Games - Ironclaw

	Games - Ironclaw

Ironclaw is an anthropomorphic fantasy role-playing game published by Sanguine Productions set in a renaissance-inspired fictional world, on a continent called Calabria. The primary theme of the game involves four noble houses embroiled in political hostilities, with players taking the roles of citizens and adventurers. Another Sanguine game Jadeclaw takes place in the same world, on a far off nation called Zionghou, inspired by Chinese Mythology.

Since its initial publishing, the Ironclaw core book has undergone a revision to bring it more in line with Jadeclaw, which has cleaner rules. The revised Ironclaw contains numerous errata and corrections, some new artwork, and an expanded section for game hosts.

A number of supplement books have been released over the years, detailing the various cultures of Calabria and providing new rules and sample adventure modules.

Setting

The largest city in Calabria is Triskellion, on the southern coast of the continent in the Bay of Auvric. As an enormous port city, this metropolis benefits from substantial economic and political clout. It is also the intellectual and social nexus of the world.

Noble Houses

The four Great Houses are powerful feudal estates that control vast domains of the continent. Because of their great historical, cultural, and racial differences, they are often in competition for land, resources, and political power. Hostilities and warfare are common between neighboring lands, but the ruling parties are wary to balance their aggressions, lest they leave an undefended flank for a rival to exploit.

To the east are the Aviordupois, a militant theocracy of horses, who practice S'allumner, a sacerdotal religion similar to the real world Roman Catholicism. The capitol city is Salon du Chaldre, which contains the most magnificent of S'allmner temples and the seat of the church's administration.
The northern territory is controlled by the Doleroux, a staid house of traditionalist boars, who engage in the pagan practice of Lutarism. The capitol city of Bruges is a full of natural splendor, despite being a mining town known for manufacturing cannons.
The Bisclavret are a young, ambitious house of wolves who control much of the western coast. They specialize in relatively advanced military dogmatics and technology, including pioneering into the manufacturing and use of firearms. The capitol city, Harrowgate, has a seaport and is the largest manufacturer of ocean-going vessels and ships.
The Rinaldi
are a declining house of grey foxes, who once held political sway of Triskellion, but have since lost much of their holdings to the burgeoning merchant class. Their holdings have largely dissolved, leaving many members penniless peasantry, ignorant of their former nobility.
In addition, the barbaric Phelan inhabit the heavily wooded western lands, and are primitive ancestors of the Bisclavret. Though not considered to be a noble house by the other inhabitants, they do have a distinct culture including a complex legal system, religion, and governmental practices. They are similar to real world Celtic ancient culture, and are known to practice Druidism.

There are also a number of minor houses, which swear fealty to one of the larger ones, such as the Repense, a minor house of bats which serve the Bisclavret and are fascinated by astrology.

Detailed information on each of the houses can be found in small supplement books. Inside are jobs, abilities, and special rules for certain aspects of the houses. Each book also includes a "secret" list of Thaumaturgical magic, supposedly written by Khandrinigar, a mysterious wizard who is rumored to have invented many of his own magic spells.

Magic

In Calabria, magic is a rare and difficult study undertaken by apprentices and usually taught by older wizards. Spells are ranked by difficulty and effectiveness, and one must gather enough knowledge and practice to qualify to learn more potent magic.

Apprentice spells typically include useful tricks and aren't very difficult or taxing to cast. In game terms, they take the least magic points to use, and cost the least experience points to learn.

Journeyman spells are the middle level, usually improving on many spells the wizard already knows and adding a few advanced spells to his repertoire. Also, the Journeyman's privilege spell enables the wizard to nullify an apprentice level spell of the same school.

Master spells are the pinnacle of magical knowledge of that school, and take the greatest amount of time and dedication to achieve and use. The Master's Privilege spell even negates the spellcasting of Journeymen spells of the same school.

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