Iron Valley vs Ironsworn
Compare Iron Valley and Ironsworn side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Iron Valley | Ironsworn | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Cozy, Solo-Friendly, Rules-Light, Narrative, Beginner-Friendly, CC-Licensed Rules, Random Tables | Narrative, Solo-Friendly, Fiction-First, Character-Driven, Sandbox, Low-Fantasy, Exploration, Theater of the Mind, CC-Licensed Rules, Random Tables |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d6 (action die) + stat against 2d10 (challenge dice). Beat both challenge dice for a strong hit, beat one for a weak hit, beat neither for a miss. A simplified hack of Ironsworn with only 10 moves. Promises replace vows, satisfaction replaces XP, and a favor economy drives gift-giving and relationships. Extensive oracle tables (50+ pages) generate characters, events, locations, and heart events for solo play. | Roll an action die (d6) plus a stat and any adds, then compare the total to two d10 challenge dice. Beat both for a strong hit, beat one for a weak hit, and beat neither for a miss; ties go to the challenge dice. Positive momentum can be burned to cancel challenge dice below its value. Long-term challenges use a progress roll, which compares filled progress boxes to the challenge dice without an action die. |
| Dice | d6 + 2d10 | d6 + 2d10 |
| Complexity | Very Low | Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 3 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | CC BY 4.0 | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Ironsworn System Reference Document under CC BY 4.0 |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | M. Kirin | Shawn Tomkin |
| Year | 2023 | 2018 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Spanish |
| Best For | Solo players who want a cozy, low-stakes RPG about building a life in a small town: farming, crafting, making friends, and maybe falling in love, with no combat or death mechanics. | Groups who want dark fantasy questing for one to four players, with fiction-first moves, oracle tables, and little or no GM preparation. |
| Highlights | Fills a cozy niche in TTRPGs: no combat, no death, just wholesome small-town life, extensive oracle tables support solo replayability, simple rules accessible to complete beginners, CC BY 4.0 license encourages sharing and hacking | Vows tie advancement to the story: fulfilling a sworn quest earns the experience that buys new assets. Momentum gives every action roll a second layer: a strong position can cancel an unlucky challenge die, while a negative track can remove the action die entirely. The oracle tables turn open questions into prompts, giving solo and co-op groups enough procedural input to play without a GM. |
| Considerations | Oracle tables can produce repetitive prompts over multiple sessions. Minimal mechanical depth limits replay variety. There is no structured campaign or arc progression. | Progress tracks convert ticks and boxes at five ranks into a progress score, which takes a few rolls to internalize. Oracle results are prompts rather than answers, so a solo player must interpret them and can stall when a result seems contradictory. Combat and movement use no grid or positioning rules, so groups that want tactical placement must supply it themselves. |