Yesterday evening, I did a playthrough of Iron Valley testing out some of the new stuff in version 1.1. I had a lot of fun and figured I'd share my playthrough here in case anyone was interested:
Hello, I have some questions about the rules. Sorry if this gets too long, but I'm quite new to TTRPGs and I want to get the rules right.
1. For Spirit of the Forest: What does "it complicates things" and "you're asking the wrong question" mean?
2. When working on a promise and journaling the events, does each written record need to be connected? Or is the journaling process more like a bunch of snippets out of a day?
3. Getting to know my host: Do I fill in their Townie sheet little by little as I work on the promise, or is this promise meant to be like additional info about the host?
4. Skills Chart: How much satisfaction do I have at the start? Second, how do I know which skill to use? Is it basically open to interpretation, like imagining which skill could work best?
5. Try Your Best: When losing track of time, what kind of consequences would it include? What could "failure" look like in Iron Valley? Any examples would be good!
6. Can I choose to cancel a promise?
7. Stats: Since some stats are stronger, what's the purpose of using the weaker stats? Is it mainly for adding variety to the narrative? Also, what could stealth be used for in Iron Valley? Couldn't this create conflicts or mistrust within the community?
Hi Rina! Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Thank you so much for reaching out, I really appreciate your feedback and hope that these answers help. 💚
1. My intention with those results is to spice things up! Those additional results (although rare) gives the player a chance to look at an otherwise binary situation through a new lens.
2. This is completely up to you! When I play on my own, I like to write a simple list of the events that happened. Sometimes it's just one, summarizing the entire day in a sentence, sometimes it's a long list carefully describing everything that happened. When I play on stream I don't journal at all! So whatever works for you is valid~
3. The latter is correct! The information you get through making a Townie is just the start. Getting to know them is all about spending time with them, learning about their past, their dreams, and so on~
4. You start with no satisfaction (and earn it as part of completing promises). You do start the game with 2 skills with the first upgrade (+1 to Rolls) and 1 skill with the second upgrade (+1 to Rolls and +1 Tick on Hit). As to what skills to pick, go what feels right for your character, you may not have the best skill set--but that's okay! Alternative, you could also build the perfect character for your story. There is no wrong answer as to how you build your character~
5. The tone of Iron Valley is a cozy one, meaning that failure doesn't always have to include dramatic retribution or anything like that. Losing track of time can be as simple as your character wasting time because they were not properly prepared, didn't have the right tools, or it could be simply because they made a mistake. Of course, one of my favorite ways of treating failure is to lose track of time chatting with other Townies. This is part of the heart of this game, sure it's a failure but it doesn't mean that it has to be heartbreaking. Your character can truly mean to finish building that chair only to lose hours chatting with their bestie.
6. This is the first time someone has brought this up--and I am endlessly grateful for your question. I will be adding an additional rule in the 1.2 update so here's a sneak peek:
If you wish to cancel a promise for any reason, envision your character explaining the situation to the person most affected by the breaking of this promise. Envision their response. If you fully filled any boxes, gain 1 satisfaction per filled box, then Time Passes.
7. Different stats serve different purposes. When you use the move Try Your Best you are asked to pick an approach, and each approach calls for a different stat. Sometimes you might have to use a low stat because that is the approach the narrative asks for. If you need to run as fast as possible to catch a train, you'd have to use Edge--even if it is your lowest stat. As for being stealthy, some more mischievous characters might have a good use for it. Or maybe a master bug-hunter who knows just how to sneak up onto the rarest specimens?
That being said, anyone can make use of Shadow. Sneaking out of the house? Shadow. Hiding from your boss? Shadow. Telling your crush you don't like them even though you really, really do? Shadow.
I hope this helps clear things up. Once again, thank you so much for your questions! I hope to keep making the game better and better. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need more help 💚
I don't have any more questions at the moment besides this, but wanted to ask-
For skills such as Cooking and Blacksmithing, do we need to gain resources first in order to use them? I think you mentioned that we have the option to either work for resources or get it from someone/somewhere, but yeah I was also curious about this.
You can choose whether you want to gather all the resources manually or just abstract away that you have the materials you need on hand. This is to give players a little bit of freedom on how granular they want the game to be (for example if you're playing an alchemist you may want to be granular about potions but not about tailoring).
There is a mechanical change I want to highlight depending on your approach, if you abstract away having to get all the materials when you use the move Reap the Benefits then you'll only gain (1) value of your crafted item per filled box.
This means you ultimately get a little less for your efforts, but since you didn't have to get everything from scratch it all evens out. 🐮
Any chance for a mailing list or dedicated website for updates and whatnot? I’ve been following the game since mid-February (I procrastinate badly enough it could be mistaken for lurking), and it seems like I’m checking back here every two or three days because I absolutely don’t want to miss an update. I’m afraid I’ll miss it if I rely solely on the feed.
Hi there! I am actually currently working on gathering up all the resources for players to have in one easy place. I will be sharing those links here very soon, but for now here's an early version of the website for Iron Valley!
I also want to add that if you use Discord, I have several channels on my server (link in the website) dedicated to Iron Valley where people ask questions, share custom content, and I post updates!
I hope this helps. Thank you so much for giving my game a chance and wanting to stay up to date~ 💖
So far having a lot of fun with Iron Valley! It took a bit for me to really get into it but I really enjoy it! So far I've made friends with the owl in the attic and am now dedicated to making them feel at home. Have a happy spring!
Thank you for sharing! Iron Valley is still a budding RPG (pun mostly intended) so it's a little rough around the edges, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions! 🌷🌼🌻
I've just started playing and I'm already an adoptive parent in a family baking contest against a friendly rival townie. Adorable 🥰. I'm looking forward to whatever you guys have planned, so keep up the great work!
Rolling on all the oracles when generating a Townie can be kind of tedious and takes me out of the flow, so I've written a Perchance generator to do it with a single click:
I love how you adapted the rolls (I got the amnesia starting promise and the way you worked it into the generator made me laugh!). Thank you so much for making these, would you be okay with me sharing them in the book/community resource pages? 🙇♀️
Absolutely!! I'll let ya know if I make any more! They're still under a bit of development haha, but the nice thing about the links is that ya don't have to change them in order to get the updated version lol
Version 1.1 is a hefty update already but I would love to sneak in some more info on co-op play, I don't think it would require any additional rules changes (other than making an adjustment to the length of a day for the increased player count). I will try my darnest to get it into the next update 🤞💕
this…is…adorable. I’m obsessed! I can’t wait to try this out. I may combine it with Ironsworn proper or some other game to add some light dungeon exploration/combat, but only because I want to play something with similar vibes to games like Rune Factory. Someone recommended this game to me on Reddit and I can’t be more grateful to them. I’m only just reading through the move pages but I already think this will help me get exactly where I want with a game. And it’s so hefty! I can’t wait to see what more you have in store and can already guarantee that whenever you are ready to put out a physical version…you have a buyer here!
Hey! I'm thinking of hacking this game a tiny bit to fit the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon setting, and was planning on posting my writing of it on Ao3. If I credit you would that be chill?
Super funny coincidence, I came here to add the notion template I made and found that melpomephy made one too. Melpomephy made theirs much more aesthetically pleasing while mine is set up for more of an emphasis on character building.
This is a modified version of the character builder I use for other solo RPGs so I tend to insert photos.
Hi, Annilite! When I follow the link, it says I don't have access to your Notion and must contact you. If you mean to share the template, could you check the settings? Thank you!
Hi!! So, I am absolutely in love with this game and it may have become my new hyperfocus so, as usual, I spent an unreasonable amount of time making something! This thing is a notion template for everyone that wants to play digitally, since notion is basically a digital notebook with a ton of cool features.
No one needs to know how to use notion in depth to use the template, but if you want you can do a lot o cool stuff like link to a townies page every time you mention them, or make things colorful, or put cool images to illustrate the game, or whatever else your heart desired (and notion supports, of course).
Also, I have one question: in the future, will there be descriptions of the holidays?
Oh my god this is so cute!! Thank you so much for sharing this! If it would be okay, would you mind me putting a link to this in the book as part of the 1.1 update? Also, to answer your question, descriptions of the holidays is a part of the update! 100% confirmed! 😉💖
Yeah, of course!! I maintain a couple templates already, so the link shouldn’t stop working anytime soon, but I’ll try and remember to update the template when 1.1 is released
This is so lovely!! I downloaded this, RAN to the store to buy a fresh notebook, and then played for 5 hours straight. Amazing. Also loving those trans flag shirts - I see you ;*
A comment on this page got a little out of hand, so we wanted to address it. Below you will find the comment in question, followed by our official statement (with the help of my amazing wife).
I want to preface, that I do not agree with the commenter. I don't think they should have even made that post, but that's just my opinion. However, the bigotry topic aside, I find it concerning for that page to even be in there at all. I'm pretty sure that you can't legally prevent someone from playing a game (even in video games, a person can just create a new account), especially a tabletop game played solo in one's own home. So even if that page is on there, I don't think it's enforcable, at least from a strictly legal stance. (I'll P.S. that I'm most familiar with Canadian Law, but a 5 minute cursory research period has led me to this conclusion)
I want to clarify that the purpose of that page is not to establish a binding legal contract. Clearly, it's not enforceable. I'm not going to take legal action against anyone.
The point of that page (as it states) is to make it bold and clear that if you agree or support bigotry in any form, I don't want you to play my game. And furthermore, it's not the game for you. That's all~
Lots of games on this site have basically this exact page. Literally everyone knows its not enforceable. The point is to send a message. It's symbolic--it tells us that the people who made the game are with the good guys. I kinda thought everyone understood this.
I started a campaign yesterday and already in love! Totally hooked with playing my orc named Oyster who has a year to prove to the dwarven shopkeeper, Java, that she's the right successor for his shop so he can go off and travel!
Cozy games are my fave, and this hits all the sweet spots!
This looks so awesome! I've recently been learning/playing Starforged and have been really enjoying it. I can't wait to start reading this over and giving it a shot
This is a perfect hack for A) either the prologue or epilog of a character's story, if you don't want to start in media res and instead want to do the "normal life" of a character, or what they do after they're done their life of adventuring. B) when you're doing a Sojourn and want to help out around the settlement you're in!
You see, Iron Valley happened as part of a game jam and it looks like in between writing and making the book a few things fell in between the cracks? The Soup Oracle exists, it was edited and finalized, but I... appear to have forgotten to put it in the book 😅💦💦
I am very sorry for this (how will the Townies celebrate Soupmas without Soup??). I promise you that the Soup Oracle will make its grand return in version 1.1 (which is currently in development)!
I'm shooting to release v1.1 this month! I've done a bit of play-testing and just need to write the new additions to the rulebook and make a few more oracles. As for your second question, this book is going to be in beta until it's in a good enough place where I feel it's ready for a physical edition. We're still in the early days of this game, so it might not be for a little bit~ Thank you for your questions! 💕
If you had asked me if I thought an ironsworn powered cozy game could exist yesterday, I would have said no. Today I am very happy to be proved wrong! I think you've really struck gold (iron?) with this. An unreasonable amount of my empty journals will be filled by this game.
I will be watching the development of this closely. Thank you very much for making this.
I love this game so far, very delightful concept. I look forward to this game developing further. Any possibility of getting this printed one day? (No pressure, just curious)
It will absolutely get a physical version someday. I'm actually an indie author, so I know my way around making print versions of my books. This one is in the cards for sure~ 😉💖
I've never rushed to download something so quickly! This looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to dig in. Is there any sort of Discord community? Is the author on Tiktok? I know I will be making videos eventually and I'd love to tag you!
I’m really loving this game! Is there any plans for a bartering or monetary system in the future? I also noticed the tags for this game don’t pop up on Solo RPG physical games, if possible you may want to change that so everyone gets a chance to find this gem.
I can't believe I forgot the solo-rpg tag! Thank you for the catch!!
As for the question of a money/barter system, it's possible! I recognize there's a little bit of design room to turn the crops grown into something else. Though I also don't want players to have to worry about paying bills (it's just not that kind of game). This is something I will look into for future updates. Thank you for the idea! 👍💕
Not necessarily paying bills, but a simple economy wouldn't be a bad thing, in my mind (maybe each settlement uses its own form of currency so a character can't game the system by trading between settlements, and getting super rich?)
I've been thinking about this economy thing for several days and I don't think it's necessary. Of course, go ahead and create one for use by those who want it, but here's what I plan to try:
Fundamentally, this game's mechanic is about trying to tick the Promise boxes faster than you tick the days. Money, when you have enough, simply helps solve a problem faster than creating what you need from scratch.
In a cozy story, you have enough money, but using it involves a skill. Shop/Barter Wisely, a skill that can be upgraded like any other. On a weak hit, you buy an incorrectly-sized doohickey and must return to the hardware store (time passes). On a fail, you get distracted and don't buy the intended item at all.
I'm using a simple little "favor token" system to handle that, but would love to see something more robust in a future version! For now, when my character fulfills a promise, my character gets tokens equal to the number of boxes the promise took. Still work out values of things as I go, but it's a simple system that's working nicely.
This is awesome, thank you so much! A couple of ideas: I'd love to have a blank calendar to create your own holidays/weekdays, and having fillable character sheets would be awesome too.
Blank calendar? How did I not think of that!? Thank you for tip! Also, in the book the link to the Character Sheets actually leads to a Google Drive! They were all made using Google Docs so they can function as fill-able / virtual character sheets! 👍✨
Heads up! The Random Skills Oracle has the old, work-in-progress names of the magical skills (for example Liquid Magic is written as Rain Magic). This will be fixed in the first update! ✨
It's a little strange that, for a human-only game, you don't fill in the "ancestry" box. That could be filled with real-world or fictional ancestries. Or, if you prefer not, calling it simply "species" on its own can still work for the fantasy setting without implying something humans have a variety of.
I probably didn't explain this clear enough, but you *do* write human in the ancestry/species field! In fact, humans are present in the oracles for fantastical ancestries and animal species (we are animals, after all). Though I like the idea that a player may choose to write in a human's real-world ancestry. Thank you for the feedback! 🙇♀️💖
Oh, I said "don't fill in" because, if everyone is "human" then it's effectively the same as leaving it blank.
What I meant was, the word "ancestry" carries meaning and differentiation within species; they are historical and cultural lines of people. Elves, goblins, and the like, are species, not ancestries. Those species may have many ancestries within them (For example, Goblins from this one country vs. Goblins from another vs. Goblin nomads, etc), but they are not ancestries themselves.
Which is why it feels so bizarre to have a field called "ancestry" and then effectively ignore it in a human-only game. That sort of thing can feel a tad too close to dismissing race and culture as important to people. Which is why I suggested either acknowledging it more in the rules, or removing the word "ancestry" from the field and leaving "species" on its own. There may be other solutions, of course.
I hope I was a bit clearer this time. I'm not the best at communicating my points. <_<
I see what you mean! Yeah that's something I didn't consider (to be 100% honest the development/playtesting of this game is all a blur of the last 4-3 weeks 😅).
I will bring this up on stream and see how we can clarify this! Thank you so much for your input~ 💗
← Return to solo roleplaying game
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This is absolutely delightful and rich and thoughtful and WELL DONE, YOU
Aww, thank you!! 🥰💕
Yesterday evening, I did a playthrough of Iron Valley testing out some of the new stuff in version 1.1. I had a lot of fun and figured I'd share my playthrough here in case anyone was interested:
Thank you for sharing, Thomas! 💚
Hello, I have some questions about the rules. Sorry if this gets too long, but I'm quite new to TTRPGs and I want to get the rules right.
1. For Spirit of the Forest: What does "it complicates things" and "you're asking the wrong question" mean?
2. When working on a promise and journaling the events, does each written record need to be connected? Or is the journaling process more like a bunch of snippets out of a day?
3. Getting to know my host: Do I fill in their Townie sheet little by little as I work on the promise, or is this promise meant to be like additional info about the host?
4. Skills Chart: How much satisfaction do I have at the start? Second, how do I know which skill to use? Is it basically open to interpretation, like imagining which skill could work best?
5. Try Your Best: When losing track of time, what kind of consequences would it include? What could "failure" look like in Iron Valley? Any examples would be good!
6. Can I choose to cancel a promise?
7. Stats: Since some stats are stronger, what's the purpose of using the weaker stats? Is it mainly for adding variety to the narrative? Also, what could stealth be used for in Iron Valley? Couldn't this create conflicts or mistrust within the community?
Hi Rina! Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Thank you so much for reaching out, I really appreciate your feedback and hope that these answers help. 💚
1. My intention with those results is to spice things up! Those additional results (although rare) gives the player a chance to look at an otherwise binary situation through a new lens.
2. This is completely up to you! When I play on my own, I like to write a simple list of the events that happened. Sometimes it's just one, summarizing the entire day in a sentence, sometimes it's a long list carefully describing everything that happened. When I play on stream I don't journal at all! So whatever works for you is valid~
3. The latter is correct! The information you get through making a Townie is just the start. Getting to know them is all about spending time with them, learning about their past, their dreams, and so on~
4. You start with no satisfaction (and earn it as part of completing promises). You do start the game with 2 skills with the first upgrade (+1 to Rolls) and 1 skill with the second upgrade (+1 to Rolls and +1 Tick on Hit). As to what skills to pick, go what feels right for your character, you may not have the best skill set--but that's okay! Alternative, you could also build the perfect character for your story. There is no wrong answer as to how you build your character~
5. The tone of Iron Valley is a cozy one, meaning that failure doesn't always have to include dramatic retribution or anything like that. Losing track of time can be as simple as your character wasting time because they were not properly prepared, didn't have the right tools, or it could be simply because they made a mistake. Of course, one of my favorite ways of treating failure is to lose track of time chatting with other Townies. This is part of the heart of this game, sure it's a failure but it doesn't mean that it has to be heartbreaking. Your character can truly mean to finish building that chair only to lose hours chatting with their bestie.
6. This is the first time someone has brought this up--and I am endlessly grateful for your question. I will be adding an additional rule in the 1.2 update so here's a sneak peek:
7. Different stats serve different purposes. When you use the move Try Your Best you are asked to pick an approach, and each approach calls for a different stat. Sometimes you might have to use a low stat because that is the approach the narrative asks for. If you need to run as fast as possible to catch a train, you'd have to use Edge--even if it is your lowest stat. As for being stealthy, some more mischievous characters might have a good use for it. Or maybe a master bug-hunter who knows just how to sneak up onto the rarest specimens?
That being said, anyone can make use of Shadow. Sneaking out of the house? Shadow. Hiding from your boss? Shadow. Telling your crush you don't like them even though you really, really do? Shadow.
I hope this helps clear things up. Once again, thank you so much for your questions! I hope to keep making the game better and better. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need more help 💚
--Maxi
Thank you so much!! <3 I might have additional questions in the future, so thanks as well for offering!
I don't have any more questions at the moment besides this, but wanted to ask-
For skills such as Cooking and Blacksmithing, do we need to gain resources first in order to use them? I think you mentioned that we have the option to either work for resources or get it from someone/somewhere, but yeah I was also curious about this.
You can choose whether you want to gather all the resources manually or just abstract away that you have the materials you need on hand. This is to give players a little bit of freedom on how granular they want the game to be (for example if you're playing an alchemist you may want to be granular about potions but not about tailoring).
There is a mechanical change I want to highlight depending on your approach, if you abstract away having to get all the materials when you use the move Reap the Benefits then you'll only gain (1) value of your crafted item per filled box.
This means you ultimately get a little less for your efforts, but since you didn't have to get everything from scratch it all evens out. 🐮
i love this game so much!!!!!!!!!!!
This is absolutely adorable. I love Iron Valley.
Any chance for a mailing list or dedicated website for updates and whatnot? I’ve been following the game since mid-February (I procrastinate badly enough it could be mistaken for lurking), and it seems like I’m checking back here every two or three days because I absolutely don’t want to miss an update. I’m afraid I’ll miss it if I rely solely on the feed.
Hi there! I am actually currently working on gathering up all the resources for players to have in one easy place. I will be sharing those links here very soon, but for now here's an early version of the website for Iron Valley!
I also want to add that if you use Discord, I have several channels on my server (link in the website) dedicated to Iron Valley where people ask questions, share custom content, and I post updates!
I hope this helps. Thank you so much for giving my game a chance and wanting to stay up to date~ 💖
So far having a lot of fun with Iron Valley! It took a bit for me to really get into it but I really enjoy it! So far I've made friends with the owl in the attic and am now dedicated to making them feel at home. Have a happy spring!
Thank you for sharing! Iron Valley is still a budding RPG (pun mostly intended) so it's a little rough around the edges, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions! 🌷🌼🌻
Ahghh thank youu! You're doing great!
Did you get that plot point from the story hook oracle? If so, I'm so happy to see this omg (I made that one hehe)
Eeeee yeah! I loved those prompts! Great work!
I've just started playing and I'm already an adoptive parent in a family baking contest against a friendly rival townie. Adorable 🥰. I'm looking forward to whatever you guys have planned, so keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for sharing!! I am so touched to hear you are having fun with my little game 🥺 I hope you have lots of fun in the Valley 💚💚💚
Rolling on all the oracles when generating a Townie can be kind of tedious and takes me out of the flow, so I've written a Perchance generator to do it with a single click:
https://perchance.org/iron-valley-townies
(I also added hair and eye color from another generator, as I find that useful.)
Thank you for the addition~! We are working on bringing all of the oracles to chartopia (there's already a townie generator there too).
Would you mind if I added your generator to a list of community resources? 🦝✨
Go right ahead!
(Personally, I loathe Chartopia's interface, which is why I rolled my own on Perchance.)
That's awesome! I've been slowly compiling my own perchance generators for a home game lol
https://perchance.org/ironvalleycampaign
https://perchance.org/iron-valley-gen
I love these!! 😲💖💖💖
I love how you adapted the rolls (I got the amnesia starting promise and the way you worked it into the generator made me laugh!). Thank you so much for making these, would you be okay with me sharing them in the book/community resource pages? 🙇♀️
Absolutely!! I'll let ya know if I make any more! They're still under a bit of development haha, but the nice thing about the links is that ya don't have to change them in order to get the updated version lol
I am so happy! Thank you for this update. Congratulations! Please support this wonderful work of art.
I'm only a third of the way through the new version, but this is a *huge* update, and definitely enhances that Stardew Harvest Crossing feel!
Any chance this will get a cooperative mode like Ironsworn? Really want to be co-villagers with my friends!
Version 1.1 is a hefty update already but I would love to sneak in some more info on co-op play, I don't think it would require any additional rules changes (other than making an adjustment to the length of a day for the increased player count). I will try my darnest to get it into the next update 🤞💕
No pressure whatsoever! It’s your vision. Thank you for this awesome game 😁
By the way! This new updated version (1.1) has rules for co-op and guided modes of play, as promised 👍✨✨
Amazing! Thanks for letting me know <3
I made some basic worksheets in Google Sheets. Links will open in this tab/window:
[Edit: Some of the files were broken. New URLs should work.]
This is awesome, thank you!! 😲💕💕💕
this…is…adorable. I’m obsessed! I can’t wait to try this out. I may combine it with Ironsworn proper or some other game to add some light dungeon exploration/combat, but only because I want to play something with similar vibes to games like Rune Factory. Someone recommended this game to me on Reddit and I can’t be more grateful to them. I’m only just reading through the move pages but I already think this will help me get exactly where I want with a game. And it’s so hefty! I can’t wait to see what more you have in store and can already guarantee that whenever you are ready to put out a physical version…you have a buyer here!
Hey! I'm thinking of hacking this game a tiny bit to fit the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon setting, and was planning on posting my writing of it on Ao3. If I credit you would that be chill?
You don't have to credit me at all, though if you do that it'd be greatly appreciated! 🙇♀️
Super funny coincidence, I came here to add the notion template I made and found that melpomephy made one too. Melpomephy made theirs much more aesthetically pleasing while mine is set up for more of an emphasis on character building.
This is a modified version of the character builder I use for other solo RPGs so I tend to insert photos.
Have fun
Thank you for sharing! 😊🌺
Hi, Annilite! When I follow the link, it says I don't have access to your Notion and must contact you. If you mean to share the template, could you check the settings? Thank you!
Thank you so much! Let me know if it works now if you happen to try it!
That worked, thanks!
Hi!! So, I am absolutely in love with this game and it may have become my new hyperfocus so, as usual, I spent an unreasonable amount of time making something! This thing is a notion template for everyone that wants to play digitally, since notion is basically a digital notebook with a ton of cool features.
No one needs to know how to use notion in depth to use the template, but if you want you can do a lot o cool stuff like link to a townies page every time you mention them, or make things colorful, or put cool images to illustrate the game, or whatever else your heart desired (and notion supports, of course).
Also, I have one question: in the future, will there be descriptions of the holidays?
Oh my god this is so cute!! Thank you so much for sharing this! If it would be okay, would you mind me putting a link to this in the book as part of the 1.1 update? Also, to answer your question, descriptions of the holidays is a part of the update! 100% confirmed! 😉💖
Yeah, of course!! I maintain a couple templates already, so the link shouldn’t stop working anytime soon, but I’ll try and remember to update the template when 1.1 is released
I commented mine too! Really cool to see other people's Notion templates!!
This is so lovely!! I downloaded this, RAN to the store to buy a fresh notebook, and then played for 5 hours straight. Amazing. Also loving those trans flag shirts - I see you ;*
AWW Thank you so much for this lovely comment! I'm so happy that you're enjoying Iron Valley~ 🌷😊🌻
Good morning, everyone! ☀
A comment on this page got a little out of hand, so we wanted to address it. Below you will find the comment in question, followed by our official statement (with the help of my amazing wife).
Thank you~ 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Honestly respect for engaging so kindly with something so obviously bad faith /gen. Wish I was half as nice as yall fhfjddjd
I want to preface, that I do not agree with the commenter. I don't think they should have even made that post, but that's just my opinion. However, the bigotry topic aside, I find it concerning for that page to even be in there at all. I'm pretty sure that you can't legally prevent someone from playing a game (even in video games, a person can just create a new account), especially a tabletop game played solo in one's own home. So even if that page is on there, I don't think it's enforcable, at least from a strictly legal stance. (I'll P.S. that I'm most familiar with Canadian Law, but a 5 minute cursory research period has led me to this conclusion)
I want to clarify that the purpose of that page is not to establish a binding legal contract. Clearly, it's not enforceable. I'm not going to take legal action against anyone.
The point of that page (as it states) is to make it bold and clear that if you agree or support bigotry in any form, I don't want you to play my game. And furthermore, it's not the game for you. That's all~
Lots of games on this site have basically this exact page. Literally everyone knows its not enforceable. The point is to send a message. It's symbolic--it tells us that the people who made the game are with the good guys. I kinda thought everyone understood this.
perfect reply
Absolutely in love with everything about this game!! This is exactly what I needed rn tbh. Keep up the good work!
Thank you!! I hope you have a lovely time playing Iron Valley 💚💚
I started a campaign yesterday and already in love! Totally hooked with playing my orc named Oyster who has a year to prove to the dwarven shopkeeper, Java, that she's the right successor for his shop so he can go off and travel!
Cozy games are my fave, and this hits all the sweet spots!
I love this! I'm so happy to hear you're having fun with my game!! 💗
Thank you so much for going out of your way to leave this lovely comment, here's hoping Oyster has a great time in the Valley 🌄✨
This looks so awesome! I've recently been learning/playing Starforged and have been really enjoying it. I can't wait to start reading this over and giving it a shot
Thank you! I hope you enjoy your time in the Valley! If you have any questions or feedback don't hesitate to reach out~ 🍎✨
This is a perfect hack for A) either the prologue or epilog of a character's story, if you don't want to start in media res and instead want to do the "normal life" of a character, or what they do after they're done their life of adventuring. B) when you're doing a Sojourn and want to help out around the settlement you're in!
The Lunch oracle mentions a "Soup Oracle", but I can't find it! How will I know what delicious soup to have for lunch?
Oh no it happened again! 😨
You see, Iron Valley happened as part of a game jam and it looks like in between writing and making the book a few things fell in between the cracks? The Soup Oracle exists, it was edited and finalized, but I... appear to have forgotten to put it in the book 😅💦💦
I am very sorry for this (how will the Townies celebrate Soupmas without Soup??). I promise you that the Soup Oracle will make its grand return in version 1.1 (which is currently in development)!
Thank you so much for pointing this out 🙇♀️🍲✨
IRON VALLEY v1.1 is now in development! 🛠✨
The 1st update to my cozy Ironsworn/Starforged hack is going to feature:
🐞 Bug Fixing
🤓 Rules Clarifications
🏪 DriveThruRPG Release
And most importantly...
📄📄📄 TONS OF NEW ORACLES 📄📄📄
The Valley is getting a lot cozier~
Thank you for your support and feedback on this project! 🙇♀️💖I’m so excited for this. Any timeline? Btw, what version do you consider the beta?
I'm shooting to release v1.1 this month! I've done a bit of play-testing and just need to write the new additions to the rulebook and make a few more oracles. As for your second question, this book is going to be in beta until it's in a good enough place where I feel it's ready for a physical edition. We're still in the early days of this game, so it might not be for a little bit~ Thank you for your questions! 💕
You have a buyer, here, eagerly waiting!
If you had asked me if I thought an ironsworn powered cozy game could exist yesterday, I would have said no. Today I am very happy to be proved wrong! I think you've really struck gold (iron?) with this. An unreasonable amount of my empty journals will be filled by this game.
I will be watching the development of this closely. Thank you very much for making this.
Thank you for this lovely comment!! I hope you have lots of fun in the Valley~ 🙇♀️💖
I love this! Any plans for location oracles? Getting to know the geography of a place is one of my favorite parts of Animal Crossing/Stardew/etc
This is such a good idea~! I will add this to the list of features for version 1.1! Thank you for the feedback 💖
I love this game so far, very delightful concept. I look forward to this game developing further. Any possibility of getting this printed one day? (No pressure, just curious)
It will absolutely get a physical version someday. I'm actually an indie author, so I know my way around making print versions of my books. This one is in the cards for sure~ 😉💖
Awesome! I'll definitely support that!
I've never rushed to download something so quickly! This looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to dig in. Is there any sort of Discord community? Is the author on Tiktok? I know I will be making videos eventually and I'd love to tag you!
Thank you!! There's no Discord community for the game (yet), though I am on most socials as MistreKirin! (Twitter / YouTube / TikTok)
I’m really loving this game! Is there any plans for a bartering or monetary system in the future? I also noticed the tags for this game don’t pop up on Solo RPG physical games, if possible you may want to change that so everyone gets a chance to find this gem.
I can't believe I forgot the solo-rpg tag! Thank you for the catch!!
As for the question of a money/barter system, it's possible! I recognize there's a little bit of design room to turn the crops grown into something else. Though I also don't want players to have to worry about paying bills (it's just not that kind of game). This is something I will look into for future updates. Thank you for the idea! 👍💕
Not necessarily paying bills, but a simple economy wouldn't be a bad thing, in my mind (maybe each settlement uses its own form of currency so a character can't game the system by trading between settlements, and getting super rich?)
I agree! The economy + crops are some of my main focus in version 1.1 so I'm taking this feedback to heart. Thank you~
I've been thinking about this economy thing for several days and I don't think it's necessary. Of course, go ahead and create one for use by those who want it, but here's what I plan to try:
Fundamentally, this game's mechanic is about trying to tick the Promise boxes faster than you tick the days. Money, when you have enough, simply helps solve a problem faster than creating what you need from scratch.
In a cozy story, you have enough money, but using it involves a skill. Shop/Barter Wisely, a skill that can be upgraded like any other. On a weak hit, you buy an incorrectly-sized doohickey and must return to the hardware store (time passes). On a fail, you get distracted and don't buy the intended item at all.
I'm using a simple little "favor token" system to handle that, but would love to see something more robust in a future version! For now, when my character fulfills a promise, my character gets tokens equal to the number of boxes the promise took. Still work out values of things as I go, but it's a simple system that's working nicely.
Thank you for this! I’m doing something very similar too. Just haven’t quite worked out costs yet.
This is awesome, thank you so much! A couple of ideas: I'd love to have a blank calendar to create your own holidays/weekdays, and having fillable character sheets would be awesome too.
Blank calendar? How did I not think of that!? Thank you for tip! Also, in the book the link to the Character Sheets actually leads to a Google Drive! They were all made using Google Docs so they can function as fill-able / virtual character sheets! 👍✨
Heads up! The Random Skills Oracle has the old, work-in-progress names of the magical skills (for example Liquid Magic is written as Rain Magic). This will be fixed in the first update! ✨
Fantastic and adorable! Gonna have to give this a shot! I can’t wait to see this develop.
A couple of typos I noticed while reading through;
Sorry for the typos 😅💦
I will make sure to fix these in the first update.
Thank you so much for the feedback!! 💖
No worries! They’re super minor and don’t impact the clarity or understanding
I think I might give this a shot playing one day per real life day! Seems like a fun little thing to incorporate into my morning coffee ritual!
That sounds so lovely! I hope you have a good time~ 🌷😊🌻
This looks cute as heck. :3
It's a little strange that, for a human-only game, you don't fill in the "ancestry" box. That could be filled with real-world or fictional ancestries. Or, if you prefer not, calling it simply "species" on its own can still work for the fantasy setting without implying something humans have a variety of.
Still, cool approach to an Ironsworn hack. :D
I probably didn't explain this clear enough, but you *do* write human in the ancestry/species field! In fact, humans are present in the oracles for fantastical ancestries and animal species (we are animals, after all). Though I like the idea that a player may choose to write in a human's real-world ancestry. Thank you for the feedback! 🙇♀️💖
Oh, I said "don't fill in" because, if everyone is "human" then it's effectively the same as leaving it blank.
What I meant was, the word "ancestry" carries meaning and differentiation within species; they are historical and cultural lines of people. Elves, goblins, and the like, are species, not ancestries. Those species may have many ancestries within them (For example, Goblins from this one country vs. Goblins from another vs. Goblin nomads, etc), but they are not ancestries themselves.
Which is why it feels so bizarre to have a field called "ancestry" and then effectively ignore it in a human-only game. That sort of thing can feel a tad too close to dismissing race and culture as important to people. Which is why I suggested either acknowledging it more in the rules, or removing the word "ancestry" from the field and leaving "species" on its own. There may be other solutions, of course.
I hope I was a bit clearer this time. I'm not the best at communicating my points. <_<
I see what you mean! Yeah that's something I didn't consider (to be 100% honest the development/playtesting of this game is all a blur of the last 4-3 weeks 😅).
I will bring this up on stream and see how we can clarify this! Thank you so much for your input~ 💗
You're welcome! ^_^
And, gosh, yeah, I know that blurry jam feeling well. XD