It's time to begin my second (and final) week of choosing Truths for a solo Ironsworn: Starforged game! Rolling for one a night is letting me stew on each of these truths without feeling like I'm getting too mired in the details. It feels like a little treat to look forward to each night instead of a big homework assignment to slog through (in my experience, doing all 14 all in one go can feel like a lot).
I think this extended approach could work at least as well in a group setting. Scheduling, like, 14 half-hour sessions 14 nights in a row would be next to impossible for many groups, but it would be very play-by-post friendly; you pick a set time each day to roll the next Truth on your Discord server or whatever, then it serves as a focal point for discussion and ideation until the next one drops.
Speaking of discussion, let's roll on the table!
Communication and Data Roll: 71
"In settled domains, a network of data hubs called the Weave allow near-instantaneous communication and data-sharing between ships and outposts."
I'm tired tonight. But I just won't be able to sleep until I know what Medicine is like in the Forge.
Medicine Roll: 61
"To help offset a scarcity of medical supplies and knowledge, the resourceful technicians we call riggers create basic organ and limb replacements."
The thing I want to answer right away is why medical supplies and knowledge are scarce. We've established that we were able to get some reasonably solid footing (as hurried evacuations through one-way alien portals go) in many other areas, so why not medicine?
For that, I'll go back to a detail I threw in with the Communities truth: The corporations that would go on to form the Covenant controlled a lot back in the Milky Way, but not everything. Medicine was one of the few things that escaped their big, greedy grasp.
As a little treat, I'm going to imagine a wild sci-fi setting where our governments had the guts to enforce and deliver an uncompromised vision of medical care as a human right.
That was the good news! The bad news is that whatever corporate medical infrastructure that still existed, and was thus positioned to make it through the Exodus, only catered to a niche clientele. The kind of folks who wanted a more Luxe and Discerning experience when they went to get their designer flu shots or antigrav BBLs or whatever.
So here are your options if you're in a bad way in the Forge:
- Be an executive.
- Win an Authentic Clinical Experience from a Mountain Dew sweepstakes.
- Go to a rigger. Mechanical expertise and spare parts, at least, are plentiful out here.
People always find ways to take care of each other. We'll find out what, if any, role artificial lifeforms play in this galaxy tomorrow.
now I'm gonna go take care of my bed, if ya know what I mean. by laying down and sleeping on it.