Patreon Papers 017: Ailments Dark and Dire

Games are made up of many different components, and the individual ideas within them aren't always as singularly useful as you might think. While I stay firmly within Ironsworn's design space, this month I explore how a single piece of the game might be extrapolated out into a whole other experience — and give some clues on how it might serve vastly different systems.

How do we do that? By creating a tabletop-friendly version of status effects as they're seen in games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring!

This document was made available for free thanks to generous patrons on Patreon.