I created a small random table for the Root Around move that allows the player(s) to mechanically explore their town (going to shops & restaurants, visiting helpful townies, finding inspiration, etc), and I wanted to share it. I hope people find it helpful if they use it.
This game is an absolute gem! I'm about one season into my solo campaign, and just played a co-op game with a friend tonight. It has brought me so much joy and calm in a stressful season, and I cannot recommend it enough. It's easy to pick up, easy to teach, and so much fun to play in both co-op and solo mode. If you're a Stardew fan looking for a tabletop alternative, or just someone looking for a way to unwind and stretch the creative, playful side of your brain, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy!
As a side note, regarding printing, once I worked through a couple weeks, I haven't had any trouble running solo sessions with just the player sheets and the moves, though I'll occasionally pull up the oracles on my laptop or to reference certain holidays. I also suspect it would be easy to track promises in a dot-grid journal, which is what I plan to switch to once I've made it all the way through the journal I'm writing in currently.
Such a wholesome game! It feels like playing an indie. I didn't expect to find such a good game when trying to emulate the Stardew with an roleplaying game. <3
the entire IV system has yet to make it to the table, but the Oracle tables are BY FAR the best low impact tables out there! They are worth every penny of the price just for them. I’m currently using them to run my Apthecaria game. Works perfectly.
I would buy a physical book version of this immediately!! wow wow wow, this really seems like a lovely, soft, wholesome, and cute. I looked into printing this out, but dang, all print places are so expensive.
Hey there! New player here. I absolutely love the vibes of the game and how simple but deep the promises systems works for this!
I do have a suggestion though regarding Make a Promise. Rather than determining the number of progress boxes based on Complexity X Urgency, I suggest determining it by Complexity X Scale instead (Or Quality X Quantity). I found the original system kind of paradoxical in that more urgent matters took more progress boxes to fulfil which meant that they took more time to complete despite being more urgent.
But that's just a suggestion. I appreciate all the hard work that went into this thing and hope y'all have a good time!
tl;dr edit: "complexity" represents how difficult the task is, while "urgency/importance" represents how much achieving the goal means to you.
One thing that I've found helps me conceptualize my promises when I'm playing is to reframe "urgency" as "importance". It's pretty much an identical concept, and unlike adding something like "scale" it doesn't overlap with the idea of complexity. A big task means it's got more things to do, which I would say means a higher complexity score. But an important task doesn't say anything about how much there is to do, just how much completing that goal is weighing on you.
This works for me for two reasons: one, literally all I need to do is change "urgent" to "important". "laid back" and "critical" still make perfect sense when you're talking about just importance instead of importance+time-sensitivity. And two, having more promise boxes to fill means you'll spend more time thinking about it or working on it, which has the emergent effect of it feeling more important. If the goal is important, you'll put more attention into completing it, right?
Hi! Love the game, got a quick question regarding Reap the Benefits and Progress Tracks.
Can you fulfill a promise and Reap the Benefits without filling all the boxes on the progress track, similar to how you could fulfill a vow early in Ironsworn? With the consequence in this case just being less rewards?
Apologies if this is covered in the book, I thought to have looked through but couldn't find an answer anywhere.
Hey! Will there be combat mechanics later on? This is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm itching to play something like Rune Factory or the My Time series :D
You should probably look at the rules for Ironsworn, the game this is based off of. It might take some work and hacking things together, since actual conflict seems to be against the purpose of this game, but it's the whole core of Ironsworn. I don't think you're likely to get official combat rules for Iron Valley, unfortunately.
Thank you for your question~ 🌸 I'm also a huge fan of Rune Factory so I totally get you! I do want to clarify that you can do combat in IV, it would be a Try Your Best!! roll. That being said, IV is meant to be more about personal conflict and relationship-building, so crunchy combat with armor classes and to-hit dice is kind of out of the scope at the moment.
Of course, I will never say never to adding combat because one day I might get a spark of inspiration in the middle of a walk/shower and realize how to add dungeons to this game. Same goes for adding a more in-depth farming simulation aspect. There is a lot of room for IV to grow as you can see~
I hope this answer helps, don't hesitate to ask or reach out to me 💚
It's good! I wouldn't mind at all if any hypothetical combat add on wasn't crunchy, would go against the spirit of Ironsworn and Iron Valley. Thanks for the reply ☺️
Before I even get to playing yet, I wanna say: the writing in the rulebook is a delight. You have the perfect Cozy Tone and sense of humour. Actually, I also find the order it's written to be incredibly nice, as well. Links to other sections are perfectly placed, and I thought I needed to know what skills/stats/options/traits the town experience had before I started playing (the Truths sections) but you know what? You were right! I was already scheming in my head anyway, and I did not need to know much more than what I wanted out of this game before we got to these questions. OK maybe I could have used a lil bit on how items worked first, but I ended up rolling on the oracles by rolling a number and then choosing the most appealing answer from any of the item lists, repeat 3 times total, and I think that's going to turn out just fine.
ALSO ALSO, unlike the robust roleplaying games (with more firm rules, especially when multiplayer-centric) I actually uh... read most of the rulebook in one night just fine without overwhelm. Not all at once mind you, but it was a really nice change from the slogs I'm used to when the books are longer~
PS:I'm using another solo game establishing a character already, and decided to magically slip them between worlds to Iron Valley when their time there is done at the built-in end of the game. That's why I'm not playing this one quite yet c:
Thank you!! I'm a fiction author so a little bit of my writing voice got in there. I'm happy to hear that the fun I had writing the book shone through! It just makes me smile that the book flows well. I have had my share of experiences trying to read a TTRPG book and it feeling like a chore. Reading a book like this in one sitting is no small feat!
Once again, thank you so much for this lovely comment! Don't hesitate to reach out or ask more questions once you are ready to step into the Valley~ 💚👩🌾🥕
← Return to solo roleplaying game
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I created a small random table for the Root Around move that allows the player(s) to mechanically explore their town (going to shops & restaurants, visiting helpful townies, finding inspiration, etc), and I wanted to share it. I hope people find it helpful if they use it.
Thank you for sharing!! 💚
This game is an absolute gem! I'm about one season into my solo campaign, and just played a co-op game with a friend tonight. It has brought me so much joy and calm in a stressful season, and I cannot recommend it enough. It's easy to pick up, easy to teach, and so much fun to play in both co-op and solo mode. If you're a Stardew fan looking for a tabletop alternative, or just someone looking for a way to unwind and stretch the creative, playful side of your brain, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy!
As a side note, regarding printing, once I worked through a couple weeks, I haven't had any trouble running solo sessions with just the player sheets and the moves, though I'll occasionally pull up the oracles on my laptop or to reference certain holidays. I also suspect it would be easy to track promises in a dot-grid journal, which is what I plan to switch to once I've made it all the way through the journal I'm writing in currently.
Thank you for the glowing recommendation!! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed my game 😌💚
Such a wholesome game! It feels like playing an indie. I didn't expect to find such a good game when trying to emulate the Stardew with an roleplaying game. <3
Aww thank you!! It means a lot to hear that 😌💗
the entire IV system has yet to make it to the table, but the Oracle tables are BY FAR the best low impact tables out there! They are worth every penny of the price just for them. I’m currently using them to run my Apthecaria game. Works perfectly.
Thank you for the glowing recommendation! We had a lot of fun making the tables, love seeing them used in other games 💚
I'm looking forward to a more fleshed out romance mechanic <3
I would buy a physical book version of this immediately!! wow wow wow, this really seems like a lovely, soft, wholesome, and cute. I looked into printing this out, but dang, all print places are so expensive.
Hey there! New player here. I absolutely love the vibes of the game and how simple but deep the promises systems works for this!
I do have a suggestion though regarding Make a Promise. Rather than determining the number of progress boxes based on Complexity X Urgency, I suggest determining it by Complexity X Scale instead (Or Quality X Quantity). I found the original system kind of paradoxical in that more urgent matters took more progress boxes to fulfil which meant that they took more time to complete despite being more urgent.
But that's just a suggestion. I appreciate all the hard work that went into this thing and hope y'all have a good time!
tl;dr edit: "complexity" represents how difficult the task is, while "urgency/importance" represents how much achieving the goal means to you.
One thing that I've found helps me conceptualize my promises when I'm playing is to reframe "urgency" as "importance". It's pretty much an identical concept, and unlike adding something like "scale" it doesn't overlap with the idea of complexity. A big task means it's got more things to do, which I would say means a higher complexity score. But an important task doesn't say anything about how much there is to do, just how much completing that goal is weighing on you.
This works for me for two reasons: one, literally all I need to do is change "urgent" to "important". "laid back" and "critical" still make perfect sense when you're talking about just importance instead of importance+time-sensitivity. And two, having more promise boxes to fill means you'll spend more time thinking about it or working on it, which has the emergent effect of it feeling more important. If the goal is important, you'll put more attention into completing it, right?
Hi! Love the game, got a quick question regarding Reap the Benefits and Progress Tracks.
Can you fulfill a promise and Reap the Benefits without filling all the boxes on the progress track, similar to how you could fulfill a vow early in Ironsworn? With the consequence in this case just being less rewards?
Apologies if this is covered in the book, I thought to have looked through but couldn't find an answer anywhere.
Your first instinct was correct! You can complete a promise early, earning less rewards.
Also no worries, I love answering questions. I'm just happy that people are playing my game 😊💚
Thank you!
I poured hours into Stardew Valley and some of the older Story of Season games, so I'm excited to dive into this properly.
Hey! Will there be combat mechanics later on? This is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm itching to play something like Rune Factory or the My Time series :D
You should probably look at the rules for Ironsworn, the game this is based off of. It might take some work and hacking things together, since actual conflict seems to be against the purpose of this game, but it's the whole core of Ironsworn. I don't think you're likely to get official combat rules for Iron Valley, unfortunately.
Thank you for your question~ 🌸 I'm also a huge fan of Rune Factory so I totally get you! I do want to clarify that you can do combat in IV, it would be a Try Your Best!! roll. That being said, IV is meant to be more about personal conflict and relationship-building, so crunchy combat with armor classes and to-hit dice is kind of out of the scope at the moment.
Of course, I will never say never to adding combat because one day I might get a spark of inspiration in the middle of a walk/shower and realize how to add dungeons to this game. Same goes for adding a more in-depth farming simulation aspect. There is a lot of room for IV to grow as you can see~
I hope this answer helps, don't hesitate to ask or reach out to me 💚
It's good! I wouldn't mind at all if any hypothetical combat add on wasn't crunchy, would go against the spirit of Ironsworn and Iron Valley. Thanks for the reply ☺️
Before I even get to playing yet, I wanna say: the writing in the rulebook is a delight. You have the perfect Cozy Tone and sense of humour.
Actually, I also find the order it's written to be incredibly nice, as well. Links to other sections are perfectly placed, and I thought I needed to know what skills/stats/options/traits the town experience had before I started playing (the Truths sections) but you know what? You were right! I was already scheming in my head anyway, and I did not need to know much more than what I wanted out of this game before we got to these questions.
OK maybe I could have used a lil bit on how items worked first, but I ended up rolling on the oracles by rolling a number and then choosing the most appealing answer from any of the item lists, repeat 3 times total, and I think that's going to turn out just fine.
ALSO ALSO, unlike the robust roleplaying games (with more firm rules, especially when multiplayer-centric) I actually uh... read most of the rulebook in one night just fine without overwhelm. Not all at once mind you, but it was a really nice change from the slogs I'm used to when the books are longer~
PS:I'm using another solo game establishing a character already, and decided to magically slip them between worlds to Iron Valley when their time there is done at the built-in end of the game. That's why I'm not playing this one quite yet c:
Thank you!! I'm a fiction author so a little bit of my writing voice got in there. I'm happy to hear that the fun I had writing the book shone through! It just makes me smile that the book flows well. I have had my share of experiences trying to read a TTRPG book and it feeling like a chore. Reading a book like this in one sitting is no small feat!
Once again, thank you so much for this lovely comment! Don't hesitate to reach out or ask more questions once you are ready to step into the Valley~ 💚👩🌾🥕