table, my character will get 'Rattling Blow'. Then I need to roll 1d6, and if the result is more than 2, which is my character's max HP, I need to take the 'new result'. I am sorry I don't understand what is this 'new result' and where to take it?. So if I roll 5 from 1d6, this is more than 2 (my max HP), then my character's new Max HP will be 5, right? How about the current HP? is it still 0, because of the damage? Thank you very much. I really love your game!

[@yochaigal]

It basically means that you reroll your HP (as if you were creating your character). If the result is higher than your current maximum, you take that max. But we are talking MAX, not current (which is 0, obviously).

[@hamtaroes]

@@yochaigal wow, you answered my question very fast!. Thank you very much.

[@RikThunder33]

Yochai, question: the ruleset does not mention ammunition anywhere. Do arrows take up a slot you reckon? How many arrows fit into one? I don't imagine you overlooked this in a very equipment centric game. I mean bows and crossbows don't have unlimited ammunition, right? That would make any melee weapon very obsolete fast ^^°

[@yochaigal]

No I just don't think tracking arrows is particularly interesting. I'm not saying it doesn't come up, just that I don't care. It doesn't serve the kind of gameplay I care about. The inventory is abstract - a quiver fits on your back, the bow takes two hands. Is it 2 slots, or 3? I say 2. The quiver can be petty (using 2e nomenclature). Combat doesn't last long enough for someone to get more than a few shots, and I always assume they go retrieve their arrows. If you really want to add something to the game the usage die from the Black Hack would fit fine. Personally it just doesn't come up for me.

[@RikThunder33]

@@yochaigal thank you for the input!

[@sharifvalizadeh1870]

What is this virtual table? Is there something free I can use? Preferably offline?

[@HexTQ5]

It's FoundryVTT, it's subscription based

[@Ziplock9000]

What UI / App / Website is being used in this video?

[@yochaigal]

Foundryvtt.

[@Ziplock9000]

@@yochaigal Thanks

[@Ziplock9000]

Thanks@@yochaigal

[@LucianoBradley12]

Did you have the players run this dungeon backwards from the original story?

[@age-of-adventure]

The players discovered the ‘exit’ when looking for a way in

[@francoisdumont4105]

Is there a french version? This game is cool, but translating is a hassle for me.

[@yochaigal]

Yes. Go to the website (Google Cairn RPG). You can find it under Localization

[@antonychames3327]

Feel bad for Nine tho. He kind of got screwed with the "Bad" Background and I feel that spiraled a bit.

[@yochaigal]

There are lots of way he could have taken it. I ran a game at PAXU where the PC was reckless. He learned his lesson, and adapted (exploding mold to the face will do that).. Nine did not. The player was happy with that, which is what I cared about. Thanks for watching.

[@antonychames3327]

Fair enough! I give you this point about adapting for sure. Buy I insist that from my experience players who have a bad element in their BG, while the others have not, tend to derail in games more.

[@antonychames3327]

Nevertheless, I very much liked your video, your process of character creation and introduction and your conducting in general! And I would like to thank you for uploading! 😁

[@dragonboyjgh]

10:30 I feel like still calling it HP instead of like... Evasion or something makes it unintuitive to new players because they're so used to hp as meat points.

[@dalerimkunas]

I have to say watching all the issues with the virtual table top was exhausting. I really don't see the benefit, it was so detracting from the gameplay and immersion.

[@yochaigal]

I've since switched to Shmeppy. Far easier, but does way less. It's a wet erase mat.