In Ironsworn: Starforged, you are a spaceborne hero sworn to undertake perilous quests. You will explore uncharted space, unravel the secrets of a mysterious galaxy, and build bonds with those you meet on your travels. Most importantly, you will swear iron vows and see them fulfilled—no matter the cost.
Starforged is a standalone follow-up to the Ironsworn tabletop roleplaying game. Experience with Ironsworn is not required to play. Starforged builds on Ironsworn's award-winning innovations to chart a path into an exciting new frontier.
There are three ways to play:
- Guided: One or more players take the role of their characters, while a guide moderates the session.
- Co-Op: You and one or more friends play to overcome challenges and complete quests. No guide required.
- Solo: You portray a lone character driven to fulfill vows in a dangerous galaxy. Good luck!
The full colour Deluxe Edition Rulebook totals 404 pages (159mm x 235mm), and is lavishly illustrated by lead artist Joshua Meehan and others. You will also automatically receive the complete Digital Edition that includes a PDF of the Rulebook, as well as PDFs of the Reference Guide, and Asset Deck, both of which are also available in print.
Features include:
- Story-driven mechanics to put your character at the center of their quest-driven adventures.
- Inspiring campaign launch exercises to build your setting, create your character, and set off into a universe of perils and opportunities.
- Creative prompts to eliminate game prep and push your adventures forward—with or without a guide.
- System-agnostic generators for on-the-fly discoveries of spaceborne locations, planets, settlements, people, creatures, starships, foreboding derelicts, ancient alien vaults, and more.
- Extensive advice, examples, and options for exploring the story of your characters and their fateful vows.
Check out all the Ironsworn: Starforged products here.
THE SYSTEM
In Starforged, moves help you decide what happens when you encounter something dangerous or uncertain. There is a move for most situations and challenges you will face. For solo and co-op play, these moves help resolve your actions and trigger new opportunities and complications. Starforged moves are inspired by the innovative, fiction-first mechanics of the Apocalypse World system created by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker.
When you make a move triggered by a risky or uncertain action, roll three dice at once to see what happens: an action die (D6) and two challenge dice (D10). Add your relevant stat and any bonuses to your action die. This is your action score. Then, compare your action score to each of the challenge dice. If you beat both those dice, that's a strong hit. If you beat only one of the challenge dice, you've scored a weak hit. If your action score doesn't beat either challenge die, that's a miss. The move will tell you how to interpret these results.
Character creation is fast and flexible, with a guided exercise to help define your background, resources, expertise, and goals. During play, you use the character sheet to manage your stats and resources. As you complete quests, make discoveries, and form bonds, you gain experience. You spend this experience to gain assets—vehicles, modules, paths, and companions—which deepen your abilities and options. Assets are formatted as printable, poker-sized cards for easy reference.
TONE AND INSPIRATION
Starforged is human-centric science fiction on a perilous frontier. This is a scavenged future, with equipment often cobbled together from salvage. People cling to survival on inhospitable worlds and in remote space stations. Much has been forgotten or lost. It's a dangerous life for anyone living on this frontier, and doubly so for the Ironsworn—those adventurers bound to sworn quests.
Inspiration comes from the quest-driven stories of The Mandalorian, the lived-in aesthetic and fantasy-infused trappings of the original Star Wars trilogy, the workaday exploits of Firefly, the isolated horror of Alien, the mysticism and faction politics of Dune, the retro-tech and desperation of Battlestar Galactica's modern reboot, the cosmic mysteries and class struggles of The Expanse, and the gonzo adventures and fantastic locations of Guardians of the Galaxy.
You can bend the tone to your liking. You'll make a unique version of the setting as you define aspects such as its history, technology, communities, lifeforms, supernatural abilities, and more.
