Ironsworn Legacies Alpha Playtest and DnD: The Burning Plague 1
August 7, 2026 ◇ 10 min read
I started my adventure with Ironsworn with a very specific purpose, I wanted to play official adventure modules from various systems solo. Finding a group to play with was hard, organizing enough time to play was even harder, and completing an adventure was nearly impossible. Ironsworn solved all of those problems, and the system itself was easy and fun to play.
Before I started, I read the rulebook thoroughly, making notes along the way to avoid as many mistakes as possible. For my very first game, I picked one of the official DnD 3.5e modules, A Dark and Stormy Knight, to play through. It was much easier for me than inventing my own story, and it was exactly what I was after anyway. For this alpha playtest, I decided to follow the same route: read the rules, pick a module, and see how it goes. This time, it’s The Burning Plague.
Resources (purchasing items using the links below is a great way to help me maintain this blog):
- Ironsworn: Legacies Alpha Playtest
- Ironsworn: Sundered Isles for some additional oracles to fill character details.
- Ironswornified: The Burning Plague: An adaptation of The Burning Plague into something more Ironsworn friendly (Patreon bonus)
If you like my miniatures, you can get all of them on my Patreon or check out some of them on MyMiniFactory, Printables, Thingiverse or Makerworld.
Preparing for the Chapter
Sigurd Stouthammer
Description: Impulsive, Defiant
Species: Dwarf
Role: Laborer
Role detail: Miner
Backstory: Following in the footsteps of famous or notorious kin
Life events: Ongoing event: Raid Vow
Goal: Repay a debt
Motivations: Resist Disease, Oppose Peace, Locate Community
Edge: 1, Heart: 2, Iron: 3, Shadow: 1, Wits: 2
Momentum: 10
Tier: 0
Impacts: None
Position: Favored
Sigurd is an experienced dwarven miner, a faction member assigned to the task of investigating what happened at Duvik’s Pass and its mines (Raid Vow).
Yaelyn Evendusk
Description: Secretive, Resourceful
Species: Elf
Role: Merchant
Role detail: Fence
Backstory: Home occupied by an enemy faction
Life events: NPC action: Escalate Leadership, Ongoing events: Follow Spirit, Remove Hope, Await Protection
Goal: Defeat or undermine a faction
Motivations: Destroy Sanctuary, Resist Burden, Control Creation
Edge: 2, Heart: 1, Iron: 2, Shadow: 3, Wits: 1
Momentum: 10
Tier: 0
Impacts: None
Position: Favored
Yaelyn is an elf forced out of her home by her kin’s enemies and is now trying to survive on her own by whatever means necessary. She joined Sigurd’s faction and was sent as assistance to prove her worth (Escalate Leadership, Await Protection).
When I rolled both characters, Oppose Peace in Sigurd’s motivations and Yaelyn’s role, Fence, told me they were part of an unlawful organization, The Thieves’ Guild. The guild is an investor involved in financing the mines. Its leaders are worried about their profits from the Mines of Duvik’s Pass and sent Sigurd and Yaelyn to investigate.
Duvik’s Pass
Duvik’s Pass is a small town nestled within one of the few valleys that cross through the Serpentcoil Mountains. It has long been a waystop for travelers and adventurers seeking to rest aching limbs and drown painful memories within her gates. Moreover, it has also gained attention recently as a potential power in the area’s commerce, due to a discovery of substantial silver deposits buried in the mountains nearby.
Hope and industry turned to despair and potential ruin with the advent of the Burning Plague four months ago. It began quietly enough, with the miners returning home from their work at nightfall complaining of blistering sores and an unbearable thirst.
Sigurd and Yaelyn only know that silver deliveries from Duvik’s Pass have stopped. Since they were sent here, there has to be a local contact. There are four important characters mentioned in the module: the mayor, Cristofar, the chief miner’s wife Arianna, the merchant and mine financier Stefan, and the town priest Samual.
MMy first obvious pick was Stefan, but I rolled a d4 just in case to determine who it really was. This could potentialy introduce an additional twist to the story, and maybe a side quest about rescuing a missing person. The guild owes the townsfolk at least that much for their many years of cooperation. But the dice picked Stefan too, so it’s only about money after all.
Sigurd and Yaelyn were provided with the information about a local merchant who is also invested in the mines and cooperates with the guild, Stefan Doverspeak. Stefan explained the situation, the townspeople are sick, not a single miner is left to work the mines, and those who went into the mines some time ago never returned. Either the disease got them, or something is lurking in the mines. The water, crops, and livestock are infected, undoubtely, the rodents are spreading the disease everywhere. Those who can afford the cure can wait it out, but there’s no telling when the mines will be back in operation, if ever.
“Want your silver back? Better get to work.”
Undertake a Quest
Quest: Stop the Burning Plague.
Rank: Dangerous.
A few milestones I can think of:
- Find the source of the disease
- Find the missing miners
- Defeat any opposition
This is a typical one-shot with a pretty straightforward story, a Dangerous rank should be good enough.
The path to the mines is well known, but the people who went there didn’t return. There’s a risk it isn’t safe anymore. Before the journey, let’s see what rumors Stefan provided.
Journey rumours (100): The dead walk this path.
If the rumors are true, something in the mines is turning the missing people into undead.
Setup the Journey
Follow a passage: When traveling the well-trod ground of a passage advancement, Take Action to resolve the journey with a single roll.
Take Action: Journey overland (Sigurd)
Miss: 1 + 2 (wits) = 3 vs 7, 9. +1 misfortune, position: pressured.
Descriptor (82): Sheltered/Legendary
Focus (49): Ruin/Landmark
For each roll, there are two columns, Descriptor and Focus, and the results stopped me for a bit. Sheltered Landmark or Ruin sounds the most reasonable on a simple path to the mines, but something like Legendary Ruin or Legendary Landmark sounds tempting too. Before deciding, I checked the misfortune.
Suffer Misfortune (Sigurd)
Impact target (1): Personal (Health).
Health impact (9): Old pain resurfaces.
Descriptor (74): Impressive/Guarded
Focus (51): Environment/Battleground
There was no combat yet, the journey is simple, and it’s hard to think of any old pains Sigurd could have experienced. So, with Old pain resurfaces and Guarded Environment, I decided they referred to the location instead.
On their way to the mines, there was an old outpost serving as a storage building and rest stop for the workers (Sheltered Landmark). It was still functional, but it had seen better days. Sigurd checked inside, looking for any survivors who might have escaped the mines but were unable to travel all the way back to town. Inside, it was dusty, a soft light seeped through the holes in the roof, and the wood squeaked with every step. In one of the chambers, a ragged person in a miner’s outfit stood motionless, staring at the wall. When approached by Sigurd, the figure turned to face him and mauled the dwarf unexpectedly. Slack face, dead eyes, strange movements, it was an undead. A single one wasn’t much of a challenge, and they quickly dealt with it. So the rumor Stefan shared was true.
Sigurd’s impacts: 1 health.
Leaving the old, empty outpost behind, they arrived at the mines.
Mines of Duvik’s Pass
A cool breeze drifts down from the towering peaks of the Serpentcoil Mountains as you behold the entrance to the caverns. The frost-rimed ground is littered with tools, picks and shovels, some of which protrude from soft banks of snow. A single darkened shaft leads into the depths of the mine ahead. The dirt path beneath its wooden support structure is covered with stone debris, a few pieces of which occasionally glint with the slightest hint of ore. No light issues forth from the tunnel. Burnt-out torches are strewn across the floor, their brackets torn from the shaft walls. Behind you, the worn road leads back through the crags to the valley below. Aside from the quiet whistling of the wind, complete silence fills the small clearing within the mountains.
Setup the Journey
Challenging journey: This the default scope for a journey. Take on a Challenge to see what happens.
Take on a Challenge: Explore the Mines of Duvik’s Pass
Rank: Formidable
Take Action: Journey overland (Sigurd)
Strong hit: 6 + 2 (wits) = 8 vs 5, 2. +1 advantage, position: favored.
Build success: To push towards the objective, Take Action. On a hit, Gain Advantage, choose the mark challenge progress effect, and mark progress per the challenge rank.
Descriptor (33): Deep/Blocked
Focus (74): Barrier/Transport
Explore the Mines of Duvik’s Pass
Progress: 1/10
Gain Advantage (Sigurd)
Gain 1 momentum.
Deep Transport or Blocked Transport means Sigurd and Yaelyn are in the Greeting Room. Overturned wooden carts are still filled with silver ore, under one of them is the corpse of one of the miners. They won’t recognize the person, but it might provide some information about what’s going on here.
Take Action: Investigate the corpse (Sigurd)
Miss: 1 + 2 (wits) = 3 vs 9, 5. +1 misfortune, position: pressured.
There’s no table for which misfortune effect to use, but since I really enjoyed rolling Pay the Price, I rolled a d4 (there are four misfortune effects for the cost of one) to determine which one it would be instead of choosing it myself.
Suffer Misfortune: Poor visibility (Sigurd)
D4: 2. Lose 1 momentum Lose 1 momentum. -1 momentum.
“Well, lass, this one is definitely dead. That’s all I can say. Let’s move deeper into the mines. Keep your eyes sharp.”
The corpse was mangled beyond recognition. What lies beyond is still unknown. But the fact that there’s a single corpse pinned beneath a cart is unsettling enough. It’s unlikely the miner did it himself. The undead? Probably not, either.
Take Action: Stealthily move through hostile lands (Yaelyn)
Weak hit: 3 + 3 (shadow) = 6 vs 3, 9. +2 advantage, +1 misfortune.
Descriptor (36): Ravaged/Isolated
Focus (81): Grave/Mire
D4 for misfortune: 3. Face a setback.
Face a setback: A complication blocks your progress. To move forward, TAKE ACTION and overcome a setback.
Suffer Misfortune (Yaelyn)
Face a setback.
I rolled on the encounter table I prepared to see what could have caused the setback.
D10: 4. Dire Weasel.
It’s a Dire Weasel. It probably moved in to escape the cold after activity in the mines died down. Still, it’s just a wild beast, maybe Sigurd and Yaelyn don’t have to disturb it if they don’t want to.
Gain Advantage (Yaelyn)
Find an opportunity.
The weasel is resting at the moment, full from the supplies left in the mines. They’ll try to sneak quietly past it.
Take Action and Tempt Fate: Sneak past the Dire Weasel (Yaelyn)
Strong hit: 3 + 3 (shadow) + 1 = 7 vs 2, 1. +3 advantage, +1 momentum (favored).
Gain Advantage (Yaelyn)
Overcome a setback.
Mark challenge progress. x2
Explore the Mines of Duvik’s Pass
Progress: 3/10
Reach a milestone: Stop the Burning Plague
Avoid dangerous wildlife. Progress: 2/10
No point in recklessly risking their lives. They successfully sneaked past the sleeping weasel and moved deeper into the mines.
Take Action: Journey overland (Sigurd)
Miss: 5 + 2 (wits) = 7 vs 7, 7. Match. +1 misfortune, position: desperate.
Descriptor (55): Flooded/Barren
Focus (27): Remains/Path
A foul smell and unexpectedly hot air this deep in the mines filled the tunnel. With each step, breathing became more and more difficult. When they turned the corner, they witnessed a gruesome scene, a rotting heap of remains tangled together, miners, kobolds, and rats. The air nearly choked them. Somehow, flies had made their way here, and their buzzing only added to the sickening sight. This was the Charnel Pit, the place from which, undoubtedly, the Burning Plague spread.
Suffer Misfortune (Yaelyn)
Increase tension: Danger looms. Add or mark a foursegment tension timer (mark two segments on a match). Once you mark the last segment, encounter a peril.
Tension Timer: Burning Plague disease
Progress: 0/4
Maybe it was a mistake to come here. It’s only a matter of time before the symptoms of the disease manifest. There’s no chance they didn’t contract the Burning Plague.
When they were about to leave, the heap of remains stirred slightly. A wet sloshing sound broke through the buzzing of flies. Something beneath it moved, and the corpses began to part, revealing a large black silhouette.
It definitely was a mistake.
Part 1 summary
Sigurd gained one health impact, and Yealyn gained one momentum. Not much changed, but I think that’s to be expected without assets.
I really like Journey Actions, I would love something similar for Take Action. Without the old Ironsworn moves, it’s harder to come up with what Take Action could be, so I kept a list of the old moves as inspiration. In my mind, Take Action defaults to Face Danger, but that’s probably because I’m so used to Ironsworn.
Journey rumors are great too. I hope they make it into the final release.
I’m not sure how to feel about the Journey Oracle table, instead of one prompt like before, I get four now. Each time, this makes me stop for a bit to think about which one I should use. I feel like it was meant to tone down the randomness, but it also made things a bit less exciting while playing. I’m thinking more about that choice and what would fit better than about how to push the narrative forward in an interesting way with what I rolled. I’ll probably roll to determine which columns to use before rolling on Descriptor and Focus, this will double the number of rolls, but it will make me focus more on what the prompt means than on which one to use.
I made a total of 25 dice rolls (excluding character creation), or 20 if I exclude makeshift pay the price rolls and the rolls I wanted to try but didn’t use in the end.
- Oracle rolls: 13
- Move rolls: 6
- Additional rolls (my own encounter tables and makeshift pay the price): 3
- Oracle rolls I made but ignored and didn’t include in the adventure (journey misfortunes and advantages): 3
For comparison, in chapter 1 of Sundered Isles playthrough In Search of Adventure 1 I made a total of 27 dice rolls (excluding character creation).
- Oracle rolls: 16
- Move rolls: 10
- Additional rolls (my own encounter tables): 1
Both chapters are around 2000 words long.
