Tavernsworn

When you play a tavern

I posted this on Bluesky today, and I wanted to share it too. This is the capsule version of what I’m working on:

What is #Tavernsworn? It’s an experimental way of solo play using Ironsworn to play the story of a character who founds a tavern in a fantasy world: Legends and Lattes, The Wandering Inn, The Bear, but also Dwarf Fortress and a touch of Blades in the Dark.

Dragon Magazine #67 cover by Jack Crane

I’m making this game to support a very specific way of playing that I haven’t been able to find in any of the games I’ve tried, to wit…

Layered worldbuilding—asking questions and making the answers part of your world. Ironsworn invites you to go deep on whatever aspect of the game interests you. I could spend a session on a quest to slay a dragon, but just as easily on figuring out exactly how my inn is furnished and equipped.

Rulings, lots of rulings—I’m making the game as I play. This means I’m spending almost as much time (maybe more?) writing custom moves and oracles and writing hooks to spur specific experiences and directions of play. Yesterday I wrote a custom move for “When you host a blowout party…”

Play to find out, radically–For me, part of the exploration of play is to find out “what is this game I’m playing?” It’s that Dwarf Fortress thing where suddenly you pivot into building an obsidian wizards tower or turning your fortress into a five-star hotel in the desert.

Slow play–sometimes I want high adventure, but a lot of the time I want something more meditative. This is to be a game I can play slow or fast; one I can pick up every day and play for 20 minutes or 4 hours—or set aside for a month without losing my place.

Back a while ago I made this thing called Apocalypse D&D—a way of playing D&D using Apocalypse World style moves but keeping as much OD&D foundations as possible. This is a similar project: use Ironsworn as a sturdy foundation upon which to build exactly what I want.

Parts of Apocalypse D&D round their way into Dungeon World (something I’m proud of). I’d love to use the #tavernsworn experiment to spur development of game aids (oracles, generators, hook) and ultimately a complete game (or two?).