# Hollow Places of the Soul: Your Truths tags: #play/hollow-places-of-the-soul , #game/rpg/ironsworn ![[HPotS-img.png|inlR|300]] It's always a good idea to warm up before you start working out, and building content is no different. Sometimes you just need to get into the groove. While I don't intend to put together a long term **[[Ironsworn]]** play, I thought it might be fun to go ahead and go through the beginning parts of setting up a campaign. World building is fun. In a classic GM out there knows that building worlds is some of the best lonely fun you can have all gaming. So let's put something together here that might be more than a little bit interesting. Welcome to *Hollow Places of the Soul*. ## Forgeworld The rules starting on page 193 suggest that you should create your character alongside world creation. I think we'll just do the world creation first and proceed from there to think about creating a character if we get that motivated. It could happen. I'm not saying it's going to. I'm not saying it's not. We immediately get referred to page 122 to work through the "Your Truths" exercise. So that's where we're headed. (There is an actual worksheet included with the game for world building, which is quite amusing and pleasing. I can see it being useful for some people. Not so useful for us right now.) Flipping to where I need to be, I note that the section on world design actually begins on page 110 with a description of the environment as a whole and the regions in the place to which we have moved. If you're not familiar with **Ironsworn**, let me quote a bit of text which will get you on board immediately: > The Ironlands is a vast peninsula in the northern ocean. The people who now refer to themselves as Ironlanders settled here two generations ago, cast out of their homelands by a catastrophic event. Since that time, they have survived but not prospered. The Ironlands are a harsh, dangerous place. The winters are long and brutal. Harvests are uncertain. Depending on the choices you make as you create your version of the Ironlands, monstrous beasts and dreaded horrors may be a constant threat. > > This chapter includes a brief summary for each major region of the Ironlands. It also includes a section where you define the characteristics, dangers, and mythology of your own Ironlands, creating a setting customized to your vision and preferences. > > The detail here is intentionally light. Consider it a sketch on a canvas, ready to be adorned with the vibrant colors and details of your story. Basically, we came over the sea implicitly from another continent and landed in Scotland. Or the rough fantasy equivalent thereof. There are mires, mountains, hills, and a few scraggly planes. It's a rough, cold, unpleasant place. So – Scotland. And a great place for quite a lot of northern European fantasy, so it works out. Right. We finally get to page 122 after a lovely tour of a rough, terrible land and we get to start making some decisions. I'm particularly fond of the fact that **Ironsworn** is upfront about saying that if you don't like any of the three options that we give you – come up with your own. Have a good time. Go nuts. It's your game. I don't actually need to be told that but when there is an actual blank slot on the worksheet, the invitation is both explicit and implicit which just creates the right gradient of encouragement. I like it. ### The Old World First up, figuring out what happened in the place we came from. Not with great specifics but with a loose, general idea that can spur more stories. Lots of what goes on here is effectively creating back story for hooks to dangle in front of yourself. I'm pretty comfortable throwing out the "ecological collapse because we were bad people" option. It's boring, it's been done, it's kind of tedious. Invasion from outside is kind of cool and hooks a little bit into something forming in the back of my head that might be fun, but I'm going to toss that one out, too. Maybe we will revisit it when we really dig into **[[Ironsworn - Starforged|Starforged]]**. That leaves us the horrible sickness – and that's fun. > The sickness moved like a horrible wave across the Old World, killing all in its path. Thousands fled aboard ships. However, the plague could not be outrun. On many ships, the disease was contained through ruthless measures—tossing overboard any who exhibited the slightest symptom. Other ships were forever lost. In the end, those who survived found the Ironlands and made it their new home. Some say we will forever be cursed by those we left behind. > > *Quest Starter: A settlement is stricken by disease. Though this sickness bears some similarities to the Old World plague, it doesn’t kill its victims. Instead, it changes them. How does this disease manifest? Why do you swear to seek out a cure?* I really like plagues in general, so this tickles my pickle. In this case – I'm not sure how it manifests quite yet. The classic answer would be for it to be a plague of the undead. Iron age zombie apocalypse is a fun place to play but I'm not sure I want to go there yet. There are a lot of options. ### Iron Why is iron so important to our setting? For something so elemental in the rules, it's interesting that it's left up to the player to determine why that is. And the reasons are vastly different, even before we get into the possibility of making up your own reason. Meteoric iron is awesome but I have plans for that elsewhere. The iron pillars are kind of cool but I'm not interested in that. That leaves us one choice. > The weather is bleak. Rain and wind sweep in from the ocean. The winters are long and bitter. One of the first settlers complained, “Only those made of iron dare live in this foul place”—and thus our land was named. > > *Quest Starter: The harvest fell short. The unrelenting snows left the village isolated. The food is running out. What will you do to see these people through this harsh season?* Beautiful. I love this absolutely grim, completely unrelenting idea for the environment. It leads to a certain economy of thinking across the society which provides a sense of unification that you can use to jump into the fractures that actually differentiate people. Awesome. I'm going to suggest that there is an additional aspect to the experience which is that constant reference to the people as iron is an almost mocking challenge to the gods, continuously shaking their fist at the heavens and daring the lightning. As a broad societal norm, that's a fascinating idea. Think Conan's prayer to Crom, here.  Hard people doing hard things. ### Legacies Legacies is an interesting section because it really is about how deep the history of the Ironlands goes. Are your people the first to come and sit human foot in the region? Are there ancients? Definitionally there are the firstborn but have there been people like yourself? Fallen humans? Not really my style. Ancient precursors? I don't think we'll start with that as something on the table, though one of the great things about the way that Ironsworn is set up is that you can change that as the story goes on if you so desire. You can introduce whatever elements you like. We're going to be the first, in this case. > We are the first humans to walk these lands. > > *Quest Starter: In the writings of one of the first settlers, there is a description of a glade in the heart of the Deep Wilds. The spirits of this place are said to grant a miraculous blessing. What boon does it bestow?* I'm going to ignore this quest starter because it's a little bit too hopeful for my taste, but it does have some interesting ideas. The Ironlanders are the first humans to set foot here and – as far as anyone knows – there are no relics or artifacts of a fallen people to discover. At least not human ones. ### Communities Communities is all about figuring out how many people you're likely to run into. By the text, it's only been a couple of generations that the Ironlanders have even been here and everyone who wasn't born here had to come across from the Old World in ships. Really, the question becomes "how successful have Ironlanders been at acquiring enough resources from the hard land to have babies?" Connected to that is "how familiar are local communities with one another?" That goes down to issues of trust and again provides a number of hooks either way you come down on it. I definitely don't want to start with a fairly settled region. It doesn't have the tone that really makes me grin for the situation. That leaves the issue of do I want to go with extremely isolated villages or villages which cluster into small groups. The problem with great isolation is that you don't get conflicts between communities, and that seems like a missed opportunity. If I wanted to play a game which focused on the exploration of a harsh land and maybe even the development of my own community – and you can certainly do that sort of thing in Ironsworn – that greater distance might be awesome. But we'll go for the middle choice this time. > We live in communities called circles. These are settlements ranging in size from a steading with a few families to a village of several hundred. Some circles belong to nomadic folk. Some powerful circles might include a cluster of settlements. We trade (and sometimes feud) with other circles. > > *Quest Starter: A decades-long feud between two circles has flared into open conflict. What is the cause of this dispute? Do you join in the fight, or swear to put a stop to it?* Decades long feuds between potentially inbred hill families? I think I can work with that. ### Leaders Picking the mechanisms of leadership is deceptive. In a real sense it's not about leaders at all but about how diverse you expect the communities within the setting to be from one another. One of the options is effectively "there's a bunch of different ways and they vary a lot." It feels a little bit like a copout but it might be the right choice given certain situations. One of the options is a lot more centralized where communities have elective overseers but that's a little too authoritarian for my vision right now. We will take the third path. > Numerous clan-chiefs rule over petty domains. Most are intent on becoming the one true king. Their squabbles will be our undoing. > > *Quest Starter: You secretly possess one-half of the True Crown, an Old World relic. Centuries ago, this crown was broken in two when an assassin’s axe split the head of the supreme ruler. You are descended from that lineage. Who gave you this relic? Will you find the other half of the broken crown and attempt to unite the clans under your rule? Or, do you see another use for it?* A multitude of squabbling clan-chiefs, getting into trouble and making big messes on a regular basis? Oh yes. There is an opportunity right for drama and arrogant violence, right there. Plus you can have alliances of convenience between highlanders and lowlanders and all of the fun that comes with that mess. There is a lot of raw meat ready for the chewing. ### Defense This is also a deceptive choice. It's not as much about defense as it is about the ability of your Ironlanders communities to engage in aggressive attack against one another. Again, this goes right to the heart of laying groundwork for stories that you can tell within the framework. One of the options is that supplies and hands are simply too sparse to have organized fighting forces which is quite cool. One of the options is effectively a semi-organized militia which I can think of some ways to use but is a little too standard fantasy for my taste. The third option is quite organized warbands which verged on being armies; that is entirely too organized for what I see going on here. I really like the first but I'm going to go off the reservation and come up with my own solution. > In the Ironlands resources are brutally short and hands who aren't serving in the fields or in the mines are often seen as shirking their duty to their families and friends. In times of trouble, under attack, they stand together. But there are always misfits, oddities, strangers, and the ambitious – and the Ironlands have a purpose for them as well. Explorers, entertainers, carriers of messages, blades in the night, all of them have their place. Outsiders often bond beyond the flickering flames of a community's torch. > > *Quest Starter: A party of outsiders is resting around the opening to a cave. Conversation reveals they intend to go in and kill the monster which lives there in exchange for food and board from the local community. They could use an extra hand.* I know, I know. After just having complained that something was a little too traditional RPG, I turned around and insert an excuse to have traditional adventuring parties. Look, the classic adventuring party has a lot to recommend it. Especially when you can actively subvert the idea as you can in a solo and co-op RPG. The party literally exists as a fictional prop, an excuse to be able to do things within the game fiction. Your choices are all that really drive that. As an example, in a traditionally architected RPG, when the thief steals gold that the paladin was collecting to give to the poor, that can lead to some really annoying interpersonal issues among the players unless they are really on board in the authorial stance. But in **Ironsworn**? The discovery can simply be the fallout of a failed roll to accomplish something else, introducing a new fictional element to bounce off of. When you know you can do terrible things and not destroy the game it frees you up to do a lot of terrible things and have fun doing it. ### Mysticism This may as well simply be titled "Magic", because that's what we're really talking about. How magical is your setting? On this I'm torn. I definitely don't want to go with a high magic setting; it really gets hard to explain in connection with a low resource world. It always invites the inevitable question, "so what good is it?" I suppose you could have simply a lot of magical phenomena in your setting which can't actually be harnessed by humanity – but that would be a fourth way which is not listed. Still not a bad idea. I like powerful wizards, witches, sorcerers, necromancers, and workers of pacts with powers beyond the pale of mortal kin but which are relatively rare and generally dangerous. There is a setting literally for that outcome. > Magic is rare and dangerous, but those few who wield the power are truly gifted. > > *Quest Starter: You have heard stories of someone who wields true power. They live in an isolated settlement far away. Who told you of this mystic? Are they feared or respected? Why do you swear to seek them out?* Traveling across the lands seeking a powerful will-worker in order to achieve some obscure aim? Possibly even to become one? Again, proper red meat for storytelling. Because those characters are rare you get to sidestep the question of "why hasn't there powerful magic reshaped society yet?" Perhaps it has – near to them. But the Ironlands are large enough in communities isolated just enough that it could be extremely difficult to spread that influence much further. But perhaps that is your personal goal, your personal vow! You could be the one that unifies the isolated Powers That Be into a cohesive organization – for evil, of course. Because why else would you do it?^[You might want to see [[HPotS 001 - The First True Man|HPotS 001: Fleshmaker's Fire - The First True Man]] for more.] ### Religion Speaking of doing things for evil… This is literally what it says on the tin, what the influence and presence of religious thinking and influences across the communities of the Ironlands. I touched on an idea earlier when we were talking about Iron, making reference to Conan and his prayer to Crom – and it's worth noting that you only make a prayer to a god if you believe in it to some degree, but it's clear Conan is not a godly man. He doesn't lean on the crutch of the gods for his life. Aside from some cultists, it doesn't appear that anyone else does in a particularly more devout way, either. I like this. I like this a lot. There's an option which works pretty well out of the box. > A few Ironlanders still make signs or mumble prayers out of habit or tradition, but most believe the gods long ago abandoned us. > > *Quest Starter: A charismatic Ironlander, encouraging her followers to renounce the vestiges of Old World religions, proposes a new path for this new world. What doctrine does she teach? What does she seek to achieve? Are you sworn to aid or stop her?* Note that it's not an atheistic setting. People believe that gods exist and people are cognizant of the supernatural in the universe – they simply don't see it as relevant to their lives and there is a certain degree of resentment of the gods for what has befallen them. Lots of opportunity here. Do you want cultists? Cultists are go. You want to start your own religion, positioning yourself as high priest or paladin? Plenty of runway. You want to tear down even the last vestiges of belief in gods? You might have good reason. Big green check. ### Firstborn Definitionally, the firstborn are the races that live in the Ironlands when the Ironlanders arrive and may have done so for a very long time – or not. In practice, they are a narrative excuse to have elves, dwarves, the traditional fantasy races with a bit of a spin. I don't actually want there to be a focus on the firstborn in this setting. If they show up it should be more of a natural disaster or natural event than an interaction between communities. They are alien and if you can pull off a positive interaction between you and them, you have probably accomplished something almost mythic. Definitely a thing for stories. There's an option for that. > The firstborn have passed into legend. Some say the remnants of the old tribes still dwell in deep forests or high mountains. Most believe they were never anything more than myth. > > *Quest Starter: Someone obsessed with the firstborn wants to find evidence of their existence. This will require an expedition into the far reaches of the Ironlands. What is your role in this mission?* This also gives you the opportunity to introduce firstborn which are not the typical fantasy races. There's a lot of opportunity there to bring in things which are unusual, rare, or outside the normal architecture of traditional northern European fantasy. Or you could just lean into it. Flexibility is huge. ### Beasts Legendary beasts. Dragons. Wyverns. Manticore. Monsters of all shapes and sizes which originate in the natural world; creatures which don't live separate from the ecology but within it, even if they are shapers of it. Stories about hunters pretty much demand that fantastic beasts be relatively present, even if not significant forces in the inhabited areas. Rescuing villages from them, going out to hunt them for glory or resources, merely proving that they exist for bragging rights – all really good hooks. There is an option here to have beasts be prevalent enough that they attack travelers, caravans, and even smaller settlements not rarely, but that seems a little more than I imagine. That's a pretty active fauna. That's not to say animals might not predate on your cattle – but it's probably not going to be a wyvern. > Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the Ironlands. > > *Quest Starter: A prominent Ironlander is consumed with the need to bring vengeance upon a specific beast. What makes this creature distinctive? How did it earn the wrath of this Ironlander? Do you aid this person in their quest, or act to prevent their blind hate from destroying more than just the beast?* Insert the great white whale, right here. ### Horrors Then there's the counterpoint of the great beast – horrors. Covertly, directly, completely supernatural things which serve as an intrusion from Outside into the context of the narrative. Undead, nightmare monsters, races which are not natural to the world. All the good stuff. You can probably tell – I love my horrors. Which means we are not going to select the option where horrors are thought to be just stories to frighten children with. That can be fun: there's no reason that you couldn't do what's effectively Scooby-Doo, unveiling what people think of a supernatural horrors as merely mundane threats or fraud. That could be really fun, but it's not what I want to do. Given the set up I've created so far, I think we're going to take the middle way again. I could create something unique which gives fictional focus to a particular kind of horror… But I'm not feeling that. This is still a very experimental piece that we're working on. > We are wary of dark forests and deep waterways, for monsters lurk in those places. In the depths of the long-night, when all is wreathed in darkness, only fools venture beyond their homes. > > *Quest Starter: You bear the scars of an attack by a horror. What was it? Are those scars physical, emotional, or both? How do you seek to make yourself whole again?* Have I mentioned that I *love* [illithid](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Mind_flayer)? [[i-fucking-love-illithid|I fucking *love* illithid]]. Just saying. ### Completion And that's it, a completed World worksheet for **Ironsworn**, customized to our own desires and needs, imagined, explored, and ready to be populated. As procedures go, this is a pretty good one. I would suggest going through something like this even if you intend to play in an established setting in one of those *other* RPGs; do it with all of your intended players and make sure that everyone is on board with understanding what the setting actually entails and what everybody wants. I feel like I know enough about this world to start picking out my own place in it – which is the entire point. ## Dramatis Personae Normally, this would be the header where I start talking about characters which have been introduced in the course of play or intended to be – we don't have any. I didn't start with the intention of actually creating a character with which to play. I am rethinking that intent. Having gone through this much effort to create a world it seems almost unkind not to at least populate it with a few people. Not, necessarily, with the intention to play… I'm just not as fascinated by fantasy as I am science fiction… But there is some interest with what's going on here. Let me know if you think I should or if I definitely shouldn't. I'll leave you with the illusion that it will make a difference. Iron and screams, my friends. Iron and screams.