Deeper Catacombs

Returning to my example tracking system in the catacombs.

Some skulls set into a wall, dithered in shades of black and green. 1

Several bits of feedback were gathered from playtesting and some weaknesses became apparent just putting the system into practice.

It’s possible to roll the twist “11. Loops back on itself” with an empty discard pile. Better to move this up higher.
It’s possible to roll the twist “14. Peaceful” before a player has enough omens to check for encounters. Best to move this up higher also.
Check omens before generating an area, as some of them may be relevant to the area description.
Accounting for duplicate cards, the maximum “depth” is 12-13 omens. Therefore we can roll a smaller die for more consistent effect.
Duplicate omens can’t lead to an encounter, but some rooms may be all duplicates. It’s also counter-intuitive that duplicates don’t help.
“Lose an omen” type effects are un-fun. I would keep these at the deepest depths.
With only 18 cards at 3 cards/room, the whole deck loops after only 6 rooms.
Players expected to see definite signs of pursuit. Even once navigation was understood, it’s hard to judge progress toward an encounter.
Navigation felt arbitrary; every new area was a surprise.

A grainy dull image of a skeleton with various ornaments arranged around it, rendered in bright gold. 2

Ideas

Double Omens

Double each omen card and write one possible encounter on each one. For example, now there would be two cards named “Darkness,” and one reads “good for hiding” (suggests the fugitive) and the other reads “never touched by the sun” (suggesting a vampire).

If I’m feeling lazy, I’ll just write “maybe a vampire,” instead.
Possibly, only reveal the hint after the players choose to follow it. This makes the process of discovery slower. Easier in online play.
This doubles the size of the omen deck from 18 to 36 and increases the maximum depth from ~13 to ~20.

Move Random Encounters to Cards

Wandering encounters (as opposed to foreshadowed encounters) on the “Twists” table feels wrong. I’d prefer that they be unrelated to depth. In playtesting, random encounters were some of the most impactful, so I’m eager to keep them. I considered moving them to a hazard die of some kind, but players move through the catacombs faster than a normal dungeon. I think the simplest thing to do is give them their own cards in the deck.

This gives a lot of control over the frequency and type of random encounters.
I could create a card for each encounter to avoid rolling, but this means that every encounter will necessarily be seen if play continues. I prefer the variance of a roll triggered by a card.
I can add encounters here that otherwise leave no traces.
If this works, it may be thanks to the doubled deck size.
For now, I am adding “common” generic “random encounter” cards that will have to be rolled normally. In rooms with random encounters, this will only leave two omens to be found.

Move Drops or Other Twists onto Cards

Random encounter was a twist, but now it’s a card. Could the rest of the dungeon benefit from similar treatment?

I worry that putting too much in the deck will “dilute” the core of the game: following omens. But not all the twists are very exciting, in fact a lot of them are mostly flavor or underutilized. Perhaps only the more complicated or exciting twists should move.
I would want there to almost always be at least one omen/room. I haven’t done the math on where this puts the proportion of omens to non-omens, but 50/50 is probably an OK upper limit.
If hidden things, like caches can also appear on cards, then it becomes apparent when a cache is present by the counting of omens and encounters. Blank “null” cards can be added to maintain that uncertainty.

Do Something with Doubles

Once I add different frequencies of cards, it becomes obvious that a second copy of an omen is boring. First, it’s not obvious to a new player that it’s unhelpful. For example, if I’m trying to find a skeleton and I follow the sound of rattling, why wouldn’t following more rattling get me even closer? Second, it’s possible to have a room with three omens that are all already duplicates, which necessarily will not get you any closer to your quarry. So we need to do something about it. I’m adding an action called “focusing” that lets you discard two matched omens to take an extra omen from a room.

Including an action like this in the rules signals that duplicates don’t need to be kept.
This keeps us further away from the maximum “hand size,” which can otherwise approach rapidly.
I’m not sold completely on the effect, nor even the cost. It’s a little game-y, a little arbitrary. But I’ll try it.

Pick a Different Rule Set

I adore Into the Odd, so it made sense to use it to playtest. But I found that I wanted something with just a couple more knobs to tweak. I ultimately opted for Cairn, which gives me access to fatigue as a resource and some loose built-in magic, and has easy-to-share rules.

This does add one point of ambiguity: the word relic. To be clear, when I use the word in the catacombs, I mean it in the religious sense, not the Cairn sense.

Three blurry candles in muddy bronze colors. 3

Rules

In general, rules are as Cairn. Encounters use danger and armor. Morale (or any other stat, as needed) is 10+danger.

Time

Time in the catacombs is counted in turns and limited by light. In general, moving to a new area consumes ⅙ of a torch, as does any extended activity in an area. Navigation in the catacombs is simple, as long as you have a light source, so an expedition into the caves ends when there is no more light.¹ If the objective of the delve remains, further attempts can be made later.

In a dark, patterned room with a single stone sarcophagus in the middle, light spills onto in from each of two perpendicular doorways, in an unnatural pink-purple glow. 4

Procedure

Roll area (Type & Twist).
Check for encounters. Discard used omens.
Draw three new cards. Keep them hidden from the players.
Roll any Hazards, Caches, or Encounters indicated by the cards.
Describe the area, twist, encounters, and omens.

When entering an area, if the players (or GM) have all three omens unique to an encounter, that encounter will be there. The paths that led to it have now been “explained,” and the omens should be discarded.

If multiple encounters are possible, then they are all here (assuming there are enough copies of each omen).

In addition, any cards drawn for the room that say “Encounter” or “Cache” on them should be rolled for at random.

While the existence of an omen may be obvious, the path to follow it still requires finding.

An underground room with low-resolution vaulted ceilings and reflections of them in the bright blue, if glitchy, water. 5

Player Actions

Track (or “I’m Feeling Lucky”)

Assuming there are no distractions or impediments, players reveal one omen card for the room. This requires a light source, but does not take long enough to consume it. You can only do this once per area.

Investigate

Assuming there are no distractions or impediments, players can reveal all three omen cards for the room. This both requires and consumes a light source (⅙ torch).

Follow

Players can take a revealed omen card from the room and follow it to a new room. This requires a light source, which will be consumed in travel (⅙ torch). Remaining cards from the current area are discarded.

Focus

Players can discard a matching pair of omens to take one revealed omen from the room (without following it immediately). This requires a light source, but does not take long enough to consume it.

Backtrack

Players can discard an omen to return to the previous room. Three new omen cards will be drawn for it. This consumes a light source (⅙ torch).

If the players don’t have a light source or don’t have any more omens to discard, they can still take this action, but when they do, the GM takes one of the room’s omens at random. The GM’s omens do not count toward depth, but are used in checking for encounters.

Flee

Players can flee in a random direction to a new room. When they do this the GM takes one of the room’s omens at random before discarding the rest. The GM’s omens do not count toward depth, but are used in checking for encounters. A Dex save is still required to shake pursuers. This consumes, but does not require, a light source (⅙ torch).

If you’re playing in the playtest game, you may prefer to stop reading here.

A pixelated drawing of a skeleton in a miter sitting upright in its coffin, to the shock of onlookers. 6

Omens

Encounter	Marks	Whispers	Rattling	Incense	Ozone	Tomb	Floors	Pilgrim	Darkness
Pilgrims	X	X		X
Skeletons			X		X	X
Huecuva	X		X					X
Bonewax		X			X		X
Vampire				X			X		X
Fugitive						X		X	X

Marks (Common). Sacred fishes, monograms, simple arrows, obscure hobo marks, fresh obscenities, little piles of pebbles. Written in chalk, scratched into soft stones, crafted from distinctively arranged bones.

Whispers (Common). A quiet sibilant sound. The echo of a suppressed noise.

Rattling (Common). A sharp clatter, a chatter of teeth, as dice from a Yahtzee cup, or a shelf falling over, or indeed, bones.

Incense (Uncommon). A smell both comforting and exotic. Warming spices, pine, a touch of citronella.

Ozone (Uncommon). An acrid lightning odor. Bleach and grinding stones.

Open Tomb (Uncommon). A coffin-lid askew, a flagstone lifted, a sepulcher empty. Where should be death, there is nothing.

Clean Floors (Rare). Clear of rubble, debris, bones, dust. It even shines in the torchlight.

Dead Pilgrim (Rare). A new arrival to the neighborhood. Cause of death variable, but clearly recent.

Deep Darkness (Rare). Not your typical shadow, but a living, primal darkness. As silence is to sound. As a hand grasping air is to touch.

(Back to Procedure)

At the end of a murky, mossy corridor, there is a figure in shadow. 7

Hazards

Haunted
Flooded
Claustrophobic
Blasphemous
Shrine Door
Gas Pocket
Dusty
Electrified Chest
Bowlder
Pyrotechnic Mushrooms
Portcullis
Wall of Fire

Haunted. Every turn you spend here, take one fatigue and learn one secret.

Flooded. Turn back or lose any scent trails (Ozone and Incense).

Claustrophobic. Attacks by outsiders to the catacombs are impaired (1d4 damage).

Blasphemous. Wil save to continue or be cursed. Curses take inventory space like fatigue, but cannot be cleared normally.

Shrine Door. Make an appropriate offering to continue, or turn back.

Gas Pocket. Flames dim in this tunnel. Hold breath (Str save) or pass out if crossing, investigating, etc. Passed out characters wake on retrieval, but with a fatigue.

Dusty. Any action (crossing, fighting, investigating, etc.) requires a Str check or it will cause loud and constant coughing (and an unsuccessful result). On a 1-in-6, the sound will attract an encounter.

Electrified Chest. A metal chest on a plinth. The plinth is electrified. The whole room smells of ozone, explaining any ozone trails being followed (discard them). Nearing the plinth causes your arm hair to stand on end. Touching either the plinth or chest delivers a nasty shock. (Rise Up Comus)

Bowlder. A sarcophagus. Behind it, a large devil statue—in a pose like a bowler about to make a throw—holds a massive boulder. Runes on the lid of the sarcophagus promise death for whoever disturbs the rest of Jarl Ninebones. If the lid of the sarcophagus is opened, the statue throws the boulder, which rolls towards the party Indiana Jones-style. (Rise Up Comus)

Pyrotechnic Mushrooms. The far side of the hallway is cluttered with ugly orange mushrooms growing on the walls, floors, and ceiling. All naked flame in the hallway hisses and sputters. A sulfurous smell pervades the area. If the mushrooms are disturbed, they fill the air with a highly flammable gas. (Rise Up Comus)

Portcullis. A portcullis slams shut to split the party. You can reunite 1-2 rooms away, but the advance party will have to track independently and the rear guard will have to backtrack. (Goblin Punch)

Wall of Fire. A ceaseless wall of fire burns across the middle of the room. Don’t consume light sources here. But how to cross it? (Goblin Punch)

(Back to Procedure)

A complete human skeleton, disassembled and neatly stored in a divided box, all in shades of blue. 8

Caches

Torches (1d4)
Candles (2d6)—a candle is ⅙ of a torch and requires a candlestick or lantern.
Grave Good
Grave Good
Grave Good
Rare item
Shrine—leave an offering to receive a blessing.
Nothing—already looted.

Pixelated: a skeleton in a habit with hands crossed across their breast, behind a metal grate set into a window. 9

(Back to Procedure)

Encounters

Roll 1d8, unless specified.

Pilgrims
Mourners (as Pilgrims, but sad)
Skeletons
Nothing
Huecuva
Bonewax Ooze
Royal Vampire
Nothing
Fugitive
Academic
The Hunger
Nothing

Pilgrims (d4a0)

A band of 2d4 pilgrims seek the tomb of an ancestor or saint, marking their way.
They know the top card of the deck, and can trade it with the players. They can also trade supplies.
Omens: Marks, Whispers, Incense

Mien

Completely lost
Not lost
“Not lost”
Entrepreneurial
Holier-than-thou (lit.)
Overtaken by the sublimity of death; in shock

Treasure

Consecrated chalk
Brass thurible
Ceramic grave foods
Lead curse tablets
Newspaper
Rare drop

Skeletons (d4a1)

When the skies open in the world above, and the storms rage, it’s said that the thunder is loud enough to wake the catacombs, 1d2 skeletons at a time.
a3 against piercing weapons.
Omens: Rattling, Ozone, Open Tomb

Mien

Failing to eat ceramic grave foods
Dancing (skeletons love to dance)
Mimicking an Ooze (counts as an omen)
Mimicking a Vampire (counts as an omen)
Mimicking a Fugitive (counts as an omen)
Looking for other undead

Treasure

Ceramic grave foods
Brass mace of office
Miniaturized capacitor bank
Scrimshaw femur
Living bones (inexplicable, but good for transplants)
Rare drop

Huecuva (d4a2)

As clerics shepherd followers in life, these anti-saints lead the dead astray.
Attack clerics, pilgrims, and the openly faithful preferentially.
Omens: Marks, Rattling, Dead Pilgrim

Mien

Proselytizing 1d4 lay skeletons
Desecrating an altar
Patrolling the perimeter of its territory
Silently lecturing a captured pilgrim
Mocking the inanimate dead
Building its own reliquary

Treasure

Heretical texts
An unrelic—a cursed bone
A defaced mitre, still bejeweled
A ring on every finger
Indulgences
Rare drop

Bonewax Ooze (d6a3)

A hot pale blob of plastic bones and molten wax, sloshing gently. Where bits of digested bone protrude from the pooling wax they spontaneously ignite, a flickering mass of accidental candles.
a0 against brass weapons. Floats in water, but isn’t harmed by it.
On critical damage, it eats a bone from the victim.
Omens: Whispers, Ozone, Clean Floors

Mien

Hungry for bones
Hungry for wax
Stuffed, obstructive
Pooling
Basking
Digesting a loose skeleton

Treasure

Block of pure wax [Bulky]
Waxy bone-torches (1d6)
A stilled ooze-heart
A stilled ooze-heart
Rare drop
Rare drop

Royal Vampire (d12a1)

The old royal family suffered from a congenital post-mortem curse. Now they occupy the deepest parts of the catacombs, keeping it as stately as a tunnel full of corpses can be.
On critical damage, heal to full. Not affected by holy symbols, but other vampiric properties still apply.
Omens: Incense, Clean Floors, Darkness

Mien

Demanding tribute (wealth)
Demanding tribute (news)
Demanding tribute (blood)
Starving (for blood)
Keeping house
Reading

Treasure

Vampires always have a rare drop. Additionally, they can barter for any desired omen.

Fugitive (d6a0)

“Catacombs attract criminals. It’s just a fact!”
If the party pursued someone specific into the catacombs, that person takes this slot. Otherwise, fugitives can barter as pilgrims.
Omens: Open Tomb, Dead Pilgrim, Darkness

Mien

Struggling with a heavy tomb
Talking to the rats
On the lamb; in hiding; entering their “unsolved” era
Praying for mercy
Asleep, peaceful
Already fleeing

Treasure

Newspaper
Giant gemstone
Hand of Glory (1d4 fingers remain)
Heretical texts
Love letters
Rare drop

Academic (d4a0)

Every academic knows one secret and one heresy.
They are all mad, else they might be at a more reputable institution.

Interests

Archaeology
Paleontology
Hauntology
Minerology
Vivification Sciences
Meteorology

Treasure

Stilled ooze-heart
Miniaturized capacitor bank
Thesis, almost finished
Potion of Strength
Potion of Sleeplessness
Grant proposal, rejected

The Hunger (d12a0)

A terrible gnashing maw, swimming through the air, shedding jagged, ghostly teeth in every bite. Characters all feel a terrible pang of sympathy, taking 1 fatigue when it appears.
As a ghost, can only be harmed by unholy, abholy, holy, magic, dead, or undead means.
Only attacks if the characters have rations or other food on them. Offerings of food give characters a chance to flee.

(Back to Procedure)

A smiling skeleton in sickly green clothes and silver beads, carrying a bouquet of pale flowers. 10

Areas

New areas have a type and a twist. “Depth” is the number of omens the players currently have. When rolling a new area, if the players have no omens, that area has an exit from the catacombs.

Type (1d6 + depth)

Sewer
Mithraeum (animal sacrifice)
Cellar
Ossuary (just bones)
Cistern
Crypt (stone sarcophagi)
Shrine
Cenotaph (no body)
Cathedral
Mausoleum (all one family)
Grotto
Reliquary (gilt sarcophagus)
Crossroads
Columbarium (cremains)
Sacred spring
Crematory (cold, abandoned)
Mineshaft
Sepulchre (carved niches)
Archaeological dig
Theater (corpses seated)
Laboratory
Throne room
Living room
Cenote

Twists (1d6 + depth)

Fresh flowers
Graffiti
Well-maintained, well-lit (don’t consume torches spending time here)
Candlewax everywhere
Musical
Imposing
Crawling with vermin
Professionally themed
Overlooks next area (roll it now)
Big pit
Debris
Fungal
Loops back on itself (players may follow any discarded omen)
Superacoustic (encounters cannot be surprised)
Lived-in, cozy
Wet, trickling
Wet, flowing
Details intentionally erased
Crystal-encrusted
Fossil sharks in the walls.
Peaceful (defer checking for encounters to next area)
Trail ends here (discard an omen)

(Back to Procedure)

A human skeleton crawling on all fours. 11

Tables

Mundane Rumors

I hope that these aid in the system’s discoverability.

Pilgrims leave trails of marks to navigate.
Huecuva leave trails of marks to confuse and offend.
Mourners speak only in hushed tones as a sign of respect.
Something sloshes sibilantly through the corridors.
Skeletons rattle, their bones clicking and clacking.
Huecuva rattle, jangling with the weight of misappropriated religious paraphernalia.
Pilgrims often carry incense to ward off the undead.
Long-term residents of the catacombs burn incense to cover up the smell of death.
Skeletons smell like the lightning that animates them.
Something smells like grinding bone and burning stone, a sharp unnatural scent.
Skeletons will open up any tomb, in case a friend is trapped within.
If you see an open tomb, a tomb robber or other criminal has surely been that way.
Something keeps the floors clean. A little too clean. Practically waxed and shiny.
The residents of the deepest catacombs are meticulous housekeepers.
A huecuva will kill any pilgrim they disagree with.
Lots of criminals hiding out down here, don’t want to be seen. Might kill to cover their tracks.
Vampires lurk in the darkest parts of the catacombs, where the stones have never been touched by the sun.
It’s harder to find people in the dark, that’s where I’d hide.
Skeletons can’t see, only hear and feel.
When in doubt, fake food always makes a good offering.

Obscure Rumors

These ones are for flavor, depth, or more subtle discoverability.

The lightning in the city above wakes the skeletons, but they’ll go back to sleep when they wear themselves out.
Some offerings are for a saint’s intercession or a spirit’s peace. But some offerings are to placate ancient and predatory things.
If wax could feel, surely it would loathe the touch of brass.
The old royal line was cursed after their deaths to continue living. Even today, their tombs are well-appointed.
The upper levels of the catacombs were once on the surface. The city just kept building on top of itself.
The body of Saint Xizor was accidentally swapped with their brother’s. Now the sainted bones can’t be found and it’s quite a scandal.
There is a second kind of darkness in these catacombs, where even the saints cannot see.
The catacombs take all comers, no religion barred. That’s why there’s so much unrest among the dead.
If you die in the catacombs, you’ll never be at peace! But it’s not all bad, or so I hear.
Expelled students have been seen moving equipment around the tunnels. Something about the “unique environment.”
Every huecuva follows a unique heresy. If two huecuva with similar beliefs were to meet, they would destroy each other.
All this world is afloat on the sea, we’re just too high up to know it. And the catacombs are a patch in the boat.
It’s not blasphemous to loot old graves. They probably all had the wrong religion anyway. You’d know it if it were blasphemous.
Genuine used coffin nails are useful to witches. They always need more of them.
The undead hate and fear cats.
Skeletons aren’t true undead. They could leave the catacombs whenever they want, they just prefer not to.
Many have tried and failed to master the osteomagnetic forces of the ooze-heart. It just needs something to keep it going and something to direct it…
The saints curse those who would loot their reliquaries.
Huecuva were once prophets, but in death their gift was perverted.
Centuries ago, before city was above it, someone was buried deep in the catacombs who should not have been. That’s why the catacombs contain the dead, but it’s also why they’re always getting more dangerous.

Heresies

Color came before light, there just wasn’t anything to see it by.
Everyone dead is a saint.
Saints are the reincarnations of dead gods, pagans the lot of them.
All water is unclean.
Everyone alive is a pope.
After decimalization, tithes should only be 8% of income.
Evil is good, actually. Someone’s gotta be evil.
Holy writings can only be properly understood in the Toki Pona translation.
All writing is idolatry.
Everyone has a secret indulgence created for them at birth, which can only be claimed via complex ritual. Buying indulgences is a sucker’s game.
Everything will be OK if you’ve got a potato.
Dogs can take confession just as well as priests.
You don’t confess the things you’ve done, you just profess the things you haven’t done.
The world was visited by aliens from beyond the stars eons ago. All religion is actually a cargo cult descended from the maintenance of their technology.
You can totally buy your way into heaven.
Never do today what you can do tomorrow. The afterlife will have opportunities for post-mortem confession and absolution and even conversion.
You have to take credit for things if you want to get into heaven. Even the things you didn’t really “do.” Go ahead, they’d understand if they knew the stakes here.
The only redemption is the militant destruction of the other.
When we say “God loves you” we mean, “God thinks you’re hot AF,” show the creator a little skin baby!
In helping others, you only harm them. Charity is hubris.

Items

Rare Drops

Sacred sword. Standard +1 sword. Reaction rolls are lowest 2 of 3d6 for Pilgrims, highest for Huecuva.
Heretic shield. Armor +1. Reaction rolls at highest 2 of 3d6 for Pilgrims, lowest for Huecuva.
Loose relic. Of course it would be frowned upon to steal from a reliquary, but this one was missed. Uncatalogued, but verifiably miraculous.
Spellbook. Learn yourself a bit of magic.
Gold thurible. While lit, remove any one type of omen from the omen deck.
Scrying crystal. Consume to count as one omen toward any encounter the players seek. Kept on exiting the catacombs.

Grave Goods

If players spend a turn searching an area with graves of some kind, I’ll roll on this table once to see if they find anything interesting.

Brass candlestick
Silver candlestick
Pot of pigment
Book (mundane)
Tintinnabulus—double chance of random encounter when rolling (i.e. 2-in-6)
Cat statuette
Prayer rope
Coffin nails
Cakes
Coins
Horseshoes
Spellbook for the Dead (Ghosts only)
Origami livestock
Potatoes, overgrown, gross, edible
Bottle of wine
Brass knuckles
Fine sword
Live chicken
Charm necklace
Bag of seeds

Names

Old names as Roman names. Modern names as Cairn.

Saints

Names

Saints get weirder names than everyone else.

Xizor
Cesarah
Fredward
Jimothy
Vivianna
Billiam
Scarlottie
Damianto
Artemis
Apollo
Nicholaf
Vagry
Juno
Jupiter
Bennifer
Angelinus
Eltony
Zacharianna
Janus
Orbus

Offerings

Candle
Ceramic food
Rations
Prayer (1 turn)
Strength (1 point)
Music (encounter on 1-in-6)
Wine
Animal sacrifice
Cake
Incense
Secrets
Weapons

Blessings

Safety—no encounters will find you here.
Healing—recover stat or remove fatigue.
Knowledge—learn rumor/answer question.
Magic—learn a spell, works like a scroll.
Wealth—grave good on next search.
Guidance—learn the Omens of a quarry.

Profession/Paraphernalia

Potter/Wire
Teacher/Chalk
Cooper/Barrels
Cheesemaker/Mold
Mason/Trowels
Carpenter/Chisel
Merchant/Scales
Fisher/Nets
Soldier/Shields
Baker/Bricks
Lawyer/Pens
Vintner/Grapeseeds
Astrologer/Lenses
Alchemist/Lead
Courtesan/Wigs
Smith/Anvils
Miner/Helmets
Lumberjack/Saws
Beekeeper/Bees
Chef/Knives

An Egyptian pharaoh, skeletal, sits on a throne with a torch overhead. Feet can be seen in the mortuary niches surrounding. All rendered low-resolution, in purple. 12

The Deck

The deck now has 60 cards:

Qty	Card	Color	Comment
4x	Whispers	Black
1x	Whispers	Black	Maybe Pilgrims
1x	Whispers	Black	Maybe Ooze
4x	Marks	Black
1x	Marks	Black	Maybe Pilgrims
1x	Marks	Black	Maybe Huecuva
4x	Rattling	Black
1x	Rattling	Black	Maybe Skeletons
1x	Rattling	Black	Maybe Huecuva
2x	Ozone	Black
1x	Ozone	Black	Maybe Skeletons
1x	Ozone	Black	Maybe Ooze
2x	Incense	Black
1x	Incense	Black	Maybe Pilgrims
1x	Incense	Black	Maybe Vampire
2x	Open Tomb	Black
1x	Open Tomb	Black	Maybe Skeletons
1x	Open Tomb	Black	Maybe Fugitive
1x	Clean Floor	Black	Maybe Ooze
1x	Clean Floor	Black	Maybe Vampire
1x	Pilgrim	Black	Maybe Huecuva
1x	Pilgrim	Black	Maybe Fugitive
1x	Darkness	Black	Maybe Vampire
1x	Darkness	Black	Maybe Fugitive
6x	Hazard	Red
6x	Cache	Red
2x	Encounter	Red	Roll 1d4
2x	Encounter	Red	Roll 1d8
2x	Encounter	Red	Roll 1d12
6x	Null	Red

Black cards are omens that can be taken by the players. Red cards are features of the area. There are also four blue cards, which can be taken as omens, but which don’t get shuffled into the deck:

Skeleton Mimicking an Ooze
Skeleton Mimicking a Vampire
Skeleton Mimicking a Fugitive
Scrying Crystal

A stone sarcophagus in bright red sits in the center of two facing doors. 13

Credits & Inspirations

As with the first draft, I owe the core idea to a conversation with mindstorm Ty. After the first round of playtesting, I had great feedback from squishy_mage42, and many others along the way. In writing this revision, I borrowed some “hazards” from Rise Up Comus (used with permission) and Arnold K (CC BY-SA-NC 4.0). In the first round of playtesting, I used the reaction table from The Black Hack, although this doesn’t appear in the final product (the good one from the book, not the free one in the SRD). I similarly used some traps from Bastionland in playtesting, which also don’t appear in the final cut.

It is customary at this time to thank Yochai Gal, who in addition to writing Cairn does so much work to build and support communities around gaming.

Vermis was a large influence on the art in this post.

A row of five stone sarcophagi along a wall, in murky malachite green. 14

The Illustrations

The source photos are all from Wikimedia Commons and the palettes used are from lospec.com. Unfortunately I’m now running into the limits of markdown, and it’s difficult to link multiple components from a caption, so I’ve indexed the sources and methods here.