From the mind that brought you the Index Card RPG comes a chance to join the Viking Death Squad. If you’ve ever listened to War Pigs by Black Sabbath and wanted a chance to strike back against dark forces here’s your chance. This RPG is a blood soaked tour de force. The world is a wrecked hellhole, mankind is being slaughtered, and the only slim chance we have is the Viking Death Squad.
My thanks to Chris Birch as Modiphius for providing me a PDF copy for this review. And to Hankerin Ferinale for the years of insanity and inspiration on Runehammer - YouTube and in RPGs.
In the 100th century there is only hell. On Urth the year is 10,191. A vast empire called The Infinitum , also known as the War Pigs, has left all in ruin in its endless quest for Immortality and supreme power. From the stars, the War Pigs rain down death wielding cathedral ships and unleashing swarms of Borg foot soldiers, relentlessly seeking to extinguish mankind.
To make things worse, the legions of hell have been awakened by the carnage. Lucifer, Prince of Darkness has joined the fray, using the chaos to prey on mankind from below the surface. These legions are drawn to the smoke-filled skies, the vast seas of skeletons, to prey on what remains of their favorite cuisine: human beings.
Urth has become a battleground of machines, demons, and battle axes. There are no conveniences, no advanced communications, no cities, no easy transports, no governments, no roads. It is a world of war and wilderness: a world that has become savage and primitive again. The sky is darkened with debris from low orbit, the horizon crawls with stumbling Borg warriors, the shattered moon falls in streaks of fire from above, and craters glow with hellfire from below.
The Screaming Skulls, the rebellion against the War Pigs, is a dwindling confederation of guerilla fighters, rogue Immortals, saboteurs and rebellious Borgs determined to destroy the War Pigs. The Screaming Skulls are losing.
The game runs with opposed rolls of d6 dice pools. The PC assembles a pool from stat or skill, gear, and circumstance. The GM sets a target which gives the number of dice in the pool rolled to determine the target number. The PC needs to meet or beat that number. Skills are marked in bubbles for improvement on a success.
There are no hit points. Once a human’s armor is gone (it can take three hits), if you are hit by anything dangerous you die. So you need to stockpile armor but you can only carry so much and you need weapons as well. The struggle to survive is real and death is only a few hits away.
Criticals (a roll 12 or more above the target number) do a large number of things: grant an extra turn, wipe out an enemy’s armor completely, speed up skill improvement, and more. Crits are spectacular in Viking Death Squad.
Besides humans, PCs can also play Immortals. Immortals can take three hits that would kill a human before dying. There are only 10 Immortals left and if they all fall the humans cannot beat the War Pigs and Lucifer. This is a hard fail for a long-term campaign. So the stakes are high.
The GM has several tools to help run a campaign starting with five pre-generated characters to kickstart a game right away and an adventure called the Dogs of Leadgrave. The GM also has extensive guidance on how to make a campaign set on Urth feel uniquely metal. There are several random tables providing dozens of adventure seeds and other ideas.
There are also encounter tables for over 20 enemies like the iron dragon and the war machine. Each enemy has a d8 table of attacks that GMs can roll on if they are stumped for what the enemy would do next in combat. There is also a table of oddities that can be applied to make an encounter with borg soldiers different every time. Nine scenarios with starting notes round out the GM section.
If you like crazy heavy metal conflict in a post-apocalyptic world, then Viking Death Squad is for you. Sharpen your battle axe, grab a handful of d6, and get ready to fight hell and horrors to save your world or die trying.
My thanks to Chris Birch as Modiphius for providing me a PDF copy for this review. And to Hankerin Ferinale for the years of insanity and inspiration on Runehammer - YouTube and in RPGs.
In the 100th century there is only hell. On Urth the year is 10,191. A vast empire called The Infinitum , also known as the War Pigs, has left all in ruin in its endless quest for Immortality and supreme power. From the stars, the War Pigs rain down death wielding cathedral ships and unleashing swarms of Borg foot soldiers, relentlessly seeking to extinguish mankind.
To make things worse, the legions of hell have been awakened by the carnage. Lucifer, Prince of Darkness has joined the fray, using the chaos to prey on mankind from below the surface. These legions are drawn to the smoke-filled skies, the vast seas of skeletons, to prey on what remains of their favorite cuisine: human beings.
Urth has become a battleground of machines, demons, and battle axes. There are no conveniences, no advanced communications, no cities, no easy transports, no governments, no roads. It is a world of war and wilderness: a world that has become savage and primitive again. The sky is darkened with debris from low orbit, the horizon crawls with stumbling Borg warriors, the shattered moon falls in streaks of fire from above, and craters glow with hellfire from below.
The Screaming Skulls, the rebellion against the War Pigs, is a dwindling confederation of guerilla fighters, rogue Immortals, saboteurs and rebellious Borgs determined to destroy the War Pigs. The Screaming Skulls are losing.
The game runs with opposed rolls of d6 dice pools. The PC assembles a pool from stat or skill, gear, and circumstance. The GM sets a target which gives the number of dice in the pool rolled to determine the target number. The PC needs to meet or beat that number. Skills are marked in bubbles for improvement on a success.
There are no hit points. Once a human’s armor is gone (it can take three hits), if you are hit by anything dangerous you die. So you need to stockpile armor but you can only carry so much and you need weapons as well. The struggle to survive is real and death is only a few hits away.
Criticals (a roll 12 or more above the target number) do a large number of things: grant an extra turn, wipe out an enemy’s armor completely, speed up skill improvement, and more. Crits are spectacular in Viking Death Squad.
Besides humans, PCs can also play Immortals. Immortals can take three hits that would kill a human before dying. There are only 10 Immortals left and if they all fall the humans cannot beat the War Pigs and Lucifer. This is a hard fail for a long-term campaign. So the stakes are high.
The GM has several tools to help run a campaign starting with five pre-generated characters to kickstart a game right away and an adventure called the Dogs of Leadgrave. The GM also has extensive guidance on how to make a campaign set on Urth feel uniquely metal. There are several random tables providing dozens of adventure seeds and other ideas.
There are also encounter tables for over 20 enemies like the iron dragon and the war machine. Each enemy has a d8 table of attacks that GMs can roll on if they are stumped for what the enemy would do next in combat. There is also a table of oddities that can be applied to make an encounter with borg soldiers different every time. Nine scenarios with starting notes round out the GM section.
If you like crazy heavy metal conflict in a post-apocalyptic world, then Viking Death Squad is for you. Sharpen your battle axe, grab a handful of d6, and get ready to fight hell and horrors to save your world or die trying.
