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We had a great game of Ironsworn.
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We had a great game of Ironsworn. The Varou were avoided, stories of hope were told, a troll was slain, a dragon was found and the mystery of the mines continues.
This was a three hero, GM facilitated game. They all loved it. We did standard character setup at the table with me talking about the Ironlands, who the Ironsworn were and what set them apart.
I laid out all the asset cards, which print nicely such that they fit in the standard transparent card sleeves that I had. They loved the asset cards and took some considerable time selecting the mix of 4 that I offered them. Their Bonds were quite inventive, including a connecting with a river where they had ritually died and an ancestral knife that was made from star iron.
They were to take a journey From Stenheim to far Kraghaal in the Tempest Hills, where their kindred had awoken an ancient horror. Formidable journey: 1 progress per waypoint. In my facilitated play I had a number of pre-planned waypoints, that started with sneaking through the territory of the Varou, using some asset paths and quickly getting into the swing of Aiding each other.
I asked why the The Broken Hills were described as such. One of the players came up with a legend that the gods battled here, but that the name came from the broken tears of the father of the gods lamenting his daughter who fell here. The dotted salt lakes preserve the vengeful sadness of his loss. They were used as venom later in the adventure. Spirits were tested
It took about 10 minutes for them to get used to the dice mechanic, and how to burn momentum, though even at the end they had to be reminded that dice had to be less than the action die or that Momentum had to be more than the challenge die.
An Ash Bear was fought in a ruined settlement. The combat moves were quickly mastered, with advantages sought, Enter The Fray in all sorts of ways and the use of Strike and Clash.
Ghostly tower where stories of hope had to be told (Compel) to allow them to Make Camp and have their weary spirits recovered. By now they were hungry for momentum gains wherever they could get them!
They rolled a Reach Your Destination Progress Move success to reach Kraaghal. At this point I felt I had conflated the Journey with the Quest and hadn't been separately assigning progress to their Vow and to the progress to get to Kraaghal. I decided to hand wave the Vow progress and focus on getting them into the mine and to face the horror. Somebody somewhere rolled a Miss for something that created new foe as a Price and so I introduced a dragon, like you do.
One of the Characters had a Vow that they would die soon and had to find a replacement. At Kraaghal he picked out a shield maiden to take on his mantle and ready herself to swear on iron. The fight with the Troll in the mine was epic. Two were down to +0 Health, though the Endure Harm never tipped them into anything worse than that. Prices were paid throughout with weapons lost, footing failed and plummeting into a crevice. When they got their strong hit to End the Fight and succeeded there were lots of high fives around the table (we're British, we don't do that sort of thing...).
A narrated conclusion took the head of the Troll back to the village and I gave them 3 XP and explained how, in a series game, they could spend them. The Troll had, with its dying breath, implored them to save its child... There was a further mystery which they did not have time to unlock. Who was the mysterious figure that they fleetingly saw deeper in the mines?
Top session. We focused on some of the more obvious moves, Face Danger, Gather Information and Secure An Advantage in particular. I knew I could throw in some more Moves if I needed to.
We all left impressed. I'm looking forward to seeing some more Assets and should create some more of my own.
For Seven Hills, I might treat myself to an A5 spiral bound copy and leave the big A4 over print on the table for people to peruse during the game.
That is so awesome, Graham Spearing. Makes my weekend. Would love to hear any details when you have time. I am analyzing your photo for clues :).
ReplyDeleteHave fun with the rest of the convention. I hope you get to play some games too.
This was a three hero, GM facilitated game. They all loved it. We did standard character setup at the table with me talking about the Ironlands, who the Ironsworn were and what set them apart.
ReplyDeleteI laid out all the asset cards, which print nicely such that they fit in the standard transparent card sleeves that I had. They loved the asset cards and took some considerable time selecting the mix of 4 that I offered them. Their Bonds were quite inventive, including a connecting with a river where they had ritually died and an ancestral knife that was made from star iron.
They were to take a journey From Stenheim to far Kraghaal in the Tempest Hills, where their kindred had awoken an ancient horror. Formidable journey: 1 progress per waypoint. In my facilitated play I had a number of pre-planned waypoints, that started with sneaking through the territory of the Varou, using some asset paths and quickly getting into the swing of Aiding each other.
I asked why the The Broken Hills were described as such. One of the players came up with a legend that the gods battled here, but that the name came from the broken tears of the father of the gods lamenting his daughter who fell here. The dotted salt lakes preserve the vengeful sadness of his loss. They were used as venom later in the adventure. Spirits were tested
It took about 10 minutes for them to get used to the dice mechanic, and how to burn momentum, though even at the end they had to be reminded that dice had to be less than the action die or that Momentum had to be more than the challenge die.
An Ash Bear was fought in a ruined settlement. The combat moves were quickly mastered, with advantages sought, Enter The Fray in all sorts of ways and the use of Strike and Clash.
Ghostly tower where stories of hope had to be told (Compel) to allow them to Make Camp and have their weary spirits recovered. By now they were hungry for momentum gains wherever they could get them!
They rolled a Reach Your Destination Progress Move success to reach Kraaghal. At this point I felt I had conflated the Journey with the Quest and hadn't been separately assigning progress to their Vow and to the progress to get to Kraaghal. I decided to hand wave the Vow progress and focus on getting them into the mine and to face the horror. Somebody somewhere rolled a Miss for something that created new foe as a Price and so I introduced a dragon, like you do.
One of the Characters had a Vow that they would die soon and had to find a replacement. At Kraaghal he picked out a shield maiden to take on his mantle and ready herself to swear on iron. The fight with the Troll in the mine was epic. Two were down to +0 Health, though the Endure Harm never tipped them into anything worse than that. Prices were paid throughout with weapons lost, footing failed and plummeting into a crevice. When they got their strong hit to End the Fight and succeeded there were lots of high fives around the table (we're British, we don't do that sort of thing...).
A narrated conclusion took the head of the Troll back to the village and I gave them 3 XP and explained how, in a series game, they could spend them. The Troll had, with its dying breath, implored them to save its child... There was a further mystery which they did not have time to unlock. Who was the mysterious figure that they fleetingly saw deeper in the mines?
Top session. We focused on some of the more obvious moves, Face Danger, Gather Information and Secure An Advantage in particular. I knew I could throw in some more Moves if I needed to.
We all left impressed. I'm looking forward to seeing some more Assets and should create some more of my own.
For Seven Hills, I might treat myself to an A5 spiral bound copy and leave the big A4 over print on the table for people to peruse during the game.
Thanks for the game Shawn Tomkin!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the play report, Graham Spearing! Much awesomeness. So glad it went well.
ReplyDeleteI was one of the players in Graham Spearing fantastically GM'd game. It's inspired me to join this community and delve deeper into Ironsworn.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining Isa Wills!
ReplyDelete