Gamers logo

Alone in the Ironlands: The Truths

Creating a world for a solo Ironsworn campaign.

By Critical HeatherPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
Like

The Truths of the Ironlands

The weather is bleak. Rain and wind sweep in from the ocean. The winters are long and bitter. Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas and isolated territories, protected fiercely by The Firstborn, yield threat to any who cross into these lands. Rumors of unspeakable horrors circle among small communities though most believe these are nothing more than stories to frighten children. One of the first settlers complained, “Only those made of iron dare live in this foul place”—and thus our land was named, The Ironlands.

Long ago, The Old World could no longer sustain us. We were too large in number. We had felled the forests. Our crops withered in the barren ground. The cities and villages overflowed with desperate, hungry people. Petty kings battled for scraps. We cast our fate to the sea and found the Ironlands. A new world. A fresh start. 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?

We have forged the Ironlands into a home. Villages within the Havens are connected by well-trod roads. Trade caravans travel between settlements in the Havens and those in outlying regions. Even so, much of this land is untamed. 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 most, the priests convey the will of the gods and hold sway over many communities. Though for some, it is duels in the circle that decide.

Our warbands are rallied to strike at our enemies or defend our holdings. Though not nearly as impressive as the armies that once marched across the Old World, these forces are as well-trained and equipped as their communities can manage. The banners of the warbands are adorned with depictions of their Old World history and Ironland victories.

In this rugged land Our gods are many. They make themselves known through manifestations and miracles, though magic is rare and sometimes dangerous, those few who wield the power are truly gifted, perhaps even divine. Some say the gods secretly walk among us.

By Lucas Santos on Unsplash

The Mechanics.

Above is a narrative description of the Truths I have established for my solo Ironsworn campaign. It literally is just the individual truths I was given from the core rulebook just arraigned into congruent paragraphs but its sound neat right?

Establishing the world your character exists in is crucial to the narrative of the entire game and can even help set the tone for how your adventure starts. I will show you my process for creating my world in an Ironsworn game. For this adventure I will be using the default setting as well as the Delve add on.

The world is created by defining "The Truths". Though the rules do not suggest specifically this must be done to start your game I feel this makes my creative storytelling much easier.

Starting on page 122 of the Ironsworn Core Rule Book, the Truths of the world are described. These truths are broken down into different topics about the world and each truth has three default suggested options. One doesn’t need to use these options and can get creative and design your own truths.

Download the core rule book at the link below.

My Process

I like to randomize my games as much as possible. The rule book doesn't specifically mention a randomization process for selecting Truths from the default setting but my process is really simple. For each Truth there are 3 different suggested options. I have chosen the options in my world by rolling for each Truth. With a d12 this is pretty easy, just assign each of options a value on the d12 and roll. For example, I have assigned the options under each truth, top to bottom, as option 1, 2 and 3. On a d12 I assign numbers 1-4 to to option 1, 5-8 to option 2 and 9-12 for option 3

By Esther Wechsler on Unsplash

The Results

The Old World: (I rolled a 9 for option 3) The Old World could no longer sustain us. We were too large in number. We had felled the forests. Our crops withered in the barren ground. The cities and villages overflowed with desperate, hungry people. Petty kings battled for scraps. We cast our fate to the sea and found the Ironlands. A new world. A fresh start.

Iron: (I rolled a 7 for option 2) 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.

Legacies : (I rolled a 8 for option 2 ) 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?

Communities : (I rolled an 11 for option3) We have forged the Ironlands into a home. Villages within the Havens are connected by well-trod roads. Trade caravans travel between settlements in the Havens and those in outlying regions. Even so, much of this land is untamed.

Leaders : (I rolled a 1 for option 1) 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.

Defense : (I rolled an 11 for option 3) Our warbands are rallied to strike at our enemies or defend our holdings. Though not nearly as impressive as the armies that once marched across the Old World, these forces are as well-trained and equipped as their communities can manage. The banners of the warbands are adorned with depictions of their Old World history and Ironland victories.

Mysticism : (I rolled a 6 for option 2) Magic is rare and dangerous, but those few who wield the power are truly gifted.

Religion : (I rolled 11 giving me option 3 ) Our gods are many. They make themselves known through manifestations and miracles. Some say they even secretly walk among us. The priests convey the will of the gods and hold sway over many communities.

Firstborn: (I rolled a 5 for option 2) The firstborn live in isolation and are fiercely protective of their own lands.

Beasts: (I rolled an 8 for option 2) Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the Ironlands.

Horrors: (I rolled a 1 for option 1) Nothing but stories to frighten children.

The process I use here isn’t in the rule book but I wanted to really randomize the setting as much as I could while playing with the default setting so that new players could follow along very easily. As in many RPG games rules are certainly meant to be bent… or just straight up broken off so don't be afraid to explore other options when you play.

The Truths I've been given look particularly fun and I am excited to get this journey going. In the next blog I will create my character. Once again thank you for reading and may your hits ever be strong.

Follow me on Twitter @criticalheather

rpg
Like

About the Creator

Critical Heather

I'm Heather Jay, Mentalist, Hypnotist and all around bad influence. I'm creating this blog for fellow mentalist, magicians and mystery entertainers. I hope to share my performance ideas and experiences with everyone. Thank you for reading.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.