D&D General Dwarven Vikings

[Yaarel]

For D&D.

I would treat the Norse culture (and Dwarven ancestral cultures generally) as strictly animistic. Their souls come from the Material Plane and return to the Material Plane. The various unique mineral patterns are dwarves, the humanlike apparitions are projections from the minerals.

Then the theistic Moradin religion would be a specific culture whose ideology established an enclave within the mindscape of the Astral Plane. In other words, most Dwarven cultures have nothing to do with the Astral Plane, but the Moradin culture does. Generally, referring to animistic ancestors as the 'Old Religion', and the polytheistic gods, priests, and temples as the 'New Religion', works well enough. An individual Druid might belong to either one.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

I find it pretty easy to adapt the traditional mountain-dwelling dwarf into a sea-raider. Denizens of cold, remote, inhospitable areas that have plentiful mineral wealth but limited capacity for food production. They use ships for speed when the sea thaws in the spring to raid for food and livestock, then quickly sail back to their mountain fastnesses.

 

[Faxfire683]

Because my brain is a peculiar place, the following has been going on in it:

Though Dwarves are most often associated with hills and mountains, I don't see why they couldn't be sailors and farmers. If anyone would likely be similar to them, the Dwarves make the most sense. Of course, what this means is they'd (mostly) live in an area with fjords, mountains, and colder weather. They'd also mostly be farmers rather than miners with some few going out on boats to explore and trade (and occasionally plunder).

I couldn't get rid of the idea of them being miners and crafters, but I also get the idea that they'd likely have metal ships because I just can't see them wanting to go around in boats of wood. I could also see a variety of clans each of which has a particular job: fishing, farming, sailing, mining, etc.

Also, when my brain is in more sci-fi mode, I get the notion they could be Neanderthals since, from what I've read, their bodies would not be that dissimilar.

Any thoughts on this?

This is also similar to how Kobold Press treats dwarves in its Midgard setting. The Northern Reaver dwarves have a distinctly Nordic influence. The descendents of reaver dwarves also have a number of mountain cantons in the Ironcrag mountains in the more central region of the setting. These cantonal dwarves span the range of agriculture and trading to the more familiar crafting and mining tropes. You can check out the Kobold Press blog and the Midgard Worldbook product for more details if you’re interested. They’ve done a number of posts detailing the Ironcrag dwarves over the last month or two to support their Tales of the Valiant 5e variant. Delve into the Depths in the Kobold Blog

 

[AlViking]

Remember that 'vikings' are reallife ethnic cultural heritage, so proceed accordingly. Generally it is fine to treat the heritage for fun, entertainment, and humor. At the same time, Nordics can be surprisingly sensitive about accuracy and sensibility. Generally avoid Conan the Barbarian tropes.

Here I thought it was just the name of my home state's football team. Which is kind of odd now that I think about it because I don't watch football any more.

 

[AlViking]

I really was not thinking along the lines of Conan the Barbarian or the more ridiculous 'horned helmed' types that didn't exist outside operas. Generally, I was thinking along the lines of RL Scandinavian cultures (which I know are multiple), but more generically since the Dwarves of D&D don't usually have sunlight issues.



There's also a certain amount of overlap with the Svartálfar, so in theory they could be a variety of Elf. Or they could even be a variety of Troll, since Trolls were also known to turn into stone in sunlight on occasion.



This would be an interesting take on Dwarves, though if they needed to avoid daylight sailing they could have boats that have some sort of canopy covering them, though a magically created mist or fog would also likely shield them from attacks (hard to hit something one can't see). I'm not sure how many people would like to play someone that has to be in constant pain every time they go out in sunlight, though.

Another thing to remember as well, depending on how close you want to model after real life vikings is that many were more interested in trading that raiding. Europe has a lot of rivers that were navigable by their longboats and their routes went west to Greenland (and briefly New Foundland) down to the Mediterranean and as far east as the Caspian Sea.

 

[Clint_L]

Vikings were a specific cultural phenomenon - one that came from my ancestors, in fact (that photo is me on a dock in Denmark last summer, on my way to visit my family's home in Sweden). So to me it is weird to discuss dwarves being Vikings, kind of like discussing dwarves being Romans or something.

But I get the intent - sea raider types with some Scandinavian flavour added. To which I say: sure! Why not? My current campaign is on a pirate adventure and there are plenty of dwarf pirates, which is more or less the same thing.

Just because Tolkien had dwarves as underground mountain dwellers (inspired by Norse mythology, ironically), that doesn't mean yours have to be. It's fantasy - make it fantastic!

 

[Tonguez]

Id love to see Fjord dwarfs who have strongholds carved into high, deep cliffs that plunge down into the sea. The entrances are connected by rope bridges and verticle cable networks.
The land is rugged, mountainous and cold Not suitable for farming which forces the Fjord dwarfs to rely on the bounty of the sea. Fishing and hunting with harpoons and steel mesh nets their catch includes fish, seals, whale and giant sea serpents. Whale bone, walrus tusk, serpent hides, giant carapace, miners iron and steel are the major building materials, wood is scarce.

Each clan owns its own ironclad ship, etched with runes, powered by steam and equipped with harpoons and processing capacity. The Fjord dwarfs view the sea as an anvil that tempers the hearts and minds of its sea-hunters as they face storm, wave and massive beasts. The Fjord Dwarf Harpooners are celebrated hunters while Fjord dwarf warriors are shield marines, wielding heavy axes and oval shields that double as small rafts or floatation devices. They practice "anchor war" tactics—dropping ship-chains to halt enemy vessels, boarding with hooks and nets. Some elite units tame and ride sea rams, massive tusked seals that the dwarfs have domesticated as symbols of status...

 

[MGibster]

Just because Tolkien had dwarves as underground mountain dwellers (inspired by Norse mythology, ironically), that doesn't mean yours have to be. It's fantasy - make it fantastic!

I made my dwarves Bavarians. They mostly lived underground, but some of them lived on the surface because hops and barley aren't going to grow themselves. Most of the dwarves living underground thought the farmers were crazy and didn't understand how they kept themselves from falling into the sky.

 

[Yaarel]

Here I thought it was just the name of my home state's football team. Which is kind of odd now that I think about it because I don't watch football any more.

My dad always roots for the Vikings football team.