The Ash Burns


Inspiration strikes like the hammer of Thor, I knew I wanted to run Against the Darkmaster for my Wednesday group but little more. Then a poster at RPG.net suggested that Odin was the Darkmaster, from there excitement and inspiration have spilled in equal portions!


I'm not looking to retell the Norse Eddas beat for beat nor have a game of superhero god figures, instead its a place where everything is familiar just not the same.

The continent of Yggdrasil sits under it's own stars and floats on a vast ocean filled with great sea serpents. After centuries of war the Aesir and Vanir have found piece and ally against their enemies the Jotun tribes and monstrous beasts of the world. In a time when the high men should be ascendent however high lord Odin has whispered words of Doom.

It sates itself on the life-blood   of fated men,
paints red the powers' homes   with crimson gore.
Black become the sun's beams   in the summers that follow,
weathers all treacherous.   Do you still seek to know? And what?

Brothers will fight   and kill each other,
sisters' children   will defile kinship.
It is harsh in the world,   whoredom rife
—an axe age, a sword age   —shields are riven—
a wind age, a wolf age—   before the world goes headlong.
No man will have   mercy on another.

Placeholder map
Can Ragnarok be stopped or will the Darkmaster bring about an end to the Nine Realms!

From a gaming point of view I've tried to use the kin as found in the VsD corebook. I want to avoid house ruling as much as I can since this will be our first outing with the game.

High Men: Aesir, Vanir
Home: Asgard, Vanaheim

Man: The Mannish or Middle folk
Home: Midgard, Asgard, Vanaheim.

Dwarf: Dvergar
Home: Svartalfheim

Star Elf: Light Elves (Ljósálfar)
Home: Álfheimr

Dusk Elf: Dark Elves (Dökkálfar)
Home: Svartalfheim

Half-Elf: (xxxx-álfar)
Home: Varied

Half-Orc: Jotun Blood
Home: Varied

I figure seven choices are more than sufficient for now! I'll be writing my initial thoughts on each separately, followed by the various kingdoms. From there NPC's maybe? Lets see.

I'll link future posts below.

Kin

Man: The Mannish or Middle folk
Dwarf: Dvergar
Star Elf: Light Elves (Ljósálfar)
Dusk Elf: Dark Elves (Dökkálfar)
Half-Elf: (xxxx-álfar)
Half-Orc: Jotun Blood

Realms

Asgard
Midgard
Jotunheim
Vanaheim
Alfheim
Svartalfheim
Nidavellir
Muspelheim
Niflheim

Inspirations

Seems only fair to post any inspirational links I find.

Comments

  1. Llew ap HywelMarch 12, 2024 at 5:13 PM

    Ha ha prepare to be nagged on your progress!

    ReplyDelete

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