The Lone Toad Newsletter - June 2024
We are talking Ironsworn, so get out your D10s and D6!
Welcome to the June 2024 Lone Toad Newsletter and welcome back dear readers. This month we are celebrating the successful Sundered Isles Kickstarter by dedicating June to Ironsworn games written by Shawn Tomkin and the games people have built using that system.
You are Ironsworn!
I’ve talked about Ironsworn several times in the past and those people who have followed the Lone Toad or my previous blog know I have a high opinion of Shawn Tomkin and the amazing work he’s done with his games. Ironsworn was the first solo RPG I ever played and took me from a solo RPG sceptic to a Solo RPG missionary!
Ironsworn travellers started exploring the Ironlands in 2018 and the game instantly made a huge impression on the Solo scene. Shawn quickly followed up with the expansion Delve in 2020, which further fleshed out exploration and dungeon delving rules.
Ironsworn: Starforged was released in 2022 which took Ironsworn into the stars, along with improving and expanding aspects of the rules. The expansion, Sundered Isles, just finished its crowdfunding campaign and will be released to sea dogs everywhere by the end of 2024 (but has playable PDFs now).
There are probably a hundred reasons why I enjoy Ironsworn games, but here are just a few:
The Gameplay Loop Works
The number one killer of solo games is not knowing what to do next. Well maybe that isn’t a statistical analysis but it’s true enough from what I’ve seen. The Ironsworn system has been developed in such as way as to ensure players always know what they should do next, without being overly proscriptive. I’ll be going into this much deeper in the mid-June Ribbiting Adventures.
Player Aids are fantastic
Shawn has produced some great player aids for the Ironsworn games, but the community around it have created some of the best support tools I’ve ever seen. Stargazer/Iron Journal, The Augar, various VTT, and hand-held physical resource trackers are just of the great tools you can use to enhance your game.
The Story takes off in interesting directions
Ironsworn games have a tendency to quickly go into interesting and dramatic directions. The system encourages this, especially when a player rolls matching D10s which are a trigger to create a twist and mix things up in unexpected ways. So every roll in Ironsworn is dramatic!
Ironsworn Games
One of the best parts of Ironsworn is its adaptability to other games and since Shawn has released the core Ironsworn mechanics as a comprehensive SRD anyone can create an amazing solo experience. There are so many adventures, modules, and full-on games built on Ironsworn, here is just a small selection of standouts.
Vaults and Vows by Ludic Pen
Also available as print on demand at DriveThru!
Ever wanted to take your Ironsworn game into the world of the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur? You can do that with Vaults and Vows, a beautifully illustrated Ironsworn expansion. Vaults and Vows has 106 new assets and completely reworks character creation and progression.
Vaults & Vows is an Ironsworn asset pack that allows you to play the story of fantastical heroes in a highly magical setting, emulating the dungeoneering and dragon-killing stories of old.
Sworn by Ghostlight by Yuigaron
Trudge through dark alleys and investigate occult rituals in Sworn By Ghostlight. The case is not predetermined in this adventure, it relies on your character’s skills to determine what is going on in this city. All the rules and oracles are self-contained in this pamphlet adventure.
You play an Occult Detective in the haunted, Victorian-London inspired city of Mónaþstone, where the moon's cracked surface bleeds Ghostlight onto the world, festering as ghosts, necromancy, and undeath.
After you’ve solved this mystery, be sure to check out the next case - Wings of Rot.
Iron Valley by M. Kirin
I’ve heard a lot of people speak highly of Iron Valley. A farming and community simulator built on the Ironsworn rules, Iron Valley is the definition of a cozy game. Pair Iron Valley gameplay with a warm fire and some hot cocoa and you are living life well.
Also available on DrivethruRPGs
In this game you take the role of someone moving into a small community and starting their life anew. Maybe you’ll restore your family’s farm. Maybe you’ll explore the mysterious forest just beyond town. Maybe you’ll fall in love and get married!
Vumpire! by dozens
Let’s have some fun playing America’s pastime, Baseball! Except you are a vampire, but also an umpire, but you also need blood. Good luck with that arrangement.
You are umpiring the championship game and you are also an ancient undead vampire. You are here to steal some oxygen-rich, elite athlete blood. And also to enforce the rules of baseball and uphold the spirit of sportsmanship.
Crowdfunding or releasing a solo game soon? Hit me up! The Lone Toad is here to boost fellow Solo RPG designers. Leave a comment, respond to this email, use Substack’s new messaging thing, write a note into your solo notebook and cast it into the sea and I will grab it when I’m at the beach next.
Also can’t get enough of me? I can’t blame you. Follow me on Threads here!
Croaker RPGs WIP
Alright, I’ve been busy the last month for sure. I was excited to show everyone The Void Chorus but I have an update and a new game to discuss. Firstly, The Void Chorus will be out free to subscribers by the end of the year.
But what will fill the Solo RPG-shaped hole in your heart I hear you ask? Well, sometimes you get what you wish for. Let me introduce you to Identity.
My goal is to release 3 games a year that subscribers to the The Lone Toad can download and play months before they go on sale to the masses.
Identity
You are driving down a back road in a storm. There is a car crash ahead. You stop to check it out. There is an exact copy of you, dead in the driver's seat. But how is that possible? Things start happening every day to you. People ignore you, vans follow you, and you hear messages on the radio. Why is this happening? That is the mystery you must solve in Identity.
Build on the Push SRD by
, Identity is a slow game of introspective horror. Taking place in the mid-90s, you’ll roll random terrifying situations for your character to encounter and overcome before coming home at night to post about it on a message board, where nobody ever responds.
The game is built around a simple but effective PUSH resolution system that has you roll a D6:
Roll a 5 or a 6? Great, that is a Strong Hit and you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve. Sometimes that means making out the voice on a crackly line or catching up to the suit that is following you.
Roll a 4 or lower? That is a weak hit. You accomplish what you want but with a complication. You sneak into your boss’s office (who is definitely in on this conspiracy) but your beeper goes off!
Roll a Weak Hit but you want a Strong Hit? You can roll another D6 and add it to your dice roll already. But if you get a 7 or higher, something you don’t want to happen happens. You are straining to hear the voice at the end of the line. You roll a MISS. It's your voice speaking to you!
There will also be a ton of tables for you to roll on. I’m excited to share more of this on my Notes in the next couple of months as I finish the game.
Want to playtest Identity? Drop me a message, reply to this email, or write a comment below!
But Don’t Forget - The Lost City of Cargoth (FREE GAME)
Pick it up while it’s still free to Lone Toad readers! Once Identity is out, The Lost City of Cargoth will go up for sale on my itch page.
Please don’t share this link, instead share this Lone Toad post which will help grow the community!
Be sure to check out my other games here!
Other RPG Stuff
Daddy Rolled a 1 does a great video about Blackmoor and the HP, AC and XP come from.
The Soloist went to the British Museum and saw some Roman artifacts. I like to imagine Romulus and Scipio playing their version of Dungeons and Dragons in their palatial roman vila.
Songs and Sagas from Fari RPGs is out and he is following up the release with a game jam.
Wraithound by
is currently in its last few days of crowdfunding. Go check it out before the campaign finishes.Thunderfang, a fantastically written Starforged Actual Play has started season 3!
- is soon to launch his Kickstarter for Studded leather Issue 1. Go sign up. Now. Do it.
Up Next for The Lone Toad
In the mid-June Ribbiting Adventures, we are diving deep into Ironsworn to discuss how the game views the solo gameplay loop by looking at the anatomy of a solo scene in Ironsworn. Solo RPG play theory abounds! See you there next month.
Thank you for Reading!
As always I write this because you all read it. Please like this newsletter and share it with others who may be interested.
Do you know any cool Ironsworn-based games you'd like the world to know about? Post it in the comments!
Appreciate the shoutout!