Just finished. Pretty fun! Here’s the results below. It went like this. I pretty much explored the mapped space counter-clockwise. I encountered, in order, 4 goblins, 2 giant centipedes, 2 trolls, a cursed altar, a puzzle room, 3 orcs (wandering), 4 hobgoblins, a chimera! (boss), 6 rats, a dart trap, 8 fungi folk, 5 orcs, and 1 giant centipede (wandering, on my way out). I left because the wizard was out of spells and the rogue was low on life points. The wizard was the superstar, primarily because he found a wand of sleep (3 uses), had a prepared sleep, and took a second fireball when he leveled up. I think the chimera would have been a TPK without the sleep spell. The rules say sleep doesn’t affect dragons and some other creatures. There was nothing in the chimera stat block about it, but I gave it a hi-lo roll and determined he was affected. I fought everything, no bribes. Very few things ran away (one on a moral check and one immediately when I waited to see the reaction). The mapping seemed easy, though I took a few liberties with rooms (as the text suggests). I really wish I had access to a printer to print out a copy of the book, or at least the tables. I’m in a hotel with an iPad only. I’ll make copies tomorrow at work. You do a lot of table lookup, but it’s quick. I think I forgot a few things but I feel confident I mostly played it to the rules. I didn’t use the locked door rule yet. And I only searched rooms a few times. I say that because there are some REALLY cool mechanics associated with searching. I enjoyed it quite a bit and will play it again. I basically made the party on the cover of the book, with one change - I gave the barbarian a two-handed maul instead of an axe because I wanted one thing that did crushing damage. https://plus.google.com/photos/...
I nearly played this a couple of days ago, then re-read Ironsworn with the goal of maybe playing that solo instead...ended up playing nothing, so thanks for your report!
Glad to see you having fun with it. If you're using an iPad, I suggest pulling the tables into a separate doc and using the new split-screen feature to have the book and tables both accessible.
Will watch for future delves. I'm definitely curious to see how others manage the rules but also the bookkeeping in this game.
Ray Otus I've been curious, but....I dunno. What would you say this game has to offer me over say, Citadel of Blood (my favourite), or Ruins of the Undercity/Mad Monks of Kwantoom. That is, what am I getting with these rules I couldn't get out of playing a less structured solo RPG with random room generation (like Ruins) or a more structured 'roll dice and draw tiles' solo game (like Citadel)?
Ray Otus Citadel of Blood was released in Ares Magazine in the early 80's-issue 5 I think. It's available on Archive.org if you wanted to make a print and play copy. I remastered the countersheet scan-if you want the cleaned up version let me know!
I remember trying to read Citadel of Blood. It seemed promising but I wasn’t committed enough to get through the rules and deal with the bits it demanded. 4AD just needs the book, paper, pencil, and dice. That suits me well cuz I usually play while traveling - all I need is my moleskin and iPad.
Mad Monks of Kwantoom is awesome and I am integrating the downtime mechanics into 4AD. MMK generates very rich and detailed pagodas, but it isn’t very snappy and it requires a separate RPG engine. 4AD is light, fast, and self contained so it lends well to emergent play. It wasn’t rich enough for me so I’ve layered in some random dungeon elements from Maze Rats.
Tablet, notepad, dice, mug. Perfect setup :-)
ReplyDeleteThoughts?
ReplyDeleteJust finished. Pretty fun! Here’s the results below. It went like this. I pretty much explored the mapped space counter-clockwise. I encountered, in order, 4 goblins, 2 giant centipedes, 2 trolls, a cursed altar, a puzzle room, 3 orcs (wandering), 4 hobgoblins, a chimera! (boss), 6 rats, a dart trap, 8 fungi folk, 5 orcs, and 1 giant centipede (wandering, on my way out). I left because the wizard was out of spells and the rogue was low on life points. The wizard was the superstar, primarily because he found a wand of sleep (3 uses), had a prepared sleep, and took a second fireball when he leveled up. I think the chimera would have been a TPK without the sleep spell. The rules say sleep doesn’t affect dragons and some other creatures. There was nothing in the chimera stat block about it, but I gave it a hi-lo roll and determined he was affected. I fought everything, no bribes. Very few things ran away (one on a moral check and one immediately when I waited to see the reaction). The mapping seemed easy, though I took a few liberties with rooms (as the text suggests). I really wish I had access to a printer to print out a copy of the book, or at least the tables. I’m in a hotel with an iPad only. I’ll make copies tomorrow at work. You do a lot of table lookup, but it’s quick. I think I forgot a few things but I feel confident I mostly played it to the rules. I didn’t use the locked door rule yet. And I only searched rooms a few times. I say that because there are some REALLY cool mechanics associated with searching. I enjoyed it quite a bit and will play it again. I basically made the party on the cover of the book, with one change - I gave the barbarian a two-handed maul instead of an axe because I wanted one thing that did crushing damage. https://plus.google.com/photos/...
ReplyDeleteI nearly played this a couple of days ago, then re-read Ironsworn with the goal of maybe playing that solo instead...ended up playing nothing, so thanks for your report!
ReplyDeleteMatt Horam the solution must be to do both! :)
ReplyDeleteIvan Sorensen PLAY EVERYTHING
ReplyDeletePlayed another round. Wiz is L3, everyone else L2. Sitting on about 20gp each. Fought gobs, hobgobs, vampire bat, ogre, and picked up 1 CLUE.
ReplyDeleteLove this game. I am a big fan of the locked door and room search rules. This is my go to solo rpg, but I have yet to try Ironsworn
ReplyDeleteI just bought the paperback but I'll be trying to get a game in tomorrow
ReplyDeleteI won't have the book till Saturday at the earliest
ReplyDeleteI posted a slightly fuller review at http://rpgtax.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you having fun with it. If you're using an iPad, I suggest pulling the tables into a separate doc and using the new split-screen feature to have the book and tables both accessible.
ReplyDeleteWill watch for future delves. I'm definitely curious to see how others manage the rules but also the bookkeeping in this game.
I've hacked it to use elements of Blood of Pangea and World of Dungeons; two delves and some downtime procedures are posted in Boardgamegeek, where 4AD has been in "The Hotness" for at least a few days.
boardgamegeek.com - Four Against the World of Darkness | BoardGameGeek
Ray Otus I've been curious, but....I dunno. What would you say this game has to offer me over say, Citadel of Blood (my favourite), or Ruins of the Undercity/Mad Monks of Kwantoom. That is, what am I getting with these rules I couldn't get out of playing a less structured solo RPG with random room generation (like Ruins) or a more structured 'roll dice and draw tiles' solo game (like Citadel)?
ReplyDeleteAndrew Walter sadly, I don’t know. I own Undercity/Mad Monks but haven’t played them. And I’ll have to look into Citadel.
ReplyDeleteRay Otus Citadel of Blood was released in Ares Magazine in the early 80's-issue 5 I think. It's available on Archive.org if you wanted to make a print and play copy. I remastered the countersheet scan-if you want the cleaned up version let me know!
ReplyDeletearchive.org - Internet Archive
Here's a picture of my print and play copy of Citadel of Blood:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fGbp_fTZSdor_4D77SjjImsf2fKFjRE5wh0XscjFsm62jxfC3-v477cD2CUxBqiliCWFsYapBg
ReplyDeleteCool. Yeah, would you send me your scan? Gmail is rayotus.
ReplyDeleteHave to be next week, but sure thing!
ReplyDeleteAndrew Walter:
ReplyDeleteI remember trying to read Citadel of Blood. It seemed promising but I wasn’t committed enough to get through the rules and deal with the bits it demanded. 4AD just needs the book, paper, pencil, and dice. That suits me well cuz I usually play while traveling - all I need is my moleskin and iPad.
Mad Monks of Kwantoom is awesome and I am integrating the downtime mechanics into 4AD. MMK generates very rich and detailed pagodas, but it isn’t very snappy and it requires a separate RPG engine. 4AD is light, fast, and self contained so it lends well to emergent play. It wasn’t rich enough for me so I’ve layered in some random dungeon elements from Maze Rats.