Review of Sundered Isles: Seafaring Adventures for Ironsworn: Starforged
Croaker reviews the biggest Solo RPG of 2024 | Ribbiting Adventures
Step onboard ye’ matey! Today we are sailing the seven seas, the 12 clouds and the 5 planets with Sundered Isles, Seafaring Adventures for Ironsworn: Starforged.
If you are into Solo RPGs, you probably saw Sundered Isles Kickstarting last year. Its March 2024 campaign gained nearly 4,000 backers and raised over $200k! It was a fantastic achievement for an expansion to a solo RPG.
I’ve since received my copies of Sundered Isle and have had the chance to play two campaigns, working through the mechanics and experiencing the worlds.
Summary
🎲 - Sundered Isles: Seafaring Adventures for Ironsworn: Starforged
⏰ - Released in 2024
💵 - $18 USD on Itch and DriveThru for PDF. Physical copies are available also.
🐸 - Solo Built / Co-op and Traditional play friendly
The Good
Interesting settings for play. Traditional sailing ships, to flying through the sky, to sailing the stars
Great new mechanics such as the Twin Fates, treasury and upkeep that you can take to your Starforged campaign.
Fantastic art that informs play and provides information (Poopdeck is a real thing apparently, who knew?)
The same feeling of adventure and excitement we got from Ironsworn and Starforged
Feedback
Sundered Isles is huge enough to be a stand-alone game, and I wish it was
The two-book physical format is a bit awkward.
Assessment
An impressive improvement on the Ironsworn formula, with new settings, assets, and mechanics that allow you to build and sail in the story of your choosing.
You are Ironsworn…
Kieran stands on the deck of the Gas-lit Prowler, a modified cargo sloop that he’s retrofitted with a steam-powered turret and side-mounted paddle. The sad decrepit town of Muck comes into view. The Prowler pulls up to the half-rotted peer and lashes up. Kieran has a job to do and doesn’t want to stay here a second longer than he needs to.
I was incredibly excited when the Sundered Isles Kickstarter campaign was announced. Sundered Isles was the final stretch goal of the Starforged crowd-funding campaign but due to the scope of it, it took a while to be designed.
In the Ironsworn Discord, Shawn would post working designs and artwork about Sundered Isles, and I was hooked! As soon as the campaign launched I backed it to the hilt and settled in the the wait to get my books…
Nah, c’mon. I totally started playing as soon as I got the PDFs, going through a campaign and then another when my books arrived.
Art and Design
The contact at the pier me the signal and as a group the crew and I launch ourselves out of the Prowler and rush full tilt to the warehouse we’ve been told about. We only have minutes if we want to catch them unaware. I hear the shrill song of iron blades been pull by my crew. I check my pistol on my belt. It is loaded and ready.
The first thing you notice when you open Sundered Isles is the art and just the huge amount of it. There are fantastic full spreads, action scenes, spot art, maps, - really everything you could want in a high-quality RPG product.
What I like best about the art is not that it inspires play, or that it is cool to look at, but that it actually ‘teaches’ play. What does that mean? Well look at any piece of art and you can tell it’s there to show you what kind of game Sundered Isles is, what stories it was designed to tell. Lots of cresting over waves, peering into spy glasses, dramatic fighting, and monstrous creatures.
Call me old fashioned, but a painting of a sailing ship is just a fantastic image.
The book is laid out effectively and logically. Immensely readable despite the art and design flourishes.
What is New is New
The warehouse is just ahead. All we need to do is get inside, grab the crate and burn everything else. We burst in as a group and as our eyes adjust we see the shapes of our hated foe, Captain Rojos del Amos, and his Red Flag Crew. We’ve been double-crossed!
Sundered Isles is an expansion so get ready to be expanded! There are some cool new mechanics you can take or leave with Sundered Isles.
Twin Fates - The twin moons, Cinder and Wraith smile and frown upon you. Simply select a red D10 for Cinder and a blue D10 for Wraith for your challenge die. When Cinder is higher the situation can be aggressive, passionate and physical. If Wraith is higher, the situation can be cunning, mysterious and unearthly.
Just a fun little addition to the normal Action+Challenge dice of Starforged. I admit I don’t always use it but I find it valuable when I need to interpret a specific special dice roll.
Treasury and Upkeep - What kind of pirate would you be if you didn’t spend your hard-earned plunder at a pirate tavern? Not a good one, in my opinion. Treasury and Upkeep are a new, simple mechanic to add things of value to your campaign. A captured Frigate can be quite valuable, especially when your crew is demanding a cut.
Sailing the Seas - As you’d expect, Sundered Isles contains a bunch of mechanics around sailing, from supply at sea to the phases of a sea battle. You can dip into them as much as you want, or keep to the standard way of doing things.
The Seven Seas…
The battle is joined, with my crew and the Red Flag crew locked into mortal combat. We are out numbered but we are strong and skills fighters. Then I spot him, Rojos Del Amos himself, the Red Devil, the Scourage of the Tweleve Cities, the Bastard of the Rocks. This is it, this is when I end him.
The default setting of Sundered Isles is the age of sails, cannons, and raging seas. And most of the book assumes you’ll be running this world. But if you hate the call of seagulls, the saltwater in your hair and the feeling of sand between your toes (I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.) you can pick one of the other detailed realms.
Skyfaring Realm - Sail the shattered skies, where islands float, giant monsters fly through the clouds and villages hang from the side of rocky cliffs.
Starfaring Realm - Want to mix sci-fi with your Sundered Isles? This is the realm for you. Sail between the stars, through mystical aether storms and past the vaults of ancient aliens.
And much more!
Swords clash as we both try each other. Faint, then strike, guard, riposte, strike again. We dance our deadly dance knowing that one misstep will lead to blood and death.
There is a lot more positive stuff in Sundered Isles I could discuss, but I don’t have the time, and I generally try to keep this newsletter to a reasonable length. There have been Improved Factions, cool map-making, and tons of new oracles (with the new cursed die).
This leads to my only criticisms of Sundered Isles…
I wish it was its own game
Locked blades, a twist of my wrist and Del Amos’s sword tumbles from his hands. I bring the razor-sharp point of my blade to his throat and demand surrender. His hands come up. We have taken the day!
You can play Sundered Isles without opening Starforged, nearly. You’ll still need your trusty Starforged book or PDF close at hand for those times you will need it. I understand why Sundered Isles is an expansion, but in a perfect world, I think it would be its own stand-alone game, existing without the need to have Starforged.
I also find the two-book format of the physical books a bit awkward at times. You still need both (the rules reference is in guidebook one, whereas the oracles are in guidebook two for example). The spiral binding is great, it makes play easier as books lay flat. Of course, these aren’t concerns with the digital version.
The Ocean Blue
Sundered Isles is an impressive feat, an improvement on Starforged and its near-perfection. Take what you want from all the improvements and sail across the world you want to. Include magic, curses, or the undead. Get granular with your treasure, or hand wave it all the way. Use wind power, steam power, or magic power.
Build the world you want and sail it, in Sundered Isles.
What Solo RPGs should I review next?
Other RPG News
plays Zorg! Hoping Kaleb makes it out of the Grotto. The hardest fight is still to come but the little guy is doing so good so far! Isles of Moor - Check out this hex crawl. A system agnostic, OSR, sandbox, hexcrawl, adventure setting, stretching across a wretched lonely island.
Next Month
I’m happy to say I’ll have a massive guest on the Lone Toad for the March Edition of the Lone Toad, Shawn Tomkin himself! Definitely keep your eye out for that one.
Tune in next month!
Thanks to everyone who reads this and all my posts! I write because you read them, and I thank you for that.
I really enjoyed my playthrough of Sundered Isles but agree that I wish it was stand alone. The tables are so well done. I do find myself struggling to describe the open sea over and over, which if you're just playing and not publishing wouldn't matter. I would probably enjoy it more if I wasn't then trying to turn it into an exciting and engaging story for others to read.
Great review, reminded me to dust off my copy and give it a go. Thoughts on reviewing GO RPG or Unbroken?