You are Ironsworn

Others live out their lives hardly venturing beyond the walls of their village or steading, but you are different. Your sworn vows will lead to a life of danger, heroism, and sacrifice at the edge of the known world.

Envision Your Character

Before you jump into the mechanics of your character, consider their motivations, interests, skills, personality, and weaknesses. It’s fine to start with one or two ideas about your background and goals. You can flesh out your character as you play. 

Be awesome

Your character is highly competent. You’re smart, brave, and driven. You can hold your own in a fight. When you Swear an Iron Vow, you mean it. 

You are not without your limitations. You’ll face hardship. You’ll make bad decisions. You will fail. Overcoming those failures, pushing on, is what makes you heroic.

Be Who You Want

The people of the Ironlands are diverse. Communities are formed through shared interests, mutual protection, or strong leadership. Respect is still paid to traditions of the Old World, but Ironlanders largely left behind their cultural divisions when they crossed the vast northern ocean. Even within a single community, you’ll find a fusion of Old World and Ironland influences.

You can envision your character however you like—unbound by geography, lineage, sexual orientation, and gender. Your character can be inspired directly by a real-world or historical culture, or you might weave a blend of cultural influences into your concept.

The default setting is human-centric, and these rules do not include specific options to play fantasy races. However, you can adjust to your liking. The mechanics of your character are relatively light and can be themed to support several types of fantasy or historical fiction.

Where to Start?

You can build your world , build your character, or do both in tandem. If you have a clear idea for your character, start there and build your world around them, as if you’re building a set to suit your actor. If you need inspiration, start with the world. Chapter 4 (page 111) includes prompts for situations and quests to help you envision your character and your place in the Ironlands.