The Light ofAETHELGARD Field Guide

The Aethelgard Field Guide

A player’s handbook for The Light of Aethelgard: how to make a hero, how to fight, how magic and skills work, and who is waiting for you in town.

The Light of Aethelgard is a storybook role-playing game set on a small island kingdom. You start in the town square with a dagger, a healing potion and fifty gold. Beyond the walls are forests full of rats and orcs, eleven dungeons with a boss at the bottom of each, mines full of ore, and a hooded stranger who is waiting to see what you become.

There are no classes. Every hero starts with the same skills. You become a swordsman, an archer, a mage, a smith or a thief by doing those things, and the game remembers how you treat its people.

New players should read Getting Started first. Each chapter ends with a link to the next one.

The town square of Aethelgard, with the temple, Mara’s shop and the fountain
The town square of Aethelgard, with the temple, Mara’s shop and the fountain

Chapters

Getting StartedSave slots, the character creator, how to move, and what everything on the screen does. AttributesWhat Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence change, and how they grow. SkillsAll twenty skills, how fast they rise, who teaches them, and the titles they earn. Armor & EquipmentEvery weapon and armor piece, magic gear, jewelry, wear, repair and masterwork. MagicFinding spell scrolls, reagents, the six spells, familiars and polymorph. Combat & War ModeMelee, bows, war mode, sneak attacks, dying, guards, thieves and player killers. Gathering & CraftingLogs, bows, ore, smelting, smithing, jewelry and enchanting. Food, Fishing & CampingHunger, fishing, cooking over a campfire, securing a camp and resting until morning. The WorldThe town’s buildings, every dungeon and mine, and the full bestiary. Reputation & EndingsHow your name rises or falls, how people react, redemption, and the two endings. People of AethelgardEvery townsperson’s story, the keepsake that wins them over, and how they fight beside you.

Your first hour

  1. Make a character and spend your 50 attribute points. Strength is the safest choice for a first hero because it sets your health.
  2. Talk to Mara in the shop and buy a Longsword (150 gold) as soon as you can afford one. Sell her the rat tails and orc ears you collect.
  3. Fight rats and orcs just outside the walls. Every swing can raise Swordsmanship and Tactics.
  4. Chop trees for logs, and craft arrows and a bow from the Craft menu to try archery.
  5. When you have a few healing potions, follow a purple mark on the minimap to the Orc Warren, the easiest dungeon.
  6. If you get hurt, the priests in the temple heal you for free.