NPFTH's backgrounds "Cairn 2e style"
Game Design Log #55
Hi again! This is me trying to get back on track and have a post every two weeks.
This week, I want to show you how things are going with No Peace for the Heathen (NPFTH), my OSR/NSR project inspired by the mythology of Chiloé (Chile).
For those of you who are new on here, and haven’t read about it yet: in NPFTH, you play as native islanders trying to survive a brutal invasion from the north. The main goal here is to find “Isla Chica”, this legendary hidden sanctuary. To get there, players have to pull off some pretty specific, harrowing tasks tied to their backgrounds just to map their way out. Characters will journey through a world where the colonizers’ worldview and the islanders’ cosmology crash into each other, twisting the whole place into some really dangerous, surreal, and magical environments.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have accumulated a lot of material for this project. At first, it was meant to be a standalone game with its own combat, exploration, magic, downtime, and manipulation rules.
However, after some thought on how to find the best avenue for this setting to reach more people, I decided to channel my energy into transforming NPFTH into a setting book with modular additional rules. To do this, I am leaning into the framework of Cairn 2E —a well-known OSR/NSR ruleset that I have experience with, and one that provides the perfect amount of space for the setting to breathe.
In this direction, what I have been doing is translating the different character archetypes of NPFTH into Cairn 2E’s backgrounds.
So, let me show you how these archetypes are looking through the Cairn 2E lens…
NPFTH backgrounds (Cairn 2E’s style)
There are some differences in style, and I had to add an additional table for the things the character believes they must accomplish to reach this mythical land beyond the reach of conquistadors. However, I think it’s on the right track, and it has been refreshing to see the game through a new lens.
What are the next steps for NPFTH?
Well, after letting a project rest for a while, there is always the danger that new ideas will come to haunt the very foundations of what you built before. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it brings a lot of second-guessing and rethinking about whether you are on the right path.
The good thing is that, after all this second-guessing and reflection, I decided that NPFTH is on the right track. All of those new ideas—which come from new things I’ve stumbled upon throughout these months—will only add to NPFTH in its present shape. And yes, I’m talking about new rules, or playstyles encapsulated into mechanics, that will serve to complement the great scaffold that is Cairn 2E.
Two of the main TTRPGs that have made me rethink what I want to include in NPFTH are The Burning Wheel and Mythic Bastionland. The first one has been an amazing read over the past few months—I got lucky and found someone selling a secondhand copy. As for the second one, I’m actually playing it right now with some friends and loving some of its amazing mechanics.
From The Burning Wheel, its philosophy on driving the story through character Beliefs—written statements by players that guide their actions—and how GMing is all about putting these Beliefs in tension, is a framework I see as the perfect medium to propel the kind of stories I want people to tell when playing NPFTH (which is already somehow expressed through the “What do you believe you have to do to reach Isla Chica?” portion of character creation, but that I think I can formalize and empower even more).
Meanwhile, from Mythic Bastionland, the concepts of Myths and Omens—and how they are intertwined in the exploration procedure—offer a perfect way to simplify my own concept of the Chasm. By turning story and exploration into a single, beautifully tight system with simple mechanics, it ties everything to the land much more elegantly than what I had originally planned.
Ultimately, I think both games have an immense amount to teach, and I highly recommend anyone reading this post to get a copy of each. For me, they have opened my mind to new ideas, showing me new ways to express what I truly want to express through NPFTH.
More to Translate Into the Cairn 2E Style
Another thing I’m working on is funneling the entire setting of NPFTH through the amazing tables and tools found in the Cairn 2E Warden's Guide. Over the coming weeks, I will be building setting-specific tables so you can create your own version of Isla Grande, and I'll likely share how these tables are coming together in my upcoming posts.
This is it for today. If you want to see more about NPFTH you can read my previous posts about it (here is one! but you can find more by browsing my Substack homepage).
As always, I want to remind you that Runner of the Wastelands (my solo TTRPG) is continuously evolving, and your support helps fund new additional material! You can support the project by buying it, sharing it with friends, or leaving a comment or review on itch.io, DriveThruRPG, or Wargame Vault. For every 20, let’s make 1 extra new thing!
See you in two weeks!
This looks awesome! I didn't know I want to play in such a setting, but now I do!!! All the best for your development :)
Let it all creep in. I say! :)
We need more games dealing with colonialism. It's one of the fundamentals of my game Mountain Resonance, too.
I'm looking forward to see how your development goes.