End is another beginning in Runecairn Wardensaga remastered roleplaying game

 

Runecairn Wardensaga remastered, is the latest edition of the Runecairn tabletop role-playing game series, published after successful Kickstarter in 2024. The original game was created by the same author Colin Le Sueur and published by Odin’s beard rpg in 2021. The remastered edition is an updated and polished product, that combines the core rules and the advanced ruleset into a single, beautiful book without any major rule changes. Runecairn in all its versions is based on modified rules of the Cairn tabletop roleplaying game, created by Yochai Gal and licensed under Creative Commons license. Because of this mechanical baseline, both the Cairn and Runecairn are considered new school renaissance systems, a twenty-sided dice-based tabletop roleplaying games that utilize old game design principles such as rulings over rules ideology but with the modernized format and streamlined design. While Cairn is a tabletop roleplaying game focused on more traditional fantasy adventures, Runecairn has made some adjustments to fit the game into themes of post Ragnarök melancholic Viking fantasy.   

Runecairn Wardensaga remastered, is designed to be a two player- or solo roleplaying game experience but it also features alternative rules for playing with a larger group. For solo play, the book contains rules on how to play the world and if a second player is present, they take the role of a warden, a facilitator of the world and arbiter of the rules. There is simple but practical information for both the player and the warden, premade monsters and adventure “Beneath the broken sword”, so to jump in and play you just need the rulebook, some polyhedral dice and writing supplies.  

With Cairn serving as a basis for the rules, Runecairn is also built upon the familiar mechanics using various polyhedral dice for the rule resolution, but it leans more of the narrative focused and fast play. During play, the player plays a Viking character who has passed on to the world after the end of everything, Ragnarök. Most of the time, simply narrating the actions is enough for the gameplay but in cases of uncertain outcomes, the player may need a die to determine the outcome for their character. Saving throw as it is called, is simple pass or fail ordeal where player rolls a twenty-sided dice and attempts to roll equal or beneath the relevant attribute to succeed, for example, a strength to lift a heavy boulder. 

 During combat, the game shifts to a more focused gameplay mode, where the player counts down turns and the character must face various opposition ranging from other Vikings to mythological monsters like dragons or undead. While combat seems daunting at first, it is actually rather smooth, given that abilities of the character and opposition are simple, and attacks always hit but with varied effect and damage determined by dice. In turn though, this also makes Runecairn rather deadly for the player character and the game assumes that they will die multiple times. However, because this is a game of Viking fantasy, death is rarely permanent but carries a growing burden for the character. If played with a warden, they take the duty of controlling the opponents and other elements of the world but also a task of calling out and managing the gameplay and rules. With the simple rules and focused principles and tools provided by the book, Runecairn is smooth but moody role-playing game fitting for anyone who enjoys Vikings and melancholic fantasy.  

 Last but not least the bookcraft. Runecairn is printed by Standart Impressa in Vilnius Lithuania. It is an A5 sized hardback with a total page count of 85 pages with a nice and sturdy sewn stitch binding. Due to its small size, the book fits nicely onto a gaming table with other tools and thick pages and ribbon bookmark is a nice cherry on the top. 

For the layout, Runecairn uses two column-layout for most of its content, except for a few pages with large tables. This is ideal since while the book isn’t text or rules heavy, this allows content to be nicely spaced into a single or facing pages, reducing amount of page flipping. There is plenty of beautiful art, some commissioned and some taken from the public domain, which all fit well into the Viking theme. The book also makes most of its few pages as both cover and end page has been used. One for the character sheet and another for a delve generator sheet. 

 

Basic information 

Designer: Colin Le Sueur  

Publisher: By Odin’s beard rpg 

Release Date: 22.3.2024 

Photos: Photographs from the Runecairn Wardensaga remastered (Colin Le Sueur), taken by Samuli Siira.   

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