Iron Kingdoms RPG Core Rules

by Privateer Press

Embark upon a journey of adventure and intrigue in a steam-powered world fueled by magic and contested with gunfire and steel. Armed with mechanika and accompanied by mighty steamjacks, explore the soot-covered cities of the Iron Kingdoms and the fell ruins of ancient powers! This essential, full-color guide to the award-winning Iron Kingdoms setting equips players with a robust, elegant rules system crafted especially for the world of the Iron Kingdoms, plus rules for character creation, details on diverse playable races, and a comprehensive overview of life in the Iron Kingdoms and the history of western Immoren.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Games, Gaming, Steampunk, Fiction

Hardcover

First published September 17, 2012

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like to call this one of the best games with the worst rulebooks I've ever played. Seriously this book features a lot of really solid writing but you've seen most of it before, in previous books. The game is really fun, and I'm enjoying it as a player and as a GM. There are quite a few editing and formatting errors that prevent it from getting more than two stars from me.

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

When my gaming group is taking a break from our main role-playing game (RPG), Dark Heresy, we play Iron Kingdoms, which was a natural fit since most of our players also enjoy playing the Warmachine/Hordes miniature game that the RPG is based on (which is interesting because the Warmachine/Hordes game initially started out as a D20 RPG setting). Those who are familiar with the 2nd and 3rd editions of Warmachine/Hordes game system will easily pick up the rules for Iron Kingdoms as a lot of the dice mechanics and rules are similar if not identical- basically roll 2d6s, add a stat or skill modifier and additional d6s for special abilities or circumstances and meet or beat a target number based on the difficulty of the task. Players start each session with 3 Feat Points that grant special options (such as rerolling a check, gaining additional attacks, and healing lost wounds) and these can be recovered after use by accomplishing certain things (such as rolling a Critical success on an attack or skill check or defeating notable enemies).

For the most part, the system is a fun one to play. The character creation is the gem of the system with starting characters picking a race (human, Trollkin, etc.), an Archetype (which are basically directed at giving bonus benefits tied to a specialization, such as Gifted for a magic-user and Mighty for extra dice damage) and then characters pick two Professions that grant skills, abilities, weapon proficiencies and connections. The beauty of this creation process is that players can come up with a variety of character concepts. Additionally, when characters progress to higher levels, they will have the option of taking on additional professions. This could be a great role-playing/background tool to illustrate your character’s progress. For example, I started with an Aristocrat/Gun Mage, who decided to dedicate more time to studying magic, illustrated by taking up the Arcanist profession when he gained more experience.

In my opinion, the main flaw of the system is in regards to Skill checks. There are a variety of non-combat skills that characters will use and the system states that some skills can only be used if specifically chosen (Trained) by a character. I have no problem with this restriction but the issue is that the restrictions seem to be implemented with little benefit or with a lack of reason. For example, an untrained character cannot use the Law skill (which seems fair), but an untrained character may use the Medicine skill and the book, even states that untrained characters cannot provide as good as medical treatment as a trained doctor but, game mechanics-wise, the only different in an untrained versus a trained character making a Medicine check is that the trained character gets to add their Medicine skill level (usually 1 or 2 points for a low-level character). This is how the vast majority of untrained skills can be used (they can be used but will not include the trained skill level bonus). My gaming group agreed that this was a pretty weak deterrent (our characters were just basically taking skills that could not be used unless trained in them because that appeared to have more benefit than using a skill slot just to gain a 1-point advantage in a skill that you could use untrained) and came up with house rules that characters would roll 3d6 and drop the highest die when using skills they were untrained in and rolling 2d6 for skills they were trained in. This method appears to have resolved our concerns with this aspect of the rules.

Another concern regarding game mechanics is in regards to “Social” skills. Without having a dedicated Charisma or Fellowship attribute (the rules state that the Game Master should pick the appropriate attribute based on the method a character was using to perform a Social skill. This was pretty simple in some incidents (I’m going to use Strength to Intimidate) but in other cases it was not (Seducing or Persuading someone with flattery was not easily address because a lot of the base attributes were physical in nature, such as Prowess, Agility, and Strength). Our group basically got tired of trying to figure out which attribute best fit a Social skill check and just came up with a house rule for Charisma, which has worked quite well.

Overall, despite some notable game mechanic flaws, this is a fun RPG. The background setting is rich and offers numerous adventuring opportunities in this steam punk magical-themed setting. Combat feels epic, especially if you are using warjacks (basically steam-powered robots) or warbeasts, and the Experience (XP) advancement system (much like Dark Heresy) is great because you gain access to different abilities, proficiencies, etc. every few XP points, as opposed to XP systems like Dungeons & Dragons, where you only gain abilities after reaching a large XP milestone. Despite my 3-star rating (which is mainly because of my gripes about some of the rules), I would recommend this game. Check out my Iron Kingdoms campaign on Obsidian Portal: https://for-profit-and-glory.obsidian...

[Jordan Bethea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems a decent fantasy combat-centric traditional kind of rpg, similar to DnD or Dark Heresy/other 40k games. Also based on a miniatures game, seems to borrow more from the miniatures rules than the 40k games do, probably because Warmachines is much more small scale and squad based than the 40k games are.

The interesting thing to me is that all characters pick two classes from a pretty decent sized list, so most characters will probably end up pretty unique.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while but I finally finished the core rules for the iron kingdom rpg. I was familiar with the world through warmachine, hordes and the previous version of the rpg. So the world explanation was very clear for me.

Rules-wise they stay very close to the warmachine/hordes rules with some extra's added for the social interaction. The career system reminded me of the warhammer rpg.

I look forward to playing this rpg

[Lorenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

good role playing system that is link to the war game, a very dangerous place to play. If you meet half of the characters from the WG then you better run.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loaded with great setting info, and an interesting adaptation of the wargame rules to Roleplaying. I'll be running the game in the next month or so.