I original downloaded Winsome in Oct 2021 (based on the file date) and there was a bit that I wasn't sure on. I just redownloaded the current version to see if the there was any adjustment to it, but seems not.
In the first paragraph (of the readable file at least) it says the Ironsworn rules were reduced to 2. But reading through it, all I see is Risk as a move. I assumed the Resolve segment was just further explanation for following through with Risk. Ie. "making the roll then follow through with the outcome" is a completed move in terms of Ironsworn's moves.
In Winsome's case should I be approaching this as Risk and Resolve as two separate moves or should I treat them together as only one?
it's been a long time, but I think I was counting Friendship as the second move, as Risk and Friendship are the only two rules starting with "When you".
I am sorry, I will re-read and try to remember. The most important thing is that you can't Risk without Resolve, they are the uphill and downhill of the core mechanism.
That would be great. I appreciate this game because being simple and available as a markdown file makes it very convenient to play on my phone and very hackable. However, at the moment for me momentum is not useful because it's always around 0...
a very cool system! I love a lot of the abstractions you made.
Particularly having titles as standard (I didnt even know they were in ironsworn) which I'm guessing it will probably work great with younger players too. Giving them tangible motivation to be creative in how to apply their titles' bonuses to the given situation.
One thing I found a bit weird is the "Friendship", not because any of your flavor text doesnt make sense, but because I would probably make it a bit more inclusive, after all, not only friendships make for good/worthwhile memories.
The other is that the oracle gives only yes/no answers without any degree of severity, e.g. a ", and…" or ", but…". I found that this tended to slow down the fiction quite a bit, so I added in a d10 witha 1-2 meaning "and", a 3-5 meaning "but" and 6-10 being normal yes/no results, though I'm still fiddling with these chances.
Another thing I added was that if the d6 and the d10 were equal, that meant that the presupposition the question was based on was in some way incorrect, which made for interesting twists in adventures.
Thanks for the feedback! I,m glad you're enjoying the hack, and hacking it further to taste!
Lots to consider, which I will do. Friendship was intended as a direct port of the bonds track, maybe I should've thought that through longer in terms of labels. Oracles, too, were a direct port of the most basic binary oracle. I do prefer granularity in most mechanics, so I am surprised I didn't go more Archipelago on it.
What a great idea! I have been playing a toned down version of ironsworn for a while and I am very glad I stumbled upon this.
Only reduction will address is the lack of progress rolls. I find the possibility of ending a quest/fight/whatever early, but at a big risk too appealing.
I'm mostly writing this above part to seem less like a pendant when saying this: the second line under "Fiendship" in the English print version has a typo.
Great! I like the change of wording to approaches/methods, and the progression of Luck > Wealth > Happiness > Health. As well as making it setting agnostic via the titles.
You fail to explain the XP track though.
I added a page break before the Progress heading, the last paragraph of which hopefully explains XP. Please let me know if that's unclear. Thanks again!
I tried running Winsome yesterday and found myself confused by this note under the Risk heading:
Add +1 to a relevant resource (or luck) for each time your chance exceeds a fate, then Resolve the outcome & lose -1 for anytime your chance was matched or beaten by a fate.
I'm not sure I understand. If I roll a Weak Hit (chance die exceeds one fate die but is beaten by the second), do I add +1 to a resource, subtract -1 to a resource, or add nothing as my chance both exceeded and was beaten by one die?
Good point! The text could probably benefit from a further clarification. You should gain a benefit befitting the fictional premise of the roll, then decide what happens and reduce an appropriate resource - so if you choose the same resource, they would absolutely cancel out. It's closer to the changing spirit of the game if you win some and then lose some(thing else), though! It's up to you if you prefer your story to have a "nothing happens" state, but that doesn't propel the fiction forward.
Could you please clarify what is this game's status under Creative Commons? From this page, it appears licensed under a CC-BY (as it is based on the CC-BY Ironsworn SRD). In the file itself, on the other hand, the attribution text states that it is based on the CC-BY-NC-SA Ironsworn game, while providing no information on the Winsome license itself.
It looks like I either pasted pre-an SRD update or somehow got mixed up, but the files will be amended later today with the SRD's current verbatim plus a clarifier:
This work is based on Ironsworn (found at www.ironswornrpg.com), created by Shawn Tomkin, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The same license applies to Winsome itself.
Thanks! I will check if I can make it clearer in the rules, but it's basically the optional rule from Shawn's book wherein you replace Assets with Roles.
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Could you make this in US Letter size?
oh, sorry, no
I second this request🙏
This is really neat.
I may use it for my next Solo RPG, after I finish my Troika one.
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it!
Will creating Assets of our own hurt the balancing of the game?
Swapping titles/roles for assets should be fine, because Ironsworn's balance comes from narrative choices and pacing. Every step is up to you!
I original downloaded Winsome in Oct 2021 (based on the file date) and there was a bit that I wasn't sure on. I just redownloaded the current version to see if the there was any adjustment to it, but seems not.
In the first paragraph (of the readable file at least) it says the Ironsworn rules were reduced to 2. But reading through it, all I see is Risk as a move. I assumed the Resolve segment was just further explanation for following through with Risk. Ie. "making the roll then follow through with the outcome" is a completed move in terms of Ironsworn's moves.
In Winsome's case should I be approaching this as Risk and Resolve as two separate moves or should I treat them together as only one?
it's been a long time, but I think I was counting Friendship as the second move, as Risk and Friendship are the only two rules starting with "When you".
I am sorry, I will re-read and try to remember. The most important thing is that you can't Risk without Resolve, they are the uphill and downhill of the core mechanism.
also: thanks for coming back, and for your support!
Ah! Okay, that makes more sense from a document design perspective. Thanks for clearing up that confusion <3
When you say mark 4 progress for tricky, is it four boxes or four ticks in the box?
Same goes for difficult, tough or impressive. Are you filling whole boxes or ticks in the box like in traditional IS?
Just boxes, not ticks. I will make that clearer if I can. Sorry!
I found that losing resources on every single weak hit is very punishing (compared to e.g. Ironsworn where you often just gain momentum).
Insightful! Thanks, I'll take another look at this soon and see what can be done.
That would be great. I appreciate this game because being simple and available as a markdown file makes it very convenient to play on my phone and very hackable. However, at the moment for me momentum is not useful because it's always around 0...
a very cool system! I love a lot of the abstractions you made.
Particularly having titles as standard (I didnt even know they were in ironsworn) which I'm guessing it will probably work great with younger players too. Giving them tangible motivation to be creative in how to apply their titles' bonuses to the given situation.
One thing I found a bit weird is the "Friendship", not because any of your flavor text doesnt make sense, but because I would probably make it a bit more inclusive, after all, not only friendships make for good/worthwhile memories.
The other is that the oracle gives only yes/no answers without any degree of severity, e.g. a ", and…" or ", but…". I found that this tended to slow down the fiction quite a bit, so I added in a d10 witha 1-2 meaning "and", a 3-5 meaning "but" and 6-10 being normal yes/no results, though I'm still fiddling with these chances.
Another thing I added was that if the d6 and the d10 were equal, that meant that the presupposition the question was based on was in some way incorrect, which made for interesting twists in adventures.
anyways, thanks for this great system :)
Thanks for the feedback! I,m glad you're enjoying the hack, and hacking it further to taste!
Lots to consider, which I will do. Friendship was intended as a direct port of the bonds track, maybe I should've thought that through longer in terms of labels. Oracles, too, were a direct port of the most basic binary oracle. I do prefer granularity in most mechanics, so I am surprised I didn't go more Archipelago on it.
Thanks again, rock on!
What a great idea!
I have been playing a toned down version of ironsworn for a while and I am very glad I stumbled upon this.
Only reduction will address is the lack of progress rolls. I find the possibility of ending a quest/fight/whatever early, but at a big risk too appealing.
I'm mostly writing this above part to seem less like a pendant when saying this: the second line under "Fiendship" in the English print version has a typo.
Thanks! I will correct the double T on tthis.
As for progress rolls, I like them, too! I just didn't want to add any more meat to this lean hack.
Great! I like the change of wording to approaches/methods, and the progression of Luck > Wealth > Happiness > Health. As well as making it setting agnostic via the titles. You fail to explain the XP track though.
Ok, I see it on the character sheet now. That is not in the readable.pdf which threw me off track :).
Nice catch! I will update the readable asap.Update: Progress is already in the readable file.
I added a page break before the Progress heading, the last paragraph of which hopefully explains XP. Please let me know if that's unclear. Thanks again!
I tried running Winsome yesterday and found myself confused by this note under the Risk heading:
Add +1 to a relevant resource (or luck) for each time your chance exceeds a fate, then Resolve the outcome & lose -1 for anytime your chance was matched or beaten by a fate.
I'm not sure I understand. If I roll a Weak Hit (chance die exceeds one fate die but is beaten by the second), do I add +1 to a resource, subtract -1 to a resource, or add nothing as my chance both exceeded and was beaten by one die?
Good point! The text could probably benefit from a further clarification. You should gain a benefit befitting the fictional premise of the roll, then decide what happens and reduce an appropriate resource - so if you choose the same resource, they would absolutely cancel out. It's closer to the changing spirit of the game if you win some and then lose some(thing else), though! It's up to you if you prefer your story to have a "nothing happens" state, but that doesn't propel the fiction forward.
Ah, that makes sense! Thanks!
Could you please clarify what is this game's status under Creative Commons? From this page, it appears licensed under a CC-BY (as it is based on the CC-BY Ironsworn SRD). In the file itself, on the other hand, the attribution text states that it is based on the CC-BY-NC-SA Ironsworn game, while providing no information on the Winsome license itself.
Thanks for pointing this out! I will review this trilogy of factors and update everything ASAP.
It looks like I either pasted pre-an SRD update or somehow got mixed up, but the files will be amended later today with the SRD's current verbatim plus a clarifier:
This work is based on Ironsworn (found at www.ironswornrpg.com), created by Shawn Tomkin, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The same license applies to Winsome itself.
Whoo! Fixed. Thanks again for letting me know.
Great, thank you very much for your quick reply and update!
No problem, I hope you enjoy the hack and what ideas it could inspire!
Seriously great stuff here! Super portable Ironsworn. One thing what is the role of titles in the game?
Thanks! I will check if I can make it clearer in the rules, but it's basically the optional rule from Shawn's book wherein you replace Assets with Roles.