A long-standing group of roleplayers finally got round to playing a game from the fantasy genre.
This site contains the write-ups of those sessions, detailing the story that unfolded.
(It also contains images shamelessly scavenged from the rulebook and internet. I will remove any upon request from the owner.)
THE GAME
Ironsworn is a free* to download roleplaying game by Shawn Tomkin. The setting is mid- to low- fantasy in a grim and brutal world. The mechanics are Powered by the Apocalypse and heavily abstract to allow for narrative to dominate centre-stage. We opted (eagerly) to use the Delve supplement for the game.
In Ironsworn the player characters are adventurers who undertake all manner of quests by swearing on pieces of iron. There are little-to-no riches to earn but plenty of dark places and monstrous threats to explore and vanquish in the pursuit of honour and heroism.
I love and highly recommend this game. The rules are simple and stick closely to a solid framework. It's easy, it's evocative and it's free.
* The supplement, Delve, is not free but still well worth the price
THE PLAYERS
We are a group of roleplayers in the UK that's been meeting fortnightly since 2016. For some this is their first group, whilst others have been playing for a couple of decades.
Together we've explored a dizzying kaleidoscope of worlds, from psychic cold war espionage to Gaimonesque dream-city, from sunless apocalypse to intergalactic xenozoology, from schizophrenic personalities to giant crabs driving a massive lorry in service to the crab goddess...
But it's taken us this long to get round to a fantasy game and so Ironsworn hit the table. We love games that bring innovations and new ways to play so we opted for the co-op version whereby there is no GM - the story is written communally with dice rolls on a range of inspiring tables called Oracles as and when we feel the need.
I for one was very excited about giving Ironsworn a try, but none us really knew what to expect.
THE WRITE-UPS
Each session was written up (the next day and from badly-scrawled notes) in a way that presents the story that emerged throughout the session with moves (dice rolls) noted as and when they occurred in the narrative with relevant details noted (e.g. progress, assets). There is a degree of artistic license and embellishment here and there, but only to make for a more interesting read.
It is worth noting that most of the players didn't know the rules when the game started and so a lot of sessions 1 and 2 were geared towards exploring the mechanics whilst getting the story off the ground.