Bruce Meets Ironsworn, part 2: the character.
Originally shared by Bruce Baugh
Bruce Meets Ironsworn, part 2: the character. Now to take that setup and populate it a bit. Let's see what I've got...
• A new form of plague. It greatly weakens its victims but doesn't generally kill them. But it does damage their minds - they lose the ability to speak, and to understand most symbols. Some say they become nascent horrors, but this is far from confirmed. My character doesn't believe it. The overseer is one of those infected, and it's not helping the circle avoid turmoil, that's for sure.
• Unearthed ruins. My imagination leapt to sea caves along a forbidding shore, and the Ironlands have a region like that, the Ragged Coast. In one of them, a vessel of unfamiliar design, with bodies which released the silence plague.
• A vision. My character's repeatedly dreaming of a meadow which, he somehow knows, no horror has ever touched, with a large one of the ancient iron pillars in the middle of it. The cure his circle needs is there, he's sure.
• A childhood encounter with a horror. A four-winged man-sized thing with poisonous fangs descended on a hunting party my character was part of, and killed all the others. He watched in shock, and never raised a weapon...and the horror left him alone. He took an oath then never to raise a weapon again, and he hasn't. The Neverkillers aren't common anywhere in the Ironlands, but they're not completely unknown, and they get respect as long as they have something to offer their circles to make up for what they won't do.
Right. What I've got here is a pacifist ranger, someone who's capable of making the journey from the Ragged Coast across the Deep Wilds of the interior to the relative safety of the Havens, the most densely populated part of the Ironlands, and home to the meadow of his dreams.
On the side, I'm going to go with names that are meaningful in English because I really love Everway and Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist, both of which do that. :)
1. Stats. Five of them:
• Edge: Quickness, agility, and prowess in ranged combat.
• Heart: Courage, willpower, empathy, sociability, and loyalty.
• Iron: Physical strength, endurance, aggressiveness, and prowess in close combat.
• Shadow: Sneakiness, deceptiveness, and cunning.
• Wits: Expertise, knowledge, and observation.
I assign ratings, which'll be your usual sort of bonuses to die rolls: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1. Since this guy is sworn not to fight, I'll put the 1s into Edge and Iron. I'll make his best thing be Heart, figuring that can include non-combat endurance, then Shadow and Wits, and finally Edge and Iron.
2. Health, Spirit, and Supply. These are the character's reservoirs to draw on in the face of adversity - capability to take damage, mental state, and physical resources. They all start at +5, and can go down to +0 in the course of play. (Back up, too, when good things happen.)
3. Momentum. This is a rating that goes up and down in the course of play, and can be used to give a one-time boost to a roll when you really need it. Then it resets to its starting value of +2, and that's where I start it, because it's the starting value, you see. For simplicity's sake, this guy isn't starting off with any debilities, lasting complications that would lower his momentum reset and otherwise complicate his life. There's time for that in play. :)
4. Vows. Ironsworn's all about the oaths, y'know? A character starts with two, one as part of their background and one rising from an inciting incident that opens this particular game.
The background vow is easy here: Do Not Kill. Vows have a difficulty rating of troublesome, dangerous, formidable, extreme, or epic. I'm going to go with "extreme" here.
The inciting incident will be a scene in the character's circle where he decides that he must pursue his dream to save his family and neighbors. I'll do that in play.
5. Bonds. The character's ties to people, places, and such in the world around him. These will matter when it's time to conclude his story and see what sort of outcome and consequences there are to it all. He starts off with one to his circle, and one to the circle's venerable herbmistress, from whom he's learned so much.
6. Assets. All kinds of stuff: human and animal companions, special techniques, distinctive character, etc. You pick three. Let's see what's good for this guy.
• Herbalist. He gets a bonus to heal when he has at least +1 supply and uses herbal remedies. With experience, he can get a wider range of possible bonuses and the ability to make restorative meals as part of making camp.
• Wildblood. He gets a bonus with using his knowledge of tracking, woodcraft, and woodland creatures while facing danger, gathering information, and like that. Later, he'll learn now to get bonuses to his stealthiness and to improving the outcomes involved with making camp.
• Raven. It's me playing, of course there's a pet companion. His raven is sly, and can help him out by performing trickery to boost his chances at facing danger and securing advantages in risky situations. Later, they'll learn how to work together for benefits in facing death, and also in delivering messages and such.
And finally....
7. Name. Yeah, he should have a name, shouldn't he? I love the Sierras and the whole temperate rainforest thing in these parts. My guy is tall and a bit lean (since he's not eating a high-fat diet, and is out in the field a lot), and his adolescent nickname of Redwood became his chosen name when he came of age. Redwood of...time to use some dice and Ironsworn's settlement name oracle. The oracles provide random options for a zillion different things, and do a lot to make solo play feasible. Here we go.
• I roll 14. The settlement is named after a feature of the landscape. Specifically...
• I roll 61. Deepwater.
Redwood of Deepwater Circle it is. His circle has one of the best harbors in that stretch of the Ragged Coast, speaking of those sea caves. He's ready to go into play, but not tonight, for I must rest. :)
Bruce Meets Ironsworn, part 2: the character. Now to take that setup and populate it a bit. Let's see what I've got...
• A new form of plague. It greatly weakens its victims but doesn't generally kill them. But it does damage their minds - they lose the ability to speak, and to understand most symbols. Some say they become nascent horrors, but this is far from confirmed. My character doesn't believe it. The overseer is one of those infected, and it's not helping the circle avoid turmoil, that's for sure.
• Unearthed ruins. My imagination leapt to sea caves along a forbidding shore, and the Ironlands have a region like that, the Ragged Coast. In one of them, a vessel of unfamiliar design, with bodies which released the silence plague.
• A vision. My character's repeatedly dreaming of a meadow which, he somehow knows, no horror has ever touched, with a large one of the ancient iron pillars in the middle of it. The cure his circle needs is there, he's sure.
• A childhood encounter with a horror. A four-winged man-sized thing with poisonous fangs descended on a hunting party my character was part of, and killed all the others. He watched in shock, and never raised a weapon...and the horror left him alone. He took an oath then never to raise a weapon again, and he hasn't. The Neverkillers aren't common anywhere in the Ironlands, but they're not completely unknown, and they get respect as long as they have something to offer their circles to make up for what they won't do.
Right. What I've got here is a pacifist ranger, someone who's capable of making the journey from the Ragged Coast across the Deep Wilds of the interior to the relative safety of the Havens, the most densely populated part of the Ironlands, and home to the meadow of his dreams.
On the side, I'm going to go with names that are meaningful in English because I really love Everway and Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist, both of which do that. :)
1. Stats. Five of them:
• Edge: Quickness, agility, and prowess in ranged combat.
• Heart: Courage, willpower, empathy, sociability, and loyalty.
• Iron: Physical strength, endurance, aggressiveness, and prowess in close combat.
• Shadow: Sneakiness, deceptiveness, and cunning.
• Wits: Expertise, knowledge, and observation.
I assign ratings, which'll be your usual sort of bonuses to die rolls: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1. Since this guy is sworn not to fight, I'll put the 1s into Edge and Iron. I'll make his best thing be Heart, figuring that can include non-combat endurance, then Shadow and Wits, and finally Edge and Iron.
2. Health, Spirit, and Supply. These are the character's reservoirs to draw on in the face of adversity - capability to take damage, mental state, and physical resources. They all start at +5, and can go down to +0 in the course of play. (Back up, too, when good things happen.)
3. Momentum. This is a rating that goes up and down in the course of play, and can be used to give a one-time boost to a roll when you really need it. Then it resets to its starting value of +2, and that's where I start it, because it's the starting value, you see. For simplicity's sake, this guy isn't starting off with any debilities, lasting complications that would lower his momentum reset and otherwise complicate his life. There's time for that in play. :)
4. Vows. Ironsworn's all about the oaths, y'know? A character starts with two, one as part of their background and one rising from an inciting incident that opens this particular game.
The background vow is easy here: Do Not Kill. Vows have a difficulty rating of troublesome, dangerous, formidable, extreme, or epic. I'm going to go with "extreme" here.
The inciting incident will be a scene in the character's circle where he decides that he must pursue his dream to save his family and neighbors. I'll do that in play.
5. Bonds. The character's ties to people, places, and such in the world around him. These will matter when it's time to conclude his story and see what sort of outcome and consequences there are to it all. He starts off with one to his circle, and one to the circle's venerable herbmistress, from whom he's learned so much.
6. Assets. All kinds of stuff: human and animal companions, special techniques, distinctive character, etc. You pick three. Let's see what's good for this guy.
• Herbalist. He gets a bonus to heal when he has at least +1 supply and uses herbal remedies. With experience, he can get a wider range of possible bonuses and the ability to make restorative meals as part of making camp.
• Wildblood. He gets a bonus with using his knowledge of tracking, woodcraft, and woodland creatures while facing danger, gathering information, and like that. Later, he'll learn now to get bonuses to his stealthiness and to improving the outcomes involved with making camp.
• Raven. It's me playing, of course there's a pet companion. His raven is sly, and can help him out by performing trickery to boost his chances at facing danger and securing advantages in risky situations. Later, they'll learn how to work together for benefits in facing death, and also in delivering messages and such.
And finally....
7. Name. Yeah, he should have a name, shouldn't he? I love the Sierras and the whole temperate rainforest thing in these parts. My guy is tall and a bit lean (since he's not eating a high-fat diet, and is out in the field a lot), and his adolescent nickname of Redwood became his chosen name when he came of age. Redwood of...time to use some dice and Ironsworn's settlement name oracle. The oracles provide random options for a zillion different things, and do a lot to make solo play feasible. Here we go.
• I roll 14. The settlement is named after a feature of the landscape. Specifically...
• I roll 61. Deepwater.
Redwood of Deepwater Circle it is. His circle has one of the best harbors in that stretch of the Ragged Coast, speaking of those sea caves. He's ready to go into play, but not tonight, for I must rest. :)
Thanks Brian Isikoff! Really appreciate it.
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