slaves and freemen? totally forgot about such things lol

off the top of my head I could go for a hindrance Slave (minor or major depending on the sort of work you are to do etc)

freedman could be a background edge and a reward from roleplaying and the like.

as for what rules I have not got round to edges and hindrances yet so will have to see but for now they could effect your starting wealth and renown.

more when I have it.

P.S. anyone remember that old film called "the Vikings"? watch it last night, loads of fun!

bennies for this game are going to be hand made from wood. and will follow all the usual uses for bennies as found in SW plus each rune will have 2 different uses. one use effects the player and the other (the reversed effect) is used on another character.

after posting the above i was thinking it over and see some problems with it. as there are only 24 runes in total that would limit the amount of bennies to be given out and as NS is a bennies heavy game that is going to be problem if they run out so here's more 2 ideas that I'm toying with.

1. once a session offer a gift to the gods, burn something you own, bury it or toss it into deep water. you then get to draw a number of runes depending on your rank. 1 for a novice etc. you may use one per game but if you have more and would like to use them you must pay the price. your being greedy and the gods could punish you.

or

2. draw 1 rune per rank at the start of the game and can only use one per game. (this works the same way as the adventure cards)

I really like 1 as the players have to give something up and can do this any time during the game but must make the effort to gain some random benefit. runes will only be used by the players to fit in with the feel of them being great heroes.

armour:

there is not a lot to pick from but thats not the point LOL. armour can be made from the following,

Leather,
Hide,
Chain,
bone,
iron plates,

armour will not stack but you can mix and match depending on the amount of coin you have to spend or what you are willing to trade for it.

then we have shields,

all made from wood (but some have been known to have been made from iron)
there are 3 sizes of shield, small, medium, and large.

the small and medium shields are usually round and the large shield is called a "kite" due to its shape.

weapons:

as with armour, the list of weapons is on the short side.

some of the weapons for the northland sagas are found below,

short sword,
long sword,
great sword,
axe,
wood axe,
battle axe,
great axe,
flail,
great flail,
maul,
battle maul,
hammer,
war hammer,
great hammer,
whip,
knife
spear,
lance/great spear,
javlin,
bow,
sling,
pick axe,

not a huge list but may grow over time and a few weapons may get renamed.

the more I work on this the more things chage and I like that. I've changed a few things like magic this is now liked to each race and a magic user gets powers depending on what race they are.

having a great time working on this and hope you like playing it.

more when I have it.

I've read a lot about magic in norse mythology and it seems that SW will handle it well.

not going to use power points. would like to drop the use of skills too and have every type of magic use Spirit to make the roll. also looking at a way to bring in ideas for changing how the spells work and what its effects are like you have in true sorcery from green ronin.

also as the northland sagas are not a history lesson I'll be giving some things a savage twist and adding my own ideas to the mix.

looks like humans will be able to use magic. magic that deals with healing, lifting curses, prophesy, etc is usually only practised by women, male characters can take it up but will suffer -2 charisma and the roleplaying effects of the outsider hindrance. plus they lose renown evey time its used around other humans.

then there is runescared magic. using self mutilation to carve runes into their flesh a person is able to gain power. spirit is used to cast the spell/power but the greater the wound they inflict the more powerful the spell will be and they don't need to make a roll to see if the power works if they cut deep!. but there is a huge drawback to this. if used unwisely they could die from their wounds. male and female characters of any race are free to take this. after a while they will gain the hideously scared hindrance or some other hindrance to show how the scars all over their bodies effect how people view them.

some people become addicted to to self mutilation and must cut themselves every time.

tales are told of those who cut too deep and often. mothers whisper warnings to unruly children of ragged ghosts. creatures who still have a thirst for blood-letting and seek to carve up the living in their bloody image.

the runescared need a lot of work but I think to can see how its going to work, well I hope it works! lol

going to be adding the option generate half-blood racial edges and hindrances. I like the idea and I'm happy to say that early tests are working well. rolls are made with a d4 but this could change to a d6. I'm also looking into using cards and may have a go at random starting edges and hindrances for humans too.

more on this as I have it.

by the way thanks for everyone's kind words and support so far. really looking forward to see what everyone makes of this once its finished.

till the next time, take care and may all your rolls ace!

Thunderhead skyships.

there are tales of huge flying longships. each with a tattered sail the colour of ash. timbers black and pitted with age. their mighty hulls give off arcs of crackling lightening that further scar its frame.

it is said a fearsome storm heralds the arrival of one these dreaded ships. leaving nothing but death and ruin in its wake.

the crew are said to be as dark and powerful as their ships. it is believed they are the dammed, cursed to forever roam seeking a final bloody release in battle. their eyes are sealed with a cross of black cord. sown shut their eyes may be they are still able to see and are fearfully deadly warriors. some dark and woeful magic is at work here!

why they come to raid their living kin and from what unearthly harbour they sail from is unknown.

there are three thunder head sky ships known to exist, pray to the gods there are no more!

their names are, Stormraven, thunder strike, and God hammer (said to be so big its sail blots out the sun).

here are some places of interest in the northands:

ice caves (these caves form a vast network of tunnels and caverns that are for the most part unexplored by man. there are said to be many forgotten halls and tomb's deep within this icy underground realm. home and all to often grave to men, mostly outlaws, half-bloods and their full blooded kin as well as many foul beast that roam the dark frozen underground.)

underhall.

trails end.

uldlig (also known as land of the lost. home to ghost and other vile restless creatures. any living thing stopping too long here is not long for this world and the ghosts and spirits here are driven by a relentless hunger for living flesh, blood and the soul. thankfully they are unable to leave this place. great stones set into the earth, covered in runes surround this cursed land holding the undead at bay).

Titans Wake. (sea)

the northern ice fields.

Gorstand.

highlands.

lowlands.

the wilds.

Red Landing.

Oathmakers Peak.

The Vision Pools. (small lakes surrounded by mountains in the lowlands)

ravenspire.

the gods table.

the fools tower.

the oak fathers hall

kinsmoor.

shilfen.

nulwood.

noorven.

silverbridge.

the hall of kings.

the dregs. (a vile and dangerous swamp far to the south)

dragons maw.

irongate pass.

high winters haven.

hurson's valley. (this valley is blocked at both ends by a huge dry stone wall and impassible mountains rise up along the sides. the only way in is to pass though the rusted iron gate, one in the centre of each wall. it is said the valley was blocked off in this way to form a tomb to hold the restless remains of a fallen god who fell in love with a female troll. when the troll was murdered by human raiders the god went mad with rage. vowing not to rest till he hunted down the guilty and had his bloody revenge. so blind with rage was he that the god gave up his power, keeping only his great wisdom and cunning to stay in his human form. sadly he died of a broken heart before he was able to find his lost loves killers.
the tome was raised to house his restless ghost. not everyone who enters is seen again, unknown to them they are the descendants of those who butchered the female troll and broke the former gods heart.
even with this great risk many still enter. seeking the wisdom of the fallen god. some call this place gods tomb but its true name is hurson's valley, the name the god took upon becoming mortal.)

tollwood.

giant's reach.

great lake.

northwood.

deep hearth.

western isles.

westmoor.

barrow wood.

heroes delve.

high lake.

northguard mountains.

earthroot pass.

the dawn forge.

sundered peak. (rumoured to be the creation site of the first Mountain Shard)

fellscar caves.

ironwood.

harrow hills.

the three brides.

stonewall mountains.

grey fen.

dread sea.

varl's tomb.

worlds end.

shattered coast.

winters edge.

witches isle.

Winters Rest.

the ruin sea. (weathered pilers of rock, capped with ruins along with other towers of ancient stone, with windows as cold and empty as the eye sockets of a scull, rise out of the grey and violently restless water.
the dead flit within and around the ruins, unable to rest. they cling to the towers and rock piles when the living draw near, reaching out to passing ships, clawing the air, howling and screeching, begging, pleading, and demanding the ship sails closer.)

crows call.
some may change and there will be other places to visit (or stay away from depending what foul creatures dwell there.)

I'll be adding to this list and give a little information about a few places you can visit over time, enjoy!

more to come.

just finished two of the Half-Blood heritages. the half-dwarfs and half-trolls are ready to post up here.

as soon as the others are done I'll put them up.

more soon.

after all you have read here and that fact that the setting uses what some see as a very harsh system where characters can die for no good reason then this may be some good news.

the northlands sagas is not a game to grow old in true. the mighty heros in this setting will, more often than not die facing a vile beast.but thats one of the reasons to play the game. to go out with a bang! the other players will give you a heroes funeral and if you planned ahead your family will also be there.

there are going to be edges that will let you take a family from the start so you can gen up back up characters for your wife/husband and children so once your character dies you pick one of them to carry on playing the game with.

this will speed up the game as you will not have to stop to gen a new character as you will have one or more waiting in the wings. plus it ads a new level to the game. roleplaying opportunities not seen in most RPG's.

your next of kin will join up with the other characters to carry on in your old characters place. will they do it for revenge, to uphold the family's honour, or to join your old character in the next life?

plus you will be able you take different sorts of characters and not worry about how they will meet up with the rest of the group as they will all come from the same village.

now for something that some may find a bit odd but realy cool.

what if we have a character with a wife and 2 sons who dies. the player takes up the wife of there old character to play.
a second character (male) with 1 child (female) but no wife (died during childbirth) wishes to support the other character.
the then two get married and raise the 3 children together.
now if any of the perants die the next character can be picked from any of the 3 children. normally they could only
pick from there own family.

now this could lead to people seeking out partners from other villages to improve the power base. this is a good thing and will make for some truly great roleplaying.

think about it for a second, when is the last time you could do that in any RPG?

thanks for your time.

more soon.

some of the greatest heroes of the northlands have vanished. they are the subject of many sagas and performed great deeds before they went missing. the way these people disappear is never the same but for one thing. they always have at least one companion with them, who recalls the events in nervous whispers. the vanished, as they are known are sometimes reported to have been seen by people in need of help. those saved, if pressed, mutter of a price they had to pay but will not say what. they look about themselves quickly and wide eyed as if fearful of something.

the vanished, thunderhead skyships, and the mountain shards are but a few of the legends of the northlands. stories such as these are told from the fire light in great halls by warriors to mothers at their child's cot side. all pray to the gods they will be blessed with the aid or never see the foul and fallen beasts of these tales with equal measure.

one of the options during the half-blood giant character creation is to take an extra head (this will be able to be taken more than once) and is proving to be difficult to work out.

its making my own head hurt! lol

i'm looking for a base line effect for taking an extra head and then add effects in the form of edges off set with hindrances to balance things out.

its not easy!

In this unforgiving frozen land true heroes are not remembered for their wealth or wise words but their actions. anyone can be a hero here, are you ready to become a legend?

just some silly over the top tag line for the setting. sort of stuff that may be on the back cover should this see print in one form or another. enjoy (I hope)

stay tuned for more northlands sagas stuff soon.

Earthen.
these creatures take many forms and are known all over the northlands by different names.
one type of earthen is the mire beast. those who farm what is known as bog iron talk of beasts that rise up from the bog. their hulking and misshapen forms are made from the earth its self. with eyes that glow a rotten green. mire beasts are said to form when someone takes more than they need or fails to leave a worthy offering when working the land. a mire beast will hunt down those driven by greed and profit until it is able to return to the place it was created with the remains of those who did not give respect to the earth as payment. this has given rise to another foul creature known as earth-thrall, but these creatures are another tale for a different time.

some say that no weapon will put down an earthen for good and that they will rise up again stronger and more determined to seek payment on the next sunrise. the only way to defeat them, it is claimed, is to offer something of great personal value to appease them.

in the lowlands there is an earthen known as the oak-father, the guardian of the earth. this earthen is said to be made from earth, rock, wood, and has eyes and a heart of fire. some say he is the first earthen and crafted the trees from his own skin and forged the mountains out of the earth. legend has it that "his" home is a hall deep in the great forest. it is a clearing lined with the tallest iron woods that would give shade the highest mountain. the oak-father sits upon a throne of stone. cut from bedrock when the world was still young and will entertain any who can find him and show the proper respect. it is said he has the ability to bestow gifts on those he finds worthy.