Another Pointless Death | Ironsworn: Starforged | Solo RPG | S01E02

CW: Death, guns, action violence
Session 2 of The Bad Spot, an actual play solo RPG podcast, with host Matt Risby playing Ironsworn: Starforged by Shawn Tomkin
Flash Fiction prompts: Amari / Raven / Freedom
Support the show by joining our Patreon: / thebadspotcast
Come find me on twitter: @thebadspotcast
Did you know you can download the original Ironsworn for free? I know, right? Get it here: www.ironswornrpg.com/
Like the dice roller I’m using? Get it for iOS here: apps.apple.com/gb/app/dice-3d...

[@Multiklaaas]

Excellent storytelling with minimal mechanics intrusion (but just enough to help me understand the game I'll be playing roughly a year from now). Great sound also!

[@thebadspot]

Thanks or watching and I'm thrilled you're enjoying it! Storytelling with minimal mechanics intrusion is exactly what I was going for, so I'm glad that's coming across.

[@theHiddenStone]

Misheard "week-old channel" as "weak, old channel" ... I was like "Weak? Surely it's not that bad? I quite like it!"

[@thebadspot]

Haha! Ironsworn can make you feel weak and old after about a week of playing, so you’re not a million miles off. Thanks for watching!

[@theHiddenStone]

@@thebadspot no worries, thanks for playing and sharing!

[@MarcusFrost88]

You were really hard on yourself with the consequence of that final weak hit! Lots of interesting revelations near the end of this episode. Can't wait to see what happens next!

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching! I knew when I rolled up that unstable chemical tank in session 1 it might come back to haunt me...

[@bjornprompeler9424]

and again: love the flash fiction and it's creative creation 🥰

[@thebadspot]

Thank you!

[@brads2041]

loved the episode! I like the choices you make for the story. I need more practice, especially handling misses. I just throw my hands up when I go through a bad streak.

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching and I’m really glad you enjoyed this episode. Practice definitely helps; my first play through of the OG Ironsworn ended with my character being killed after about 15 minutes of play! If you don’t go a bit easy on yourself, it can be a grim experience...

[@DoycetopianWasteland]

Hey! no more left-channel-for-vocals! yay!

[@thebadspot]

I don’t think I will ever live down this audio blunder…

[@FamilyGuy-pg6qv]

Awesome. Four episodes in and I am hooked. Cool game, love the flash fiction, and looking forward to hearing some tracks from the Petty Despots.

[@thebadspot]

Welcome aboard! Hope you enjoy the wild direction the campaign takes. I always enjoy comments like these from way back in the run. You have much to discover!

[@shadowandmovies5684]

The story you set up is really intriguing, also this really helped me with my own playthrough of og ironsworn, especially with the combat. Thanks a lot!

[@thebadspot]

No worries! Glad you’ve enjoyed it and that my content helped in some small way. I’m working on a video that is explicitly about combat encounters because that is something tends to trip new players up. Thanks for watching!

[@harringtonmartin]

Excellent work. I'm intrigued by multiple aspects of this Starforged tale, so I'll definitely be watching.

[@thebadspot]

Thanks so much for watching! I’m intrigued too, a lot going on here. I love playing to find out what happens...

[@cjmenard]

Picked up this game a couple of weeks to ago to learn for the store I work at and came across your channel when looking for reviews and “how to play” stuff, and I love it! We’ve been looking to do an actual play podcast for SOMETHING through the store, and I think this will be it. Thanks for the awesome content and especially thanks for the inspiration!

[@thebadspot]

Thanks so much for watching and I glad you enjoyed my show! Let me know if and when you get something recorded!

[@Mantyluoto]

I’m waiting for my book to arrive, before I start properly but I’m going to have a go with the preview rules because of these KZbin videos.

[@thebadspot]

Yeah, do it! The preview edition is like, 95% complete. Well worth it.

[@stuartbramley8471]

Absolutely love this. Great delivery and production, and also as others have said , super helpful with how to deal with negatives. I’m playing my first game and am getting battered. This really helps!

[@thebadspot]

Thank you so much! There's a fair bit of non-campaign content later down the line with more of a how-to focus. there's a playlist in my channel page called Playing Ironsworn. Check it out if you've not done so already. Thanks for watching and welcome aboard!

[@sako7742]

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this. Is amazing how helpfully it is, how much priceless information is in your materials, especially for someone who just start playing RPG solo (as me do) You really help me understand mechanic and "flow" of this game. Thank you again, really good and valuable job. PS. Sorry for my english, is not my first language, I hope you can understand what I mean 😂🤦🏼‍♂️.

[@thebadspot]

Thank you so much for saying such nice things! Glad I could help!

[@bjornprompeler9424]

very inspireing 🥰

[@thebadspot]

Thanks!

[@JoshDavidLevy]

Loving this series so far! Picked up Starforged as a late backer :)

[@thebadspot]

Welcome aboard!

[@colinmatter4697]

Really enjoying this AP! Very much looking forward to listening to next week's episode.

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching! I hope I can get off this ship in one piece, or it'll be a short season...

[@jordana4910]

Such great storytelling 👏

[@thebadspot]

Thank you! 🙂

[@colerape]

Love the flash fiction and the music.

[@thebadspot]

Thank you! If you keep watching, the floor opens for submissions for Tales from the Drift and the community takes over writing them!

[@brads2041]

here i am, stuck in the middle with you :)

[@thebadspot]

You have no idea how hard it was not to make that joke....

[@brettwatson3038]

this is fantastic! I started at the beginning and am engrossed! I just stumbled upon Starforged accidentally, immediately ordered the core book, and am now also reading up on Ironsworn core rules.

[@thebadspot]

Thanks so much and welcome aboard! Glad you picked up the book, it is fantastic.

[@brettwatson3038]

@@thebadspot I would so love to play a co-op with you or have you DM a game! I fell out of gaming groups during the pandemic and haven't really ventured out much and have ended up going with a LOT of solo games. This looks amazing solo, but I have to imagine would be an absolute blast in group/co-op mode.

[@thebadspot]

Co-op is definitely the best way to play imo. I just do solo on the channel because it’s less people to rely on!

[@bureaucratbayonet]

I only know original ironsworn rules and listening helps me get ready especially running things like gun fights. Did you need a strong hit to end the fight? Theoretically a weak hit means you do your damage but the enemy gains initiative?

[@thebadspot]

Hello there! Thank you for your patience as I have taken a long time to respond! The rules for combat are different in Starforged and and initiative is also slightly different. You are either ‘in control’ or not and like OG Ironsworn, what move you make depends on who has control. Unlike original Ironsworn, you have more options to wrestle control back and the move that ends a fight (Take Decisive Action) does not need a strong hit, although it’s certainly preferable to roll one! I hope that answers your question. There are a few more fights in the campaign and I hope to do a video breaking down combat in the near future. Thanks for watching!

[@frameddonut1056]

Hey man. You probably won't see this, but I started playing Starforged because I liked your videos so much. I'm having a blast. I write all of the fiction down in my journal, but the game slows down quite a bit when I get stuck trying to write dialogue with the npc's. Do you have any dialogue at all in this series or just skip it (any tips for writing the fiction down when playing solo)? Thx for the great series and the recommendation of a an awesome game! =)

[@thebadspot]

Hey there! I have seen this, so here we are. I do have plenty of dialogue in the show (there is a lot more after this episode) and I usually write it in one if it is a quick exchange. You'll see plenty of later points in the series where I have long dialogue scenes. Here I'll spend a bit more time making sure the information being relayed is interesting, but I still don't spend that much time on it. I know myself and if I edited the dialogue, I'd go mad and never get an episode out! I've written too many plays and screenplays, I'd obsess over every line, so I give myself a short leash. there is a video in the playing ironsworn playlist called how i make the bad spot, You can find more info in there. Good luck and safe passage!

[@frameddonut1056]

@@thebadspot Thx man, that's really helpful! Loving all of your content =)

[@thebadspot]

No worries, have fun!

[@danroberts007]

Wow. This was quite entertaining. I found out about the Kickstarter... too late! I may join with a late pledge. I’m very impressed with the story you’ve come up with; not something I’m particularly good at, imho, but you are really spinning a tale here. Do you have a lot of prior experience at this? I did have one idea for what those two were trying to do based on the narrative you came up with for the ship; could have dire consequences for you if things go poorly, either in the very next episode or further down the road depending on how long Archer survives. ;-)

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching Dan! Glad you're enjoying the show and thanks for the kind words. I've only been playing RPGs for about 6 years but I've mostly been a GM, which really helps playing this system. new episodes are out on Thursdays, so tune in this week and see just how much worse it's going to get for Archer!

[@Kiero_PL]

More... :)

[@thebadspot]

There’s more coming I promise! Thanks for watching!

[@jcraigwilliams70]

Is this available elsewhere? I've only just started listening, usually when diving or out on a walk. I'd like to be able to listen with my screen off and without KZbin's annoying ads.

[@thebadspot]

Hey there! I’m afraid this is a KZbin only show, but as other people have discussed in the comments of this and other videos, there are plenty of ways to listen to this audio only, including through KZbin itself. There are also plugins and apps you can use if needs be. Thanks for tuning in!

[@jcraigwilliams70]

@@thebadspot thanks. I'll look for info on that.

[@donc7664]

And the plot THICKens.

[@thebadspot]

Indeed it does! Thanks for watching.

[@DadGotGamez]

What are the opening narratives? Parts of the rulebook or self made?

[@thebadspot]

Hi there! These are called Tales from the Drift and are written using random rolls in the oracles included in the game. You’re still quite early in the run, later on I open things out to the community and I get a lot of submissions! Thanks for watching and welcome aboard!

[@melibabe]

Curious why you didn’t use your momentum during the fight to convert one of those early misses?

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching! That's the eternal problem with Ironsworn isn't it? When to burn momentum and when to build it. I could've used it early, but I felt like I may need it if things got REAAALLY bad. And considering I'm on a ship about to explode, I think that time might be soon!

[@melibabe]

@@thebadspot Cool, thanks. I’m new to the Ironsworn system so I’m still getting a handle on these things!

[@TonyLS9A]

FYI, you reduced Health and Spirit without using the appropriate Endure Harm/Stress moves.

[@thebadspot]

Hi and thanks for watching! I initially thought this too, but the rulebook says to make the adjustment to your health and "Then, if your health is 0 or you choose to resist the harm, roll +health or +iron, whichever is higher." In all instances, my heath hasn't been zero and I haven't chosen to to resist the harm. As I understand it, the "or you choose to resist the harm" line leads me to believe that it's a choice unless your health is 0. The only time I did choose to do so so far, it backfired! I'm not sure if this has changed since OG Ironsworn, it's been a while since I played it.

[@TonyLS9A]

@@thebadspot Ah, gotcha. I always choose to resist. Those lonely five Health/Spirit points can disappear quickly. Plus, the miss can lead to some interesting narrative consequences. Cheers. Love the play-through so far!

[@thebadspot]

Thank you so much! The characters I play generally tend to be very breakable. I’m certainly not having much luck resisting the harm so far…

[@rogueskypilot4116]

What supplement do you use to play this on the internet?

[@thebadspot]

Hi there! I’m not sure what you mean by supplement? I use the Starforged core book if that’s what you mean.

[@rogueskypilot4116]

@@thebadspot how do you record this? Do you use Foundry or something?

[@thebadspot]

Ah ok, I see what you mean. This isn’t a virtual tabletop. I record the audio on Audacity and make the visuals using Keynote and iMovie.