Attributes of a Viking

    So let's start with attributes.

Fighting
Measure of one's melee combat abilities, and physical coordination.

Agility
Measure of one's speed, dexterity, and ability to target with ranged weapons.

Strength
Measure of one's pure physical strength.

Endurance
Measure of a one's health, and stamina.

Intelligence
Measure of one's learning and smarts.

Willpower
Measure of one's mental strength, and resistance to fear.

Perception
Measure of one's senses, and the ability to detect.

Charisma
Measure of how well one interacts with other people, animals, and creatures.

All of these are assigned a single die. These are the dice available are,

• 1, d12
• 1, d10
• 2, d8
• 3, d6
• 1, d4

So for example our warrior "Björn" has his Attributes arranged as such,

• Fighting d12
• Agility d8
• Strength d10
• Endurance d8
• Intelligence d4
• Willpower d6
• Perception d6
• Charisma d6

Characters also have two derived stats.

Hit Points
This is the measure of how much damage a character can withstand before dying. A characters Hit points are Endurance x2.

Honor
This is the measure of the characters perceived honor. Used when interacting with people. Norse with positive honor are considered truthful, and reliable. Norse of negative honor are not. This can change during game play. Doing brave, and honorable things can increase this. While doing things considered cowardly or wrong can decrease this. Honor is measured in dice, both positive and negative. Warriors start with 0 honor. Berserks start with -d2. Outlaws start with -d4. Skalds start with +d2.

Viking!

     So I've been thinking about my "Viking Hack" game I wrote a while ago. I like the Black Hack and all, but I want something more "traditional" and to expand on it. So I'm going to chronicle it here.

The seasons grow colder with every year. The limbs of Yggdrasil grow heavy with snow and cold. Allowing creatures and peoples of myth to fall down limbs, or jump up them. Finding themselves in new lands. Midgard has seen the entry and/or return of myths of flesh, blood, and worse.

You hail from Skåne the ancestral home of your people. You are viking warriors, and adventurers in a land where mythological creatures and people are real. Playing out epic adventures in a world falling towards Ragnarök.

The north is an arctic tundra, slowly crawling southward toward the temperate primeval forest. The Scandes, jagged mountain range acting as the spine of Skåne, running down the center from north to south. Surrounded to the north by a wall of ice and nothing. The rest of the peninsula surrounded by the sea. To the west Den norske Sea, to the south Nordsjø, and to the east Østersjøen. To the far west finds Lýðveldið Ísland. A harsh, rocky island. To the west of that? Unknown.

To the south lies allies and enemies. Allies the Danes. Descended from and old Skåne colony. Men of honor, and traders. Enemies, the Gaul, and the Anglo-Celtic. But mainly a land of wilderness, and legend.

You are adventurers looking to gain fame and fortune. Be it raiding, trading, or exploring. Always with an eye to gain wealth, fame, honor, and the betterment/defense of your family and/or people.

Deadlines

    Man am I glad I do not set deadlines for things. At least things like my gaming projects. I've been reading about a couple people and their failed (Or at might as well be) kickstarters. Failed in the sense that got the money, and then never seem to be able to put out said product. I think to myself thank goodness I'm not in that kind of position. Not that I would ever find myself there. I would like to think that if I ever did a kickstarter the book would be one hundred percent written beforehand. Just seems to make sense to me.
    Now I am not trying to make excuses for these people. Nor am I condoning what they have done. As at least a couple of them seem to have acted in bad faith. But I do not seek to chastise these people either. It just seems like a crappy situation all the way around. The people who have paid (more or less) for a product, with nothing. Then the stress, and seemingly legal issues incurred by the would be creators. Just a bad deal for everyone.
    That all being said it makes me think about my many irons in the fire. I really should get one of them done, if for no other reason to know that it is complete. To be honest I think it would be really cool to look at drive thru RPG, and say hey look there's my game.
    But I'm honest enough to know I'm a long way from that. It would be really cool to be the next James Spahn so to speak. But that takes a lot of work, word of mouth, and my material to be out there first.
    So that brings me to a final thought. The only thing I have kinda done, or that I at least don't want to completely redo is my Viking Hack game. It still seems like its missing something. It doesn't feel like my best work. But is that something you folks out there would like me to post a link to? Free of course. Its labor of love, and obviously heavily cribbed from Black Hack. Well cribbed is not the right word. A slightly different flavor. Anyways rambling aside would you folks like a link?

The Viking Hack

THE VIKING HACK

The seasons grow colder with every year. The limbs of Yggdrasil grow heavy with snow and cold. Allowing creatures and peoples of myth to fall down limbs, or jump up them. Finding themselves in new lands. Midgard has seen the entry and/or return of myths of flesh, blood, and worse.

You hail from Skåne the ancestral home of your people. You are viking warriors, and adventurers in a land where mythological creatures and people are real. Playing out epic adventures in a world falling towards Ragnarök.

The north is an arctic tundra, slowly crawling southward toward the temperate primeval forest. The Scandes, jagged mountain range acting as the spine of Skåne, running down the center from north to south. Surrounded to the north by a wall of ice and nothing. The rest of the peninsula surrounded by the sea. To the west Den norske Sea, to the south Nordsjø, and to the east Østersjøen. To the far west finds Lýðveldið Ísland. A harsh, rocky island. To the west of that? Unknown.

To the south lies allies and enemies. Allies the Danes. Descended from and old Skåne colony. Men of honor, and traders. Enemies, the Gaul, and the Anglo-Celtic. But mainly a land of wilderness, and legend.

Viking Game Hooks

Hooks for your mythic viking style games

• People from your village, or the village you are staying in. Begin to disappear.
• A Völva (Seeress) makes a prediction of the approach of evil from the north.
• A storm forces your ship ashore onto a small wooded island. Notions on the wind tempt you to the center of the island.
• Stone tipped arrows fly from the fog on shore
• What stalks the Skien Wood?
• "They say a ghost haunts the village of Hamar." says Tófi. "But since when does a ghost bleed?" to which Dagr adds, "If it bleeds we can kill it."
• The wolves grow bold. What can be done to protect the homesteads?
• With his dying breaths, Ráðúlfr tells you all of how a troll from under a bridge ambushed his group.
• As you drink ale snug in a long house, the door bursts open. Draugr pour into the building.
• A witch has cursed the farm, what can you do before the curse consumes you all.
• A garden of statues has formed in the dark forest, in the last couple of weeks. The statues looks just like the people that have gone missing from the village.
• As you fish along the shore. You see black long ships, with blood red sails approach.
• Do you hear the moans coming from the burial mount on the hill?
• Rumor has it a trade ship full of silver sank around Skrape Island
• A half troll knocks down the door to the tavern. Screaming brandishing a large halberd.

In the quiet wood

    The snow falls like a translucent veil. Enshrouding the forest in a blanket of cold nothingness. Yet I trudge through the drifts. My mission not to be deterred. To kill the beast of Kjøpsvik.
    Its terrorized the people there for nearly a fortnight, before we made landfall. Took us unaware, stalking our tents after killing the night watch. Eviscerating brave souls while they slept. Then cowardly fleeing into the night as men weapon and shield in hand stand ready.
    What could we do but give chase? Much to our own folly. It is a creature of the wood silent, and cunning. Led us on a merry chase through briar, rockfall, and doom. Leading to traps, and ambushes. Which we did not realise we had even tripped into till far after it happened. Taking gallant warriors, one by one. Never standing to fight.
    Playing a game of cat and mouse. I am the last of the crew, Hrólfr having succumbed to his wounds. Though the beast did not escape free of harm. I did lay a blow to the grotesques back. By the sword handed down to me, by my father. Sharper than Odin's wit, struck a gash that would have killed a man. Yet sent the creature screaming off into the snow.
    Now it is my turn. I do not follow the blood, but keep aware of its place. Lest the beast lure me into a trap. Now the hunted, becomes the hunter. It will learn I am no deer to be tricked unaware. I will turn the tables and if necessary run it to ground. It will grasp the knowledge that it is not the better of this man. Right before it dies.

Viking Pics