Hearthsworn

Solo & Co-Op Ironsworn campaign in a rustic fantasy sandbox setting.

Banner image- "Highlands" by Alexander Pohl

Your stories are yours to tell. But, together, we tell the story of our community. This was based on something @Vladim mentioned- about how it would be neat to have a game that could jump between solo and co-op and tie the different ones together. So, I combined that with my idea discussed here.

Once upon a time...

 

The Campaign(s):

History hangs heavy around us- though we see not the shadow it lays upon us. We have drawn our corner of the world up and over our eyes like a blanket to ignore what happens beyond the land we know. Faerie remains at the corner of our eyes, but we know not to look too closely and not to attack their attention.

But fate spins its own tapestry and the world changes. Things lost must be found. Knowledge forgotten must be remembered. The hand that holds the plow must take up the sword. The hand that holds the weaver's needle must take up the spear. The hand that holds the adze must take up the bow.

Things from the past lie not dead as we wished but stir once again in the ancient corners of the world. The Faeries' song has been heard beneath the moon and fearful whispers swirl through the eddies of conversation.

You had hoped to grow up and live a quiet, happy life, but now you find yourself needing to step into the shoes of a hero.

 

The Setting:

Call it... folkloric fantasy. It's a world that is not our own, but feels very familiar, like the Shire, perhaps, or that first part of the fantasy novels where the young protagonists complain about their ordinary lives.

Faerie (the place—maybe also called Elfhame) exists, as do Faeries, who live in Faerie and in the everyday world. Magic exists- in a form.

 

Tone and Mood:

I'll start here—this is very much inspired by the RPGs Beyond the Wall And Other Adventures, Legend in the Mist and The Hero's Journey 2E, as well as books like Stardust, Lud-in-the-Mist, the first part of Fellowship of the Ring, and The Hobbit, as well as stuff like The Chronicles of Prydain. It's not exactly "low fantasy" in the same way as the Ironlands. More like how Tolkien describes faerie stories in the essay "On Fairy Stories." Or perhaps the very beginning of Wheel of Time before they go on a massive journey.

Stories of ordinary people exploring a world that is simultaneously mundane and magical. To quote Tolkien again, the tone is of a world that is perilous as well as fair, and perhaps could be described as enchanted. Stories of assistant pig-keepers who care for oracular pigs, youngest daughters who rescue their true love, young adults who find themselves stepping into a destiny, faerie knights and faerie queens, wyrms and treasure hoards, forgotten barrows and the restless ghosts. I think romanticism has a definite influence (both 19th century and medieval).