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Writing, Layout, Illustrations Cover Illustration
Colin Le Sueur CROM
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Viking Age Illustrations Online Resources

Jonas Lau Markussen runecairn.byodinsbeardrpg.com
Public Domain Illustrations
Richard Dagley, Henry Justice Ford, Alfred Pearse,
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George Roux, Lancelot Speed, Simon Harmon Vedder

Text and layout © Colin Le Sueur 2022.

Viking age art by Jonas Lau Markussen on pages 4,14,46,53,60,61,62,76,83.
Public domain illustrations on pages 7,9,10,13,23,33,34,41,43,44,49,70,77,81.
Remaining illustrations © Colin Le Sueur 2022.
Runecairn is based on Cairn by Yochai Gal
PART 1: CORE RULES 4 Items & Equipment 26
Armour 26
Overview6
Shields 26
What is Runecairn? 6
Weapons 26
Design Philosophy 6
Equipment skills 28
Adventures 6
Items 30
Principles8
Principles for Wardens 8
Combat32

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Rounds 32
Principles for the Player 11
Actions 32
Principles of the World 12

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Reactions 32
Viking Age 12
Turns 32
Adventurer Creation 14
Attacking & damage 32
Creating a new Adventurer 14
Attack modifiers 32
Warrior 16
e Dire strike 32
Skald 17
Blast 35
Scout 18
Ability score loss 35
Seer 19
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Critical damage 35
Adventurer creation example 20
Death 35
Concepts of Play 22 Omens 35
Resilience 22 Combat example 36
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Defence 22
Magic38
Inventory 22
Casting spells 38
Saves 22
Relics 38
Mead flask & healing 22
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Rings 39
Status effects 24
Fatigue 24
Spell Lists 40
Seer Spells 40
Clearing fatigue 24
Skald Spells 42
Bonfires 24
Flame Rune Spells 45
Death 24
Souls 25
Spending souls 25
Wealth & treasure 25
PART 2: ADVANCED RULES 46 PART 3: BENEATH THE BROKEN
SWORD 62
Overview48
Introduction 48 Introductory Adventure 64
Advanced classes 48 Overview 64
Beyond two players 48 1. Resumption 67
Solo play 48 2. Winding Corridor 67
Delve generator 48 3. The Jagged Chamber 68

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Summoning an ally 48 4. Quiet Respite 70
Invasions 48 5. The Murky Pool 70

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6. Broken Arrow Bend 71
Advanced Classes 50
7. Lost Cell (Secret) 71
Berserkr 50
8. Iðunn’s Grotto 72
Pyre 51
9. Arched Tunnel 73
Solo Play 52
e 10. Demon’s Ledge 73
Introduction 52
11. Whistling Channel 74
Journaling 52
12. The Raven Flies 74
Favour or Sorrow 52
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Further Into the Nine Realms 75
Reading the Runes 52

Delve Generator 54 PART 4: APPENDICES 76

Mapping the delve 54 Monsters78
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Objectives 54 Adventurer Options 82

Encounters 57
Pronunciation Guide 83
Cooperation60
Character Sheet 84
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Summoning an ally 60
Combat and healing 60
Inspiration:
Death and rebirth 60
• Dark Souls
Invasions61 • Icelandic Sagas
Black fetch 61 • Old School Essentials
• Valheim
Combat, healing, and death 61
Repelling an invader 61 Special Thanks:

Safety check 61 Karl Wolfwood, Matthew Morris AKA

ManaRampMatt, Jay Coleman, Kirby
from Disaster Tourism, and Dave Snelling
 PART 1:
CORE RULES

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Þar munu eftir undrsamligar,
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gullnar töflur í grasi finnask,
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þærs í árdaga áttar höfðu.
Munu ósánir akrar vaxa
böls mun alls batna
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In the wondrous beauty of the aftermath,

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Golden tables found among the grass,

Held by the gods in days of old.
Then barren fields will bloom and grow,
All harm shall be undone.
— Voluspá, 61-62

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 OVERVIEW
What is Runecairn? narrative.
Runecairn is a Norse fantasy tabletop
roleplaying game intended for two Adventures
players, the Warden (the facilitator or What type of adventures can a player
game master) and the Adventurer. character expect?
For solo play or two or more • Defend a village against roving
Adventurers, please see Advanced Rules. invaders

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• Hunt a monstrous creature stealing
Design Philosophy children
Neutrality. The Warden’s role is to • Reclaim a family cairn overwhelmed

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portray the rules, situations, NPCs, and by the dead
narrative clearly, while acting as a neutral • Retrieve a powerful relic lost in the
arbiter. mountains
• Confront a raging jotunn blocking
Classless. An Adventurer’s role or skills supplies reaching an isolated
are not limited by a single class. Instead, settlement
the equipment they carry and their e • Broker peace between two warring
experiences defines their specialty. clans
Death. An Adventurer may be powerful, • Protect a caravan journey travelling
but they are also vulnerable to harm in its through dangerous territory
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many forms. Death is always around the • Infiltrate a secretive cult worshipping
corner, but it is never random or without forgotten gods
warning. • Explore newly discovered lands in
Fiction first. Dice do not always reflect search of a mythical beast
an obstacle’s difficulty or its outcome.
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Instead, success and failure are arbitrated

by the Warden in dialogue with the player,
based on in-world elements.
Growth. An Adventurer is changed
through in-world advancement, gaining
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new skills and abilities by surviving

hazards and overcoming obstacles.
Player choice. A player should always
Core Rules | Overview

understand the reasons behind the choices

they’ve made, and information about
potential risks should be provided freely
and frequently.
Principles. The Warden and Adventurer
each have guidelines that help foster a
specific play experience defined by critical
thinking, exploration, and an emergent

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 PRINCIPLES
Principles for Wardens Narrative Focus
• Emergent experience of play is what
Information matters, not math or Adventurer
• Provide useful information about the abilities - give the player weapon
game world as the Adventurer explores trainers and personal quests
• A player does not need to roll dice to to facilitate improvement and
learn about their circumstances specialisation

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• Be helpful and direct with your • Pay attention to the needs and wants
answers to their questions of the player, then put realistic
• Respond honestly, describe opportunities in their path

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consistently, and always let them know • A dagger to your throat will kill you,
they can keep asking questions regardless of your heavy armour and
impressive training
Difficulty
• Default to context and realism rather Danger
than numbers and mechanics • The game world produces real risk of
• If something the player wants to do is pain and death for the Adventurer

•
them to do it
Is what the player describes and how
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sincerely impossible, no roll will allow • Telegraph serious danger to the
player when it is present - the more
dangerous, the more obvious
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they leverage the situation sensible? • Put traps in plain sight and let the
Let it happen player take time to discover a solution
• Saves cover a great deal of uncertain • Give the player opportunities to solve
situations and are often all that is problems and interact with the world
necessary for risky actions
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Choice
Preparation • Give the player a solid choice to force
• The game world is organic, malleable outcomes when the situation lulls
and random - it intuits and turns • Use binary “so, A or B?” responses
sharply when their intentions are vague
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• Use random tables and generators to • Work together with this conversational
develop situations, not stories or plots progress to keep the game moving
• NPCs remember what the Adventurers • Ensure that the Adventurer’s actions
says and does, and how they affect the leave their mark on the game world
Core Rules | Principles

world
• NPCs don’t want to die - infuse their Die of Fate
own self-interest and will to live into • Occasionally you will want an element
every personality of randomness (e.g. the weather,
unique character knowledge, etc.)
• At these times, roll d6 - 4 or more
favours the player while 3 or under
means bad luck

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Principles for the Player Ambition
• Set goals and use your meagre means
Agency to take steps forward
• Attributes and related saves do not • Expect nothing - earn your reputation
define your Adventurer - they are tools • Keep things moving forward and play
• Don’t ask only what your character to see what happens
would do, ask what you would do, too
• Be creative with your intuition, items,
and connections

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Exploration
• Asking questions and listening to
detail is more useful than any stats,

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items, or skills you have
• Take the Warden’s description without
suspicion, but don’t shy away from
seeking more information
• There is no single correct way forward

Talking
•
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Treat NPCs as if they were real people
and rely on your curiosity to safely
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gain information and solve problems
• You’ll find that most people are
interesting and will want to talk things
through before getting violent

Caution
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• Fighting is a choice and rarely a wise

one; consider whether violence is the
best way to achieve your goals
• Try to stack the odds in your favour
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and retreat when things seem

unfavourable

Planning
Core Rules | Principles

• Think of ways to avoid your obstacles

through reconnaissance, subtlety, and
fact-finding
• Do some research and ask around
about your objectives

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 Principles of the World Defeat
• If one path leads to defeat, try another
The Nine Realms • Some obstacles cannot be overcome
• The battle of Ragnarok is done and immediately
the world is broken • With every defeat comes new
• The realms are full of danger and knowledge and opportunities
wonder
• There are echoes of the old world Death
everywhere • Spirits gather in places of the dead

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• Travel between the realms is perilous • Remnants of the wars wander as
and rare shades, all humanity and vigour lost
• Death is not the end
The Gods

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• The Aesir and the Vanir are all dead or Viking Age
missing
Though inspired by the historical Viking
• Mjölnir is lost and Gungnir is broken
Age (roughly 8th-11th century CE), the
• The Jotunn are scattered, most fled to
realms of Runecairn exist in a Norse
Jotunheim
fantasy world brimming with mythology
and folklore, ever changing and evolving.
The Titans
•
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The Sons of Fenrir wander hungry and
feral
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• Jörmungandr is dead, their skeleton
long picked clean
• Strange new titans roam unchallenged
and dominant
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Bonfires
• The light of a bonfire will always lead
you to safety
• Bonfires link the Nine Realms
• The flames of a bonfire never dwindle
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Secrets
• Secrets are worth seeking out but all
are well guarded and dangerous
Core Rules | Principles

• Some mysteries will never be solved

Magic
• Magic is wild and unpredictable, with
behaviour changing from one realm
to another
• The use of magic draws unwanted
attention

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