Solo Tabletop Actual Play – Supersworn Part Four

Supersworn Pre-Alpha
Designed & Written by Ben Adams

You can check out this game and many other hacks of Ironsworn here.

Read part three of our Supersworn actual play here.

Before I started this Supersworn series, I decided to delve into Tana Pigeon’s The Adventure Crafter and see if I could incorporate elements into this. It has worked really well. The Adventure Crafter has the solo player organize a list of Themes in order of priority for their game: Action, Mystery, Tension, Social, and Personal. Then, to create a plot point, you roll to determine the Theme and then roll a d100 to be given a random plot element related to that Theme. Each plot point can consist of five of these elements, and they generate hooks to get a story going. In the spirit of classic Spider-Man comics, I have a list of five plot points, each following a separate story, that I have randomly rolled on to see if we pivot from where we are to something else. I hoped it would create the sense of a vibrant living world populated by a host of characters, and it has certainly felt like that while playing.

I also decided to track the Chaos Factor, an element that is part of Pigeon’s fantastic Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition. I used this role to see what elements would be thrown at me in the upcoming session. For instance, going into this session, I had a Chaos Factor of 7 and rolled to see if it would be an Expected Scene or Altered. I got Altered and rolled to see what change would be implemented. I got “Add an Object, Remove an Object,” which I interpreted as the stealth device I got from Doc Improbable will fail at some point, and I will discover a device at Eaton Industries that carries narrative weight going forward.

I also used Starforged’s Begin a Session Move and got “Unforeseen aid is on the way or within reach.” I thought that one of the heroes Slingshot encountered in Boss Frankenstein’s Arena would pop back up. A roll on The Adventure Crafter’s characters list gave me Jade Knight, so I knew she would pop up at a moment in the narrative when I needed her help. I look at these additional tools as prompts; in the same sense, someone doing improv asks the audience for a word or suggestion. I have a framework in my head of where I want to take the character, but the details are very vague, so these random seeds of ideas help flesh out the story.

Before Slingshot stashes his costume and goes into Eaton Industries HQ as collegiate reporter Chris Kelly, he swings by the dorm room of Martin Ortega. Martin is friends with Chris but doesn’t know he’s Slingshot. In the pages of Sensational Slingshot #31, Martin helped Slingshot when he took on the mad scientist Lightshow. Martin is a tech whiz and used the campus theater’s lighting equipment to weaken Lightshow and give Sling the edge. Since then, Slingshot has watched Martin’s back from afar and even sought his help several times when he encountered tech-related obstacles. Sling asks Martin to help put their mutual friend Chris Kelly into Eaton’s digital appointment book for the day, telling Martin that Chris is working on assisting Sling in gathering evidence to take down Ezra Eaton.

(Secure an Advantage with Heart – Weak Hit – take +2 momentum going forward)

Martin tells Sling he got him into the book, but if anyone does a modicum of due diligence, they will discover this appointment was booked from outside the network. He’s hopeful that most staff won’t check that or have the tech-savvy to know how Chris should be okay. Sling thanks him, swings off to switch outfits and enters his enemy’s lair.

Chris is dressed not too formally but professionally, making sure to bring his college press pass with him so this all appears legit. The receptionist looks over his press pass for a little longer than he would look but lets Chris in, directing him to the waiting room. It’s nothing like the bursar’s office on campus but a luxury suite with plush chairs and gourmet coffee. Chris manages to slip away, donning his Slingshot costume, activating his powers, his hair turning shock white in the bathroom mirror. He stashes his clothes and removes a grating for the ventilation system, climbing inside on the search to see if Eaton has done something to his aunt and sister.

(Gather Information – Strong Hit – Affirms a previously understood fact or clue.)

Slingshot finds an unattended room full of shelves and boxes. He slides one off the shelf and finds this is an archive of Eaton Industries’ scientific papers and research going back to just after World War II. Then Sling spots the box on a table between shelves, the box of his dad’s papers stolen from the attic. Does Eaton know Sling is Chris Kelly? Everything seems to be here; Sling guesses someone was doing an inventory. 

Then he notices the double doors to an adjoining room and carefully pushes through. It’s a laboratory with a shocking sight in the middle of the room: a floor-to-ceiling cylinder, a control panel about a third of the way up, glass the rest of the way, and a corpse floating inside, surrounded by a green liquid. The tube at the top seems to be filtering the fluid. Sling grabs the smartphone from his back pocket and starts snapping pictures of what he has found, eventually discovering the morgue connected to this lab.

(Face Danger with Edge – Miss – Pay the Price: You waste resources)

The stealth device Sling had been using to shield himself from the security systems in the building shorts out. This means it is time to get out of here quickly. In the vents, Sling tries to return to the restroom where he stashed his clothes. Sling emerges into a hallway and finds armed Eaton guards waiting, one holding a device that Sling can infer was used to track his particular signature. 

(Enter the Fray + Iron – Strong Hit with a Match)

Sling cracks his neck, energy tendrils lighting up, crackling energy around his arms. One guard turns around and runs away, downgrading this fight. 

(Strike + Iron – Strong Hit)

These are clearly not Eaton’s best. Sling runs up the wall, shoots out a tendril that grabs a wall fixture on the opposite side of the corridor, and wheels around, his other tendril slamming two guards against the wall.

(Take Decisive Action + Iron – Weak Hit)

Sling doesn’t feel these guards are a threat and attempts to take them all out in a single swing of both energy tendrils. He has his back to the double doors on the other end of the hallway and whips around when he hears them crashing open. With thudding footsteps, the hulking Ironclad emerges, cracking his metallic knuckles, ready for a rematch (Sling last faced off with Ironclad in the pages of Sensational Slingshot #39)

(Clash + Iron – Miss – Pay the Price: Your action causes collateral damage or has an unintended effect)

Ironclad charges at Sling; Sling shoots out a tendril and knocks down a secured door, stumbling into a lab where security drones whip around, scanning him and determining a threat in their midst. 

(React Under Fire + Edge – Weak Hit – Suffer move)

(Endure Harm – Miss – Take 1 Harm, Lose 1 Momentum)

Fighting with the security drones slows Sling’s escape, allowing Ironclad to come crashing through the wall, sparks flying and machines turning to shrapnel. Sling beats down the last of the drones only to find his foe closing the gap.

(Clash + Iron – Miss – Pay the price: A friend, companion, or ally is in harm’s way (or you are, if alone). This is a perfect time to drop Jade Knight into the story.)

Surprisingly, a flash of glowing steel leaves a mark across Ironclad’s solid metal chest plate. He stumbles back in shock but recovers, delivering a heavy blow to his assailant: Jade Knight. She tumbles over a table in the lab and emerges momentarily, gripping her sword handle tighter. 

“Uh, hi,” Sling says as he backs up, seeing Ironclad fuming. 

“What the hell are *you* doing here?” is all Jade says before the fight begins again.

Ironclad’s hand moves faster than anticipated, oversized fingers wrapped around Jade’s skull, starting to crush her.

(Aid an Ally/Secure an Advantage + Heart – Strong Hit)

Using his tendrils, Sling fires himself full force into Ironclad’s armored head, ratting the villain’s brains around, causing him to drop Jade. Sling checks, and she seems to be okay.

(Clash + Iron – Weak Hit. Pay the Price: Your action causes collateral damage or has an unintended effect)

Sling gets in some good hits, and Jade joins him. Their actions are successful, but Ironclad stumbles back, landing on a cluster of a dozen canisters marked as explosive. Eaton Industries HQ shakes to the foundations as the eighth floor gets wholly blown apart.

(React Under Fire + Wits – Weak Hit, Consume Resources)

Sling grabs a fire-repellant pellet from his belt and tosses it into the flames. In seconds the oxygen around them is converted into carbon dioxide, the fire dying down and creating a somewhat safe escape path. Sling realizes his utility gadgets have run low, and he has nothing left. Ironclad emerges from the rubble with a roar, more cracks spreading across his chest plate.

(Clash + Iron – Strong Hit)

Sling grabs some of the canisters with his tendrils and starts chucking them rapid fire at Ironclad. Jade leaps onto the enemy’s back, using her sword to pry off Ironclad’s protective helmet.

(Gain Ground + Iron – Weak Hit)

A canister strikes Ironclad in his unprotected head, eliciting a roar of pain. He shakes off Jade, bringing his metal paws to his head to shield himself.

(Strike + Iron – Weak Hit)

Sling chucks one more empty canister that makes contact with the target’s head. Ironclad stumbles, bringing a metal hand down on two canisters that had been knocked off but not cracked. They explode in his face sending flame across flesh, searing away at his face. His face contorts in rage, and a tap on his gauntlet sends the armor into overdrive, Ironclad stomps toward Sling.

(Take Decisive Action + Iron – Strong Hit)

Sling pushes his endurance, grabbing one of the large machines that remain mostly intact in the lab, tearing it loose from where it is bolted into the floor, and chucking it into Ironclad’s center; the villain is unable to brace for impact and catches the whole momentum of the hunk of metal, sending him hurtling across the building and out of Sling & Jade’s hair.

(Face Danger + Heart – Weak Hit – Endure Stress)

Sling knows they have to get out of here immediately. Jade looks to be in slightly better shape, and Sling struggles to remain conscious as Jade leads him through the fiery hallways, eventually finding the stairwell and sneaking their way out of the building. She chucks Sling into the backseat of her car and peels out of the parking garage, disappearing into the streets of Forge City. 

Sling comes to an apartment with Jade sewing up a cut. She tells him they are in North Hook, at a safehouse she keeps for emergencies. He asks why Jade was there, and she explains she’s still trying to find out where Boss Frankenstein is keeping her kidnapped daughter. At the arena, she noticed the guards using Eaton Industries-designed energy weapons and wanted to see if there was some connection between the two. It doesn’t look like it; Jade guessing they stole the weapons from a warehouse in the harbor rather than working in tandem with Ezra Eaton. 

(Heal – Miss with a Match – Pay the Price: Something of value is lost or destroyed)

Before Jade can finish patching Sling up, he hears his phone ringing. Checking the screen, he sees “Aunt Laurie” and answers immediately, not noticing Jade’s confused look. Aunt Laurie is frantic. She tells Chris that Mari is in the hospital; she came home after school, and intruders in the house hurt her badly. Mari’s in the ER, and it doesn’t look good. Sling feels his tired, aching, broken body fill with rage. Boss Frankenstein’s men hurt his little sister. He pushes Jade away and says he has to go, opening a window and using his tendrils to swing away. 

All Jade can do is stand in the window, confused, worried about this young man, and talking to herself, “Your phone never rang, kid.”

Read part five here.