What seems like a lifetime ago, as it is with most crowdfunding platforms, I had backed a product on Backerkit for a “solo mech exploration RPG” game called ION Heart. I was genuinely excited for it. The art was great, it was mech related, and it wasn’t tactical combat. Oh, and it was solo from the get go. But I got it, the PDF, a few months ago and well, was deflated. It didn’t mesh with the idea of the game I had in my head. The physical copies of the game finally arrived a few weeks ago. I unpacked the box and left them mostly in the shrink-wrap on my shelf. Then on a whim, I wanted to see if anyone had created any new videos on it as most of the content came out during the backing period. And low and behold, there was a newer video published a few weeks ago. This video got me to look at the game again, to see if there was something I missed.
The Draw of ION Heart
There were a couple of things that put holes into my balloon on my first read through. First up, a little description on the what and the how the game is played. ION Heart is a solo roleplaying game where you play as a pilot and your mech within the world of the Astral Union or AU. The AU is a universe that has been filled with war with an extra-galactic threat but where there is finally peace between the six societies. You build your character, pilot and mech, then spin up your starting system and planet (there are some random tables to help create both). Once your starting point has been established, you can randomly determine the first story circuit. A story circuit is simply a collection of prompts with a common narrative arc for you to complete. Roughly half of the 161 page book contains the story circuits. There can also be random events while traveling between settlements. There are also mechanics for combat as things aren’t all peaceful. And I should mention actions, combats, random tables, etc are all decided by rolling d6s.
As I mentioned, one of the things I was drawn into the game was the art. The cover is that of a very rounded mech sitting on a hillside with trees behind it and a moon or maybe another planet up in the sky. The mech hardly has any hard pointed edges which is very contrary to the Gundams and the like of the world. One of the influences for the style they, Parable Games, mentioned on their Backerkit page was The Iron Giant. You can see that in their designs. The color palette is of hues of blues and soft pinks. In every illustration. Inner drawings and headers are in the pink range while blue is kept on the outside of the books. What I am trying to say, it’s a very pretty thing to look through.
Big giant robots have been my jam ever since I first watched the seminal series, Robotech. Of course that had the bonus of having transforming robots. They grabbed my imagination and my parent’s pocketbook, within reason. Ok, it was mostly just my time watching all the cartoons I could. And this didn’t stop as I got older. I had watched hours and hours of anime including one of my favorite, The Vision of Escaflowne which is another of the influences for this game. There were a few Gundam series I had watched fully. And then there was Pacific Rim. I like them big robots!
Around the time I ran across the link to the crowdfunding campaign, I was getting a little deeper into the solo role playing game scene. I had already gone down the path of playing solo board games but solo RPGs were a different beast. I was trying them all the same. I had started with Ironsworn: Starforged and the digital library has ballooned (some say out of control??) with many more. The concept of a solo RPG where you play as a mech but not in some tactical combat sort of way really sealed me clicking the back button. When I finally got the PDF, it pained me to see things on the first read and attempted play that didn’t connect with me.
The Grievances
Now let me get into my initial grievances. First, right on the cover, the game is sold as an exploration RPG. And maybe from a certain point of view, it is an exploration RPG. The game includes some basic tables to create a planetary system which includes which territory it may belong to. There are pre-built systems to use. There are basic tables to spin up a planet, too, which also include pre-built options. And then it goes down to the settlement level. There are no pre-build settlements to use. All the settlements have the same 4 core amenities and then random one or more extra based on the size. These are all very cookie cutter, very much like towns you might find in some older JRPGs now that I think about it. But you are on the hook to determine, if you want, the name, the political fuzziness, the folks living in the town, etc.
With all the randomness presented above, it never feels like there’s any exploration to be had. I did mention there were traveling encounters as you go between settlements, a collection of 18 different where 6 of them are combat related. There’s a high probability you’ll be re-doing the same encounter during any one game/session. There isn’t some ancient ruin to stumble upon. No once in a lifetime meteor shower which is actually the re-entry of a mech banished thousands of years ago. Or a milk run escort the leaders of a settlement to the next for their annual festival. As I write these things that just were swimming around on the top of the pond scum known as my mind, these are wonderful ideas. Or maybe just good ideas. You are rolling your own situations should you go that way.
Now I want to get into the story circuits. Story circuits are basically self contained episodes of narrative content. On their own, one circuit will not have any relation to another. These are completely episodic. Each circuit will have an over arching theme and then up to 5 different events that happen within concluding with a finale which you can get to after completing at least three of the events. This is actually really great structured narratives bits and on their own, great bits to dive into. However, when you combine them with the randomness of planet generations, some circuits won’t work very well. An example would be if you were on an ice planet and you landed on a story which takes place in a forest. Of course there are narrative ways to work around these polar opposites (going with the pun!) though will be a challenge for those looking for a low stakes story to crank out.
The Parting of the clouds
As I wrote this out, it became a bit more clearer on where my initial thoughts had gone versus the intent of the game. It was all around the idea of exploration. I come from a background in board games. Some of my favorite board games includes exploring usually with a mechanic of placing a new tile that represents an undiscovered chunk of space unto the table. Xia: Legends of a Drift System is among my favorite games because of that mechanic. A tile could contain a planet, empty space, asteroids. We don’t know! It’s literally a hex crawling style of game. The tiles are hexagons. On top of the tiles, there is a mission system which will vary from game to game. The missions will make sense even though they are basically randomly dealt out. It is the game I use as a model for other exploration games which I did for ION Heart.
I was looking for exploration but found a bunch of randomness that didn’t really seem to link together like a Lego set might. This is where some re-thinking entered the room. And it was in the book all along. It just wasn’t very explicit. You have to look on the back of the book. This is a journaling style of game. Seriously, the only explicit mention of this being a solo journaling game is the blurb on the back of the book. In any event, with that knowledge nailed down, the clouds parted. I just had to connect all the dots myself. As a solo RPG enjoyer, that should have been the throughline all along. After reading several of the circuits, it became apparent that this is where the core exploration was supposed to take place, as well. The exploration existed, just not like how my mind wanted it to exist. Per one of my examples, there is a story circuit where you run across an abandoned mech which is kind of like a ruin.
This is completely my clouds parting. Your section of sky may be better, it may be worse. You may have no idea what solo RPGs are and really, I’m stoked you got this far in the post! There are many resources to learn more about them. Here are a few to get you going:
- Ginny Di – No D&D group? Try solo play!
- The Dungeon Dive – A Beginner’s Guide to Solo Role Playing (solo RPGs), by the Dungeon Dive
- Maia’s Solo Room – Why I Thought Solo RPGs Weren’t For Me (And Why I Was Wrong)
With my mind a little less clouded, I think I will give this game another go. Be very less rigid and fill in any gaps with my own stylings. Journaling games are almost always siding on the creative side. Paint your scenes with the colors you were given.
With that said, my excitement that I had when I first saw this game has been restored. And damn the torpedoes, I will get a play log of a session up for y’all to read.
A Wrinkle in Silver 