Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok - Core Rulebook

by Andrew Valkauskas

The Twilight of the gods nears; brother will kill brother, families will be sundered by incest. Four ages are an Axe Age, a Sword Age, where shields are cloven, a Wind Age, a Wolf Age, where the world falls. No one shall be spared... -Voluspa Welcome to Fate of the Ragnarok. Deep in the throes of Fimbulwinter, Viking heroes rise to the challenge to stem the dark tide that has engulfed Midgard. The sun and the moon have been devoured and the worlds on the cosmic tree Yggdrasil have been cloaked in a penumbral shroud. The gods are reinforcing Asgard for the coming fury of the giants. The war cry has echoed throughout every corner of the will you heed the call? Fate of the Ragnarok Core Rulebook is an all-inclusive game that will allow you to create customized characters who will embark on an epic saga. You will partake in a visceral and tactical combat system that rewards team-play and good strategy. Using the innovative Runic Game System, you will spin the tale of heroes and epic feats in a hostile world. What you'll find in Fate of the A role-playing game based on Viking sagas and folklore A deep and engaging world with limitless possibilities for adventure All rules needed to play the game, designed for 2-8 players Mystical runes (included as printout and also available in semi-precious stone sets) for a game driven by the Runic Game System - no need for dice! A choice of 15 different archetypes specializations for your character A host of fearsome adversaries A myriad of powers, spells, and skills that bring the characters and denizens to life

Genres: Role Playing Games

368 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2013

Reviews

[Marcus Morrisey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art and layout are phenomenal, with full colour pages throughout and many multi-page spreads. The theme is in keeping with the Norse elements and never interferes with the readability of the text. Although I purchased and read the PDF, I handled the hardcover book and the binding was of high quality as was the paper. The author clearly demonstrates a thorough understanding of Norse mythology and writes with a direct and clear prose style, perhaps too much so when summarizing some of the epic sagas, they come off sounding a little dry in places. Nonetheless, this readable style lends itself well to the rules explanations and examples. The system is unique and fun with the primary mechanic being the random drawing of rune stones, which combine and recombine in various permutations to create many possible power chains. Fans of tactical miniature games like 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons will be right at home with this crunchy and satisfying system, but will be playing in far less time using a set of rules that is quick and intuitive once mastered. I can imagine a great deal of time being spent on character optimization, if that's your bag. Ultimately the book earned my 5 rating for how fun and simple it was to play. It makes me want to smash Jotuns in the eternal night of Fimbulwinter right now!

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I held back one star as these rules have some organizational issues. Critical concepts are explained pages, sometimes chapters after the text has made extensive use of them. Rune chains is a perfect example of this. I believe everything necessary to play is in the book, but it is not laid out best for learning the rules.

That said, it IS laid out best as a reference guide once you know how to play already. It has an extensive table of contents and a serviceable index, which many games lack.

The art is consistant and appropriate for the source material. The layout does an excellent job providing the look and theme for the game all the way through.

My group will be giving this game a try over the next month, if we make it past character creation. It is fairly straightforward, but the amount of powers new players have to read up on before deciding might be daunting.

UPDATE: After playing through the introductory adventure, we found the rules to be incomplete and the typos a big problem. The rules need a section describing the expected game experience and how best to achieve that using these rules. There is a steep learning curve without that. We will not be playing this game again. I removed a second star from my rating as a result of actually using the rules.

[Scotty Marinara · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous, interesting role playing game thats got a fresh, gritty, even grim take on the famously opyimistic and uplifting norse mythos! i've never played a game using this system but it uses rune stones for a great portion which is interesting.