Cairn is an elegant hack of Into The Odd for running fantasy games. One thing that really stands out for this thread of design is the simple attack system: just roll the damage dice. No to-hit rolls, no opposed rolls. Just roll damage and subtract armor. I find most combat systems to be a drag on play.
ATTACK
An attack may target any model in line of sight. The attacker rolls their weapon die and subtracts the target’s Armor, then deals the remaining total to their opponent’s HP.
Damage Types
Name | Dice | Special | Expected_Value
- Needle | d4 | When you roll an unmodified 4, you may roll an additional d4 adding the result to the previous roll. Rerolls can not trigger additional rerolls. | 3.125
- Basic | d6 | – | 3.5
- Plasma | d8 | When you roll an unmodified 1, it deals d8 damage to the attacking character. | 3.8125
- Brutal | d12 | Can only be used every other round. | 3.25
Damage Keywords
Impaired
If an attack is impaired, the damage die is reduced to 1d4, regardless of weapon.
Enhanced
If the attack is enhanced, the attacker rolls 1d12.
Blast X
Attacks with the blast quality affect all targets within X” of the target, rolling separately for each.
Damage
If an attack reduces a target to 0 or less, remove that model from the skirmish.
Armor
Before calculating damage to HP, subtract the target’s Armor value from the result of damage rolls. Shields and similar armor provide a bonus defense (e.g. +1 Armor), but only while the item is held or worn.
No one can have more than 3 Armor.
Shields, gauntlets, and helms may provide additional benefits according to their use.
IIII 