Cairnis a game by Yochai Gal that takes some of the principles I like about Into the Odd(ItO) and cranks them up a notch. I've described ItO as a materialist game in so far as the game world, via objects, plays the main role in defining your character. Cairn expands on this, making objects the basis to replicate the type of character differentiation you get in D&D.
Watching Yochai Gal’s actual play of Barrow of the Elf King showed me their commitment to objects defining characters. The adventurer’s gear is the basis for unlocking their backstory. The players are prompted to think about how certain items define them. Far more attention is paid to this, than some particularly low attribute rolls (I’ve argued for getting rid of attribute scores to emphasise this focus).
Cairn is self-described as a classless game. There is more role differentiation though than you get in ItO, as characters can effectively become “wizards” by filling their inventory slots with spell books. Unlike D&D, this doesn’t lock you into any career path. Characters can change their role in the party simply by switching out their inventories.
What then is the inverse of Cairn? Here I am going to suggest a way to define your character based on what you don’t carry. It’s empty inventory slots that influence your party role, rather than what fills them. As not having things is a pretty low bar to entry, I refer to this system as Beggar’s Choice.
Someone may have solved the Soulslike TTRPG already. I might have missed it due to the sheer amount out of games out there (March seeing 2 separate Soulslike jams). To narrow down my search, I’ve been looking at an overlapping subset of these games – the Soulslike Bastionlike/Cairnlike Hack. That is, games seeking to emulate Dark Souls using Into the Odd’s auto damage rules as their basis.
