So first off, don’t get it twisted: Knave and Cairn are both great games, and that hasn’t changed. And I know that it is perfectly natural and appropriate for creators to want to develop their creations and take them in new, broader directions. Yet I cannot help but pine for the simple magic of the 1e versions of these games.
One could argue that the success of both these games—and perhaps D&D, as well—lies in the simplest rule set and sparest implication of setting. I rather like 5e and so have often rolled my eyes at folks who complain about it (not WotC/Hasbro, per se, but the game itself), but I think I’m starting to catch the feeling. There’s something so unnecessary about constantly adding on and modifying things. Yes, it creates the illusion of options, and it does bring detail, but too often such details are limiting rather than expanding. Ben Milton himself (creator of Knave) has spoken at length in numerous videos about this, so just check him out on Questing Beast for much better info than I could spin out here.
It also pulls into focus—painfully—the socioeconomic reality that professional creatives are in, what academics call ‘publish or perish.’ If folks want to make a living (or just break even, many times), they have to make more ‘content’ and charge people money for it. And I get that because it’s the current setup of the economy in most parts of the world. But there are a couple of counterpoints here.
First is that Ben has often said that most of his income is from Patreon. I have heard this from others in the D&D YouTube space, as well. (Ginny Di, for example.) So that kina means you don’t really have to publish with the same urgency as someone who doesn’t have the backing of a fanbase.
But T, you say, what if the fans want that ‘tent?
Well you could always just offer it to patrons as a perk—which I know a lot of folks do—or you could do it a little differently. Which leads us to point two.
You could still put out the same material and expansion, but not call it Game 2nd Edition. By doing so, the elegant ruleset remains untouched, and you don’t have the whole legitimacy war thing that ensues when people start playing different editions of what is supposedly the same game. Sure, some of that is probably inevitable, but if there is only one proper edition (as with, say, Dungeon Crawl Classics and Basic Fantasy RPG—both of which use ‘editions’ in the more customary manner of the larger publishing world to mean something more like a subtle revision to correct errors, rather than an overall revamping of the game and its defining feel), it cuts way down on that kind of nonsense.
Cairn 1e, for example, is pretty great. I am far less excited for 2e. I mean, sure; I’ll buy it. I want to support the creator, and it will have cool stuff in it—most of which you can get for free right now, which is rad. But I really think it should have been a setting book rather than a new edition. The awesomeness of Cairn (and Knave) lies largely in how lean & mean the OG booklet is. It’s just enough to play, which is the sweet spot for T.
Kelsey Dionne's Shadowdark is set up to do well in this regard. She waited to put it out and has said she really doesn’t want to make any other books for it. Instead, she’s putting out a zine (Cursed Scroll) that offers options for expansion; and, she has created a Shadowdark license that is already thriving. If you haven’t looked, please do cos there is an mft of third party content and the book hasn’t even gone to press yet. Oh, and you can still late pledge on Kickstarter to get the Shadowdark rulebook. So maybe do that. Cos it’s badass.
Now, in all fairness, it should be said that Shadowdark is a beast of a book, not a pamphlet, and Kelsey has raked in a couple million dollars before it’s even out, so. Maybe it’s an unfair comparison? But I mean, the book that is Knave 2e and the book that will be Cairn 2e could still exist and be Kickstartered and all that (so the creators can get that green grow) just under the idea of it being a major expansion of options instead of a new version of the game itself.
Anyhow, I want to reiterate how much I love Cairn and Knave, and I hope you will back both 2e projects and support Yochai Gal and Ben Milton on Patreon. (Yochai’s: Between Two Cairns; Ben’s Questing Beast.) But if you yourself are an OSR creator (or thinking of becoming one) maybe think about it before making a new edition of your fabulous indie darling game.
Till next time, y’all. Be well!
Xoxo,
T
Where you can get this stuff in print:
Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game on Amazon
Cairn 1e on Amazon; or get yoself the fancy handcrafted jamma on L.F. OSR
Cairn 2e isn’t in print yet, but you can view the playtest materials here
Dungeon Crawl Classics at Goodman Games
These are not affiliate links, btw, cos I’m an idiot. They’re just here to be helpful.
