Runecairn Wardensaga

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

Strap on your bearded axe and delve into the forsaken barrow!

Runecairn Wardensaga is an 84-page full-colour rulebook delivering hard-hitting action and adventure in a post-Ragnarok Norse fantasy world. Designed by Colin Le Sueur and inspired by Dark Souls and Elden Ring, Runecairn is a lightweight combat-focused TTRPG built for two players, one Warden and one Adventurer.

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

• Dynamic reactions to speed up combat: block, parry, backstab!
• A tutorial dungeon adventure, perfect for teaching new players.
• 6 powerful backgrounds from Warrior to Skald to Pyre; change your playstyle with a new weapon.
• Drop-in additional players for jolly cooperation or player-vs-player invasions.
• Options for solo play with a rune-based oracle, freeing you from the curse of scheduling.
• A delve generator to create random Viking adventures, getting you into the action immediately.

Download includes fillable character sheets and a delve generator tracker.

Death is Not the End

Runecairn Wardensaga 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.

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

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 in hardcover:

https://shop.byodinsbeardrpg.com/products/runecairn-wardensaga-remastered

Updates

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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: