SILENTLY

SWORN

COSMIC HORROR SUPPLEMENT FOR

by chalimacos

Version 0.2 https://silentlysworn.wordpress.com/

CREDITS

Silently Sworn is a fan supplement for the renowned Ironsworn RPG by Shawn Tomkin. It reuses the text of several of its assets and remixes others. The text of the assets Gambling, Law, Business and Research is taken from the magnificent supplement Ironsworn: Badlands by Keith Stetson. This sourcing is under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. The list of assets in this supplement is a conversion of the skill system of the RPG Silent Legions by Kevin Crawford. No text from this RPG is reproduced here beyond the name of the skills. Users of this supplement are strongly encouraged to buy a copy of Silent Legions to fully flesh out and enjoy the setting. Card templates by https://effortlessmountain.github.io/ironsworn-asset-workbench/

SUPPORT THESE PRODUCTS:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/238369/Ironsworn https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/145769/Silent-Legions

https://kstetson.itch.io/ironsworn-badlands

This supplement is under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

International license

INTRODUCTION

The core of this supplement is a conversion of the skill list from Silent Legions to the

asset system of Ironsworn. The flexibility of these skills allows for the creation of many

interesting characters for a cosmic horror setting. Characters start with 3 skills plus

the optional Motor Vehicle card. Some examples of the characters that you can

generate:

Private Eye: Perception, Stealth, Law.

Professor: History, Language, Research.

Prostitute: Art-dance, Culture-Criminal, Persuade.

Occultist: Language, Occult, Any ritual.

Clergy: Religion, Leadership, Persuade.

Reporter: Perception, Persuade, Research

Policeman: Athletics, Law, Combat-Projectile

In the Silent Legions book (pg. 7) you will find 40 of these pre-made characters with

their associated skills. When adapting a character from Silent Legions ignore the

Culture/Home skill as it is too generic to warrant an asset.

MECHANICS

The Spirit track in Ironsworn is to be considered as Sanity. To play in a cosmic horror

setting it is useful to emphasize the Endure Stress move and the Mystic Backlash

oracle. Not only rituals may trigger a Mystic Backlash, but also weird artifacts and

horrific creatures as an outcome to Pay the Price.

If you use the supplement Delve, the themes most suited for a cosmic horror setting

are: Corrupted, Hallowed, Haunted and Ravaged.

§

Clues during the investigation are to be associated with suspects and obtaining them

means to reach a milestone. To assign clues to suspects, I suggest the ‘Usage Dice’

method on pg. 3 of the document Preserving Player Surprise in a Solitaire Investigative

Adventure, which says:

Start each suspect at 1d10. Roll each die every time a Clue is found, but before determining the nature of the Clue. Interpret the specific Clue to fit every entity or suspect that rolls 1-2 on their die; these also drop down to the next smallest die size (d10>d8>d6>d4). When a 1d4 comes up 1-2, you've discovered the ultimate culprit or horror. If two go at once... combine.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wer71xapl93gyjf/Clues%20in%20solo%20mysteries%

20and%20horror.pdf?dl=0

It is recommended to have at least 4 suspects.

§

Moves: Some moves need to be reframed in an urban setting, but keep their original

function in a wilderness adventure. In an urban setting, make the following changes:

The Supply track is to be understood not only in relation to gear but also as

an indication of how hungry you are.

Resupply = Eat (most of the time). The result points to the quality of your

food, digestion or if you skipped a meal (miss).

Make Camp = Rest.

Sojourn is a prolonged (several days) stay under the care of a person or

institution (hospital, psychiatric guard, etc.)

Undertake a Journey = Advance. In an urban setting the distances are not

great and the Advance move sometimes just implies moving to the next

room in a house. The suggested way to manage advance in an urban setting

is detailed below.

o Use a 10 box progress track to represent roughly 5 hours (half an hour

per box). If you Advance to the next room in the same building, just tick

1 or 2 boxes on a hit (depending on the events in the last scene). If you

Advance to another building in the same Town, tick 3 boxes on a hit.

When you fill 10 boxes or decide to Reach your Destination = Pause

to Eat and Rest. If you move to another town use the normal Undertake

a Journey move. A typical day in a urban setting with this system would

be:

Events in the Morning (10 boxes track)

Reach your destination = Pause

Eat (lunch)

Rest (optional midday nap. As it is shorter than nighttime sleep,

on a strong hit only choose one option)

Events in the Afternoon/Evening (new 10 boxes track)

Reach your destination = Pause

Eat (dinner)

Rest and/or Optional nighttime adventure (new 10 boxes track)

If you don’t like this system, in an urban setting you may use an adaptation of the Delve the Depth system found in Delve.

PLOTS

If you need inspiration to start your quest with a background vow and incident, you

will find 60 settings each with Foes, Friends (bonds), Secrets, Schemes and plot ideas

in the chapter ‘Building Your World’ from Silent Legions. These premade settings are

called Location Tags.

My suggestion is to combine elements from 2 Locations Tags, one mundane and one

occult. Only after the discovery of some key clues, the investigator(s) will sense that

there is an occult scheme going on behind the scenes. The player should roll for an

occult Location Tag only after he has reached certain milestones (clues) in order to

preserve the surprise factor. Some mundane character or group already met will

usually be the link to the occult scheme.

You can also use the plot generator based on Hooks and Challenges in the same book

or you preferred random plot generator..

FOES

The player may assign a rank (Troublesome, Dangerous… ) to the entities in Silent

Legions or another RPG, but the following enemies already found in Ironsworn and

Delve are perfectly suited for a cosmic horror setting:

EQUIVALENCE RANK BOOK CLASS

Common Folk Troublesome Ironsworn Denizen

Broken Madman Troublesome Ironsworn Denizen

Zealot Troublesome Delve Denizen

Raider Outcast, gang member Dangerous Ironsworn Denizen

Warrior Police, Security, Cult enforcer

Dangerous Ironsworn Denizen

Mystic Cultist Dangerous Ironsworn Denizen

Hunter Native, KKK, Militiaman Dangerous Ironsworn Denizen

Broken Psycho Dangerous Ironsworn Denizen

Bonewalker Dangerous Ironsworn Horror

Merrow Dangerous Delve Creature

Bog Rot Dangerous Delve Horror

Thrall Dangerous Delve Horror

Frostbound Formidable Ironsworn Horror

Haunt Formidable Ironsworn Horror

Sodden Formidable Ironsworn Horror

Husk Occultist, Mage Formidable Delve Denizen

Nightspawn Formidable Delve Beast

Blighthound Formidable Delve Horror

Wight Formidable Delve Horror

Primordial Extreme Ironsworn God

Chimera Extreme Ironsworn Horror

Hollow Extreme Ironsworn Horror

Iron revenant Extreme Ironsworn Horror

Rhaskar Extreme Delve Beast

Bonehorde Extreme Delve Horor

Leviathan Epic Ironsworn Beast

Kraken Epic Delve Beast

Wyrm Epic Delve Creature

RITUA LS

These rituals already present in Ironsworn are suitable for a cosmic horror setting:

Augur Awakening Bind Communion Divination Invoke Keen Leech Lightbearer

Scry Shadow-Walk Sway Talisman Tether Totem Visage Ward

The suggested ways to acquire a ritual are:

If your character has the Occult skill, he may start with one ritual.

After you acquire the Combat-Eldritch skill (once you fulfill a Formidable or

greater vow in close contact with hidden or alien powers).

After you Forge a Bond with an Occultist that agrees to train you. It requires a

considerable expenditure of momentum and spirit to learn the ritual (at least -

3 each).

Finding, deciphering and gathering information from a Secret Tome.

If you fulfill one of the previous conditions and earn experience you can add

further rituals.

If you like this supplement, you may Buy me a Coffee:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/silentlysworn

OTHER RESOURCES

The thousands of weird and supernatural artifacts generated by Green Box

Generator: https://greenbox.robertshippey.net/

The random weird artifact tables from Realms of Crawling Chaos (pg. 56)

The sample phobia and mania tables from the Call of Chtulu Keeper Rulebook

7ed are a good complement to the Mystic Backlash oracle.

To explore mature themes (addictions, sex…) give your character one

disadvantage from Kult 1st edition and play it out narratively.