What do you think?
Rate this book
Cairn Player's Guide - 2nd Edition
88 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2024
3 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 22, 2025
Much like the Warden's Guide for the same game, I adore this system. I will champion classless/inventory based characters for the rest of my days. Big points for the section on the baked in Setting of the game being the shortest by far as this is a system that works best, in my opinion, when it's ran/played the same way I approach cooking. Skim the recipe to figure out the important bits that are necessary for the base before disregarding the other minute details in favor of pouring with the heart followed by taste testing until it's just right.
Some rulebooks are too married to their settings to really allow for anything outside of "what it says on the tin" which can be the least interesting way to run as well as play. I love the Alien RPG but it will never not be a session or campaign that's leading to an encounter with a Xenomorp and likewise the Blade Runner RPG with Replicants. Interesting Supplements can be made officially or by fans that add to the depth or replayability of the system, Brave New Worlds for the Alien RPG comes to mind, but ultimately the snake is still going to eat its own tail simply due to the limiting factor of being made from an IP.
Perhaps I picked bad examples to compare with Cairn's freedom being that they are shackled to their IP's but we seem to be in the era of IP TRRPGs with about every movie or show that could reasonably have one, is getting one. Maybe that's why I cling so hard to the malleability of Cairn, Knave, Vaults of Vaarn, and other pioneers in the field. Point is this is a damn fine TTTPG that could easily be ran with players that have never encountered it before. Hell, I think it could easily be run by a Warden who had only just read the rules right before a session and that's a major strength not a weakness to the rules and their simplicity (D&D 5e I will never forgive you other than Baldurs Gate 3)
Major, major points for the "Complete 2nd Edition Box Set" for coming with three copies of the Players Guide, a THICK pad with plenty of character sheets, and two adventure books. I have now been ruined by this and demand that including multiple Players Guide copies should be the norm when it comes to box sets.
Some rulebooks are too married to their settings to really allow for anything outside of "what it says on the tin" which can be the least interesting way to run as well as play. I love the Alien RPG but it will never not be a session or campaign that's leading to an encounter with a Xenomorp and likewise the Blade Runner RPG with Replicants. Interesting Supplements can be made officially or by fans that add to the depth or replayability of the system, Brave New Worlds for the Alien RPG comes to mind, but ultimately the snake is still going to eat its own tail simply due to the limiting factor of being made from an IP.
Perhaps I picked bad examples to compare with Cairn's freedom being that they are shackled to their IP's but we seem to be in the era of IP TRRPGs with about every movie or show that could reasonably have one, is getting one. Maybe that's why I cling so hard to the malleability of Cairn, Knave, Vaults of Vaarn, and other pioneers in the field. Point is this is a damn fine TTTPG that could easily be ran with players that have never encountered it before. Hell, I think it could easily be run by a Warden who had only just read the rules right before a session and that's a major strength not a weakness to the rules and their simplicity (D&D 5e I will never forgive you other than Baldurs Gate 3)
Major, major points for the "Complete 2nd Edition Box Set" for coming with three copies of the Players Guide, a THICK pad with plenty of character sheets, and two adventure books. I have now been ruined by this and demand that including multiple Players Guide copies should be the norm when it comes to box sets.
June 5, 2025
I read a lot of TTRPG books and rarely add them on goodreads, but the barcode on this one scanned so why not?
Simple enough to understand the rules in 15 minutes but with enough depth for a fair bit of play. it's good, the backgrounds are a nice mechanic in a classless system and the lack of hit rolls make combat fast and deadly.
A great game for beginners or kids but with enough bite for an experienced group too.
Simple enough to understand the rules in 15 minutes but with enough depth for a fair bit of play. it's good, the backgrounds are a nice mechanic in a classless system and the lack of hit rolls make combat fast and deadly.
A great game for beginners or kids but with enough bite for an experienced group too.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews