Hi hello!
Hi hello!
I've been looking at Ironsworn for a while now, and today finally got a chance to play together with my wife. It was fun!
Here is a playtest report:
Our characters:
I play as Maveth [ Shield-bearer, Honorbound, Wright: Ironsmith ].
Maveth grew up in a settlement in the Tempest Hills called Frostcoming Cross, situated at the mouth of the easiest path down the Veils. Many of those who would come down for the winters would pass through the town. One day, when she was an adolescent, a massive army, well trained and well equipped appeared as if out of nowhere and tore through the town, slaughtering and destorying all. The local Warden gave his life to protect Maveth, and she escaped the carnage with nothing but the very shield that saved her life. When she reached another settlement, none spoke of any signs of an army. They did not believe her tale. None of the other settlements she visited encountered this army, and though Frostcoming was indeed gone, no evidence of an army remained. Her very first Iron Vow was to uncover the truth of the event.
My wife plays as Temir [ Outcast, Archer, Hound: Quillfoot ].
Temir lives as a hunter on the outskirts of the town of Bounty's Edge, where the story begins. Although the town considers him welcome, he purposely keeps his distance. What dark past is he hiding? Recently, Temir has been troubled by visions of one of the mysterious Iron Pillars, but not on land: on an ice sheet, out in the Shattered Plains. Surely such a thing is not possible? And yet, the dream persists.
Our story begins in the town of Bounty's Edge, one of the more well-supplied towns in Haven, but right up to the border of the Hinterlands. Maveth, living here as a smith, is bringing firewood for the forge together with her friend Edda, when Edda spots Temir coming down along the rocky path from the hinterlands, struggling to carry what looks like a body. They rush to help and discover he has found a gravely wounded Warden, and they help bring her to the local herbalist. The herbalist sees that she has a severe spear wound and promises to do what he can, and sends them away. The next dawn, things are looking grim: The warden knows she's not going to make it. She explains that she was going to deliver an important missive to the Tempest Hills, and asks Maveth and Temir to complete her mission.
Maveth swears an iron vow to deliver the missive. She scores a weak hit.
Unfortunately, Temir relieved the warden of her supply pack in order to be able to carry her; and so the missive is still out there, in the forest. With her dying breath, the warden issues a cryptic message: "Don't trust the Wardens." (An earlier oracle roll alluded: Faction Hunt and Ally Betray)
They decide to leave immediately, before the rest of the town awakens. Just to be sure, Maveth asks Edda to provide a cover story for her disappearance. Temir knows this area well, and deftly retraces his steps. We ask the oracle: Is the supply pack still there? The oracle answers that it is not. With the help of his hound, he Gathers Information, to look for tracks. A weak hit, so a complication. We ask the oracle. The oracle answers: Support Idea. They find tracks, but the boot prints match the kind of iron boots the wardens wear. It supports the idea that they are involved in this, which complicates things.
We Undertake a Journey to follow the trail. After an initial weak hit (-1 supply) our next segment is a miss and a match (double 9). The hinterlands are a rough, uneven hilly terrain; a rock gives way under Maveth's boot and she tumbles a long way down a hill. She endures the harm and shrugs it off on a strong hit, but unfortunately, her momentum rolls her right into a Gaunt, which is immediately agitated. We Enter the Fray and miss. Maveth looks up to see what she bumped into, and at first she thinks she's run into some kind of horror. She tests her spirit, and on a weak hit comes out of it with -1 spirit. The Gaunt then tries to trample her, but she Faces the Danger and manages to block it weakly. The gaunt retreats a bit, but only to play to its strengths. It charges in. Maveth decides to fight back, Clashing with it. It hits, but weakly. She's knocked violently aside, taking -2 health, which she endures only barely. Her hit only marks two progress, because she's only got her shield to bash with. Temir tries to Secure and Advantage to join the fight, but stumbles and is brought off-balance. The gaunt continues its charge up the hill, then turns around and charges for Temir now. Temir decides to Face Danger to dodge out of the way, a weak hit. He dodges deftly, actually, but now there's nothing in the way of the Gaunts charge, who is gaining speed on Maveth who has not yet recovered. Temir desparately tries to Aid an Ally by distracting the beast with arrow shots, and gets a fleeting advantage. Maveth manages to Face the Danger, a strong hit. As the gaunt is charging past, Maveth decides to "captain america" her shield at it, which hits, but it's not enough. The gaunt turns around for another charge, and now Maveth is unarmed. Temir fires an arrow at the charging gaunt. It has to count. It does, a strong hit. Temir ends the battle with a strong hit. The arrow strikes true, right into the gaunts eye. It stumbles, and falls before Maveth's feet.
They continue their journey, making camp uneventfully and complete the journey on a weak hit. They approach their quarry from the top of a cliff overlooking a small clearing. Two wardens, one severely wounded, are resting near. Beside the wounded one, the stolen pack of supplies, wherin surely the missive is contained. Before they can decide on how to proceed, a voice shouts out behind them. They turn around to find a third warden, spear raised defensively, shouting a warning. We ask the oracle if they immediately attack us, and the answer is no. Maveth tries to Gather Information, telling them that the supply pack they have with them is the property of someone else and they've been charged with retreiving it. A weak hit. The warden answers that the pack belongs to a fallen warden, and so as wardens it belongs to their care. A solid argument, Maveth and Temir are at a disadvantage. Temir tells them that the warden is still alive and needs it back. He is Securing an Advantage with this lie in order to Gather Information from their reaction to it. Two strong hits: Either way, something will be revealed here. We ask the oracle: Are these wardens True or False (50 / 50)? How do they reveal this?
The oracle answers False and "Protect Strategy". These wardens do not have honest motives. Upon hearing the lie, the warden shouts to the uninjured one below. "She survived! Forget about resting, deliver the missive before she can alert anyone!".
Maveth decides they've played their hand, and Enters the Fray against the leader. As the second warden runs to escape with the supply pack, Temir Enters the Fray against him. A strong hit for Temir, but a miss for Maveth. Maveth charges in but takes a nasty hit from the spear, but she presses on. She bashes him with her shield, but would take another spear wound, this time reducing her health to 0 as a result. Instead, she blocks it with her shield, and it breaks. Meanwhile, Temir manages to land a shot against the fleeing warden as he grabs the supply pack, but it's not enough. He's lost the initiative. He needs to Face Danger against the threat of the warden escaping with the missive. A miss. The price is obvious, as the warden disappears into the forest, out of reach. Temir decides to help Maveth instead, and she desparately needs it. Maveth, determined to follow through on her vow, lashes out at the warden with her smithing hammer, a desperate improvised weapon. She takes back the initiative, staggering her foe. At this point, Temir looses a decisive arrow and ends the fight. Despite having 10 progress, it's a weak hit. The arrow goes directly into the warden's throat. They won't be getting answers from him. With the other warden gone, they're forced to end the fight with him at only 4 progress, hoping that his wound will halt his progress. A miss, it seems unlikely.
They quickly head down the cliff to where the wardens were resting. The third, injured warden looks to have perished from his wounds. The wounds look unlike anything a man or animal could inflict, not through the warden's signature iron scale mail. But there's no time to dwell on that. Temir tries to track the escaping warden, and gets a weak hit. There's a clear track, as the warden was trailing some blood. But if Temir's sense of direction is still on point, those track head in the direction of a nearby settlement, and the villagers would surely believe the word of a warden over theirs...
General thoughts:
• We were pretty unclear on how to handle initiative when in a fight of us two against one foe. When the foe has initiative, when can the one of us who isn't being attacked make a move?
• I felt the shield-bearer's starting ability was a bit unfair, in that it required the shield breaking to ever use it. This was jarring because Maveth's shield is a heirloom that's special to her.
• When we rolled the match on the missed Undertake a Journey, it felt obvious we'd be facing some kind of unusual combat threat, but our story kind of ground to a halt while we were mulling over what to use. Maybe there should be a foes and encounters oracle table, or even a creature descriptor/modifier table to create a special variant of a creature, maybe set it apart from normal.
I really enjoyed using oracle table 1 and 2, and interpreting the results.
My wife really likes the way the system forces complications to occur.
It was a fun experience and we'll definitely be continuing our game. Looking forward to the full release!
I've been looking at Ironsworn for a while now, and today finally got a chance to play together with my wife. It was fun!
Here is a playtest report:
Our characters:
I play as Maveth [ Shield-bearer, Honorbound, Wright: Ironsmith ].
Maveth grew up in a settlement in the Tempest Hills called Frostcoming Cross, situated at the mouth of the easiest path down the Veils. Many of those who would come down for the winters would pass through the town. One day, when she was an adolescent, a massive army, well trained and well equipped appeared as if out of nowhere and tore through the town, slaughtering and destorying all. The local Warden gave his life to protect Maveth, and she escaped the carnage with nothing but the very shield that saved her life. When she reached another settlement, none spoke of any signs of an army. They did not believe her tale. None of the other settlements she visited encountered this army, and though Frostcoming was indeed gone, no evidence of an army remained. Her very first Iron Vow was to uncover the truth of the event.
My wife plays as Temir [ Outcast, Archer, Hound: Quillfoot ].
Temir lives as a hunter on the outskirts of the town of Bounty's Edge, where the story begins. Although the town considers him welcome, he purposely keeps his distance. What dark past is he hiding? Recently, Temir has been troubled by visions of one of the mysterious Iron Pillars, but not on land: on an ice sheet, out in the Shattered Plains. Surely such a thing is not possible? And yet, the dream persists.
Our story begins in the town of Bounty's Edge, one of the more well-supplied towns in Haven, but right up to the border of the Hinterlands. Maveth, living here as a smith, is bringing firewood for the forge together with her friend Edda, when Edda spots Temir coming down along the rocky path from the hinterlands, struggling to carry what looks like a body. They rush to help and discover he has found a gravely wounded Warden, and they help bring her to the local herbalist. The herbalist sees that she has a severe spear wound and promises to do what he can, and sends them away. The next dawn, things are looking grim: The warden knows she's not going to make it. She explains that she was going to deliver an important missive to the Tempest Hills, and asks Maveth and Temir to complete her mission.
Maveth swears an iron vow to deliver the missive. She scores a weak hit.
Unfortunately, Temir relieved the warden of her supply pack in order to be able to carry her; and so the missive is still out there, in the forest. With her dying breath, the warden issues a cryptic message: "Don't trust the Wardens." (An earlier oracle roll alluded: Faction Hunt and Ally Betray)
They decide to leave immediately, before the rest of the town awakens. Just to be sure, Maveth asks Edda to provide a cover story for her disappearance. Temir knows this area well, and deftly retraces his steps. We ask the oracle: Is the supply pack still there? The oracle answers that it is not. With the help of his hound, he Gathers Information, to look for tracks. A weak hit, so a complication. We ask the oracle. The oracle answers: Support Idea. They find tracks, but the boot prints match the kind of iron boots the wardens wear. It supports the idea that they are involved in this, which complicates things.
We Undertake a Journey to follow the trail. After an initial weak hit (-1 supply) our next segment is a miss and a match (double 9). The hinterlands are a rough, uneven hilly terrain; a rock gives way under Maveth's boot and she tumbles a long way down a hill. She endures the harm and shrugs it off on a strong hit, but unfortunately, her momentum rolls her right into a Gaunt, which is immediately agitated. We Enter the Fray and miss. Maveth looks up to see what she bumped into, and at first she thinks she's run into some kind of horror. She tests her spirit, and on a weak hit comes out of it with -1 spirit. The Gaunt then tries to trample her, but she Faces the Danger and manages to block it weakly. The gaunt retreats a bit, but only to play to its strengths. It charges in. Maveth decides to fight back, Clashing with it. It hits, but weakly. She's knocked violently aside, taking -2 health, which she endures only barely. Her hit only marks two progress, because she's only got her shield to bash with. Temir tries to Secure and Advantage to join the fight, but stumbles and is brought off-balance. The gaunt continues its charge up the hill, then turns around and charges for Temir now. Temir decides to Face Danger to dodge out of the way, a weak hit. He dodges deftly, actually, but now there's nothing in the way of the Gaunts charge, who is gaining speed on Maveth who has not yet recovered. Temir desparately tries to Aid an Ally by distracting the beast with arrow shots, and gets a fleeting advantage. Maveth manages to Face the Danger, a strong hit. As the gaunt is charging past, Maveth decides to "captain america" her shield at it, which hits, but it's not enough. The gaunt turns around for another charge, and now Maveth is unarmed. Temir fires an arrow at the charging gaunt. It has to count. It does, a strong hit. Temir ends the battle with a strong hit. The arrow strikes true, right into the gaunts eye. It stumbles, and falls before Maveth's feet.
They continue their journey, making camp uneventfully and complete the journey on a weak hit. They approach their quarry from the top of a cliff overlooking a small clearing. Two wardens, one severely wounded, are resting near. Beside the wounded one, the stolen pack of supplies, wherin surely the missive is contained. Before they can decide on how to proceed, a voice shouts out behind them. They turn around to find a third warden, spear raised defensively, shouting a warning. We ask the oracle if they immediately attack us, and the answer is no. Maveth tries to Gather Information, telling them that the supply pack they have with them is the property of someone else and they've been charged with retreiving it. A weak hit. The warden answers that the pack belongs to a fallen warden, and so as wardens it belongs to their care. A solid argument, Maveth and Temir are at a disadvantage. Temir tells them that the warden is still alive and needs it back. He is Securing an Advantage with this lie in order to Gather Information from their reaction to it. Two strong hits: Either way, something will be revealed here. We ask the oracle: Are these wardens True or False (50 / 50)? How do they reveal this?
The oracle answers False and "Protect Strategy". These wardens do not have honest motives. Upon hearing the lie, the warden shouts to the uninjured one below. "She survived! Forget about resting, deliver the missive before she can alert anyone!".
Maveth decides they've played their hand, and Enters the Fray against the leader. As the second warden runs to escape with the supply pack, Temir Enters the Fray against him. A strong hit for Temir, but a miss for Maveth. Maveth charges in but takes a nasty hit from the spear, but she presses on. She bashes him with her shield, but would take another spear wound, this time reducing her health to 0 as a result. Instead, she blocks it with her shield, and it breaks. Meanwhile, Temir manages to land a shot against the fleeing warden as he grabs the supply pack, but it's not enough. He's lost the initiative. He needs to Face Danger against the threat of the warden escaping with the missive. A miss. The price is obvious, as the warden disappears into the forest, out of reach. Temir decides to help Maveth instead, and she desparately needs it. Maveth, determined to follow through on her vow, lashes out at the warden with her smithing hammer, a desperate improvised weapon. She takes back the initiative, staggering her foe. At this point, Temir looses a decisive arrow and ends the fight. Despite having 10 progress, it's a weak hit. The arrow goes directly into the warden's throat. They won't be getting answers from him. With the other warden gone, they're forced to end the fight with him at only 4 progress, hoping that his wound will halt his progress. A miss, it seems unlikely.
They quickly head down the cliff to where the wardens were resting. The third, injured warden looks to have perished from his wounds. The wounds look unlike anything a man or animal could inflict, not through the warden's signature iron scale mail. But there's no time to dwell on that. Temir tries to track the escaping warden, and gets a weak hit. There's a clear track, as the warden was trailing some blood. But if Temir's sense of direction is still on point, those track head in the direction of a nearby settlement, and the villagers would surely believe the word of a warden over theirs...
General thoughts:
• We were pretty unclear on how to handle initiative when in a fight of us two against one foe. When the foe has initiative, when can the one of us who isn't being attacked make a move?
• I felt the shield-bearer's starting ability was a bit unfair, in that it required the shield breaking to ever use it. This was jarring because Maveth's shield is a heirloom that's special to her.
• When we rolled the match on the missed Undertake a Journey, it felt obvious we'd be facing some kind of unusual combat threat, but our story kind of ground to a halt while we were mulling over what to use. Maybe there should be a foes and encounters oracle table, or even a creature descriptor/modifier table to create a special variant of a creature, maybe set it apart from normal.
I really enjoyed using oracle table 1 and 2, and interpreting the results.
My wife really likes the way the system forces complications to occur.
It was a fun experience and we'll definitely be continuing our game. Looking forward to the full release!
Thanks so much for the play report! I'll dig in and give it a read as soon as I'm clear of work, but I did scroll down to take a look at your summary.
ReplyDelete1) Two against one -- if your foe has initiative against one of you, but not the other, then take a look at the situation. Is the person with initiative in a position to act or intercede? If so, let her do it. That's sort of the reward for having initiative. You'll probably lose it soon enough ;)
On a weak hit or a miss, depict the foe's actions as part of the outcome of the move. If you Strike and score a miss, you or your ally can suffer immediate harm as the foe hits back. You aren't necessarily waiting for it to have a "turn". Let the outcome set up what the foe does in response, describe what happens, and play from there. You're always moving from move to move through your characters, and making the actions of your enemy part of the setup and outcome of those moves. So, just go with what feels natural, giving each character some spotlight time. For the character without initiative, their spotlight time will be be making moves to avoid threats or get back in the fight and retake initiative.
And don't forgot about the Aid Your Ally move if one of you is on a string of bad rolls. It gives you both initiative on a strong hit.
2) That's a really good point re: Shield-Bearer. I will give it a look!
3) Also a good point regarding encounters. I've hesitated to build any sort of encounters tables because down that path lies madness. Usually what I do is roll on Action/Theme and see if it sparks anything on the type of encounter. For example, "Protect Family" makes me think of a mother bear protecting its cubs. But, I can see having something that is more geared towards generating an encounter while still keeping it a bit abstract and inspirational. I'll give it some thought.
Thanks so much for trying Ironsworn! Seeing a new play report makes me unreasonably giddy.
Totally gonna read this, hopefully tomorrow. I'm stoked about soloing Ironsworn and this is bound to fan the flames. Pocketed!
ReplyDeleteHi, Karen Lauwers. Have a look at this potential replacement for Shield-Bearer. Let me know what you think!
ReplyDeletedrive.google.com - Ironsworn-Asset-Shield-Bearer.pdf
Karen Lauwers, thank you for posting the play report. I enjoyed the read, particularly the intrigue regarding the false wardens. I'm wondering how deep that conspiracy goes and what its purpose could be! I hope you continue to play and post, we can always use more play reports.
ReplyDeleteShawn Tomkin wrote "I've hesitated to build any sort of encounters tables because down that path lies madness"
ReplyDeleteLOL
Shawn Tomkin It seems neither me nor my wife fully realized that you have to track Initative separately, for each player. That seems to have been the root of our confusion. Does that mean that both players make their own "Enter the Fray" moves, even against a single target?
ReplyDeleteThe replacement shield-bearer looks cool!
Hi, Karen Lauwers. Yes, you'll track your initiative separately, and you each make your own Enter the Fray move. I've done a poor job calling that out in the rules. The example on pages 55-56 is doing a better job of describing the intent, but I'll try to get the rules tweaked to make it clear. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteKaren Lauwers ... I've made some tweaks to the relevant sections of the Moves chapter which I hope helps. See the preview of those pages here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OBXlnrn6fExNsGngBFT3rg3-ZbZuZPZx. I'll update the book itself later this week.
ReplyDeleteReally appreciate you calling this out, as I missed it completely. Sometimes, I was in a bit of a solo frame of mind when writing, and neglected to formalize the considerations for allies.
Would love to add you to my playtesters/contributors list in the book. If that's OK with you, can I get the names you and your wife would like to be credited under?
drive.google.com - Chapter 3 - Updates.pdf
I keep reading amazing Ironsworn reports! The game is great but I initially didn't realise how well designed the setting is too. It must also be that the game has complexity and depth, all IS players are motivated and educated enough to appreciate these qualities :)
ReplyDeleteShawn Tomkin Sorry to leave you hanging! You can credit me under my name as above, and my wife's name is Freja Nordsiek. Haven't got a chance yet to continue playing, but I'm really looking forward to the next session!
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thank you, Karen Lauwers . Looking forward to hearing how things do in your next session.
ReplyDelete