Content Warning
Language, Violence including People and Animals, Child in Traumatic Situation
Estimated Read Time: 12 min
Sometime last year, I started an Ironsworn Solo game on a Discord I'm a member of. There were several goals, there. I wanted to try out the system for myself. This was my first time ever Solo Roleplaying, so I wanted to see how that would go too. I wanted to show the system to my friends and, at the same time, since we do a lot of roleplaying in that group, I wanted to increase the RPG traffic there. So, I did a fair amount of explaining the system along with roleplaying it. Keep in mind here that I was still learning it myself. Apologies ahead of time for getting anything wrong. The way I went about it was writing the narrative normally but putting the mechanics (like dice rolls) in spoilers. I'll probably just differentiate the two here with differently formatted text. Once we get going, it'll flow a little more smoothly, but at first, with the explaining and set up, I'm going to copy over my posts without my friend's responses, so it may be choppy for a minute. This first post will just focus on the setup and creating my version of the Ironlands. If you want to skip that and get right into the story, that'll be the next post.
Editor's Note: Putting the Meta in Spoilers would go on to define my preference for presentation. This post has been edited with that final decision in mind. This post has also been edited to smooth out those rough edges where I bounced back and forth between cutting out my friend's responses, summarizing my interactions with them, posting my direct responses to them, and failing to differentiate between past thoughts and current thoughts as I wrote this post. What was I thinking?
Conceptualization
The game gives you a rough outline of "The Ironlands" if you want to use it as your setting. Its a series of game pillars that structure your experience but you'll be given the opportunity to define your own setting details as you prep for the game. In this game, as in many others of its kind, prep is considered play. Ironsworn does a superb job providing simple but robust worldbuilding activities.
I laid out the Regions for my friends as they are described in the book and decided I would be from the Barrier Islands, along the Coast. I had in mind a character who was a deep sea pearl diver, which popped into my head when I read the descriptions for the Islands and Coast Regions. I had this kind of idea about magic flowing through the world, through water mostly, but it was just kind of in the back of my head as I wondered about how my character might interact with inland waters. We discussed river pearls as a possibility.
The game asks you to build your world around your character or build your character around your world, based on your preference and your starting ideas. Since I didn't have an idea for the character until I read about the world, I started with the World.
The game provides you with a fairly comprehensive list of "World Truths." Each of these is a question about how you want to handle that aspect of your personalized setting. In a group, you'd decide these together. This is notable because, traditionally, game settings are created ahead of time by game authors and/or gamemasters. Creating the world together increases player investment. Each World Truth provides three possible example answers, in case you don't want to choose your own or are having trouble envisioning something interesting. All of these examples are fantastically flavorful. I admit I was somewhat ambivalent about them at first but the more I considered them, the more I saw how they added much needed nuance to the world.
World Truths
Here's what I decided on, after going over each category one by one with my friends.
Editor's Note: The Spellbound APFic takes place in this same world. It alters some of these World Truths. I'll try to note when that happens, if its relevant.
The Old World
Option 2. In the past, plague made my people flee to the Ironlands.
Iron
Option 3. Strange metal pillars are scattered throughout the Ironlands. We seemed most interested in discussing this one and came up with a few extra notes. We decided that they were everywhere but appeared in no discernable pattern. I liked the idea that the Pillars might be like little islands of sanctuary from the horrible things that go bump in the night, so we decided that Iron in general was anathema to such creatures. It acts as a ward against ghosts and harms horrors directly. We decided the Firstborn didn't even know how the pillars got there, so old and mysterious were they. We also decided that an Iron Cult lives at and travels nomadically between the pillars. Folks bring their sick and dying to these Cultists at the pillars in the hopes that they will be healed. This is only sometimes effective.
Legacies
Option 1. We're the first humans, sharing the land with the Firstborn, the beasts, and the horrors.
Communities
Option 1. We are few and isolated in number.
Leaders
Option 1. Leadership is varied from community to community.
Defense
Option 3. Communities maintain warbands with their own distinct and storied histories.
Mysticism
Option 3. Magic is common. We decided, on theme, that magic flows primarily through the Waters of the World.
Religion
Option 1. Religion is mostly old superstition.
Firstborn
A custom version of Option 3. Firstborn and Ironlanders hold a tenuous peace based on mutual respect and cultural curiousity. Firstborn wield considerably more raw power but Ironlanders possess far more numbers in terms of population, so neither side wants to tip that precarious balance.
Beasts
Option 3. Beasties are common and diverse. Keep in mind, these are animals and mythological creatures.
Horrors
Custom, I made my own. Or, well, we. I believe this description was given to me by one of my friends but we might have collaborated on it. We decided that the Iron Anathema thing had teeth and some representation in Fae lore. So we combined them.
In the dark of night, in the depths of the sea, in the hearts of the woods, and wombs of the earth, there are beings of unknowable age, strange ideas, and most alarmingly, interest in us. They quail at the sight of the Pillars, and shy away from our sick, but watch us, seek us, and peer into our minds and dreams. They give gifts and boons, and demand others in return for purposes beyond our understanding or our desire to understand.
Character Generation
We talked about names for awhile and I settled on Koavarr because it means "Warrior Warrior." Thanks to Google Translate for that gem. From there, I explained how, in this game, your characters are Ironsworn. As such, they make Iron Vows (so called because they swear on sacred Iron) to complete important quests.
I explained the five stats: Edge, Heart, Iron, Shadow, and Wits (they are what they sound like). In this game, you place an array of static values in them to determine your strengths and weaknesses. You get one 3, two 2s, and two 1s and you can place them in any order. I went with 2, 2, 3, 1, 1. I saw Koavarr as a badass, able to hold his breath for an extraordinary amount of time, a super strong swimmer out in the water everyday, a hunter, and a warrior (x2). Iron as his best stat seemed obvious. Edge as his second best also seemed obvious. My friend suggested 2 in Heart because he was out in those cold waters everyday with god knows what and wasn't afraid of anything. I wanted to stress that he wasn't dumb, though, just very straightforward and focused.
From there, I explained Health, Spirit, and Supply (each five point tracks that keep track of your essential wellbeing), as well as Momentum (a -6 to +10 track that can be or must be used to modify rolls). The three former are set to five to start and Momentum is set (and resets when spent) to +2.
At this point, I needed to make a background vow, which represents a primary motivation or ultimate goal as part of the character's backstory. I wanted something to do with magic pearls but couldn't nail it down, so I put it off to come back to later.
Instead, I focused on Bonds (relationships with the people in the world). I went with two people and one community to have background bonds with. I used the Oracle to determine what they were and this is what I came up with (trying to mix up the narrative framing as I went):
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Okay, so I met Tegan in a small village called Blackwick. They were working at the only Inn, situated at a Crossroads, and the only place to stop and rest weary horses for miles around. Tegan worked as a forager and stablehand, securing feed for the horses and taking care of them pretty much alone. When I arrived in Blackwick, there were several angry mercenaries demanding answers about their dead horses from poor Tegan who, of course, had had no idea what caused the horses to become deceased. After calming the men, Tegan and I investigated and found that the Innkeep was responsible. He had been donating massive quantities of horse blood to a nearby Horror in exchange for the promise of wealth to aid his ailing Inn.
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When I very first made my way inland along the Ragged Coast, I learned that certain areas are labyrinthine and highly dangerous, filled with raiders and sea monsters waiting to take your water. Some areas are unbroken wasteland for miles around high above the sea. Others are impossible cliffs that wrap around ridiculous bays that claw at the land. It's embarrassingly easy to get lost. Or, at least, end up on the wrong side of a fjord a couple hundred times. Luckily, or maybe...not so luckily, I'm not alone. Trade caravans new to the area sometimes get lost too. Fortunately for us both, Anunna exists and has taken pity on all our poor traveling souls. When I met her, she guided myself and a lost caravan to the safety of the walled town of Stormridge. She's blessed with an unerring sense of direction and what she calls "a connection with the earth." She's also a wholly pleasant traveling companion. And she offers her services as a Guide in the area for free. All she wants in return is news of or, preferably, an actual physical magical silver flower that only grows by the light of the full moon. She won't say what its for, except to say it is to help someone who is very ill.
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Two Warbands vie for control of Lostbridge and its incredible cache of resources. Thus far, neither has made an overt move on the other and the two armies stand at a stalemate, eyeing each other warily from opposite sides of the island. One man, a diplomat called Ikram, has been trying to forge a peace between the two Warbands. There was even talk (wild, crazy, revolutionary talk) about merging the two Warbands under one banner for the wealth and prosperity of all. Until Ikram mysteriously up and disappeared. Lot of finger pointing, saber rattling. But Ikram had friends and allies who still wanted peace and they had coin and pretty words. And, ultimately, I am a pretty good finder. I did find him, by the way, on a nearby island in a cellar. He went back to work the next day like nothing had happened. As far as I know, though, the island is still split down the middle.
After I determined these, I realized I missed a character oracle and set about defining the NPCs a little better. Tegan was Sociable, Successful, and Proud. This altered my view a little but I was good with it. Anunna was Quiet, Charming, and Sociable, which was spot on. Ikram wanted to broker peace on Lostbridge between the two opposing Warbands, Quickdawn and the Mooncloaks. Ikram was resourceful and stubborn but, unfortunately, he was also dying.
That extra bit of information opened up some possibilities. If Koavarr returned to Lostbridge and there was peace, he would be welcomed. If one side wins, it depends on which as to whether he would be welcomed then.
I decided to further garner some details for Blackwick and Stormridge. Blackwick was Dark and Remote. Not precisely Abandoned but it saw far less traffic than it used to since the High Road was built. Stormridge was Peaceful, Cold, and Protected.
I can see the way I did backgrounds isn't really the intended way. I think you're supposed to, like, choose a friend and family member from your home town rather than something you've encountered on an adventure already taking place. It's fine, I'm keeping it, because it's cool and I like it. And the game is handwavy about that kind of thing anyway.
It's funny that I was willing to handwave one aspect of the game because I then turned right around and got weirdly finicky about the logistics of travel and how many Points of Interest Koavarr would have encountered by this point. Ultimately, I decided that Koavarr completely missed the High Road in the dark and immediately got lost in the wilderness past Stormridge (until he stumbled upon Blackwick).
Finally, I chose Waterborn, Sighted and Invoke as my Assets. While my physical prowess is represented in my stats, I wanted the magic stuff to be represented here.
I need to make my main vow and set up an inciting incident and I'm ready to play.
Vow
While diving off the coast of my home island, Mahopawa Cay, I discovered a trench. Daring to go within, I found a world of undersea treasures including my greatest find to date...a sizable, perfect, magical pearl. However, exposing the pearl had the unfortunate side effect of luring a leviathan into the trench. I only survived its initial onslaught because it could not maneuver its massive girth into the opening. It badly wounded me, though, and I feared I would die beneath those waves. As it turned out, I was rescued by a Primordial, a friendly sea spirit who knew my love and respect for the waters. She drove the leviathan off in a fierce battle but was herself gravely wounded in the process. We helped each other to the surface and to shore. I would survive but it seemed her body would not. So she transferred her spirit essence into the magic pearl I still clutched in my fist. I have searched since that day for a way to restore her. Were it not for her brave sacrifice, I might be one of the Sodden now. I'll be damned if I let that go to waste. I will honor her. I will restore her to her former glory as a true spirit of nature. This is my vow.
To back that up, I wear a corded necklace with the pearl inset into a piece of polished bone jewelry. Every Iron Vow I take, I take with the Iron Coins of the realm (which have holes punched through the center, like yen) and I slide that coin onto my necklace until such time as that Vow is completed.
So my vows are a literal weight around my neck.
Inciting Incident
Nobody's really sure what's going to happen to the Inn here in Blackwick. Tegan says the Innkeep (we just can't stomach referring to the man by name) has a rich uncle who lives farther north. He'll probably see to the estate. We had tried to talk some sense into all those people...hell, it's not as though I stand for atrocities against animals...but they wouldn't listen. I just want away from this place.
I think I need to be careful what I wish for. A dirty, bedraggled little girl, covered head to toe in thin, bloody scratches as if she had fought her way through a thicket of thorns at a full sprint stumbles into view. We rush to her side. I catch her before she collapses on the cold, hard dirt. The Inn may not have an owner, but it'll see some use yet. We rush her inside. I hear someone calling for the village healer. I met her, before. The quiet old crone had examined the dead horses. I hope she is as adept with people. The child does not look well. The girl looks back and forth between Tegan and I, her eyes desperate and searching, almost wild. Tegan tries to soothe her. The girl does not find what she needs in Tegan.
Her eyes lock on mine. She presses an Iron Coin into my palm. I look down, surprised. "Now, you have to," she says, almost pleading but trying to be strong and forceful. "Save my parents. Save my village. Thornhill. The Forest Spirit will not let them go. It will kill them all. Save them. Swear it." Her dirty, ragged nails were biting into the flesh of my hand. I was more worried her teeth would crack under the strain of her grit. More to calm her than anything else, I said, "I so swear it." But I knew what it meant. And as soon as she slept under the tender ministrations of the old healer, I donned what little armor I possessed, grabbed my spear, and set foot upon the road to Thornhill.
I rolled a Strong Hit on my Swear an Iron Vow Move here. I gained +2 Momentum and "my next move is clear."
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