K. Legacy Moves
The three legacy tracks - quests, bonds, and discoveries - are a special type of progress track to show the evolution of your character. As you fulfill vows, build relationships, and explore the Lowland Wastes, you’ll mark progress on these tracks and gain experience. This experience is then spent on character assets to represent your character’s growing skills, influence, and resources.
Make these legacy moves to gain and spend experience, and when you face a final test to learn how your accomplishments and failures will echo through time.
When you fill a box (four ticks) on any legacy track, take 2 experience. This experience may be spent when you Advance.
Once you completely fill the tenth box on any legacy track, clear that track. You may start again marking progress on the cleared track, but earn experience at a reduced rate of 1 experience (instead of 2) for each filled progress box. If you make a progress roll against this track, resolve the outcome as if at 10 progress.
Legacy tracks are a special type of progress track that represent the challenges you’ve overcome, along with the resources, influence, reputation, and skills you can bring to bear.
You have three legacy tracks: quests, bonds, and discoveries. As you complete quests, form bonds, and explore the Hereafter, you advance along these tracks by marking ticks and filling boxes. Some asset abilities may also prompt you to mark progress on a specific legacy track, or increase the rewards for marking progress.
Each time you fill a box completely (four ticks) on any legacy track, you make this move and gain 2 experience. That experience can then be spent on new assets or asset upgrades when you Advance.
As noted in the move text, you begin earning reduced experience on a legacy track once you completely fill that track. In the fiction, this represents the natural diminishing returns of character experience and expertise. From a gameplay perspective, it helps keep your abilities to a manageable number. If you reach a point where your character’s ambitions and obligations are waning, Continue a Legacy to end their story.
When you develop your abilities, improve your resources, gain a reward, or boost your influence, you may spend 3 experience to add a new asset, or 2 experience to upgrade an asset. Choose from the following categories as appropriate to your focus and opportunities.
- Combat Path: Develop your skills of inflicting and surviving harm.
- Companion: Gain or improve a trusted helper.
- Path: Bolster your personal capabilities or follow a new calling.
- Ritual: Train in the mystical arts.
Make this move when you spend experience to add an asset or upgrade an existing asset.
Narratively, you should consider how your recent experiences and fulfilled vows have led to these new abilities. Was your squab a reward from the thankful farmerling of a Breadbasket ranch? Did you train under a powerful magician? Has your time spent trekking across the wilds made you adept at woodcraft or navigation? Let your choice of assets flow naturally from the fiction.
Progress Move
When you retire from your life as Ironsworn, or succumb to death or desolation, you may create a new character in your established setting. If you do, roll the challenge dice and compare to each of the former character’s legacy tracks: quests, bonds, and discoveries (one roll per track).
For each strong hit, choose one from below, or one from the weak hit or miss options.
- Follow their path: Take one path or companion asset from the former character (at no cost), including any marked abilities.
- Share a connection: Take one connection from the former character, including any accrued progress or bond benefits.
- Explore familiar ground: Name a location that was meaningful to the former character. When you first visit that place, envision how it has changed or is endangered. Then, mark two ticks on your discoveries legacy track.
For each weak hit, choose one from below, or one from the miss options.
- See it through: Choose one of the former character’s unfinished quests, and Swear a Chalk Vow (with an automatic strong hit) to see it done. You may immediately mark up to half their earned progress (round down) on this quest.
- Rebuild a connection: Name one of the former character’s connections, and envision how time or circumstances have changed them in a dramatic way. When you Make a Connection with them, take an automatic strong hit and mark two ticks on your bonds legacy track.
- Accept an inheritance: Take any items from the former character.
For each miss, choose one.
- Deal with the aftermath: Envision how one of your former character’s foes has gained power or influence.
- Switch loyalties: Envision how you begin in opposition to your former character’s beliefs, goals, or allegiances.
- Open Pandora’s Box: Envision how an advancement or discovery has unleashed unexpectedly dire consequences.
How have you left your mark upon the Hereafter? What do you leave for those who follow in your footsteps? If your character chooses to leave the path of the chalksworn or suffers a premature end through death or desolation, make this move to discover their legacy.
First, make a separate progress roll against each of your legacy tracks: quests, bonds, and discoveries. Tally the progress score for each track by counting the number of filled boxes. Only add fully filled boxes (those with four ticks). You may not burn momentum on these rolls, and you are not affected by negative momentum.
Once you resolve the number of strong hits, weak hits, and misses among the three rolls, choose your options from the move. You can pick any outcome at or below your level of success, but cannot choose a specific result more than once.
If you are playing with allies, and everyone is making this move at once, the number of results can be a bit overwhelming. You may instead divide the progress rolls among players so that you are only choosing three results in total - one for each legacy track. If your character is the only one who retired or succumbed, make the move as normal; then, work with the other players to bring your new character into the story.