Mythicsworn

Exploring the usage of the Mythic GME with Ironsworn

I like how my mind works.

Seriously.

I can give it a task, let it wander and usually come up with some ideas.

It’s especially useful when working out or walking my dogs or when I bring my kids to bed and they are not quite asleep.

It’s how I come up with ideas and rough drafts for my content on substack and YouTube.

It’s really quite useful and enjoyable.

In regards to playing Ironsworn it has been somewhat of a double-edged sword.

I let my mind wander and come up with all sorts of ideas for what my character could do, how the story would develop on a strong or weak hit or on a miss.

As a result, there is almost no surprise.

I am already 5 scenes ahead at any point in the story with ideas for all sorts of outcomes.

That’s why I really wanted to use a GM Emulator and I really wanted it to be Mythic.

Why?

Quite simply the elegance of using 2d10 for the resolution system and the GME.

And the lists.

I really like their ability to put emphasis on certain elements and reintroduce them into the story.

But how do you combine a system like Ironsworn, that flows from move to move with a more scene based story engine like Mythic?

The solution was something I found in a reddit article.

I am a thief, I admit it.

But I did expand on it a little and I am still testing.

But since I will be playtesting the alpha of Ironsworn Legacies starting this week and some people have expressed curiosity, I though I share it even though I am still trying things out.

Option #1

First things first:

I have been using a combination of the Adventure Crafter and the GME.

Whenever I mark progress on a vow I use the adventure crafter to create a new turning point.

Rules as written the turning point contains information for a whole scene or session but I turn it around and make it player facing.

I use it as inspiration to set the next segment of my vow.

For example in my current adventure the first turning point had the following information:

1. Destroy the thing (object)

2. at the mercy off (forest at the mercy of artifact)

3. standoff (PC vs new character)

The first scene was me wanting to destroy a magic artifact that is driving the inhabitants of the forest I am responsible for insane.

While going through the forest I come across a group of mercenaries that have been hired and are also looking for this artifact and I somehow need to pass them.

Not quite a Mexican standoff but it works for me.

I delved to reach the location of this artifact, marked progress on my vow and rolled up a new turning point.

My expectation was to look around, find some clues and maybe the entrance to a cave system or something.

This is what I got instead:

1. contest (me and new character)

2. accused of crime (new character and my PC)

3. wants to harm (new character wants to harm forest)

The new scene I interpreted was an old Nemesis had acquired the artifact (contest), is preparing a ritual (to destroy the forest, possibly to hurt me) and (after asking a few oracle questions) was accompanied by a group of soldiers.

So even though I rolled a strong hit on my Delve, I found a completely new situation that is outside of my expectation.

I still thought that I was in a strong position, so the ritual was still preparing, they didn’t see me or anything, but I need to change my approach.

Now I am going back to the other mercenaries and trying to have these two groups fight.

There are a few things to consider.

For one the adventure crafter can call up a new plotline whenever you create a new turning point.

This means that you could potentially be faced with a situation that doesn’t just create a new and interesting scene but a completely different path.

Roll with it or just use the turning point for your current vow.

Second, I wanted to go one step further and combine it with the Mythic GME.

For this we need to introduce the chaos factor.

Not to test the expectation for a new scene but to have a reference for random events to show up.

The advantage of using 2d10 for a core resolution is that you can have doubles call up a random event if it is below the chaos factor.

In this case you either use the GME as intended or use the adventure crafter method to create a single plot point instead.

How you adjust the chaos factor is up to you.

Either after every miss or maybe as a result of a progress move or a accumulation of all the moves of a challenge.

My delve as the above example had a lot of misses and caused quite a bit of harm which is why I increased the chaos factor for the next increment of my story.

All of this works just using the GME of course.

Just create a random event whenever you mark progress on your vow.

I prefer the adventure crafter because it makes use of themes as well as many, many tropes found in fiction.

And tropes are tropes for a reason.

They are interesting.

They are even more interesting if they are combined in completely random order.

Instead of playing to find out which of my expectations comes true, I am actually playing to find out what happens.

Option #2

This doesn’t flow as nicely in the text as the rest, but while the draft was sitting here to be published I had an idea.

Another option would just be using Mythic as intended but Ironsworn as the game engine.

Duh.

In the past, whenever I thought about this, I wasn’t to keen on it.

Mainly because it messes with the Legacy tracks and we loose a very clean way to progress our character.

We don’t really have journeys anymore because we would follow the expected scenes instead.

Maybe we have connections and vows but it would all get lost a little bit.

We could use the failure track from Ironsworn Delve.

That’s fine.

Then I was thinking about what I often look at when I review another game.

What is the game about?

What does the game reward?

A game that uses Mythic as the GME is mainly about one thing:

Playing scenes.

So, that’s what we should reward.

Whenever we play out a scene we mark progress on our Legacy track.

If that’s a little to fast it could be changed to every progress on our current vow or every interrupted scene.

Alternatively, we double the legacy track.

Those are just ideas.

I haven’t tested it yet but I rather like it.

If I play with Mythic I want to play with the available tools, play and test expected scenes, create alterations and interrupts.

Those become the things we should reward.

Anyway,

Let me know what you all think about this.

Daniel