A Summary Of The Iron Liver

An Iron Liver is a drinking contest that makes use of draughts brewed in the Dreaming. The contest can have any number of contestants, but the standard is usually between 3-20 participants. The format is usually as follows: contestants stand at a table or counter, and are served shots of Dreaming draughts in a series of rounds. A different type of draught is served on each round. At the end of each round, a contestant must be able to continue standing unassisted (not leaning on the counter, or a fellow contestant, or any other object). If they are unable to remain standing under their own power, then they are knocked out of the contest and cannot proceed to the next round. The contest continues round by round until all but one contestant is eliminated, and the last one standing is crowned the winner.

An Iron Liver is often an entertaining affair that is spectated by others, since having shots of so many different draughts in a short span of time results in stacking draught effects for the contestants, which can have amusing or unforeseen consequences. How the contest is conducted may vary depending on what establishment or group is running it; there are sometimes minor differences in the format of the event. As an example, some establishments will let contestants know what each round's draught is ahead of time, while other establishments will keep that knowledge secret so that each round is a surprise. Some establishments randomize each round, choosing a draught at random for each round (though this random selection is often made from a preselected pool of draughts deemed appropriate for the event).

An important factor to note is that a contestant's size, gender, and species has no intrinsic value in the Iron Liver, as Dreaming draughts do not metabolize in the same manner that alcohols do. The intoxicating impact varies for each individual from draught to draught, with physicality having no bearing on whether this impact will be strong or weak. A contestant may breeze through one draught, only to find themselves laid low by the next draught; likewise, a large contestant with a robust constitution has as much chance of winning the Iron Liver as a small contestant with an anemic constitution.

Many establishments that brew or sell Dreaming draughts hold an Iron Liver once a year as an entertainment event, and participant slots are raffled off to those that are interested in participating. Participants are usually rewarded with a bottle of the draught that knocked them out of the contest, while the winner of the contest gets to take home three draughts of their choosing (out of the selection of draughts that were used for the rounds of the contest). Reward structures can vary depending on establishment running the Iron Liver, and the size of the contest; for Iron Livers with larger participant pools, sometimes second and third place may also be rewarded in addition to first place.

OOC: Iron Liver Mechanics

If you run a tabletop or RP group, then the Iron Liver can be run as a drinking game for your group or players (generally speaking, you can apply these mechanics to other drinking games as well, or tweak them as you like for your particular setting or group). Since the Iron Liver emerged from an online tabletop group, the primary ruleset leans on the flexibility of dicebots, but a secondary ruleset has been included for physical dice sets. The draughts used for each round of the contest are typically selected by the DM, or may be randomly rolled from a preselected pool. (Random can be fun, it keeps people guessing as to what the next round will be.)

Dicebot Mechanics

All participants start with a 1d20. On each round, each participant rolls their die, and the result becomes the value of their die for the next round. (If you rolled a 17 on a 1d20, then your die for the second round would be a 1d17.) This also has the effect demonstrating how heavily that round's drink affected your character. (A small drop in die value means your character weathered it fairly well; a sharp drop in die value means it hit them pretty hard.) This continues, round by round, until a participant rolls a 1. Once a participant has rolled a 1, they are too intoxicated to continue, and are knocked out of the contest. The contest ends when there is only one participant remaining.

In the event that all remaining contestants are knocked out in a single round, they all proceed to the next round with a 1d4, and the contest continues until there is only one participant remaining. 

Physical Dice

Since physical dice sets aren't quite as flexible as a dicebot, the mechanics are slightly different, though the rules remain the same. Here are the dice combinations that can be used to roll for each outcome at a physical table.

• 20 - roll 1d20
• 19 - roll 1d20-1
• 18 - roll 1d12 + 1d6
• 17 - roll 1d12 + 1d6-1
• 16 - roll 1d12 + 1d4
• 15 - roll 1d12 + 1d4-1
• 14 - roll 1d10 + 1d4
• 13 - roll 1d10 + 1d4-1
• 12 - roll 1d12
• 11 - roll 1d8 + 1d4-1
• 10 - roll 1d6 + 1d4
• 9 - roll 1d10-1
• 8 - roll 1d8
• 7 - roll 1d8-1
• 6 - roll 1d6
• 5 - roll 1d6-1
• 4 - roll 1d4
• 3 - roll 1d4-1
• 2 - flip a coin

Second Wind Variation

Sometimes a player might get dropped on the first shot by rolling a 1 on the first round. While this can be funny to roleplay, sometimes it's more fun to allow the players to stay in the contest a bit longer. In the Second Wind variation of the contest, there is a small rule adjustment: the first time a player rolls a 1, they are bumped back up to a 1d10. This is their second wind, and it only happens once during the contest. This ensures that all players will at least make it to the second round, and likely a little beyond that. (Though bear in mind that it might also extend the contest longer than it would otherwise go.)