We are all quite excited for the imminent release of the Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy Roleplaying Game: Core Rules (IKFMFRPGCR!) book. This weighty tome represents a tremendous amount of work and effort by a large number of people. For my part, one of the challenges with this first essential volume was to provide a comprehensive and engaging introduction to our setting in a book already filled to the brim with the core rules.
When I wasn’t helping playtest the game by joining in a diverse variety of themed campaigns, my work on this tome involved writing and overseeing others writing the non-rules portions of the book. While this included text throughout, my time was most focused in the “History of the Iron Kingdoms” and the “Life in the Iron Kingdoms” chapters occupying the first hundred pages or so. I was particularly eager to include information about the major religions of our setting. Indeed, our description of the setting begins and ends with material pertinent to our gods.
The history chapter begins with “Cosmology and Prehistory,” discussing the legends and myths related to the creation of Caen by its primal gods. Trying to go from the creation of the world to the present in a concise and logical fashion in a few dozen pages without leaving out anything important was a difficult but rewarding challenge. We knew that the core book was the most appropriate place for cosmology and ancient history in particular—subsequent books would focus on detailing specific nations and cultures, many of which did not even exist in the earliest times.
The “Life in the Iron Kingdoms” chapter is an overview and snapshot of life in the human-dominated setting in the present day of the RPG. This was the most challenging chapter since this is such a huge and potentially far-reaching topic. Indeed, the next RPG book slated for release is basically an expansion on this chapter where we will delve into each of the individual Iron Kingdoms (Cygnar, Khador, Llael, Ord, and the Protectorate of Menoth) in greater detail.
From the outset we wanted both old and new players to be able to dive into the setting and feel like they could see the world from the point of view of those living within it. This chapter ends with a comprehensive section describing how religion impacts daily life. Particular attention was given to the major human faiths: the worship of the Twins (Morrow and Thamar) and Menoth, the Creator of Man. The book also describes the other religions and how they affect life in the central Iron Kingdoms, but the largest focus is on the faiths of Morrow and Menoth, the most pervasive faiths with the biggest impact.
While working on this I was thrilled to see our artists and design team bring these religions to life graphically. When we first described the Ascendants of Morrow to RPG players over a decade ago in the Witchfire Trilogy, we suggested that each of these saint-like figures had his or her own iconography and talismans worn by those who revered them. In this book we finally get a chance to see these symbols for the first time. They turned out even better than I had imagined thanks to the talents of our own Laine Garrett. Take a look at her work in the IKRPG preview page below. It’d be fantastic to see these symbols minted as actual coins akin to the ones worn by the pious in our setting—but I’m not the one who makes those decisions! The parallel symbols created for the Scions of Thamar for the book are equally evocative, with several being as sinister as you would expect.
There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing aspects of our setting come to life while collaborating with our team of talented writers and artists. The Core Rules book has been a treat in this respect and our voyage of discovery and exploration is just getting started—I can’t wait to see what else is in store as we move forward with the other books, magazine articles, and free bonus content created for the Full Metal Fantasy RPG line.