Ironclaw
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Ironclaw is a role-playing game set in a mythical Medici era, where anthropomorphic fantasy creatures engage in battles over power, money, religion, and romance.
The themes of this RPG are very versatile, being able to create entire races and professions.
Two terms need to be defined: (1)The Game Host (called the Game Master in other games) is the one running the game- managing, narrating, refereeing actions, etc. describes the world and things that are going on. And (2) the Player(s), the other people playing the game who typically control one character (the Player Character, or P.C.) and describes what they wish their character to do. The Game Master sets the difficulty number (higher is harder), and the player rolls dice to try and tie or beat the difficulty for their character to succeed. Greater skill ratings means using a larger dice. Ironclaw (and Jadeclaw) uses a dice scale to measure attributes and abilities. The smallest sized dice is a four-sided (notated as d4), and largest is a twelve-sided dice (d12). High ratings allow the use of multiples dice rolled together.
If the character has any relevant attribute or skill, they can use those dice in their action. For example, if the action involves fighting with swords on the plains the player could use the characters agility, weapon, dodge (if avoiding) and plains habitat dice. If they tie/beat the difficulty the character was successful. They can then explain the result as coming about because of the ability dice that gave them the success. As in the previous example, if the highest dice result was the plains dice the character won that round because they somehow used the plains to their advantage.
If they fail, did not beat the difficulty, the Game Master describes the result of the characters failure- typically by describing the success of non-player characters (all characters not belonging to the Players).
There are many variations on the game, using the system in other genre of games. One example is the Timeclaw game which is a conversion of the Doctor Who (Time Travel) adventures.
External links
- Official website of Ironclaw : http://www.sanguine.com/Ironclaw