Quinn of Axeford (Ironsworn Actual Play - Session 0)
- Ash Adler
- Sep 23
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 1
I'm a fan of solo TTRPG play, but my past attempts at playing Ironsworn never really got anywhere. I don't think it's a bad game by any means, but there's just something about PbtA mechanics that don't click with me. That said, I have had fun with a few PbtA games (namely Monsterhearts, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, and FIST), so I decided to give it another shot. Inspired by the Making Mythology substack, I figured I'd try documenting the game in a series of blog posts to hopefully compel me to stick with it.
To start out, I'll be using the core Ironsworn rules and trying to play them as RAW as I can (including trying to stick with options from the game instead of making up my own stuff for things like Truths or Assets). Whether I stick with that or also mix in some of the additional stuff from the Delve and Lodestar expansions will depend on how that goes. This first post (where there won't be any real gameplay) will go over my thoughts for the initial set-up steps, with dice rolls presented as indented text.
That all said, let's kick off with creating the world and my character. Ironsworn gives the option to go with either first, but I don't have a strong character idea off the top of my head, so I'll go through the worldbuilding first.
Origin Region
None of the regions of the Ironlands really jump out to me as a particularly good or bad starting point (largely since I don't have a specific character in mind), so I'll just roll a d10 to pick one (and then roll it again because I got a 10 on my first try and there are only 9 regions):
2 - Ragged Coast
Alright, so we've got a lot of coastal settlements, with some cultural elements built around the people's relationship with the water, bordered by the rough rocky reefs and open ocean of the Barrier Islands and the thick old woods of the Deep Wilds. A cool area to start out in, though it's not like there are any boring spots in the Ironlands.
Truths
While the default rules for Ironsworn are for Truths to be literally true for a given playthrough, I prefer to treat them as what people believe to be true in the area where the game starts out. Whether they're actually true or not can be developed in play, if it becomes relevant.
In any case, rather than going through all of the text for each Truth category, I'll just give the category names along with a summary of my choice and reasoning. Anyone wanting more details than that is encouraged to get the Ironsworn rules for themselves.
The Old World
I went with the overpopulation option for this. The displacing raiders and the plague don't seem as interesting to me, and this leaves the openings for there to have been some deeper cultural pressure in determining who stayed in the Old World and whether those making the voyage to the Ironlands did so willingly. The quest starter prompt for this also ties in nicely with the one for the Ragged Coast, in case I decide to make either a featured part of actual play.
Iron
Hard lands make hard people. Aside from giving more flavor to the local culture, this also sets up for some potential drama if/when people in other regions have very different ways of living. The quest starter prompt is also potentially an easy one to work in as a complication while dealing with another pressing vow, maybe forcing some tough choices about how idealistic or pragmatic the player character will be.
Legacies
I like precursor civilizations, so the one with the ancient ruins was my choice here. The quest starter prompt also stands out as a good option for one to start with, since it can lay groundwork for exploring relationships with NPCs who the player character is presumably familiar with already.
Communities
The Ragged Coast doesn't seem like a great place for big settlements, so going with small clusters of xenophobic villagers seems like an easy fit. Similar to the quest starter prompts for the region and the Old World Truth, this one seems like it could tie in nicely with the Iron Truth's prompt.
Leaders
I don't like the quest starter prompts for the other two choices here, so we've got an overseer. Incidentally, this is definitely the sort of Truth that sways me towards all of them being cultural starting points rather than actual objective truth.
Defense
Given the choices made so far, professional soldiers don't feel like a sensible fit, so improvised community defense is what I'm left with. Not that I mind.
Mysticism
As a general fan of swords and sorcery stuff, I tend to dislike magic being a familiar or comfortable thing. Thus, the only choice I like is for it to be rare and powerful. The quest starter prompt for this might be a good one for a long-term goal, which has me noting it as a potential basis for the player character's initial background vow, but I'll come to that in due time.
Religion
Based on the image I'm getting for the starting area, the people there are going to do whatever they feel like lets them survive. If a prayer to some unknown god help you stay sane, nobody really cares.
Firstborn
I'm imagining that the journey to the Ironlands was something that happened fairly recently, maybe eighty years ago or so, at least for the people in the starting area. The supernatural stuff was common enough for elders to remember it from lived experience, but things are probably stable enough for sedentary settlements to not have to deal with that too regularly anymore. Thus, the existence of the firstborn isn't questioned, but it's not a regular fact of life for the player character (for now, at least).
Beasts
Similar to the previous category, beasts are out there in the Ironlands, but they aren't interacting with the villagers in the Ragged Coast often enough to justify professional monster-slayers.
Horrors
Middle option is my choice here again, but I do want to note that I actually really like the quest starter prompt for this, too. The player character having to deal with an old mark from the past and maybe trying to find a way of fixing it sounds juicy.
Character Creation
Well, as interesting as all of that was, it didn't really give me any specific inspiration for a player character. I might as well just throw some stats together and see if the process of grounding them in the fiction can give me a launching point.
In a break from my usual sorts of characters, I want this one to be a very social-focused character, albeit with at least some capability to take care of themselves if things get kinetic. So, Heart is going to be my 3 and Wits will be one of my 2s. Of the remainder, I think Shadow has more applicability to social stuff, so it gets the other 2, leaving me with the primarily-physical stats being my lowest. Maybe this can tie in with the Horrors Truth quest starter; perhaps the low physical stats are a result of having some kind of ghost whammy?
Yes, and...oh, yes, I know where I'm going with this now.
But first, the rest of character creation. I need a name, so:
82 - Quinn / Servan
Quinn it is, though I'll save Servan in a name pool (as inspired by Making Mythology). As for my starting settlement:
27+8 - Axeford
Quinn of Axeford, with his 3 Heart, is a keystone in his village. I'll start him off with a Bond for "Village of Axeford", though I'll save the other two starting bonds to be chosen as they make sense during play. The quest starter prompt for the Horrors Truth is a perfect fit for a background vow, and I'll angle towards the Legacies quest starter prompt for my inciting incident vow (though I'll save doing the Swear An Iron Vow move of that for the first session).
Vow: Heal the scars left on me by the haunt that attacked my mother Valeri
(Epic; Progress - 0)
Vow (to be confirmed in play): Find and rescue the villagers missing in the ruins near Axeford
(Formidable; Progress - 0)
For Assets to start with, I want one to give him a niche usefulness for the villagers, one to fit in with his social focus, and one to help with a weak spot. Skipping over going through all of the options that I considered, I settled on Sighted, Trickster, and Cutthroat as my three choices. I was very tempted to get a Raven companion, but that feels a little too magical to have right at the start with the rest of how I'm imagining things, so that can be something I try to set up in play.
And with that, here's a little background write-up:
In a land of hoary hardship, Quinn should not have been able to survive but for being able to rely on humanity’s greatest asset: community. He was born under an ill-fitting name compounded by an unsuitable body, but with the support of family (by all definitions of the word), he lived to become what he is today, a frail but otherwise mostly fit and healthy young adult whose advice and opinions are valued by Overseer Taylah and most other residents of Axeford.
From what he was told, his mother Valeri was attacked by a haunt while she was pregnant with him. The injuries she sustained were too much for her to survive the stress of childbirth, and he bears the inherited scars of the trauma on his psyche. While he is genuinely caring by nature, he’s also aware of his innate charisma and not above using that to hide how cruel he can be when seeking vengeance for perceived slights.
Quinn has average stature, a feminine face, and dirty blond hair kept at a short buzz. He favors loose clothing like robes and tunics that obscure his body’s shape.
Yes, I have made a trans man whose ghostly scars are partly a metaphor for dysphoria. I'm excited to find out what the future has in store for him, but that'll be a post for another day.
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