Ironsworn G+ Archive

I had a rules question, for clarity, during this session (below). But before that, an imaged link because apparently, based on statistics, more people read things with pics. ;) So a new session! Yay. Not a long one because I am fighting a migraine. Oh, the question: During an Undertake A Journey it reads, as an option, "You make good use of your resources: Do not suffer -1 Supply." This implies that I should be taking -1 Supply normally when I make this move? Can someone clarify? https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com/2017/12/31/a-bloodied-remembrance/

Ironsworn + mouse guard. Exploring a new land during the holidays. https://voneisenhut.wordpress.com/2017/12/31/16th-march-1493/

I wrote Session 2 of the Red Warlord. I didn’t necessarily make all the moves that I would normally have made during a game, and I definitely didn’t rely on the Oracle as much as I normally would. Mostly I had a pretty clear idea of what I needed from this session to set the stakes of the conflict. From here on out though sessions will be much more oracle driven as is my normal method. Chapter 1: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Dy1-oLliw-DZ6iSDqLomKZTmyhUlS1BP Chapter 2: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ICaVGhjU7V87eVcVFD9552xIa_n9odnn https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Dy1-oLliw-DZ6iSDqLomKZTmyhUlS1BP

So I'm just going to toss this out there, kind of get it in the air so to speak. We have such good discussions here on the community, I would totally dig it if at some point we could do a hangouts game one-shot or something in co-op mode. Heck, we could record it and put it up after the fact to advertise how cool Ironsworn is!

Three scenes, a lot more RP happened in my head than I wrote. It took long enough to get down the gist of what was transpiring in my head as it was. May not be to everyone's liking, but I enjoyed it. I really liked that this part of a normal FtF game is still functional. Inter-monologues are... strange. El Oh El Let me know what you think. Again, constructive criticism is appreciated. So, if you don't like RP heavy posts, let me know. Or how I can 'punch them up' if need be. https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com/2017/12/28/an-unwelcome-pass/

An hour into another session. Where will Ironsworn take Nikkel and I this evening!? I'm pretty excited, but the dice have me knee deep into some RP (which is awesome) and it takes a bit to type up thanks to the format I chose to try and write in. So, is anyone else knee deep in it at the moment? ;)

I can't be the only person already considering hacking Ironsworn, right? I'm thinking about a military-themed hack, perhaps where the "Character" represents a whole squad. Might rework a few mechanics, moves, and assets. I wonder about the proper descriptor. Apocalypse World has "Powered by the Apocalypse" so what would Ironsworn hacks be? "Ironhack"?

Hi Shawn. The more I read the rules and the more I read players' reports on this site, the more I like the game. One problem though that I have perceived : the system of ranks for the monsters (same HP, same Harm, etc) leads to the fact that despite the fictional difference, you still have only five different one-dimensional monsters to fight when the thing gets real (i.e., dice are rolling). To make them more diverse I would : - Add tags to each monsters, just like in DW, as well as multiple possibilities of attacks. So a Wyvern (Extreme, Scaled) would have Snap up (4 Harm, Armor piercing) AND Tail strike (3 Harm, Stun). Something like this. - Do NOT reduce the Harm inflicted by the monster/foe when you reduce their rank due to group action. This is illogical and anti-fictional. A wyvern reduced to Rank 3 like in the example of play at the end of the book would still have Harm 4 like the Extreme monster it is, even if you can collectively inflict 1 Progress per Harm a result of co...

I recently ran across Ironsworn via Reddit and was intrigued by the system. This Play Report is my first attempt at playing and learning the system. I wrote it a weak or so ago and I just now got around to editing and posting it. I do a few things wrong, which I realized only in hindsight. Nevertheless, it was lots of fun. As a whole, I enjoyed the system and the experience. More than anything else, the system structure of solo play (and probably the other formats too) works as a writing framework that pushes the narrative forward regardless of the success or failure of the role. It is really very striking. Kudos to Shawn Tomkin for creating this system. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PocuWAtlTC4mTyiUJF9alRMnBreUZ8PB

So we did some more coop last night. Question; is it possible to add modifiers to rolls? Sometimes it felt like a task could have been a bit easier. With the system as is, what would you consider the default difficulty on a standard roll to be? Average, easy, difficult... Advancing does not give you the option to increase stats and not all assets fire all the time, so it feels like a standard roll is a difficult level. Another thing that came up and its not a biggie, as it would be easy once more skilled at the system, but harm from natural causes, like falling. We were trying to escape pirates with Face Danger - trickery, after deciding the pirates boat was faster, around a small island. We Missed. We decided on two possible outcomes - captured or run aground on a spur of rock just off the island. Oracle said rock. So we were looking for guidelines on harm from such a crash. We had a lot more going on, sorry I dont have time to write it up.

This solo started out as Moby Dick homage and nearly went Old Man and the Sea or The Perfect Storm instead.

Looking forward to trying this game for the first time over the holidays! In the meantime, I've noticed a few minor errors in Preview 6 of the rulebook. Page 81, paragraph 2: 'A weak it or a miss' should be 'A weak hit or a miss' Chapter 4, Regions of the Ironlands: bookmarks for Ragged Coast, Flooded Lands, Havens and Tempest Hills are missing from the PDF. If there is another, preferred, way for reporting these issues, let me know.

I’m finally back to writing! After one heck of a bout of writer’s block, I finally got the momentum I needed to overcome the Challenge Dice (hehe). I present a vignette from the life of one Bastien of Karakragg. I took inspiration from Chuck Durfee method of writing little chunks at a time, rather than trying to bust out a whole session in a sitting, and hopefully that will help me to stay motivated and see this one through. I did a little bit of formatting stuff to this one as well to make it a little easier to follow the flow of mechanics. My goal for this session out of character was to write a fight scene that didn’t necessarily feel like a fight scene. The Battle move is thus the star of the show here. One thing that I noticed that really helped the writing flow was that I followed the advice that Shawn Tomkin gives in the book to make a vow an imperative, something that has to happen. My issue that I ran into with my other AP is I found myself not suuuuper concerned whether...

Being new to this sort of gaming, if via my backstory wanted to have a short term vow, of make money for my family, as in make them rich so they dont have to do physical work anymore. I know its a bit weak, but I was interested if I could take that skeleton and via the system find out how I would, or do I need more detail?

It's another episode of play report with our favorite hunter, Flint. Last time we saw her, she was examining tracks on the road when a new danger arose.... “Oh, what’s zis, coming out of the woods?” “It’s a girl.” “A pretty girl,” a third one said. Flint looked around. There were three young men, armed and leering. The first one, with a Eastman accent, had the confidence of the alpha of the pack. She quickly took a few steps back the way she came, drawing her bow at the leader. “Oh, zis one, she has spunk, no?” The other two boys had stopped their advance, waiting to see what the Eastman did. Flint is trying to Secure an Advantage through aggression, with the goal to convince these raiders that she’s not to be trifled with. This is a roll +iron. Her Iron is 2. Ooh, only a 2 on the action die, for 4 total. And the Challenge dice? 6 and 10. That’s a miss. Her momentum is only +4, so it will be of no help. Time to Pay the Price. In this case, is the Eastman confident because they are ...

Relatively new to Ironsworn, but I've been enjoying it quite a bit. Josh McGraw and I were trying to play co-op online, but were having trouble finding a reliable dice roller. We were using the (undoubtedly trivial) RNG on Google Hangouts, and the results almost always seemed skewed one direction or the other. I've used Roll20 a lot in the past, and I've always been satisfied with their Quantum Roller mechanic. Yesterday, I found the source: The ANU Quantum Random Number Server. Turns out, they have a simple API that will respond to HTTP GET requests with JSON objects containing truly random integers. I had been working on an HTML-based character sheet for the game already (still working out some kinks; I'll post it here once it's done), so I whipped up a quick-and-dirty HTML page that will grab some random integers and turn them into an Action die and two Challenge dice when you press a button. Not as fun as rolling actual dice, but easy to use if you don't hav...

Trying out some co-op play, realtime via Google Doc with Mike Leavitt.

Hi all. Brand new in the community... Discovered Ironsworn yesterday and devoted the pdf... Congratulations to Shawn for such a great and well-thought out game. Two questions already about the Example of play : - First, p. 191, when Kuno and her horse are hit by the wyvern and Kuno takes 2 Harm, why doesn't she the roll for the "Endure Harm" move ? - Second, more a "narrative" question : in this fight to protect two unknown people, Kuno has summoned the help of some of the people which she had "wowed to see safely to their new home"... and one of those warriors dies ! Wouldn't that pose a problem to Kuno regarding her vow, and you which Move or Roll would reflect this ? Also, wouldn't the people she escorted feel cheated/angry about this ? What Move/roll could reflect this ? Sorry, maybe they are just "a narrative newbie"'s questions...

Stumbled across this yesterday: game-icons.net/ I'm working on some custom assets (and kind of a hack), and there are a TON of great, simple images for that purpose. Thought others might find it useful.

Just occurred to me to think about the two different kinds of vows people make. The game is largely built around the "quest vow": I promise to go to this place and do this thing, which gets reflected in the progress tracker and the vow moves. All cool so far. But people also sometimes make vows to perpetually do something, to uphold a commitment that doesn't necessarily have progress and a completion point. Like marriage vows* or swearing loyalty to your traveling companion, or whatever. In the setting, it would make sense for people (especially ironsworn) to make those commitment vows on iron, too. But the game isn't really built around "tracking" those vows. And I don't think it makes sense to force them into a progress tracking model. But I do think it might be interesting to have a vow of loyalty or something, because then someday you might find yourself having to make a difficult decision about whether to break one vow or another, or something. Just...

OMG!! I had hit a hurdle when the Oracle threw a couple terms at me that I liked but didn't know how to incorporate, so I took awhile away from it. When I came back, still at a loss, I asked the Oracle for more guidance... It came in spades!!! Not a lot of action this session, but the story just... BLEW UP! And here I sit at 3 AM, just finishing the write-up and probably still too excited to go to bed! But I need your help. Take a look at the latest session and let me know what types of Vows you think Nikkel should make. There are so many options ... I have some ideas, but even for the ones I have, I don't know what Progression level they should be. I could ask the Oracle, like the rules say, but dang if the Oracle hasn't just flung me so far out into an ocean of awesomeness, for doing just that, that any further out and I may drown! https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com/2017/12/22/the-focus-of-many/

Been having a hard time with figuring initiative and turn order when there are more than one PC OR opponent. One-on-One encounters are straightforward enough. But I'm less clear on handling initiative when there are more than one PC AND/OR opponent. This is not specifically explained in the rule, and the only hint I found to clarify this is under Combat--> Aid an Ally. It appears that one PC could have the initiative, but another PC could not. So I'm understanding you go around the table to allow each PC to act, and then whomever lost the initiative must react to the fiction. Been curious as to what's the official way to handle this, or how anyone's been playing this.

John Risus... here's a pass at some assets to play with in your Horizon Zero Dawn setting. I tried to capture a few bits of the game. I don't imagine the idea of temporary augments (Machinist) is true to the crafting of the game (haven't played it), but I think it's a better approach in terms of keeping your character hungry for more scavenging. Creating an augment for a bow, which could be envisioned as shock arrows or some-such, would work well, and the roll of 1 would emulate running out of that ammo. A bit combat focused, but existing ironsworn assets might do fine at some of the non-combat stuff. First cut! I'm sure I'll come back to it. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g5H_QX9yidVL5ijFm6-P5IAvHc4FHynv

Some decisions, some twists, and a plethora of dice rolling. The Oracles came in handy and drove this post, and in surprising ways. Definitely didn't end up where I imagined when I sat down for this session! I had some questions at the start, see my Post here entitled "Guide Me G+ Oracle", and I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions provided! Funny thing is, with the Ironsworn Oracles and my woeful dice rolling fate took control and I haven't been able to implement the suggestions... yet! As always, let me know what you think! Funny to think for three days, and three post, what I have written would probably be less than ten minutes of actual air time on screen! LOL https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com/2017/12/19/troubling-decisions/

Guide Me G+ Oracle So I was using the Wright Asset to Secure An Advantage and (spoiler and no surprise) I rolled a big fat Miss! So, I have to Pay The Price... Didn't know what to do, so I Ask The Oracle. I got (3) Weaken (27) Creation, which is eerily spooky since I was 'crafting'... and I love it, but, what should I do mechanically to represent this? I visualize this as Nikkel making the items but she doesn't realize they are 'duds'.

I am the author of the Google Doc Add-on called "Solo Roleplay Tools". I found Ironsworn because someone asked whether I would be willing to add support for it to my tool. There is a lot to Ironsworn, and I doubt a full implementation of the system would be feasible, but I thought I could add support for the Oracle Tables. So, I wanted to take this to the community that wants this and ask whether that would be helpful to you And to the author, would that be okay with you. I will include a link to your website to get the full contents of the game, and I will only include the tables but not the tips to interpret them. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/solo-roleplay-tools/ihkaageibnflklkfegijfcjmkebmgbnl?utm_source=permalink

2nd (and, final) installation of my Hezekiah Edwards playtest. The frontiersman reaches his Iroquois allies but can he convince them of the possible threat? If so, what is their next step? And, what is afoot in the woods of New England with the waning of winter?

Shawn Tomkin so as not to derail your Q&A with Andrew Huffaker, I did find an interesting remark in your response to his question: "Make however many segments of your journey are necessary to Reach your Destination." I don't know why this didn't occur to me before - I guess I was just fixated on the ten mark Progress bar - but, am I correct in thinking that progress trackers can be of varying size? Clearly, anyone can house rule it to fit their needs, but this really resonated on several fronts - it makes it easy to customize your Journey (since not one size fits all) and also has wider applicability for things like enemy health bars, i.e. it's easy to make a minion by simply reducing the number of Health in the tracker, etc. I'm kind of winging this without referencing the rules so, I may be butchering things here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

So, in play testing, I seem to have either ran into a problem or I don't understand the relationship between the Journey move and Iron Vow progression. Let me know your thoughts: A PC has an Iron Vow to go from Village A to Location B and retrieve an item and return to Village A. To get there, PC triggers the Journey move, triggers the Arrival move to Location B, obtains the items, rests, triggers the Journey move to head home, and is now back home. In this abridged run down, how and when should the PC male rolls towards progressing and concluding their Iron Vow? Is it redundant to have the player make rolls for the journey and the vow, as the journey was the vow? Should I have managed or written things differently? Is it a bad vow to go somewhere to get an item and return it? Thanks for the feedback!

So a question just occurred to me. Shawn Tomkin suggested having one historical long term vow/journey and a more current, maybe, story driven vow/journey. So, how does one incorporate progress of the long term vow through play in the short term vow, or is progress only achieved in the long term vow if it is directly addressed? I only ask because I have an idea for my character's long term vow, but I haven't gotten a chance to address it before the the fate of the oracles dispatched me on a different, more pressing, matter. I think it would be neat to have some link within the current journey I am on that may produce some form of progress on the epic journey. How would/could one see this happening?

A Clearing of the Mind (continuation of Scene Two) So I moved on and messed with the formatting. Let me know what you think. Also I hope that my updating the Character Sheet post doesn't spam anyone's email who may have 'followed' the blog. If it does, please let me know. Or if the following edits did as well. If so I apologize. Had some rules questions, which are in the notes at the bottom of the post on the blog, but I'll mention the ones I can remember here as well. If my Supplies are full (+5), how else can I depict improving my financial or trading potential? If I Swear an Iron Vow, and it says to find the path, do I do a Move to do that, or do I Start the Journey? This will probably make more sense if you read the blog post. LOL REALLY enjoying myself, and this went a bit quicker to publish, so there is that. Anyway, any additional feedback is always appreciated! https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com/2017/12/17/40/

The more I read over this game the more I feel like you could write an amazing short story using this game when you write the play through.

Reading the rulebook for these few days and testing out the waters, hoping to do a full solo run after which I'll use to voice what I think :), I'll be using a grid play mat to map out the land as its the only thing I have to use really as of now, but I hope to use my miniatures in this too :). Glad I got into solo in time to see this game come to life

At long last, here's the first entry my first playtest - the adventure of Hezekiah Edwards in British mid-18th Century North America. I decided to set this during King George's War (1744-1748) rather than the French and Indian, as the earlier conflict saw more raiding and frontier fighting than the later war.

This isn't really Ironsworn discussion content, but some of you already know von Eisenhut. I am kinda sad to have "lost" the game so fast, but it was fun all the way. I'll do whatever gets most votes. Originally shared by Bernhard Lutz What should I do with von Eisenhut?

Von Eisenhut's company broke in a snowstorm :(. Later Von Eisenhut himself went insane as he couldn't convince Count Etehlo that an ottoman army was approaching. Not sure what to do now... https://voneisenhut.wordpress.com/2017/12/17/26th-october-1683/

Another session in my great Turkish war campaign setting using Ironsworn. Resolved a campaign this time. Things are getting appropriately grim for my little troop. Fun times. https://voneisenhut.wordpress.com/2017/12/17/25th-october-1683/

So I gave it a whirl! I really enjoyed it, and though a short tale, it took me forever to get it wrote up! I respect the write ups even more now that others are doing. I am still waffling on the format I chose, so let me know what you think. Not sure interspersing the mechanics is the best choice for it. Feedback would be appreciated. https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/an-early-morning-hunt/

An option for Undertake a Journey Just an idea, but would an option work to break a journey into different ranks. Eg, start on the plains - troublesome Into the foothills - dangerous Etc.

Question about; Make a Camp. One person rolls. On a strong hit, each can choose 3 options. Can I choose Recuperate 3 times or must it be 3 different? The text says, each of you may choose your own benefits, combine that with 3 choices, it could be that we can each choose 3 options. This seems like a lot. Add to that some options also include companions. As I see it. 2 players Strong hit Assuming that one player cant pick the same option more than once P1 picks option 1, 3 and 4. P2 picks 1, 2 and 5. Total health, 3 per player? Seems like a lot, assuming my assumptions above

The latest version of the Ironsworn rulebook includes a minor addition: an example of play (Chapter 7 preview). This, I hope, will make the always-free version of Ironsworn content-complete, except for fixes and clarifications as I make my final passes at the text. For those of you have printed the rulebook, the only changes here are to the table of contents and Chapter 7. No further changes to moves. Here'a a direct link to the PDF. Thank you everyone! https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9MpMZQgLZoOOGhRR0doZmhQb1U

I went with the flow and played another session of my great Turkish war campaign. Successfully defended a bridge, it was close though https://voneisenhut.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/24th-october-1683/

First entry in my little journal about a company of Austrian foot in the great Turkish war. At the moment they are tasked with defending a fortress town from an approaching ottoman column. English is not my first language and I am by no means a great narrator. I am writing the journal mostly for me to remember what happened last time and to stop me from cheating 😂. So you are warned, don't except a readable story. Really enjoyed playing Iron sworn once again. https://voneisenhut.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/23rd-october-1683/

Well, I have begun... I took an old defunct blog from years ago that I was going to recount play sessions with my group, which didn't pan out, and turned it into something I can share my solo role-playing experiences with. I am going to starting out with Ironsworn, in my re-envisioned version of Horizon Zero Dawn, called Horizon Event Zero. Warning, I am not a writer, so take that for what it is worth. I do appreciate and encourage constructive feedback however. So far all I have done is come up with a character; Nikkel, and have written up a character sheet, which you can find it at the attached link. I hope to find out more about Nikkel in future play recounts on the blog. I hope not to disappoint. https://worldofukarea.wordpress.com

Installment 3 in Flint's story. I got a little RPG time in this afternoon. When we last left Flint, she was examining her campsite and realizing that the raiders had learned of her presence.... Flint will try to Secure an Advantage here. Her Wits is only +1, but she does get an additional +1 due to her Ranger path. Rolled a 4 on the Action die, so 6 total, and… whew, only a 3 and 4 on the Challenge dice. That’s a strong hit. Since I already have initiative, I will choose the +2 momentum, plus an additional +1 from the Ranger path. Flint is now up to +5. These tracks are unlike anything she’s seen before, but the mud from last night preserved them well. Whatever made these tracks weighs a lot, as much as the blacksmith in the neighboring village. Tarsen is a huge man, all muscle. One thing that’s for sure, she cannot deal with this threat by herself. “You know, Tarsen does owe me a favor. Maybe he can help me clear my name.” Okay, new objective, the village of Ashen Grove. Undertake...

I am reposting my example of Ironsworn play in a refined, formatted, and slightly extended version. I'll also be adding this as an excerpt from the forthcoming Chapter 7 to the preview version of the rulebook. My hope is that this will make the preview a bit more feature-complete for folks new to GM-less or narrative gaming. Feedback welcome! Please forgive any errors. I'll get it tidied up. https://drive.google.com/open?id=10qgdHctDAfRSVc7c1-AZCXeY2zcOeBLw

Started our first co-op game tonight. Went through the World setting options. Settlement of fishermen and miners on the Ragged Coast, no other details yet. Aaron characters backstory was caught in a storm at sea and took shelter on an island with a strange iron spike, felt wierd and had strange dreams. We played a little bit about vows and followed the recommendation of playing them out. My character is a bit bookish so had learned that before undertaking a quest, a ironvow should be sworn, and did he (Aaron) know of any large bits of iron, as I am sure the larger the iron lump the better success we will have. So now we are journeying (dangerous) back to the island to swear on the spike. I dont like the sea, cant swim, its going to be awful. We have not completed char gen as we were doing our current campaign of The Dark Eye also.

An idea for the published setting. Would it be an idea to have a detailed starting location. Fishing village with a few key npc's and surrounding location sites. Neighbors, factions and political situation. Nothing to detailed, just something to help those not used to the game style, start the fiction. This maybe already planned as the book is not finished. If I was to start a game co-op with minimal prep and I look around my shelves, I see HARN and its viking addon setting, but have to find a less urban location, to keep in the Ironsworn feel. Another could be The Lonely Coast, by Raging Swan Press. We dont play D&D but I picked this up in a bundle a few years ago. Good wilderness fit. Why I asked the first part is my unique gaming situation. My only player is a IT person with no fiction book reading. He has never read a fantasy novel. His only genre info comes from movies etc. Even after many years of gaming, he is not the quickest off the cuff, brainstormy type player. Norma...

Second installment of Flint's story.... She grabs her bow and begins to track the dire wolf. Flint uses the Gather Information move to follow the blood trail. Flint has the Ranger asset, so she gets to add +1 to the roll and take +1 momentum on a hit. She rolls a 5 on the action die, adds +1 for Wits, and the +1 from her asset. That 7 beats the two Challenge dice, 3 and 5, for a strong hit. She gets +3 momentum out of the deal, bringing her to +8! Better yet, she discovers something helpful and specific. I’m not sure what that is, so I’ll consult the Twists table for the Oracle — 37, “A more dangerous foe is revealed”. Since Flint got this information due to a strong hit and things are really going her way, I say this means she gets some forewarning. As she traces the smears and drops of blood through the deer trails through the forest, she comes across some footprints. There are two sets, one is a pair of boots. The other is unlike anything she’s seen. They are long like a person’...

Might need to change your settings. Originally shared by Alex Yari A G+ update may be hiding recent posts from you! To see the latest posts, edit your forum preferences to sort by date! https://plus.google.com/u/0/108395059461267285712/posts/2TM94i952Db A home for solo rpg enthusiasts where actual plays can be shared, and ideas on how to enrich the solo experience discussed. This is your #solorpg community! Expand this post to read more! There two other versions of this group for you to choose from, if you prefer a medium other than G+. Google groups : https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!categories/solorpgs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/652930854849050/ There are also some useful resources; even some you can contribute to (and you're encouraged to!) My Abominable Experiments In Solo Roleplaying: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108395059461267285712/posts/4j6gM41ec7u A collection of solo tools inspired by Mythic & others. RPGNe...

Rolled some dice today and didn't die! See what happens when Kuno the scout interrupts a wyverns lunch. This is a relatively brief encounter to show some Ironsworn moves and oracles in action.... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HE6B4FVuWg3rPzPTZYtFluiYKKL5IsUE/view?usp=sharing

Resharing part 1 of Zack MacDonald's awesome playthrough in order to make it visible in the Ironsworn group. Originally shared by Zack MacDonald Hey, so uh, long time lurker, first time poster. I'd been messing around with a few different things for #SGAM2017, but nothing really came together until I started reading through Ironsworn. I played this in the last couple of days, and thought I might as well share it as I know a few people (myself included) have been hoping to see it in action. I make no claims to actually having run it completely properly; Shawn Tomkin's I'm sure will be able to spot a fair few mistakes, but I did my best to keep it to the rules as written. Which proved interesting, as I'd been enjoying some wine while playing; so if anything is off, blame it on that. The combat wound up potentially a little graphic/gruesome; just skip anything that's in reddish orange font, and you should be mostly fine if that sort of thing bothers you. I've i...

Hi, all! I've added a "Play Reports" category to make it easy for folks to peruse those super-awesome playthroughs. I think I've got everything now properly tagged for that category, but If I missed anything please feel free to let me know or move it over yourself. Apologies for the extra "pick a category" step which will now be necessary when you make a post, but I think it's worth it to give those play reports a home.

To set the scene of my upcoming Ironsworn adventure listen to Arson by Amon Amarth 🤘

Finished my second session. I like where it's heading, and I like how easy the mechanics make it to drive the narrative in interesting ways. I haven't really played a game intended for solo play before, but I'm very impressed with the way that lets you play without knowing what's going to happen next, still being strategic, etc. all without someone playing the adversary. I still haven't burned momentum yet - I'm actually trying to build it up a little now, but it seems challenging to do so. How often are other folks getting to benefit? Also, it's aptly named - you can pick it up when you're doing well to keep doing well. But it seems like maybe the mechanic would be more fun if it could help you break out of a string of bad rolls? It seems like, when things start to go bad, they can spiral quickly. I've had a few times where there have been a couple bad breaks in a row, and if not for a lucky strong hit I'd be in even worse shape than I've al...

Guess what awesome community just broke a hundred members!

I look forward to writing up my first playtest - the adventure of young Hezekiah Edwards in mid-18th Century British North America. The young man sets out to negotiate a new price on trade goods with the nearby Iroquois settlement but encounters a Huron war party - chaos ensues. Just wanted to say that this a fine ruleset and really enjoy the mix of Oracles and narrative outcomes of the various Moves. Really evocative and, at least in my limited first run, led to an impressive solo session. Can’t wait to get back to Hezekiah. One quick question for Shawn Tomkin - what is the default power level? Are early stage PCs pretty equipped for robust solo adventures or should I bump abilities a bit? Any thoughts from others who may have run solo adventurers?

Happy Saturday, everyone! An updated rulebook and moves handout were uploaded this morning. What's changed: - Cleaned up some (but not all) of the issues with the table of contents, bookmarks, and embedded links (sorry for any niggling issues hampering the ease-of-use with the PDF. We'll get there.) - Synchronized the latest version of the playtest moves with the moves in Chapter 3, and updated summary text where appropriate. There's been some minor edits/fixes throughout. A revised Forge a Bond move now allows for narrative bonds (not necessarily quest-driven), with a greatly improved chance to Forge a Bond when you've completed a vow. Last Stand (now Turn the Tide), End the Fight, and Battle have seen the most significant updates. Nothing is cast in stone, so feedback welcome. - Some minor fixes, edits and clarifications in various places. Please excuse lingering typos, grammatical errors, etc. I just noticed about a dozen of them in a quick glance. It'll get ther...

Toimu here. I noticed I'm the only one using an internet name. Didn't want to be the odd-ball on the credits list. I'll still use Toimu for this group.

(Reposted for the afternoon crowd) Hail! I've created a Google Sheets toolkit for playing Ironsworn. All feedback appreciated; this is just v1.1. v1.1 features -Complete character sheet -Progress tracks -Compact; all tracks are dropdowns -Mobile-friendly -Links next to "Ironsworn" and "Assets" to official materials v2 planned features -Dropdown-selectable Assets -Incorporation of the Map -What'd be useful? Notes area? Dice roller? Auto-oracle?

Here was another thought I had last night: want to turn your Ironsworn session up to 11? Use actual Runes as one of your Oracles or Muses (Oracles for Inspiration). I've had a set for 30+ years now & already know how to read them (though I'm pretty rusty), but there are plenty of online resources for those that don't have a set &/or know how to interpret them. They're even built right in on the Gamemaster's Apprentice cards. I can tell you from experience they're very open ended & interpret-able as well. I think they'd be a fantastic fit, as well as the thematic connection. :)

I'm up to pg 30 so far on my read through of the rules (though I skip around a lot to reference other rules as they're mentioned). More observations and questions follow: Thoughts I like that this game seems like it would be great for beginners, both in its clarity, & that it does things like explain d100 notation, BUT it doesn't assume the faux cutesie "What is a RPG? It's like playing Cops & Robbers! You and your friends use your imagination!" tone. I'm seeing good solid advice on how to use oracles & random generators, something that even experienced gamers may be new to, especially if this is their first foray in solo RPG'ing. I like the dice system. Nice alternative to PbtA & great way to integrate oracle, random events, & task resolution together. Flowchart on pg.26 = Nice. Default Setting: I like that its detailed enough to give the game a feel & set a mood, but open enough that you can fill in the blanks yourself. I ge...

I decided to give a solo outing a go. Inspired by Joseph, I decided to write up our heroine's encounter with the wolf... -- Our story begins in the Deep Wilds. Flint was a member of the Broken Glen community on the outskirts, but did something unspeakable and was banished. Around the same time, strange inhuman raiders began to attack the village. Many secretly believe the two events are related, and even Flint wrestles with doubt. Flint needs to track down the source of raiders, in the hopes of restoring her reputation and regaining her true name. She dreamt of the hamlet before they came. On her shoulders was a pole, where three rabbits hung. She dodged the boy and he ran past her, and stepped aside to let her pursuers by. There were seven children now, and Broken Glen seemed like a name from the past. A name from the past. She awoke with a start. There is a wolf at the edge of her camp, eyeing her. She can make out the shape of it in the light of the big moon. Here, we Enter the ...

Hey sorry this is so much later than I'd said it'd be; work got busy and I didn't get the chance to play I'd been planning on. This one was a little heavier on roleplay and dialogue than the last. I'm expecting the next part whenever I get around to playing it to have some more in the way of mechanics, hopefully. I messed around with the spelling of a couple of the words from their origin, but the only one that I think is probably unfamiliar and not referenced in English in the parenthetical notes is Wikipedia-able and verbatim in terms of spelling. Still having a lot of fun with the game, and am planning to play some more; don't hate me too much for the cliff hanger if you do get that far; this one's rather long... Let me know your thoughts and if any questions come up. And apologies as usual for any degree of difficulty in parsing the prose or notes as a result of poor punctuation/style or inconsistency of notation respectively; for what its worth, it'...

Hail! I've created a Google Sheets toolkit for playing Ironsworn. Right now it's got character sheets and a progress tracker. Feedback appreciated; this is just v1. v1 features -Complete; features all data on an official sheet -Compact; all tracks are dropdowns -Progress tracks -Mobile-friendly -Links next to "Ironsworn" and "Assets" to current official rules and assets v2 planned features -Dropdown-selectable Assets -Incorporation of the Map -Notes area? -IDK, you tell me what'd be useful!

For those who have placed with groups (3 or more PCs), did you find any problems with each PC feeling like they had their own niche or gimmick within the group?

Finally got a chance to DL all the play test docs a couple days ago. Skimmed them over a day or two, settling in for a deeper read now. Some stream of consciousness thoughts thus far follow: Impressive, professional, & clean looking. Very slick & smooth. I REALLY like the photo artwork for some reason. Gives it a different, unified look. Really digging the setting material, which is odd, as this normally isn't my thing. First game to make me want to play fantasy in a while. First game that REALLY makes me want to read/learn it ASAP to try it out in recent memory. First game since as far back as I can remember that, from what I've seen thus far, looks like I could pick it up & play it right out of the box, without having to hack, modify, or add a bunch of outside material to my liking. I probably will have more to say later. I most likely will incorporate these thoughts + any others that arise into a post on my blog. NOW, one observation I don't know if anyone m...

Epic Foe challenge! If you had to fight (not RP out of the fight) an Epic Foe in Ironsworn, what would you bring?

Question about the Hound: Ferocious: when you Strike or Clash alongside your hound and score a hit, choose one more. I get to choose one more what? Clash has 2 options but Strike only has 1.

Question! Maybe I'm just misreading it or am undercaffeinated, and/or maybe you already fixed it since I became confused if it was actually wrong at all, or already answered this: on p10, how is it possible to have a Weak Hit on a Match? It seems definitionally impossible, though I'll admit that math was always my worst subject. :D

For anyone who wants to watch along as the sausage is made, here's a link to the Ironsworn Trello board: https://trello.com/b/vLzVl76z/ironsworn-rpg ( https://trello.com/b/vLzVl76z/ironsworn-rpg

At char gen, I have 3 assets. I have noted in some other systems that they offer companions for the same cost as other assets. But if I did not choose one, then I am penalized as I dont gain the companions bonus's which are usually more than the one slot taken. For example, Heroquest offers companions and you get there extra benifits (usually 2 or more) for the same cost. So a house rule is to increase the number of asset points for all, say from 5 to 7. If you take a companion the first cost covers only one off there abilities, if you want more you spend more of your points. Has some thought been put into a similar balance? A hound has 2 good extra benifits, so either other assets offer the same or I need to burn 2 assets to get a hound. Assuming game balance is important in PbtA games, I have never played one. Could I take 3x hound for example and have a pack with me?

Minor errata. Page 16 has the bullet point; you reach your destination. Confused as an option to choose, unless it was only available when you crossed the last progress box, but then why list it. But I see later on pg 60 its been removed. Makes sense now as you obvioulsly only reach the destination when you fill the last box.

Quick question/clarification please. Burning Momentum pg 13 does not list how much to loose. First I assumed it was the default -2, but now I am not sure. The reset after a burn seemed to indicate that all the momentum goes and it is reset to 2.

Did my first solo session. I haven't done a solo session in a very long time, but this was a lot of fun. The rules made things clear and it was easy to introduce twists and turns that made sense narratively. There's enough structure for it to be fun as a solo run, which isn't really something I've seen before, TBH. I had a failed sojourn roll that seemed like kind of a dead end at first, but re-read the full text in that section and came up with a spin that turned out to be fun. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pCLmt257GPsqAwlz6IS_yy74jHnO5yRr/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pCLmt257GPsqAwlz6IS_yy74jHnO5yRr/view?usp=sharing

A question for the community, what cool settings do you have for games of Ironsworn? I know Shawn Tomkin​ has mentioned eventually producing different Asset packs to enforce different genre conventions and types of fantasy, so what kinds of worlds are you excited to Ironswornize?

Let's take a look at the proposed new "End the Fight" move for Ironsworn.... End the Fight is now definitive. One way or another, this fight is over. This gives you (the player) a bit more agency in saying "I'm ready to move onto other things", and makes the move less anti-climactic than in previous versions. The move now also let's you springboard off either a strong or weak hit on the preceding move, which should resolve the issue of getting locked out of initiative and unable to End the Fight. This also puts the move more in-line with other progress moves (there are some changes there I will preview shortly). This change supplants the current function of the "Last Stand" move. I would like to retain the concept of giving players an option to steal initiative, but it'll require a re-think. Your input is welcome!

Hi, total greenhorn. I have only skimmed the book and it looks very good. My group is only 2. Myself as sole gm and a long time player. I am leaning towards co-op for something diferent. I see there is a setting included, but to make the starting process easier I was hoping to use one of our other settings we are familiar with. Is there an elevator pitch for the rules so I can work out what would be a good fit. I have games like Harn, Tekumel, 13 Age, Atlantis, Talislanta etc to name a few. I assume we are looking at a fantasy rules system. Thanks

I need to learn not to try writing at 1 AM, it is closer to 4 now, but I had a good time! I decide to essentially reskin my WoW rogue for this roll, as she's a scrappy little fighter, and I think she makes a rather interesting character. It also gives me a chance to have fun with random elements of her backstory, that wouldn't fly with the lore in game/what happened in her story.

I decided to write up a character more inline with what I'm used to (High combat, less magic) and I'm doing so at work in the office. My boss just about had a heart attack thinking I was filling out an application. The moment I told him what it was, he seemed even more concerned. But I'm pretty excited to start in on this character who'll be my solo-only so I don't have to worry about other people's characters/plot things!

I wanted to play test some heavy fighting, so I decided to just try a simple dungeon crawler! Now time to see if this works... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tBcBmAoHI-03L9TjwtxINnB0ldzyc96TQRYShEcLIJs/edit?usp=drivesdk

Played my First Session today. My company of Austrian infantry in the great Turkish war reached it's first milrstone and promptly liberated 2 villages from the evil Turks and lawless (probably just as evil) militia. I thoroughly enjoyed playing ironsworn. after reading the rules it didn't fall into place immediately, but playing really made it click for me. Great game. Question: I don't understand how multiple enemies work. Sry I don't have the rules on me ATM. But from my recollection: if I lose initiative they complicate my life by doing something. Does every enemy act or just one of them? Do the others just wait until it's their turn? On the other hand if all of them act to complicate the situation the hero could be overwhelmed rather quickly. Thanks in advance for any answers, ideas.

Editing: In the Table of Contents, "Swear an Iron Vow" is listed under Suffer Moves instead of Quest Moves.

I haven't been able to wrap my head around combat, since the rules state that creatures never roll for moves. I understand you can only strike if you have initiative, otherwise you clash. But if you have initiative, and you strike with a weak hit, initiative shifts to the enemy. Do you have to roll anything else now, or do you continue straight to Clash? When does the enemy attack? Is that just when you roll a Miss you "Pay the Price" by automatically taking their challenge rating as Harm and roll Endure? Can anyone provide a quick, non-discript rundown of how moves should be progressing? From what I am understanding when fighting something Extreme each Strong Hit with a deadly weapon would mark 6 ticks (2 ticks per harm, 3 harm.) So to have a 50% to successfully finish the fight you would need to first hit them at least 4 times with a strong hit. However, if the wyvern ever hits you it does an automatic 4 health damage?

Hello. Reading through the rules, thoroughly enjoying them and looking forward to writing up a character to send off into harms way. Quick note on spelling, generally high quality which is all too rare in independently produced publications these days. That said, page 25, brackets in the second paragraph: (f you're playing solo or co-op), I'll send you any others I find :)

Updated my solo RP, it continues at the bottom with "The Problem with Monsters". I attempted to share my mechanics and rolls, I am realizing I don't roll a lot, so I'll try my best in the next session to do more, especially since I'm going to have some new things to come up with and ponder over the next day while at work!

Wrote up my first character. He's a druid-type - little bit of magic, little bit of healing. He's kindly and diplomatic, but not a slouch when push comes to shove. The dying warden quest prompt caught my attention, so that's going to be my short-term goal. Helping ease tension between various clans, including the Firstborn, is his overarching purpose. Threw together a quick portrait with help from Heroforge, too.

Finished chapter 2 in my solo-play! I'm trying to give Shawn Tomkin more info on how I play the game, so I'm sharing a folder. Let me know if you cannot view something. It is almost 1am here, so I'm sure there are typos. I just hope everyone can understand enough. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cnJcli6ZoIX5Bq6FlBf6WCjec3bIgRZx

Draw the Circle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGTKVHlYvSA

Need some sillyness in your story? Originally shared by Shane Stacks

Random Action Die mod. Stealing from D&D 5e, I'm going to play with a "Complementary Move" to mod any Action Die roll. Use (some resource) to add 1d3 or 1d4 to you Action Die before you roll. Might be a bad idea, probably is. Your mods could get crazy high if you use this with other mods, so maybe I'd only use this instead of other mods... Not sure when I would though. Maybe I'll add it as an Oracle twist, "your mods on your next roll become 1d(x) where x is what your mod would be (only works if your mods would have been +3 or higher)". You might forget about this for awhile, then have it slam you much later when you need that high mod. Sounds stupid...

I have a question regarding the “Forge a Bond” move. Why is this move made with +heart? It seems to me like the difficulty of the fulfilled vow would be more important. As written, a character with 3 heart who fulfills a troublesome vow would have a greater chance of Forging a Bond than a character with 1 heart who fulfills an extreme vow.

Shawn Tomkin, reading your most recent release and it is, I think, really coming together for me now, thanks to the example play write ups everyone seems to be doing. Anyway, a question came to mind as I was reading, so I figured I'd ask, what inspired the change in dice mechanic? The PbtA influence is evident, but what caused the divergence from the PbtA dice mechanic? I don't know a lot about that mechanic, but I recall it being 2d6+bonus

Just a heads-up for any of you who are presently reading the Ironsworn rulebook ... I've just uploaded an update which fixes a few niggles and has a few clarifications in the moves chapter. It might be worth downloading the latest version. I also fixed a few typos, but I assure you there are many more where those came from. Please excuse some of the PDF navigation issues. InDesign's auto-bookmark generation is giving me fits, and I will eventually go in and fix everything by hand. For now, the Table of Contents and bookmarks are sorta' usable, but not great. I promise it'll get better (along with an index!) Grab the latest over on http://ironswornrpg.com

My first ever Solo RP. I never play characters who aren't all about stabbing and killing (well, there was one time, but he got literally hugged in half by an owlbear) so this is all around a learning experience for me. So far it's been quite enjoyable however! I may have too much love for rolling on the Oracle tables though.

Got around to starting my first adventure. Bit of a slow start. Please let me know if the link doesn't work. I tried to share a folder with a few files in it. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1cnJcli6ZoIX5Bq6FlBf6WCjec3bIgRZx

Wall of text alert! Let's talk the End the Fight move.... Justin Gordon brought this up in his play report, and Zack MacDonald mentioned it as well. End the Fight is the progress move for a combat scene. It's a bit unique among the progress moves because it's got a specific trigger of requiring a strong hit on a preceding move to setup taking out your foe. The problem is that you get can stuck in a string of weak hits, don't have initiative, and you aren't really empowered to end the scene even if you've got the progress track full and you're ready to move on to less stabby things. One solution, of course, is to make sure you've got momentum in the bank to bump up that preceding move to a strong hit, but sometimes the momentum track is not working in your favor (especially, as noted, if you are stuck in a string of weak hits). The Last Stand move was actually designed as a bit of a relief valve for this problem, because it's a move that allows you to...

So I've been reading a lot of material around the world of Glorantha of late, and I can't help but wonder how well Ironsworn might re-skin to that setting. The default regions remind me of Sartar/Dragon Pass in some places. Am I totally barking up a wrong tree? :)

Originally shared by Justin Gordon Wanderer's journey continues, now with 40% more chainswords! The game system is Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin with a custom setting. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AP38-kwBD-ZTwzHksXKgTQLl_E9cJt4hssX0oqAv1-g/edit?usp=sharing

I came here via the fact Ironsworn is built to include solo play out of the box, but now I'm even more interested in co-op. That's not a playstyle that's supported in most systems, and I'm excited to see what happens with it once Mike Leavitt and I get our characters finished and start playing.

Hello! I have just entered this community, and I would like to say that since I met Mythic, I have never been so excited about a solo game as I am about Ironsworn. I love many solo RPGs - Miso, Bivius. ..and I really think the big achievement of Ironsworn is to join cool mechanics we have in these games, and others, in the same place. If the preview was the final work, we alredy would have a great game! So, thank you, man!

Got a start on one of the Ironsworn games I wanted to. For this one I'm using a post-apocalypse Earth setting that basically mimics the basic setting conceits of Ironsworn, though interpreted through a different lens. I had intended for the first episode to carry the Wanderer from Iron Vow to first milestone, but a string of spectacularly bad rolls ended up burning the local bar down instead and leaves our hero no closer to the goal of finding the macguffin that will restore pure water to the people of his tribe. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AP38-kwBD-ZTwzHksXKgTQLl_E9cJt4hssX0oqAv1-g/edit?usp=sharing

I'm usually not a fan of photo realistic art in RPing books... but the art in Ironsworn is so god damn evocative and spot on. Bravo! The elder wolf on page 127 is something of nightmares.

Some Ironsworn musical inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=c6MczzFi67M

I was just thinking there was enough buzz around Ironsworn to merit its own community! Looking forward to sharing and seeing what cool things other players are up to :)

Started making my first character for Solo play (my son is sick, didn't have time to finish the character). On my Epic Vow that my character will spend his life time doing, I rolled double 4's on the Challenge Dice, and a 1 (+2) on the Action Dice! At least it wasn't double 10's... Though I'm liking the sound of double 10's vs a 1 for an Epic Vow!

Hi Shawn and many thanks for sharing the preview, which I'm hugely enjoying on my commute. I'm sure the game will make more sense in actual play, so my questions are only based 'off the page'. P.15 "There are three moves which utilize progress tracks to measure your pace and determine the outcome of a goal or challenge." Beneath this section four moves are listed. Is it these four rather than three? It also says: "When you make these moves, you’ll add the number of progress boxes you’ve filled instead of adding a stat." On p.53 for Progress Moves: "When you make these moves, you’ll use your progress score instead of rolling your action die. " It would be good to align the text from p.15 and p.53. I assume it should be - only use your progress to determine your action score (or some such?). Also the text for the four progress moves are different on the two pages: p.15 End the Fight (page 77), When you Reach your Destination (page 63), When...

I've created a dedicated G+ community for my Ironsworn RPG. Please join if you are interested in Ironsworn playtesting, discussions or updates!

Just for fun, here's a look at the creation of the Ironsworn cover image.