IRON & BLOOD: HISTORICAL ROLEPLAYING 1500-1875
Iron & Blood is the premiere d100 skill-based historical tabletop roleplaying game set during the golden age of black powder weapons. Experience four centuries of history through the eyes of richly realized Player Characters. Equip them for combat on foot or horseback with an arsenal of weapons. Roleplay deadly intrigue in social encounters. Practice medicine to cure deadly afflictions and perform life-saving surgeries. And dive into Iron & Blood on the High Seas, a nautical roleplaying system like no other. Is this the historical roleplaying experience you're looking for? Scroll down to learn more about and play Iron & Blood.
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🏛️BRING FOUR CENTURIES OF HISTORY TO LIFE
Iron & Bloods features 375 years of history in six Tech Levels:
- 🪓TL 6: Early Modern (1500-1684) Conquistadors, knights, landsknechts, musketeers, and samurai fight in conflicts as diverse as The Conquest of the New World, 30 Years War, English Civil War, and Japan's Warring States period.
- 💡TL 5: Enlightenment (1685-1764) Bayonets and flintlock muskets usher in the age of line infantry's dominance over battlefields of the Great Northern War, War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession, and 7 Years War.
- 💂♂️TL 4: Revolutionary (1765-1819) Advanced weapons including rifles and rocket artillery begin use in titanic struggles including the American Revolutionary, French Revolutionary, and Napoleonic Wars.
- 🛤️TL 3: Early Industrial (1820-1849) Percussion caps debut on the battlefield as rifling becomes standard in conflicts as diverse as the Carlist Wars, Mexican-American War, Opium Wars, and Revolution of 1848.
- 🚂TL 2: Industrial (1850-1866) Armies begin adopting breach-loaded rifles as percussion caps see their heyday in the American Civil War, Austro-Prussian War, Crimean War, and Taiping Rebellion.
- 🏭TL 1: Late Industrial (1867-1875) Mass-produced breach-loaded rifles and artillery dominate the battlefields of the Meiji Restoration, War of the Tripple Alliance, and Franco-Prussian War.
🎭FAN-FAVORITE LIFEPATH CHARACTER CREATION
Beginning with just a family background and starting Aptitudes, players choose careers for their characters to serve 6-year terms in. The events of each term are determined by rolling on tables for survival, promotion, career and personal events, skills, and more. Results can be comedic, dramatic, romantic, tragic, triumphant, strange, or outright absurd.
After completed each term, characters can either finish creation and begin their adventures or risk another 6-year term. This may further improve their stats but at the risk of suffering from aging, injury, or even the worst possible outcome: death - which means restarting character creation from the beginning. (Good luck.)
Every (surviving) character is unique with a rich backstory as well as the equipment, experience, and skills they need to adventure through history.
💣BRING THE RIGHT TOOLS TO THE JOB
Fight on foot or horseback with a massive arsenal including bows, grenades, swords, spears, pikes, unarmed attacks, and even artillery like cannons, gatling guns, mortars, and rockets.
Unlock the full potential of black powder firearms with in-depth rules to affix bayonets, clear jams, fire shotgun-style grapeshot, load multiple rounds, and more. Custom design your own firearm down to its calibre, barrel length, lock, and other details using the firearm designer.
Non-combat encounters call for the right equipment too. Wear the latest fashion at court, don disguises to bypass guards, practice medicine with the latest pharmaceuticals and surgical tools, burglarize with theif's tools, and more.
⚔️EXPERIENCE TACTICAL AND THRILLING COMBAT
Iron & Blood combat is sharp and lethal. A single bayonet or bullet wound can be enough to remove a character from combat or outright kill him.
Most encounters involve up to a dozen combatants at ranges between 0 and 100 meters/yards. Those equipped with firearms will have to fire off whatever they have loaded before turning to their bayonets. Those specialized in melee must survive the hail of fire before charging to exact their cruel revenge.
Combat at longer ranges becomes a slower affair. Neither side will want to close the distance without a decisive advantage. But braving the killing field must happen eventually to secure a decisive victory.
⚓DIVE INTO IRON & BLOOD ON THE HIGH SEAS
Iron & Blood isn't just for landlubbers. Dive into a nautical roleplaying system like no other with Iron & Blood on the High Seas. A richly realized system for life, trade, and war aboard historical ships of oar, sail, and steam.
- Create your own seafaring vessels with a powerful ship designer.
- Explore the seven seas in a fully realized navigation system featuring realistic points of sail, fuel and supply consumption, natural hazards, and more.
- Buy and sell goods, transport cargo; mail; and passengers, and sell your services to patrons in need of skilled seamen capable of performing daring (and sometimes nefarious) missions.
- Fight for glory, profit, or survival in deadly ship-to-ship combat. Maneuver your vessel, fire its guns, ram into the enemy, and launch boarding actions. Whatever it takes to triumph in an oceanic combat system where the skill and experience of a ship's crew matter just as much as the qualties of the vessel itself.
🗣️FACE INTRIGUE IN SOCIAL ENCOUNTERS
Recruit friends, negotiate treaties, and talk your way out of peril.
Trust must be earned before it can be counted on (or exploited.) Non-player Characters have unique attitudes towards each of the Player Characters and other NPCs. High attitudes make NPCs more amenable while low attitudes breed recalcitrance.
Social encounters are all about developing an NPC's attitude so they will cooperate when a PC makes their true intentions known. This process naturally creates many roleplaying opportunities as PCs participate in games, social events, and other historic pastimes to get closer to their mark.
Beware NPCs with their own agendas and interests. If the PCs are not careful they could be the ones manipulated and taken advantage of.
⚕️SAVE LIVES IN MEDICAL ENCOUNTERS
Characters can contract afflictions from a variety of sources including combat wounds and exposure. Skilled physicians must accurately diagnose and treat their patients to save them from temporary incapacitation, permanent injury, or even death.
Combat wounds can lead to a variety of temporary and permanent injuries including lacerations, scarring, damage to extremities and organs, and mutilation. The most extreme cases will call for surgery. Characters wishing to survive the ordeal will be grateful to know a skilled doctor.
📜BECOME A MASTER HISTORIAN
Historians (an Iron & Blood Game Master) will find a full Historian's Guide included in the Core Rules. The guide features advice, guidance, and tips for how to:
- Take full advantage of a historical setting and feature historical figures as compelling NPCs.
- Plan fun, well-paced, and thematically interesting missions, adventures, and campaigns.
- Design, balance, and efficiently run exciting encounters including combat, social, medical, and on the high seas.
- Schedule game sessions with often uncooperative players.
- Lighten the load on yourself by distributing some of your tasks to the players.
- Select and equip premade enemies to match the setting of your adventures.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
It's time to play Iron & Blood
