# Iron Valley *Created:* 2024-06-22, *Modified:* 2026-10-08 ![[Iron Valley (cover).jpg|600]] **Iron Valley** is M. Kirin's cozy solo RPG for the **[[Ironsworn]]** family — a farming-sim turned tabletop in the warm spirit of *Animal Crossing*, *Story of Seasons*, and *Stardew Valley*. You move into a small community and start your life over: restore the family farm, poke into the mysterious forest, fall in love, one gentle day at a time. It's the rare game whose whole thesis is that nothing is out to get you — there's no health, no combat, no dying, just a life worth living and a calendar slowly turning. ## Setting The Valley isn't one fixed place, and that's part of the charm — you build it. As part of your first session you pick **world truths** that decide what kind of community you've landed in: a small town hours from the big city, a medieval village, or a futuristic domed city on a garden planet. Your neighbors can be human, adorable animal people, or a whole spectrum of fantastical ancestries. Every Valley is a slightly different shade of cozy. You show up as someone starting fresh — maybe restoring a family farm, maybe just looking for a quiet corner to put down roots. The folk of the town (the **Townies**) are people you get to know one conversation at a time, each with their own favored gifts, birthdays, and secrets. The game is gentle about the rest too: money is no object, everyone's fed, and work is something you do for joy and community rather than survival. Even time — the game's one real resource — is abundant; you mark the days off on a calendar, and the book keeps reminding you, kindly, not to stress. ## Mechanics ### The Action Roll At the heart of it sits the familiar Ironsworn action roll. When you **Try Your Best!!** — the core move, triggered only when you attempt something genuinely difficult or work toward a promise — you roll a d6 **action die** plus your relevant stat, plus +1 if a skill applies, against two d10 **challenge dice**. Beat both for a **strong hit**; beat one for a **weak hit** that costs you time; beat neither for a **miss**. The five stats are **Edge, Heart, Iron, Shadow,** and **Wits**, arranged 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, and you pick three skills that each grant that +1. ### Promises and Time The signature is the **Promise**. Nothing matters more in the Valley than the promises you make — to others or to yourself. **Make a Promise** opens a progress track whose difficulty depends on the promise's urgency and complexity; you fill it in by working toward the goal, then **Reap the Benefits** turns the finished track into the reward you actually want — **satisfaction** (spent to unlock and upgrade skills), resources, crafted items, or favor. Every step of momentum costs the one true resource: **Time Passes**, and the days tick closer to the date you set for yourself when you moved in. ### The Favor Economy Iron Valley's real currency isn't money, it's **favor**, tracked individually with each Townie. Spend time with someone, do them a kindness, and above all give them gifts — every Townie has favored gifts and a birthday, and a well-timed present can double, even quadruple, in value. Spend enough favor to **Nurture a Bond** and you unlock a **Heart Event**, a tender scene that deepens the relationship and permanently raises how much that Townie's affection is worth. ### Farming as a Promise Even the chores run on the same loop. Growing a crop is Make a Promise, tending it is Try Your Best!!, and Reap the Benefits decides whether the harvest pays out in satisfaction or actual carrots. Everything grows fast in the Valley and nothing wilts if you take a week off. Livestock — including a menagerie of fantastical options like the blorb and the beaver weaver — work the same way. ### When It Ends When your chosen departure date finally arrives, there's no roll and no judgment — you're told, plainly, to give your character the happy ending they've earned. It's the whole point of the game, and easily its most moving sentence. ## Editions - **Iron Valley** (v1.0, 2023) — the original, designed, written, and play-tested for the Starforged Jam 2023 in a single month. - **Iron Valley** (v1.1) — the first major update, which doubled the book and added fantastical livestock and clearer explanations. *In the library* (player sheets and a blank calendar from this version). - **Iron Valley** (v1.2, current) — the 250-page release, adding the favor economy, heart events, optional rules, and a substantial clean-up. *In the library* (the v1.2 rulebook and a v1.2 moves sheet; the collection also holds an *Optional Rules* supplement). ## References - [Iron Valley — DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/437587/Iron-Valley) - [Iron Valley — itch.io (M. Kirin)](https://mkirin.itch.io/iron-valley)