Runecairn Wardensaga

Runecairn Bestiary is now available, adding 100 new Norse fantasy monsters:

Strap on your bearded axe and linden wood shield, delve into the forsaken barrow and cleanse the draugr within. They will overwhelm you at first so prepare to die. But when you wake up at the bonfire, you'll know what to expect for your next attempt. Parry their attacks, disarm them, and hack them to pieces. Defeat the undead within and claim the soul remnant they protect.

DEATH IS NOT THE END

What is Runecairn?

Runecairn is a Norse fantasy tabletop roleplaying game written and designed by Colin Le Sueur and inspired by games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Based on lightweight new school revolution (NSR) systems Into the Odd and Cairn, Runecairn is designed for 2 players, one GM (the Warden) and one player (the Adventurer).

Runecairn Wardensaga Remastered is an 84-page full-colour rulebook 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.

Remastered is an updated and refreshed version of the original Runecairn: Wardensaga, published in 2022.

What's different 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.
• Typo and corrections pass to squash those bugs once and for all.

Download the full changelog here.

Links

• System Reference Document (SRD) and 3rd Party License: https://runecairn.byodinsbeardrpg.com
• Paper character sheet

Social Media Links

You can find Colin (@ByOdinsBeardRPG) on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Or you can find our store at shop.byodinsbeardrpg.com.

Art Assets

The primary art & promotional assets for Runecairn Wardensaga Remastered can be found here.

Team Members

• Colin Le Sueur (@byodinsbeardrpg) - Writer/Illustrator/Designer
• CROM (@bitsofcrom) - Cover Illustrator
• Annemieke van Barlingen - Variant Cover Illustrator
• Jonas Lau Markussen - Viking Age Illustrations
• Kim Diaz Holm (@DenUngeHerrHolm) - Additional Illustrations

From Colin

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!

What People Are Saying

Chris McDowall (@Bastionland), designer and creator of Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland:

I absolutely love Runecairn! As soon as I read it I wanted to steal its ideas. It changed the way I think about the type of games that the Into the Odd system can run.

Rich August (@RpgAugust), designer and writer at Steamforged Games (Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game):

Thank you for such an awesome game - I loved reading Runecairn and it’s on my list of 2022 games to get to the table. And the layout is lovely too.

Richard Kelly (@SprintingOwl), designer:

If you're looking for a moderately crunchy duo TRPG, or if you're a fan of Souls games, or if you want to see a stellar adaptation of video game mechanics to tabletop, I would strongly recommend giving Beneath the Broken Sword (and Runecairn) a shot.

Sebrina Calkins, reviewer:

This is a quality game, adapting Cairn to an apocalyptic Norse setting with a greater emphasis on arms, armour and combat without losing the deadly and considered tone of its forebear.

Print

Runecairn Wardensaga Remastered is available to pre-order in hardcover:

https://runecairn-wardensaga.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders#store

Updates

Sign up to the By Odin's Beard RPG newsletter for release information and updates:

https://byodinsbeardrpg.com/newsletter

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TTRPG icons by Gontijo, released as public domain

Reviews and Actual Plays

Actual Play with Tony from PlusOneExp for Beneath the Broken Sword, the introductory dungeon crawl adventure in Wardensaga:

Review of Wardensaga from Roll 4 Initiative:

Read through and kind words from Chris McDowall, creator of Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland: