Thorfinn's Saga
“…
but when Loki, Mischief-Maker, the cause of all the troubles of the gods,
admitted that it was he who cut Sif’s golden hair, Sif’s husband, Thor the
Thunderer, threatened great revenge unless Loki replace every thread.
“Of
course, you all know the story of Loki’s descent into Nidavellir, how the sons
of Ivaldi crafted new hair for Sif, and how the Mischief-Maker then tricked the
dwarves into crafting other gifts for the gods.
“But
I have heard tell that Loki first past the way of the Western Lands, and while
thinking up new ways to trick the gods, he carelessly allowed one of Sif’s
hairs to become snagged in a branch.
“That
hair was found many years later by a skilled smith, who worked the golden
strand into a magical ring. It is said that whoever wears the ring will be
never be without food or ale or mead, that their every meal will be like
feasting in Valhalla, and that their stores will overflow with grain and their
livestock will be ever fruitful…”
Before the skald had even finished his tale – the bit where
he revealed that the ring was now possessed by some trolls – Jarl Thorfinn Hardluck
was decided on his quest. It was true, sure enough, that he was a great man, a
leader of his people. But his people were poor; scratching their meagre
existence out of rock-strewn fields, sustaining themselves on the odd boar,
deer or seal, and whatever else they could hunt. The possession of the magic
ring would bring his people prosperity, and his name would live on forever in
the sagas of the Norsemen.
Gathering together a dozen of his closest followers, Thorfinn
fitted out a small knarr and set sail for the Western Lands. Although the
journey started well with a stiff breeze and a gentle swell, the little trading
vessel was not destined to return to Thorfinn’s farm. Within sight of their
destination, the Great Eagle that flew high above the world-tree, Yggdrasil, beat
its wings with merciless fury, causing storms the likes Thorfinn had never
experienced in all his years. After many hours being tossed about like a
giant’s plaything, the knarr’s mast prostrated itself to the wind’s power and broke.
In the ensuing chaos, the knarr, turned side-on to the crashing waves, capsized
below the weight of the water pushing down upon it, and was lost to the depths.
Those few who could, swam towards the grey smudge of land on
the horizon until, weary and with nothing but the clothes on their backs and
the tools in their hands, they were washed up on the rocky shore.
Thorfinn’s Saga was designed as a mini-campaign
for Palaeo Diet: Eat or be Eaten. Although written for
prehistoric hunting expeditions, Palaeo
Diet is suitable for any situations that might pit solo or co-operative
players against the natural world and savage beasts controlled by the games
mechanics. This campaign follows the adventures of Thorfinn Hardluck and his
companions as they embark on their quest to recover the magic ring.
Throughout the campaign, the player/s have access to only
three characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses:
Jarl Thorfinn
Hardluck
Equipment: As appropriate for a man of his standing Thorfinn wields a
well-wrought sword. The sword is treated as a Club (PDEE p.5). It can only be used against beasts or foes in base
contact, but confers a +1 modifier to Thorfinn’s attack rolls.
Traits: Thorfinn is the ruler of his people and insists on leading
from the front, an attitude that has made him Crotchety (PDEE p.13). Nevertheless, his experience (and the fortune of having
inherited some armour) has forged Thorfinn into a formidable warrior, rendering
him a Brute (PDEE p.13).
Thorvald
the Touched
Equipment: Thorvald carries multiple axes which he throws at foes and
wields in combat with equal skill. Axes are treated as Spears (PDEE p.5). They can be used against
beasts or foes up to 1x Short distance away.
Traits: Touched by the gods and a little weird, Thorvald has
knowledge of many natural and supernatural things. He is both a Healer (PDEE p.14) and a Thinker (PDEE p.14).
Thorbjørn Bjarnason
Equipment: Thorbjørn carries a bow. He may pelt beasts and foes up to 1x Long
distance, but always suffers a -1 modifier to his pelting and attack rolls.
Traits: The youngest surviving
member of Thorfinn’s household, Thorbjørn eager
to prove his worth; he is therefore Excited (PDEE p.14). However, his skill with a bow is already spoken of
highly, and Thorbjørn is known as a skilled
Hunter (PDEE p.14).
Scenario
1 – A contested feast
Thorfinn started to raised his beaten body from
where he lay, stared around him through salt encrusted eyes, and then let his
head fall with a painful thump, back to the stony beach. From what he could
make out, the beach was littered with debris from his broken knarr. A few of
his crew sat hunched in a little circle further up the beach. Thorfinn could
see two or three bobbing, face down, just beyond the break line, their arms or
legs entangled in flotsam.
Gathering his strength, and muttering under his
breath - cursing and entreating to the gods with equal measure, the jarl rose
and strode as manfully as possible up the beach to the survivors. If they see
the despair in his eyes, it was because they were blinded by their own.
Thorfinn licked his cracked lips and spat. In
his most commanding voice, he gestured to the two most … ‘reliable’ wasn’t the
best word … likeable men in the group. “Thorvald, Thorbjørn, we have a ring to find. The rest of you, do what you
can with this.” Thorfinn gestured vaguely around the beach, at the remains of
his vessel, at the bodies of his drowned crew, and the mess of their outward
journey.
“Right lads” said the jarl quietly to his two
companions, “if we can manage to find this thing, then we can work out a way to
get home. If we can’t, then we won’t have to worry about it. First things first
though, lets get something to eat eh!?”
As he said it, a pack of wolves started howling
in the near distance. Thorvald gave a crooked grin, clicked his tongue and
whistled. Thorfinn smiled, shook his head and walked inland, followed by a
wide-eyed Thorbjørn.
The Norsemen have been washed up in a strange
and unforgiving land. With nothing but the clothes on their backs and the
weapons on their hands, their first challenge is to collect provisions for
their onward journey.
Set up the table with
the three Norsemen standing in the centre. Place five landscape features (any
combination of hills, thickets or tricky ground, but at least one of each)
around the table, leaving 1x Long distance between each piece. No beasts are
placed on the table at the start of the game.
Roll 1d6 every time a character
moves into, or within, a hill, thicket or tricky ground terrain piece and
consult the table below to find out what the character has spotted.
Die
roll
|
Hunter
on a hill
|
Hunter
in a thicket
|
Hunter
in tricky ground
|
1
|
A
single angry critter has been flushed out of hiding. Place it at the
centremost point of the hill ground.
|
The
gods have blessed us with a Boar! Place a pack preadator at the centremost
point of the thicket.
|
A
single angry critter has been flushed out of hiding. Place it at the centremost
point of the tricky ground.
|
2
|
Nothing
is found
|
A
single angry critter has been flushed out of hiding. Place it at the
centremost point of the thicket.
|
A
single angry critter has been flushed out of hiding. Place it at the
centremost point of the tricky ground.
|
3
|
Nothing
is found
|
Character
discovers fungus worth ½ bulk.
|
Character
discovers fungus worth ½ bulk.
|
4
|
Character
discovers fungus worth ½ bulk.
|
Character
discovers nuts or berries worth ½ bulk.
|
Character
discovers fungus worth ½ bulk.
|
5
|
Character
discovers nuts or berries worth ½ bulk.
|
Character
has flushed out a critter.
|
Character
discovers nuts or berries worth ½ bulk.
|
6
|
Character
has flushed out a critter.
|
Character
has flushed out a critter.
|
Character
has flushed out a critter.
|
Gathering fungus, nuts
or berries costs one action. During the process, characters will naturally pop
fungus, nuts and berries in their mouths. However, whenever a Thorfinn or
Thorbjørn gather fungus, roll 1d6. On a roll of 1-2, they have chosen poorly
and collected poisonous fungus and immediately suffer one wound as it beings to
sour their bellies. Being more experienced with such things, Thorvald is not
affected by eating strange berries.
The Norsemen
only have a limited time to gather provisions. At the end of turn 8, roll 1d6. On a roll of 1-3, a large
pack of savage looking wolves appear on the table and the Norsemen make an
immediate withdraw. On a roll of 4+, the Norsemen have another turn to complete
their mission. Roll again at the end of turn 9 and every subsequent turn until
the Norsemen are successful or the wolves appear.
In order to progress
on their quest, all three Norsemen must survive and 6 bulk worth of provisions
must be collected.
New
beast type: Angry critters (details to come!)
Scenario
2 – The washer at the ford
Thorbjørn slowly raised his head above
the tussocks of wiry grass, his body prone to the cold, damp crest of the
little hillock. From his vantage point he could see a slow winding river making
its way through the valley. The still-looking water obviously ran deep, except
for one point, where it crashed and danced joyfully across a natural causeway
of well-worn stones.
Other creatures obviously knew these shallows
to be a crossing point too. The gentle slopes down to the ford were well
trodden, meandering paths leaving patterns through the tall grasses. The real
object of his attention though, was the figure standing ankle deep in the
middle of the crossing. From a distance, and with the dusk sun so low on the
horizon, it had looked like some sort of stooped crone, swaying this way and
that as she washed her threads in the cool waters.
Now that he was closer, however, the young
Norseman knew that his eyes had deceived him. What he had taken to be abundant
shawls and cowls, defence against the cold north wind, he saw now was nothing
less than a thick shaggy coat. No more a stooped washer at the ford, the
figure’s ursine bulk was now obvious.
Behind him, somewhere off in the distance, the
pack of wolves who had been following them for days could be heard baying in
the wind. Somewhat closer, at the foot of the hillock, Thorbjørn’s companions sat impatiently waiting his report. He
shifted his body so that the earth’s bulk protected him from the bear’s view
and scurried down the hillside. “Well,” he said, “There is a crossing. But also
a bear. What do you want us to do Jarl Thorfinn?”
Thorfinn scratched at the base of his chin –
there was something caught in his beard which prickled his skin. He was not
sure if it was a thorn or if it was something biting him. Either way, it made
him irritable. “Well, we can’t go back” he said gruffly, waving a thumb in the
direction of the wolves. “So I suppose we have a talk with your bear. After
all, there are three of us … perhaps we can persuade it to bugger off.”
The Norsemen must cross the river and escape
off the table on the far side.
Set up the table so that a river crosses
between to opposite sides with a crossing point at the centre of the table.
Treat the river as impassable and the crossing point as rough terrain. Place at
least one hill on either side of the river, and three other terrain features.
Place a single apex predator at the river’s crossing point.
The Norsemen must start the scenario within 1x
Medium distance of any one corner. They must escape the river valley via any
board edge on the far side of the river within six turns, at which point the
sun sets and they risk losing their way.
Thorfinn Hardluck and at least one of the other
characters must survive and make it off the table in order to progress to the
next scenario.
Scenario
3 – Into Jötunheimr
The skald had been right about one thing. There
were certainly trolls around. Thorfinn wrinkled his nose in disgust as he
scraped the jötunn dung from the sole of his boot. On crossing the river, he
had managed to leave wolf pack far behind him, but the incident with the bear
had also left his separated from his men. They had all been in the hall when
the skald spoke. They had all heard tell of the two jötnar, brothers, who now
laid claim to the ring and the bountiful powers imbued by the single strand of
Sif’s golden hair. If they still lived, the companions would be making their
way to the rocky plateau before him.
As he carefully made his way through the tumble
of rocky outcrops, Thorfinn was able to smell them first; a potent musky scent
mixed with the rich odour of decay, and the faintest hint of wood smoke. He
clambered up one last shelf of barren rock as the rosy fingers of Sól illuminated
this surrounds with the day’s first light. He was again stuck by the
hopelessness of the barren landscape. Nothing but bare rocky hills, stagnant
gullies and the ever present north wind, still wafting the jötnar’s powerful
perfume towards him.
Ahead of Thorfinn was the troll-hall, a
shadowed cave delving deep under a low rise. The jötnar obvious had a fire
burning at the entrance of the cavern. Although the fire itself was hidden from
view, it cast a fading glow through the dawn light, flinging lethargic shadows
against the surrounding stones around it as the trolls moved languidly around
their hearth. So, though Thorfinn, he would not be catching them at slumber. He
was confident that if he could separate the beasts, he stood an even chance to
bring one down. If Thorvald or Thorbjørn had survived, it would make
it all the easier. The trouble would come if he spent what energy he had left
to slay one jötunn, only to find that it was the other who held custody of the
ring.
And then, he reflected, if he was successful in
this quest, he would still need to make his way back to the beach somehow.
Gods’ willing, his surviving crew might even have thought up a means to get
home.
The Norsemen must recover the magic ring from
the corpse of a jötunn and escape of the table. If a character manages to kill
a jötunn and moved into base contact with it’s body, they may spend one action
to search for the ring. Roll 1d6; on a 5+, they have discovered the magic ring
and pick it up automatically. On a roll of 1-4, the ring is being carried by
the second jötunn.
Set up the table with a selection of hills and
tricky ground, two or three of each terrain type. Place a single small
impassable feature at the very centre of the table to indicate the hearth. The two
jötnar (great bipeds) should be placed within 1x Short of the hearth.
Thorfinn can be placed within 1x Medium of one
table corner. If they survived the encounter with the bear, Thorvald and Thorbjørn must each be
placed within 1x Medium of any other table corners – none of the Norsemen may
start in the same corner.
The complete the campaign, At least one
character must survive the game and carry the ring off the table edge.
New
beast type: Great bipeds (details to come!)
I actually replayed this last scenario the next day with my wee lad, and though we lost Thorbjørn and Thorvald yet again, Thorfinn managed to kill both trolls and get home again with the ring. So, you know, it can be done...
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