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theresattrpgforthat · 2 years ago

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THEME: Ironsworn/Starforged Hacks

This week’s recommendations are all inspired by Ironsworn, by Shawn Tomkin, or Starforged, its science-fantasy successor.

Inspired by PbtA games, Ironsworn stands out because it can be played solo, GM-less, or as a traditional roleplaying game - and the PDF of the rulebook, a work of stellar quality, is free. It uses unique mechanics such as Vows, Momentum, and Supply to support play - Vows being personal goals that drive the character’s story and generate progression, Momentum being an asset that can be used to track your character’s general level level of success, and Supply being a representation of how prepared or energetic your characters are.

While Ironsworn is a game of fantasy adventuring, Starforged takes cues from space fiction and science fantasy, and comes with unique character pieces and a planet generator.

Let’s take a look at some of the hacks created out of these games!

Iron Valley, by M. Kirin.

Iron Valley is a cozy solo ttrpg hack for Ironsworn and Starforged.

In this game you take the role of someone moving into a small community and starting their life anew. Maybe you’ll restore your family’s farm. Maybe you’ll explore the mysterious forest just beyond town. Maybe you’ll fall in love and get married! This is a game about living a cozy life with good company, one day at a time.

As a farming simulation, this is a great example of a cozy game. Follow the course of a year, making a new home for yourself using a simplified version of Ironsworn. Fundamentally, the game revolves around the promises you make to your friends, losing track of time instead of hit points.

This is a chunky game that takes some set-up, that a single can play over many days or weeks. It’s something that requires a bit of work to put together, but you can pick it up a little bit at a time if you’re looking for sustained play, and you don’t have to work with a group to try and schedule game time.

Stonebound, by S0ra.

The Dawnlands are filled with various groups of palaeolithic humans, all trying their best to survive in this prehistoric world, where they are far from the top of the food chain.

You are not like them.

You will venture forth from your home, rise up and challenge the monstrous creatures who roam this land, discover secrets better left forgotten, protect your people from the feral horrors that rise in the night, bind your will and your word to the sacred stone of this land and become Stonebound.

This isn’t much of a departure from the original Ironsworn: the author describes it as a re-skin, with new assets and foes to make the system fit in a stone-and-sorcery kind of setting. The game is still in development, so changes might continue being added, but the game is Pay What You Want for now! In Stonebound, stone replaces iron as the way by which you make vows, and as a result stone becomes a vital part of the landscape. If you really like the way Ironsworn plays but are interested to see how it looks in a new setting, you might want to check this game out.

Cybersworn, by Homebrewster, and Hyper City, by Thomas Manuel.

You’ll need to know how Ironsworn or Starforged works in order to play these hacks. Cybersworn is meant to fit a number of different flavours of cyberpunk; from high-magic settings, to low-magic settings, to settings with cyborgs or a virtual other space. It provides new pieces to slot into the basic ruleset to make the game neon and gritty. And just like Ironsworn, this game is free!

Hyper City is a specific corporate dystopia that you build based on a real city that you’re interested in. It uses Burning Questions rather than Iron Vows, it provides a mode of play that focuses on investigation and exploration, rather than action and adventure. Hyper City is also designed to be played “solo together,” as described by the designer. Each player is playing their own solo journey, but their characters can interact with each-other via messaging apps or something similar to trade information and give each-other updates.

These games aren’t designed to necessarily be played together, but since they’re built for the same system, it’s likely easy to steal a little from one to place into the other. If you’re into cyberpunk and building your own city, these might be worth checking out!

Silversworn, by fyret.

This is a hack about being a werewolf (possibly in space). It is a hack about rage and trying your best to hide it. It is a hack about finding what lengths you'll go to keep the beast inside, and what carnage you'll bring when it is unleashed.

This game specifically alters the rules of Ironsworn to allow you to play as a werewolf character. One of the basic moves, Face Desolation, is replaced by Face Rampage, which is meant to replicate your struggle to keep your human form. Apart from mechanical changes, this hack comes with some tips about playing as a werewolf, especially when you’ve transformed. The game also comes with a new series of Truths and Assets, to help you build the world you want, whether you want to tell a story within the fantasy world of Ironsworn, or the galaxy of Starforged.

If you want to see more genre hacks of these games, I’d recommend checking out the Starforged 2023 Jam on Itch.io.

#ironsworn #starforged #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #tabletop games

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foundry-fabrications · 2 years ago

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System Spotlight: Ironsworn

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever System Spotlight! Before we begin, let me explain a little about what this is and what to expect.

This is a series I've wanted to do for a while where I talk about RPGs other than D&D, their mechanics, and my overall thoughts on them. There are thousands of wonderful RPGs out there and I want to shine a spotlight on some of the ones I feel could use more love or just give my two cents on ones that are already popular.

This won't be a regular weekly series or anything like that, but I do want to write these so there's less of a gap between content posts. I also want to use them as a sort of primer/101 for future projects made for those systems. I'm known for 5th edition and it's likely the system you fine folk are most familiar with so I want to give you the basics of whatever system I'm working with so the associated project makes some sense. And hey, if even one of you takes in interest in a game I talk about then that's a win in my book.

I would also like to preface that I have not actually played every game I will be talking about in this series, though I have read about them and gone through whatever core rules they have at the very least. I will state whether or not I have played in each post for transparency and so you can judge my opinions accordingly.

Anyway, that's enough preamble, let's Undertake a Journey and talk about Ironsworn!

Are you the Forever GM and never get to play? Are you in-between games or groups and want something to scratch that RPG itch? Perhaps you want to try GMing your own game but don't want the pressure of other players. You're not alone! Turns out there is a huge community for the solo play of RPGs and I am fascinated by it. People have been finding ways to play RPGs by themselves for years and there are lots of tools to let people do just that (I'll get to those at some point), but recently there has been a certain game that has become very popular that is built for just such a method of play.

Created by the wonderful Shawn Tomkin, Ironsworn is game built from the ground up to be solo or co-op and entirely GMless, though you can play traditionally if you wish. It's based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system and is more narrative than mechanics focused unlike a lot of other RPGs, especially games like D&D. Basically, the mechanics are designed to be in service of the story. Speaking of mechanics, let's talk about ‘em!

Dice

Starting with dice, Ironsworn uses a d6 and two d10s for everything. The d6 is your Action Die and acts like a d20 in other systems. The two d10s are your Challenge Dice, which set the difficulty of whatever it is you're trying to roll for.

When you roll to do something, you roll the d6 and d10s together adding your relevant stat and any bonuses you have to the d6. If your action die is over both challenge dice, you get a Strong Hit. If it's only over one of the challenge dice, it's a Weak Hit. But if it's under both of the challenge dice then it's a Miss. Now, if both of the challenge dice are the same, you either have a Strong Hit or Miss with a Match. Matches are like crits in other games, making your Strong Hit or Miss way better or way worse for you.

Moves

So how do you actually do stuff? Like most PbtA games, you make Moves, each with their own mechanics that tell you how to resolve them. For example, let's look at a common move: Gather Information.

For this example, we roll our dice and get a 3 on the Action Die and a 4 and an 8 on the Challenge Dice. We'll say our character has a 2 for Wits and no other bonuses, bringing our Action Die total to 5. This would be a Weak Hit, revealing some troubling information and giving us +1 Momentum (we'll get to momentum in a bit). Pretty simple, right? Whatever you want to do, there's a move for it.

Momentum

Now, about momentum. Momentum is a really cool mechanic that gives you some much needed control over your dice when you really need it. Most moves give you momentum when you succeed, up to a max of 10. When you roll, you can burn your momentum to cancel out any challenge die that is less than your momentum, letting you turn a Miss into a Weak Hit or a Weak Hit into a Strong Hit. Your momentum then gets reset back down to 2 so you always have a little.

Characters

Ok, let's talk character creation! Characters in Ironsworn have 5 stats: Edge, Heart, Iron, Shadow, and Wits. Edge is your quickness and is for ranged combat; Heart is your courage and charisma; Iron is your strength, constitution, and is for melee combat; Shadow is your sneakiness and cunning; Wits is your intelligence and wisdom. You set your stats with a stat array, putting one number for each stat: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1. They even have alternate arrays with higher and lower numbers to make the game easier or harder, which is cool. Your stats will never change during a game so be sure to choose wisely.

Health, Spirit, and Supply

Characters have 3 meters to represent their status: Health, Spirit, and Supply. They each start at 5 and can be increased or decreased by failing moves or taking damage. Health and Spirit are pretty self explanatory, representing your overall physical health and stress levels. Supply is a little different. You don't have equipment, money, or resources in Ironsworn so Supply is used as an abstract representation of how prepared you are during your adventures.

Assets

Now it's time to pick your assets. Assets represent your skills and traits, giving you bonuses to certain things and letting you make new moves. There are 4 asset types: Companions, Paths, Combat Talents, and Rituals. Companions are pretty self explanatory. Paths are your background, skills, and training. Combat Talents let you do special moves with whatever weapon you wield. Finally, Rituals are how you perform big magic in the world of Ironsworn. You get any 3 assets of your choice when you create your character and you can get more through character progression. Assets can also be upgraded, unlocking new abilities and benefits.

Iron Vows

So how does character progression work? In Ironsworn, you earn experience by completing quests, or Vows as they're called. When you take on a quest, you literally swear on iron that you will do whatever it is you set out to do, hence the name of the game. But should you forsake your vow, there are consequences. You always start a game with a background vow, which is basically your personal quest and what drives your character, and an immediate vow to get the story going.

Once you complete a vow, you get experience based on how dangerous it was. Experience can be spent on upgrading your assets or buying entirely new ones.

Combat in Ironsworn

So how does combat work in Ironsworn? Well, a bit like everything else, using moves and with a greater focus on the narrative instead of the nitty gritty details. To be honest, I still have trouble wrapping my head around combat coming from a background of the crunchy, tactical style combat of D&D.

Basically, when you enter combat you Enter the Fray and roll to see who is in control of the situation. Whether or not you are in control determines what moves you can make. Rolling well means you gain or maintain control and you can mark progress towards ending the encounter and claiming victory, whatever that looks like for you. I know my explanation is probably woefully inept at best, so I encourage you to check out Matt Risby’s explanation and example. He does a much better job than I ever could.

The Oracles

Now that you have your version of the Ironlands, you need people, places, and things to populate it with. For that, we turn the the Oracle tables. The oracles are d100 tables filed with words and descriptors to help you flesh out your world and spark inspiration when you're not sure what to do next. There is even a dedicated move called Ask the Oracle, which many other moves reference to help you out if you're not sure what their results might mean for your character.

But what if you need to generate something? For example, say we just entered a new settlement and we want see what it's like and what might be going on there. For that, we turn to the Settlement Oracle tables. We roll a 45 so our settlement is named after a creature. Then we roll and 97, giving us the name Dragonshadow. Now let's see what's going on in Dragonshadow. We roll a 65, giving us “families in conflict”. Squabbling nobles perhaps? But I think you get the idea. There's 19 oracles in Ironsworn and you're even encouraged to make your own.

The Ironlands

Now that the basics are out of the way, where are we? Welcome to the Ironlands! The Ironlands are a low fantasy, low magic, viking-esque setting that honestly reminds me a lot of Westeros from Game of Thrones. It's a harsh, unforgiving land that has made it's people tough and hearty, people who have already dealt with great hardship after a cataclysm drove them from their homeland, or The Old World.

But the best part is that the Ironlands are yours to create. Alongside character creation you create your own version of the Ironlands based on a series of prompts. The basics remain the same as above but the details are up to you. You determine what drove the Ironlanders from their home, how society works, are there monsters or magic, what horror lurk in the dark, and so much more. And if you don't like one of the prompts, change it! Make up whatever you want, it's your world!

Hacks (or Homebrew)

But what if you aren't a fan of the Ironlands period? Perhaps you want something a little more fantastical or even high tech? Then hack it! There's an entire section in the game that encourages you to rework the game to suit whatever needs you have. Don't like the setting? Make up a new one! Want new equipment or backgrounds? Rename the existing assets or make new ones! Don't want to do the work yourself? There are dozens of hacks and hundreds of custom assets created by the community, most of which are free! Whatever flavor you want Ironsworn to be, it can be with a little tweaking.

Ironsworn: Starforged

Now I can't talk about Ironsworn without talking about it's sister game, Starforged. Starforged is a new version of the game with updated and expanded rules in a new sci-fi setting known as the Forge. All the basics are still there with only minor changes so if you've played one you can jump right into the other without much issue. Everything I've said before goes for Starforged as well so if fantasy isn't your bag maybe give it a go instead!

My Thoughts

I'll just come right out and say it, I fucking love Ironsworn. But sadly I've yet to actually sit down and start a game to experience it for myself, which is honestly a crime. It's completely changed my perspective of what an RPG can be and has really opened my eyes to the incredibly wide world of solo play, which I will be delving into further. I have nothing but nice things to say about the game, its creator Shawn, and its incredible community.

To get into specifics, the biggest thing I love is the simplicity of Ironsworn as a system and how easy it is to expand on it. The fact that you're actively encouraged to customize it is amazing too. The layout of the book is clean, simple, and explains things very well. It even includes examples of play. I love momentum as a mechanic, I think it's a brilliant way help keep the story moving and I would love to try and come up with something like it for other systems. And while low fantasy isn't my bag, I can appreciate it for what it is and I can always customize it to suit my tastes.

But the best part about Ironsworn is its completely free! You can download everything you need to play on the website at https://www.ironswornrpg.com/. Starforged on the other hand is paid, which you can get a pdf of on DriveThruRPG for 20 bucks, which is more than reasonable in my opinion. But should you get a physical copy, you get a pdf for free!

If you're not sold on the game just yet, or just want to see it in action, I highly encourage you to check out Me, Myself, and Die Season 2 (season 1 not required), The Bad Spot podcast, and Errant Adventures podcast. MM&D S2 is just Ironsworn while both The Bad Spot and Errant Adventures do both Ironsworn and Starforged. All of them are fantastic live play shows that are well worth your time in my humble opinion.

If you're still with me, thanks for listening to me ramble about a game I love for a bit. I know it's different than my usual content but different is good and I've wanted to do this for a long time so I appreciate you sticking around while I experiment. Let me know what y'all think, about this as a thing I do now, if you're familiar with Ironsworn, and what other games you'd like me to look at. I have one hell of a list already but I bet y'all have some gems I don't know about and it will help me gauge interest. Anyway, that's all for now. As always, stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you again soon.

#ironsworn #starforged #powered by the apocalypse #pbta #shawn tomkin #me myself and die #the bad spot #errant adventures #system spotlight #tabletop #Tabletop Games #Tabletop RPG #tabletop roleplaying #ttrpg

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largshirepress · 8 months ago

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Just making up worlds. Come have a listen.

#podcast #ttrpg #indie ttrpg #Starforged #ironsworn

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maxkirin · 2 years ago

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IRON VALLEY, my cozy solo ttrpg inspired by Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley has received a huge update! 🐮🍓

What began as a 100-page book is now a whopping 250, professionally edited, & much better thanks to player feedback~

GO GET IT 🤠

It's pay what you want with no minimum! So download it and give it a try. If you like it, toss a buck my way

Itchio / https://mkirin.itch.io/iron-valley

My Shop / https://ko-fi.com/s/aa643f7015

#iron valley #ironsworn #starforged #solo rpg #solo ttrpg

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armentarius · 2 months ago

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Sometimes you need to live through your grief

#afk journey #afk hewynn #afk merlin #Starforged #OC #my heroes #my art

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squidlord · 8 months ago

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VOTOMS Like You Mean It

One thought leads to another online and suddenly you're writing an entire thread about how to reboot and re-implement Armored Trooper VOTOMS in a modern TTRPG… And how could I resist that siren call?

https://grimtokens.garden/Thoughts/VOTOMS+-+How+Would+You

#ttrpg community #votoms #mecha #HeavyGear #5150 #starforged

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adamssketchbooks · 2 months ago

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Haley Ducote on the move

Digital Sketches

#art #sketch #illustration #digital art #digital painting #character art #character design #photoshop #digital artist #artist #artwork #original art #starforged #sci-fi #science fiction #cyberpunk #original characters #original character

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mika-miii · 10 months ago

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i'm playing a game of solo trpg Starforged. i wrote an intro for it. you can read it, if you want

“ViviCor Platoon 1.2.1.93. By the Investors’ will, advance.”

“You heard the orders! Advance!” The Vivipar Corporation lieutenant’s voice boomed over the discord of the battlefield, amplified by the bio-augments leased to the Trust’s field officers. With a hoarse roar, the remaining soldiers of the 93rd clambered clumsily out of the trench they’d dug into, slowed down by the bulky exochitin armor they wore. A salvo of enemy shells hit mere meters off, sending shrapnel pinging off boney plates and vaporizing one of the platoon. The remaining members charged heedlessly forward, firing their shardthrowers in a desperate attempt to cover their advance. Plasma torches sparked, crimson flames clashing with the deep green of the enemy’s magia blades. The lieutenant stood back, barking orders pointlessly in an attempt to influence the desperate struggle. Then, in an instant, a piercing shot rang out, a viridian afterglow the only evidence of the enchanted bullet that pierced through the breast of the officer.

“Platoon 1.2.1.93. Your contract has been terminated. Your leased equipment is due for repossession.”

ViviCor Trooper 93.Eta had fallen back in terror when he heard the sniper shot, and this gave him the precious distance he needed to escape the coming massacre. In an instant as the 93rd’s torches sputtered out and the synthflesh holding their armor on sloughed off, the tide turned on them, crushing them underfoot. 93.Eta scrambled away, picking up the first functional weapon he could find as he turned tail and ran. Running was all he could do, after seeing his own face twisted in a dozen different agonies as his identical allies were slaughtered. Heedless of the shot and shrapnel, he rushed to the first piece of cover he could find, a crashed Alliance dropship smoldering in a crater. As his artificial adrenalin feed slowed and his grafted arm twitched its way towards turning on him, he took the blade he had found, a shattered dagger of some metal unknown to him, edge like a razor, and shore the biomods from his rigged limb, leaving him with a skeletal prosthetic and a searing pain. This he jammed into the dropship’s uplink port, desperately hoping whatever protocols his rig had would interface with Alliance tech. Whether luck or fate, the ship’s sublight engines roared to life, stone screeching against metal as its hull was wrenched free from the planet’s surface. Whatever guidance routines had been punched in before it was shot down took hold, rocketing the dropship into orbit as 93.Eta clawed the body of the pilot out of the cockpit and slumped back in the seat, too exhausted to do anything besides let the automated systems go to work as he drifted into unconsciousness.

#i make stuff #sci fi #ttrpg #solo rpg #starforged

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