Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Supersworn Part Two

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Supersworn Pre-Alpha
Designed & Written by Ben Adams

You can check out this game and many other hacks of Ironsworn here.
Read part one of our Supersworn campaign.

Before we jump into the game, I’d like to review more of how I built my character of Slingshot. In Supersworn, you switch out your spaceship for your headquarters. As for my other Assets, I chose Tendrils as it was the very “slingin'” power I had in mind for this blatant Spider-Man knockoff. Starting out, Tendrils can provide +1 if used in a non-combat Move, and they add another Momentum to whatever the specific Move offers typically. I chose Journalist to go with Christopher Kelly’s background as a collegiate reporter, which gives me +1 to any Gather Information or Compel moves in the context of a story I’m working on. Finally, I picked Loyalist, which lets me add +1 when I Aid an Ally (in a solo instance, this would be friendly NPCs). On a strong hit with a match, this Asset lets me mark my Bonds track.

As for the stats array, I went +1 Edge, +2 Heart, +3 Iron, +1 Shadow, and +2 Wits. Slingshot hasn’t been doing the superhero thing for too long, so he’s less about finesse at this point and more about using his powers in a blunt manner (hence Iron being higher than Edge). His background as a journalistic prodigy is why his Wits are higher, and he’s a very good-natured guy, so his Heart is up there too. Shadow goes with Edge because he’s only beginning to learn to be sneaky.

As for a starting vow, I went with: I will learn how my powers and my father’s death are connected. It’s specific in how it is related to my character in a personal way. However, it is also open-ended enough that how I define its conclusion can change based on my rolls and what the oracles tell me along the way. I also set this at an Epic level because it’s a vow that will redefine life for Slingshot when it is fulfilled, essentially a journey that will lead him to become whoever he will be in the future. That’s epic in my book. 

I have also chosen to include some AI-generated art of characters in this campaign. I thought it would be a fun little accent on the game. I used the text to art feature in Canva, which while not the most advanced AI image generator was able to give me some pretty good images the better I was able to describe what I wanted.

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Slingshot returns to consciousness, lying on something cold and hard. His eyelids flutter open, and there’s darkness with just a thin sliver of light in front of him. As his brain reboots, Sling feels around and discovers the dimensions of the space he’s in. About two people standing with their arms fully extended across. The walls echo with the sound of steel when Sling knocks on them. This seems like a shipping container you’d find on the docks. He toys with the difficulty of emerging somewhere else in the world and explaining to Aunt Laurie how he got to Bangkok or Rotterdam.

A sudden jolt causes Sling to brace himself. He had powered down while unconscious but feels that part of himself reawakens, an icy river burning its way through his veins, knowing his hair is turning shock white without even seeing it. His arms glow with the energy of his tendrils, ready to strike. There’s a roar growing louder outside. A crowd of people? The sliver of light grows into a torrent as the shipping container doors are wrenched open. 

Sling cautiously steps out into a crude arena that appears to have been set up in some forgotten portion of the city’s dense underworld. A ring of seats holds hundreds of ravenously cheering and jeering people. It looks like a mix of gangster, henchman, some low-tier supervillains, and more that the groggy hero’s brain can’t quite make out. Hanging from above each section are banners with a crude symbol on them like a pointy letter “D.” Separating Sling from these people is a dome of thick metal bars crossing each other so that they create a curved grid. A cage match? Who does that mean Sling is fighting?

That question is answered relatively quickly as mechanical arms open another shipping container’s doors directly across the arena. Stumbling out of that box is a Black woman with natural hair, wearing a black leather jacket with red accents. Sling can tell this isn’t her first fight based on her condition. However, she doesn’t seem unable to contend with him; her stance gives away a level of training in martial arts that Sling simply doesn’t have. He feels the deep ache of the injuries received at Blue Bolt’s hands and wishes he was back home, completely unconscious in bed, letting things heal. At this rate, his injuries will have injuries.

A platform descends from a hole in the top of the metal grid dome. Sling recognizes the person standing on this floating platform as it comes down to face the crowd, but not low enough for either opponent to reach it. Clad in his signature green suit and face mask is the deadly games master himself, Enigma.*
(*Last seen in Sensational Slingshot #22 – “The Lethal Lottery”)

Enigma speaks to the crowd, ready for a fight: “Ladies & Gentlemen, we here at Boss Frankenstein’s Arena of Doom are proud to present this match-up for you this evening. Just checking with the control booth, and…yes, all bets are now in. On this side (gesturing towards Sling), you have a real thorn in my side, the annoying & soon to be dead? (fingers crossed) Slingshot! And on this side, the reigning champion from last night, you know her as the Karate King’s widow. I know her as a real fighter for girl power (mocking fist pump), the one & only Jade Knight.” The crowd explodes into a frenzy. Slingshot does finger guns as the platform ascends. “Let the games begin!”

A crackle of energy erupts across the metal dome grid, signaling to the fighters that it would be painful to test its strength. Slingshot uses a tendril to test if he can grab the structure. 

(Create An Advantage, rolled a Miss, Pay the Price: You create an opportunity for an enemy)

Sling is hit with a jolt of electricity that travels down the glowing yellow energy tendril and into his arm, stunning him momentarily. The energy tendril dissolves into the air around him as he loses concentration on his power allowing Jade Knight to make her move, charging and connecting her heel with Sling’s chest. 

(Enter the Fray – Weak Hit – Jade Knight is in control of the fight)

Sling raises himself up on his arm just in time to brace himself from the flurry of kicks Jade launches at him. 

(React Under Fire – Strong Hit)

Sling can withstand the assault and is able to push back and get into his own, albeit less refined, fighting stance to square off with Jade. She stumbles, letting Sling know his opponent had put much of her energy into that opening salvo. Sling launches a tendril at Jade, hoping to knock her down and give him a few seconds to think.

(Strike – Miss)

Jade dodges the tendril, bending her spin back as it whips inches away. Her heel finds Sling’s masked face, pain explodes across it, and he collapses on his ass. The crowd roars, and Slingshot knows he’s going to have to fight seriously, at least until they are both too weak to keep going.

(Clash – Strong Hit)

As Jade brings her boot heel down to smash Sling’s face, his tendrils come from behind, wrap around her torso and toss the fighter across the arena. Not too hard; he doesn’t want to kill her. He’s back in charge of the fight and unleashes some aggressive but non-lethal strikes with the energy tendrils.

(Strike – Strong Hit)

She tries to get up, and Sling knocks her back down again. He’s close enough to shout over the crowd: “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to kill you, but you must stay down. I don’t want to fight.”

Through gritted teeth, Jade responds: “Why don’t you stay down then?”

(Take Decisive Action – Strong Hit)

Sling delivers a powerful but restrained tendril strike into Jade’s solar plexus, hoping that will keep her from trying to kill him, and she slackens a bit, still conscious.

“Okay, good,” he continues. “I don’t know what is happening here exactly, but I don’t think killing each other will help either of us get out of….”

(Compel with Heart – Miss, Pay the Price: You are stressed)

Jade says she can’t stop, these people have her daughter, and she will kill whoever they throw at her until she can get out and keep her baby safe. Sling says he wants to help her get out, too, and that if they work together, maybe they can find a weak spot. Jade doesn’t seem to agree, and he has to toss her on the other side of the arena to give himself some more time. 

Slingshot recalls the platform Enigma descended on and how that could be a good exit. 

(Secure an Advantage with Edge – Miss with Doubles, Pay the Price: New hazard introduced)

Panels in the ground begin to fall away before Sling can launch a tendril at the bottom of the platform. Below, a rushing torrent of water is revealed, the rush of rain down the storm drains, a whirlpool that would likely crush anyone who falls into it. More panels fall, making the floor increasingly treacherous. Jade is back up and making incredibly agile leaps on the remaining panels to get at Slingshot. Sling launches a tendril out to knock her out cold.

(Strike with Iron – Miss, Pay the Price: You face a tough choice)

Slingshot realizes he’s about to slip off his platform and that one of them will likely be knocked into the crushing whirlpool below. Sling chooses himself, remembering her mentioning her kid. In middle school, he recalls hearing about Karate King and Jade Knight having a child back when he was just normal Chris Kelly. Sling closes his eyes and falls backward off his panel, ready to end the fight and face what he finds below.

(Face Danger with Iron – Miss, Pay the Price: A new enemy is revealed)

“No!” bellows a voice from the crowd. Sling finds himself lying on solid ground; a screen projecting a hologram of rushing water flickers and goes black. It should have been obvious. Sling had briefly forgotten about Enigma and his penchant for illusory deceit. A figure pushes his way through the crowd emerging. He’s towering with a hateful scowl carved into his visage. Stitches line that face with skin tones slightly different the closer you look. The top of his head seems unnaturally flat, and the metal bolts on either side of his neck remind Sling of a familiar face. “Frankenstein?” he manages to mutter before something in the back of his neck stings him, and everything goes black.

Slingshot wakes up strapped to a table in a lab. An older, short woman with wild purple hair totters over to him. “You made my boy very unhappy,” she chastises Sling while rummaging through surgical tools. Sling’s eyes widen when he sees one of her hands resembles a bird talon. The woman catches him looking and grins, “Outcome of a little experiment is all, dearie. Doctor Pandemonia is going to make everything all better. Just adjust that control pellet in your neck.” 

The doors to the lab slam open as Enigma and the large man who ended the fight come charging in. “Oh, there’s my boy now. Come to watch Mama at work, Frankie?” The man responds with an angry grunt, glaring at Sling. Enigma leans down to his strapped-in enemy, “You always know how to ruin a good time, eh Slingy? Well, good luck trying that with Boss Frankenstein here. Seen this guy tear a man in half with his bare hands.”

Boss Frankenstein points one of his hulking paws at Sling and orders, “Fix! Now!” Dr. Pandemonia nods and replies, “Of course, my baby. We will punish him for what he did. A new fight, and this time he dies!” She plunges a needle into Sling’s neck, and everything goes dark again.

Back in the shipping container. Sling finds a small industrial light has been set up, and there’s a tray of unappetizing slop that he assumes must be some basic nutrient protein goop the fighters are fed. How many fighters do they have, exactly? Just me and Jade? Sling wonders. He remembers his exchange with Ezra Eaton that night and how he couldn’t be sure if Eaton knew he was really Christopher Kelly or not. Aunt Laurie and Mari are in danger if he knows who I am. I have to get out of here as soon as possible! About an hour later, the doors clang open, and a new fight is about to begin.

The other container opens, and out steps a massive luchador. His body is marked with scars and injuries, his blue tights in tatters. His mask has been torn, and Sling can tell it was meant to resemble a blue tiger’s face. Sling keeps his distance, circling the arena opposite his opponent and sizing him up.

(Secure an Advantage with Wits – Strong Hit)

Sling can keep just far enough ahead to stay out of the fighter’s clutches, giving him time to try and talk some sense into the luchador before the fight begins.

(Compel with Heart – Weak Hit)

The luchador shares his name, Tigre Blue, and says he wants only to get his hands on Enigma and throttle the life from him. Sling doesn’t want to aid in a homicide but concedes, “Let’s work together to get out of here, and if we come across Enigma, I’ll…pretend I see nothing.” It doesn’t feel good to say, but Sling feels like there’s no other choice. 

The crowd is getting angrier. Sling feels the back of his neck, a scar. That crazy doctor woman said something about a control pellet. They need to act quickly before she activates them. “Give me a toss-up to the center, where the platform is,” he asks Tigre Blue. “Si,” replies his now-ally. 

(Face Danger with Iron – Weak Hit)

The platform is also charged with electricity, but this time Sling anticipates it. He pushes through the pain taking Harm but managing to hold on. A thick metal cover is torn off the platform’s base, which Sling tosses down to Tigre Blue, who was roaring at the audience. Tigre catches the lid and chucks it at the metal dome like a discus. It rips open a hole which sends the crowd clamoring for the exits. Sling jumps back down the ground, where Tigre gestures at the spot, “You first, amigo.”

Both heroes emerge into the nearly empty stands. Two gangsters appear from the exits at the top of the stairs and wildly open fire at Sling and Tigre. Sling shoots tendrils to try and disorient the men by moving into places they can’t see in the rafters.

(Face Danger with Wits – Strong Hit with a Match)

A tendril whips out of the darkness, lashing around the gunmen’s legs, hauling them upside down, and letting their weapons clatter. Sling drops back down.

“Any idea where the controls to our cages are?” Sling asks Tigre.

“I do not know,” responds the luchador. “I will smash things until I find them!”

The doorway at the top of the stairs is darkened again, this time by a lone hulking figure. Sling can tell that this isn’t Boss Frankenstein. The studious reader will recognize this as the trenchcoated figure that emerged from the sewers to bring Slingshot here from the previous issue. He shucks off the coat, revealing a twisted-looking homunculus, something of a first draft before Boss Frankenstein was made. “Doctor says kill you both!” the grotesque gurgles out. “Kalibon always does what the doctor says.” Kalibon charges forward, with Tigre meeting him halfway, and the two go tumbling back through the metal grid, making the original hole larger. 

(Oracle question: Can Sling see Enigma from where he’s standing in the stands? 50/50 odds – Answer: Yes)

Sling looks up and sees the control platform built over the combat arena. Mr. Enigma rushes around, and the stadium lights up with more of his illusions as Tiger and Kalibon battle. Sling swings up to the platform, attempting a flying kick into Mr. Enigma’s dome.

(Choosing Battle as a move because I don’t want to play this as an extended combat sequence – Miss. Pay the Price: You face a tough choice.)

Sling is doing a number on the less direct combat-inclined Enigma. The villain, bloodied and panting, flicks a switch on a panel. Two screens light up: one shows the black woman from earlier, and the other shows a spindly young man in a garish green bodysuit and mask. “You can keep pounding on me or…” he presses another button, and a countdown appears, “You can save them from a really nasty death from some brain-melting chems the good doctor cooked up for me if we needed to flee and destroy evidence at the same time. Your choice, Slingy.”

Sling can’t let those captives die and backs away, asking which way to the cells. Enigma stands up and dusts himself off, spitting out a tooth. “That-a-way, champ.” Sling rushes off. “I’m sure we’ll meet again one day, kid. “He presses another button, and a hidden panel in the wall moves away, revealing a tunnel that Enigma quickly disappears down.

Sling pushes himself to get to the other fighters before the gas can kill them.

(Face Danger with Heart – Strong Hit)

Sling finds two other fighters being held in the arena as his tendrils rip away the doors to their respective cages. There’s Jade Knight, who seems surprised and relieved to see Slingshot. Then there’s a spindly kid in a full green bodysuit. Sling has no idea who he is, but the kid introduces himself as The Gecko. No time to exchange pleasantries as they need to check on Tigre Blue in the arena.

(Oracle question: Is Tigre Blue winning his fight with Kalibon? Unlikely odds – Answer: No)

Sling and his two new allies leap into the arena to rescue Tigre and take out Kalibon.

(Battle – Strong Hit with a Match). 

Sling sends a tendril double punch into Kalibon’s back knocking him to the ground and getting his attention. Gecko clambers into the arena, crawling along its now unelectrified dome and pelting Kalibon with shots from a pellet gun. Jade Knight appears to have rummaged through the armory and recovered a katana that suits her quite well from Sling’s perspective. She joins the fray striking at Kalibon and eliciting roars of pain from the beast. He collapses, and the three rush to Tigre’s side. The luchador is bleeding out quite severely and is entirely unconscious.

Gecko and Sling quickly search this underground facility to find a vehicle of any kind, as they need to get Tigre to a hospital asap. 

(Secure an Advantage with Edge – Miss – Burn Momentum – Weak hit)

Sling discovers an exit that leads to an above-ground parking garage. However, opening that secured door triggers a countdown for a series of charges to explode and bury the tunnel into the arena. Sling rushes his new friends to the vehicle, turning to see their way back and the evidence that this place existed disappearing in a boom and cloud of debris. 

Tigre Blue is dropped at the emergency room. Jade rushes off before Sling can even speak to her. He remembers her mentioning they have her daughter and wishes he could follow and help. The events of the last 24 hours catch up to him, and he begins to feel his exhaustion catching up. Gecko tries to strike up a conversation, wanting to talk superhero shop. Slingshot says they can chat another time and swings away, desperate for his bed and the comforting darkness of sleep. When he’s rested, his other problems can be dealt with.

Continued…

Read part three here