Ironbound had been in my to play stack for a while and I finally created a character in late August and played through the first attempt for him.
Ironbound is a solo TTRPG with grimdark, metal aesthetics and has simple rules. It plays quickly and is a good fit for my usual approach of playing a bit each day. It comes in a folded single page format, but I cut it into cards for ease of referencing rules and tables, and to free up the character sheet.
IRONBOUND is a one page pocketmod TTRPG dungeon crawler of a desperate prisoner within a Mage’s twisted tower trying to break free. Striking a deal with the uncaring Goddess of Iron, gifted the curse of violence to enact her will, you will climb through the Mage’s Tower to slay them in Her name. But who are you… and who is this mysterious Mage? What connections are there between you?
Ironbound
Ritchie Sleep woke with no memory and the conviction to ascend the mage’s tower and slay the mage. He was given his calling by the Goddess of Iron.
He started ascending and entered a ruined dining room occupied by an elemental puppet. After a tough fight, he carried on.
He ascended into a shitty puppet workshop and encountered an elemental goblin he easily dispatched.
He ended up in a well-maintained room that was empty except for a marble chimera. He fell in a brutal battle.
After awakening again, given another life by the goddess, Ritchie remembered that once he had been an innkeeper with an overflowing love for his town. His left arm was now consumed by iron, making him more capable of violence.
Ritchie attempted to ascend the tower and kill the mage a second time. He entered into a reagent closet and encountered a marble goblin. He left damaged but resolute.
He next found the puppet workshop again and was met by a marble puppet. He quickly fell to the puppet’s attacks.
He was revived with his right leg consumed by iron. Ritchie remembered he had been imprisoned by the mage for standing up for workers in his town when the mage tried to press the workers into his service.
For his third attempt to climb the mage’s tower, Ritchie entered a series of shabby rooms. First he had a tough battle against an elemental golem in the dining room. Next he quickly dispatched the elemental chimera in an alchemy lab. In the library he struggled against a silver puppet and was slain.
The goddess revived him and his right arm became iron. He remembered that his purpose is to protect and free his town.
In his fourth attempt to climb the tower, Ritchie entered an awful dining room and fought an elemental goblin. He ascended into the tidy alchemy lab and battled a marble slime valiantly before falling to its gooey, bludgeoning attacks.
Ritchie woke with all his limbs transformed to iron. He remembered his family and his love for them. He rose one final time, determined to protect them.
Ritchie knew this would be his last opportunity to ascend the tower and slay the mage. His body was almost entirely iron.
He stormed through two puppet workshops, one orderly and another ruined, and killed first a crystal goblin and then an obsidian goblin.
He climbed up into an empty floor ruined by an elemental chimera. He emerged from a tough combat victorious.
In a final empty floor he made kindling of a wooden animated puppet.
He stood at the top of a staircase, knowing that the ornate door before him would open to the mage for a last, desperate battle.
He opened the door and faced the mage, jumping immediately to cunning strikes that made the mage make brutal errors. He recognized the eyes of an old friend under the mage’s cowl and the betrayal bit deep before he lopped off the head.
Ritchie’s family and town were safe. He pondered for hours about whether he should join them.
Iron footfalls descended.
Ironbound was a tough game, leaving everything to the dice. My character finished with a single hit point left. More diversity of places, foes, and adjectives would have been welcome for the storytelling. Overall I enjoyed the simple mechanics and story.