Norse Campaign.. Help?

[Elvencloud]

So my players have just finished their big campaign with me, and it's looking like a good time for them to retire these characters.
With some thought and some idea bouncing, we've decided a Norse themed campaign is next.
I've read some on the mythology, I bought Frostburn for the colder environments... But I don't know where to start or where I should go with this.
Any books, ideas, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[TroubleBrewing]

Watch "The Thirteenth Warrior". Read Conan the Barbarian stories. Anything that seems... I dunno, Viking-y or Barbarian-ish.

[hamishspence]

Deities & Demigods has the rules for most of the Norse deities- and a Berserker prestige class.

[Tvtyrant]

Play up the Norse part; Frost giants in the mountains that keep polar bears as hounds (and even dire polar bears) and use mammoths as mounts. Sea-Dragons rule the ocean and barbarians go on raids to collect iron because the giants own the iron mines inland and charge exorbitantly.

Basically think of an inhospitable ice world where each tribe as at least one high level npc with character levels to defend it.

[zenon]

You could watch "Valhalla rising"

[mootoall]

I've been thinking of a Norse-ish campaign, too! What a coincidence! Not many themes come with a built-in BBEG plot, doncha know. Bring down Ragnarok on their heads! Servants of Loki want to free him, unbind Fenrir, and fish out the Midgard serpent! Have them meet Grendel! Beowulf was a pretty badass dude! Use the mythology to your advantage, and have tonnes of fun!

[TroubleBrewing]

Treat arcane spellcasters with suspicion and even outright hostility; divine spellcasters are to be provided for at every expense. Bards are storytellers, not performers (for the most part), and everyone possesses at least a little musical or artistic skill.

The most common classes would most likely be Ranger, Barbarian, Druid, and Fighter. Sorcerers, Rogues, Clerics and Bards would be less common, but there might be one or two in each village or king's hall. There would be so few Paladins, Wizards, and Monks that a GM would be almost expected to disallow them entirely.

[Elvencloud]

Bring down Ragnarok on their heads! Servants of Loki want to free him, unbind Fenrir, and fish out the Midgard serpent! Have them meet Grendel! Beowulf was a pretty badass dude! Use the mythology to your advantage, and have tonnes of fun!

I had a similar idea. I was thinking that somewhere in the campaign, if they TPK'ed, they would be chosen by Valkyries to be heroes of Ragnarok. And then go questing for the gods. :)

Also, where to start... I was thinking of starting the characters in pit fights held by frost giants for their amusement. Thoughts?

[hamishspence]

Valkyries in Deities & Demigods are represented as 20th level Paladin Quasi-Deities.

Tyr, while not a paladin himself (the Norse version), is listed as a patron of paladins.

So- maybe the paladin could be used, but given a stronger Norse flavour.

[Elvencloud]

So- maybe the paladin could be used, but given a stronger Norse flavour.

I like this. I'm also going to play up the barbarian/berserker. It seems VERY norse, and a lot of fun to play. I was also thinking Shamans (not the oriental version) would be a very big force, because of their culture.

Did the norse have any other big mythological creatures other than giants? And what about the difference in dwarves and elves? Should I use them as PHB?

[TroubleBrewing]

Dwarves would be a good thing to include. Other mythological beats: Trolls, Dire Animals, Worgs, Winter Wolves, Lycanthropes, and basically anything found in Tolkien.

[hamishspence]

Midgard dwarves from Frostburn might be used if you think dwarves should be NPC only.

Elves- maybe trickier and more dangerous.

[TroubleBrewing]

Elves are definitely more vicious in the Norse mythology context. They tend more towards child-stealing and traveler-stabbing than immortal effeminate Explicit Good Guys.

Tolkien got them all wrong. :smalltongue:

[Tvtyrant]

They actually divide into dark and light elves in norse mythos, and they live in different worlds.

[Yora]

And ogres. The skandinavian trolls are pretty much the prime archetype for them.

[Dwoir]

I'd read either the Poetic or Prose Edda to get a fairly good, if basic, grasp on Norse Mythology.

[nyarlathotep]

Did the norse have any other big mythological creatures other than giants? And what about the difference in dwarves and elves? Should I use them as PHB?

Dragons, giant wolves, etc. Most of them are unique and have names but there is nothing preventing you from making similar giant monsters.

[Yora]

As good as it gets. At the time they were written, most of Skandinavia had been converted to Christianity several Generations ago.

[Cerlis]

you can work in alot of stuff, the thing is just reflavoring them. alot of mythology in DnD is based off north and scandinavian myths. Elf used to by synonymous with Faerie. So basically they'd be more spiritlike and fey. Like 4.0 elves and eladrin. you could use several of the subraces with some slight different flavor. Wood elves are the same but slightly more more barbaric. Definately the "Tell you to stay out of my forest by shooting you in the foot" type. High elves would be the fey folk who are rare tricksters who see mortals as amusing lesser beings. Grey elves would be the equivelant of the High Court of the Fey. maybe having one fanciful city in the middle of a forest that you can only get to during sunrise or twilight. (maybe once they will go there to petition help from them) but since they will think they are so above humans it will be hard to deal with them.

You'd have basically 4 types of warriors. The crude raiders who would be barbarians. The more tactically minded leader or skilled warriors who are fighters. The warriors who spend more attention to the gods and seek their blessing who would be reflavored Paladins. they'd basically be holy warriors. Calling down Thor's blessing to cast out demons and fey who plague their good men. maybe you could even replace some class features with Whirling Frenzy alternate barbarian ability, and have it be divine inspiration. Last warriors are the true Holy Warriors, The Clerics. They focus on rights and bringing blessings to their tribesmen. But like all savage people, anyone with might fights for their people, and so do these. Basically like normal clerics but i'd think they'd all be military driven.

It would be shaman and druids would be the Holymen, wisemen and healers who provide guidance. They are not some weird nature person at the outskirts of society, they are the most important members of society, even more important than the leader. the CHief is only leader for the sake of having a leader.

[Elvencloud]

Thank you for all the ideas so far. I really appreciate it. I bought the shaman handbook (it's a d20 supplement) and am looking through it.
I watched Valhalla rising.. it was weird. I think I'm going to go read some of the prose.

So, should humans be the only playable race, do you think?

[Bang!]

No.

Gnome should be the only playable race.

Halflings get to gut travellers.

Humans, Elfs and the rest are your Jotun now.

:smalltongue:

[Metahuman1]

I'd say that you can play it but you have to come up with a killer back-story too make it happen. (Hint: This is easier if you start the players off with a few lvl's already under there belt to represent past experience.)

With Regard too Monk, I'd say it could actually fit, particularly if the Lawful only alignment was dropped. (It was bad fluff anyway. Why? In the class descriptions for Monk and Wizard, they say One is Lawful becuase is focused on developing her art, and the other is unlawful because she's focused on developing her art.) Just fluff them as hardened Brawlers that like to snap limbs and break bones bare handed (Think how Beowulf took out Grendel. ), and/or as travelers form Distant lands that came into contact with the area's the game is set in via trade and making allies among some of the clans so that they don't have to fight raiders. (Remember, Vikings did get around, so in a Geography where there's noting between the Norse area and your equivalent ancient orient except ocean, it's entirely possible for the two to have a little contact. )

[wumpus]

Do you have the full set of Orcish gods (not just Grummish)? From what I remember, they took the Norse gods and made them orcs. You would have to make Odin much more treacherous and bloodthirsty (especially for human sacrifice), though. They seemed to have made the orc gods pretty tame.

Consider giving the offering the "blessing of Odin" (Odin's chosen, whatever). The "lucky" character would have (at least) a [stacking] bless during any fight that didn't matter. Against the BBEG (or other important battles of the DM's choosing) it would turn into a bane. This has a lot to do with Odin's obsession with preparing for Ragnorok. He wanted his heroes at their peak strength (i.e. at the cusp of victory, then snatch it away from them).

[TroubleBrewing]

With Regard too Monk, I'd say it could actually fit, particularly if the Lawful only alignment was dropped.

That's not the only thing. It's more the idea that a monk has been trained in a place where acolytes learn unarmed combat. If you want the Beowulf, grapply-limb-snappy stuff, there are plenty of unarmed builds out there that intentionally don't use monk.

The idea of a warrior ascetic doesn't exactly fit with the typical idea of 'Viking*' lifestyle, the whole "live life to the fullest, MORE ALE AND WHORES" stereotype. Most of the warriors in a Viking raiding party didn't learn how to use a sword or an axe from a Master of that art, they learned it first-hand. Sure, you can flavor the monk as a guy who learned how to kick ass by kicking ass, but if that's the case, just play an unarmed fighter.

If you're including ToB material, I'd exclude Swordsage for the same reason; it just doesn't gel with the theme. Warblade, sure. Super-skilled warrior who ALSO uses his brain? Not unheard of. Crusader, sure. Warrior fighting for a cause, one he has dedicated his life to? Also, not unheard of. Maybe more rare than the first one, but not uncommon. Swordsage, not so much. A "Blade Wizard"? I don't think so.

Most of the Viking heroes weren't total hard cases because of their supernatural ability with the blade; they were all-around badasses. Look at Beowulf: in the parts of the story everyone knows, he uses a sword to kill monsters, a dagger to cut his way out of a big monster, his bare hands to tear off a monster's arm, and a spear to kill a dragon. He didn't dedicate his life to the study of combat, either; the guy spent most of his time leading armies and sleeping with princesses. These were men who picked up an axe when it was time to raid, and a plow when it was time to feed their families. Swordsage and Monk just don't fit into that lifestyle.

*: I use the quotation marks because I recognize that this isn't historically accurate. The OP specified that he was using a Norse theme for his campaign. If you tell players to plan for a Norse themed game and then have them playing peasants in a dirt farming village who eventually get wiped out by disease, starvation, and the better fed and equipped Norman armies, they'll riot.

[Zaydos]

I'd suggest reading The Saga of Hrolf Kraki, actually I'd especially suggest Poul Anderson's translation. It's one of the major Mythic Sagas, and the easiest read of the ones I've encountered. Has elves, armies of undead, evil wizards, demon-boars, werebear paladins who might be Beowulf*, one of the few examples of berserkers working within society, and several kennings draw from it.

Grettir's Saga is another good one, but it's more down to earth (only 3 monsters, and a few spells) being one of the more important Historical Sagas but it does have one of the biggest badasses of Icelandic history.

*Bodvar Bjarki (Battle-Aware Little Bear) is a geat that comes to join King Hrolf and his first task is killing a monster (in some versions it's a dragon but this seems to have been a later addition) that has been plaguing the king's hall for some time.

Beowulf means Bee-thief or bear, is a geat that comes to join King I forget his name (Hrolf's uncle) and his first task is killing a monster that has been plaguing the king's hall for some time.

They have other similarities as well but I forget some of them off the top of my head.

[Bang!]

If players are supposed to care about something, it has to glitter. It is a rule.

[mootoall]

Actually, there could be plenty of sorceresses. It was only dishonorable for men to practice witchcraft and such. Hence why it was such an insult when Loki accused Odin of it.

[TroubleBrewing]

Actually, there could be plenty of sorceresses. It was only dishonorable for men to practice witchcraft and such. Hence why it was such an insult when Loki accused Odin of it.

Actually, that's a good point. It didn't make men any more trusting of sorceresses, though. Heck, one of the definitions for 'arcane' is "poorly understood".

[Cerlis]

id at least make it human heavy.

I think if you are really going to put some effort into it then basically you can have the Spirit folk (Dwarves, elves, halfings, gnomes all come from stories of the Weefolk. Faeries and spirits) as unique weird races. Basically take every aspect of em that makes them different from humans and increase it (kinda like how when Gnomes went to 4.0 they turned into fey). But since having a buncha strange weird spirits hanging out with humans would be weird you'd need to have some serious backstory, or possibly some troublesome way for them to meet.

But if you cant think of some glorious way to somehow write these strange creatures as playable characters for your players, i might avoid it and make it an all human campaign. (One thing you can do is there are a few PrCs in which someone becomes an honorary member of a society (Ruathar, example). It would be fun for the players to make all badass cool human vikings and if one liked one of the fey races they might become that races Emissary.)

[Zaydos]

Actually, there could be plenty of sorceresses. It was only dishonorable for men to practice witchcraft and such. Hence why it was such an insult when Loki accused Odin of it.

Strangely enough, though, in all the Sagas I've read there's been no good sorceresses. Usually they're too busy cursing/drugging the hero (example Hrolf Kraki's saga a witch curses Bjarki's father because he refuses to sleep with her because she's evil and his step mother and turns him into a werebear; example 2 in the Volsunga saga a witch gives Sigurd a draught to make him forget Brunhilda so he'll marry her daughter thus causing the trajedy of the story). Except maybe in one saga where an old mage and a witch used magic against each other. I forget who was the "good" one, I think they were both presented as bad.

[Coidzor]

You'll wanna figure out what kinda undead you'll use for draugr (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Draugr)of both types if there's not any already statted out...

[TroubleBrewing]

My vote is to just use ghouls. The "unmistakable stench of death" bit, as well as the whole "haunting the graves of warriors" thing leads me to think that the D&D ghoul is a pretty good fit.

[McSmack]

I would read Micheal Criton's Eaters of the Dead aka The 13th Warrior aka Beowulf.

From what I've read of Norse Mythology a lot of the lines are drawn between law and chaos whereas your typical fantasy adventure draws those lines between good and evil.

A buddy of mine is about to start up his Viking's vs Lycanthropes game. I'm hoping I'll get the chance to use my bard/warblade

[Tvtyrant]

Also, Wendigos make for great ice monsters. They can use weapons or unarmed based on how you want them to appear.

[Elvencloud]

Wendigos. I totally forgot about them! That's a fantastic idea.
I'm thinking that this campaign is going to start with the players being slaves/captured in raids. They're going to be put in multiple fights to the death for the amusement of the evil barbarian leader.

I like the Draugr... Ghouls and wights will probably make the majority of them...
And I'm watching the 13th warrior today. We'll see how it goes. :)

[Shadowleaf]

Focus on making small-town communities that make sense. Seeing as towns are small, few and distant to one another, everyone in a given town would know eachother. They would also have their own set of stories, traditions, legends and so forth.
There'd be some unifying stories, such as everyone knows that Dragons = evil, or ravens = a warning sign, but two towns might not agree on whether a wolf is a good sign or not.

The small towns would be highly superstitious and probably suspecious of outsiders, especially non-Norse outsiders.

In general, the people would believe in simple values: Honor, loyalty, honesty and hard work. This is how their community survives, and it is what they expect of outsiders. A sly, fast-talking lazy Rogue would probably make quite a few enemies.

Contests were also a big thing: Contests of boasting, arm-wrestling, duels, story-telling, pelt-hunting, fishing, endurance-tests and the likes.


Edit: Watch How To Tame Your Dragon, Beowulf and play Icewind Dale. :smallbiggrin:

[Elvencloud]

I really liked the 13th warrior! It was an enjoyable movie. It's sad that there aren't many viking movies that are worth watching.
Group starts this Wednesday, and while I'm writing outdoor encounters for the future, I'm really not sure how to start the initial campaign. I'm thinking that they've been captured by bandits and they start fighting for the barbarians' enjoyment.
I'm not sure who or how to start the story though... but with Ragnarok eventually coming, Loki's servants will eventually be involved.
Any other last minute suggestions for a writer with writers block?

[Bhaakon]

If you're having trouble paladins and monks into a Norse mythos, then don't. It might be more interesting to play them as representatives, or even missionaries, of foreign belief systems. If you're looking for an epic Ragnarok-type of campaign plot, they might even be instigators (perhaps purposeful, perhaps unwitting).

[Canarr]

The small towns would be highly superstitious and probably suspecious of outsiders, especially non-Norse outsiders.


Actually, hospitality was a major virtue in Norse society, especially because of the hard life and the far-flung communities; it's not unusual to read about in the sagas. People would take foreigners in, sometimes over the whole winter, because there was nowhere to go for them. Of course, it was a poor guest who didn't bring generous gifts for his hosts; generally, a man's generosity was an important part of his reknown.

If you can find it, 2nd edition had a Campaign Book: Vikings - excellent content in terms of setting, customs, creatures from Nordic mythology and their closest D&D equivalent. A great read.

[Gullintanni]

If you're having trouble paladins and monks into a Norse mythos, then don't. It might be more interesting to play them as representatives, or even missionaries, of foreign belief systems. If you're looking for an epic Ragnarok-type of campaign plot, they might even be instigators (perhaps purposeful, perhaps unwitting).

There's no need to shy away from the notion of Norse Paladins. There are examples in the mythology, the most readily available examples would be Tyr and Heimdall.

Tyr offered to place his hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenris, in order that the wolf might trust the gods. When they bound the wolf, and refused to set him free, he bit off Tyr's hand. Tyr is an exemplar of justice, bravery and duty.

Heimdall spent his time watching over the realm of men from atop Yggdrasil. He watched and waited for the day that Bifrost would break, and the legions of the dead would spill forth from Nifelheim. His sole task was to sound his horn and alert the gods, calling them to war.

Both gods are perfect examples of warrior-paladins who exemplify a commitment to duty and the well-being of the Æsir. There's no reason Paladins couldn't exist in a Norse society. Monks are a little bit more difficult to justify in my mind, owing strictly to their somewhat oriental flavor...but missionaries from other religions and pantheons might field monks as suggested.

A neat Norse superstition, if you're interested in placing your campaign pre-ragnarok...there was a belief that those who did not die in battle would rise up as restless spirits if not properly entombed. This was a problem in Norse Europe because for much of the year the ground was frozen and hard, and digging graves was nigh impossible. What they would do, is dig a shallow grave and pile rocks atop the corpse, knowing that the piled earth wouldn't be sufficient to contain the dead.

[McSmack]

Group starts this Wednesday, and while I'm writing outdoor encounters for the future, I'm really not sure how to start the initial campaign. I'm thinking that they've been captured by bandits and they start fighting for the barbarians' enjoyment.
I'm not sure who or how to start the story though... but with Ragnarok eventually coming, Loki's servants will eventually be involved.
Any other last minute suggestions for a writer with writers block?

Well how about the PC's fight for amusement and are locked away (perhaps in a pit) for the night. During the night the down is raided. You could have the PC's escape, in which case they could either help the town, help the raiders, or just make a break for it.

Or if you want to go for creepy. Have one of the PC's wake up the next morning to blood dripping on his face. Looking up through the wooden planks that cover the pit he's imprisoned in he can see the body of one of the barbarian's guards. The villiage is deathly quiet. Eventually the PC's manage to get free of their bonds and climb out of the pit, only to discover the entire villiage has been slaughtered in the night. The most disturbing thing about this is that the PC's heard nothing. They that they are free they can get basic equipment and supplies from the villiage, but what do they do?

Perhaps at night a strange fog rolls in and screeching fills the night. Dark shadows swoop down out of the sky and fly off with the townsfolk! What's behind these attacks?

Hordes of undead could attack the town, have the PC's and the Barbarian be the only ones to survive. Have the barbarian give them a McGuffin and message to a neighboring village. "tell the king the seals have broken.." he yells and then rushes into the fog to battle the undead. Have them escape on a longboat down a river. Because river + foggy night + battle = epic. Tell them the king will reward them for the message. Undead pursue them each night as long as the have the McGuffin.
And if you seriously want to scare the pants off them use one of these: Charnel Hound
http://132.209.40.23/w4/campagne/images/WotC_Art_Galleries/Monster_Manual_III/Charnel%20Hound%20by%20Dean%20Ormston.jpg

[Gwendol]

Obviously, you will want to use aquatic environments to some extent (think giant snake, kraken, and similar monsters) in order to introduce the long boats. Dragons are plentyful in norse mythology, as are all manners of wyverns, snakes, trolls, goblins, and fey.

Classes that are common would be: warrior, bard (you can use the skald variant that is truly based on norse tradition) especially if they sing or recite poetry, knight (actually very good due to their taunting abilities. The vikings were famed for dropping scathing one-liners in combat, such as the one of a viking party attacking a hamlet (of a fellow viking). One of the men is sent up on the roof to see if the target is at home, and comes tumbling down short thereafter. His Jarl asks him if the enemy is at home and get the reply: "I don't know, but his boar spear sure is." after which he dies.)
Other classes would be paladin, and cleric. Druids are of celtic tradition and therefore not really suited for the viking theme. Rangers and scouts work well though.

[Mayhem]

It's mentioned often that berzerkers were touched by neither sword nor fire, so I think it'd be good to give barbarians in rage DR 2 against fire and slashing. It's not a great boost but it does add a nice touch.

I think half-orcs are the most appropriate non-human race to add, there's tonnes of stories about brutish ugly warriors thought to be decended from trolls or somesuch.
Goliaths from races of stone are another great addition if you ignore their fluff and just descibe similarly to half-orcs. They also have a rage substitution- mountain rage. There's lots of stories about berzerkers that grow to massive sizes, I think it fits perfectly.
Actually, I made a racial transition here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191920) between half-orc, half-giant, and half-ogre with a norse flavour to it. I think it fills in for those two above races nicely, if you aren't averse to homebrew.

I don't know if you're willing to try out variant rules, but Vitality and wound points (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/vitalityAndWoundPoints.htm) feels nicely appropriate to me. It works best with reserve points and action points though.

I'd refluff leather armour as leather lamellar, studded leather as kuyak (http://xenophon-mil.org/rushistory/medievalarmor/russ13.htm), and breatplate as a mail hauberk with a kuyak or lamellar worn over top. Shortsword(seax) should be allowed to deal slashing damage, and possibly allow spears and axes to trip since norse were reknown for their lugged spears. Throwing axes, shortspears, spears, shortswords, daggers, heavy shields, and handaxes would be the most common weapons.

As for magic weapons, spears, longswords, and axes would be the most common magic arms. Mail shirt, hide, helmets and shields would be the most common magic armours.

If you do allow tome of battle, warblades just seem to scream viking to me. The whole unnaturally tough warrior living solely for glory in combat fits them perfectly. Though if you include them you'd probably have to make fighters NPC only, or maybe just reduce the warblade's HD and skill points to the same as the fighter.

[Elvencloud]

Fantastic. Just fantastic ideas. Thank you so much!
I really, really like the pit in the middle, with the "pit fighters" going into the pits.

The undead raid is just creepy. Which will make excellent changes to the campaign as such.

And superstitions? Hooray! It's an excellent flavor... and mechanic to add to the game. Perhaps they will kill an attack of barbarians in the wild, only to have the undead versions come back later. :smallwink:

Edit: You guys are geniuses. Looking at my paper, it's just brilliant campaigning ahead.

[Gwendol]

One thing about barbarians (berzerkers, really). They would typically not be of a tribe, nor necessarily illiterate, but rather belong to an order or an elite warrior class. The word stems from Bärsärk (Bearshirt) meaning they would take on the aspect of the bear in battle.
In other words: bear warriors or bear totem barbarians. Other warriors took on the aspect of the wolf (Ulfhednar) and were considered Odin's warriors, carrying spears.

[Dsurion]

If you can find it, 2nd edition had a Campaign Book: Vikings - excellent content in terms of setting, customs, creatures from Nordic mythology and their closest D&D equivalent. A great read.+1 to this. I just got the book yesterday after seeing this post. It's not even a rules-heavy book; in fact, most of it is bunch of history, explanations, and conventions, with a heavy dose of Norse-flavored magical items. Definitely worth the money.

[Greymane]

Don't forget: Giants are mighty creatures in Norse myth, able to challenge the Gods themselves. I believe Deities and Demigods says to give all normal Giants Divine Ranks somewhere between one and five.

[Thespianus]

Further superstition trivia.

The Kingdom of Hel (land of the dead) will come sailing to the living in the Ragnarök battle, in a ship made of the finger nails of dead men. So you want people to keep their nails short, maybe even make a point of it.

Also, statting out a ship made of nails is a solid task for a DM. ;)

The divining witches at the well of Mimer is another fine part of the mythos. Odin travels there himself to gain insights into the future. Make a divination based item for the players, maybe? With water from the well of Mimer...

[Gullintanni]

Fantastic. Just fantastic ideas. Thank you so much!
I really, really like the pit in the middle, with the "pit fighters" going into the pits.

The undead raid is just creepy. Which will make excellent changes to the campaign as such.

And superstitions? Hooray! It's an excellent flavor... and mechanic to add to the game. Perhaps they will kill an attack of barbarians in the wild, only to have the undead versions come back later. :smallwink:

Edit: You guys are geniuses. Looking at my paper, it's just brilliant campaigning ahead.

If you want to capitalize on the Undead Raid idea mixed with the superstition I presented...have a short campaign with a bunch of longboats. Have one of the NPC longboats crash off the coast of a village and have the crew drown. Then, because the dead there were not entombed in the earth, they literally march from the depths up onto the beaches and storm the village. Zombies dripping wet, covered in seaweed that bear the facial features of fallen comrades? Nothing but win.

[Elvencloud]

Ran the dnd game yesterday. It was a success!
They fought for their lives in those pit fights. Fought some wolves, savages, and a group of slaves (that attacked them earlier between matches).
Executed the fog and the dead guard, and the table fell silent. I'll remember it fondly for all time. I described the morning, and how the shaman woke up with a liquid on her face... and one of my players widened her eyes and said "Blood."
I simply nodded.
They went topside (after some crafty climbing using a knife) and found nothing but fog and silence. As they picked up equipment, the found dead people everywhere, missing their throats... only two people lived in the village so far- A small child the cleric is carrying on his back, and the leader of the barbarians, who fought to bury as many dead as he could, and gave the party the mcguffin.

I regret showing the undead, as they fought a few to get onto their ship. I think the creep factor would have been better if I didn't let them see the monsters.
But the looks on their faces, and the comments "I'm legitimately scared to travel around, guys" just made the session.

[Sir_Wulf]

Some more sources to consider:

1.) The guys at Open Design have just released a book called Northlands, which looks like it would be right up your alley. Furthermore, their boards have several knowledgeable souls whom I’m sure would be glad to offer more suggestions.

http://www.koboldquarterly.com/kqstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=123&zenid=71ccbf719f00b1c7744a53cad3c6d695

2.) GURPS Vikings – Good, solid historical background material

3.) The Kalevala – Finnish legends and myth. Norsemen were suspicious of these smaller northerners, reputed to magically control the winds (possibly through a different style of rigging on their boats) and known for shamans who spoke to a strange elk god in drug-induced trances.

One Norse custom I’d include is the “Holmgang” duel, in which the combatants fought on a rock in the sea (or a cloak, for those not near water). The duel was fought to first blood: The first one to step off the rock or bleed on it was the loser.

[Thespianus]

One Norse custom I’d include is the “Holmgang” duel, in which the combatants fought on a rock in the sea (or a cloak, for those not near water). The duel was fought to first blood: The first one to step off the rock or bleed on it was the loser.

The "first blood" rule would make it a game of rocket tag for Initiative using standard 3.5 rules. Not sure how you'd model a Holmgang in 3.5 using standard combat rules. Would probably be better off with grapple checks, somehow.

Further Scandahoovian trivia: A "Holme" is a small island in Swedish, btw, and "gång" can mean a few things, I believe the most accurate meaning here would be "omgång", meaning "round" or "bout".

"Bout on an Island" would be the translation.

[halfdragon62]

http://worldsofimagination.com/worlds%20atlantis%20midgard%20monsters%20A-K.htm

This is part of a site that has compiled a d20 bestiary of monsters from various mythologies, including Norse, Greek, Medieval European, and so on. Hopefully it may be of some help to you :smallbiggrin: