IRON EAGLE: Introduction

 IRON EAGLE

A Solitaire Tabletop Campaign

    The Chronicle of a Single-player Tabletop RPG Campaign

    I absolutely adore exploring new worlds through the medium of tabletop roleplaying games. Most of my experience with these games comes from playing alone—serving as both referee and player—within settings of my own design. I typically play without the use of modern technology, instead relying on notebooks, board game components, cards, and miniature figures to fuel my imagination.

This series of blog posts will tell the story of one such solo campaign using the Mythras ruleset, modified to better fit my personal playstyle. Welcome to the story of Iron Eagle.

I. The Overworld

    The Overworld is the mortal realm—the setting of this campaign. It leans into the familiar aesthetic of high fantasy, akin to Tolkien’s Middle-earth or classic Dungeons & Dragons. Elves, dwarves, goblins, sorcerers, dragons, monsters, and demons all have a place here, behaving largely as genre tradition would expect. There's no need to reinvent the wheel for solo RPG play.

    This world is low in magic, but high in the supernatural. While magic does exist in legendary capacities, the arcane arts are esoteric and tightly guarded, kept from 90% of society. The central cosmic conflict is defined by the opposing forces of Law and Chaos.

    Law is aligned with the Eternal Sun, creator of all life and the source of divine order. Those who worship the Eternal Sun—particularly clerics—invoke its power for healing, guidance, and to smite the forces of Chaos. Lawful creatures include dwarves, elves, halflings, and men, all shaped by the divine will of the Sun.

    Chaos, by contrast, is a corruptive force that defies natural law. It manifests through plague, famine, blood mists, cults, and twisted monsters. Sorcery, while not always evil, is often seen as a tainted form of Chaos. Those fully consumed by Chaos lose their humanity and become monsters bound to the hive-mind of destruction.

II. The Old Kingdom & The Exodus

   The Heavenly Kingdom of Leifhelm was once the crown jewel of mortal civilization—a realm where mankind thrived in harmony with the Sun for over a thousand years. But that golden age ended when the Hero King's own court wizard betrayed the realm, forming a pact with a Baalroch, a demon lord of the Nether Realm.

    A gate to the hellish Nether was torn open, and Chaos spilled into Leifhelm like a flood. For five centuries, the forces of Law resisted the spread of Chaos, holding fast at great cost. Walls were raised, bastions fell. Eventually, the Hero King led one final charge into the heart of Chaos. Reaching the King's Tower within the defiled capital, he sealed the portal at the cost of his life and those of his knights.

    Though the gateway was closed, Chaos still wandered the land—directionless, but deadly. The surviving men chose to seal off the Old Kingdom with the last great bastion, the Queen's Gate, and wait for the Eternal Sun to purify the land. East of this final wall, the survivors settled the frontier—the River-Lands—where city-states of men allied with dwarves and elves and tried to rebuild.

    Over time, the true history of Leifhelm faded into legend. Only a few scribes and priests retained the deeper truths. Now, after many generations, the priests of the Eternal Sun have begun to receive signs: the vibrations of Chaos have weakened. The time of return draws near.

III.  The Expedition

    The weakening of Chaos stirs ambition. Lords and ladies of the River-Lands convene a great council to discuss an expedition west, back into the lost realm of Leifhelm. The goal: to prepare the land for purification and eventual resettlement.

    A leader must be chosen.

    The council’s choice is swift and unanimous. No one is more suited to guide the expedition than a man who embodies both warrior and scholar—a half-elf hedge knight known only in the chronicles as Iron Eagle.

IV. The Avatar

Iron Eagle

    To fully immerse myself in this campaign, I’ve created Iron Eagle as my avatar within the world. While I will also assume the roles of other characters throughout the campaign, Iron Eagle is my “link” to the narrative. He represents my eyes and ears within the story. Though I will control the world and its systems, Iron Eagle is no god—he is as mortal and vulnerable as any other soul, subject to the same dangers and consequences of the simulation.

    This campaign will blend storytelling, tactical miniature wargaming, and character-driven exploration. Before diving into Act I, I had a lite roleplay session with ChatGPT to shape Iron Eagle’s backstory. Below is a summary of his journey so far:

    Iron Eagle was born under the sign of Water, a half-elf child of two worlds—his father, a man of the Riverlands, and his mother, a quiet elven exile who carried secrets of a forgotten sun. Though raised near the eastern bay, his earliest memories were not of the Riverlands, but of misty forests and broken towers beyond the sealed Wall of the Old Kingdom. At the age of twelve, he took up the practice sword in solitude, training beneath the boughs with a purpose he couldn’t yet name—driven not by glory, but by the rhythm of the wind and the silence between the trees.

    When he discovered an ancient map hidden on the body of a dying ranger, his fate changed. The map bore the sigil of the Heavenly Kingdom of Leifhelm—its locations marked with cryptic runes, its paths long since reclaimed by earth and memory. When village elders seized the artifact and forbade him from pursuing it, Iron Eagle defied them, stealing it back and vanishing into the wild. Over the years, he became a warrior, guide, and scholar in equal measure, earning his name through reputation, not lineage. Some say the owl that followed him in youth still watches from the trees, a symbol of a destiny long set in motion.

    Now, Iron Eagle stands before the River-Land Lords as a man of deeds. The council, divided and desperate to reclaim the lost Kingdom, has chosen him to lead the first sanctioned expedition beyond the Wall in over a century. With only fragments of a broken empire to guide him, and a band of loyal explorers behind him, Iron Eagle will walk the forgotten paths of Leifhelm once more—not to conquer, but to remember, uncover, and restore what was lost.

Prelude: Gathering of the Fellowship

   Before the campaign begins in full, I’ll be continuing my roleplays with ChatGPT as Iron Eagle journeys across the River-Lands in search of allies. He will need to muster supplies, forge alliances, and prepare for the long march west.

    Rather than invent all of this by myself, I’m using AI to help build the world dynamically and keep things fresh. From there, I can add, subtract, and shape the material to best fit the story I want to tell. Once Iron Eagle is properly equipped and backed by a worthy party, Act I will begin.

    I’ll also be creating a character record sheet for Iron Eagle to use throughout the campaign.

    That’s a session for another day. Thank you for reading this introduction to the Iron Eagle campaign. If you’d like to follow the journey further, be sure to subscribe to the Toy Soldier Campaigns blog for future updates!