Cairn Press Interview

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I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Yochai Gal the Creative Director from Cairn Press. Read on for his fascinating insights into the Cairn TTRPG and the Roleplaying scene!

Q1: How would you promote Cairn 2nd Edition, and what unique qualities does it possess?  

Well, we had a huge Kickstarter ($250K) and I appeared on a bunch of podcasts (links on my blog). Also I maintain a large Discord server and have a decent presence on social media. Oh, and I have a podcast where I also promote the game. And a newsletter, of course.

Q2: Is this your first published game?

No, I published One Shot World and Cairn 1e, respectively.

Q3: How did you know what to build and focus on when designing Cairn 2nd Edition?

I knew that people wanted a setting, and I always liked the Failed Careers in Electric Bastionland. I also wanted to build tools for folks to make their own adventures. These seemed like attainable goals at the time!

Q4: How did you come up with the game system?

Cairn is based on Knave and Into The Odd. Second Edition had a few tweaks of my own.

Q5: Do you have any advice for new GMs and Players who want to try Cairn 2nd Edition?

Read the Warden’s Guide. It’s all right there.

Q6: Where can you pick up Cairn 2nd Edition and what do you get for your money?

Cairn 2e is entirely free to download and available in print at cost. You can get it on DTRPG, Lulu, RPG-Trader, and of course the Cairn Store. The Box Set (which includes three player’s guides, a warden’s guide, a character sheet pad, a Warden Screen, a first-party adventure, and an anthology of adventures is available for $60 as well.

Q7: Can you tell us about any future releases?

Cairn Press is publishing fifteen products for Cairn as we speak. Our first “double feature” completed its campaign on Kickstarter only last week, and we expect fulfillment in August (next month!).

Q8: Will there be VTT support for Cairn 2nd Edition?

There is already, both for Foundry VTT and Kettlewright, an open source VTT party management tool developed by our team.

Q9: Do you have a Discord Channel?

We have a Discord. You can find it on https://cairnrpg.com.

Q10: What would you consider are the special moments for Cairn Press?

After announcing the project, I was overwhelmed by the response from creators. Everyone wanted to work with us!

Q11: What’s your favourite aspect of role-playing, and what category of gamer do you associate with?

I personally enjoy problem solving, emergent narrative, discovery, and storytelling. I like to run “serious” games but as a player I’m much more loose.

Q12: How long was the play-testing period for Cairn 2nd Edition and how much was based on the first edition?

About two years. The rules are 99% the same as 1e, just clarified and expanded with character backgrounds and Warden’s advice/tools.

Q13: What’s your favourite die and why?

d6. It’s everywhere and can do a lot! 

Q14: What’s your first ever RPG session and did you catch the gaming bug straightaway?

1996. Palladium Fantasy. Solo.
And no, not really!

Q15: Whom do you admire the most in the RPG community and why?

That’s a tough question. I really like what Necrotic Gnome is doing. I also like the Basic Fantasy Project a lot. My personal hero is probably Sean McCoy though, he does great work with Mothership and its many high-class adventures.

Q16: What do you like when you're reading TTRPG content?

I like well-written, punchy, open-ended ideas. A table of crazy circumstances told in short sentences will always appeal to me more than raw prose.

Q17: What are your thoughts on A.I.?

What is AI? Everything and nothing. My audio software has AI - or does it? What I think people often confuse is generative AI (LLMs) and algorithms. LLM is largely a bad thing, in my view; it is anti-art, it is the end of art. But I’m not ahistorical; I know that there were plenty of folks who reacted this way to previous technologies. This feels a bit different to me, in that it removes the process from the creative process, which freaks me out a bit. I’d be fine using it as a research tool, but gosh is it often wrong!

Q18: Would you like to create a TTRPG based on a franchise, and if so, which one would you choose?

No, I’m largely anti-canon.

Thank you for your time!