The Sci-Fi Evolution of the Ironsworn RPG is Here!
In Ironsworn: Starforged, you are a spaceborne hero sworn to undertake perilous quests. You will explore uncharted space, unravel the secrets of a mysterious galaxy, and build bonds with those you meet on your travels. Most importantly, you will swear iron vows and see them fulfilled—no matter the cost.
Starforged is a standalone follow-up to the Ironsworn tabletop roleplaying game. Experience with Ironsworn is not required. Starforged builds on Ironsworn's award-winning innovations (including its famed solo play!) to chart a path into an exciting new frontier.
Three Ways to Play
* Guided: One or more players take the role of their characters, while a guide moderates the session.
* Co-Op: You and one or more friends play to overcome challenges and complete quests. No guide required.
* Solo: You portray a lone character driven to fulfill vows in a dangerous galaxy. Good luck!
What's Included
* Story-driven mechanics to put your character at the center of their quest-driven adventures.
* Inspiring campaign launch exercises to build your setting, create your character, and set off into a universe of perils and opportunities.
* Creative prompts to eliminate game prep and push your adventures forward—with or without a guide.
* System-agnostic generators for on-the-fly discoveries of spaceborne locations, planets, settlements, people, creatures, starships, foreboding derelicts, ancient alien vaults, and more!
* Extensive advice, examples, and options for exploring the story of your characters and their fateful vows.
The System
In Starforged, moves help you decide what happens when you encounter something dangerous or uncertain. There is a move for most situations and challenges you will face. For solo and co-op play, these moves help resolve your actions and trigger new opportunities and complications. Starforged moves are inspired by the innovative, fiction-first mechanics of the Apocalypse World system created by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker.
When you make a move triggered by a risky or uncertain action, roll three dice at once to see what happens: an action die (D6) and two challenge dice (D10). Add your relevant stat and any bonuses to your action die. This is your action score. Then, compare your action score to each of the challenge dice. If you beat both those dice, that's a strong hit. If you only beat one of the challenge dice, you've scored a weak hit. If your action score doesn't beat either challenge die, that's a miss. The move will tell you how to interpret these results.
Character creation is fast and flexible, with a guided exercise to help define your background, resources, expertise, and goals. During play, you use the character sheet to manage your stats and resources. As you complete quests, make discoveries, and form bonds, you gain experience. You spend this experience to gain assets—vehicles, modules, paths, and companions—which deepen your abilities and options. Assets are formatted as printable, poker-sized cards for easy reference.
Tone and Inspiration
Starforged is human-centric science fiction on a perilous frontier. This is a scavenged future, with equipment often cobbled together from salvage. People cling to survival on inhospitable worlds and in remote space stations. Much has been forgotten or lost. It's a dangerous life for anyone living on this frontier, and doubly so for the Ironsworn—those adventurers bound to sworn quests.
Inspiration comes from the quest-driven stories of The Mandalorian, the lived-in aesthetic and fantasy-infused trappings of the original Star Wars trilogy, the workaday exploits of Firefly, the isolated horror of Alien, the mysticism and faction politics of Dune, the retro-tech and desperation of Battlestar Galactica's modern reboot, the cosmic mysteries and class struggles of The Expanse, and the gonzo adventures and fantastic locations of Guardians of the Galaxy.
You can bend the tone to your liking. You'll make a unique version of the setting as you define aspects such as its history, technology, communities, lifeforms, supernatural abilities, and more.
What's New
Are you a returning Ironsworn player? Welcome back! I really appreciate your ongoing support. You'll find some changes and enhancements to suit the spacefaring setting, but the core of the game will be familiar. If you're new to the Ironsworn system, Starforged gives you everything you need to undertake quests in a perilous galaxy.
Here's some highlights of what's changed from core Ironsworn:
* Board your starship: Travel through the galaxy in your interstellar ship, and customize it with support vehicles and modules.
* Build a legacy: An expanded experience system offers legacy rewards for quests, discoveries, and bonds.
* Explore the galaxy: Use the expedition moves to travel through perilous space, journey over unexplored terrain, and survey mysterious sites.
* Create lasting relationships: Use the connection moves to establish new relationships and work to cultivate those connections over time.
* Fight for what matters: Flexible combat moves put the focus on action-oriented objectives.
* Keep flying: When you take a hit, use the damage and repair moves for your command ship, support vehicles, and mechanical companions.
* Ask the oracle: An incredible array of oracle tables to help inspire complications, opportunities, locations, people, settlements, creatures, starships, and more!
* Be who you want: More than 85 character assets for the sci-fi setting. If you loved Ironsworn's fast and flexible character creation, you'll find even more to love here.
* Make the universe your own: Guided exercises—including campaign truths, character creation, and starting situations—get your campaign off the launch pad.
* Stay safe: New session moves help ensure that everyone at the table can comfortably enjoy a fun and fulfilling experience.
