War of Metal and Bone
is an RPG with an great elevator pitch: it’s a war between dwarves, using
massive metal golems and warriors soul-bonded to giant skeletons. The game also
takes advantage of the many open source game systems used by popular indie RPGs
today.
Lead designer Tracy Barnett explained how War of Metal and Bone works and how the
world of Iron Edda was developed. The
RPG has already met its initial
Kickstarter goal, but stretch goals could unlock dozens of variants using
game systems like Pathfinder, Gumshoe, Savage Worlds, and 13th Age.
io9: Let’s start by
talking about the world of Iron Edda.
What kind of a fantasy world is this? What kinds of stories will players tell
and experience when they play it?
Tracy Barnett: The
world of Iron Edda is heavily based
in Norse mythology. The game focuses on a Ragnarok where the dwarves have risen
up in giant metal constructs to destroy humanity. The humans are fighting back
by bonding the souls of warriors to the bones of dead giants. In addition, I
want anyone who sits down at the game table to find a space for themselves in
the game. So we’re talking about epic adventures featuring characters of
diverse backgrounds fighting to preserve the world they love. It’s both epic in
scope, and personal in experience.
What RPG system
is War of Metal and Bone being
developed for?
TB: War of Metal and Bone is being developed
for Fate Core. Well, with some Fate Accelerated, and some of my own
twists thrown in. Fate does an
amazing job telling a variety of personal and epic stories. With the rules I’m
adding, things like handling giant scale things in the same combat scene as
human scale things are pretty easy, and a hell of a lot of fun.
In addition, I’ve got stretch goals lined up for nearly every
system that you can think of with an open or easy-to-obtain license. Each book
has a different author behind it, and will offer a different take on the same
themes. Rather than use mostly the same text save for the rules in each book,
every system is its own, unique game. Pathfinder
is very different from Savage Worlds,
which is in turn different from things like Pendragon
and Dungeon World. I think that by
keeping the core concepts that make each game an Iron Edda game, but
letting each author express their take on those concepts in a way that makes
each system sing, well, that’s some hotness right there.
In addition to the systems, there are also a number of
setting books planned that will enhance and expand upon the setting set forth
in War of Metal and Bone. Each of
those has a different author as well.
Open source game
systems aren’t new in the RPG world, but they seem to be experiencing a sort of
golden age at the moment. What do you think is driving that? What are some of
the advantages that open source brings to designers and gamers?
TB: I think it
reinforces an instinct that RPG players already have, which is to tinker, hack,
rework, and modify. When a system is open, it gives more opportunities for
publication, sharing without worrying about things like Cease and Desist
notices, and it gives people a chance to build on prior in a meaningful way. A
game like Dungeon World wouldn’t
exist without Apocalypse World being
open to license. Similarly, I never would have had the chance to take on this
project.
What does the
name Iron Edda mean?
TB: It’s a
callback to some of the most complete documentation of Norse mythology that we
have: the Poetic and the Prose Eddas, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 1200s.
I wanted a name that would evoke both the Norse myth that I drew from, and the
changes I was making to make it an epic fantasy setting.
Where did this
idea come from? Did it start out as your personal campaign world?
TB: The game was
born from a smaller version of the idea that I wrote for Machine Age
Productions’ mecha game, Apotheosis Drive
X. They did a bunch of alternate settings and when I wanted to pitch an idea,
I tried to think of what sort of setting I knew best. The answer was fantasy.
And when considering how to get mechs, of a sort, into the game, I thought
about the dwarven ruins in Skyrim. In
Skyrim, Bethesda blended Norse myth
and an existing world in a very cool way. I thought, maybe arrogantly, that I’d
try something similar. Turns out that it was a workable idea and one that
people seem to really dig.
What are some of the challenges of working
with so many different writers on different aspects of the same project?
TB: I think that
the biggest challenge will be making sure that the books all present as part of
a cohesive whole. This is especially true for the setting books that will all
reference and use material from the core book. I’m blessed to have John Adamus
as my editor/project manager. John is not only an excellent editor, but he’s
also very good at working with multiple people across multiple books. I think
having someone that I can trust like that is key. I have my own work to finish
on the core book. As well, editing isn’t my strong suit, so if I tried to keep
the tone and content consistent, it would be a lot more difficult.
It all comes down to one important thing: Hire people you
trust to do the stuff you hire them to do. It sounds simplistic, but if I
didn’t know and trust each and every person that I have working on the huge
number of stretch goals I have lined up then this project would have no chance
of succeeding. But the group I’ve assembled is amazing. It’s because of them
that I think the project will be a success.
