History TabletopGame / Ironsworn

* BasiliskAndCockatrice: The Flooded Lands are home to the beastly basilisks. Mercifully, they don't have the petrification powers that basilisk in other settings have, but they do have a "mesmerizing gaze." And they eat people.

* ThePlague: One worldbuilding choice during campaign creation is that the Ironlanders fled a plague that ravaged the Old World. In this scenario, the disease decimated the refugees even as they sailed at sea, and the survivors feel cursed by those that they left behind. The Quest Starter? A new strain strikes the Ironlands, but that ''changes'' people instead of killing them. Another has one of the many ships used to try and flee the Old World behind, likely carrying a plague...

* ScarsAreForever: Reflected by the Maimed bane, which represents when you suffer a grievous wound that will cause ongoing physical challenges from here on out, like the loss of an eye or a limb. In terms of gameplay, it reduces both your maximum Momentum and the level at which it resents, and it's permanent.

* ThePlague: One worldbuilding choice during campaign creation is that the Ironlanders fled a plague that ravaged the Old World. In this scenario, the disease decimated the refugees even as they sailed at sea, and the survivors feel cursed by those that they left behind. The Quest Starter? A new strain strikes the Ironlands, but that ''changes'' people instead of killing them. Another has one of the many ships used to try and flee the Old World behind, likely carrying a plague...

* UndeadAbomination: The Chimera is a twisted and unholy fusion of many dead animals and offal. Whereas most Horrors are the ghosts of people who died under specific circumstances, there's no official explanation as to what these things actually are or how they came about. And like all other Horrors, they cannot be permanently killed

* SchrodingerQuestion: The worldbuilding setup features questions that form "Truths" about the world in this particular campaign, in the form of questions. They focus on why people have come to the Iron Lands, how organized and settled it is, and how human-focused the setting is. You also determine exactly why it's called the Ironlands, which might change major details about them.

* MammothsMeanIceAge: the Ironlands' mammoths are of the GrimUpNorth kind, migrating south from the northern Tempest Hills during the winter. They contrast the elephants of the southern Old World. Asides from being a potential enemy, the mammoth is also available as an asset. That is, your player character can keep and ride one.

In ''Ironsworn'', you play as an Ironsworn, a heroic adventurer who undertake perilous quests in the darkly fantastical Ironlands. Having fled the Old World, the Ironlanders inhabit isolated communities and endure the treacherous frontier of the Ironlands, defending against creatures, monsters, and horrors, along grappling with the Ironlands' original inhabitants, the firstborn. As an Ironsworn, your duty is to forge bonds with communities, explore the wilds, fight desperate battles, swear iron vows, and see through to it that those iron vows are fulfilled--or broken.

''Ironsworn'' is a TabletopRPG written and self-published Shawn Tomkin. Released in 2018, the game has garnered acclaim for not only for its high quality, but also for being free.

Most notably, it won an ENNIE in 2019 for Best Free Game. It also has a generous license and a system reference document (SRD) that allows others to borrow heavily from ''Ironsworn'' and commercially port it into different settings.

This tabletop game is UsefulNotes/PoweredByTheApocalypse [=(PbtA)=], building from the design philosophy's fiction-first, moved-based, and principle-driven approach. Beyond that, ''Ironsworn'' makes some different decisions that sets it apart from its other [=PbtA=] kin.

Instead of rolling 2d6 (two six-sided dice) like in most [=PbtA=] games, the player resolves conflict by making two rolls: the challenge roll of two ten-sided dice (2d10), and the action roll of one six-sided die (1d6). The player adds any stat modifier to the action roll's result and compare the action score to each challenge dice. If the action score is greater than both challenge dice, that's a "strong hit" (a success). If it only exceeds one challenge die, that's a "weak hit" (success with a cost or weaker effect). If it is lower than both challenge dice, that's a "miss" (a failure).

The resolution mechanic is further affected by Momentum, inspired by the tabletop RPG ''TabletopGame/CityOfJudas'' by Davide Pignedoli. Momentum is an ever-changing value that a player can "burn" to cancel challenge dice, upgrading the result to a weak or even a strong hit. And if both challenge dice result in the same number? That's a Match, which means that a strong hit or miss will have a stronger effect.

A major appeal of ''Ironsworn'' is its Oracle system. Inspired by the ''Mythic Game Master Emulator'', players can roll dice and consult setting-specific tables for inspiration on what happens next in the game. The Oracle offers guidance for GM-driven Guided play, but it also enables two (or more) player Co-Op play without a GM and even one-player Solo play.

Other notable mechanics include the progress roll, assets, and iron vows that drive quest creation and experience gains.

Beyond the core rulebook, ''Ironsworn'' have several expansions and supplements:

* ''Ironsworn: Delve'' (2020): The first major expansion adds additional mechanics and content to the game, most notably "Expeditions" for dungeon-crawling quests, along with rules for running artifacts and campaign-level threats.
* ''TabletopGame/IronswornStarforged'' (2022): A standalone sequel that brings the ''Ironsworn'' system into a dark sci-fi space setting.

!! This game provides example of:

* ThePlague: One worldbuilding choice during campaign creation is that the Ironlanders fled a plague that ravaged the Old World. In this scenario, the disease decimated the refugees even as they sailed at sea, and the survivors feel cursed by those that they left behind. The Quest Starter? A new strain strikes the Ironlands, but that ''changes'' people instead of killing them.

** One Truth the player can choose to make up the Ironlands' history is that its denizens fled a great plague. There are descriptions of [[PlagueShip entire ships filled with the rotting damned]].

A major appeal of ''Ironsworn'' is its Oracle system. Inspired by the ''Mythic Game Master Emulator'', players can roll dice and consult setting-specific tables for inspiration on what happens next in the game. The Oracle offers guidance for GM-driven Guided play, but it also enables two-player Co-Op play and even one-player Solo play.

* DespairEventHorizon: This is the worst outcome of Facing Desolation, which happens when you Endure Stress and have no more Spirit left to spare. Missing on this move means that your character succumbs to despair or horror and is lost. Being broken like this is as much an end to your character's story as death itself.

* DespairEventHorizon: This is the worst outcome of Facing Desolation, which happens when you Endure Stress and have no more Spirit left to spare. Missing on this move means that your character succumbs to despair or horror and is lost. Being broken like this is as much an end to your character's story as surely as death itself.

* TheOathBreaker: When you Forsake Your Vow, you can take the Oathbreaker asset. While it acts as a debility, you can send your player character on a redemption quest to atone for his oath breaking.

* ThePlague: One worldbuilding choice during campaign creation is that the Ironlanders fled a plague that ravaged the Old World. In this scenario, the disease decimated the refugees even as they sailed at sea, and the survivors feel cursed by those that they left behind. The Quest Starter? A new strain strikes the Ironlands.

** Even an unfinished vow holds magical power. An Ironsworn's unfinished vow can give unlife to a metal construct called an Iron Revenant, which cannot be stopped until it fulfill its vow.
* TrialByCombat: Ironlanders often resolve disputes through ritualized, formal duels, where the duelists determine what is at stake, each draw one-half of a circle with a sword, and then fight within that circle. No matter the outcome, the duelists are expected to abide by the term as passionately as any iron oath. The mechanics of these duels are adjudicated through the Draw the Circle move.
* WarRefugees: One worldbuilding choice is that Ironlanders escaped a war against clans called the Skulde. The associated Quest Starter suggests that the Ironsworn could be a Skulde descendant and that a band of Skulde arrive in the Ironlands, possibly harbringing an invasion.

* BloodOath: In the Ironlands, an iron vow is the equivalent of a blood oath. On top of that, Ironsworn can choose to vow with literal blood.

* GenderIsNoObject: Even though ''Ironsworn'' is a medieval-inspired setting, the rulebook present the Ironlands as a place that respects gender diversity. Gender is not considered in character creation, Ironlander names are gender-neutral, and misogyny is non-existent in the lore.
* GhostShip: One Quest Starter revolves around a ship that newly arrives in the Ironlands and is grounded in the Barrier Islands--decades after it was supposed to arrive. The Ironsworn can then swear to uncover the passengers' fate.

* LowFantasy: The Ironlands is not a high-fantasy setting. Rituals are rare and low-key, and could even be of a mundane nature if deemed so during world creation. Supernatural creatures and monsters are also rare and could be easily excluded from a campaign. In any case, the Ironlands is a perilous land described in hues of grey where the inhabitants survive not through epic magic but through their own grit.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Appropriate to a LowFantasy settings, ''Ironsworn'' intentionally leaves it up to the player to determine which elements are magical and which elements are merely rumored to be magical. These elements can be determined during the "Your Truths" portion of world creation.

* OurElvesAreDifferent: In the Ironlands, elves are amongst the "firstborn," as they have inhabited the continent eons before the arrival of the humans. The elves's main difference from other work's elves is that they are known to always wear [[MaskOfPower ornate wooden masks of great significance]].

* MaskOfPower:
** Elves conceal their faces behind ornate wooden masks rumored to contain magical powers. The extent of this magic is up to the player.
** If a player characters forge a bond with the elves and receive a mask of elderwood, the player can take the Masked path asset. When a Masked Ironsworn wears this mask, they receive stat boosts to a chosen stat determined by the type of wood, which can even help the Ironsworn when facing death or desolation.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Appropriate to a LowFantasy settings, ''Ironsworn'' intentionally leaves it up to the player to determine which elements are magical and which elements are merely rumored to be magical. These elements can be determined during the "Your Truths" portion of world creation.
* TheMigration: By default, the Ironlanders are refugees from the Old World, and the players determine the reason for this migration. One of the quest starters suggest the scenario where decades after the exodus ends, a single ship finally arrives.
* TheOathBreaker: When you Forsake Your Vow, you can take the Oathbreaker asset. While it acts as a debility, you can send your player character on a redemption quest to atone for his oath breaking.

* ''TabletopGame/IronswornStarforged'' (2022): Astandalone sequel that brings the ''Ironsworn'' system into a dark sci-fi space setting.

* ''TabletopGame/IronswornStarforged'' (2022): An in-progress standalone sequel that will bring the ''Ironsworn'' system into a dark sci-fi space setting.