Hey all,
A few points and thoughts:
* The previews for Iron Might will follow the same developmental path as the ones I did for Mystic Secrets. I'm going to try to tear open the guts of the book and explain how and why things work the way they do. I hope that gives a good understanding of what they book is and how it works, since there's nothing like it out there.
* The ironborn are customizable at character creation. An ironborn built by a barbarian shaman is a lot different than one created by a cleric. There's also rules for building your own ironborn.
* The system is designed for maximum flexibility both in terms of what it handles, and in how you use it. There's three basic modes it supports:
- New combat maneuvers: The DM builds new maneuvers for the PCs or monsters and introduces them into the game.
- Player combat maneuvers: The players build maneuvers and the DM designs drawbacks to them.
- Freeform maneuvers: The DM invents maneuvers on the fly to handle actions that the PCs attempt.
There's a learning curve built into this design: 99% of groups should start with new combat maneuvers, then build up to freeform ones if they want more flexibility.
* On a design level, the system bears some resemblance to the rituals in Mystic Secrets. They have what I call an instantiation cost, as opposed to an opportunity cost**. The drawback of the maneuver, or the cost of being able to do it, is encoded within the act of attempting it. In essence, if you want to gain the benefit of maneuver X, you have to accept the risk of drawback Y. The ceremonies from Mystic Secrets may seem like a completely different kettle of fish, but on a design level they're almost the same thing. Knowing how to do a ritual isn't very useful - you only gain its benefits when you perform it, and as part of performing it you have to spend the gold pieces in sacrifices needed to complete it.
** Opportunity Cost Defined: An game mechanic balanced by the act of selecting it, as opposed to using it. A feat has an opportunity cost. When you select feat A, you as a consequence decide not to select B, C, D, E, ad nauseum. For the game system to maintain its integrity, A must equal B, which must equal C, WRT the game element that has decided to use it.
* Baron Opal - That's exactly what you can do with Iron Might. You could design several maneuvers and allow only characters who meet prereqs to perform them. These prereqs could all be roleplaying based, such as "you must befriend and study under Martrim the Swordmaster to use these maneuvers", stuff like that.
* There aren't too many new mechanics in the maneuver and stunt system, just new ways to look at and manipulate existing structures.
