Wednesday, March 25, 2015

They should have waited for Ragnarok...

"Ragnarok! Tales of the Norse Gods" by Various
Published and distributed by Avalanche Press
ISBN = 097079611-0 - 48 pages

Table of Contents
Intro
The Race of Lesser Gods
The Campaign
The Gods

Ragnarok!, a D20 booklet for version 3.0 of "The World's Greatest Roleplaying System". It is meant to be a whole campaign by itself - an adventure module for high level characters.

When they say "High Level Characters" they mean it.  Players take the roles of lesser Gods in the Nordic Pantheon.  Although this means that they cannot play Gods such as Thor, Loki, or Odin, the player's roles are so powerful that the 5th to 8th level lesser gods that they run are actually equivalent to about a minimum of 12th to 14th level "regular" characters. 

The booklet really shines when describing the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil.  There is good info here about Alfheim, Svartalfheim, Nidavellir, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, Nifleheim, Asgard, Vanaheim, and, of course, a large section on Midgard.

One of the things I really like is the small section in the center of the booklet on Runic Magic.  The 24 Nordic Runes have a possible beneficial or a possible baleful effect.  This small section could be used in any campaign that includes Nordic backgrounds.

One of the things I really hate is the cover.  It has a titillating almost naked female displayed in the center.  The booklet states inside that this is a representation of Aesa Lokisdottir who prefers to wear "armor" that will totally distract her usually male opponents.  If I had judged a book totally by its cover alone, I probably would not have bought this booklet.

Although I may use some of the info from this book in my own campaign in the Nordic-like areas, if you are planning to use this book as a stand alone campaign, I can't recommend it - especially for newer GM's.

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