After playing an interesting OPR Grimdark Future Firefight campaign in the past months, I thought I will continue with this skirmish system which I greatly enjoy. I have invested 10 Euros in Lego bricks: Lego robots will enter the fight. I also want to add more story elements and the Ironsworn RPG is excellent in this respect. I will use a custom anime / steampunk / fantasy / random setting that I will build from scratch. Everything will be as simple as possible: I don’t expect to use assets, at least for now.

1 Create your character – Cybela is the Duchess of Elfbrook. She is the most talented mecha pilot in the duchy.

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3

2 Create your world. I rolled a handful of dice and drew a map of the Slar island. The Elfbrook Duchy is in the Eastern part of the island. The other two large Duchies are Rockfall at the South and Boarwood, also including the Damula island, at the North.

3 Create your background bonds.

I decided one of the bonds is Duke Themon, Cybela’s father.

I used the Irosnsorn NPC Oracles for the other two bonds:

3a: A “wanting pilgrim”, whose goal is to “obtain an object.” Cybela’s uncle is the second most powerful man in the Duchy: Archmage Brynn, leader of the Cult. He has travelled extensively in all Slar and beyond. Some think his loyalty to Themon is not total.

3b: A “cooperative thief”, who wants to “fulfill a duty.” Tahuta is Cybela’s best friend. She is an agent in Elfbrook special forces.

4 Write your background vow. Oracle: “seize mysticism”. Cybela wants to limit the power of the Cult, which often interferes with all the important matters. (Extreme)

5 Envision your inciting incident. Oracle “deflect destiny”. I used the hints provided by Cybela’s bonds. Boarwood has invaded the neutral area of Stonetower, at the center of Slar. The Iron Talisman is considered as the the symbol of the power on all Slar: it has been preserved in Stonetower for many decades, as the result of an agreement among the three duchies. Tahuta has recovered the talisman, but the quick Boarwood occupation has trapped her behind enemy lines.

6 Set the Scene. Elfbrook will have to immediately counter-attack, trying to get possession of the Talisman. Brynn claims that it must be handled to him who, being a spiritual authority, can grant that it will not be used to damage the other regions of Slan. Themon is not of the same opinion, but all agree that the Talisman must not fall in the hands of Boarwood. Cybela will be a protagonist in the fight by remotely piloting a brand new experimental mecha.

7 Swear an Iron Vow. After receiving the controls of her new Mecha, in front of the Duke and the chief engineers of the Mechanization Ministry, Cybela swears to find Tahuta and the Iron Talisman.

Swear an Iron vow: Challenge:5,7 Action:1+1Heart+1Community=3 Miss

In that very moment, news arrive that the Boarwood army has passed the border and has directly attacked Elfbrook. The task will be Troublesome, harder than expected. (Momentum=0)

Grimdark Future:

Stats for the first mecha: Q:3+ D:3+ FluxRifle(24″,Attacks:1,Ap1,Flux) CCW Attacks:1 Regeneration, Slow, 30 pts

I will roll on this custom “Mecha wound table”:

1 Mecha Explodes! (all figures in 6″ take 1 automatic hit)

2 Out of Combat

3 Weapon arm destroyed (Remove Weapon; Quality degraded 1 step)

4 Control system damaged (Defense degraded 1 step)

5 Leg destroyed (Immobilized: Quality and Defense degraded 1 step each)

6 Mecha falls / reboots (same as “stunned”)