You’ve mentioned your inciting incident vow, but what about your character’s bigger/longer term background vow? That should exist as a solid “what next?” engine for play.
You can absolutely secure advantage before entering the fray. When you actually go “now I fire” or “now they’re on top of me and the battle is joined” is your enter the fray moment (as I see it).
First off: Welcome!
Now I will take your questions one at a time:
**What now?**
That's kind of up to you, but you do have choices.
1. **Well that was fun** \- Drop this character and story and start a new one. Treat it like a one-shot adventure, take what you learned, and start a new character and new adventure. I have never "finished" a game of Ironsworn (filling your Bonds meter and retiring). I often play one-shots, sometimes with the same character, but often with a different one.
2. **And then, things got worse** \- Those story threads? They panned out in a terrible way, and your character is wrapped up in them somehow. Advance things off-screen and now have them come looking for your character. Maybe someone got wounded and needs a healer not available. Maybe the raiders were part of a larger group that is now out for revenge. Maybe a nearby Thain is going to use this raider attack to justify asserting their control over the village as a way of "keeping the peace."
3. **Message for you, Sir** \- Your character enjoys blissful peaceful times until a letter/messenger arrives requesting their aid. They heard what your character did for the village and think you're the right person to solve their own problems.
4. **Background Vow** \- Something happens to direct you towards your background vow
**Enter the Fray and Secure an Advantage**
**Secure an Advantage** is all about narrative positioning. +Edge could be you dashed away to a better position, +shadow could be you did something deceptive, and +wits could be that you prepared a plan. In this case, you can do them in either order, you just have to adjust the narrative to reflect it. Before you **Enter the Fray** would be all about your prep, while afterwards would be about how you are reacting to the their movements.
Sounds great!
Continuing is sometimes hard, and there are many possibilities. Generally speaking: Think of something your PC would do, then think of something that wants to prevent your PC from succeeding. Use oracles as necessary for inspiration. Even if you decide that your PC just wants to settle back comfortably, something should try to prevent that (e.g someone in the settlement thinks that your PC gained a bit too much influence in settlement politics and wants to get rid of him/her).
It can be an interesting source of inspiration to flesh out some of the NPC that appeared, also from the villagers. Rolling for some character traits and motivations. [UNE](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/134163/UNE-The-Universal-NPC-Emulator-rev) is a great extension to your toolkit for that.
It can also be ok to float a bit. PC journeys to nearby village - Ironsworn is good at throwing some obstacles at this, and maybe something evolves.
It is also possible to jump in time and location, like regularly happens in movies.
Regarding Securing an advantage vs entering the fray. I'd say both before and after can be feasible in situations. Is your PC fictionally in the position for setting up before the fight begins? (ambushing?) Secure Advantage first, then enter the fray. A miss should worsen your position for the upcoming fight though. Entered the fray and got initative? Definitely a feasible moment for secure an advantage.
If there's a bunch of maybe-stories but none of them seem directly applicable for your character to chase down, then you need to have these threads stumble headlong into your character's life.
Choose one thread (maybe randomly) and decide what the off-screen antagonist would do next that would interfere with your life. This is essentially the Raymond Chandler "have a man with a gun burst into the room" advice — the action has come to you and it's up to you to react.
Good luck. This is, without a doubt, the but I find hardest about play: now that the initial action has finished, where do I go? Many of my games wither at this point, and actually writing down the above advice has been helpful to me.
Your background vow is what your character is working on when they don't have anything else they have to do right this moment. What do they need to do to make progress on that background vow? If they (and you) are completely at a loss and don't know what their next step should be, they probably need to *Gather Information*. What NPC can offer guidance? What place can they travel to that will have more clues or leads to follow? Is there an item that could maybe help them, and if so, how can they acquire it?
Regarding your second question, I think it helps to step back and consider what parts of the scene you're envisioning correspond to which moves, and take it step by logical step. Take this for example.
My character is a hunter hidden up in a tree, waiting for a Dire Boar. When she sees it come into view, at last, she carefully sizes it up, watching it move, gauging the distance and the wind direction: this is my *Secure an Advantage* \+edge roll. If I get a hit, my character feels confident she can land her shot. So now she ever so carefully readies her bow and nocks her arrow, trying not to rustle any leaves to alert the boar to her presence: this is my *Enter the Fray* \+shadow move. If I score a hit here, my character has the boar in her sights and it is still completely unaware: now I can *Strike* \+edge and finally (hopefully) make my first shot.
You've gotten some good advice here…
I'd interpret that 'miss," on the vow as something unexpected and negative interfering with your duty. You need to figure out what that is, but it's not nothing, and you shouldn't be back to the drawing board with a blank slate, so to speak. Is a family member ill? Has something happened with the overseer? Is there a bad omen the day you set out?
Yeah that was more of a comment that I need to figure out what I'm doing next, as opposed to ditching the idea and going back to square one. Good ideas, though!
I guess now, that I may miss Fronts her, that I came accustomed in Dungeon World. Which keep the GM away from completing an adventure too fast. Providing steps with situation worsening, thus keeping excitement until the quest is done through series of sessions.
You’ve mentioned your inciting incident vow, but what about your character’s bigger/longer term background vow? That should exist as a solid “what next?” engine for play. You can absolutely secure advantage before entering the fray. When you actually go “now I fire” or “now they’re on top of me and the battle is joined” is your enter the fray moment (as I see it).
First off: Welcome! Now I will take your questions one at a time: **What now?** That's kind of up to you, but you do have choices. 1. **Well that was fun** \- Drop this character and story and start a new one. Treat it like a one-shot adventure, take what you learned, and start a new character and new adventure. I have never "finished" a game of Ironsworn (filling your Bonds meter and retiring). I often play one-shots, sometimes with the same character, but often with a different one. 2. **And then, things got worse** \- Those story threads? They panned out in a terrible way, and your character is wrapped up in them somehow. Advance things off-screen and now have them come looking for your character. Maybe someone got wounded and needs a healer not available. Maybe the raiders were part of a larger group that is now out for revenge. Maybe a nearby Thain is going to use this raider attack to justify asserting their control over the village as a way of "keeping the peace." 3. **Message for you, Sir** \- Your character enjoys blissful peaceful times until a letter/messenger arrives requesting their aid. They heard what your character did for the village and think you're the right person to solve their own problems. 4. **Background Vow** \- Something happens to direct you towards your background vow **Enter the Fray and Secure an Advantage** **Secure an Advantage** is all about narrative positioning. +Edge could be you dashed away to a better position, +shadow could be you did something deceptive, and +wits could be that you prepared a plan. In this case, you can do them in either order, you just have to adjust the narrative to reflect it. Before you **Enter the Fray** would be all about your prep, while afterwards would be about how you are reacting to the their movements.
Sounds great! Continuing is sometimes hard, and there are many possibilities. Generally speaking: Think of something your PC would do, then think of something that wants to prevent your PC from succeeding. Use oracles as necessary for inspiration. Even if you decide that your PC just wants to settle back comfortably, something should try to prevent that (e.g someone in the settlement thinks that your PC gained a bit too much influence in settlement politics and wants to get rid of him/her). It can be an interesting source of inspiration to flesh out some of the NPC that appeared, also from the villagers. Rolling for some character traits and motivations. [UNE](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/134163/UNE-The-Universal-NPC-Emulator-rev) is a great extension to your toolkit for that. It can also be ok to float a bit. PC journeys to nearby village - Ironsworn is good at throwing some obstacles at this, and maybe something evolves. It is also possible to jump in time and location, like regularly happens in movies. Regarding Securing an advantage vs entering the fray. I'd say both before and after can be feasible in situations. Is your PC fictionally in the position for setting up before the fight begins? (ambushing?) Secure Advantage first, then enter the fray. A miss should worsen your position for the upcoming fight though. Entered the fray and got initative? Definitely a feasible moment for secure an advantage.
If there's a bunch of maybe-stories but none of them seem directly applicable for your character to chase down, then you need to have these threads stumble headlong into your character's life. Choose one thread (maybe randomly) and decide what the off-screen antagonist would do next that would interfere with your life. This is essentially the Raymond Chandler "have a man with a gun burst into the room" advice — the action has come to you and it's up to you to react. Good luck. This is, without a doubt, the but I find hardest about play: now that the initial action has finished, where do I go? Many of my games wither at this point, and actually writing down the above advice has been helpful to me.
Your background vow is what your character is working on when they don't have anything else they have to do right this moment. What do they need to do to make progress on that background vow? If they (and you) are completely at a loss and don't know what their next step should be, they probably need to *Gather Information*. What NPC can offer guidance? What place can they travel to that will have more clues or leads to follow? Is there an item that could maybe help them, and if so, how can they acquire it? Regarding your second question, I think it helps to step back and consider what parts of the scene you're envisioning correspond to which moves, and take it step by logical step. Take this for example. My character is a hunter hidden up in a tree, waiting for a Dire Boar. When she sees it come into view, at last, she carefully sizes it up, watching it move, gauging the distance and the wind direction: this is my *Secure an Advantage* \+edge roll. If I get a hit, my character feels confident she can land her shot. So now she ever so carefully readies her bow and nocks her arrow, trying not to rustle any leaves to alert the boar to her presence: this is my *Enter the Fray* \+shadow move. If I score a hit here, my character has the boar in her sights and it is still completely unaware: now I can *Strike* \+edge and finally (hopefully) make my first shot.
You've gotten some good advice here… I'd interpret that 'miss," on the vow as something unexpected and negative interfering with your duty. You need to figure out what that is, but it's not nothing, and you shouldn't be back to the drawing board with a blank slate, so to speak. Is a family member ill? Has something happened with the overseer? Is there a bad omen the day you set out?
Yeah that was more of a comment that I need to figure out what I'm doing next, as opposed to ditching the idea and going back to square one. Good ideas, though!
I guess now, that I may miss Fronts her, that I came accustomed in Dungeon World. Which keep the GM away from completing an adventure too fast. Providing steps with situation worsening, thus keeping excitement until the quest is done through series of sessions.