I was going to post my thoughts about combat in Ironsworn, but they got a little long, so I put them on my blog...
I was going to post my thoughts about combat in Ironsworn, but they got a little long, so I put them on my blog instead (apologies for the shameless self-promotion). I hope they're of interest to others.
The TL;DR is this: I love Initiative, and I like Harm/Progress. I'm scared of lethal weapons. I find it a little hard to break out of a linear combat cycle for my character, but it might be that my style needs work. Balancing initiative, resources and the desperate desire to make Progress is something I should improve.
I should probably point out, if it's not previously been made obvious, that I am very much from the narrativist camp of RPG design. This probably colours my opinion of structured narrative scenes like combat.
https://phophosolo.home.blog/2019/01/02/combat-in-ironsworn/
The TL;DR is this: I love Initiative, and I like Harm/Progress. I'm scared of lethal weapons. I find it a little hard to break out of a linear combat cycle for my character, but it might be that my style needs work. Balancing initiative, resources and the desperate desire to make Progress is something I should improve.
I should probably point out, if it's not previously been made obvious, that I am very much from the narrativist camp of RPG design. This probably colours my opinion of structured narrative scenes like combat.
https://phophosolo.home.blog/2019/01/02/combat-in-ironsworn/
Great post, Marcus Shepherd. Thanks for your observations! Couple of thoughts/suggestions:
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned Face Danger and Secure an Advantage, and those are absolutely moves that will/should get a fair bit of play in combat. Face Danger is how you react to situational threats, such as when you need to overcome an obstacle or react to a foe attempting to gain advantage through some sort of maneuver. Also, when you don't have initiative and your foe attacks, you will generally face a decision of whether to Clash or Face Danger. The latter is a good choice if you want to try to avoid damage and want some flexibility on how you envision your response and what stat you use. The former gives you an opportunity to inflict harm, but a weak hit carries a greater cost if you are fighting a foe greater than troublesome.
In the fiction, when you Face Danger against a physical attack you are focusing on defense: Dodging out of the way, ducking behind your shield, taking cover, etc. When you choose to Clash, you are mixing it up but putting yourself in harm's way.
See pages 85-86 for more on Face Danger in a fight.
When you have initiative, Secure an Advantage gives you the same flexibility with stat choice and an opportunity to build momentum. Some combat-focused characters will have assets that make them natural momentum-builders in a fight. For others, Secure an Advantage is relatively low-risk (in fact, a weak hit actually rewards you with momentum), and offers an opportunity to introduce more interesting or dramatic tactics into the scene.
For Pay the Price, keep in mind that the "most obvious negative outcome" is only one of the choices, and harm doesn't need to be the default. In fact, as a solo player against higher-ranked foes you'll find yourself doing things like adding complications or relying on other status tracks (getting knocked down, getting disarmed, resisting a demoralizing taunt). Your limited ability to suffer harm hopefully leads naturally into choices that make for a more diverse actions (for you and your foe), and a more interesting scene.
If you are coming from a narrative perspective, you will find that there is a bit more structure and meta-tactics in Ironsworn combat. That's a bit of a feature or a bug, depending on your tastes. If you want to focus more on narrative, you can follow the fiction, make your foes actions dramatic and interesting, envision how you react, and then look to the move triggers to resolve the outcome without consideration of what is your optimal mechanical choice.
All that said, I will say that your combat scenes read great! Something is working, even if you are the one doing the heavy lifting :)