Ironsworn Legacies Alpha Playtest 1C
[About a week ago, Shawn Tomkin released a new version of the Ironsworn legacies playtest, called version 1C. Two days ago, this version has already been pulled from the playtest, because it was received very negatively due to a very negative reception even before people had begun to start playing. This was due to some very extensive changes to the system, including reducing the approaches/attributes (called affinities in 1C) down to Iron, Heart and Wits, and attaching the impacts from earlier versions to these, instead of the well known Health/Spirit/Supply trifecta.
I had already started my playtest and since I'm a thick skulled person, I decided to finish it, albeit cut down (I retrograded the quest from Formidable to Dangerous to make it much shorter, thus removing some things I wanted to try out and include in the story). Also this is a continuation of the story from my 1A playtest you can find on the blog, and I really didn't want to redo it with the next playtest version. For this playtest, I recreated my character and only kept the legacy rewards. I chose as stats 3 Iron, 2 Heart, 1 Wits (1A had 3 Iron, 2 Edge, 2 Heart, 1 Wits and 1 Shadow).
You can find my 1A playtest here: https://daydreamingmoose.bearblog.dev/ironsworn-2e-alpha-test/
And you can find my thoughts on the 1C playtest at the bottom this time around]
The arrival of Markvard's messenger created a frantic few days in Eaglespire. The few men of the local milita had their weapons sharpened, and those with maille got the rust off and missing rings replaced as fast as possible.
It must have been a very long time that they've looked this sharp.
At the same time, fortifications got repaired, and that's where I could actually help as well. While only parts of the village were ringed by a wooden palisade, the rest of it was at least covered by ditches and a sturdy fence. A fence that got covered in as many brambles that we could find, a lot of them from the ditches that we also started digging deeper.
I doubt it would hold off a determined bandit attack, but if I were Markvard, it would definitely make me think twice about attacking the village head on, because he'd be losing more men than he could replace easily.
It was while I was out digging trenches that a local boy came over to give me some water and told me that Chieftain Haleema wanted to see me, so I drank some water, stabbed the wooden shovel into the hard dirt, washed my hands and walked off. Eaglespire doesn't have a dedicated council hall or anything similar, like the large towns do. Here, the important people just meet at the Chieftain's hall to talk things through, which was still the largest building in the small village.
As usual, Haleema was a woman of few words. Apparently, they had talked and planned a lot the last few days, with the result that they were going to hire more mercenaries like me. Of course, that'd take a few days at least, maybe more, so for now they would be more than happy to pay me for my work again, this time doing something closer to the village. They asked me to travel to the old watchtower, approximately half a day's march from the village, and make sure it would be ready to be manned by the other mercenaries they were going to hire.
Sounds easy enough, so I packed my bag and set off the next morning.
Undertake A Quest: Set up the old watchtower
Rank: Formidable
Take on a Challenge: Journey to the old watchtower
Rank: Dangerous
Luckily, the old watchtower isn't too far away from Eaglespire, if everything goes well, I should only take a day to get there, and another to get back once all the work is done. The way there is going to be a bit strenuous according to Haleema, but we'll see.
Take Action + Wits: 5+1 = 6 vs 4 and 9 (Weak Hit!)
Set Position to Pressured; Mark challenge progress (Journey) and create a tension timer (0/4)
While the way to the mines led along the ridge of the mountains and didn't require a lot of climbing, the tower itself is higher up, closer to the peak. To get there will require a lot of climbing, but it should be doable without any climbing gear, I hope.
Take Action + Iron: 2 + 3 = 5 vs 5 and 10 (Miss!)
Set position to Desperate, Mark an Impact (Iron)
Too bad it's clear straight from the start that nobody has used this trail in a very, very long time. Everything was overgrown, sickly trees having fallen on the way, and what was left of the trail washed out by years of rain. Just starting out on the way to the tower required lots of cutting and chopping with my axe and sword - both of which aren't really made for this kind of work, but I'm not going back to the village now and embarrass myself. A bit of hard work and some cuts from the brambles are a smaller price to pay.
Take Action + Iron: 5 + 3 = 8 vs 2 and 9 (Weak Hit!)
Set position to Pressured, Mark challenge progress (Journey), Mark a Tension Timer (1/4)
While resting on a large stone and peering down towards Eaglespire - already several hours of hiking away - I heard a strange noise. At first, I thought it was a kind of huffing, and blamed the echo of my own breathing. But it got closer and I jumped up from my rest, brandishing my axe. Something scurried back into the sparse woods behind me, but I ran after it and found a cave in the mountainside.
A cave that was clearly being used as a hideout, or home. There were wooden toys on the floor and a distinct lack of weapons and loot, so I ruled out the bandits.
'Take what you want and leave us be, traveller.' a voice suddenly said behind me, and I definitely didn't hear the person coming closer.
The person standing behind me had his hand on the grip of his seax, still in its sheath, and was wearing old, clearly unmaintained leather lamellar armour. Hiding behind him were two kids, maybe eight and six years old.
'Don't worry, I'm not here to steal, and the way you look you're just hiding out as well. This is a good place to do that too.' I said.
It really was, and it would make a fine waystation for the climb towards the watchtower. Maybe I could tempt him with a house down in Eaglespire, for his kids, so that the cave would be empty.
Take Action + Heart: 1 + 2 = 3 vs 1 and 5 (Weak Hit!)
Mend minor impact (Iron), Lose Momentum (-1), Mark progress quest (Cave as a waystation)
We talked for a while. His name is Dag and it turns out he was once a unwilling bandit, working for Markvard, but he ran away with his girls once they were old enough, escaping the life he didn't want for them. Can you imagine raising two kids, girls at that, inside a bandit camp? I surely couldn't and neither could he. That also meant that he was very receptive of the idea of moving down to Eaglespire, now that I cleared the way. His information about the bandits will hopefully earn him a place to stay, especially if he tells them I sent him. I watched the small group move down the mountain for a bit, and then moved on myself.
Take Action + Wits: 1+1 = 2 vs 1 and 7 (Weak Hit!)
Mark challenge progress (Journey), Mark a tension timer (2/4)
On my way upwards, I passed by an old cairn. People in these parts often use them as landmarks, but with everything up here, it was pretty beat up. I spent a couple of minutes to properly stack the stones again, and whittled a branch down with my knife to fashion a kind of pointer towards the old watchtower that was starting to show in the distance, but would be invisible in the fog or if a cloud rolled by. I decided to fashion a second pointer from another branch to mark the way downwards towards Eaglespire, even if it may be useless, since from up here it was very clearly visible.
Take Action + Iron: 6 + 3 = 9 vs 2 and 1 (Strong Hit!)
Set position to Favoured, mark challenge progress (Journey), mark progress on quest (easy way to climb/shortcut)
After the cairn, the trail turned steeper, and steeper. It was definitely more of a climb than a hike, and I frequently had to haul my backpack and axe up short slopes after climbing them on my own. One thing is clear, it would be very hard to attack the watchtower without making a lot of noise, and an attack certainly wouldn't be fast. Luckily for me, I found a number of pitons somebody else had hammered into the rock years ago, making the climb much easier for a single person than it would be without them. I tore out some of the sparse green branches that grew up there and tied them to the pitons, to make them easier to find next time.
Take Action + Wits: 2+1 = 3 vs 1 and 9 (Weak Hit!)
Set position to Pressured, mark challenge progress (Journey), Mark a tension timer (3/4)
Resolve challenge (Journey): 10 vs 9 and 7(Strong Hit!)
Earn 1 boon, set position to Favoured, Mark progress on quest (reached the watchtower)
And finally, after finishing the climb I managed to reach the watchtower, situated atop a barren, and near lifeless plateau of the mountain. Just looking down the slope from here gave a very good overview of everything, I'm not sure if actually climbing the tower would be beneficial. Just setting up camp and looking down from here would be enough vantage to see anybody approaching Eaglespire, still visible in the far distance, as long as the fog wasn't too thick.
Ask the Oracle, 50/50, Is the watchtower climbable in its current state: 87 (No)
The tower itself was still in acceptable condition, being made of stone somebody had quarried up here on the mountain, but the roof will definitely need some work, and the inside was a mess. The ladder leading up to the wooden platform had rotted through, same as most of the furniture. I'm definitely not a carpenter, but I might be able to repair some of it still, but finding a way to reach the platform until somebody can bring a ladder up here will require some thinking.
For now, I'll set up camp inside the tower, after lugging out some of the things in here.
Start challenge: Work on the watchtower (Troublesome)
Take action +Iron: 2+3 = 5 vs 3 and 6 (Weak Hit!)
Set position to Pressured, mark challenge progress (Cleanup), mark an impact (Iron)
The next day, I was still feeling a bit winded from the climb and especially from cleaning out the tower's inside, not to speak of the bruises I got from a few of the heavier pieces of furniture...
Still, there's work to be done and I want to be on my way down to Eaglespire tomorrow, so no time to waste. First up is going to be creating some usable stuff from the broken-down furniture and everything else I might be able to scavenge in the vicinity of the tower. Creating some shelving and places to sleep on away from the floor, as well as some kind of ladder seem to be most prudent for now.
Take Action +Wits: 5+1 = 6 vs 3 and 10 (Weak Hit!) Set Position to Pressured, Mark Challenge Progress (Work on the Tower), Lose Momentum
It took me a while, much longer than I would have liked, but I got most of what I wanted to get setup done. A lot of the wood I could have used for shelving went into creating a ladder that would work for now to get up top of the watchtower, but at least I managed to create three places to sleep on (calling them beds would be very generous) while keeping off of the floor and away from snakes and rodents.
After climbing up top of the tower, I can definitely tell that my ladder will not hold for long. But at least I can check on the state of things on the platform
Ask the Oracle 75/25: Is the Platform still usable? 92 -> No.
As much luck as I had with the tower so far, the platform was a mess. Sure, the view was still good, but the bell that was used to alert Eaglespire is gone, the thatched roof is pretty much see-through and will leak water everywhere, and the wood is starting to rot. Nothing I might be able to fix right now.
Well, at least I can tell the next mercenaries coming up here what they'll need to set themselves up properly. Standing guard in the rain would suck, and carrying some thatch up here is going to be the smallest of their problems.
Resolve Challenge (Work on the Tower): 6 vs 5 and 5 (Strong Hit!)
Set Position to favoured, earn 2 boons (due to match), Mark Progress on Quest
Spend 3 Boons to create a Passage back to Eaglespire
After another night's rest, it was time to get back to Eaglespire. After all the work I had done two days prior, it was definitely a much more straightforward walk already, especially with the possibility of resting up in the cave.
Take Action with Iron: 6+3 = 9 vs 1 and 5 (Strong Hit!)
+1 Momentum instead of Position, +1 Momentum, Mark progress on quest (for creating a passage and getting back to Eaglespire)
Undertake a Quest Roll: 10 vs 5 and 10 (Weak Hit!)
Earn 2 Boons, but realize an unwelcome truth.
After returning to Eaglespire and reporting back to Haleema, she was quite happy about everything I had done to secure the tower so far, and the first supplies were already gathered once I had left her house after dinner.
I also heard about Dag, the man I had sent down to the village, and his fate. The village had decided it would be too dangerous to accept a former bandit of Markvard's band into the village, thinking him to be a spy. They drove him out with wooden sticks and whippings, not even the child was allowed to stay.
The Ironlands are a harsh place.
[While the playtest contains similar questions to the first playtests, I decided against using these this time around, due to the fact that the playtest has been so scrapped fast and early, which I thought was a mistake.
Instead, I'm doing a freeform critique here, because I think combining 1B (the evolution of 1A I've used on the blog before) and 1C would be a very good place forward and get to stuff that's sorely missing in the playtest, like assets and actually having time to progress and balance systems, instead of reinventing them.
First of all, I belong to the group of people who disliked the change to attributes. Removing Edge and adding it to Iron didn't feel too bad, but removing Shadow and throwing it partly onto heart and partly on wits feels like a bad choice. Overall, reducing the number of attributes is definitely detrimental to having variance amongst characters, especially if one plays in a group. It also makes Iron and Wits more important than Heart in my opinion, if we're looking at the Ironlands, since characters will spend a lot of time outside settlements, with little use of Heart based approaches.
At the same time, I liked having less impacts, and having a varying number of impacts, instead of every character being able to suffer the same number of physical or mental strain.
But removing supply was a mistake, since it's always been a big part of my Ironsworn as well as Starforged and Sundered Isles games. Yes, it can be reintroduced via resources, but those cost boons, that I'd rather use towards what Legacies wants to do: Change the world, creating passages and roads, improving settlements etc.
So, for a future version, I'd like to see Health, Spirit and Supply return, but have variance between them how many of each a character can utilize, and I think the number 1C had was a good amount to go forwards with playtesting and then balance from there.
At the same time, I also liked how the Take Action move was changed. In my playtest, I CONSTANTLY switched my position and barely ever managed to roll two misses or strong hits in a row, which was annoying, but an obvious result of having missing elements that would influence the rolls, like resources and assets. Personally, I would keep the rolls and results from 1C, but change the effects and costs. First of all, I would completely remove momentum from effects and costs. In my playthrough I started out with 2 momentum, lost 2 momentum and gained 2 momentum. Now, that is partly because there's no other way to get momentum besides the rolls, but the way 1C is set up, spending the effect one gains through the roll on anything besides Mark progress is quite useless, or doesn't fit the narrative.
That's the second thing I'd change: If I roll a strong hit, I should get two effects all the time. If I roll a strong hit with Favoured, I gain a momentum. If I roll a miss, I suffer two costs, if I'm already Desperate I lose momentum.
A weak hit can stay as it is, one cost and one effect, setting the position to pressured, which is obviously the middle ground.
Finally, I would reintroduce both setbacks as well as Opportunities and Perils as options for effects and costs. These were very fun in my games of 1A/B and gave the game some more variance. Everything should only 'cost' one effect/cost, to make things more varied.
It's hard to say anything about the Legacy system as well as Pass Time, Resources and Play the World, because no playtest has gone on long enough to properly try them out. Just comparing the two versions, I also think that the 1C version of Play The World and world timers is more promising than the original 1A and 1B versions.
Finally, the codexes have been cut down to two instead of four pages, to print them double sided on a single piece of paper (or how I'd do it, two codexes on a single double sided A4 page, by printing one codes on one page). This is a very good idea, because juggling two codexes with 4 pages each (so two double sided pages) was already a bit annoying in 1A, and with more to come, codexes would be their own book. I would just change the content. Instead of the more general oracle that is now on each of them, I'd reintroduce oracles for setbacks, perils and opportunities from 1A/B, and throw the general oracles into the core rulebook, or a Legacies Lodestar if something like that is planned. Keep the codexes tight and focused, and get out the general oracles for more detailed info if needed.
Well, that's my critique and how I would go forward. I'm far from being competent at game design, but for me this would be the best combination of what I liked of the core design of 1A/B and 1C and what I would like to see going forward to start testing out more of the advanced systems as well as adding more things, like assets, to the mix.]