My wife and I are co-op playing in the Firefly/Serenity setting. Largely it is just reskinning assets and fumbling around with rules for a ship. Right now it is a separate entity that has unique Assets attached to it.
A friend of mine also asked about Star Trek as a possible setting so I have a few assets in the hopper there too. If you're interested, I'm glad to share. Honestly, though, I'm incredibly eager to see what +Shawn Tomkin is going to create. hype, hype, hype
Part of the beauty of Ironsworn is its simplicity and the power of abstraction. Being able to zoom in and out on actions and time frame. For now, at least, I've settled into ships don't need attributes. Damage can be handled to the players (panels exploding in Star Trek) and the hit to Spirit/Moral. I think it is better to let ships be handled as part of the fiction. Fail a roll against an enemy ship an instead of damage the Pay the Price can be the weapons systems are down. You can't attack until someone has repaired them. Conflict with another ship can be handled in a scene challenge quite easily and the clock helps keep the tension up. The nature of a schene challenge also really helps to emphasize teamwork.
For the ship to have a bit of character and to build it up over time, assets can be applied. A very fast ship with a good set of engines could have the Swift ability from the horse asset. (i.e. When you Face Danger with +edge using your ships speed and grace, or when you Undertake a Journey, add +1.) I've also moved supply over to the ship, easier to track on one thing than multiple characters anyway and it represent Fuel nicely.
I was thinking that the ship might be made up of Assets. The Assets being along the lines of - Pilot's Seat, Gunner's Seat, Sensor's Seat, Engineer's Seat, Co-Pilot's Seat, Science Lab, Sick Bay, Cargo Hold, Upgraded Weapons, etc. Each ship would start off with a number of Assets equal to the players + 2. Whenever combat (or other interesting events) happened the players would take one of the "seats" to indicate what they could do. The non seat assets would provide other appropriate moves.
Having the ship be composed of assets would make it more tangible to players. They could literally see what the ship is composed of and can potentially make interesting decisions about what to include. (i.e. do we take the medical bay or the science lab?)
If you do go that route, I might make a few ship assets standard or default. Something like Pilot Seat & Engineering + Assets = Number of Players.
My concern with that route is that that the game would become very asset heavy and that makes a lot to keep track off. Assuming 3 players, with 3 assets each plus another 5 for the ship, we have a total of 14 assets at start.
The ship assets could act as permissions without modifies. Rather like how Ironsworn treats equipment. A bow doesn't grand me a bonus, but it gives permission to use Strike at range. Similarly, having a pilot chair doesn't give any bonus, but it allows you to fly the ship. That would cut down on the amount of information that the players need to absorb at the start.
Upgrades, mechanical bonus, for the ship could be purchased later of course. My humble $0.02. Of course do whatever you and your group find to be fun!
Ship assets represent what is special about the ship, rather than trying to cover every role and function. Ships are expected to do certain things, like fly, scan, shoot, etc., so we don't need an asset for each station. Instead, you have assets for your ship's unique capabilities. Probably 3 to start, just like characters. If you have multiple PC's, they can pool XP to buy or upgrade assets. There will also be an option to swap out assets if you decide to put your ship in for a refit.
And, it's always from the character's perspective, so the character makes moves aided by the ship's assets, rather than the ship acting independently (unless your character is the sentient ship itself ... hmmmm ...)
Also, in support of solo play, I don't want to get hung up on trying to fill stations with characters. But, I also need to make sure everyone is engaged in shipboard actions and has something to do. So, there's a balance to be struck there.
I believe Jeremiah Wenneker has come the closest thus far, though give me a few months ;)
ReplyDeleteSee Jeremiah's play report here: plus.google.com - In eager anticipation of a Sci-Fi version of Ironsworn, my wife and I sat dow...
My wife and I are co-op playing in the Firefly/Serenity setting. Largely it is just reskinning assets and fumbling around with rules for a ship. Right now it is a separate entity that has unique Assets attached to it.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine also asked about Star Trek as a possible setting so I have a few assets in the hopper there too. If you're interested, I'm glad to share. Honestly, though, I'm incredibly eager to see what +Shawn Tomkin is going to create. hype, hype, hype
I'm facilitating a three player co-op game the last weekend of next month. If I have a sci-fi hack ready I'll run that, if not it'll be core.
ReplyDeleteI'm at the re-skinning phase and pondering how to do ships.
I too am very keen to see what Shawn comes up with!
Part of the beauty of Ironsworn is its simplicity and the power of abstraction. Being able to zoom in and out on actions and time frame. For now, at least, I've settled into ships don't need attributes. Damage can be handled to the players (panels exploding in Star Trek) and the hit to Spirit/Moral. I think it is better to let ships be handled as part of the fiction. Fail a roll against an enemy ship an instead of damage the Pay the Price can be the weapons systems are down. You can't attack until someone has repaired them. Conflict with another ship can be handled in a scene challenge quite easily and the clock helps keep the tension up. The nature of a schene challenge also really helps to emphasize teamwork.
ReplyDeleteFor the ship to have a bit of character and to build it up over time, assets can be applied. A very fast ship with a good set of engines could have the Swift ability from the horse asset. (i.e. When you Face Danger with +edge using your ships speed and grace, or when you Undertake a Journey, add +1.) I've also moved supply over to the ship, easier to track on one thing than multiple characters anyway and it represent Fuel nicely.
I was thinking that the ship might be made up of Assets. The Assets being along the lines of - Pilot's Seat, Gunner's Seat, Sensor's Seat, Engineer's Seat, Co-Pilot's Seat, Science Lab, Sick Bay, Cargo Hold, Upgraded Weapons, etc. Each ship would start off with a number of Assets equal to the players + 2. Whenever combat (or other interesting events) happened the players would take one of the "seats" to indicate what they could do. The non seat assets would provide other appropriate moves.
ReplyDeleteHaving the ship be composed of assets would make it more tangible to players. They could literally see what the ship is composed of and can potentially make interesting decisions about what to include. (i.e. do we take the medical bay or the science lab?)
ReplyDeleteIf you do go that route, I might make a few ship assets standard or default. Something like Pilot Seat & Engineering + Assets = Number of Players.
My concern with that route is that that the game would become very asset heavy and that makes a lot to keep track off. Assuming 3 players, with 3 assets each plus another 5 for the ship, we have a total of 14 assets at start.
The ship assets could act as permissions without modifies. Rather like how Ironsworn treats equipment. A bow doesn't grand me a bonus, but it gives permission to use Strike at range. Similarly, having a pilot chair doesn't give any bonus, but it allows you to fly the ship. That would cut down on the amount of information that the players need to absorb at the start.
Upgrades, mechanical bonus, for the ship could be purchased later of course. My humble $0.02. Of course do whatever you and your group find to be fun!
How I'm planning on handling it:
ReplyDeleteShip assets represent what is special about the ship, rather than trying to cover every role and function. Ships are expected to do certain things, like fly, scan, shoot, etc., so we don't need an asset for each station. Instead, you have assets for your ship's unique capabilities. Probably 3 to start, just like characters. If you have multiple PC's, they can pool XP to buy or upgrade assets. There will also be an option to swap out assets if you decide to put your ship in for a refit.
And, it's always from the character's perspective, so the character makes moves aided by the ship's assets, rather than the ship acting independently (unless your character is the sentient ship itself ... hmmmm ...)
Also, in support of solo play, I don't want to get hung up on trying to fill stations with characters. But, I also need to make sure everyone is engaged in shipboard actions and has something to do. So, there's a balance to be struck there.
I think I'll just wait :)
ReplyDelete