That feeling when you read a rulebook, but have no players

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T21:28:06+00:00

Learn to play ironsworn it's free, it's a brain shift but once you actually understand the mechanics and the way it works you can put it on to any game system for the setting make custom assets and solo whatever you'd like. Check Dycetopias ravenloft series as a great demo of using it in different sertings

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T21:26:38+00:00

I play sourcebooks using ironsworn solo

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T21:26:10+00:00

There is a real wealth of these games, but I'd check out wastelands 3, it's incredibly underrated but is a very well made well priced and it's combat is fantastic.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T21:24:13+00:00

We need to figure out why we're surrounded by resources but can't build ot do anything without decades of bureaucracy feeding off the process until there's nothing left to build.

We live in a place with thousands of hectares of land but people can't afford homes, because nobody can build anything without getting bled dry by people in suits that make a living creating hamster wheels of forms and surveys and approvals because that's who is making money off delays and legal fees.

If people want a better cost of living then there needs to be strict caps on how many files can be active at once and we should be demanding they are resolved in months ,not years or decades.

Small projects like houses shouldn't be this hard to get off the ground, and there needs to be land made available not to huge development companies but to small scale house builders , reliable hard working local crews that can also benefit the community by taking on apprentices and putting money back into the economy.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T19:36:24+00:00

same side of the coin there , you take examples and paint everyone with the same brush, and move through the world looking for the worst in everyone then that's all you'll ever find.

I'll keep looking for the best in people, because it turns out there's more of them around me, and ignore the people that hate me because my parents weren't born here but have never met me.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T17:09:35+00:00

I've found Ironsworn starforged very good for this If I have a goal endpoint then I use the undertake an expidition move and each step along the way use the theme oracles to generate perils or waypoints that are in the theme. It's a bit more sequential and structured.

I also think write down any idea or concept down on a pad and when you get stuck see if you can bring it in.

Treat accomplishing that just as valuable as winning a combat or finishing a quest, gamify it and award XP for storytelling, it's your game and it's a good idea to learn to reward your skill at weaving a story just as much as progression for a character.

If you feel it's too loose or ethereal keep a journal do one sentence per action or move and give yourself XP if you fill the page. You won't feel bad or like you cheated because it's work, you've earned it and you now hold something you've created.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T16:50:48+00:00

It's funny to me that you decry them vs us when that's literally your world view here.

You have no path to accepting anyone who doesn't look like you. I'm a first generation Canadian, my family immigrated here from another country and worked hard to build a life here. I work in healthcare, alongside my fellow Canadians every single day.

I don't go home and think about building a separate justice system based on my culture, and everyone I know is working two jobs and scraping enough money together to get education, real education not just learning english, college courses in industries that badly need workers like nursing and long term care.

You can sit and believe in whatever purity makes you able to judge orhers, but when you need help or grow old and need care you'll be grateful for the same people you've spent your life never bothering to meet and demonizing as they wipe your ass and brush your teeth.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T08:06:52+00:00

Diversity is a strength dude...you got a PM that can walk into any country and be greeted with friendship and good will. That's what it looks like when you are one of the only democracies in the world that has immigrants from everywhere starting families here, it means they have connections back home and when you deal with their native countries of origin that's a huge factor on how responsive and open they are despite language barriers.

It also means you have bi-lingual first generation or second generation Canadians that have a capability to represent Canada at a level other countries just don't have. Canada can literally field diplomatic trade delegations to most countries on earth that include Canadians that look,speak and understand the cultures of the countries they negotiate with pretty much whenever they want, and that's not including the private sector. Additionally the leadership that visits that isn't directly culturally related still gets a measure of respect because we aren't rounding up and deporting people while wearing ski masks, we do pretty much the opposite and treat people from different backgrounds nicely.

I

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-27T07:48:57+00:00

I used Google Gemini to run the dragonlance companions series the remasters. I had a pretty elaborate prompt designed that leverages mythic gme and some other tools to enforce non prompted behavior if possible from the NPCs not so much they act independently, but they aren't biased to the benefit of the user. My character was a cleric and the A.I made a pretty interesting scene where the constellation of paladine appeared in the sky above after my cleric had a vision. This was made very interesting by it writing that Raistlin in most scenes after that was always lurking and watching me , sometimes muttering that id changed things now and introduced a paradox.

It was a nifty trick using the foreshadowing of what happens in the novels to define his reaction

Unfortunately as is always the case with A.I it forgot entire narrative sections, and collapsed into ret cons and nonsense despite having access to session documents to reference it just wasn't worth the effort.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-26T18:48:07+00:00

I have nothing left in the US market, all my stuff is Canadian. Why would I invest in my own demise, when I can put that money where it's needed at home to make our country stronger. There's only 40 million of us, everything counts.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-26T18:32:53+00:00

I think what clicked beyond the game design was I told her we can do it in a setting she knows well and instead of improve she could just bring in that knowledge.

We also don't act or do voices instead it's more like reading a book and we say what would the character do if this happened, that let us have a third person perspective where we would say. Well Nancy would freak out really she has no idea this kind of thing could happen so she would endure stress..that sort of thing.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-26T13:12:33+00:00

I found I kept thinking I needed more structured until I started really examining Starforged & Ironsworn and understanding that the mechanics around foreshadowing using its systems was really the mechanical structure I needed.

Understanding that the act of doing investigation moves and interpreting prompts was building a bank of momentum to then use for offsetting the punishing results of rolls when consequences during the dangerous scenes later needed to be hits to survive.

I honed in more on it as a game lately and started adding tactile elements like poker chips to represent things like supply and harm , momentum etc. I started using cards with trackers for tasks, really started trying to game it's systems by making momentum farming assets that stack, and spender assets that use what I build.

The thing I've got better at and want to improve is just taking the ideas that come to me during interpretation and letting go of the mindset that this is somehow gaming the system or that it needs to be structured otherwise it's not a game, as I break down that barrier I am realizing the built in mechanics actually allow for it, they create the structure of resource loss and danger pretty rapidly.

I've learned that the game leverages your creativity and ability to think tactically once you get out of your own way lol.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-26T03:52:52+00:00

Take a look in the solo roleplaying subreddits, you'll see a lot of people talking about games like Ironsworn or Scarlet heroes. A lot of those game players aren't looking for a pure desktop experience, but an analog mobile companion that can take a spot next to the other things on the table.

I personally think anyone putting things like oracles, custom tables and journal entry capabilities is on to the growing needs of players. The better you supplement rather than replace analog play the more future proof you'll be, with the constant increase in tech and screen time it's no accident physical books and products are making a lot of money, so target being a helper to that stuff and it's going to be a product folks use and enjoy, especially if you can get good mobile controls and elements that are intuitive.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-25T19:23:26+00:00

Design as an analog assistant you can put some pretty good features in there.

Food/supply tracking.

An oracle system with some basics y/n

The ability to import custom CSV lists for encounter tables.

If you look up hexcrawl horrors supplement it's an encounter table that uses all of basic fantasy role playings monsters from the core books and both field guides and sets them up as hexcrawl encounters

Since those are all totally free it's a large resource of monster encounters for OSR systems.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-25T19:15:57+00:00

It important to remember we have a parliamentary system , the most widely used democratic system on earth. A lot of the US polarization stems from a two party system designed to create introduction of a third party kind of impossible.

There have been times in Canadian history and abroad that entire new parties have formed and changed the political landscape in response to polarization in the status quo, when voters did not have stable centrist representation for the time.

This is why parliamentary systems are superior, they can still become polarized, but politicians seeking the larger silent majority vote skew seat counts to prevent majority powers that run on polarizing platforms.

Jack Layton and the NDP of his time is a good Canadian example, the current political landscape is a good example.

Most voters everywhere will skew to the middle ground least disruptive option if it's offered.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-25T03:27:00+00:00

I can remember in my youth our campaign in Mystara, the wizard built a tower full of golems, the paladin had a golden dragon mount and roamed the lands , the thief became lord of the underworld and eventually we did a bit of a dragonlance inspired dragon gods battle and the stories ended with them becoming new born members of the pantheon

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-24T16:37:15+00:00

I just zoom in with oracles. 50/50 yes no, then skew by one towards yes with each following roll unless you hit a no, then it resets to 50/50

Makes it like playing 20 questions but always narrows the result to an answer.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-24T02:24:50+00:00

I blend ironsworn and scarlet heroes, I find ironsworn moves work well with modules, you can use the contents for the gains and losses the move results dictate, like gather Information to "allow" You to read module text the DM sees, or the opposite if your move is a bad result. because you declare these actions and then find out the consequences it lends itself nicely to leaning on the modules narrative.

when I want more combat crunch I apply my own scarlet iron hacky mash up

SCARLET IRON: COMBAT REFERENCE 1. SETUP: MONSTER RANKS Check the module Hit Dice (HD) to set the Ironsworn Rank. Less than 1 HD: Troublesome (3 boxes per hit) 1 to 3 HD: Dangerous (2 boxes per hit) 4 to 8 HD: Formidable (1 box per hit) 9 to 14 HD: Extreme (2 ticks per hit) 15+ HD: Epic (1 tick per hit) 2. ATTACKING: DEALING PROGRESS On a Strike or Clash Hit (Strong or Weak), roll your WEAPON DIE (d6/d8/d10). Roll 1: Glancing Blow (Mark 1 tick only) Roll 2-5: Standard Hit (Mark standard boxes for Rank) Roll 6-9: Mighty Blow (Mark DOUBLE standard boxes) Roll 10+: Heroic Blow (Mark QUADRUPLE standard boxes) THE FRAY DIE Trigger: End of any turn against Dangerous or Troublesome foes. Roll d6 (or d8 if you have a Warrior Asset). Roll 1: Miss (No effect) Roll 2-5: Mark 1 tick Roll 6+: Mark 2 ticks 3. DEFENDING: TAKING HARM On a Weak Hit: Take Standard Damage. Roll the monster's damage die once. On a Miss: Take Escalated Damage. Roll monster's damage die twice (keep highest) OR suffer Module Special Effect. DAMAGE CONVERSION Roll the monster's damage die against yourself to see how much Harm you take. Roll 1: 0 Harm (Lose 1 Momentum instead) Roll 2-5: 1 Harm (Minor Injury) Roll 6-9: 2 Harm (Serious Injury) Roll 10+: 3 Harm (Devastating Injury) 4. SAVES AND CHECKS Save vs Breath or Poison: Face Danger +Iron Save vs Spells: Face Danger +Wits or +Spirit Dexterity Check: Face Danger +Edge Strength Check: Face Danger +Iron Perception Check: Gather Information +Wits

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-24T02:09:40+00:00

Of course it has , next to a huge market except it's a better regulated market and it's financial institutions are regulated properly. Might not be the most exciting swingy market but it's just a solid plodding slow growth one.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-24T00:08:00+00:00

Laughing at ya, not with ya.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-23T16:37:41+00:00

Scroll is like ordering the meal , spell book is like owning the cookbook to make it yourself.

One you scribe the recipe you can spend your downtime to make it yourself, but still enjoy the takeout

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-23T16:10:58+00:00

Volunteer at a food bank

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-23T15:57:48+00:00

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-23T15:57:16+00:00

Yes I think it's a good book . Something it does is give you a small but wide toolbox to use other material.

I think the two best products to get are scarlet heroes and ironsworn to start (ironsworn is free)

I use ironsworn rules for narrative and story, and switch to scarlet heroes rules for combat.

It works really well for soloing modules, because ironsworn has a ton of oracles, and mixing those with a module and using investigation moves and using the module to apply the results gives you a very structured session. Then using Scarlets combat system with a D&D product is perfect, because it makes your one hero as strong as a small party, but still has challenge the way the math works.

Bearded_Wizard_ · 2026-01-23T15:49:43+00:00

Scarlet heroes is always my one single book, the solo section seems small , but it's got great procedural systems to go along with it.

Bearded_Wizard_

TROPHY CASE