Magic Level

The Viking campaign can be conducted with varying amounts of magic. With no magic at all the campaign becomes more or less
historical. Monsters are absent or reveal themselves to have non-magical explanations. Everything is mundane and rational, even if it
may not appear so to the superstitious. Of course, a "historical" campaign need not follow history as written; if the PCs are great
heroes, they can make a difference!
With a moderate amount of magic, the campaign becomes fantastic. There are monsters, enchanters and other supernatural creatures,
but interaction between deities and mortals is infrequent and low-key.
Increasing the amount of magic further creates a mythic campaign, where deities actually do walk the earth (in disguise for the most
part) and PCs can interact with beings of awesome power, affecting the fate of gods and men as they do so. Chapter 6 has more
information on divine activity, in campaigns of all types.
This chapter treats campaigns in these three categories, although the divisions are not rigid; by fine-tuning the magic level - or by
varying it from time to time and place to place - it is possible to produce a campaign which blends aspects of more than one style.

Violence Level
Like magic level, this is a sliding scale. A campaign with less violence can be described as a thoughtful campaign, while a campaign
with more can be described as an action campaign. A thoughtful campaign places more emphasis on peaceful interaction, roleplaying
and using the law and social conventions to achieve the PCs' goals: an action campaign stresses combat skills and solving problems by
main strength and force of arms.

Campaign Styles
With these two variables, the GM can fine-tune the campaign. There are three levels of magic and two levels of violence, giving six
distinct campaign styles, described below.

Thoughtful Historic
This can be one of the most challenging campaign styles, especially if the players like social interaction, problem solving, and using
skills like Fast-Talk. A thoughtful historical campaign will face the PCs with things like social dilemmas, malicious lawsuits, dirty
politics and bad weather. They will have to solve problems using their wits, their skills and their knowledge of the social system. The
campaign can also include voyages of trade and exploration, putting the players in the shoes of the Norsemen as they encounter many
strange peoples and places.
Prizes in this kind of campaign include powerful allies, personal prestige and influence, promotion up the social ladder, and perhaps
even the crown. Sources of ideas include the historical sagas (especially the later ones, like the Laxdale Saga, the Vinland Saga and
King Harald's Saga) and some of the more colorful anecdotes from Viking history. The bibliography at the end of this book gives
some good starting-points.

Thoughtful Fantastic
This campaign will involve similar themes to the thoughtful historic style, but problems will be complicated by magical and
supernatural factors. Monsters and nonhuman races (described in Chapter 8) come on the scene, with their own abilities and
motivations; magic appears as the third force alongside the law and force of arms.
The thoughtful fantastic campaign can contain elements of supernatural horror as well as high fantasy. The rarer magic is, the more
inexplicable and horrifying a supernatural creature becomes, and the rarer and more precious becomes the knowledge of how to deal
with it. Players' imaginations (and nerves) can be stretched to the limit if they must face a supernatural foe with no magical
knowledge or assistance.
Inspiration for this kind of campaign can come from a number of sources. Some of the sagas (the saga of Grettir the Strong, for
instance) feature encounters with supernatural creatures, and so do related sources like the Anglo-Saxon heroic poem Beowulf. PostViking Scandinavian folklore is also a worthwhile source. Dealing with ordinary folks rather than great heroes, the problems in folk
tales are pitched at an everyday level and their solutions can be both simple and complex at the same time. Folklore makes an ideal
inspiration for a campaign where the PCs are young, inexperienced and lacking in combat skills. Finally, modern horror novels can be
plundered for ideas, especially in the plotting and presentation of encounters between supernatural foes and magic-light PCs. Some
genre horror pot-boilers visit Scandinavian and other European folklore regularly for fresh monsters, and a couple of examples are
listed in the bibliography.

Thoughtful Mythic
This campaign style is one of the most challenging for both GM and players. The stakes have risen significantly, and the problems are
more exacting. PCs must face world shaking problems and solve them without upsetting cosmic balances or sparking off large-scale
conflicts which might lead to Ragnark breaking out.
While the gods are active - and can make the lives of poor mortals a complete misery - they too are limited in their actions by the fear
of precipitating Ragnark. Sometimes, mortals can go places and do things that gods can't, and PCs may find themselves asked,
bribed, threatened or manipulated into some very delicate situations, with the continued existence of the whole universe at stake.
Inspiration for this style of campaign is best taken from the myths and legends themselves. A great many of them are less than
thoughtful in their resolution (and action mythic campaigns will be discussed below), but some of the situations and dilemmas that
arise are crafted with great cunning. The GM can stretch intelligent and imaginative players to the limit by putting their characters
into similar situations and letting them know that they also have to preserve cosmic balances while solving the problem.

Action Historical
This campaign style features Vikings doing the sorts of things that Vikings are best remembered for - raiding, looting, pillaging,
burning, and generally being thoroughly unpleasant to the rest of early medieval Europe. Other activities - such as lawsuits and
voyages of exploration - can be "up-actioned" with duels, hostile natives and the like. As well as mountains of plunder and a fearsome
reputation, the goal of this kind of campaign might be to carve out a new domain (as Vikings did in England, France and Russia) or to
seize the throne of your homeland.
Ideas for an action historical campaign can come from a number of sources. Anglo-Saxon historians and chroniclers are only too
happy to tell the world what horrible people the Vikings were, and Hollywood - as well as some novelists maintains the image quite
cheerfully, without worrying about historical authenticity. Robert E. Howard, best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian,
wrote several action historic stories set in the Dark Ages, and many featured Viking characters. Archaeological knowledge of the
Vikings and their world has moved on a little since Howard was writing in the 20's and 30's, but his stories remain the best example of
historical blood-and-thunder available today. Some sagas contain descriptions of raids and other combats, which can be drawn upon
for situations and details. Egil's Saga has some particularly good fight sequences.

Action Fantastic
This campaign style is the closest in tone to the "standard" fantasy roleplaying campaign. There are places of mystery to be explored,
monsters to be overcome, princesses to be rescued, enchanters to be defeated, gold, silver and magical treasures to be acquired, and a
saga to be built.
This might be an appropriate campaign style to start with, especially if the players are only familiar with generic-fantasy roleplaying
settings. The Viking setting can be introduced by degrees, and as the campaign progresses and the players become more familiar with
the game-world, the GM can gradually change the emphasis. But the action fantastic campaign is perfectly appropriate by itself - it's
not far removed from the events of many sagas, and it certainly can be fun!
The sources for an action fantastic campaign are the same as those for an action historic campaign - simply increase the ratio of
violent to nonviolent events. Robert E. Howard's short story "The Grey God Passes" is an excellent example of a supernatural touch
adding an entirely new dimension to a sequence of events.

Action Mythic
This campaign style can see the PCs taking part in titanic conflicts where the fate of gods and men hangs in the balance. They can
fight gods and Giants, sack the halls of Jtunheim, capture the trouble making Loki, or even fight at Ragnark itself, going out in a
blaze of glory as the Viking universe dies. As with the thoughtful mythic campaign, the best source is the myths themselves. The
more titanic the conflict, the grander the scale, the greater the challenge.