Starforged with Tarot Cards - RPG and Character Intro

The second game of Season 3 is popular solo game Ironsworn: Starforged, using tarot cards for some character and meaning inspiration. And introducing Lorimer.

Disclosure - I'm a DriveThru RPG affiliate

RPG Introduction - Ironsworn: Starforged

starforged intro | solo tools | truths | chars | chargen

Ironsworn: Starforged or "Starforged" is a science fiction Solo (and Co-opf or traditional) RPG that builds and expands on the game first made in Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin (interviewed on RR).

I've played Ironsworn in a previous Rolling Solo, and Starforged was one of my first major solo rpg experiences. I listened to Series 1 of Errant Adventures (also nterviewed), where Tarquin experiences an early version of Starforged to go from Courier to hero. It's worth a listen if you want to understand more. I've also listened to the adventures of Archer and Luna using Starforged on the Bad Spot (another interview)

In Starforged the narrative progresses as your character tries to fulfil one or more "Iron Vows" that they've made. One of these is an epic background vow that could take years to fulfil.

The scenes are advanced by a variety of moves which characters can undertake, which vary on the situation. You might Gain Ground or Strike in battle or suffer with Endure Harm or Withstand Damage. Use Sojourn or Hearten to recover or use Face Danger and Gather Information during the adventure.

Actions are resolved by rolling a d6 Action Die and adding a relevant attribute. Then this is compared to two d10 Challenge Die rolls, hoping they are under your result for action die + modifier. If both are under it's a Strong Hit, one is a Weak Hit (success with a consequence) and both equal or more is a Miss!

A match on the Challenge Dice triggers an event of some kind

You can also suffer Harm, Stress, lose Supply and you have Momentum which represents your current status in your adventure. There's a lot more to momentum!

You get a spaceship as part of Starforged which means you're able to go places and present a threat if needed.

Starforged is also packed with tables (or Oracles) to help with creating sectors, characters, encounters, planets, creatures, derelicts and locations.

As part of setup you look at the campaign Truths

Solo Tools - Tarot Cards

starforged intro | solo tools | truths | chars | chargen

Starforged is well-equipped for solo support, being designed for it and building on Ironsworn's base.

So it doesn't need any extra tools, but I'm going to try using Tarot cards to supplement the tables and tools of Starforged.

I'll use it to help envision parts of the story such as factions, events, characters and as an alternative for inspiration to the Meaning tables.

Starforged Truths

starforged intro | solo tools | truths | chars | chargen

Starforged has several questions that can be answered about your version of the Forge. You can define as many of these truths as you like, by rolling or choosing.

The categories are Cataclysm, Exudos, Communities, Iron, Laws, Religion, Magic, Communication & Data, Medicine Artificial Intelligence, War, Precursors and Horrors.

That's a lot of categories, so I gave each a 50% chance of being defined here. Truths not defined here could be determined in the future if needed.

I left the following categories blank - Cataclysm, Communities, Religion, Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, Lifeforms

Exudos - When the Exudos set off, they marked the Forge as the end point. Many generations lived and died on titanic ships that took over a thousand years.

Built a rich culture, some remained in ships after reaching the forge. These are the Ironhomes, sailing the depths of this galaxy.

Iron - Iron vows sworn on remains of ships that carried us to the Forge

Many outposts built from iron bones of Exudos ships. Fragments of these ships remained as heirlooms and mementoes, passed down. Today, Ironsworn swear vows on these, honouring the past.

Laws - Laws and governance varies across the Forge, but bounty hunters operate widely, with most places recognising their authority ahead of local laws.

Bounty hunter guilds long established, given free rein to find and apprehend fugitives in most settled places. Few try to stand between a bounty hunter and their target.

Magic - Unnatural energies course through the Forge. Magic and tech are intertwined.

Since arriving, some harnessed magic of the Forge. Today, mystics can alter matter and divine the different dimensions. This can be corrupting, and powerful mystics command respect and fear alike.

Communication and Data - Spaceborne couriers are key to relaying data and messages the vast distances between settlements.

Comms are impossible beyond near-space. Digital archives exist in larger settlements, but are not always recent or accurate. Most important comms and discoveries carried by couriers, who swear vows to guarantee delivery of the data.

War - Professional soldiers work for those who can pay. Everyone else is on their own.

Mercenary guilds are a major force. From scrappy groups of a dozen soldiers to sector-spanning companies with skilled legions and specialised starships. Most serve only the highest bidder.

Precursors - The Ascendancy was once an advanced empire that ruled all the Forge. All that remains of their legacy are mysterious Vaults, unstable places untethered from our reality.

Ascendancy Vaults appear from nowhere, washing up through space and time. Their gravity and atmosphere defy logic. Some corrupt, many ruined, others pristine or all of these things. All are chaos.

Horrors - Most say horrors don't exist, but spacers know otherwise.

Be wary travelling the Forge depths. Curses arrived with those who survived the Cataclysm, and the veil of life and death is weak. The supernatural occurs frequently near a white dwarf star. These stellar objects are known as ghost lights, the decaying remains of a dead star.

Introducing Lorimer, Fallen Leader

starforged intro | solo tools | truths | chars | chargen

Lorimer

Once a feared man of power and standing, guided by powerful visions. After a time he veered from those visions, spending widely and freely, until nothing was left. Banished by his Family after bringing them ruin, he now seek to understand his visions again, and reclaim the status he once had.

He's tall and solid, with a metallic arm covered in writhing runes. He holds himself with a stubborn pride, but his battered appearance tell of harder times.

Edge 1, Heart 2, Iron 3, Shadow 1, Wits 2

Assets - Augmented (arm), Seer, Sidekick (Greaves), Starship

Starship - The Trinket (inherited from Grandfather, strange symbols scrawled on deck and bulkheads of main corridor)

Greaves (Health 4) - A servant who has stayed with him through rise and fall, they are an expert in finding people.

Health 5, Spirit 5, Supply 5, Momentum +2

Vows

Restore my status as head of my Family (Epic)

Character Generation for Starforged

starforged intro | solo tools | truths | chars | chargen

Following advice from the recently read Solo Game Master's Guide, I thought of a situation, helped by truths. A bounty hunter needed my help, to bring down a fugitive mystic of great power. There's an Ironhome involved.

Starforged suggests you start with Assets and creating your Backstory. I started with my Tarot cards. I made a two card reading, with the second card reversed. I got The Emperor (Command, power, authority, masculine) and the Four of Pentacles - Reversed (greed, over-spending, generosity).

This tells me of a man who used to have power but has gone bankrupt. And now they want to get it back, possibly finding a different path in the process. Looking over the Backstory Prompts in Starforged, "you were banished from your former life" fit well.

You pick two "Path" assets for your character. Looking through the assets I saw Kinetic, Tech, Augmented as representing previous resources, and the Leader asset for authority and command background. I briefly also wanted a hovercar.

In the end I went with an Augmented arm. Then I found out Leader is only useful if playing with other players, so switched to the Seer asset. Giving a past where his visions gave power and authority, but these later left him as he'd drifted from interpreting them. (It also lets me use the Tarot cards for in-game effects)

You also get a Starship asset for your vessel, with a couple of tables to help flesh it out. Then you pick a final asset that's not restricted to being a path. I went for Sidekick to have a companion and represent the last vestige of power.

You pick your stats from an array (3,2,2,1,1), I picked high Iron as most representing The Emperor and low Edge and Shadow to represent someone who normally trusts in their fate.

Then I went for my background vow. This is meant to be an earlier step.

This one is fairly easy. "Restore my status as head of my Family". I don't think Lorimer is a particularly nice, and don't know anything about the Family, but that's ok.

Then there's a step for envisioning your character and another for naming them.