Anatomy of a Solo RPG Scene - The Ironsworn Flow of Play

The Lone Toad - Ribbiting Adventures Issue 4

Welcome to Ribbiting Adventures Issue 4!

Ribbiting Adventures is The Lone Toad’s mid-monthly newsletter that will dive deeper into solo RPGs with creator interviews, in-depth dives into solo RPG games and mechanics, and a look at Solo RPGs of the past.

Earlier this month I discussed my love for the Ironsworn group of games created by Shawn Tomkin and other games derived from the Ironsworn system. Today grab your scuba gear because we are doing a deep dive into the Ironsworn system, more specifically the flow of play which I believe is the secret sauce that makes the system sing!

To note below when I speak about Ironsworn I’m describing Ironsworn games designed by Shawn Tomkin, such as the original Ironsworn and Starforged, and also to a lesser extent other Ironsworn-based games where the core play is identical or similar.

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The Ironsworn Flow of Play

Here it is, in all its glory and magnificence. Take some time to look it over before we dive into it. At first blush, it looks simple, but there is a lot going on. To look into this, I’ll be taking Cyrus the Luckless (my character in my Sundered Isles campaign) through a scenario as a framing device for how the flow of play works for them.

Credit to Shawn Tomkin. Numbering mine.

Start

Alright, what is the situation? I’ll say Cyrus the Luckless’s sloop (The Vengeful Crow) just got hit by a cannonball from the pirate ship, the “Dead End”. The cannonball has punched a hole just at the water line and gallons of water are pouring into the Vengeful Crow, risking putting Cyrus and his crew into the drink.

1. Envision the current situation and what your character is doing.

So we’ve done the envisioning the current situation already but we need to consider what Cyrus is doing about it. If our character does nothing the story won’t go forward or bad things will happen. I’d say being a passive observer is not an option, or at least is one the flow of play doesn’t suggest as a good option. With Ironsworn in particular and solo play generally, you need a main character to drive the story forward. This is different from traditional group play where certain players can pull their players back from the narrative from time to time.

So what is Cyrus doing? This scene is mid-combat and Cyrus is in a concerning situation. As the author of this scene, we have several choices for Cyrus:

• continue to fight above deck by launching a salvo into the Dead End

• command the crew to repair the ship

• lead a boarding action on the pirate ship.

I’d say your action would probably depend on the objectives of your scene. Are you in a blood feud with the captain of the Dead End? Are you trying to get away?

With Cyrus’s background of coming from a shipwright family, he will be best used going below to repair the ship. Now if I have a good picture of the world and what is going on, I may skip step 2 (asking questions). But I’m not 100% sure about the situation so let’s see about things.

A desperate moment to be sure. By Ivan Aivazovsky .

2. Ask and answer questions about the world, other characters, and what happens next (Or Ask the Oracle)

At this step, we should consider what information we want before committing to a course of action that may trigger a move. Using the various oracles you can ask pretty much anything in Ironsworn but you’ll probably want to keep them focused on the immediate current situation.

What I want to know in this situation is how bad is the damage from the cannonball. The cannonball impact was from a Miss roll and a Pay the Price move previously, so we know it won’t be good. For this one I want to ask the oracle how bad the damage is. I think it’s pretty bad so I’ll say it is Almost Certain the damage is large.

This is actually a Move called Ask the Oracle but I don’t consider it a full-on move like many of Ironsworn’s adventure or combat moves. Almost Certain is you roll a D100 and if it’s 90 or below it is a Yes answer.

I grab my D100 dice and roll, getting an 85. Close! but still a yes. So the damage is pretty bad. I’m envisioning Cyrus rushing down into the ship, water already sloshing through the lower deck. He quickly spots the damage - a gaping hole where water is pouring in. Cyrus is certainly in a bad spot!

3. When your action or current situation triggers a move, make that move.

Cyrus is in a bind, that is for sure. This isn’t the type of thing you can just slap a piece of wood over and call it a day. No, this is a risk to the whole ship and every second he takes to fix it gives the Dead End more time to reload for a follow-on volley. His crew, his ship, and his overall story are relying on him to come up with a solution to this problem.

Luckily Cyrus has quite a bit of skill in this area, being from a shipwright family before he took up the sword against the pirates. So what will he do? I think he needs to repair this hole before the ship sinks.

Now there are a few different ways you could go about making this move, depending on the situation. You may want to consider a few things before you pick the most appropriate move.

• have we entered the fray (started combat)?

• what assets does our character have?

• do we have a companion to help?

Ironsworn games have a large amount of moves compared to a more traditional PBTA and it gives players many options, which is helpful in a solo game. When in doubt, pick what feels the most right.

For simplicity, I’m going to use a React Under Fire move, which is a combat-based move for when your character is in a bad spot but is trying to overcome an obstacle. I could have also picked Withstand Damage or Repair.

So my action (attempting to repair the hole) has triggered a move (React Under Fire). I didn’t go to the list of moves and pick one initially, but started with the action and situation and went from there.

At this point, the track splits into two depending on if you roll very well (a strong hit) or if you roll less well or badly (A weak hit or a miss).

4. Strong hit - You’ve succeeded. You are in control.

We’ve rolled a strong hit! In this case a combined 8 on my action dice vs a 7 and a 6 on my challenge dice. With the strong hit, Cyrus got what he wanted, which was to patch up the Vengeful Crow enough to continue to fight. Well done Cyrus! I am not only in control of the combat situation but I’m also in control of the narrative.

You can also use this as an opportunity to mark progress on your current vow, combat or challenge. In this situation, it would be best to mark progress on this current combat scene.

5. What do you do next?

With that Strong Hit I’m in control of the narrative (and mechanically in ‘Control’ during combat but we are focusing on narrative here). What does Cyrus want to do next? We control that due to the Strong Hit.

• Does he want to sail into the wind to gain an advantageous position?

• Maybe he would like to fire a volley at the Dead End?

• He could lower his colours, tricking the Dead End into boarding range.

The world and narrative are his oyster, at least until he rolls Weak Hit or Miss. From here you go back to the top of the flow of play, envisioning the new situation and/or asking questions of the world.

Onward to victory! By Thomas Chambers

6. Weak hit - You’ve made progress, but aren’t in control.

Unless you are dealing with major bonuses (+4 and above which is rare in Ironsworn-based games) mathematically you’ll be seeing more Weak Hits than anything in Ironsworn and this is where the magic happens. Weak hits are give and take. You get what you want, either fully or to a lesser extent, but you have to give up something in return.

There is a certain art to producing a Weak Hit and making it work in the current story. How much of a success did your character have? How much is the cost they have to pay? My advice is to make it measurable to the situation at hand.

In this situation I’ll say Cyrus was able to able to repair the ship to a decent point but the water gushing into the ship got the ship’s stores of powder wet, impacting its ability to carry the fight onward. You can represent this in a number of different ways mechanically or in the fiction of the story. Either way, it’s a major problem and it will keep Cyrus in a bad spot.

From here you go to What Happens Next.

8. What happens next -Weak Hit

Our Weak Hit has given Cyrus a repaired ship but one without the ability to fire back. So what happens next? It is important to note this is slightly different than What Do You Do Next. What Happens Next is the circumstances of the story and fiction forcing things upon your character.

In this story, the ship is fine but unable to return fire as the Dead End comes astern of the Vengful Crow. The Dead End seems to be readying a boarding party. Cyrus grabs his sabre and prepares the crew to repel the boarders. Go back to Envisioning the situation and start the loop again.

Don’t give up the ship! By Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

7. Miss - You’ve failed, or encounter a costly turn of events

The dice are not with you on this roll. You’ve rolled a miss and bad things are about to happen. I think most people are familiar with how a Miss in any game system works but the key to a miss in a solo game (and most RPGs) is to not have the story just stop there.

So how does one create a point where your character has failed but the story continues? There is a principle used often in PBTA (Powered By the Apocalypse) based games called ‘Fail Forward’. Don’t let failure stall the game or the story, use it as a base to jump forward into my dramatic events.

Ok, in our story Cyrus has been unable to repair the ship as the water gushing in is just too much. Drenched, cold and desperate, what happens next? Does the ship go down? Is the story now over? Or can we take things in a way more fun an interesting way?

Let’s go to What Happens Next.

8. What happens next - Miss

Cyrus and the Vengeful Crow are in a bad spot. Their ship is irreparably damaged, and the Dead End is coming around for another volley of cannon fire. Mechanically a Miss leads to Paying the Price, reductions in resources, conditions, etc.

It is natural to be discouraged here as a solo player. This combat is not going well and Cyrus is in danger of drowning below deck. So how can we make this failure even more interesting? Let’s get creative. Months earlier in the campaign Cyrus had heard a rumour that black magic has allowed the pirate of the Dead End to breathe water like fish.

Lean into it! The Dead End comes around to board the Vengeful Crow but not from above. Cyrus watches as pirates emerge from the hole in the ship with gills and fins for hands. Cyrus grabs his sabre and readies for this desperate battle.

Go to Envisioning the Situation to restart the loop.

The Flow of Play and What We Can Learn

There you go, a Flow of Play as seen through Cyrus and his desperate battle. But the real key to the Flow of Play is the strength of the loop. I want to see what happens to Cyrus and his crew in each situation. And most importantly I know what to do next. I’m not lost or at a loss for what Cyrus’s next moves will be.

It is a lesson I’ve taken away from playing and reading Ironsworn. For solo play the gameplay loop -the flow of play- is essential. Traditional RPGs have a Game Master, Dungeon Master, Keeper, or whatever, to keep the story moving along. You can’t pick a lock? The GM will come up with something. Fail that athletics roll? GM will come up with the next challenge.

Solo RPGs don’t have that GM or you are the GM. So the gameplay loop must be strong. The last thing I want as a designer of solo RPGs is for people not to know what they need to do next. Because people will close their notebooks, and walk away. And maybe they will never come back to your game.

What lessons have you taken away from examining the Flow of Play and have you taken away anything different than me? Add it to the comments!

Next Month

Next month we are looking at a bunch of my favourite Solo Actual Plays, written, podcast and video. Clear out your schedule for July because you’ll be spending it reading/watching/listening to solo APs!

Be sure to check out Studded Leather Issue #1 by Castle Grief and the Analog Dead! I’ve played a few of his games before, he has a talent for drawing that old-school pen-and-paper art style and building worlds and kickass settings.

You can check out the campaign here!

Credit to Castle Grief. Damn, that cover looks good!

As always, I do this because you read it and (hopefully) enjoy it. Thank you from the bottom of my dark soul.