Houses of the Ironcrags

November 16, 2009 10 comments

One of the greatest things about this hobby of ours is being able to take source material from disparate places, smash it together, and come up with something greater than the sum of its parts. I’m currently putting together a campaign I want to run, which I’ve mentioned in passing a few times, that mashes up some wildly different things.

The working title “Houses of the Ironcrags” comes from two of the campaign’s primary sources: Houses of the Blooded, and Dwarves of the Ironcrags. I’ve described it to people as “Song of Ice and Fire, but with dwarves”. The player characters are from important families within important clans — not common adventurers. It’s a game about political intrigue, but there will be combat as well. I’m using elements of the Ironcrags settings, with its alliance of dwarven city-states, or cantons. They player characters will work together on a common goal presented to them, but they’ll also have goals for their cantons, their clans, and themselves which will, of course, conflict.

My vision of dwarven cantons is to have them partially above ground, partially below. The deeper you live, the more affluent you are. The above-ground portion is for trade with other cantons and other races, and where the farmers who grow the food live. Dwarven cantons would thus look pretty unimpressive above ground; a lot of farmland, a small walled town or village, and a marketplace. Of course if you go too deep, you run into other issues. Like deep-dwelling monsters. I said there would be combat.

For those marketplaces, I’m using the Ironcrags’ gypsy-like humans, but I’m also stealing Goblin Markets from Changeling: the Lost. Yes, all of the marketplaces outside of the cantons are Goblin Markets, where literally anything, from goods and services to concepts and ideas can be bought and sold. I want to really bring that level of dangerous fantasy into the game, and it really works with the political intrigue concept; what are you willing to trade to get what you want?

One of the cantons in Ironcrags used to be an Elven city. It’s also the largest of the cantons, so I’m making it the de facto capital. It will be the most impressive looking above-ground, with its ancient elven architecture and such, and I want to put an elven ghetto in it just because I like the idea of an elven ghetto. Elves are always portrayed as noble and aristocratic, I really want to have fun by inverting that and making them a poor, downtrodden minority (at least in this particular city). It gives me a source of sympathetic villains, plus a potential internal security issue as it could be a source of espionage, terrorism, and a hot political issue when dealing with elven nations or city-states.

For religions, I’m using the pantheon from Book of the Righteous. Best fantasy pantheon ever, in my opinion, because it gives you connections between the gods and their religions, how each religion worships, and ways religion affects non-cleric characters. If I’m doing a political intrigue game, there have to be religious conflict as well.

While they may not have an active role in the campaign and will likely just be there for color, the orcs in the surrounding mountains will be John Wick’s (sadly out of print) Orkworld orks. Relatively pacifistic, nomadic, reindeer-following tribal people. It’s more likely that how they should be treated will be an issue, with the orks never appearing “on screen”.

Tying this together I’m using Tunnels & Trolls as the system, with some house rules. It’s simple and easy to run, allowing me to focus on story and not rules. T&T’s Talents system can be adapted to reflect as Aspects system Houses of the Blooded lifted from Fate. Conflict winners will narrate the scene. I plan to allow players to make wagers by betting Adventure Points (10 points per die), so the players can add facts and shape events.