Into The Wild | Ironsworn: Starforged | Solo RPG | S01E03

CW: Action violence, injury detail, mild peril
Session 3 of The Bad Spot, an actual play solo RPG podcast, with host Matt Risby playing Ironsworn: Starforged by Shawn Tomkin
Flash fiction prompts: Vesper / Roland / Becker
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...

[@nalumtei5349]

This is my second favorite Ironsworn podcast after Me, Myself & Die and that is saying a lot! Great voice and fantadtic story so far. Keep them coming!

[@thebadspot]

So glad you’re enjoying it! And being mentioned in the same sentence as MM&D is an honour!

[@cardboardgeek]

Going to have to check out MM&D.

[@user-gz7gz6xm2j]

Having another listen after finishing season 3. Developing a new appreciation for how Matt ties some of the earlier content into later episodes, and how a few creative choices early on set the tone for the story.

[@thebadspot]

That’s so kind! I admit some of the ties I make are purely accidental

[@JoshuaMeehan]

Out of the oven and into the infested frying pan! Really enjoying the show each week!

[@thebadspot]

Thanks again for watching! It's certainly going south for our hero, in rapid fashion!

[@pawgarrett4201]

Haha, radioactive kangaroo crocodile gorillas! :)

[@thebadspot]

They are bad news and no mistake…

[@zulkhaireesulaiman8575]

I've a strong feeling that the tables in Stars Without Number would come in very handy to flesh out this wonderful world further!

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching!

[@cephalopod113]

I love the attention to the narrative instead of nitpicking rules like you see in so many other games. Great work putting these together, and I'm sure your channel will grow if you keep up this quality!

[@thebadspot]

Thanks so much for watching, glad to have you along for the ride! Narrative first is always my favourite way to approach ttrpgs and Ironsworn is the best system I’ve found for doing that.

[@cephalopod113]

@@thebadspot Those flash pieces at the beginning of the sessions are really atmospheric as well. Such a cool idea to use the oracles to create prompts. I might have to remember that for myself.

[@thebadspot]

@@cephalopod113 Thank you! I’ve seen quite a few people using the oracles outside of play. It is surprisingly easy to generate the beats of a story just out of 3 rolls, which is what I normally do.

[@cephalopod113]

@@thebadspot It might be too much detail for what you're going for, but I'd love to see the rolls that prompted each story, even if it's just a little note in the video description. I've been an English teacher and writer for about 10 years, so that kind of thing is really cool to me.

[@thebadspot]

@@cephalopod113 I will absolutely do that!

[@gregetto2009]

Started listening recently, and already invested in the tale. Sleeving my asset cards as I listened!

[@thebadspot]

So glad you’re digging it! You have many hours of preposterous mishaps to come…

[@euansmith3699]

Now I want to find out what happens to Roland, the Space Zombie, in "Revenge is a dish best served in a vacuum."

[@thebadspot]

I would watch the heck out of that.

[@cardboardgeek]

I've just picked this up and am about to start 2 different campaigns. 1 Solo and 1 Co-Op. This is being very helpful and I can't wait to start working out my truths etc and building my 'verse. Love what you are doing here...

[@thebadspot]

Thank you so much! Good luck with your campaigns!

[@eriksalholm]

Really enjoying the podcast Matt! Very done! The “visual podcast” format is new to me - and I like it a lot. I’ve recently become Solo-curious, but I’ve never felt clear about how to handle social encounters alone; does one speak aloud, do voices etc? Between your show and Geek Gamers’ videos I feel a bit more confident to try it out now. I also appreciate the way you explain Starforged as you go (not expecting listeners to be familiar with it).

[@thebadspot]

Hi Erik, thanks for tuning in! I’m really pleased you’ve got done use out of my rambling and I’m really thrilled you’re feeling more confident playing solo. Yes, I think it’s important to make the show assuming people don’t know the game, and still now, 40+ episodes in, I’ll still talk through the moves and my decisions do it’s clear for new players. Thanks again and welcome aboard!

[@joshuastrickland5264]

That tune is awesome. It just completes the feel. Great job!

[@thebadspot]

Thank you so much!

[@crapphone7744]

Incredibly creative. Radioactive kangaroo crocodiles should be hunted to Extinction.

[@thebadspot]

I’m all for animal rights, but these bastards deserve to die. Thanks for watching!

[@HeadHunterSix]

I'm really enjoying this podcast and videos. I'm especially pleased when you envision a result in the same way as I would. Also enjoying the Tales From The Drift at the beginning of each episode.

[@thebadspot]

Thanks so much for watching! You’ll soon reach the point where I open submissions for Tales From The Drift to the community…

[@HeadHunterSix]

@@thebadspot I've enjoyed them in the 10 episodes I've watched so far, I'll ponder cobbling one up for you once I've caught up!

[@ivorcogdell8483]

Great edge of your seat drama. Well worth your time to enjoy the encounters. You will not be sorry you subscribed.

[@thebadspot]

Thanks so much for watching! I get a real kick out of seeing people working their way through the show from the beginning. You have much to discover!

[@ivorcogdell8483]

@@thebadspot I'm on S1 E 14 now. I don't want to burn through them too fast. :-) You are able to come up with very descriptive scenes from the prompts provided by the oracles, I wonder, what was your GM experience before this? Thanks for all of your time and effort you put into the episodes. I do agree with another commenter that Stars without Number (possibly just using the free PDF rules) would be a great addition to your toolbox.

[@thebadspot]

I am relatively inexperienced as a GM and have only been playing ttrpgs since 2014. I approach playing and producing the show in a slightly unconventional way. When you get to the end of Season 1, there’s a “how I make the Bad Spot” video and a 1k Subscriber Q&A video with more detailed answers. Spoilers though, so wait until you finish the season!

[@hollismccray3297]

Show yourself some mercy. I don't think anyone wants this story to end fast

[@thebadspot]

Live fast, die young, leave an old looking corpse.

[@hollismccray3297]

@@thebadspot You mean an odd looking corpse, right?

[@thebadspot]

Either/or

[@irreleverent]

Nah. No mercy. 'Tis the ironsworn way.

[@DadGotGamez]

Love the show. What are you using to show your live dice rolls? It really helps engagement, along with putting up the moves, etc….

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for watching! The dice roller is the paid version of this app: apps.apple.com/gb/app/dice-3d-7pixels/id1263339902

[@melibabe]

Still listening, but I was totally hoping the "beast" would turn out to be one of the ship crew that got stranded and went feral. :D

[@melibabe]

That said, that was an amazing fight. :D

[@thebadspot]

Well, that was only the first stage of the expedition, who knows what else we'll run into...

[@thebadspot]

I'd say I enjoyed it, but I'd be lying...

[@zwibak]

Interesting to go by 'just' moves when encountering the kangaroos. Can you elaborate why this would not be enter the frey?

[@thebadspot]

Hi there! Mainly because the narrative didn’t trigger the move. Archer didn’t want to fight them and they were defending their territory more than anything and didn’t straight up attack him. I certainly could’ve played this out as a combat encounter, but it would’ve been very mismatched and didn’t feel right for the story. Thanks for watching!

[@zwibak]

@@thebadspot ah yes I see: "When you initiate combat or are forced into a fight," I somehow was assuming a/the ambush was already immanent. That said, I enjoy your play as a great learning resource how to play to find out. I make my first steps with a friend and it's interesting.

[@TheInfamousRPGGroup-on-Rumble]

You'd probably love the Star Trek Adventures 2d20 system by modiphius, even if you don't like star trek

[@thebadspot]

I actually play in an STA game! I prefer narrative led systems usually, so that part of it doesn’t grab me that much, but my group are amazing and the character I play is a real dummy, which reflects just how little I know about Star Trek! Thanks for watching!

[@simpleroleplay2136]

Are you going to do the sea one they are making?

[@thebadspot]

I will be, yes! Will most likely do a Sundered Isles livestream when the final draft drops

[@seanboyll7968]

What's the intro music? It's awesome.

[@thebadspot]

Hi Sean, glad you're enjoying the show. The music is something I made very simply using loops on GarageBand. I think it was drums and percussion that I chopped up and a really cool loop using a traditional Afghan Rabab. I wanted a mixture of something that sounded old and something that sounded modern. I hope that comes across. Thanks for watching!

[@seanboyll7968]

@@thebadspot spot on. It reminds me of the Mandalorian somehow.

[@thebadspot]

@@seanboyll7968 I'll take that!

[@cardboardgeek]

​@@thebadspotI agree with the comment re:Mandalorian. It has a very spaghetti space western feel which as you are probably aware the first series of Mandalorian was inspired by especially the Django style first episode. Good work

[@thebadspot]

Thanks!

[@EwokNoelle]

kangaroos are marsupials not mammals

[@thebadspot]

Thanks for that important clarification.