Through Monday, April 27 we present the Runecairn Bundle featuring Runecairn, the one-on-one FRPG of Soulslike Viking fantasy from By Odin’s Beard, along with the weird-West gunslinging RPG We Deal in Lead. Based on Yochai Gal’s free Cairn rules, Runecairn and We Deal in Lead let a Warden (gamemaster) and one Adventurer explore fallen and crumbling worlds filled with threats, mysteries, and unspeakable horrors. With bearded axe or devastating magic, you’ll face overwhelming enemies. You’ll die, repeatedly. But death is not the end, and after each setback, you’ll know what to expect for your next try.
Using a streamlined, classless system in the spirit of the Old School Revival, Ruincairn really leans into its inspiration, the Dark Souls video games. Your hero dies and gets reborn at a bonfire! Monsters respawn! Other realms may invade! And where Runecairn takes inspiration from vivid and brutal Norse mythology, We Deal in Lead conjures the vibe of Stephen King’s Dark Tower novels, Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns, and Joe Lansdale‘s gonzo yarns. Defend villages or caravans against bandits – hunt monstrous machines – broker peace between warring factions – and stumble upon lost slip doors to other worlds. Pick up your scattergun and stride into the wastelands.
Runecairn Wardensaga sets you in the ruins of a world after Ragnarok. In a long forgotten age, a raging war shattered and devastated the worlds of gods and men. The gods are dead, their relics of power missing, and the pathways among the Nine Realms have become perilous and rare. Magic, never wholly reliable, has grown even more dangerous. But as green life blooms amidst the ruins, hungry monsters and strange titans roam the Nine Realms. Fate carves the skein anew – but you are a loose thread, lost long ago in the wars, with no place in the tapestry. Seek the Bonfires, where shades and spirits gather, and carve your own path. Should you fall in battle, you may be reborn at one of these fires, though at the cost of your Vigour.
Runecairn focuses on two-person play (the Warden and the Adventurer), but include rules for solo or multiplayer games. The game brings the brutal Soulslike experience to the tabletop with mechanics for cooperation and summoning allies, invasions from other realms, and rebirth from death. There are no character classes; your abilities are defined by the arms and equipment you carry. Want to switch tactics? Change your weapon and take on a new role. But be ready to fall in single combat against draugr Colossi, bone demons, Hamingja spirits, headless Jotunn, Muspelhounds, Niflmares, white worms, many-mouthed howlers, the Sea Reek, and the occasional moose.
This offer’s second game rides into another wasteland, a dark fantasy Drifted World where Gunslingers, bonded to their weapons, wage a retreating battle against chaos and madness. We Deal in Lead focuses more on group play. You and your fellow Gunslingers belong to an Order, the last remnant of a society that once provided stability, protection, and justice. Your liminal realm connects to many other worlds through slip doors. Foes, friends, strange artifacts, and more pass into The Drifted World. Fragments of lost technology and magic, both wild and unpredictable, still blight this fallen world. But magic, rituals, and even beast companions make Gunslingers more than simply shootists. You protect surviving settlements from the Red Right Hand, the Eater Outside, and other hazards that bubble up from the spaces between.
This all-new Runecairn Bundle presents the complete Runecairn line of one-on-one post-Ragnarok Norse fantasy saga-making in the Nine Realms, along with the We Deal in Lead game of the last Gunslingers in the Drifted World. Pay just US$9.95 to get all five titles in our Runecairn Collection (retail value $52) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Runecairn Wardensaga core rulebook, the monster supplement Runecairn Bestiary, the collection of one-page dungeons Into the Nine Realms, and the weird-West gunslinging RPG We Deal in Lead. Publisher By Odin’s Beard has also included the quickstart primer for their new game of serial killer investigation, Midnight of the Century.
Get this Runecairn offer before the final campfire of the frozen wastes dwindles and fades Monday, April 27.
