Jolly Giant
First Post
Inconsequenti-AL said:
In Norway 13th warrior is regarded as a comedy; aka Eric the Viking II
Seriously though; plenty of goof ideas in your post, thanks!
Ideas for a viking campaign needed
- Thread starter Jolly Giant
- Start date
In Norway 13th warrior is regarded as a comedy; aka Eric the Viking II
Seriously though; plenty of goof ideas in your post, thanks!
Jolly Giant
First Post
J_A_Garlock said:Perhaps a portal to Asgard in the north?. Your right though, that would be a better adventure for the end or near the end.
This gives me an idea!
The vikings believed the rainbow was a walkable bridge (called "Bivrost") between Midgard and Asgard. Maybe I should set the PCs on a "chase the rainbow" kind of hunt... (Sings: "I believe; we'll catch the rainbow..." )
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Henrix
Explorer
There's a lot of fun stuff one can do in a viking campaign.
How about something really classic.
Start a feud, involve a lot of others to support the enemy politically.
Trick the PCs into killing/hurting more enemies than the enemy kills friends.
Have the enemies take the PCs to the thing* (~court, for you non-nordic speaking folks) and make them pay mansbot/wergild** and go holmgang (ritual duel).
And then you could always have the feud continue when the PCs are away (gone viking?). Now let the enemies kill some important kin to the PCs. Let them go to thing and award the PCs friends a lot of money, and declare anyone who continues the feud an outlaw.
Have the Pcs kinsmen fight among themselves on how to divide the weregild -> a new feud.
Preferably with some of their friends on one side and some on the other.
Never describe an NPC without telling how she's related to the PCs. Next cousin to their uncle's wife, sort of thing.
Have unknown relatives come and bother them for money if they've struck it rich. Take them to thing for what their cousin did (but accusing them as they have money).
See if you can get your hands on the old Runequest supplement Vikings, the best Viking roleplaying supplement hitherto made.
* Remember that no matter how clearly facts may look in the PCs favour, cases are often decided by who has the most "witnesses", i.e. friends or kin who declare in their favour (regardless of whether they have witnessed anything, or even know either defendant).
** Which depends on how many and how important people have been killed on both sides.
How about something really classic.
Start a feud, involve a lot of others to support the enemy politically.
Trick the PCs into killing/hurting more enemies than the enemy kills friends.
Have the enemies take the PCs to the thing* (~court, for you non-nordic speaking folks) and make them pay mansbot/wergild** and go holmgang (ritual duel).
And then you could always have the feud continue when the PCs are away (gone viking?). Now let the enemies kill some important kin to the PCs. Let them go to thing and award the PCs friends a lot of money, and declare anyone who continues the feud an outlaw.
Have the Pcs kinsmen fight among themselves on how to divide the weregild -> a new feud.
Preferably with some of their friends on one side and some on the other.Never describe an NPC without telling how she's related to the PCs. Next cousin to their uncle's wife, sort of thing.
Have unknown relatives come and bother them for money if they've struck it rich. Take them to thing for what their cousin did (but accusing them as they have money).
See if you can get your hands on the old Runequest supplement Vikings, the best Viking roleplaying supplement hitherto made.
* Remember that no matter how clearly facts may look in the PCs favour, cases are often decided by who has the most "witnesses", i.e. friends or kin who declare in their favour (regardless of whether they have witnessed anything, or even know either defendant).
** Which depends on how many and how important people have been killed on both sides.
Inconsequenti-AL
Breaks Games
Jolly Giant said:In Norway 13th warrior is regarded as a comedy; aka Eric the Viking II
Learn something new every day.
Although it doesn't suprise me. Making films about cultures other than your own normally makes for some funny results. Can think of quite a few I've seen. Was going to name them but figured that could get all sidetracky.
Still, the basic plotline could be workable (without the itinerant hispanic 'arab'). Just switch the bear warriors for something else - possibly a Frostburn race?
Jolly Giant said:Seriously though; plenty of goof ideas in your post, thanks!
And I was trying to be serious! I'm going to cry quietly in the corner now!
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Desdichado
Hero
Check out the "Red sails" or whatever it was called; the mini setting in Dragon a year or two back about "mythic Russia." It'd be a good starting place on how to adapt D&D to a semi-historical setting from about the same time period.
And if I were to run a "Viking" campaign, I'd still make it a fantasy world, but I'd have equivalents of Russia, the Byzantine Empire, Europe (to raid, naturally), Ireland and thriving colonies on Vinland amongst the Skraelings.
And if I were to run a "Viking" campaign, I'd still make it a fantasy world, but I'd have equivalents of Russia, the Byzantine Empire, Europe (to raid, naturally), Ireland and thriving colonies on Vinland amongst the Skraelings.
Voadam
Legend
I actually really like most of Avalanche press' Doom of Odin adventure. It has a journey to Nidavallir, Jotunheim, and mortal viking places with riddles and traps done right (solve them and things are easier, no damage from rune traps, but you can also suck it up and press through if you don't).
However it has the worst cover of any Avalanche press d20 book out there.
However it has the worst cover of any Avalanche press d20 book out there.
painandgreed
First Post
Have them go out on an overseas trade mission as guards. They fight a few random encounters, get to the foreign land, have an adventure there, aid the viking merchant in selling his stuff and then set sail back home. In route, they're hit by a terrible storm. They have to make all sorts of rolls to keep the boat afloat and themselves in it but the merchant ends up overboard. After several days in the storm, they are now very far from home and must find their way back through strange and foreign lands filled with strangness, like a Viking verison of the Odyssey. Actually, you could just start the adventure with them fighting a war or coming back from one as young warriors and then getting lost on the way home. Be sure that you make one of them a Prince so once home, they have to take back the rightful throne that was stolen in his absence.
scruffygrognard
Adventurer
Keeping it "real."
An idea for keeping the game low-magic is to have characters start as Warriors or Experts and advance 5 levels in these NPC classes before qualifying for PC classes such as Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Ranger, or Rogue.
That way, PHB classes would become your "prestige classes."
This method gets tricky with spellcasters, who would be put at a greater disadvantage than fighter or rogue-types due to the problems inherent with multiclassed spellcasting.
My suggesting fix for this would be to allow characters to start as clerics, druids, wizards, and sorcerers but have them progress in casting at 1st level and every even level beyond that. Thus, at level 11, your primary casters will cast as 6th level casters while, at level 20, they'd cast as 11th level casters. Considering clerics and druids other abilities, they need not get any compensation for this lower spell progression.
To compensate for this loss of spellcasting abilities to wizards and sorcerers, these spellcasters would gain a metamagic feat at levels 4, 12, and 20 and could spontaneously use their metamagic feats 3 times per day without increasing the metamagicked spell's level. Both classes would gain 4 skill points per level.
Bards would progress at spellcasting at half of their usual rate and gain a d8 hit die.
Paladins and rangers would lose spellcasting ability but gain bonus fighter feats at levels 4, 8 and 12.
Just some of my whacky ideas.
An idea for keeping the game low-magic is to have characters start as Warriors or Experts and advance 5 levels in these NPC classes before qualifying for PC classes such as Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Ranger, or Rogue.
That way, PHB classes would become your "prestige classes."
This method gets tricky with spellcasters, who would be put at a greater disadvantage than fighter or rogue-types due to the problems inherent with multiclassed spellcasting.
My suggesting fix for this would be to allow characters to start as clerics, druids, wizards, and sorcerers but have them progress in casting at 1st level and every even level beyond that. Thus, at level 11, your primary casters will cast as 6th level casters while, at level 20, they'd cast as 11th level casters. Considering clerics and druids other abilities, they need not get any compensation for this lower spell progression.
To compensate for this loss of spellcasting abilities to wizards and sorcerers, these spellcasters would gain a metamagic feat at levels 4, 12, and 20 and could spontaneously use their metamagic feats 3 times per day without increasing the metamagicked spell's level. Both classes would gain 4 skill points per level.
Bards would progress at spellcasting at half of their usual rate and gain a d8 hit die.
Paladins and rangers would lose spellcasting ability but gain bonus fighter feats at levels 4, 8 and 12.
Just some of my whacky ideas.
I'm just finishing designing a campaign with a viking / Norse theme. Feel free to email me to start talking ideas; it'd clog bandwidth to do it here. My address is jatfairfield -at- yahoo -dot- com.
Sources
That said, here are some good sources:
David Lawson's new book The Raven (available free in its entirety at http://www.tenthousandmonkeys.com/monkeys/compline.htm) is as awesome as it gets; the entire last half of the book has a great Norse theme. And, you can see the D&D worldbuilding underlay under the whole thing.
Thirteenth Warrior has been mentioned already.
Avalanche Press has a book called Viking Age out that includes the material from the Doom of Odin and other great books of theirs. The new classes and powers are intentionally WAY overpowered -- I don't use them -- but the cultural terminology and look at Viking life is very useful.
Frostburn has lots of new material that's adaptable to a Norse setting; so does Races of Stone.
Class Adaptations
As far as class adaptations, there's a lot in the core books that's easy to transpose to a viking context. I adapted Hammer of Moradin to be the baseline warrior of Donar (Thor) class; Frenzied Berzerkers as the leading warriors of Woden (Odin); and Shieldmaidens of Sif (Champions of Gwynharwyf) as the leading female warrior adaptation.
Other classes are easy to adapt, as well: Runecasters, Runesmiths, and Battlesmiths already fit.
I used Mystic Theurge as my primary Priest of Woden class -- the emphasis on knowledge, versatility, plus the idea that Woden alone among the gods mastered the (otherwise feminine) magical arts of seithr means that the only "ok" magic-users are also Wodenic priests.
Arcane magic is otherwise limited to female wizards ("Glythja"), female sorcerers ("Spaekona", who are outcasts and midwives), foreigners (who are looked down upon for their "feminine diversions"), and dwarves.
Races and Monster types:
Speaking of Dwarves (or Dwarrow), I changed their favored class to Wizard, and left them otherwise alone.
Fey, I've developed as a major evil and the primary enemy race. I called them "Svartalfr", and they're soul-sucking, child-stealing, evil-on-a-stick just waiting to happen. Dryads are not your momma's tree-hugger, and nymphs will suck your soul out to warm their freezing hands, returning you to your village as Soulless, a new subtype (if a Fey "kills" you via energy drain, immediately change alignment to Chaotic Evil, all compunctions gone, intense desire for murder and other unpleasantness, PCs become NPCs under GM control).
Undead also were transformed. They're no longer inherently evil -- in fact, many undead ("Draugr" -- for regular undead; "Hagbui" for mound-dwellers) are the result of tragic actions in life, and exist to seek people out who will right great wrongs.
Trolls are another major faction. The Monster Manual III has many new variants of Trolls, and I plan on using them a lot. The major issue is that I've made them subject to extreme sunlight sensitivity (turn to stone if caught in true daylight) but given them extra magical powers in return.
I renamed Goblin Forestkith as Bush Trolls -- weak enough for characters to begin encountering Trolls from first level.
There are lots of other ideas, but I think this post is long enough; I like to keep the crunch-to-noise ratio fairly high.
best,
Carpe
Sources
That said, here are some good sources:
David Lawson's new book The Raven (available free in its entirety at http://www.tenthousandmonkeys.com/monkeys/compline.htm) is as awesome as it gets; the entire last half of the book has a great Norse theme. And, you can see the D&D worldbuilding underlay under the whole thing.
Thirteenth Warrior has been mentioned already.
Avalanche Press has a book called Viking Age out that includes the material from the Doom of Odin and other great books of theirs. The new classes and powers are intentionally WAY overpowered -- I don't use them -- but the cultural terminology and look at Viking life is very useful.
Frostburn has lots of new material that's adaptable to a Norse setting; so does Races of Stone.
Class Adaptations
As far as class adaptations, there's a lot in the core books that's easy to transpose to a viking context. I adapted Hammer of Moradin to be the baseline warrior of Donar (Thor) class; Frenzied Berzerkers as the leading warriors of Woden (Odin); and Shieldmaidens of Sif (Champions of Gwynharwyf) as the leading female warrior adaptation.
Other classes are easy to adapt, as well: Runecasters, Runesmiths, and Battlesmiths already fit.
I used Mystic Theurge as my primary Priest of Woden class -- the emphasis on knowledge, versatility, plus the idea that Woden alone among the gods mastered the (otherwise feminine) magical arts of seithr means that the only "ok" magic-users are also Wodenic priests.
Arcane magic is otherwise limited to female wizards ("Glythja"), female sorcerers ("Spaekona", who are outcasts and midwives), foreigners (who are looked down upon for their "feminine diversions"), and dwarves.
Races and Monster types:
Speaking of Dwarves (or Dwarrow), I changed their favored class to Wizard, and left them otherwise alone.
Fey, I've developed as a major evil and the primary enemy race. I called them "Svartalfr", and they're soul-sucking, child-stealing, evil-on-a-stick just waiting to happen. Dryads are not your momma's tree-hugger, and nymphs will suck your soul out to warm their freezing hands, returning you to your village as Soulless, a new subtype (if a Fey "kills" you via energy drain, immediately change alignment to Chaotic Evil, all compunctions gone, intense desire for murder and other unpleasantness, PCs become NPCs under GM control).
Undead also were transformed. They're no longer inherently evil -- in fact, many undead ("Draugr" -- for regular undead; "Hagbui" for mound-dwellers) are the result of tragic actions in life, and exist to seek people out who will right great wrongs.
Trolls are another major faction. The Monster Manual III has many new variants of Trolls, and I plan on using them a lot. The major issue is that I've made them subject to extreme sunlight sensitivity (turn to stone if caught in true daylight) but given them extra magical powers in return.
I renamed Goblin Forestkith as Bush Trolls -- weak enough for characters to begin encountering Trolls from first level.
There are lots of other ideas, but I think this post is long enough; I like to keep the crunch-to-noise ratio fairly high.
best,
Carpe
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