Campaign 01 | Session 0B

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Name to be determined!

  • System: Ironsworn
  • Setting: Amiel (Galrok)
  • Protagonist: To be determined!

Overview

Welcome to Session 0B of Campaign 01 of Dungeon Dialogue! Last time I walked through the Ironsworn Rulebook to establish the truths about the continent of Galrok where the campaign will take place. In this session I will document the creation of the protagonist of the story, using various supplements to assist me along the way. Let’s get into it!

A Note on Formatting

Anywhere you see an indented text block like this, I am quoting directly from either the Ironsworn rulebook or another supplement. Reference information, including page numbers, will be provided. For example:

“In the Ironsworn tabletop roleplaying game, you are a hero sworn to undertake perilous quests in the dark fantasy setting of the Ironlands.” —Ironsworn Rules (p. 1).

Anywhere you see a code block, I am reporting the result of a dice roll. For example:

Roll +heart (1d6) = 3

Where appropriate, spoiler blocks will be used to prevent revealing information before you are ready to ready it. For example:

!spoiler Our Protagonist learns that they are awesome!!<

Building A Hero

Truths

To begin, I’d like to establish some truths about the protagonist.

  1. The protagonist is a human.
  2. The protagonist is not native to Galrok.
  3. The protagonist is a researcher (anthropologist, archaeologist, or similar).

Basic Details

Other than these few facts, I know nothing about who this person is. I’ll use some supplements to assist with fleshing out the details.First, I’ll use the UNE NPC Emulator to help randomly generate some background information about my character. I’m rolling on Table 1 for “NPC Modifier” and Table 2 for “NPC Noun,” both of which are d100 rolls.

Roll NPC Modifier (1d100) = 81 → Jovial

Roll NPC Noun (1d100) = 31 → Officer

I take these results to mean that our hero is in the military and they have an optimistic, positive demeanor. To align this with the prior established truths, I am imagining the character is an Ensign who is in charge of leading a small research team exploring Galrok. Given we know from last time that Galrok is dotted with strange iron pillars with unknown purpose and properties, it makes sense to me that the military minds of the world would be interested in seeing if they can be exploited for warfighting purposes.

Motivations

Let’s see what the character’s motivations are using Table 4 for “NPC Motivation Verb” and Table 5 for “NPC Motivation Noun.”

Roll NPC Motivation Verb = 7 → Create

Roll NPC Motivation Noun = 48 → Enlightenment

These results mesh nicely with my military researcher idea. But I think they also indicate something deeper about the character—they are doing their work not out of interest of serving their superiors, but out of genuine interest in learning more about the world around them. “Create Enlightenment” will be satisfied whether the iron pillars have a practical military use or not.

This begs the question of why such an individual, other than basic competence, would be trusted with a minor officer rank and given the responsibility of leading a team of their own. I believe the answer is that this character is exceptionally good at connecting with other people. Their jovial attitude goes hand-in-hand with a general eagerness that has made them a prime candidate for promotion. Being easy to work with goes a long way, after all.

I also think the inherent tension between this character’s core motivation of enlightenment and their military service indicates they would not be enlisted in the military if they didn’t have to be. If they had the means to explore and research the world without being in the military, they would. Therefore, I believe our hero came from nothing—a rough background that necessitated enlisting in the military to meet their basic needs.

Ironsworn Character Creation

With our character concept envisioned per the steps laid out in the Ironsworn Rulebook (p. 31), we can determine the nuts and bolts of our character.

Stats

The five stats in Ironsworn are: Edge, Heart, Iron, Shadow, and Wits. Per the Ironsworn Rules, I need to assign the bonuses 3, 2, 2, 1, and 1 to these five stats in any order I choose (p. 33).

Our character’s core motivation is to “Create Enlightenment,” but we also now know that they have earned their success up to this point through connecting to others. This indicates to me that their strongest stat should be heart, so I will assign a score of 3.

Their curiosity and desire to learn points to wits and their military service to either edge or iron. I will assign 2 points to wits and 2 points to iron (I’m imagining this character strikes with strength, rather than speed).

That leaves 1 point to be assigned to both edge and shadow. Our character’s stats are thus as follows:

  • 1 Edge
  • 3 Heart
  • 2 Iron
  • 1 Shadow
  • 2 Wits

Health, Spirit, Supply, and Momentum

In Ironsworn your character’s vitality is measured by three scores: Health, Spirit, and Supply, representing your character’s physical state, mental state, and equipment state, respectively. Per the Ironsworn Rules, all three of these scores begin at 5 (pp. 33–34).

Momentum is a special score which accumulates and drains during play based on results of rolls. As our character succeeds, they will usually build momentum. As they fail or suffer hardship, they will lose momentum. Momentum can be spent to replace a die roll to provide a better chance of success in a particularly important moment. Per the Ironsworn Rules, our starting momentum and momentum reset both begin at +2 while our max momentum begins as +10 (p. 34).

Assets

Our character’s assets are special abilities that apply situationally during play. Three assets may be chosen among the list of Companions, Paths, Combat Talents, and Rituals. I don’t think our character has a companion and I do not believe they know any rituals (for now), so I will narrow down my asset choices between paths and combat talents.

Since I already established this character is a military officer leading a small group, the asset Commander fits nicely.

Commander: “You lead a warband with +4 strength. Roll +strength when you command your warband to Face Danger, Secure an Advantage, Compel, or Battle. When you face the negative outcome of any move, you may suffer -1 strength as the cost. When you Make Camp or Sojourn and score a hit, take +1 strength. While at 0 strength, this asset counts as a debility.” — Ironsworn Assets

For the purposes of the fiction, this is less of a “warband” and more of a “research team” consisting of only a few individuals, say three, in addition to our hero. They won’t be taking on any enemy armies but they have enough numbers to defend themselves against groups of equal or lesser strength.

Next I’ll go with Wayfinder, which should come in handy on many occasions during play.

Wayfinder: “When you Undertake a Journey, take +1 momentum on a strong hit. If you burn momentum to improve your result, also take +1 momentum after you reset.” — Ironsworn Assets

Finally, to flesh out our character’s martial prowess, I’ll select Sunderer.

Sunderer: “If you wield an axe, when you Strike or Clash in close quarters, you may suffer -1 momentum and inflict +1 harm on a hit (decide before rolling).”

Bonds and Vows

The final steps for creating my character are to select up to three background Bonds and swear an Iron Vow that represents our character’s overarching goal.

For bonds, I believe it makes sense for our hero to have a bond with both the nation they serve and the team they lead. This brings up an important question: what sovereign state does our character serve? What military are they a part of?

I’ll dip a bit into my background knowledge on the world of Amiel and pick a nation that makes sense. The Taurian Empire is a majority human power that is on the rise and is currently the only remaining state with sovereign holdings on multiple continents. They are hungry for expansion and have the money and means to do so aggressively. This makes them an ideal candidate within the lore of the world to be sending out expeditionary forces to faraway places to harvest military secrets and technology.

Therefore, the protagonist will have bonds with:

  • Taurian Empire (homeland)
  • Expeditionary Team (allies)

I’ll mark two ticks on the bond with the Taurian Empire and three ticks on the bond with the Expeditionary Team—I think my character is more attached to the people they work with than the country they come from.

Finally, I will Swear an Iron Vow. In the fiction of Ironsworn, your vow is your word, and your word is your honor. Rebuking a vow is the highest dishonor one can commit. The background vow for our hero (and for this campaign) is the following:

I swear to learn whether the Iron Pillars of Galrok have useful military applications.

What does that mean? I have no idea! We will discover the meaning together as I play.

Character Summary

As a final note, let’s finally learn our hero’s name! I’ll use Oracle 13: Ironlander Names from the Ironsworn Rules (p. 184).

Roll Ironlander Names (1d100) = 27 → Kynan

Roll Ironlander Names (1d100) = 81 → Pendry

Kynan Pendry, Ensign, Galrok Expeditionary Force, Taurian Empire

Basic:

  • Human
  • Male
  • Age 33

Stats:

  • 1 Edge
  • 3 Heart
  • 2 Iron
  • 1 Shadow
  • 2 Wits

Assets:

  • Commander
  • Wayfinder
  • Sunderer

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Let me know your thoughts in the replies below. The next post will cover the events that occur during Session 01 of the campaign. Until next time on Dungeon Dialogue!