Norse Campaign

[Zach J.]

I'm toying with the idea of running an online Norse flavored campaign for some friends. I don't have much in the way of a plot yet and thought it might be better to figure the world out beforehand.

The game will initially take place in Norway, somewhere between 800 and 950 AD. I don't think I'd allow any races but humans and was planning to cut out some classes, notably Monks, Warlocks and Wizards. Barbarians, Fighters and Rangers would be common. Clerics, Paladins and Rogues would be uncommon. Sorcerers would be rare and almost exclusively female. Does this seem reasonable so far?

I have a little bit of research to do when it comes to how I present the gods and monsters, but I figure the pantheon presented in the back of the PHB is a good start when it comes to gods. Monsters would probably include giants, lycanthropes, all the different types of bears and wolves, etc.

Does anyone know of any decent resources for a Norse style campaign or have suggestions on how to run such a game? I'm more interested in presenting the flavor of such a world to my players; I don't want to bog them down with historical details.

[RedMage125]

I think it's a cool idea. A lot of the classes in D&D are very appropriate for this style of game, Barbarian, Bard (especially Valor Bard), Cleric, Fighter, Druid, even Wizard and Sorcerer.

Monks I would leave out.

Warlocks you may want to restrict to Archfey and Fiendish pacts for flavor. Although one could assume the Great Old Ones existed, but were relatively uncommon. Really even Archfey would have kind of a negative connotation with the Norse, as it would be someone who made a pact with the Alfheim or Svartlheim.

On the other hand, Elves pretty much are Alfheim (with drow being Svartlheim, and probably not black-skinned).

Anyway, giants and giantkin like ogres and ettins would likely be great, thematically-appropriate enemies for a Norse campaign.

[unwise]

If a character really wanted to play a monk, you could just modify them to be Str based, including tweaking AC rules. An unarmored brawler ripping things apart with his hands fits the theme pretty well.

The druid would be quiet appropriate, we get most of our werebear and half of our werewolf lore from norse mythology. Shapeshifting seems quiet appropriate, as does the land druid.

I would not be overly restrictive on wizards, after all, the norse had a pretty strong tradition of exploring 'magical' phenomenan and invented the trope of runic magic. Remember that wizards have access to ritual magic, which is very appropriate.

I would just leave off restrictions all together and just let the players convince you that their character concept fits the bill.

What will you do about the enivitable player that wants to play a moor? :) Maybe they will not have seen 13th warrior recently, you might be in luck.

[Eisenheim]

I would say that dwarves or gnomes would be a better model for the notoriously smith-crafty svart-alfar, and would want to allow such characters if the game is aimed at Norse fantasy rather than history with a dash of magic.

I second allowing pretty much any class but monk with some reflavoring for things that don't fit.

[Zach J.]

Thanks for the suggestions. I suppose it may be a little early to think about characters. I really need to start nailing down the world first.

[Jacque]

Depending on what your overall plot is, if any, you could let druids be the Norse priests and let clerics be Christianity and the main atagonists. Let the characters purge out these cults and their god whom they worship while depicting him as dying on an instrument of torture. Such a weak god!

[Gwendol]

Bards (Valor), Fighters, Barbarians (berserkers), Rangers, Rogues, Sorcerers are all fitting. Clerics less so, and Wizards I don't know. As for races: human, elves, dwarves are all ok.

[Mrmox42]

Norse campaigns are great fun, especially for me, as I am from Scandinavia :smallbiggrin:

Magic users were not uncommon in the Norse world. Finns were notorious for using magic, and they live just across the mountains to the east.

England is ripe for plundering, and so is almost everywhere else.

The Gods sometimes took on human guise and walked amongst them, which can bring lots of adventure.

Try to see if you can get your hands on this old book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings_Campaign_Sourcebook

This has a lot of goodies, plus maps.

This page, too have a few gems:

http://genebauer.name/d&dstuff/norse/norsehome.htm

With a bit of work, you could make runecaster a class of its own, which is A LOT in character.

[RedMage125]

Depending on what your overall plot is, if any, you could let druids be the Norse priests and let clerics be Christianity and the main atagonists. Let the characters purge out these cults and their god whom they worship while depicting him as dying on an instrument of torture. Such a weak god!

Well, the PHB has actual domain information for the Norse gods in the back. Druid also does't seem as appropriate for a priest of Thor as a Tempest Cleric, or for a priest of Odin as a Knowledge one.

Also, if you're going to involve the Christian God, I don't think He would allow clerics of any kind. Look to Xcrawl and the cult of the Messianics for inspiration there. A God who says that all magic is actually evil and from "Satan", and those who use it (bards, clerics, druids) are damned. They might have more advanced technology on their side, but no magic.

[Human Paragon 3]

It might be interesting if your Norsemen encountered some early Christian Romans. You could play up the civilization vs. barbarian angle. The Romans could use your barred classes to make them more distinct. (Barbarians and Druids would be barred to them). For an extra twist which your players won't see coming - make them High Elves.

[Spiryt]

Also, if you're going to involve the Christian God, I don't think He would allow clerics of any kind. Look to Xcrawl and the cult of the Messianics for inspiration there. A God who says that all magic is actually evil and from "Satan", and those who use it (bards, clerics, druids) are damned. They might have more advanced technology on their side, but no magic.

That view was mostly post Medieval interpretation, though, with burning witches craze etc.

Medieval Church idelogy was mostly that magic etc. DIDN'T EXIST, and thus all play with it was silly superstition, wasting time, fraud and terrorizing the gullible people etc.

In a word where magic actually exist, this view would be obviously wrong, so dynamic could be interesting.

[Human Paragon 3]

Let this be your inspiration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApxnAr6pRt0

[JoeJ]

Sounds like a lot of fun. You'll want this (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/16912/HR1-Vikings-Campaign-Sourcebook-2e?it=1&filters=0_0_44830_0_0). And probably this (http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/Vikings/) as well.

[unwise]

What killed the last Norse campaign we played in was that the DM made it a 'vikings' campaign. That meant that in our first mission we were raiding and plundering a settlement that had done nothing to us. As players, we were not really getting into plundering, slaughtering and worse a bunch of innocent people. The game died very shortly after.

Viking raiders just don't necessarily work that well as PCs, unless you are after a murderhobo campaign. The viking people were also amazing navigators, traders and explorers, but it is hard to get away from the fact that they were the bad guys in all of their neighbours history books.

If you end up making them helpful folks like most PCs tend to be, then they turn from the Terrors of the Sea to something more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Diiw3cURU

[Spiryt]

What killed the last Norse campaign we played in was that the DM made it a 'vikings' campaign. That meant that in our first mission we were raiding and plundering a settlement that had done nothing to us. As players, we were not really getting into plundering, slaughtering and worse a bunch of innocent people. The game died very shortly after.

Viking raiders just don't necessarily work that well as PCs, unless you are after a murderhobo campaign. The viking people were also amazing navigators, traders and explorers, but it is hard to get away from the fact that they were the bad guys in all of their neighbours history books.


The problem here is that most RPG settings are indeed only Medievalish in material culture, mentality of those people is left behind from reasons like above.

Viking Age had likely started after Frisians and general population of Rhine delta had been doing the same that the Norse were inflicting upon the Lowlands.

In fact Frisian 'ancient' boat building skills were likely most important 'school' and inspiration for later efficient ships of the Norse.

Vikings were as much 'bad guys' for their neighbors, as their neighbors were rascals etc. in Norse sagas. Bbecause their neighbors were similar people in times that were very violent from our point of view.

Vikings were raiding Slavic shores, but Slavic pirates were raiding Denmark and Sweden at least since ~1000, being at least just as violent.

Realities of existence then were much more difficult and harsh, so it was only natural that weaker were prey for the stronger, in more' direct' way than it is today.

[Windrammer]

I'm toying with the idea of running an online Norse flavored campaign for some friends. I don't have much in the way of a plot yet and thought it might be better to figure the world out beforehand.

The game will initially take place in Norway, somewhere between 800 and 950 AD. I don't think I'd allow any races but humans and was planning to cut out some classes, notably Monks, Warlocks and Wizards. Barbarians, Fighters and Rangers would be common. Clerics, Paladins and Rogues would be uncommon. Sorcerers would be rare and almost exclusively female. Does this seem reasonable so far?

I have a little bit of research to do when it comes to how I present the gods and monsters, but I figure the pantheon presented in the back of the PHB is a good start when it comes to gods. Monsters would probably include giants, lycanthropes, all the different types of bears and wolves, etc.

Does anyone know of any decent resources for a Norse style campaign or have suggestions on how to run such a game? I'm more interested in presenting the flavor of such a world to my players; I don't want to bog them down with historical details.

Watching that cheesy "Vikings" tv show gave me a lot of inspiration for this kind of campaign. It provides some great insights on how such a setting could be structured for a DnD campaign.

You could make it about the party being so impressive with their exploits that people join them to ultimately unseat the local jerk Earl. Each session they can sail to strange encounters in different lands, always having that cool Viking home to return to to store/sell/show off their exotic loot. I think it's a great setting, just make sure to keep it nice and poor. The metal is crappy and there are few swords available.

[Slipperychicken]

It might be interesting if your Norsemen encountered some early Christian Romans. You could play up the civilization vs. barbarian angle. The Romans could use your barred classes to make them more distinct.

Honestly, you could probably stat dismounted legionaries as fighters with protection style, shields, javelins, shortswords and armor (splint, mail, or scale, depending on time period). They're going to be really hard to hit in formation, with AC 16-19 and imposing disadvantage on basically all attack rolls against them. Just remember to play up the idea that their discipline, training, and equipment are what makes them so tanky.


What killed the last Norse campaign we played in was that the DM made it a 'vikings' campaign. That meant that in our first mission we were raiding and plundering a settlement that had done nothing to us. As players, we were not really getting into plundering, slaughtering and worse a bunch of innocent people. The game died very shortly after.

Viking raiders just don't necessarily work that well as PCs, unless you are after a murderhobo campaign. The viking people were also amazing navigators, traders and explorers, but it is hard to get away from the fact that they were the bad guys in all of their neighbours history books.

My groups have been pretty much on board with stealing anything of value, especially if they can justify it in-character. I'm sure plundering would be no problem, as long as the DM doesn't narrate too much rape or weeping civilians. I think it would also help if the PCs got a fight before the plundering, so they could feel more entitled to the loot.

[RedMage125]

"Vikings" and "Norse" are not necessarily ideas that have to go hand-in-hand.

"Viking" was a verb, actually. Those people would send out their rambunctious youths to go "a-viking", and send them on a boat with some weapons and fishing rods, and they would make raids on nearby settlements, looting, raping and pillaging. The rest of the people they left back in their homeland were relatively peaceful, until you tried to send an army there, anyways.

So a Norse campaign does not necessarily have to involve going out and raiding people who have done nothing to you.

[Mrmox42]

Well, Norse history is filled with bloody stories about blood-feuds, warfare and monsters. So you do not have to go a-viking, but most people associate Norse with happily plundering Vikings, who is burning most of England. (people in Denmark are actually rather fond of the idea of our forefathers being the bullies of Europe)

My feeling is that raiding and plundering is, if not vital, then at least a good part of a Norse campaign.

A few years ago I was DMing a Norse campaign, and the players themselves wanted to go a-viking and burn and loot. When they came home from that, they went monster-hunting, and blood feuding and having 'classic' D&D adventures.
They loved it.

[Jeivar]

On the monk, really all it takes to include it is to alter the flavour. Revision it as some sort of barechested, tattooed lunatic brawler.

[Windrammer]

"Vikings" and "Norse" are not necessarily ideas that have to go hand-in-hand.

"Viking" was a verb, actually. Those people would send out their rambunctious youths to go "a-viking", and send them on a boat with some weapons and fishing rods, and they would make raids on nearby settlements, looting, raping and pillaging. The rest of the people they left back in their homeland were relatively peaceful, until you tried to send an army there, anyways.

So a Norse campaign does not necessarily have to involve going out and raiding people who have done nothing to you.

You're being pretty pedantic.

Vikings are what are distinct about the Norse culture. And you don't need to go very far in Norse culture to find that what you're implying to be specific to "Vikings" was actually pretty standard. They were warlike. "Norse" applied to a large enough population so that there were plenty of peaceful people, but that doesn't mean much. They fought each other plenty.

Also, it's utterly irrelevant that the word "viking" was a word once, this is less a little-known fact and more of a properly ignored one.

[Fralex]

You could just have the "every region is raiding the others" thing be part of the background, like in a campaign that takes place during a war. I mean, How to Train Your Dragon was a pretty fun Norse fantasy book/movie series, and all the characters there were Vikings. Also, do you have the DMG? It talks about how to redesign the planar cosmology of your universe around Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree.

[Gwendol]

You're being pretty pedantic.

Vikings are what are distinct about the Norse culture. And you don't need to go very far in Norse culture to find that what you're implying to be specific to "Vikings" was actually pretty standard. They were warlike. "Norse" applied to a large enough population so that there were plenty of peaceful people, but that doesn't mean much. They fought each other plenty.

Also, it's utterly irrelevant that the word "viking" was a word once, this is less a little-known fact and more of a properly ignored one.

What exactly do you know of Norse culture to make such a statement?

The meaning of "viking" seems to have merit if one is interested in running a Norse campaign based in Norway during the 800-900's.

[JoeJ]

One interesting option might be to make the PCs part of a small group of explorers and colonists trying to settle Iceland, Greenland, or (my favorite) Vinland.

[Zach J.]

So I've been talking with the players a bit to get a feel for what they want to play. I haven't really done much world building, but the very word "Norse" has such strong fantasy connotations for most players that they already had of idea of what they wanted to play. So far I've got a human barbarian, a human cleric and a half-orc rogue, with half-orcs being reinterpreted as humans with a bit of troll blood.

My first instinct is to make the characters champions from various villages, using an introductory scene to establish their claim to fame. With that in mind it makes me think I should start them above 1st level, but I'm not positive yet. Then they're brought together for...some reason...

[Windrammer]

What exactly do you know of Norse culture to make such a statement?

The meaning of "viking" seems to have merit if one is interested in running a Norse campaign based in Norway during the 800-900's.

Sure, if they're roleplaying so much as to be speaking that language.

[Mrmox42]

A fun little add-on in Norse campaigns, is that everybody must get nicknames as the campaign progresses.

Inform the players that they are responsible for giving each other nicknames, based on their experiences, and remind them of it from time to time.

Nicknames may change many times.

Many Norse and Viking heroes had nicknames (Ironside, boneless, bloodaxe, longhair, furry pants etc.) and it adds flavor to the game.

Just a thought.