Wanderer's journey continues, now with 40% more chainswords!
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
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
Awesome Justin Gordon. Great story telling. There are a couple of mechanical bits I want to comment on, but let me chew on it a bit first.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing!
Edit: Oh, and also you guys realize there's a 1% chance of rolling double 10's, right? You should head to Vegas.
+Justin Gordon ...
ReplyDeleteI really like your use of the oracle for scene framing. It's not a technique I've used, but I feel like it has a solid legacy in solo play (might have even been a part of the Mythic RPG?). Ironsworn is not as explicitly scene-based as some GM-less RPG's, but it's a cool approach and I'd like to give it a nod in some form in the gameplay options chapter.
Secondly, I like how you tick a couple of boxes on the progress track to represent NPC support in a fight. This is something I have in my notes and have been thinking about. For now, I opted to include this bit in the NPC chapter:
"If you are fighting alongside an NPC, you can treat their actions as background detail, or perhaps reduce the number of foes you personally must face."
I have in my notes to change that to "number of foes or their rank". So, in your case, you might have backed down the wastecasts to dangerous rather than formidable with the support of the caravan guards. Many hands make light work.
Either approach works well, but I do I want to highlight it a bit more in the rulebook.
Minor nit: I think you might have a Face Danger move in there where you took initiative despite a weak hit (you had a lot of weak hits, though). A weak hit on any move (not just am explicit combat move) will cost you initiative in a fight.
In previous drafts of combat moves, selecting initiative was one of the options you took on a hit, but playtesting showed that it wasn't really much of a choice -- you always wanted to take initiative. Still, I am not quite satisfied with how a string of weak hits feels in a fight in solo play.
Can't believe you got "Escort" as your action word when rolling the next scene. How appropriate for a caravan guard.
It's definitely possible I took initiative on a weak hit, by the end of the fight I was running low on mental steam. I think if I fought that again I would have started making some kind of Oracle check for morale on the beasts part, it would be unlikely for them to run but possible. I'm not sure I share the concerns about a string of weak hits, after all weak hits are what power the complications that drive the fiction. My issue stemmed more from the regular weak hits in Face Danger which was sapping my momentum. I think if I'd spent more time with moves like Secure an Advantage before engaging the active moves like Face Danger and Strike/Clash my results would have been much improved.
ReplyDeleteThe plan is to test that on the next fight I get into
Yeah, good points Justin Gordon. Securing Advantage early in a fight can pay dividends, and can just be cool in terms of envisioning what happens.
ReplyDeleteThe math in Ironsworn shifts the emphasis to weak hits even more than you'll see with 7-9 results in PbtA. This is to give Secure Advantage, assets and momentum a bit of mechanical teeth, and -- as you say -- helps reinforce the fiction of perilous quests in a harsh world.
Using Secure Advantage with one of your favored stats, building and burning momentum, leveraging assets to boost adds or momentum, etc. can all be really powerful.
Shawn Tomkin as usual you've picked up exactly what I mean. In my vision of the Ironlands fights are supposed to be dirty and desperate. Unlike Dungeon World where your characters are intended to be world-shattering superheroes Ironsworn caters to the gritty low/dark fantasy of early Game of Thrones or Vikings. Very dark age and very brutal, and I think the combat mechanics as written strongly enforce the kind of dark and painful place that the Ironlands are portrayed as.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Justin Gordon. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteBeing a melee fighter and an engineer, I thought an Axe multi-tool might fit your character... Though a chain-sword is pretty versatile.
ReplyDeleteoutlandequipment.com - Multi-Mission Axe 1902 – Outland Equipment
Chain-sword + Storyweaver?
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/A52p9jc-gOo
Chain-sword + Storyweaver?
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/A52p9jc-gOo
Toimu that's a great idea! I may have to integrate that into the character. I've started writing session 3, I'll get it posted as soon as I get through with this crazy week at work
ReplyDelete