Character Basics

Name

You have a name. Perhaps others will honor it someday in stories and songs.

Give your character a name. For inspiration, you can roll on the Ironlander Names tables on page 184.

Stats

There are five stats. Each is given a value from 1 to 3. When you make a move and roll dice, you usually add one of your stats to your action die. The move will tell you which stat to add, or give you a choice.

• Edge: Quickness, agility, and prowess in ranged combat.
• Heart: Courage, willpower, empathy, sociability, and loyalty. 
• Iron: Physical strength, endurance, aggressiveness, and prowess in close combat.
• Shadow: Sneakiness, deceptiveness, and cunning.
• Wits: Expertise, knowledge, and observation.

Start with a standard array

To start, arrange these bonuses across your five stats in any order:3, 2, 2, 1, 1.

Health

Health represents your current physical condition and stamina, ranked from 0 to +5. Health is reduced when you Endure Harm (page 91), and increased when you rest or receive care through moves such as Heal (page 63) or Sojourn (page 71).

If you are at 0 health, scoring a miss when you Endure Harm puts you at risk of suffering a debility or dying. 

To start, set your health track to +5.

Spirit

Spirit is your current mental state, ranked from 0 to +5. Spirit is reduced when you Endure Stress (page 95). It is increased when you find comfort in companionship, success, or relaxed moments through moves such as Make Camp (page 64) or Forge a Bond (page 74).

If you are at 0 spirit, scoring a miss when you Endure Stress puts you at risk of suffering a debility or falling into desolation.

To start, set your spirit track to +5.

Supply

Supply is an abstract representation of your preparedness, including ammo, food, water, and general upkeep. It is ranked from 0 to +5. Instead of keeping track of a detailed inventory, you can consider most of your mundane gear as covered under supply.

Supply is decreased when you make the Undertake a Journey move (page 65). You might also reduce supply as a narrative cost when you face hardships as an outcome of other moves. For example, if you make the Face Danger move (page 60) to ford a wild river, you might lose some gear as a result of a weak hit or miss. Supply is increased when you gather provisions through moves such as Resupply (page 63).

The supply track represents the shared assets among your party. You and your allies use the same supply value while you travel together. If any of you make a move to increase supply, or suffer the result of a move that reduces your supply, each of you adjust your supply track accordingly.

When your supply falls to 0, all characters make the Out of Supply move (page 97). If you are at 0 supply and suffer additional -supply, you each must reduce your health, spirit, or momentum tracks by that amount. 

To start, set your supply track to +5. You and your allies share the same supply value while you adventure together. When one of you makes a move that raises or lowers the supply track, each of you should make the adjustment on your character sheet.

Momentum

Momentum represents how you are faring in your quests. It is gained and lost through moves. If you have positive momentum, you are building on your successes and ready to make decisive moves. If you have negative momentum, you have suffered setbacks and your quest is in jeopardy.

To learn more about momentum and how it helps and hinders your character, see page 11.

Use the momentum track on the left side of your character sheet to record your current momentum. Your character sheet also includes boxes to mark your max momentum and momentum reset. 

• Your max momentum starts at +10, and is reduced by one for every marked debility.
• Your momentum reset starts at +2. If you have a one debility marked, your reset is +1. If you have more than one debility marked, your reset is 0.

To learn more about debilities, see page 36.

To start, set your current momentum to +2, your max momentum to +10, and your momentum reset to +2.