Dungeon Crawl Puzzle OSR - Beginner Friendly, Play and Learn!
This is a beginner friendly and casual game of Cairn 2e in an "Old School Renaissance" one-page dungeon from Ben Milton, the creator of Knave!
TYPE
SYSTEM
LEVELS
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$15.00
/ Session
Details
Once / Sunday - 12:00 AM UTC
Mar 1
Session Duration / 3–3.5 hours
0 / 5 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
The Keymaster's minions buried his greatest secret, the schematics to the Lock Absolute, in a vault at the center of his tomb. A priceless treasure for any king with secrets to hide, the schematics have remained untouched for centuries since the vault will only open for those clever enough to find the four hidden keys and turn four hidden locks. This is a beginner-friendly one-shot set in a "one-page dungeon" written for Old School Renaissance style play by Ben Milton, the creator of Knave! We are playing it in Cairn 2e, which is based on Knave. Tone: My version of "Tomb of the Keymaster" is warm, lighthearted, and a little goofy. But beware! Your character's life is at stake every time swords are drawn or spells are cast! So don't fight fair! But don't worry, if you character dies the party will mostly likely meet your new character in the next room. Good times will be had by all! This game will be light on character development but high on fantastic adventure! It will feature slapstick and physical humor with physical (imagined) puzzles that have no word, letter, or number-based solutions. You can learn to play Cairn and have fun at the same time! Cairn 2E is a rules-light, exploration-driven fantasy role playing game written by Yochai Gal. It features a slot-based inventory system and is designed for fast-paced play with a focus on creative problem-solving, especially for dungeon crawling and travel. If you are new to my games, I'll also schedule a one-on-one voice chat prior to the start of the game so we can go over any questions that you may have. We will use Discord for voice, video, text chatting, and rolling dice. We will use Owlbear Rodeo for map and scene imagery. You do not need an account for Owlbear Rodeo but are welcome to create one.
Game style
Dungeon Crawl
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(10)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
9 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Inclusive
Average response time: Under 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
My name is Dominic (aka Old Scratch). I love to introduce people to role playing and to game systems they haven't played before! While I have been playing and running games for many years, I played my first *online game* in 2025 and I've been hooked ever since. I'm amazed at how much fun I've had playing (yeah I not only run games but sometimes play a character) in a variety of game systems and with people all over the world. This is a fantastic platform for new and experienced players alike and I can't recommend it enough. 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌙 I donate my game fees to every charity fundraiser that Start Playing Games sponsors. I’m here because I love gaming and I want to create a safe and welcoming place for players of all ages, backgrounds and experience. If you buy a ticket to one of my games you can bring a friend for free (one time per friend) - just message me about this and I will add them through startplaying.games
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
When you sign up I will invite you to my Discord Server. You can create a free account on Kettlewright.com to create, store, and manage your character's sheet. I will also have pre-generated characters in form fill-able PDFs available for you to use. You can download the Cairn 2e Players Guide in PDF for free from cairnrpg.com You can can also purchase print copies at your local game shop or buy it online at cairnrpg.com, exalted funeral, amazon, etc. I highly recommend you support the author, Yochai Gal, who publishes all of his work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You will need: ❧ A Discord account. ❧ A headset with a microphone and a web cam. I prefer that all players be on camera, but of course we will make exceptions if you have a strong preference otherwise. ❧ A web browser. ❧ You can roll physical dice at home or use the dice bot in my Discord server. I will roll using the Dice bot.
What Dominic brings to the table
We will lean into the rule of cool with rulings and not rules and have a good time with it. This game will be casual and beginner-friendly. It's a pretzels and craft beer kind of game. I do not expect you to have a detailed and well-written backstory for your character for this one-shot. Also, I do not expect you to use character voices though you are welcome to! I sometimes do.
Homebrew rules
If your character carries a shield or a two-handed weapon, they can sacrifice it to completely negate all incoming damage in a combat round. But the shield or weapon is thereby destroyed.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Webcam
Platforms used
Safety
How Dominic creates a safe table
We will discuss Safety tools at the start of the session and I will ask each player to complete a Deck of Player Safety questionnaire before we proceed further. Doing that takes about two minutes and doesn't require an account or anything special. If anyone is uncomfortable at any time with the game content all they need to do tell me and we will stop the action, retcon the story, and proceed. No reason needs to be given but we're certainly open to hearing ALL concerns.
Content warnings
Safety tools used