Cover

Front Matter

Copyright information

© 1987–2050 Phil Hinkle & Stone Portal Entertainment™. All Rights Reserved.

Tales from the Skald™: Legends of Aramyth and all related content—including text, systems, setting, and artwork—are the intellectual
property of Phil Hinkle and Stone Portal Entertainment™.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without written permission, except brief excerpts for review, academic, or personal non-commercial use.

Stone Portal Entertainment™, Tales from the Skald™, Legends of Aramyth™, and associated logos are trademarks of Phil Hinkle and Stone Portal Entertainment™. Trademarks pending.

Tales from the Skald™, Legends of Aramyth™, The Song of Hart and Fire™, The Nyrrhym™, The Tome of Understanding™, and all related game systems, lore, text, mechanics,
and artwork are the exclusive intellectual property of Phil Hinkle and Stone Portal Entertainment LLC. All rights reserved.

No part of these works may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without prior written permission—except
for brief excerpts for review, academic analysis, or personal non-commercial use.

Use of any part of the Tales from the Skald system or setting for third-party publications, commercial use, or community content is prohibited unless explicitly authorized by a valid license or written agreement.

The myths remember those who give them voice. Honor the teller.

Dedication

To my daughter Mina: The first note is always the bravest. Don't be afraid to play it. ∞ Papa

Welcome to Tales from the Skald: Legends of Aramyth, a tabletop roleplaying game where your very intention fuels every moment. From negotiating peace between ancient rivals, navigating haunted ruins, or calling down the fire of a forgotten star, your legend grows with each choice you make.

What do I need to play?

You don’t need a lot to play Tales from the Skald: Legends of Aramyth. This game is designed for 2 or more people with one being the Storyteller, and the others being players.

• A standard set of polyhedral dice.

• An extra 12-sided dice if you don't want to roll one twice.

• This Quick Start guide.

• Your curiosity, imagination, and willingness to have a good time.

A note on Inclusion

Legends of Aramyth was built with the belief that every myth deserves to be inclusive. From the beginning, this game has honored diverse identities, minds, concepts, ideas and bodies—welcoming players of all genders, neurotypes, cultures, and abilities.

At every table, in every story, you are seen. You are welcome. You are part of the legend.

They said I was broken. So, I replied in runes. -Vaelen, First Speaker

Aramyth (Air-a-myth) has very simple core mechanics that center on four main concepts.

1. Player Statistics
   • C (Cunning) Dexterity, Reflexes, and Perception
   • M (Might) Strength, Endurance, & Physical Force
   • P (Presence) Charisma, influence, leadership
   • S (Spirit) Willpower, resilience, & arcane connection

2. Player Skills
   • Skills are the culmination of what a characters knows. During character creation a player will chose a base skill package called a vocation for their character. This grants them a group of vocation level of skills that are in line with their character concept. Vocations do not lock a player/character into a specific role, they are just a reflection of their knowledge up to that point. At each advancement point player-characters gain new skills and they are only limited in how many they can afford to learn at the time of advancement.
   • There are common skills (Rank 0) that all players are considered to have a basic knowledge of. These are skills that don’t require extensive training or can be learned intrinsically through basic living. common skills are rolled against the characters statistic that is closest related to the skill. The cutoff for these skills are when more training or knowledge is required. For instance, any player can swim, or float in a shallow pool of still or slow moving water. But a strong current, or raging river, or thrashing ocean waves require a higher rank to navigate successfully. This is handled through the skill rank system where players can train in skill levels at advancement points which give them ranks and additional bonuses. Players attempting a skill at a higher rank are given a penalty of +10 to the CD of the situation requiring the roll.

3. Intention Points (IP)
   • Intention points (IP) are a currency used to perform skills and use abilities within the game. You can think of this as a power cost. Weather its physical, mental, or magical, you have to put power in to get power out.

4. Dice Rolls
   • Dice rolls determine outcome. Even the most skilled of us have bad days, or encounter a more skilled opponent. Dice rolls account for the flow of life. Here in Aramyth we use 2d12 ( 2 twelve-sided dice) and from the result of the roll, we then add any bonuses that come from stats, magic, items, etc.

Core System Terms

• CR (Challenge Roll) A roll made using 2d12 + modifiers to resolve a challenge task.

• CD (Challenge Difficulty) A secret number that determines how difficult a challenge is to accomplish. What does the player have to roll for their character to succeed in a challenge.

• AR (Armor Rating) The number that the player must roll in order to effect a target with physical, mental or magical skills.

• AT (Armor Threshold) The health of armor weather or not it is fully functional

• IP (Intention Points) A resource used to perform meaningful tasks.

The world is not created by the gods alone. It is reforged in every risk we take. -The Veiled Oracle

In this quick start we’ve included several premade characters to choose from. This is a small representation of the nearly endless combinations of species and legacies available in the full release of Tales from the Skald: Legends of Aramyth.

• Bryn Moongate

• Darius Blackwold

• Eylisa Rowan

• Freydis Ravenwood

• Joryn Al-Din

• Mai Dubois

• Merric Vane

• Orus Sunderstone

• Rae Belathane

• Sora Sterling

A name is an empty vessel to be filled with deeds worth remembering - Rhyna, Queen of K’Thault

Events are broken down into the following categories:

Narrative: This is often a pre-combat event, but doesn’t always end in violence. Narrative events can be negotiating with an NPC, or other story element. During these moments, the players are allowed to use skills and abilities to effect the outcome.

Combat: Combat events are for battle. These moments setup the flow of combat and determine how the turns are organized.

Cinematic: A cinematic event is typically a moment where one player has taken the focus. It could be a special attack, an interrupt, a scene of sneaking through the woods as a scout or other breakout moment. Cinematic moments don't need to be singled out as such if it disrupts play, but they can be if it highlights that a player has the stage.

Special: Special events are anything that happens outside of the other event types. These could be things like setting up an ambush, or timed interaction.

The flow of events:

• First we identify if we are entering an event. (Narrative, Combat, Cinematic, Special event)

• Then we identify our turn order.
  • Turn order can be determined in several ways and is intended to be flexible when needed.
    • The first and most used way is by the cunning stat. Roll 2d12 and add your cunning bonus. The results are organized from highest first to lowest last. Ties are determined first by highest bonus, and then by roll off without a modifier.
    • Another way is to be determined situationally, by the GM
    • And/or situationally by the entire group.

• Then we identify what we can do.
  • After turn order is defined we can then start the event. The highest roll goes first and can decide whet to do based on their IP, position, stats and skills. In time, once you’ve learned the basics its a good idea to prepare for your turn in advance. Its a kind of silent social agreement that makes the game flow better.

• Then we spend IP on our turn to do what we want.
  • Here is where the fun begins. Now we get to put our intention points to work.

The rhythm of the stage

As you’ve probably noticed, much of Tales from the skald leans into concepts of art, poetry and music. Combat is no different.

Each performer has a part and that part has a time signature called a measure (your turn). Each measure consists of 12 alternating opportunities, six potential notes and six potential rests that progress in a linear fashion.

• Notes are intentional and focused. They require IP. They represent the attack, the spells, and special maneuvers.

• Rests are instinctual and flow without the heavy cost of IP. They represent movement, quick decisions, and reactions.

Improvising your measure

Combat is Jazz, its messy and syncopated. Its driven by creative choices that evolve in the moment.

• The opening solo: Most players lean into opening with a rest, and utilize their free attack or cantrip to set the tempo

• Next they layer in notes and rests based on what is required in the heat of the moment.

• If raw power is needed notes can be played back to back in rapid succession, and skipping the intervening rests.

• Conversely you can slow things down and play rests together choosing to skip a few notes until the music changes.

Combat isn't about hitting all 12 opportunities, that would create a boring tune. Its designed to be improvisational and and full of movement.

At the end of your measure your turn ends and the next performer takes the stage.

Movement

Movement up to your characters maximum distance is considered a rest and does not cost IP in combat. Movement can be broken up throughout the players turn as well. Moving from one target to the next, or attempting to move to escape is all free movement up to the characters maximum distance. Once the maximum is reached the character must then spend IP to move further. Moving farther than your maximum on your turn results in a fatigue point, unless otherwise noted by a specific skill, ability or spell.

Interrupt

Interrupt is a special moment in game. It allows players to interrupt the current flow (not on their turn) to force an interaction. Interrupts take IP, and can only be done a limited amount of times per event. The typical character gets one interrupt per event, but there are a few skills that add interrupts.

Interrupts can only be used to intervene in the currently unfolding event. A player cannot use an interrupt to arrange their inventory, or equip a weapon, it is meant as a quick interaction that can change the moment. Things like casting a spell to prevent damage, or using a shield or shove to cause an enemy to miss their attack. Interrupts must be marked with the instant tag in order to be applicable.

Announcing an interrupt is done by an interrupt card. A player will shout “Interrupt” and slap the card down in the table. If more than one player attempts an interrupt at the same time, the player that properly announced and got the card to the tabletop first may proceed. In the event of an actual tie the player with the higher cunning stat goes first. If the players have matching cunning stats, they will roll 1d12 and the higher roll goes first. Repeat the roll until someone rolls higher.

Final Stand & Burnout

Final stand and burn out are both last ditch efforts to save the day. When a character reaches 0 IP they have an opportunity to dig deep and perform one of these two maneuvers at the cost of one fatigue point.

Final Stand allows a character to perform one last combat attack. directly following this attack the character will take one point of fatigue and roll on the final stand chart.

Burn out allows the character to perform on last desperate act of magic. Following this act, the character immediately takes one point of fatigue and rolls on the burnout table.

You do not heal in the middle of a breath. Let it go. Then begin again. The Veiled Oracle

Even empty-handed, a vow still has weight. -Sovael the unbroken

Aramyth (Air-a-myth): The planet, the world.

Polyhedral Dice: Dice in many different geometric shapes. Typically a set includes D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20. Some sets may come with multiples of certain dice.

Intention Points (IP): Resource used to accomplish tasks, fight, use skills, and magic.