{"id":44291,"date":"2020-01-14T22:12:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T05:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/?p=44291"},"modified":"2020-12-28T12:13:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T19:13:32","slug":"ironlands-solo-play-ravenloft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/ironlands-solo-play-ravenloft\/","title":{"rendered":"Ironsworn Solo Play &#8211; Ravenloft! (session 0)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the holidays looming, my schedule was basically nuked from orbit and much of my normal online\/offline tabletop gaming (which wasn\u2019t a LOT to begin with) was disrupted, to put it mildly. Then one of my Monday-night players linked <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/07jAIac5eiA\">Adam Koebel\u2019s first look into Ironsworn<\/a> &#8211; and reminded me of the game, which I\u2019ve actually had for a while (the PDF is free) but hadn\u2019t dug into.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/images\/12876\/238369.jpg\" alt=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/images\/12876\/238369.jpg\" width=\"244\" height=\"316\" \/>So I decided to do that.<\/p>\n<p>Why now?<\/p>\n<p>Because I had no one else to play with.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>You see, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ironswornrpg.com\/\">Ironsworn<\/a> is a PbtA fantasy adventure game (same inspirational\/systemic roots as Dungeon World, Masks, whatever) but supporting three \u201cmodes\u201d of play (Guided (with a GM), Co-op (several players, no GM), and Solo) equally and viably.<\/p>\n<p>I enjoyed Adam\u2019s video, and doubly enjoyed the actual play podcast from the game\u2019s creator and his son (search for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ironsworn.podbean.com\/\">Ask the Oracle<\/a>\u201d on your favorite podcast platform.) Thus inspired, I decided to do a game.<\/p>\n<p>Now, by default, Ironsworn presumes a low fantasy, fairly gritty setting &#8211; basically \u201cLogen Ninefingers\u2019s chapters from <a href=\"https:\/\/firstlaw.fandom.com\/wiki\/The_First_Law_Trilogy\">The First Law<\/a> trilogy\u201d, which may or may not mean anything to anyone but me. Additionally, the game setup presumes world building to make a version of the Ironlands that is your very own, which is really great.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not going to do that, though.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I have something specific in mind &#8211; a use for the game which <i>seems<\/i> to be okay with the game\u2019s designer in terms of \u201cother potential uses for this game\u201d: using Ironsworn to run a fantasy game\/setting\/scenario I already have readily available.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17527.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17527-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-78917\" srcset=\"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17527-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17527-792x1024.jpg 792w, https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17527-768x993.jpg 768w, https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/17527.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a>In short, I\u2019m going to play a solo game of the original Ravenloft &#8211; I6 AD&amp;D module, augmented with some PBtA style tweaks from a World of Dungeons version of the scenario I ran for awhile with my daughter.<\/p>\n<p>So what\u2019s <em>that<\/em> going to look like?<\/p>\n<p>Well, in a standard Ironsworn game, you\u2019d either start character creation or world building, and then move on to\u2026 whichever of the two you didn\u2019t do first. (The podcast AP from the creator starts with worldbuilding, then does the characters second, for example). The steps look like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create your world: Define \u2018Your Truths\u2019 (page 122) about the setting.<\/li>\n<li>Create your character: I have a general archetype in mind &#8211; basically the character my daughter played in our WoD Ravenloft game, but we\u2019ll set stats and select assets.<\/li>\n<li>Create background bonds: Create up to three bonds to represent connections to home, friends, family, et cetera.<\/li>\n<li>Write your background vow: Create a quest as backstory for your character.<\/li>\n<li>Envision your inciting incident: Come up with the problem that spurs our hero into action.<\/li>\n<li>Swear an Iron Vow: Make the move and see how that sets our starting situation.<\/li>\n<li>Play the game: See how things shake out from there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mostly, the part I\u2019m not going to especially worry about is creating the world, because I have one readily to hand in the form of the (implied) setting for Ravenloft. I\u2019m going to do a BIT of world building, to sync the setting to Ironsworn\u2019s assumptions (lower\/subtler magic than DnD, etc), but that\u2019s about it. Let\u2019s start with that and then move on to our hero.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>There are several sections that the game says we can make decisions about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Old World: Why did our people leave the Old World and travel to the Ironlands?<\/li>\n<li>Iron: The most important possession in the Ironlands. Why is it so special?<\/li>\n<li>Legacies: What people came to the Ironlands before the Ironlanders?<\/li>\n<li>Communities: What do communities in the Ironlands generally look like?<\/li>\n<li>Leaders: Who lead these communities?<\/li>\n<li>Defense: How do these communities deal with their defense?<\/li>\n<li>Mysticism: Is magic and mysticism all fake, or is there some truth to it?<\/li>\n<li>Religion: Are the gods real and walk to the world, or are they just superstition?<\/li>\n<li>The Firstborn: Do other, older ancestries exist (Elves, Giants, Trolls) or all they just stories told to children?<\/li>\n<li>Beasts: Are the beasts of legends (griffins, dragons, etc) true or just old wives\u2019 tales?<\/li>\n<li>Horrors: Are there even darker horrors than the Beasts that lurk on the corners of the Ironlands?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Again, I\u2019m not making decisions about all these things, though most of the questions WILL be answered by virtue of using the Ravenloft module as the baseline setting for our adventure. Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n<p>The first question is about \u201cthe <b>old world<\/b>\u201d that Ironlanders are assumed to have left behind for the Ironlands. I\u2019m discarding this, as it\u2019s not relevant to the setting.<\/p>\n<p><b>Iron.<\/b> The next question also seems like one I\u2019d toss in the bin. Basically \u201cwhy are the Ironlands called the Ironlands?\u201d, but I like the second option we can choose from, so I\u2019m making a note of it anyway.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>The weather is bleak. Rain and wind sweep in from the ocean. The winters are long and bitter. Someone complained, \u201cOnly those made of iron dare live in this foul place\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>That just fits. Absent any other plot, I could take that, plop my hero down on the Barovia map with the related Ironsworn quest starter, and I could go. Nice.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m discarding the <b>Legacies<\/b> question (what lived here before us?) as not especially relevant to my needs.<\/p>\n<p>What are the <b>Communities<\/b> like? A good question, and I\u2019m going with the first available option:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>We are few in number in this accursed land. Most rarely have contact with anyone outside our own small steading or village, and strangers are viewed with deep suspicion.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>That suits the look and feel I\u2019m going for right down to the ground.<\/p>\n<p><b>Who Leads?<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>Leadership is as varied as the people. Some communities are governed by the head of a powerful family. Or, they have a council of elders who make decisions and settle disputes. In others, the priests hold sway. For some, it is duels in the circle that decide.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>For Barovia, the answer is both in keeping with this answer and\u2026 something else.<\/p>\n<p><b>How do we defend ourselves?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This is an interesting one. I was initially going to go with: <i>Supplies are too precious and the lands are too sparsely populated to support organized fighting forces. When a community is threatened, the people stand together to protect their own.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>But another answer lets me integrate my character concept in much more smoothly, once some of the edges have been sanded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>There are wardens are act as soldiers, guards, and militia. They serve their communities by standing sentry, patrolling surrounding lands, and organizing defenses in times of crisis. Most have strong ties to their community. Others, called free wardens, are wanderers who hire on to serve a community or protect caravans.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>This is a <em><strong>really<\/strong><\/em> good starting place, though I might tweak the answer a bit in character generation, as we learn about our hero &#8211; but basically, I\u2019ll call her a freewarden, and a young member of the order. It works.<\/p>\n<p><b>Mysticism?<\/b> <i>Magic is rare and dangerous, but those few who wield the power are truly gifted.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Religion?<\/b> <i>The people honor old gods and new. In this harsh land, a prayer is a simple but powerful comfort.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a question about the <b>Firstborn<\/b> &#8211; elves and giants, basically, but it\u2019s not especially relevant to this game, so I\u2019m setting it aside. I\u2019m homing in on a pretty human-centric setting, but with beasts and monsters aplenty.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of: <b>Beasts <\/b>&#8211; which is to say, non-sentient monsters and the like.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the world.<\/i> (To which I\u2019ll add \u201c<em>and the wild areas are cheek and jowl with what\u2019s loosely termed \u2018civilization.\u2019<\/em>&#8220;)<\/p>\n<p><b>Horrors<\/b> &#8211; the monsters you can have a conversation with, sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>For the world in general, this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>We are wary of dark forests and deep waterways, for monsters lurk in those places. In the depths of the long-night, when all is wreathed in darkness, only fools venture beyond their homes.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>But for Barovia?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><i>The dead do not rest in these lands. At night we light torches, scatter salt, and post sentries at the gate. It is not enough. They are coming.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Okay! That\u2019s the world stuff answered. Next post: moving on to character generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the holidays looming, my schedule was basically nuked from orbit and much of my normal online\/offline tabletop gaming (which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,128,6],"tags":[150,307,269,306],"class_list":["post-44291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actual-play","category-online-table-top","category-table-top","tag-actual-play","tag-ironsworn","tag-pbta","tag-solo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44291"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78918,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44291\/revisions\/78918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}