Ironsworn: My Reflections So Far

Olvir the Forgotten has reached the Ragged Coast

I’m a couple of weeks into my Ironsworn journey (and, correspondingly, the life of this Substack), and I figured I’d spend a little time on this sunny Sunday afternoon reflecting on the journey so far.

I take it as read that most, if not all, of my readers know what Ironsworn is. There are plenty of YouTube videos, blogs and podcasts explaining all about the game—and since the game is a free download, there’s nothing to stop folks from downloading it, if only to take a peek at what the game is about.

Before I settled on Ironsworn, I dabbled with a few other games. I tried Four Against Darkness, but it wasn’t for me—too mechanical, too swingy with all the dice rolls, and it just felt like grinding through dungeons with characters I felt no attachment to or reason to care about. In the interests of fairness, I should add that I was only playing the base game. There’s a plethora of supplementary content which tries to fix those problems, but I didn’t feel motivated to explore it.

I’ve picked up several other game systems, some of which are firmly on my “to do” list—although I’ll need to get up to speed with Mythic Game Master Emulator to work with a couple of those.

I’ve actually had Ironsworn on my hard drive for a few months, but after reading the rules, I went on my “round the houses” trip before landing right back where I started in the solo TTRPG hobby. Go figure!

What I like about Ironsworn is that the rules set has enough crunch to make me feel that the system is robust and comprehensive while leaving plenty of space for me to construct my own narrative in “the theatre of the mind.” There’s certainly a learning curve, but once I got to grips with the game loop, it now feels like using Ironsworn's “moves” to deal with the narrative’s events has become second nature.

It’s clear from listening to Shawn Tomkins (Ironsworn creator) talk on podcasts and YouTube videos that he very much intends Ironsworn to be a “narrative first” game. I take that to mean that the unfolding story takes precedence. It’s OK to do things without necessarily making Moves. The temptation for me, as a noobie TTRPG player, to want to make moves for every little detail. Going down that path made the game clunky, and I quickly abandoned that in favour of allowing the story to unfold in my head, and then using Moves at plot point pivots, and to answer the “what next” question. So far, that mix of playstyle is working—and I’m having the proverbial blast!

I enjoyed the preparatory phase—working through the “Truth’s Workbook” to create a discrete Ironlands and the Character creation to imagine my “avatar,” Olvir, the Forgotten. I was keen to introduce a narrative twist, and the “Forgotten” concept was something I could blend into the world seamlessly.

By the time I sat down to play in the Ironlands, I felt a close affinity both with my character and with the setting. That made it easier to focus on understanding the loop of Moves, dice tolling, understanding the results and recording progress quickly started to feel natural.

I have to say that taking the time to write posts in this Substack really helped to cement things in my mind. I’m currently recovering from cancer and subsequent chemotherapy, so I sometimes struggle with remembering things and internalising complicated rule sets. So, I feel pretty proud of myself for grasping the essence of a rule book of more than 200 pages!

That’s probably a good time to thank everyone who has read, liked, commented on, and subscribed—either here or on Reddit. I’ve genuinely appreciated those who have taken the time to message me or leave comments telling me they enjoy my potpourri of narrative fiction and bullet-point mechanics.

I’m closing in on 50 subscribers—not bad for two weeks on Substack. When I get to 50 I’ve decided I’ll show my (strictly non-digital) game table with it’s plethora of game aids and “pimp my game” stuff… so watch out for that soon.

And before I address my future plans, now is also a good time to provide links to everything I’ve written thus far.

PROLOGUE

• Reforging the Ironlands - my vision of the Ironland setting

• The Redemption of Olvir the Forgotten - creating my character

CHAPTER I

Abandoned but not forgotten - Olvir arrives on the Barrier Islands

A Foothold in Highmoor - Finding civilisation at the edge of the Ironlands

The Wooden Parrot - Olvir offers his help to the people of Highmoor

A Snake Oil Salesman and an Abandoned Quarry - The first quest ticked off!

High Stakes at the Stone Circle - Olvir makes and fulfills his first Vow

With a bond created and the first quests done, as well as making and fulfilling a Vow, this feels like the end of Chapter 1 in this campaign! There’s nothing more for Olvir on this little island—it’s time to get to the mainland, and this is how we left him at the end of the most recent post.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The first bit of housekeeping to deal with is that Olvir’s exploits so far have given him three experience points—sufficient to choose between upgrading an asset or buying a new one. I spent some time last evening going through my deck of Asset Cards. I was tempted to upgrade one of my existing assets, but decided to plump for adding my first Combat Asset. In keeping with Olvir’s vibe as a sneaky, shadowing, rogue-like figure, I added the Cutthroat card. It just seemed to be right for Olvir! I can imagine him pulling a deadly knife from his cloak and stabbing someone in the back…

I got a lot of helpful ideas from the “Coastal Encounters Random Tables” written by Duncan Thompson. Since Olvir is (initially at least) going to be close to the sea after he lands in the Ragged Coast, I expect there’ll still be plenty of value in this resource. I recommend it for anyone role-playing close to the sea.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I pulled one NPC from Jeff Ashworth’s The Game Master's Book of Non-Player Characters (as much as anything to see if I could do it!)

I’ve got loads more free and paid oracles and random tables in my stash, so I will continue experimenting with them…. because, why not?

I bought the Ironsworn Delve extension and plan to dig into it this week. I’m not planning on delving along the Ragged Coast, but once I get further inland, I envisage that there’ll be a variety of caves, ruins, hidden temples, etc. And now that I’ve grasped the basic rules, I don’t anticipate being overwhelmed by Delve.

A word about other games: I’ve been having a first look at Mythic Game Master Emulator, 2nd edition, this weekend. I’m a HUGE Fallout nerd, and want to start playing the Fallout 2d20 RPG. I’ve got the books! But I need to learn Mythic as it doesn’t have a solo ruleset (although one is meant to be coming). I’ve also got a bunch of other rulebooks, so I’ve got plenty to grow into in the coming weeks and months.

Hope you enjoy the journey just as much as I’m doing so far!