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Ironsworn Moves Reference

I recently wanted to see all the Ironsworn moves together on one sheet of paper. I got pretty close (two pages) and stripped the moves down to their mechanical components, which illuminated a bunch of interesting interactions between the moves. You can download the PDF at the bottom of this post for yourself. 

These are the most interesting discoveries I made by viewing the moves in this way: 

  1. Experience is only earned by successfully fulfilling a vow. I've read that the Starforged system expanded the number of moves that earn experience, although that's not enough of a reason for me to switch yet since I'm still getting the hang of things. 
  2. Stats Modifiers (i.e., +edge, +heart, +iron, +shadow, or +wits) have a slightly unbalanced distribution. The most commonly referenced modifier is +heart, followed by +wits for travel moves, +edge and +iron for combat moves, and +shadow as the least common. Of course, all five options are available for the two most common moves, Face Danger and Secure an Advantage, depending on the circumstances and the character's behavior. 
  3. Reach a Milestone is the only move to add progress that doesn't require a roll. For journeys, fights, and bonds a roll is required, but for quests the control of the narrative is left completely up to choice. 
  4. Narrative matters. Having played with this reference sheet a couple times now, I've noticed that the descriptive elements and other non-mechanical components written by author Shawn Tomkin pull a lot of weight when it comes to inspiring new narrative and roleplay elements. 

To beginners, I would recommend using the original rules reference sheets by Shawn a good number of times before switching to a stripped-down reference sheet like this one. It also helps to read over the detailed notes in the rulebook (starting from page 60) to get a more ingrained sense of the outcome from each move. 

That's all for this post! Let me know if you make use of the reference sheet and have any suggestions for improvement. 

Reference sheet 1

Reference sheet 2


Download here: 

Version 1, Published 2025-12-16
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