Ironclaw

Ironclaw is a tabletop role-playing game made by Sanguine Productions, Ltd., known better as Sanguine Games. Set in a world with heavy analogues to Earth, the Ironclaw games feature a cast of anthropomorphic animals in various historical-fantasy settings.

The first edition of Ironclaw was released in 1999, two years after the founding of Sanguine Games. It contained the core setting of Calabria, as well as the core Races, and Careers for the setting. They would later go on to release separate books for the individual nations of Calabria: Avoirdupois, Bisclavret, Doloreaux, Phelan, and the Rinaldi, which contained extended in-depth lore, more niche Careers, and very occasionally Races (such as the introduction of Ravens in the Phelan expansion, which would carry into the core 2nd Edition).

Shortly after in 2001, Jadeclaw was released, featuring new Races and Careers, as well as the new setting of Zhongguo, a setting heavily influenced by the history of pre-Imperial China. Jadeclaw contained only one expansion, named Loot the Burning House, which like the Ironclaw expansions introduced a few niche Careers and expanded the setting, though not to the degree of the Ironclaw expansions.

In 2010, Sanguine would go on to revise their system into the second edition, re-releasing the game as Ironclaw: Squaring the Circle, which is the game's present incarnation. Much of the cultural information about the nations of Calabria originally found in the 1e Expansion books were condensed into the base Squaring the Circle book, while niche cultural Careers and their adjoining Gifts were released separately as The Book of Mysteries. The major campaigns for each nation, which were part of the original 1e Expansions, were condensed into their own book, The Book of Adventures, which also saw some additional campaigns. In addition, the setting of Zhongguo is refitted into the second edition through The Book of Jade, which contains the full setting as well as some new Races and magical systems. Only one year later, Sanguine released the short booklet entitled The Book of Fools, which introduced some minor additional Careers to add a more humorous approach to the game for those interested.

The most recent addition to the Ironclaw games came in October 17th, 2017, which saw the release of The Book of Horn and Ivory, a whole new expansion detailing the setting of Akoma, located to the west of Zhongguo on its previously-unexpanded nation of Xi Yeren, and as before, further expanding the Race and Career sections.