Corona - Illustrator - Auschwitz - Birkenau - Table of Contents
over 3 years ago
– Thu, Oct 22, 2020 at 02:07:26 AM
Hi everyone!
It's October, corona restrictions in Belgium are finally a lot more stricter than they have been over the past few weeks, all cafes and restaurants are closed and we're only allowed 1 person to cuddle with. Most of the restrictions are long overdue, but unfortunately the government isn't investing much in mental health.
I've been writing, despite my daughter school closing its doors for a while because of 8 positive COVID-19 cases. It's been way harder to find an illustrator who will actually do what (s)he promised, but I think I've finally found someone: Ann Vanderheyden. She'll be delivering some concept art in 2 to 3 weeks from now, which is when we'll know for sure if she can handle the style we've asked her to use.
Just before we went into a partial lockdown again, I was able to go on a 5-day press trip to Krakow. Of course I visited Auschwitz en Birkenau - a thoroughly life-changing experience. I'll post more about the trip this week in order to share with you why I went there (it was, in large part, Iron Sky research) and how it'll change how we handle some Genres in the roleplaying game.
I've promised you all to publish a Quickstart table of contents, but we'll be doing one step better: underneath you'll find 90% of the final rulebook table of contents! We're handling the Quickstart as a modular affair, so it'll fit right into the rulebook. The only entries not included yet are ones we didn't work on yet. The entries in bold will be found in the Quick Start as well as in the rulebook.
I realize some of you may think entries under Attributes, Movement and Combat Techniques are a bit much, but I'll be writing more about those later this week. Just keep in mind they're not new rules, just implementations of existing ones. In fact, the Moves and Combat Techniques are a lot easier to wrap your mind around and remember than, for example, D&D Feats are, since they're all based on the same building blocks and they all have Combat Cards available for them. The Attribute Focuses are, in many ways, examples of what you can do with each Attribute (for example, Body includes how strong you are, how agile you are, how tough you are, how much endurance you have...).
I noticed that copy-pasting here loses much of the formatting, so I'll be posting a formatted table of contents on the website this week and will update with a link here!
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
FOREWORD: A Difficult Road
ABOUT IRON SKY
WHAT IS A ROLE-PLAYING GAME
# of Players
Characters & Acting
Game Masters
Narrativist vs. Simulationist
CONVENTIONS
Age
Capitalization
Comments
Gender
Glossary
CHAPTER II: SETTING
IRON SKY: What Happened In the First Film
IRON SKY: THE COMING RACE: What Happened in the Sequel
CHOOSING YOUR TIME FRAME
The Default: Avant-Film
During the Invasion
Post-Invasion
The Hollow Earth
Space Exploration
CHOOSING YOUR GENRE
About Genres
Genre Awesome Points
Genre Characteristics
Genre Damage
Genre Levels
Genre Tech
Genre Tropes
So What Kind of Genre Is This, Anyway?
Military Science Fiction
Pulp Adventure
Pulp Science Fiction
Science Fiction Satire
Space Opera
MORE ABOUT IRON SKY
GMing Iron Sky
Creating the Atmosphere
How to Create a Great Atmosphere
How to Use Music During the Game
On Space Nazis and Their Technology
On Suitable Locations
Why Nazis Are Evil
Managing Awesome Points
Managing Character Points
Iron Sky Archetypes
Iron Sky Characters
Anne LeBoeuve
Lucia F.
Ricky Morales
Smiley Dave
Iron Sky Creatures
The Vril
INTRODUCTORY ADVENTURE: From Bars to Planets
How to Read the Adventure
How to Use the Adventure
Prologue
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Epilogue
Handouts
CHAPTER III: CORE GAME MECHANICS
CORE GAME MECHANIC : THE D1000
How to Read It
Why We Need a d1000 In Our Lives
CORE GAME MECHANIC: CIRCLES
CORE GAME MECHANIC: SHIFTS
EXAMPLE OF PLAY
CHAPTER IV: CHARACTER GENERATION
Character Build
Characters, Assemble!
Coming Up with a Concept
Group Character Generation
Having Something – Anything – in Common
Character Components
Attributes & Skills
Beliefs & Values
Events
Life Events
Your Destiny
Your Iconic Event
How Am I Doing?
How Do I Perceive Myself?
What Am I Wearing?
What Is My Current State?
What Is the Current Time?
What Just Happened?
Where Am I?
Which Things Surround Me?
Why Am I Here?
My Goals
My Obstacles
My Quest
Friends & Relatives – Dynamics
Point Costs
Characteristics
Skills
Talents/Powers
CHAPTER V: WHAT TO THOSE NUMBERS MEAN?
CORE GAME CONCEPT THE RULE OF THREE
Broad Skill Groups
Focuses
Specializations
CHARACTERISTICS
Aptitudes
Musical
Naturalist
Persistence
Physical
Social
Body
Agility
Endurance
Quickness
Speed
Strength
Mental
Existential
Logic
Spatial
Stationary
Verbal
Personal
Agreeable
Conscientious
Extravert
Stable
Open
Senses
Hearing
Sight
Smell
Taste
Touch
Other Senses
SKILLS
Declarative Skills
Arts & Entertainment
Belief Systems
Business & Economics
Communications
Clothing & Appearance
Crafts
Emergency Services
Family & House
Food & Agriculture
Gaming
Government
Hard Sciences
Hobbies & Recreation
Life Sciences
Military
Performing Arts
Social Sciences
Sports
Transportation
Procedural Skills
Communicate
Craft
Drive
Fight – Hand to Hand
Fight – Melee
Live
Manage & Organize
Manipulate Object
Move
Perform
Pilot – Air
Pilot – Space
Pilot – Water
Ride
Sense
Shoot
Throw
Treat
Use Military Equipment
POWER BUILDING
It’s Magic! Or… Is It?
Advantages
Disadvantages
Matic
Powers
Talents
Synthesis
Verb
Control
Create
Enhance
Reduce
Sense
Transform
Travel
Category
Concept
Energy
Living (Physical Condition)
& Matter
Mind (Mental Condition)
Spirit
Supernatural
Target
Area
Defined
Distance
Extra-Dimensional
Self
Sensed
Shape
Duration
Charges
Concentration
Endurance
Permanent
Time
Trigger
Willed
Trove of Examples
CHAPTER VI: COMBAT
INITIATIVE
Dramatic Tick-Based Initiative
Example of Play
Grouped Initiative
Example of Play
Using the Action Cards
Example of Play
Using the Action Dial
Example of Play
Movement
· Overview
· Movement
o Crawling to Running
o Floating to Swimming
o Hovering to Flying
o Jumping to Leaping
o Riding to Driving
o Rowing to Sailing
o Space Movement
o Temporal & Extra-Dimensional Movement
o Vehicle Movement
· Moving In
o Cartwheel In
o Bridging the Gap & Holding Off
o Charging
o Drop In
o Hop In
o Jump In
o Move By
o Move Through
o Shuffle In
o Step In
· Moving Out
o Cartwheel Out
o Drop Out
o Flee
o Foot Withdrawal
o Hop Out
o Jump Out
o Retreat
o Routing
o Shuffle Out
o Step Out
· Stances
o Bear Stance
o Cat Stance
o Change Foot
o Getting Up
o Guard
o Immovable Stance
o Kneel
o Martial Hop
o Open Stance
o Prone – Face Down
o Prone – Face Up
· Races & Chases
· Terrain & Environment
o Air
o Darkness
o Desert
o Fog & Mist
o Jungle
o Pressure
o Cold
o Gravity
o Hot
o Mountains
o Pressure
o Lightning
o Radiation
o Rain
o Space
o Thunder
o Underground
o Vacuum
o Water
o Wind
Combat
· Overview
· Damage Types
o Acid
o Bludgeoning
o Cold
o Collisions
o Dehydration
o Disease
o Electricity
o Explosion
o Falling
o Fire
o Heat
o Ice
o Mental
o Nerve Damage
o Piercing
o Poison & Drugs
o Pressure
o Radiation
o Slashing
o Sonic
o Special
o Starvation
o Temporal
· General
o Called Shots
o Common Modifiers & Situations
§ Concentration
§ Conditions (See Conditions)
§ Cover
§ Darkness
§ Target Size
§ Terrain
· Hand to Hand
o Backhand
o Back Kick
o Bar
o Bear Claw
o Block
o Blood Choke
o Camel Clutch
o Cartwheel Kick
o Chain Punching
o Choke
o Clawhold
o Combination Moves
o Crescent Kick
o Cross
o Death From Above
o Drop
o Elbow Strike
o Eye Flick
o Eye Gouge
o Facelock
o Feint
o Float Over
o Flying Reverse [Technique]
o Flying [Technique]
o Front Kick
o Grab
o Grapple
o Guard
o Head Lock
o Headscissors
o Hook
o Hook Kick
o Hold
o Horse Stance
o Immovable Stance
o Interception
o Jab
o Joint Lock
o Knife Hand
o Leg Sweep
o Mandible Claw
o Martial Escape
o Mount
o Palm Strike
o Parry
o Reverse [Technique]
o Roundhouse Kick
o Sacrificial Throw
o Scissors
o Scoop
o Scoop Kick
o Slam
o Spear Hand
o Special
o Spinning [Technique]
o Sweep
o Tackle
o Teaming Up
o Throw
o Tie-Up
o Uppercut
o Swing
· Melee
o Back [Technique]
o Combination Attacks
o Counterattack
o Countertime
o Feint
o Forward Strike
o Guard
o Half-Sword Technique
o Inverse Roof Block
o Lunge
o Paired Weapons
o Parry
o Riposte
o Roof Block
o Spinning [Technique]
o Slash
o Thrust
o Trip
o Use Two-Handed
o Weapon Bind
o Weapon Sweep
o Wing
· Missile Weapons
o Aiming
o Automatic Fire
o Charges & Ammo
o Cocking
o Concentrating Fire
o Cover Fire
o Indirect
o Jamming
o Line of Sight
o Range
o Reloading
o Safety
o Spraying
· Weapon Maintenance
· Combat Examples
· Short Story
Injury
· Bleed
· Critical Hits
· Death
· Fatigue
· Hit Locations
o Types of Injury
§ Avulsion
§ Bruise
§ Cut
§ Fracture
§ Gunshot
§ Laceration
§ Special
o Using the Bullseye
§ Hand to Hand/Melee
§ Range
§ Size
o Using the Silhouettes
§ Cover
§ General
§ Positional
· Injury Levels
· Knockback
· Knockdown
· Stun
· Trait Damage
· Injury Examples
· Short Story
Conditions
· Bleeding
· Blind
· Dazed
· Deaf
· Dehydrated
· Enthralled
· Fatigued
· Hungry
· Hypnotized
· Kneeling
· Loss of Taste/Smell
· Numb
· Panicked
· Paralysed
· Prone
· Scared
· Stunned
· Surprised
Healing
· General Healing
· Medicated Healing
· Surgical Healing
· Treatment
· Healing Examples
· Short Story
Equipment
Vehicles
Table of Content
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 03:19:41 PM
Hi everyone,
How have you all been doing? I'm sure you know Belgium's COVID-19 numbers are worsening pretty badly after our government decided to relax regulations and allow all children to go to school. This mainly has had an impact on our artists, but other than that most of us our fine.
So, a few days ago, I was sitting on a bus in Ghent with my daughter, who is 2 years and 8 months old. We were clearly visible to the driver and we were already standing at the door when it opened. I was helping my kid to get out when the driver - after about 3 seconds - already closed the doors. My daughter's arm got stuck between the doors and the driver started the bus... Obviously, I was screaming like crazy. It took the driver about 9 seconds to finally acknowledge us and stop the bus. By then, my daughter was hurt and crying.
I was enraged, charged the front of the bus and started shouting a the driver. She completely ignored me. I made the 'crazy sign' several times and... accidentally stabbed my own eye with my finger!
Long story short: I've caught a severe eye infection and I'm not supposed to be in front of a screen until Monday or Tuesday, but I did want to tell you that we have our Table of Contents available for the Quick Start as well as the entire rulebook! We're working on adding the percentages of how far we're into the writing process for each chapter and we'll posting those over the course of next week! I'll also be showcasing some new designs.
Stay safe everyone,
Dirk
Extra demo dates + more on Focuses and Specializations
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Aug 03, 2020 at 03:56:41 PM
Hi everyone!
First off, thanks to everyone who showed up during our live Zoom Q&A! I only got to talk to 1 or 2 of you at a time, but it was great to show you some stuff I’m not able to show you here and get you up to speed.
Some of you asked me which Focuses and Specializations will be available for each of the Skills. Basically, each Skill has 2 to 8 Focuses and an almost unlimited number of Specializations, even though we do give you a list with possibilities. You don’t need to use any of them: if you just stick to the Broad Skill Categories, you should be able to build a Character within 30 minutes if you use the Point Pool method – if you use our recommended Life Path method, it’ll take you a little longer, but you’ll probably be more immersed in your own story and you’re bound to have a better idea of who exactly your Character is.
Still, even though you can play Iron Sky: The RPG without picking any Focuses or Specializations, chances are they’ll add a lot more color to your Character, so here’s a few examples.
Let’s take our pregenerated martial artist, Rick Morales, as an example. Some of his Skills are Clothing & Appearance at -6S and Fight – Hand to Hand at +5S – and you’re perfectly fine to stick to that.
Clothing & Appearance is the kind of Skill some of you will not like because it doesn’t add much to combat or anything like that – unless you’re creative in the way you describe some of your Actions… but not all Skills are there to be ‘useful’: many of them are meant to add flavor and personality to your Character.
If you’re the kind of gamer who thinks that’s just stupid, that’s perfectly fine – you can ignore them completely. If you’re someone who loves adding fun details to your Character, than some of these ‘less useful’ Skills might be an opportunity to sink some points into great background stuff you’ll even be able to use in-game if you like being creative.
Clothing & Appearance has the following Focuses: Dress Sense, Cosmetics, Fashion Industry, Grooming and Jewelry. If you’re adding Focuses and Specializations in your game, you don’t need to buy the actual Broad Skill Group to have one, so let’s say Darren (Rick’s player) spends some points on Clothing & Appearance/Dress Sense. Suggested Specializations are specific Cultures and Eras and Rick’s player can definitely stick to those, but since Iron Sky is a tongue-in-cheek, pulpy setting, he decides to get something that reflects the setting a little better and says more about his Character specifically, so he comes up with ‘Look Snappy’.
Because a Focus is more limiting than a Broad Skill Group, it costs less, and since a Focus is more limiting than a Specialization, it costs even less, so Darren can actually get his Specialization at a much higher Shift than if he would have bought the Broad Skill Group.
Darren now looks at Fight – Hand to Hand and decides to Specialize in that Skill as well. Suggested Focuses include all Martial Arts, suggested Specializations include any and all Maneuvers. Darren might choose a specific real-world Maneuver, like Fight – Hand to Hand/Tae Kwon Do/Spinning Jump Kick or Fight – Hand to Hand/Tae Kwon Do/Side Kick, but he instead chooses to have something a little juicier and comes up with Fight – Hand to Hand/Cinematic Martial Arts/Punch Nazis in the Face Real Hard, which seems like a fun move to have in a pulp SF setting.
Darren soon finds out he still has some extra points to spare before he gets to his overall +5S in Fight/Hand-to-Hand, so he decides to spend some points on the Focus Fight – Hand to Hand/Cinematic Martial Arts. He eventually spends his last remaining points on Fight – Hand to Hand/Cinematic Martial Arts/Roundhouse Kick, Fight – Hand to Hand/Cinematic Martial Arts/Dodge, Fight – Hand to Hand/Cinematic Martial Arts/Cool Poster Pose and Fight – Hand to Hand/Cinematic Martial Arts/Nipple Twist, two of which are pretty straightforward and two of which are based on suggestions Darren came up with earlier when he was trying to come up with ideas on how Rick might fight.
Iron Sky:The RPG – and Synthesis as a system – encourages this kind of creativity and gives GMs and players a like a lot of leeway on what they can come up with. Because everything is based on the same building blocks, it’s easy to determine how new Skills or Powers would work.
We’re sure you’ll see a lot of this in action during our upcoming demo on the 5th of September, at 7 pm, Belgian time.
We can also announce a second demo game on the 5th of October, at 1 am, Belgian time. Please don’t forget to preregister for these demos, it’ll be a fun ride!
Greetz,
Dirk Vandereyken
Hope you're all staying safe!
almost 4 years ago
– Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 03:12:04 PM
Hi everyone,
First of all: I hope you've all been staying safe. We're in the midst of the second SARS-CoV-2 wave right now and Belgium is one of the worst-hit countries in the world. I unfortunately have another friend who had to be taken to the hospital - he's still there - and it's been tough organizing our live classes as we have to be really careful to keep social distancing and use mouth masks.
That being said, I did get a lot of nice comments on the round-based and diceless examples of play and I hope we've been able to show that there probably is a way of playing the game that'll appeal to you. You can't cater to everyone of course, but since the rules system itself if a pretty big toolbox with no tool canceling another out, I feel like there's a lot of people who will find something to dig here.
On the production front, it seems like CMR Products will be manufacturing the Action Dials. We still have to fill in the details, but I'm currently reviewing some of the great laser-cut paint racks and organizers they produce and I'm convinced they're a good partner for us.
We've also tasked an engineer with creating a d1000 die that immediately shows you the Shift you rolled in order to make sure you don't need a d1000 and a table if you don't like that mechanic, but I"m not sure if he's going to pull it off yet, so I'm going to wait for the first few designs. This would defintiely be optional, you'll always be able to use 3 ten-sided dice or our specialty dice and the table instead. An app is also an option, we'll see about that in the near future.
We're also trying to work out how an official release date will work during corona times. It seems sure we need to release during a big covnention like Gen Con in order to make the game viable, but it's been canceled this year so we'll probably have to wait and see what the coronavirus does. We'll get the books out to you eaelier, though, and we've got a few corona-proof dates for you. These have been adjusted to make sure we can publish no-matter-what-happens, except obviously if I drop dead myself.
-
August 3, 2020, 6 PM - 7 PM Brussels time: Iron Sky Q&A on Zoom. The link address is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85813475354?pwd=TW9LREtFU3Z3MUluZG9oaFI3VHRtdz09. I'll be available to answer all of your questions and explain the delays that have happened.
-
September 5 2020, 7 PM - 10 PM: Iron Sky live session. Please make sure to preregister, but in order to avoid not being able to make this date because none of you preregistered, I've added a few of my own players to the roster. Worst case: none of you join in, but we're still able to stream the session so you can look at the gameplay later on.
-
December 5, 2020: You'll all get your Quick Start before it's released officially. Shortly after that, we'll make it available for sale. Now, we've decided to make this a different version than the one that's going to be for sale. You'll get some extras, more NPCs and more play aids. We're focusing a lot on the play aids right now in order to make the game play as smooth as possible and I hope you'll all like what we've been doing.
Corona has hit us hard, but I feel the measures we've been putting into place will allow us to keep our schedule. We're used to how we have to handle the virus right now and we can plan better. I'm still worried about my dad, whose heart has stopped beating many times over the last several weeks, but I'm praying his heart condition will improve now that he's on new meds and he's minding his food more.
On a brighter side: Laetitia and I got engaged officially! We'll be marrying on the 26th of June 2020, in Zaventem (Brussels). The entire game will be out and we'll have something more to celebrate.
Greetz,
Dirk
Example of Play: Round-based Combat online!
almost 4 years ago
– Sun, Jun 21, 2020 at 10:10:49 AM
Hi everyone!
After already publishing an Example of Play of our very tactical, involved Tick-based Combat, we uploaded an example of our Round-based Combat as well, check it out here if you haven't already:
https://0e47257a-efe2-46a3-ab85-e0c54a438808.filesusr.com/ugd/74f20f_2a846b18f4f048dc80fd3f9a44a71068.pdf
Next up; Narrative Combat for those of you who don't like to count Ticks or roll dice!
Greetz,
Dirk
