Update - 02/03/2026
Hello, and welcome to another weekly update! I hope you all had a great weekend. I spent mine working and little else. We did have our first Grand Master Patreon chat, and it was a lot of fun! In case you missed it, you can watch it right here on Patreon! Thanks to the people who dropped by, I really appreciate you dedicating your time to watching me ramble!
This week, I kept my promise and worked exclusively on getting Across a Thousand Hollow Vaults done. It was a bit slow at the beginning because I haven't really touched the game in like a year, but now I'm back in track, and I do think I can have it done for this month. I'll keep you posted!
On Sunday, I was checking Reddit as usual (part of my morning routine, to see if I have any comments to make or questions to answer) when I saw, for the hundredth time, a bunch of people recommending Ironsworn to a person asking for a game with tactical combat and lots of character development. So this time around I decided to write a post titled "Ironsworn is the D&D 5e of the solo community", and it triggered a few people, among them the mods of the sub, since the post was gone about 15 min after posting it. I was really respectful, I didn't criticize Ironsworn, I actually said it's an awesome game (which it is), I just pointed out that recommending it as the panacea against all solo problems and the answer to any sort of solo question, is not the way to go. There are other games out there that do the sort of things Ironsworn wasn't written to do much better. Just like 5e; 5e was written for a high fantasy, heroic type of gameplay and setting. Can you play it as a low magic, human-centric, deadly setting? Definitely, but you're going to have to do some work. Technically speaking, you can twist any RPG into playing any sort of setting you want, but generally speaking they'll work best with the type of gameplay and setting they're written for. Well, apparently this is a controversial thought, and I was told multiple times how Ironsworn is the perfect game for anyone because of how good it is. Yes, it's an excellent game for beginners, in the sense that it teaches you the core concepts of playing solo, but as a game, I don't think it's ideal for someone who isn't looking for a PbtA-inspired, narrative-first RPG. That's it. What do you guys think?
In any case, it was funny.
So this week, I'll keep working on ATHV, hoping to get the exploration chapter done. Richard is working hard on the Machine Gods Mörk Borg version, and as soon as he is done I'll get the layout ready for you guys. Next will be The Voidspire Territories book, and after that some new content!
So that's it for this week, have a great one!
Comments (16)
Very stoked for ATHV! As far as Ironsworn and the discussion around it, sure, it probably is a great place for some people to start out with solo but I swear I'd rather play a quick session, or even a couple of sessions, of Korg any day of the week and have found myself recommending it to more people who are just getting started out and if they vibe with solo then I do my best to onboard them to the Order of the Black Oath 🤘 I mean truly Ker Nethalas scratched the itch I still felt every time I dabbled with Ironsworn and then ATDW, Salvage & Sorcery, Machine Gods, and RHBF fully converted me and I've honestly never looked back at Ironsworn. It really doesn't do it for me when compared to your work or a simple d6 game like Korg, or heck even the SoloDark zine for ShadowDark. And I never did really come around to the art style of Ironsworn either. But all that being said, if it gets people to give solo a shot it still serves a place somewhere out there- just not on my shelf 😂
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy my work!
Ironsworn was the first game I soloed, and it was an amazing experience. It's not the answer to all, as your games clearly show, there are other options. I think I went to a PBTA styled game first because I love how the moves drive the narrative forward, so I thought I'd have an easier time. Then I got Mythic GME and realized how awesome it was for more types of people. I only use subsets of it, because as GM I already know how to set up a scene, so I don't need that help. And if I need help, I prefer random tables to inspire me into creating the scene. Now I'm backing Triple O, which is a twist on solo: It simulates the characters while you GM.
When I first grabbed Ironsworn I didn't even know what moves or PbtA was, haha. This was in 2018, and it was literally the only solo RPG out there. I loved the experience, but really disliked the mechanics, precisely because of the moves. I later discovered other games with moves and realized I was having a problem with that mechanic, and that's how I found out about PbtA, haha. I was just looking to replicate my traditional RPG group experiences but solo, and that includes skills, detailed combat, meaningful gear... all things that Irownsworn doesn't offer. It's an absolutely fantastic game if you don't mind not having those things, though.
I 100% agree with you Alex, and it's a shame that your thoughtful post got deleted. Was this on the soloroleplaying subreddit? As others have said, I think it just had "first mover advantge" along with Mythic GME before it, and was one of the first "All-in-one" solutions, while as other mentioned being free. For me it's just a sign of how barren and inaccessible that solo landscape is, it's just become the norm that you should have 14 books and tools on hand, cobble together your own system, not know what you're doing half the time, accept that you're the GM as well as the player and that's just status quo. I actually find Ironsworn to this day to eb super confusing, the "move" languaging, what move to use when, the fact that the world is vague and you have to make your own world before you can even play and just that it falls back on the Mythic-style "you need to figure out what happens next" style. I'm actually still waiting (Alex, I think you're one of the few who could do it), for a true RPG system that is designed for GM-less as a first class citizen that walks you through in a very structured way of sitting down to play to playing, through a tutorial, into the actual game, with NO "you figure out what happens next" or oracle interpretation, but eases you into the more open ended style of play, in a compelling lore rich world. Even Forbidden Lands with Book of Beasts is far from "sit down and play" and mostly just adds on oracles to a world/system that is like 80% of the way there to GM-less play to begin with, it just wasn't formatted for it. Kal Arath I have looked at a little, and it seems to benefit from being brief and simple, but still requires a decent amount of elaboration on the part of the player. The more structured games out there (say Grimscar or gamebook adjacent stuff) really rely heavily on random tables (Barbarian Prince style) where there's either no coherence, or it necessarily just becomes a sort of survival/progression grind. I'd love a book where you just open it to page one, make character, get launched into this deep, rich world, and it slowly opens up to more freeform traditional solo play. The best I have so far far are more boardgame adjacent like the recent Wrath of the Wyvern or perhaps the solo mode for the Tainted Grail ttrpg. I also am excited by the efforts toward GM-Less play the upcoming Legend in the Mist is doing. Robust GM-less section with pretty creative oracles (which have gradual levels of detail) AND most important all their official adventure are written with solo in mind, which is amazing.
Actually, they ended up approving the post! They took like 12 hours to do so, but they did, and of course, I brought the apocalypse upon me, haha. So many antagonistic comments and triggered people... The things you mention are the exact reasons why Ironsworn didn't click with me either, any PbtA-based game requires approaching RPGs in a completely different way, and it's a way I personally dislike. As for what you're suggesting, I hope I can provide it with Empire Undying, since I am approaching it in a different way, with a different structure to what I usually have. Which is why it's taking me years to complete, I keep going back and forth...
I think the 5Eing of Ironsworn is the fact that the base game is free. So the cost of entry is at the floor low. Its a complete game for free that walks you through the procedure of solo play by using the PTBA style moves. I hundred 100 percent agree with your expressed thoughts that ironsworn does not cover all scenarios or themes. Ironsworn is not tactical in the way ker nethalas is and struggles with more detailed scenarios, even the delve expansion is very story first. It sucks that we cant have more open discussions about how to grow this subset of the hobby.
Yeah, it's a fantastic game to introduce yourself to the world of solo games, but it's not the game to recommend when you're asking for high fantasy or tactical combat. That's all what my post is about, and people seem to think I'm saying that Ironsworn shouldn't be recommended at all, which I really don't agree with.
What games do you have in mind here?: “There are other games out there that do the sort of things Ironsworn wasn't written to do much better”
Twilight 2K, or Forbidden Lands with the Book of Beasts expansion that has the solo rules, several Gallant Knight games, Kal Arath, and of course, my own body of work.
I agree with you. I see the appeal of ironsworn but I’m not a pbta guy and I feel like there are other options now for sure. I do think at one point in time ironsworn was the principal game in town but that has been changing.
Yes, we have so many other options now! For those who want them, of course.
I'm glad and wish you keep your personal touch and appreciation on solo rpg gameplay,cheers!
Thank you!
Yuss! ATHV - so interested to see where this goes. Ironsworn (I've never played): Haha stick it to em! It's just an opinion anyway, removing a conversation is antithetical to a community posting platform. Even a triggering post (as long as it's on topic) refines/defines the hobby. Sorry you were censored... so radical lol
They actually just decided to approve the post! And people are so not understanding my point, so many triggered people...