This is entirely premature, but it's fun to think and talk about, so let's do it anyway.
This is entirely premature, but it's fun to think and talk about, so let's do it anyway.
My plan/hope after I get Ironsworn sorted is to start work on a compendium of alternate settings and supporting mechanics. The working title is "Ironsworn Worlds".
I am undecided if this is a series of mini-supplements under the "Worlds" banner, or a collected compendium, or both.
This would include mild alternations to moves and mechanics to support different settings and genres. For example, it'll have rules for introducing vehicles as a sub-character with its own assets.
Each World would include info similar to what I do for the Ironlands in the core book (regions, NPCs, your truths,maybe some custom oracles, etc.). Assets for each would be provided as separate downloads. My thoughts on what to include changes almost daily, but I've got some notes on the following:
* Gritty, spacebound adventures in the maelstrom, a region of chaotic space inhabited by outcasts.
* Adrenaline-fueled adventures on the wastelands of mars. Think John Carter meets Fury Road.
* Age of Sail and musketry in a frozen post-apocalypse. "The Terror" on AMC arrived at just the right time to move this one up higher in my wish-list.
* High-fantasy in the Eternal Weald, an endless, sentient forest of shifting realities.
For each setting, the core precepts of Ironsworn would remain. Dangerous environments, sworn vows, and quest-driven stories. Even if you ignore the settings (as many do with the core), the assets and tweaks would allow you to adapt Ironsworn to your own campaigns in different genres.
Art will be an issue here. I like the photo-aesthetic of Ironsworn, but it won't work for Worlds. So, I'll have to decide whether to release in minimalist form, or make a significant investment in art.
Sorry for the long post, but it's been on my mind, particularly as Ironsworn has gotten a bit of wind in its sails over the past couple of weeks. Thoughts? What settings/genres would you like to see? Would you prefer a single compendium which consolidates the rules/options/settings, or multiple smaller releases that let you pick-and-choose?
While I'm overloaded with RpGs, in these years, I still think it could be a nice addition to your Ironsworn. A little suggestion: avoid "Worlds" as term. We are already overwhelmed by "Worlds" like things. Savage Worlds (and all its * Worlds settings), all the alternative PbtA * World games, Worlds of Fate... etc. etc. :D
ReplyDeleteSearch for another evocative term. Maybe "Shards" or "Slivers".
In my actual Ironsworn solo game, my character said something like "I just added a iron lamina to my iron vow". I thought that "Lamina" can be an evocative name for a little piece added to the (still not complete) whole iron vow. You can see the vow as a whole blade, or armor, and each lamina makes you nearer to the conclusion.
I think this will be a fantastic addition to Ironsworn!
ReplyDeleteWeird West (a la The Dark Tower) is the setting I would most love to see. I think Ironsworn's sworn vows and quest-driven stories are a great fit for Western motifs. It's the perfect system to power a story of gunslingers roaming the desolate expanses of the West, correcting wrongs and protecting townfolk from dangers both human and supernatural.
IMHO multiple smaller releases is preferable to a single large tome. As you mentioned, this allows players to pick and choose what they like. Also, smaller releases hopefully translate to less work for you on a per-release basis, which means we can get our hands on the new toys that much sooner :)
Dissent on Worlds, FWIW. I like Worlds as a title. It's reasonably clear about what the content is. It doesn't need to be different for the sake of being different.
ReplyDeleteI need this in my lfe.
ReplyDeleteI want sci-fi ironsworn SO bad!
ReplyDeleteAnything Firefly/Killjoy inspired is my jam.
ReplyDeleteHow does "Ironsworn" or "sworn vows" translate into sci-fi, post-apocalypse, urban fantasy, etc?
ReplyDeleteYes, this is me challenging the notion that people won't be super confused if they are exposed to one of the alternate settings before they are exposed to Ironsworn core...
Thought of alternate settings... But would be glad someone else does the work... Especially for the assets
ReplyDeleteBenny Tsai ... Weird West would make a lot of sense. There's a lot of western tropes in Ironsworn DNA, and even "swearing on iron" is thematically appropriate. It's been in the back of my mind, but I don't really have a "hook" as of yet.
ReplyDeleteOmari Brooks .. Ironsworn core would be required (it's free after all), so folks won't be introduced to the theme and rules through one of the worlds. And, my goal would be to translate the basic idea of iron vows in an appropriate way to each setting without being too ham-handed about it.
I like your ideas, Shawn Tomkin! I have a cold-war-on-Mars campaign that has been frozen for years...the Mars setting could revive it! Lately I have also been thinking of pirates: mine would be more traditional tropical seas in the XVIII century, but I guess that the new settings will be as flexible as the original.
ReplyDeleteLately I have seen Troy on Netflix (excellent show!) and I have a soft-spot for classical themes in general: gladiators, Roman empire etc. But maybe the Ironlands setting is low-tech / low-magic enough to be portable as-is in this case.
Benny Tsai I agree on smaller releases being preferable!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the design rationale of keeping the core precepts? is it about esthetics or solo support?
ReplyDeleteMarcus Burggraf yep. This. Planet exploration would be great.
ReplyDeleteIvan Vaghi ... the quest-driven gameplay loops are pretty central to what makes Ironsworn tick. Also, everything I do will be from a standpoint of support for solo/GM-less play. So, both thematically and mechanically, I don't want to reinvent the game with expansions. It's more about expanding the toolkit and creating more options.
ReplyDeleteEvandro Novel Gladiators! That would be really interesting! I’m thinking of the sworn vows as those you would recite during your initiation ritual in front of your Dominus/Domina at the ludus! And, maybe that world could be called BloodSworn, as gladiator games were in essence forged on sand and blood (think of both Spartacus the classic movie, and the series).
ReplyDeleteThe exploration part of the game could be found in different ways like: trying to gain your freedom, finding ultimate glory as the Empire’s gladiatorial champion, ascending from the arena to a soldier bound to the glory of the Emperor, starting a rebellion, getting revenge on your captors, acquiring enough riches to buy your freedom and build your own ludus!
Aaaand, your assets could be different weapons, cultural traits (e.g. a Gaul, a Thracian, an Egyptian), backgrounds (e.g. fugitive, former soldier, former merchant), gladiatorial specialization (e.g. retiarius, murmillo, thraex), and instead of rituals you could have divine favors and curses
Also, depending on your current condition (e.g. in the ludus) you could perform certain moves at certain times, and some moves would be mandatory for certain events that could be generated whenever a given condition is met ( like a sort of chaos factor that triggers arena fights, tournaments, etc). For example, if your momentum is too low, you could be sent to face a ridiculously unbalanced fight to represent your Dominus’ displeasure towards you.
I'm really excited for Eternal Weald! That sounds really cool and very close to an idea I had but never really did anything with. Rules for Shapeshifting characters would be cool too (more like WoW druid, not lycanthrope)
ReplyDelete"* Gritty, spacebound adventures in the maelstrom, a region of chaotic space inhabited by outcasts."
ReplyDeleteShut up and take my money.
Eu tenho feito testes com jogos de Naruto e também Attack on Titan.
ReplyDeleteTem dado certo sem modificar as regras, até agora, pelo menos.
A única coisa que eu mudei é a estética, enquanto a mecânica permanece a mesma.
Shawn Tomkin: smaller releases.
ReplyDeletefor another setting idea, something like the movies ANNIHILATION or STALKER to their literary source materials, the Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer and ROADSIDE PICNIC by the Strutgatsky brothers.
on a related note, your Eternal Weald sounds like Robert Holdstock's Mythago Woods books. intentionally, I guess?
naming suggestion: IRONSWORN ALTERNATIVES?
Hadn't heard of Mythago wood, Ria Ora, but looking at the Wikipedia page -- yeah, there's some similar concepts at work for sure. There's no new ideas, after all.
ReplyDeleteShawn Tomkin: nothing to add to that really, except I forgot to say that the graphic you came up with up looks great.
ReplyDeleteI think multiple smaller releases would be better, then it doesn't muddy the waters too much. Maybe mention the other setting options in the core book but then offer the meat of them as separate downloads.
ReplyDeleteJack Vances The Gaean Reach and some of his other space opera. I really like his sci-fi, as its mostly gadgetless and character driven, with strong vows.
ReplyDeleteI thought Weald was a typo at first (for world) – had to look it up. That one sounds fun. The reference to high magic as well as “shifting realities” makes me think of the board game Magic Realm. It was basically the first “RPG on a board”, published in the seventies, and has a feature where the world literally shifts (changing the layout of the board). I have occasionally tried to do solo RPG systems in the setting of that board game. And, in fact, I debated whether to try Ironsworn with the Magic Realm setting, instead of the default setting. I think it would be a great fit. The absence of high magic rules in default Ironsworn can be dealt with by just playing a non-magic or low magic character.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of board games, I’d love to see a "weird west meets Cthulhu" RPG that captures the spirit of Shadows of Brimstone.
The gritty sci-fi sounds fun too, although I imagine it starts to get harder to justify the vow as a cultural thing. Or maybe not – I’m not familiar with the Vance stories that Allan Prewett mentioned.
Also, anything with monster hunting as the focus would be really cool. To continue with board game references, I’m thinking of A Touch of Evil, which is set in a post-colonial U.S. beset by vampires, werewolves, ghosts and so on.
Agree with everyone else on small releases being preferable... especially as they can be released as you complete them and we don't have to wait for you to get them all done to get the first one. They'll be like assets that way you can tinker with them as they inspire you and put them down and do other things when they don't. Eventually you might start bundling say 5 at a time and offering POD options on the compendiums - especially if they share core rule changes and asset lists - but really each will be its own thing.
ReplyDeleteHeck you could even add a section to this group for Worlds or whatever you end up calling them and the community can contribute especially after you have established a couple and we get a feel for the format. As it is from people's play reports we've (the community) been playing Ironsworn in a few alternate settings already. Plenty of possibilities don't really need any rule changes at all other than switching the visuals. Having a pile of setting that do have changes and a good layout for the Your Truths sections and alternate Oracles will be awesome.
ReplyDeleteIn cyberpunk and some sci-fi versions, the alternative for iron vows could be contracts signed with a powerful corporation.
ReplyDeleteShawn Tomkin, my $0.02 would be that smaller single setting releases would preferable and I suspect would more easily manageable as well. Also, I'd like to echo Andrea Parducci. While the word "Worlds" captures what your doing, it feels a bit overused. Something more evocative is desirable. Shards was mentioned above, so let me add mirrors, reflections, and mirages to the pool of idea fodder. E.g. "Reflections of Iron", or some such. Though surely the more eloquent people on the board can come up with something more polished.
ReplyDeleteNow onto the shameless fawning over the idea. More Ironsworn settings would be fabulous and I'm especially eager for the Sci-Fi Space and John Carter/Fury Road settings. Perhaps it is the classic nature of sci-fi centered on Mars (Bradbury & Burroughs) but the setting idea feels very primal to me. The idea Red Iron, Iron Canals, or whatever you end up calling it is exciting.
Jeremy Epp I agree that "Community worlds" could be created and shared, after Shawn has provided an official format and a few examples. This sounds very exciting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input, everyone. It's really appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI think we have a strong consensus on individual releases, so that's the plan.
As for "Worlds", I agree that it's a bit passe, and something with some stronger branding would be nice. At the same time, it's easy to be too clever by half. Working title for now, and we'll see what happens.
Regarding community content: I'll have a banner for the "official" line of stuff, but I'll also have a creative commons SRD for other folks to take the ball and run with it.
It's all a bit cart before horse, and we'll see how the core book does once it's in official/final release and POD.
But keep the thoughts/ideas coming. I am easily swayed and distracted by shiny things, and there's been some great ideas already.
Shawn Tomkin here’s another vote for a blackpowder and/or swashbuckling setting.
ReplyDeleteI’m a big fan of historical and alt-historical so almost anything from Bronze Age to modern. I think your big hits there are Age of Heroes, Medieval, and Blackpowder. Clearly, lots of time/places to cover but generic around each of those would give tinkerers a tool-box from which to craft their own campaigns.
Also, I think an espionage tool-kit would be awesome as well - again, you probably would need to think about time period and it’s likely you could attach play styles like spies to whatever historical period you may b going for.
Meant to add that I think the system already does a good job in striking that Dark Ages/Early Medieval/Viking Age.
A Medieval/Renaissance add-in would be great and, for me at least, it would be less about the setting as it would be about the player-facing components to real build-out the feel of the era.
Bjorsa Brimrsson: how would you work the espionage one? I can see it being following agents in deep cover more than James Bond-style stuff.
ReplyDeleteMartin Bentley well, I don't think the current system is too far off using for an espionage campaign - you'd probably need to lightly reskin some of the moves. The general sense of Face Danger, Undertake Journey, Clash, etc. would work just fine.
ReplyDeleteMost of the work would be in adding Assets that would give you the approach your protagonist would take and/or what role they serve in whatever service (or, freelance) they work.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI am not really sure why you need the dangerous environment, though.
I could see also a fairy tale setting based on the flavour of the classic fairy tales, with kings, queens, tricksters, giants, and unicorns and quests abounding.
Another interesting setting would be Edo era Japan with Japanese mystic creatures. Having a rather formal society permeated with the supernatural, often linked to debts owned or wrongs that need to be righted seems to be a good match for the vow mechanism.
Yours,
Deathworks
Horror is something I'd like to see here, or modern day tropes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the concepts of Edo, Cyberpunk, sci-fi, and espionage. Would the Fury Road/Mars cover something post-apocalyptic like Fallout? And I got chills when someone mentioned doing Ironsworn in urban fantasy--I've yet to find a game I enjoy that does this well. I'll throw another one out there as well--80s action flicks. Imagine your favorite 80s action movies with PLOT and character depth. They don't HAVE to be mutually exclusive. Heck, I almost want to start a separate string to see people's ideas on what this wouldn't work with and why because I find myself hard pressed to come up with anything. Really, this system is great and I'm looking forward to using it. I've got the group on a fantasy kick right now with another game, so bringing this in for a different genre would be easier.
ReplyDeleteCameron Corniuk Funny enough, Ironsworn works for many things. Peoplr have wanted a genre-agnostic PBTA game for years and this might be it! I'm playing 3 games, 1 with a friend, 1 with my group and 1 solo. They're Edo period horror fantasy, Final Fantasy and Victorian Dark Fantasy respectively, and Ironsworn works GREAT for all, and best of all, we need no GM.
ReplyDeleteDavid Álvarez ... You realize you are now required by law to tell us more, right? Would love to have you start a topic when you have time and tell us about your games. They sound awesome and unexpected.
ReplyDeleteI've been playing Horizon Zero Dawn lately, as well as playing a co-op game of Ironsworn with a buddy via slack, and I'm kind of excited to play a game of Ironsworn in the world of HZD now :)
ReplyDeleteMichael Barrett ... I think Horizon Zero Dawn is a good fit. John Risus had a few sessions in that world. There's even a handful of assets for it floating around if you search for "horizon zero dawn" in the community.
ReplyDeleteI've never played the game, but I really liked the tribal post-robot-apocalypse thing it had going on.
Michael Barrett IMHO it works really well for HZD. Since i couldn't play the game, I tried it as a setting for Ironsworn based on a playthrough that I watched.
ReplyDeleteAwesome- yeah, it seems like it would fit really, really well.
ReplyDeleteIonsworn? :p
ReplyDeleteShawn Tomkin It looks great. In fact, i would love to see something like: Bronzesworn, a greek-scenary for IRONSWORN. After all, the most of work already is done. Is just about create the asset cards, write the scenary and voilá. Would be an honor be part of this.
ReplyDeleteI see a plenty of scenarios for it.
ReplyDeleteThe Age of Sail setting sounds phenomenal. I would honestly love an outright historical one as well, if you felt up to it. Super excited to see any and all of these.
ReplyDeleteRafael Farner I would play the everloving Hades out of that.
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest 1930's Detective Noir? Instead of Vows you have Cases. The bond system would work well with Clients/Sources. It's got murder mysteries, cheating spouses, missing persons, and police/government corruption. You'd probably have to switch out the journeying moves with something more tailored to searching for clues. Ooo, but a randomized clue chart would be so cool. I only just discovered Ironsworn, but one of my favorite parts was how you wrote the setting as a series of options, allowing you to customize things in a very methodical manner. I normally hate the setting part of any RPG book, but I loved how you did it. Hopefully, you write Worlds in a similar manner.
ReplyDeleteNoir would be cool, Kiyomi McFarlane! Progress tracks might lend themselves to moving through a mystery.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, making sure the settings are open and customizable would be the goal. Thanks for checking out Ironsworn!
I've always liked the way Worlds of Fate were presented, so maybe compendium books with 5-10 worlds for the shorter or more fringe adaptations and then longer books focusing on one world each. You could even start with the compendium and grow the most popular worlds into more detailed books once you have some feedback. The compendiums would also be a way of publishing worlds from other authors - again, much like Worlds of fate.
ReplyDeleteI’d love to see a Lovecraftian Horror setting for Ironsworn.
ReplyDeleteA western would be great to. something like dust devils and deadlands would work perfectly.
ReplyDeleteDavid Álvarez That's inspirational! I'm now thinking about running The Ruined Empire setting with Ironsworn! The campaign frame would be something like Seven Samurai with added Yokai!
ReplyDeleteWould love to see cyberpunk and gritty space opera settings for Ironsworn!
ReplyDelete