Some time ago, somebody told me solo games are fun or well made now. So I bought one of these. Ironsworn. It's dogshit. I'll explain why:
Essentially, it steers against the skid of Charisma being a dump stat, and made it a god stat. The most powerful stat in Ironsworn is Heart. It effects nearly every important roll. And because of that, the entire game is garbage. There are no meaningful decisions. Take Heart as your high stat and fucking win Ironsworn.
Math: Ironsworn is a game of moves (like those Powered by Garbage). Meaning you don't do shit willy-nilly, there's a set of moves you can't deviate from. So the game is made or broken on how balanced these moves are. Here's some math on how stats effect moves:
All: 4 moves are shared by all stats
Edge: 2 moves that could use Edge, but aren't required to
Heart: 8 moves that ONLY use Heart. 4 moves that could use Heart, but may not.
Iron: 5 moves that could use Iron, but aren't required to (two competing with Edge).
Shadow: 2 moves that could use Shadow. Pitiful
Wits: 3 moves that ONLY use Wits. 2 moves that could use Wits, but aren't required to.
So, the game is beatable. Character with highest stat in Heart, second highest in Wits, third highest in Iron or Edge (depending if you want melee or ranged). Dump the shit out of the other two stats. Shadow is so fucking pointless. This is the best potential character in any and every Ironsworn game. I shit you not. I'd have to do a complete rewrite to make this game playable. Even as a solo experience, because it's fucking boring looking when you actually get it down to it's component elements.
ENDURE HARM:
This is the worst-built move in the entire game. This is the move toward actually being hit and a character having a chance of death. Not death, mind you, merely the chance of death that requires another roll:
FIRST: You roll +health or iron, whichever is higher, meaning the chance of death is basically nil until your health runs very low. You do this by rolling a static number + a d6 vs two separate d10s. If your result is higher (not equal to, only higher than) both d10 results, that's a Strong Hit. If you roll higher than one of the d10s that's a Weak Hit. If you roll higher than neither that's a Miss. This is a garbage system but let's press on:
Strong hit: Gain momentum (yes, you actually gain a resource for being smacked) or if your health is greater than zero you can exchange one momentum for one health (meaning getting hit actually heals you...)
Weak Hit: NO consequences whatsoever.
Miss: -1 momentum, IF you are at 0 health you may mark wounded or maimed (which literally only affects your momentum reset, nothing else) OR roll on the following table
10% chance of Maybe Die
10% chance of Somebody gotta Heal You in a couple hours or Maybe Die
15% chance of You're Fine unless They Coup-de-Grace ya, if they do then Maybe Die
15% chance of You're Tired, roll on this table again if you do anything strenuous
50% chance of You're Totally and Completely Fine. Yes, half the time when you FAIL at an Endure Harm roll, you suffer zero consequences.
FACE DEATH:
The 35% chance of "Maybe Die" from above. This is the second worst table in the game. Roll d6 + heart vs 2x 1d10, much like above;
Strong Hit: You're Totally and Completely Fine. Yes, it's here, too.
Weak Hit: You're Totally and Completely Fine, Plus Now You Have A Quest. Or you can die in a heroic sacrifice, but honestly nobody's gonna choose that one.
Miss: You're DEAD. FINALLY.
One of the stupidest decisions in the game: Heart is the stat to stave off death. When facing death, you should get nothing added to the roll at all. You can't bargain with death. You can't cheat death. You can't muscle death. You can't outsmart death. You can't outrun death. Death decides whether you live or die, beyatch. You don't get the choice.
So this game is dark fantasy the same way pork is the other white meat.
Considering you can spend momentum to reroll dice, and it takes two rolls to effectively die, and there are multiple safeguards on the first roll to make sure the second roll doesn't happen, and you're adding stats to the second roll for reasons that are stupid. This game was never intended to be anything more than a story game. It doesn't allow for danger, which means it doesn't allow for adventure.
So, because I'm not a moron, this game is essentially a boredom generator.
