Rules

Rules

The rules of Iron & Myth are simple tools for dangerous play.
They show how characters act, endure, travel, fight, and survive.

Use them when the outcome is uncertain and the stakes matter.
When the rules are unclear, follow the fiction, make a ruling, and move on.


Skills represent training, practice, and experience.

  • What a character can attempt

  • When training matters

  • How Skills shape Boons, Banes, and Set Difficulty

Stamina represents effort, grit, and will.

  • Spending Stamina to push beyond limits

  • Recovering Stamina through rest

  • Enduring danger, pain, and hardship

Time measures risk, pressure, travel, recovery, and change.

  • Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Night

  • Delays, watches, and daily rhythm

  • How time changes the world


Rest restores what danger and effort take away.

  • Short Rests and Full Rests

  • Safety, shelter, food, and water

  • Recovery from Stamina loss, Wounds, Fatigue, and hardship

Travel and exploration bring danger, discovery, and choice beyond the safety of roads and walls.

  • Overland travel and navigation

  • Hex exploration and discovery

  • Encounters, supplies, and getting lost

Social play decides what happens when words, customs, fear, and reputation matter.

  • Language and communication

  • Reactions, morale, and negotiation

  • Allies, enemies, favors, and reputation


Combat begins when danger turns to violence.

  • Initiative, actions, and movement

  • Attacks, defense, and positioning

  • Morale, retreat, and surrender

Wounds make injury dangerous and lasting.

  • Damage, Wounds, and treatment

  • Dying, death, and recovery

  • Scars, consequences, and survival

Conditions are lasting effects that limit what a character can do.

  • Fear, poison, disease, and magic

  • Physical and mental impairment

  • How Conditions are resolved


Fatigue and hardship show how the world wears characters down.

  • Exhaustion, hunger, thirst, and exposure

  • Forced marches and lack of sleep

  • The cost of neglecting basic needs

Encumbrance makes gear, supplies, and treasure meaningful choices.

  • Carrying capacity and burden

  • Mobility, armor, and supplies

  • Choosing what to bring and what to leave behind.

CWealth measures what coin, treasure, favors, and influence can do in play.

  • Usage Dice for wealth and supply

  • Spending, bribing, hiring, and repairing

  • Treasure, trade, favors, and obligations