In Short
If you enjoy Iron Gauntlets then the companion is almost certain to give you more of what you like. More races, Vocations, and spellcasting are mixed in with a large number of optional rules and a detailed example of play. If you want more of what you’ve already got, and a healthy number of optional rules, then the Iron Gauntlets Companion (hereinafter “Companion”) delivers.The Good: There’s something here for everyone, and it’s well integrated with Iron Gauntlets. The various new rules allow for a much broader, more customizable play experience. It’s easy to take only as much as you want.
The Bad: Some of this material, such as the longer combat example, arguably should have found its way into the Iron Gauntlets core book. As with other books of its type, many consumers may find that they only use a very limited amount of the material.
The Physical Thing
This 65 page black and white softcover showcases average production values for its $14.95 price tag. The editing is good, the formatting easy to ready, and the margins small leading to a product packed with information despite the small page count. The artwork, unfortunately, is uncommon and does little to enhance the product.Under the Cover
The Companion offers a host of new rules and add-ons that a group can mix and match however they wish. The new races will be of the most immediate interest to many groups, and include Satyrs, Wights (kind of a mountain elf), Kilraj (tall, powerful humanoids), Sullimeigh (thick skinned heavily armored priests), Merkins, and Phaciores (monstrous sea dwelling humanoids). They’re an interesting mix of classic fantasy races (Satyrs, Merkins) and entirely new beings that have their own distinct feel (Sullimeigh). Each receives the same balanced approach as the races in the core book, and as with the product on the whole it provides more of what you already have.New Flairs similarly expand on the corebook. Unfortunately, these are very narrow in use and provide questionable benefit to the reader. Of the five Flairs, for example, three are Fitness Flairs – Constitution, Stamina, and Toughness. These are subtle variations on a physical health Flair, and many readers may find that the mechanics additions here don’t offer players anything new that they would want to use in play. The new Gimmicks offer a better mix, including some outright supernatural Gimmicks like Sleepless. Many social Gimmicks support noble title and followers, making it easier for a group to include various grades of nobility in their game.
By the time I reached the Vocations, however, much of my skepticism at earlier mechanics additions had been replaced with interest. Courtier, Explorer, Tribal Guardian, and other Vocations are immediately useful and correspond to at least uncommon character concepts. A few are a little more narrow but still fun, like the Personal Defender who functions as a bodyguard to others. My favorite is the Hedge Wizard, who uses simple trickery and potions to create seemingly magical effects. All in all, this is a solid addition to the core material.
The Companion has a variety of short, new mechanics systems. Character Convictions award bonus points during character creation in return for characters having beliefs and fears that they must struggle against during play. Threads, another new mechanic, represent connections between characters and allow characters to aid one another during play. New Health mechanics reflect the idea that demoralization occurs as characters suffer injury.
But small additions aren’t the only new things here. The entire combat system has been tweaked and re-presented for clarity. Ranged Targeting, Blocking, Hit Location, and a host of other combat mechanics have been added in. The great thing here is that you can take what you want and leave the rest in order to add whatever you like to your game. The mechanics are also intuitive and fit well with the core book. Social combat mechanics, which play out in a similar manner to normal combat, also receive several pages and offer players a new battlefield for those who are interested in step by step social task resolution.
Umbra-based magic is the new magic system introduced in the Companion, along with the Druid Vocation which makes use of it. Umbral magic is a sort of nature-based elementalism which includes Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Plant, and Animal spells. In addition to intuitive ideas, such as increasing the amount of an element in the area, there’s a strong spirit-theme here. While the section is fairly short it offers just as much flexibility as the magic systems in the core book and I would be happy to build a character using it.
There are other rules and supplementary materials scattered throughout the book, but I hope you get a feel for the major additions. Possibly the most useful addition, for me, was a multi-page example of play which served to clear up any confusion the reader might have about how the game is played.
My Take
I would immediately incorporate at least a third of this material into my Iron Gauntlets game, which to me means it’s good stuff. The rest I would include on a more selective basis depending on what sort of game feel I was going for. The social mechanics, for example, might be an excellent choice in a more intrigue-oriented game but less worthwhile in a forest-based game of fantasy adventure.While I do believe this is a solid expansion of the core game, it’s worth noting that Iron Gauntlets is complete as is. This is very much an optional supplement that can help expand your game, both in terms of setting elements (merfolk, druidism) and mechanical options (social combat), but at the end of the day it’s not a product that you need if all you want from Iron Gauntlets is a rules light vehicle for telling high fantasy stories.
If you want more crunch, new mechanics, and a fun new magic system for Iron Gauntlets then pick this one up.
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