Ironsowrn Solo Play - Part 1 - The World

I'm just going to start writing this to get over the white page syndrome.

I've been hearing a ton about Ironsworn. Here's where I will tell you about it.


This is a record of my solo campaign.

We're going to start with the world.

The World

The game takes place in the Ironlands, a craggy and grim coastal land. The Ironlands are only loosely defined, and it is up to us to fill in some of these blanks. We'll be doing a lot of that during play, but there are a few things we need to decide before we begin, Ironsworn calls the "truths" of the world. These are different aspects of the setting such as the history and magic. For each truth, the game gives three suggestions, but it is up to s which ones we choose. We could also make up our own, but since this is my first time playing I'll stick to one of the choices the game suggests.

Each of these truths comes with a quest starter. We can pick one or more of these as the first plot threads of the campaign.

The Old World

Why did people come to the Ironlands? The book suggests we came here to escape from either war, plague, or the lack of natural resources and land. I like the idea of old feuds as a result of the war, so I'll pick that one.

"The savage clans called the Skulde invaded the kingdoms of the Old World. Our armies fell. Most were killed or taken into slavery. Those who escaped set sail aboard anything that would float. After an arduous months-long voyage, the survivors made landfall upon the Ironlands."

"Quest Starter: You are a descendant of the Skulde. Because of your heritage, your family has long borne the distrust of your fellow Ironlanders. Now, a small force of Skulde have landed on our shores. Are they the harbinger ofan invasion? Where do your loyalties lie?"

Iron

As the title of the game might suggest, iron is a big deal in the Ironlands. The ironsworn swear oaths upon iron. It would all be ironic if it... okay, I'll stop now. Sorry about that. Anyway, the question here is why do they call this place the Ironlands? It's either a reference to all the iron in the earth, the harsh life people lead, or strange pillars of possibly-magical iron that dot the land. Strange pillars sounds interesting, but I feel like keeping things a bit more grounded for the first campaign. Let's go with that bleakness!

"The weather is bleak. Rain and wind sweep in from the ocean. The winters are long and bitter. One of the first settlers complained, “Only those made of iron dare live in this foul place”—and thus our land was named."

"Quest Starter: The harvest fell short. The unrelenting snows left the village isolated. The food is running out. What will you do to see these people through this harsh season?"

Legacies

Are we the first people to settle these lands? We might be, or maybe some people came before us and something terrible happened to them. There might even be some ancient and possibly non-human people who once lived here. I"m picking that second one.

"Other humans sailed here from the Old World untold years ago, but all that is left of them is a savage, feral people we call the broken. Is their fate to become our own?"

"Quest Starter: You find a child—one of the broken. It is wounded, and hunted by others of its kind. Do you protect it, even at the risk of inviting the wrath of the broken tribes?"

Communities

How many people live here, and how much infrastructure is in place? I'll pick something in between the extremes.

"We live in communities called circles. These are settlements ranging in size from a steading with a few families to a village of several hundred. Some circles belong to nomadic folk. Some powerful circles might include a cluster of settlements. We trade (and sometimes feud) with other circles."

"Quest Starter: A decades-long feud between two circles has flared into open conflict. What is the cause of this dispute? Do you join in the fight, or swear to put a stop to it?"

 Leaders

Do the Ironlands have a king? How politically stable is it? We have options here for every community having different systems and for people squabbling for the crown, but there's another option that can give us a bit of a common political framework without it being a big focus of the game.

"Each of our communities has its own leader, called an overseer. Every seventh spring, the people affirm their current overseer or choose a new one. Some overseers wear the iron circlet reluctantly, while others thirst for power and gain it through schemes or threats."

"Quest Starter: An overseer has fallen ill. She is sure to die without help, and the illness is unknown to the village healer. Poison, or perhaps even foul magic, is suspected. The families in the community are now at each other’s throats as they position their preferred candidates to take up the iron circlet. Will you discover the truth of the overseer’s illness and restore her to health?"

Defense

How well guarded are the communities? Are there standing armies? When a community does battle, who among them is on the front lines? I decided earlier that people came here to escape the war, so I doubt there would be enough people or supplies for anything more than civilian militias.

"Here in the Ironlands, 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."

"Quest Starter: A settlement is unable, or unwilling, to defend itself against an imminent threat. Why? What peril do they face? What will you do to protect them?"

Mysticism

How prevalent is magic in the Ironlands? Monsters are a separate thing; we'll get to those in just a bit. I'm a low-magic kind of guy, so we'll go with that.

"Some still find comfort in the old ways. They call on mystics to divine the fortune of their newborn, or ask them to perform rituals to invoke a bountiful harvest. Others act out of fear against those who they suspect of having power. However, most folk believe true magic—if it ever existed—is lost to us now."

"Quest Starter: Someone close to you is accused of cursing a settlement, causing fields to go fallow and cattle to become sick. What is the evidence of this? Will you defend this person and uncover the true cause of the settlement’s troubles?"

Religion

What about the gods? Do people scoff at the idea? Do the gods walk among them and perform miracles? In keeping with what seems to be a recurring theme in this post, let's go with the middle option.

"The people honor old gods and new. In this harsh land, a prayer is a simple but powerful comfort."

"Quest Starter: An Ironlander is determined to make a pilgrimage into dangerous lands. What holy place do they seek? Why do you swear to aid them on this journey? Who seeks to stop them and why?

Firstborn

It looks like i goofed! The non-human people that may or may not live in the Ironlands are covered in this truth, the Firstborn. I think they are supposed to be sort of like elves, which doesn't really do much for me. I could reskin them as something else, but let's just leave them out. This also means I could go back and add in those ancient people, but I'll leave it as it is.

"The firstborn have passed into legend. Some say the remnants of the old tribes still dwell in deep forests or high mountains. Most believe they were never anything more than myth."

"Quest Starter: Someone obsessed with the firstborn wants to find evidence of their existence. This will require an expedition into the far reaches of the Ironlands. What is your role in this mission?"

Beasts

These are the monsters. Are they real? Are they all over the place? While I definitely want monsters, I don't want them to be super common, so let's once again take that middle ground.

"Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the Ironlands."

"Quest Starter: A prominent Ironlander is consumed with the need to bring vengeance upon a specific beast. What makes this creature distinctive? How did it earn the wrath of this Ironlander? Do you aid this person in their quest, or act to prevent their blind hate from destroying more than just the beast?"

Horrors

These are things like the undead, demons, and probably the fey as well (I'm not entirely sure what Ironsworn includes when it comes to this). Since this is the last truth we need to answer, let's spice it up by ... no, we're going with the middle yet again. I was considering making this truth simply a myth, but I do like the idea of incliuding some dark and sinister beings.

"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."

"Quest Starter: You bear the scars of an attack by a horror. What was it? Are those scars physical, emotional, or both? How do you seek to make yourself whole again?"