Looking for inspirational material for a viking campaing

[thejc]

I concur with the old 2e source book. Very nice.

I would also second(or fifth or whatever) "eaters of the dead" aka the 13th warrior.

Here are some articles to help too.

The Fate of Greenland's Vikings

Identity and Self-Image in Viking Age England - All Empires
*warning* this one is a bit scholarly and dry, but very interesting historically

The Viking Rune: A Web Site on Vikings and for Vikings
I came across this a while back. I like the site. I have not had time nor the resources to validate and such but it seems well put together. Perhaps a bit to the "worship" side of the viking but hey...this is D&D we are talking about....we invented the viking.

 

[pemerton]

A recent Penguin paperback: Robert Ferguson, The Hammer and the Cross: A new history of the Vikings (Penguin, 2010). Chapters 1 and 2 are particularly useful: they give an account of the culture of the Vikings (based on a combination of archaeological and textual evidence) as a background to the history that makes up the bulk of the book. (The book includes a good account of the role of slavery, and of human sacrifice, which is sometimes glossed over in RPG accounts.)

From page 39, in reference to the lack of consistency in the textual material concerning religious practices:

Ultimately the lack of consistency only confirms the futility of expecting it. . . the Heathen religion was probably never understood systematically even by those who practised it.​

So any religious consistency that you impose will, of necessity, be at odds with some other way of trying to make sense of the historical record.

As to RPG stuff, there is also the Vikings supplement for Rolemaster and HERO which is reasonably thorough.

 

[ffy]

as an alternate source of ideas, you might want to listen to the concept album 'blood on ice' by bathory. it tells a heroic viking story which is basically a combination of ideas found in the sagas - and also makes for great listening.

 

[Dioltach]

The troll's grindstone.

I'd like to recommend the entire series set on Skarpsey, written by Elizabeth Boyer. It starts with four stand-alone novels (The Sword and the Satchel, The Elves and the Otterskin, The Thrall and the Dragon's Heart and The Wizard and the Warlord), followed by four novels that form a single story: The Troll's Grindstone, The Curse of Slagfid, The Dragon's Carbuncle and The Lord of Chaos.

They feature vikings, undead, necromancers, witches, hags, curses, magic circles, magic swords and flying hammers, curses, and much more.

 

[Thanael]

From http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/297840-looking-adventure.html:

[...] Frog God games is soon to publish a Northlands saga which might interest you. It will be statted for Pathfinder [...]

The Northlands Saga

Wolfgang Baur did some Viking themed stuff iirc, among them a Dungeon adventure for 2E

FIRE GIANT'S DAUGHTER, THE
AD&D adventure, 2-4 characters of levels 8-10
Written by: Wolfgang Baur
Artwork by: Bob Klasnich
Mountains, arctic to sub-arctic
5 pages

Description: Ingrid the fire giant wants to be free of her father, Starkad, but powerful rune magic keeps his daughter from leaving the hearth.


Another great nordic giant adventure from 2e Dungeon:

ANCIENT BLOOD*
AD&D adventure, 4-8 characters of levels 3-5
Written by: Grant and David Boucher
Artwork by: Allen Nunis
Mountains/subterranean, arctic
20 pages

Description: Heroes must journey to Mok-Turoknin's ancestral keep and find some way to undo an evil curse which has brought the frost giant king back from the grave.

 

[ExploderWizard]

]
GURPS: Vikings

The Icelandic Sagas, the Prose and the Poetic Eddas.

These will be plenty to get you going.

 

[CharlesRyan]

I'll second the Bernard Cornwell recommendation. It's hard to read any of his books without wanting to run a game in its setting.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Last-Kingdom-Saxon-Chronicles/dp/0060887184/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1297695666&sr=8-4]Amazon.com: The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1) (9780060887186): Bernard Cornwell: Books[/ame]

 

[Dr. NRG]

Harry Harrisson has a series of novels that can provide some fodder as well, starting with The Hammer and the Cross.

NRG

 

[mattcolville]

Wow am I the first to recommend [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Long-Ships-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590173465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297708867&sr=8-1"]The Long Ships[/ame]? Man that is a great book. Great adventure story, fun, does a great job of showing you what life was like for those guys back then. Amazing.

 

[nedjer]

Henry Treece's old children's books Viking's Dawn, Road to Miklagard and Viking's Sunset are fun and based on a famous Viking. Vicious Vikings Horrible History is hysterical. Look up Holmgang on Wikipedia and here's one hell of a map.