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Stoke the Fire - Iron Kingdoms RPG

So those of you that have been following my blog will know I have been running Iron Kingdoms for about 7 sessions so far, and I am on the second story of the chronicle, which is the first part of the Witchfire trilogy. So I thought I would begin with an overview of the group of character in my chronicle right now and how and why they are what they are.

To begin lets examine the scope of the game. I decided before hand that the group would be a sanctioned group of witch hunters and investigators working for the Order of Illumination. I am also the type of GM that would rather set out restrictions on character types first and then only push those boundaries when I am given good reasoning by players. This prevents special snow flakes, and reinforces a group template and guides them in how their characters should have synergy, and prevents too much player character antagonism from the outset.

Given this guideline within which to create characters, it means I can do enough forward planning without working from complete scratch while leaving enough room for player creativity. The great thing about these group templates for parties of characters, known as adventuring companies, is that there are bonuses for the party if they adhere to the concept. So in my case, I have modified the Intrepid Investigators example, by allowing Knight rather than Mechanik, to create a Church Sanctioned Investigator party. I think the real strength of these companies is that they enforce a degree of unity, and also push players to take less combat focused careers. This also means that there is a drive for diversity given that you have certain criteria to fulfill. If all the players go for all combat based careers, you will soon end up with characters that are all very similar. The other thing is that you are perhaps less likely to have some of the more extreme combos of skills, abilities, and archetype benefits, leading to game breaking, or at least over the top, play from the players.

So given the above what characters did my players create.

We have the priest of the group, who is an ex-military captain and chaplain, Brother Eckert, who's innate magical ability blossomed into life during war with the Menites. He has a illegitimate child that he keeps little contact with, and sends money back home to his mother. He is of course a priest and so a capable ghost hunter, as well as a well seasoned fighter. Within the group he serves as perhaps the 2nd combat hitter of the group, but also the group buffer (he can increase ARM) plus he is the team healer, and also leader in all fights against ghosts and undead. He of course has a big staff, and will more than likely become the group 'jack marshal in time and be given a church consecrated warjack.

Next we have the Llaelese aristocrat, ex-nun turned bounty hunter for the church, Darcey de Dimiani. She hails from Voxsauny and is the daughter of an Earl. She of course was very boyish in some respects, and favoured by her father, who taught he to fight and hunt. She was sent to a nunnery in preparation for her wedding, but the church recognized her skills and so she joined the Order of Illumination. Her career combos makes her the combat all rounder. A good marksman with pistols, and has a heavy rifle. She also makes use of maces as she is trained to kill the undead. Her heritage and nobility means she is also an influential person to have when dealing with heresy in the ranks of nobles. In cases where she must be subtle she relies on her unarmed combat skills and wields a spring loaded hidden blade. She also follows a code of silence, and so will not speak to men on first meeting them, unless there is a matter of urgency.

Then there is the exiled knight turned duelist, Gregore. Her once was part of a Morrown order of knights, before being expelled for dubious reasons, and then for a time worked for the Cygnaran spy network. He of course was offered work within the Church to remove his sins, and to redeem the honour of his family. He fulfills the tank of the group. Brandishing a great sword, heavy plate armour, and being a more than capable fighter who can easily face down trolls on his own. He of course is more than able to move into to support the others, especially when they are in a grave situation in a fight. combined with the priest, he becomes the formidable shield wall of the team.

Finally with have Beck Hurst, alchemist investigator. He still searches for the killer of his parents, who were respected mechanicks themselves. He learned enough of their trade, and that through try to find their killer, that he was taken in by the university of Corvis and trained formally. After his graduation he was then employed by the church, first as alchemist, and then as investigator, doctor, alchemist and expert on the sciences. He of course is more of a support character in a fight, using a variety of grenades (which supplement or stand in for those abilities of the priest), or other chemical to aid them. He of course is an investigator, and so is skilled in forgeries, alchemy, forensics interrogation and law. He also acts as the battle plan booster, allowing the team to have the drop on their enemies. He is also somewhat stealthy.

As you can see, the team has a wide range of careers, capable of interacting in roleplay scenarios as various levels of society, with a wide range of knowledge based skills, and also an equally wide range of combat skills and fighting styles, meaning that the team can easily adapt to various situations.

So what groupings of characters have you had for your games of Iron Kingdoms? How do they work together? Is there enough diversity? Are they all combat munchkins?

Steam and Steel - A Journey into the Iron Kingdoms

So it's about time I started blogging about Iron Kingdoms and my hints and tips for running the game. This of course is also an exercise to get me back into thinking about topics that might be relevant to World of Darkness games.

The Iron Kingdoms is quite an interesting setting. The human nations are on the cusp of a massive industrial revolution, and their main technology is a fusion of steam power and magic. Magic is a thing in the setting, but is not very common. So this magi tech, or mechanika, is what makes magic a resource for the masses. Of course, compared to other fantasy settings, magic is not a wonder tool. It does certain things very well (especially for war), but it does not bring people back to life, or easily do things for which there is a mundane solution (lock picking for example). This is a purposeful design element of the setting so that magic users cannot steal the thunder of mundane characters like thieves, investigators, and doctors.

Iron Kingdoms visually and plot wise also feels like something that is somewhere between the late Renaissance, and Napoleonic eras, with wars with black powder muskets, trenches, and of course canons. This is all pumped up with the warmachines, Steam jacks, the magical automata that rumble into battle.

Iron Kingdoms also gives us a few remixes of classic fantasy tropes. So for instance Elves do exist and live in the woods, but they are not the oldest race and so that changes their relationship with humans, and also human sorcerers. Orcs are not in the game, but we have Ogrun (ogres of a sort) and Trollkin (trolls but more human like). We have Gobbers (goblins) too. And along with dwarves, it means that there are plenty of of things to play.

But given the differences between the Human kingdoms in the setting, and the career system, there are plenty of options that make a group of players, just being all Humans, diverse enough without players resorting to playing other things and acting like special snowflakes. Of course the game is built upon the same rules as the wargames, Warmachine and Hordes, and so it is easy for the game to played with a combat heavy focus and with player characters that have career choices that make them very good at combat. This of course can make characters, no matter their career choices, very similar. But given the fact that there are plenty of more social/intellectual careers, players can easily play a group with a diverse set of skills and abilities. For example my current group is a Aristocrat/Bounty Hunter, a Duelist/Knight, a Investigator/Alchemist, and a Military Captain/Priest of Morrow. Just in that selection we have characters with particular social leanings, investigative skills, knowledges on the occult and religious, and we have a range of different combat skills (a marksman, a swordsman, a grenadier, and a magic user).

So what is the plan in these blog posts?

I plan on covering a variety of topics, like when and when not to bother using mini based combat, plotting and pacing, roleplay heavy scenes, how to run horror based stories, how to run investigative stories, how to run political stories, what a good selection of models for gaming might include, mini painting and pictures, and of course suggestions from you for topics to cover here and in future podcasts.

Have fun, and play like you got a pair! (of magelock pistols!)

Everything is a ripoff!

So as you may or may not know, Privateer Press is right now running a kickstarter for their computer game version of Warmachine, Warmachine Tactics. It's doing really well. It's funded, and pushed through many a stretch goal.

Now of course this has meant that this game has got the attention of many computer game blogs/magazines. And what has really impress (I mean annoyed) me is how many people have jumped on it and said, 'This is a blatant Warhammer 40K rip-off'.

It seems just as space marines are apparently (not) Games Workshop's creation,  it also means that any wargame that has 'War' in the name, and has an army with a blue scheme, and robot like things, then they must be ripping off GW.

What astounds me is the short term memory of the denizens of the internet, how IPs can be decried as rip-offs when compared to IPs that are in fact the true rip-off, it just happened that the latter go a game/got a movie first.

What also is frankly more annoying is that the very people writing these 'revelations', are doing so via a medium that would in fact in a matter of a few minutes make them more informed about what they are writing about.

It is as if writing about something on the internet make you more correct than a person who has taken the time to use the internet to become more informed on the matter.

Oh and of course there is nothing new under the sun!

[actual play] Iron Kingdoms - Adamantine Will

Episode 2 : Witchfire - The Longest Night - Part 3




Darcey drew her pistol and fired, splintered the brick of the chimney stack as the sniper ducked for cover. Gregore pushed Darcey to cover as the assassin fired back, the shot hitting the wooden crates behind them. Darcey fired again, giving cover Gregore, who had stormed over to the building and leapt up onto the wagon and lower roof nearby. Again the sniper fired, trading shots with Darcey. The sniper turned ready to fire at Gregore just as Darcey placed a well aimed shot in his chest. Gregore clambered up and face the man, kicking aside his gun. He had no fight left in him, and so Gregore bound him lowered him from the roof.

At the cathedral Gregore and Darcey had slung the assassin in the cells reserved for the Order of Illumination. Priests had tended to the man's wounds, and they were soon joined by Brother Eckert and Investigator Hurst. Gregore, Hurst and Eckert went into the cell to question the man. Gregore tried to do a softly softly approach, but the killer just laughed, finding little intimidating. Hurst, masked by his alchemist garb, set his bag on the table, and with some theatrics, mixed up a variety of frothing, bubbling agents. Nothing that could harm a man, but that obviously made the hired gun sweat in fear.

The man had had enough, he answered Hurst's questions as best as he could. He told them the person who had hired them had just given them a note and the money, with the promise of more later. The person had been masked, and all the killer could recall was the pocket watch he had. Hurst recognised the description as being that of a watch given to Corvis University lecturers after 5 years of service. The gold coins paid to the killer were also similar to what Hurst had recovered before. They all bore the wrong date, 604 AR, rather than 602 AR.

The next morning Hurst melted down the weirdly corroded, apparent forged, coins. But he found their chemical composition matched that expected for the gold alloy used by Cygnar for their coins. Gregore, wanting further confirmation took one of the coins to one of the major banks in the city, where the coin was treated as a forgery, a rather imperfect one.

Darcey went to visit the vicarage of Father Dumas, hoping to find Alexia, hoping that the young girl can tell her more about the death of her mother. Alexia invited Darcey in, and together they sat next to the warm fire and talked. Alexia explain that as far as she was concerned her mother was a good woman, and that she had been unjustly killed. Alexia seemed to harbour some distrust of those in power, especially the Magistrate Borloch. She admitted that her mother may have been a witch, but that she was not a bad person. Darcey seemed convinced, but noted that Alexia was somehow tired looking.




The troupe gathered together their things and rode out of the city and north east, to the tomb of the coven. The journey was 2 hours through misty, swampy, and heavily wooded ground. They eventually came upon the old Orgoth scouting post, and they gingerly moved closer. They found that the heavy granite doors to the tomb were shattered. The doors were engraved, and Eckert could make out the symbol of the Orgoth Empire - the leering face on a field of stars - and the etched warding runes. The group lit their lanterns and headed in. The cleared each chamber, checking for signs of recent activity. There was clearly something going on in the tomb, as there were relatively fresh fire pits. The eventually found what had been the mess hall for the station. In the dank room again there were signs of occupation. There were gnawed bones and scraps of metal and cloth. The fire place had also seen some use.

They had come to a crossroad, and so Darcey set up a position from which she could fire, while the others investigated the narrow passageway through the rock. They found a number of rooms, but as Gregore and Eckert headed onwards, Hurst took a different route. Eckert looked back and called for Hurst, but he could just make out the light from his lantern. Eckert of course had invoked the blessings of Morrow and could see in the dark - runes of power were glittering across his eyes. Gregore found another three chambers, and so investigated the one ahead of him. He found a rocky chamber, and within a Gobber skeleton. It was less than a week old. Eckert came to examine it, using his staff to poke at the body, which then disturbed the strange carnivorous fungus that reached down with tendrils and lifted the corpse up. Eckert and Gregore backed away, now paranoid about what may lie in wait on the ceiling of the tomb.

Gregore and Eckert headed back down the passage way and checked the chamber they had passed, and found what must of been the forge. Here they found footprints on the muddy floor, which were certainly the prints made by the feet of Gobbers. Darcey had come to find them here, and together then went looking for Hurst.

Hurst had discovered a large cavern, in which was a pool, a sandy shoreline, a boat, and crystal clear water. Hurst could see that the flor dropped away dramatically, and that in the sand there were gold coins and a dagger. He could also make out the form of a squid lying in wait. Hurst however was greedy. In the boat he found more signs of recent activity, and a long pole with a wicker basket at the end. With this he could scoop out the coins and dagger. He punted out onto the water with the boat and started to dredge the sandy pool floor. He got a few coins out, noting their age and that they had been minted during the Orgoth occupation. He desperately tried to get the dagger, but it fell out of the basket. The others then arrived in the chamber to watch what Hurst was doing, somewhat dumbfounded by the entire act. Hurst scooped up the dagger once more, and just as he plucked it out of the basket, the squid violently attacked. The water bubbled, and the huge tentacles grappled the boat, seeking to throw Hurst into the water. Darcey fire off a shot with her rifle, as Brother Eckert invoked the power of Morrow, sending shimmering beams at the beast. Injured, it slinked off into the dark of the pool.

Hurst made it back to shore, and showed them his loot. Darcey saw the whole act as some sort of fools errand, tossing one coin back into the pool, hoping to placate the dark forces at work. Hurst was more pleased with his haul, and found the dagger was of Orgoth make, a black steel with copper inlaid. Gregore insisted they go back to deal with the fungus, and is a moment of exasperation Eckert smacked both me about the head, reminding them they had the work of the church to do.

As they made their way back down the winding route thought the rock, they could hear voices up head. A gibbering - Gobbers. Eckert called for silence, and so with the route clear, Hurst went ahead finding that the Gobbers had gone into the mess hall. There were 6 in all, and they were arguing, while one was trying to light a fire. The group burst in on the Gobbers, reasoning that surprise would hopefully stop any fight. The Gobbers coward under tables, as the group demanded to know what had happened. The leader of the Gobbers went on to explain that they had only come here as it was dry and safe, and they had their own way in. They had fled wen the main door had been torn apart by the 'girl girl with the dead things'. That was a day ago. The Gobber, hoping he had saved his skin and that of his gang, then asked for 10 gold crowns. They gave him 7 and said that they would go look at the tombs. The Gobbers mentioned that they had never ventured in there. They feared it.

The group moved on, passing one room where they found another goblin. The small fellow seemed shocked as he looked up from his fire, with Gregore simply saying sorry and shutting the door.

The group found that the passageway once more forked. They took the winding passage to their left and found another chamber with a pool and shackles on the wall. It was a torture chamber, and in the pool were the slimey, half decayed remains of humans the Orgoth had tortured a thousand years ago. Hurst then noted that there was fresh red candle wax on the floor...

Gaming App Fun

   So recently I have been painting furiously as I wanted to get my Warmachine battle groups ready for some gaming. I already have the Cygnar battle group, and now with the two boxed set of Warmachine, I have a Khador and Menoth battle group. I am also almost done painting the contents of the box. Just have the Exemplar Cinerators to paint. Man am I done with painting white!
   The next purchases for my armies are on their way, a new heavy warjack for my Cygnar, a new war caster for them too - Allistair Caine, and Alexia and her unit of Risen skeletons. Because who doesn't like the option of semi good guy undead in your army! Next up after them will be gun mages and Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team. Yeah gun mage army. So I should soon have 25 point armies. Which then gives me a number of variations, and also the choice of a 30 point Cygnar army (I'm trying to build themed armies). So then I can start of Hordes (I want the two player boxed game, and then to focus on getting 25 point armies for Troll Bloods, for which I already have a battle group). Of course this means I have quite a few models for use in the Iron Kingdoms RPG (like undead, trolls, ogrun etc).
   So staying on topic I recently got my rpg group into playing Warmachine. So I spent the best part of the evening teaching them how to play the game. And it was a great opportunity, what with all the smartphones and tablets, to use the Privateer Press app, War Room. War Room is a digital way in which to create and store army lists for the game. Furthermore it allows for the referencing of the entire rules for the minis, and also through the game track damage of your men and warjacks. If you spend some money you can get the full army cards for each force (you buy individual sets, or whole sets for Hordes and Warmachine - and if you buy one you get access to all the wargame rules!). The app also allows for the linking of accounts, so that players can check the health of the opponents units on their own device, rather than having to ask their opponent.
   Overall the app is quite great, and a really good example of how gaming apps should be. Great art, good UI, and also useful. I really hope to see this type of thing expanded to included the Iron Kingdoms rpg.

   Next up on the gaming app list is the new Magic the Gathering: Duel of the Planeswalkers 2014. Now I haven't collected Magic cards in something like 15 years. It became too much about who had the biggest wallet. So I have generally stayed away from ccgs. But this app (Playstation, Steam, Xbox, Android, iOS) has got me back into Magic. It gives me all the fun and challenge of the game without having to do more than buy the game. Now of course you do have micro transactions to unlock stuff faster, but meh, I will stick with the challenge. Playing can either take the form of challenges, designed to teach you how to think in Magic, campaign mode, were you play against theme opponents and Planeswalkers in order to unlock new decks and cards, or you can play against the computer or online, using either the decks or sealed draft. It's a great game and really give me back what I wanted from Magic.

[actual play] Iron Kingdoms - Adamantine Will

Episode 2 : Witchfire - The Longest Night - Part 2




Hurst woke up in time to dive for cover as the shot splintered wood and tore through books and papers. He drew his gun and fired back at his assailant, the bullet shearing through the oak bookcase that the assassin used for cover. The cloaked figure sprinted to the other end of the book case to get a better shot, but missed again, his shot tearing through a chair leg. Hurst fired again, hitting the assassin in the leg. The man ran back, ducking behind a glass case of curiosities, before firing back again and clipping Hurst. There was the sound of a pin dropping and hitting the stone floor as Hurst threw a grenade. The intense light and loud sound knocked the gunman to the ground, but they kept running and fled the library.

In the corridor Hurst gave chase, pushing people aside. But in the gaggle of students the assassin was lost. Hurst was left to explain to the university guards. He headed back to the library and looked around. He found all the bullets, which were clearly from a repeater pistol, and he found some coins where the man had fallen due to the grenade. They were weird. 2 gold crowns of Cygnar, strangely corroded, and with a strange year printed upon them. They were for a year that was 2 years from now.

The others returned from the Northern Graveyard, and details were exchanged and compared. Darcey was to stay with Hurst to act as bodyguard, while Brother Eckert and Gregore would go to other graves.

In the Eastern Boneyard, in the swampy funeral grounds, two more of the grave were found, again disturbed. Eckert attempted to bribe a beggar, Egger, to find out if he had seen anything. But the beggar feared the law, and his price was steep. Gregore, seeing things going nowhere, grabbed the man and demanded answers. The beggar cried, that he did not want to flung in jail. He told them that “not more than twelthty days ago” that a girl in white, with black hair was here. Eckert gave the frightened old man gold coins for his troubles and bid him to take care and find a warm inn for the festival.

At the Gadock farm they spoke to Bern about his grandfather, and how he had passed on. He had no idea of how the body was taken. But Bern’s son, Hagger, named for his great grandfather, insisted that he knew. The 3 year old spoke of how his great grandfather had walked from his own grave.

At the Sunbright estate, within the city limits, Gregore and Eckert had a tense conversation with Elger Sunbright, head of the household. He explain how his father’s body was removed from the family graveyard. And that the tomb, a marble tomb, was opened, but with no damage. Elger though forbid them from going to the tomb, as there had been enough disturbances already, and that more would bring more notoriety to his family.

Hurst still had no luck searching through the university library, and so Darcey and he travelled across the city to the city hall to look there. In the city archives they found the case file of the witchcraft, and the details of the events, the executions and the names of those killed. One name popped out. It was Lexaria Ciannor, mother of Alexia, and sister-in-law of Father Dumas. Of course the question was if the witches were ever guilty, as they found that the Magistrate Borloch rapidly rose from power, both just before and after the trial. The name of the executioner was unknown, but they had the name for the judge, who still lived. The location of the witches tomb was unknown, other than that Father Dumas was noted as the one who ritually sealed the tomb. The rest of the entry was missing, and noted as destroyed.

The troupe regrouped, it being late at night. Darcey and Gregore were to go to the local inns to ascertain the general opinion of Borloch. Eckert and Hurst would go see Father Dumas and speak about the trial.




At the Silver Goose inn many of the upper class of Corvis were gathered, enjoying the party atmosphere of the coming festival. After much questioning, carousing, and bribery it became clear that many feared Borloch, and that much of his wealth was that recovered from those he had sentenced to death or life imprisonment.




With Father Dumas, they found him praying in a small chapel of the cathedral. He lifted himself off his knees to sit and listen to the priest and investigator. They explained what they had found, the fear of necromancy, and that it was linked to the witch trial. Dumas explained his part and more about Lexaria. Dumas explains where the tomb lies, and that it was once a Orgoth fortress, and so a place of dread. But if there is a necromancer, then they are after something tied to the witches. Dumas also reveals that the executioner of the witches seemed to take some glee in their deaths, and strangely was struck down when Lexaria, the last of them, was beheaded. Both Eckert and Hurst could tell that Dumas was hiding something more.


Walking back from the inn Gregore and Darcey noticed someone was watching them from above, their gun levelled at them....