Mythic Iceland

[Joseph Paul]

Originally Posted by badcat

I don't know. I can see some here are interested, but I have delved into the Icelandic sagas and histories, and from what I can remember it seems it would be a little bland. What sort of adventures would you have, other than raiding and feuding and fighting the occasional troll?

Well how is that not enough?
You could look at it as a Pendragon style time line. One or two adventures a year, a rest and refit time, and then new adventures. This staggers things out enough for the PCs to invest their wealth, get married, start a new generation and become embroiled in Icelandic politics.
There should be plenty of material for traveling. Trading with Norway, going to Greenland, Vinland, fetching brides/ more family etc.

Having to secure something as a dowery item. It is held by someone else or is in some remote location.

Fantasy Iceland? Heroquest with the Aesir! Deal with the conversion to Christianity! Are there not other creatures besides trolls in the mythology? Interact with them.

Get off the Island! You can't stand it any more. You need to get off this rock and go see the Big City-Hedeby! Now to get a boat...

Play politics. There should be some interesting interaction with the Norwegian Crown. You might actually have to go there.

In a fantasy campaign you may need to deal with a native popluation of humans (or an undead native population!). Placating all of the spirits in the land- heck just finding out about all of them could be interesting.

Joseph Paul

Go fishing or hunting narwhales and walrus.

[badcat]

I dunno, it just doesn't appeal for some reason...oh, well. You guys enjoy it.

[Sorloc]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

I'm looking forward to seeing this if it goes back to the original source material and gets away from the re-warmed-over-twice-distilled Tolkien-via-D&D that pollutes the fantasy game (and literature) market.

Aaah, urinate on Tolkien. You'd think he invented the pencil, for Pete's sake. I've read the books, I've seen the movies. Repeatedly.

I like Feist's Riftwar Saga MUCH better.

I like anything by James Clavell better (political intrigue).

I like Robin Hobb's Farseer books better.

I even like C. S. Lewis better, even if his allegory gets a trifle thick at times.


Tolkien is so overrated.

[badcat]

Howard, Leiber, Roland Green, Michael Shea, David Drake, Poul Anderson, Brian Daley, Jack Vance, and many others too. When I was 'discovering' fantasy (and science fiction) it was about the time LOTR was becoming known, and I remember putting the Ace edition of 'Fellowship' back on the shelf after trying to get into it and failing. That was in the early sixties. There was just so much brilliant fantasy and science fiction for alternatives then it was hard to get into Tolkien's prose and style. And other writers of the time had much better interpretations of fantasy (to me), so much more colorful, evocative, and exciting...and exotic...and just plain readable. So I too have to say Tolkien is over rated, especially for the time it was published. LOTR did help make fantasy slightly more 'acceptable' and a broader genre than childrens' literature and pulp fiction, though. I have always found it a better choice than most of the other so-called 'serious' fantasy such as Gormenghast or Thomas Covenant, though. Or Tolkien's contemporary, C. S. Lewis, even though none of them were ever very enjoyable for me. I like the movies much, much more than the books (LOTR).

Maybe I just got bad taste.

Maybe I don't.

[Simlasa]

I loved LOTR when I first read it as a kid... but even then it didn't mean that I wanted the next 50 books I read to be EXACTLY the same. There was this huge 'Tolkienesque' ghetto to wade through as I tried to find new fantasy books to read.
Eventually I found my way to Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard and Lord Dunsany and Lovecraft... and all was well.

Back on topic... I can definitely imagine a gritty game of Icelandic fantasy... a kind of spaghetti-western-fantasy... epic but doomed heroes... man against the elements... enchantments and curses... and trolls.

[soltakss]

Originally Posted by badcat

I don't know. I can see some here are interested, but I have delved into the Icelandic sagas and histories, and from what I can remember it seems it would be a little bland. What sort of adventures would you have, other than raiding and feuding and fighting the occasional troll?

Roman Empire? What's there to do apart from conquering new lands, buying slaves and a bit of trading?

SuperHero Games? Running around in lycra saving the world.

Medieval Europe? Avoiding the plague, trying not to be invaded or drafted in an army, fighting foreign wars.

Every setting has the potential of many different scenarios. A Fantasy Iceland setting can acyually double as a Fantasy Scandinavian setting and can cover lands as diverse as Iceland, Greenland, Vinland (as has been mentioned), Ireland, Northern and Western Scotland, Northern and Eastern England, Northern France and Russia. Trading and travelling would be key as would kinstrife, blood feuds, monster fighting, settling new lands, fighting, raiding, taking slaves and exploring. There's the clash between cultures, the clash between religions, the clash between the old ways of raiding and the new ways of settling. A Viking character could quite easily find himself on the Black Sea or American coast as the North Sea or Atlantic Ocean. Stories such as Pathfinder, both the original and the new one, would fit such a setting hands down.

Also, used together with other Fantasy Europe settings, it could form part of a larger set of scenarios/campaigns.

So, you can find adventure in any setting.

[badcat]

Whatever. I just don't care for the flavor.

[golden wheel dancer]

I specialised in "vikings in the west" so I'm happy to see this!

Tossed in their clinker-built warships on the immense foggy oceans, with sea monsters frothing foam from their barrel-sized nostrils.

Trifle's Tractor you could do a supplement about the Greenland settlements or something!

[Aycorn]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

I loved LOTR when I first read it as a kid... but even then it didn't mean that I wanted the next 50 books I read to be EXACTLY the same. There was this huge 'Tolkienesque' ghetto to wade through as I tried to find new fantasy books to read.
Eventually I found my way to Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard and Lord Dunsany and Lovecraft... and all was well.

Re: Tolkein - I like the movies better than the books.

[Enpeze]

Originally Posted by Aycorn

Re: Tolkein - I like the movies better than the books.

I too. (only the hobbit kitsch at the end of the 3rd part was really bad)