Ye Iron Hall

[Eric]

Hail, adventurers, and well met! While the story hasn't yet begun, please say hello and begin discussing your characters and plans for the game. The module is not immensely detailed, being 32 pages plus fold-out maps; therefore, the excitement is very much what you--the players--make of it. As the cover page aptly puts it:
 

"Products of Your Imagination™️"

 

Characters are intended to be levels 3-7 in BECMI D&D terms. What that means in Ironsworn terms is a little more tenuous to me 😀 I think it is probably reasonable to give everyone 10 experience points to acquire new assets or upgrade existing ones, relative to the baseline character creation. I'll see how that shakes out build-wise and adjust as needed.

[Vladim]

Just dropping in to express tentative interest. What kind of posting rate are you looking for or expecting?

I haven't played much BECMI so I can't really compare, but my impression of Ironsworn (which is just my personal experience and not necessarily the only valid view) is that the PC growth curve is a bit more flat: PCs start pretty competent, and added XP (i.e., Assets bought with it) only increase their versatility a bit, without necessarily increasing their power by a huge margin. They do, after all, start with just 5 hit points ('harm') and retain those 5 hit points throughout their career-there's no option to increase them (though some Assets help against damage a bit).

Either way, 0 XP, 10 XP, or anywhere in between-it all sounds fine to me!

[Eric]

That was my sense as well, The interesting challenge to me is how to make encounters hit that sweet spot of difficulty while reflecting that in the BECMI world, the party would be accompanied by a host of retainers and hirelings and such. I was thinking some of that XP would(?)/could(?)/should(?) be directed toward companions, but I'm loathe to mandate things on the players.

[Feirgon]

Such a mandate would work if you make it sound like a bonus. E.g. You start with 5 xp and you get a bonus 5 xp for companions.

Even as I write this, my cognitive brain loses to my lizard brain that immediately goes "Oh nice! A free bonus!"

[Eric]

That sounds like a good compromise. Carrots for the carrot god!

[Eric]

16 hours ago, Vladim said:

What kind of posting rate are you looking for or expecting?

Sorry, I didn't answer this straight off. Typically 3-4 posts a week, recognizing that there will probably be gaps and such as Things Come Up.

[pesukarhu]

I've been looking for something to prod me to learn Ironsworn, so this sounds like fun to me. Are you thinking straight Ironsworn, or with Vaults & Vows as well, to be more D&D-ish? In any case, I'm still working my way through the rules, so I'm not 100% sure what the options are. First thought is something on the ranger/druid/scout/hunter axis, happy to trend more fight-y or more support-y to mesh well with others.

[Vladim]

14 hours ago, Eric said:

The interesting challenge to me is how to make encounters hit that sweet spot of difficulty while reflecting that in the BECMI world, the party would be accompanied by a host of retainers and hirelings and such.

The nice thing with Ironsworn is that narrative positioning^TM is super-flexible and can be used in a variety of contexts to alter available moves and/or circumvent risky dice rolls and/or modify Pay the Price severity without really altering any of the PC mechanics (e.g. Assets). You have a lot of knobs and dials at your disposal. So for example...

• You're fighting a big bad dragon but brought mercs? Maybe you can even the odds a little by dropping the dragon's rank from Epic to Extreme, representing the help from the mercs. Or maybe you can use Battle instead to command them-a move that wouldn't be available to the PCs otherwise.
• You need to travel somewhere but you brought along a local ranger? Ok, maybe you don't need to Undertake a Journey, or maybe you do need to, but you can drop the rank. Maybe a simple Face Danger will suffice, or maybe no rolls are needed.
• Your hirelings establish a safe perimeter in the wilderness? Ok, so maybe you can Make Camp or even Sojourn there, moves that might not be available otherwise. Or maybe, Make Camp would still be available, but the Pay the Price outcomes on a miss become less severe with the henchmen guarding the place.
• Etc etc.

It's probably not limitless in its flexibility, but it can definitely go a long way.

14 hours ago, Eric said:

I was thinking some of that XP would(?)/could(?)/should(?) be directed toward companions, but I'm loathe to mandate things on the players.

I also have no problem with that!

7 hours ago, Eric said:

Sorry, I didn't answer this straight off. Typically 3-4 posts a week, recognizing that there will probably be gaps and such as Things Come Up.

Sounds good. They may end up being on the shorter side on some days, but we'll see!

I don't have a strong character concept right now-happy to plug holes in the party, or even to take a step back if there's lots of interest in this, allowing other folks to try the game (since I already have lots of Ironsworn in my life).

[rover]

I'm interested in this game concept as well.

My initial idea is a sorcerer / mystic who is kinda crazy / out-of-phase with the world. She sees things constantly that others don't, talks to things that don't answer, and is generally weird.

Asset ideas: giant spider, dancer, outcast, ritualist*, sighted, spirit-bound, all rituals

Edited May 2 by rover (see edit history)

[Eric]

Advert is up!

[Vladim]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

Advert is up!

Happy player-hunting!

[Eric]

On 5/1/2024 at 10:38 PM, pesukarhu said:

anger/druid/scout/hunter axis

 

On 5/2/2024 at 9:40 AM, rover said:

sorcerer / mystic who is kinda crazy / out-of-phase with the world

I think these will both work fine. I can easily think of plausible reasons for them to want to explore the forbidden island, and yet I'm sure you both can come up with better ones 😆

[pesukarhu]

OK, I've never built an Ironsworn character before, so I think I'll just ask for advice.

I'm going for a ranger-type, the one who guides the party through the wilderness. My first guess is Wayfinder, Archer, and a Hawk. But I'm dithering between Wayfinder and Wildblood, not sure which seems more "ranger-y." Is Wildblood only good in a literal forest, or does it work in other terrain, and do we know what the island is mostly? Not really knowing the game, it's hard to tell what they'll feel like in play.

Possible hook: A loved one (or liege lord) is gravely ill, and the local healer says only a rare herb can cure it. He's sworn to find the herb and return.

Since that's what springs to mind as a vow, should I consider Herbalist?

And should a "wilderness guide"-focused ranger be Wits-first? My first guess was Edge 3 / Wits 2, but I could go the other way around. It seems like most of the moves that jump out at me are Wits moves.

 

[Eric]

Wayfinder would probably be more scout-y while Wildblood would be woodland-specific as written. The island is a tropical rainforest/jungle so there are places Wildblood would shine, but Wayfinder is probably more generally useful in the scenario.

Herbalist would have its uses, certainly. Finding it among the jungle would be an interesting "side-quest".

Either way is fine as far as attributes--there are always trade-offs--but your logic about being Wits-first seems sound.

[Eric]

Good to see a couple characters coming together. pesukarhu caught the missing assets section in my character sheet template, so I'll get that fixed here shortly. Meanwhile, if you've got a concept and want some feedback on how to make it fit, feel free to post questions here or in your own new thread.

While there is some seafaring required at the beginning and end of the adventure (to/from the island), no character is required to be a sailor by background. Options for acquiring transport include:

• If you want to have a seafaring background, you could choose a boat/small ship as an Asset
• You could hire a ship for passage (some sort of Vow for repayment?)
• You could be hired by a merchant to explore the island (some sort of Vow to get paid?)
• You could agree to be shipwrecked on the island (an Epic journey!)