If you're playing Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok and wanted to get this for extra Archetypes - don't. This is not a complete class for FotN:R. It appears to be for a cut down version of the game that I'm unfamiliar with.

Ugly watermarks, no bookmarks, locked PDF (so I can't add the bookmarks myself). This is customer-hostile behaviour.

For those familiar with the designer's work on the Forgotten Realms, don't miss out on this one. It could be the first volume of what will become Ed Greenwood's magnum opus.

I left a negative review before and I aplogize. I love you guys.

Thanks you.

This is straight up one of the most beautiful rpg book I own. The Runic system version 3 is running at all cylinders in this glorious rendition of celtic legends.

The tome is massive, somehow condensing a Lore book, with an extensive cast of Lords, Gods and others, Gameplay rules, 7 different Archetypes, rules for monsters going from the mundane to the fantastical and truly inspired Art.

I will speak simply of one kind of Archetype you can be, the Harbinger of War. This archetype is a bloody crusader in service of the returned Gods. His Basic starting talents and pasive include killing their enemies so hard they explode into gore for additionnal Damage or Healing. That's just what they start with.

All other Archetype are just as impressive in their myriad unique ways. One of the other Harbinger slowly turn into a wild tree-monster creature as they edge closer to death. You can be a monk who's disbelief in the supernatural and faith in God protects from all, a Golem shaper blacksmith, a beguilling druid poet, a inheritor of Cu Chulain, and etc.

The Runic system is very scalable, thanks to the runes, you can have a poor draw, but it doesn't spell doom. So long as you can defend you will eventually draw all of you runes, or die trying eh eh eh. Not that that would be a bad thing, afterall dieing in combat is but what the Gods ask of you. The Disir, your family spirit will gain power as the legend of your family spreads. Once you've died, and your friends have recounted you deeds and misdeed you may ascend and bring fortune to your descendants (next characters).

This so fun because it encourage interesting play, in this world in twillight Death will come for you. You better be prepared to meet it proud.

Who knows, maybe one day you'll even return to the mortal realms.

One of the most beautiful RPG books I have ever owned. The art is absolutely incredible and very immersive. There a lot of great new monsters and NPCs in here and it expands the world of the core book to encompass a lot more of Europe and North America. I also really appreciate the campaign ideas within. They still require a lot of GM work like most things in FotN:R, but they are really cool and creative. The adventure included in the book is also quite good and has a great dungeon map.

Speaking as the author of Horn of the Kraken I have only praise for this adaptation of my work and have to aknowlage James' brillance is creating a truly amaizing gaming tool. It is a fine example of the game makers art. Nice work.

This is a really accurate and fun scenario based on the novel. Had the chance to run it in convention and it is really popular and EPIC !!!

Really interesting book - it adds a lot to Fate of the Norns.

Definitely aimed at higher level campaigns, expect interactions with gods and giants.

Some bits are included for less epic games, including new character archetypes and the like.

The good,

• A beautiful book, presentation is excellent.
• An index! Finally!
• Context is useful and informative.

The bad

• Editing has taken a hit - many spelling errors, and at least one cut off paragraph. No worse than seems standard for rpg books, but significantly weaker than previous books inthis line.

The cards look nice, seem well made, and have good information on them. The space to draw a rune in the upper right is really handy. I really want to love these cards, and I was very excited to receive them, but unfortunately there is a pretty big flaw which makes them only ok in my opinion.

The font is tiny. I am not sure what size it is, but it looks like 6 point font. I have good eyesight, and I have to hold them within a foot of my face for them to be readable. There is no way I could read what the power does if the card was on my table. I would have to pick it up and hold it in front of my face to use it. I don't know if that is a printing error or what, but other similar cards from different companies have not had this issue.

I could understand the small font if there was so much text on a power that it wouldn't fit otherwise, but on most of these cards, the font barely fills half, or in some cases, a third of the space. There is a ton of white space that could have been used to allow for larger, more readable text.

I was going to buy set two as well, but I am going to have to think about it now. I will say, that while this is a big issue to me, it is still useful to have those powers on cards, instead of having to dig through the book, or try to cram all of this onto a 1 page character sheet. Hopefully they can work it out and use something more readable in the future.

I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I was a little skeptical, but found the beautiful artwork alone to be worth the purchase. The retellings of the Viking mythologies is super fun to read, and the way it is written makes it enjoyable to read even if you already know the stories. Very entertaining and fun to sit down to read just one story or to sit for hours pouring over the stories or even just the artwork. More than impressed and happy with this Viking tome. The shipping was very fast as well.

This is so good storytelling and traduction. Really liked it .

A pristine and beautifully illustrated work. Worthy of any RPG bookshelf, or that of scholar of northern myths.

Pros:

This is a delightful collection of stories from Norse myth, woven together into a continuous narrative along with the added bonus of myths from other cultures (such as Celtic, Finnish, and Baltic). The illustrations are beautiful, as well, and were certainly one of the main selling points. Andrew has done a great job with this translation, bringing to life many stories of which I am fond, while, at the same time, taking liberties to make it his own without detracting from the source material.

Cons:

My only real complaints come from the amount of typographical errors in the book (but I am rather critical of such issues). The binding of the book also caused some minor annoyance, as I feel that the text extends too far toward where the pages curve and come together with the spine; this causes difficulty in reading the words near that area and with the size of the book, it is difficult to flatten it out to remedy the situation. Overall, the cons never took away from my enjoyment of this book. There is also a long scratch on the back of the cover; I enjoy smooth textures and feeling this blemish against my hand while holding the book is a bit irritating

The viking roleplaying game, Fate of the Norns, was published in 2013 and was pretty a novel approach in regards to RPGs, being a system without dice, replacing those with runes. The Runic Gaming System has plenty of possibilities for modification and re-configuring, and this book is a stellar example of this. For any prospective FOTN-player, this is a must-buy, as the book expands on both setting and player option to such a degree that the corebook almost seems a bit lacking in comparison.

Contentwise, the book brings forth several chapters:

• A NPC Chapter, detailing the movers and shakers of the setting, and what they are doing as Ragnarok approaches. The artwork in this section is simply marvelous, and bears resemblance to woodcarvings of the dark ages. However, the biggest issue I have with this otherwise brilliant chapter would be the lack of stats on the heroes and villains. It notes the archetype and level of each of the dwellers, but not the arrays of powers, which is a bit of a bother as it is more prep for a GM.
• Locations in Midgard. These are further details of the world of Midgard, as previously mentioned in the previous chapter and in the corebook. Personally favorites are the fortress of Danevirke and the isle of Gotland, haunted by the evils of their previous kings.
• A small chapter on Secret Societies, detailing organizations that work behind the scenes, giving many exciting options to the GM.
• Magic Items. These are invaluable for an GM wanting to run a long campaign. Plenty of new tricks and mythical artifacts to go around. Among those you can find the swords of Wayland and the infamous Naglfar, the ship of Ragnarok.
• The chapter after this is a collection of monsters, all of them new and exciting options to the table. They are needed, as the Corebook brought both human opponents but also had to give us monsters to fight. This chapter expands the perils you can unleash on you players. Again, the artwork is beautifully done, but is clearly made by different artists with little cohesion. But, as with the first chapter, the lack of pre-crafted examples can make it a bit difficult for a new GM to work with these monsters.

• Following this is a treatise on the life of a viking during Ragnarok. And it might not be so bad after all. Even if 60% of your village have died, life can go on. There is also a small section on the Skraelings, the natives from across the Atlantic. The culture in question seems to be the natives of Greenland and northern Canada, and not the southern coastal Natives of East Coast US.

• Archetypes. 6 new archetypes are presented for play, as was promised in the corebook. Among those, you'll find the Stalo (Fighter), the Berserkir, the Blacksmith, the Fardrengir (Ranger), the Druid and the the Sceadugengan (Rogue). All of these bring new abilities, spells and powers with them, detailed in the following chapters. These are as complex as the Archetypes of the corebook, and will often require a very through read-through to fully grasp the potential in them. Along with the Archetypes, new game concepts are introduced, such as the option to Curse a enemy when you seem to falter in your steps, new Meta keywords, new Effects and two new Conditions.
• New Powers & Skills As it says on the tin, these are the nuts and bolts of the new Archetypes. Within, you find both new powers for your supernatural viking, and simple things such as crafting rules, riding and shape-shifting.
• Norn Rules This chapter details new rules for the game and the explanations of several core-book concepts. This also brings rules for sailing, naval combat and mass battles. Also included are the rules for building a community or business. A strange idea in the face of the end of days, but they might be more needed for game set before Ragnarok.

• Expanded Lifepaths Do you like the random generated lifepaths of the core-book? Great, here's even more tables to flesh out your character.

• Finally, we have the second to last chapter, The Saga of the Cornerstone of the World. An short adventure, set in the same locale as the adventure Fafnir's Treasure. It deals with a mine and the secrets contained therein. Suffice to say, the players may be in for a bit of a surprise. It may be a bit of a dungeon crawl, but the payoff is worth it for the story seeds involved therein.
• The last chapter is a collections of concepts, meant to provide the starting plots of several FOTN campaigns. Starting from before Ragnarok and to the beginning of the Wind Age, these provides excellent material for any aspiring GM (sorry, Norns...) wanting to ply the seas of Midgard, but is unsure of what story to tell.

VERDICT: All in all, if your want to run Ragnarok, you need this book. Preferably two of them. The setting is expanded to thrice it's original size and the rules addendums alone are worth the price of admission. If only it provided more pre-generated Dwellers (NPC's) it would be worthy of a fifth star. The only other critique on a 400 pages book would be the variation of the artwork, as it didn't have the same sense of uniformity as the corebook had, and as such feels a bit more disorganized.