For a long time, I thought the late Frank Frazetta’s paintings were the final word when it came to fantasy art. Ok, part of me still does (if you have a better polar warrior than this one, prove me wrong!).
So what I’m saying is that when designer Dan Voyce said it was time to pick up the battle ax and launch the longboats, I was READY. Ready to get on board with a project that will bring the linnorms into play, and ring down the hammer of the gods. Tools for getting that berserker edge into your game.
Frozen Empires: Glories of the North is a sourcebook for every barbarian, druid, ranger, trollslayer, and madman with a little Viking gleam in his eye. It’s an exploration of the myths of the northlands, from Trollheim to Thule to the Sleeping Kingdom of Amaroth.
What dead gods lie sleeping beneath the glaciers? What dwarven forges ring with the clash of iron beneath the volcanos, slaves to the giants of Jotunheim?
Frozen Empires is one of two new Pathfinder RPG patron projects launched today, and seeking patrons now.
Come with us and explore all the best elements of Nordic fantasy, as we craft a set of game options, player tools, treasures, grudge magic, and locales for adventure easily portable into any campaign world where blood and snow litter the ground.
Tempting.. Not sure if I have the coppers to scrape together.
:(
But I have said that before. lol
Come on in, Jim, you know you want to! There are giants to be slain, dwarves to rob, and a glorious tale to be sung at Woden’s high table. Plunder the coffers of the rich, soft southlands for gold, my boy! The sword and canny wisdom of the infamous Mad Jim “Berserks-killer” Groves would be a very welcome addition to our longship of heroes.
Just don’t forget the thermal underwear.
I gotta say, the pitch for this project is extremely exciting. And now even more so! I await the stats for self-heating, magical thermal underwear with interest. ;)
I should probably go over to the Paizo boards and thank the person who said, “Hey, are you doing a follow-up to Sunken?”
I enjoyed being a patron so much on Tales of the Old Margreve I told my self I’d definately go “full monty” and become a senior patron on the next project. But this one sounds kinda chilly! ;) Have to think about it though!
I probably will join Dan, I just have to determine at what level. I’ve done poorly at taking advantage of senior patronage in the past.
Of course, I’m always looking to change that. I just need to resolve myself to make it part of a daily discipline. Ha. You might get sick of me.
There’s a neat opportunity to do something with the vikings. I’ve watched a few Discovery/History channel programs on them recently. I never realized that they were such skilled engineers. The jerks were really quite adept at building not only ships, but weapons and equipment. More than one would think when you focus on the ‘barbarian’ aspect.
Had no patience for seiges though.
James, there’s also a Streets of Zobeck project that might suit your mood better. It’s city adventures in the Lankhmar or Greyhawk style: gritty, gutter-level adventures where the party will definitely get its hands dirty.
Jim, agree on the engineering (and mercantile!) side of the Norse. This book is “fantasy vikings”, though, with plenty of magic and so probably won’t overdo the engineering side. Though Dan could say for sure.
Wolfgang,
I wouldn’t complain either way. In this setting you could have dwarves fill that role and sell their wonders to the vikings.
Also, we’ve done engineering tech quite heavily with Halls of the Mountain King. TWas just a passing thought.
I KNOW! Streets of Zobek is out too with Ben McFarlane leading it – another great guy to work with. Cool theme as well! It’d be hard (and expensive!) to give myself to both projects, so now I’m in quandry.
Consider standard patronage for one of them?
Or even wait a few weeks for the one you would go standard patronage on?
Both will move at different paces, I suspect, as Dan is ready to rip immediately and Ben will be doing pitches and discussion before the anthology is fully in design.
And then there’s the small matter that they both need to meet a commission first! :)
When I can scrape the money together I will buy into this.
I’s love to be part of this, but considering my big project unveils next month …I can’t justify the time. :(
(I might support it financially, nonetheless)…
I can’t believe I’m the first person to say something about this.
Wolfgang just won all of my love with the epic Zeppelin reference. Now I have to make a character that comes from the land of the ice and snow.
Jeramy,
You’re the first person to say something, but not the first person to think it. The Immigrant Song is ALWAYS the first thing I think of when considering vikings and barbarians.
I wander around the house muttering “Whispered tales of Thor..”
Of course my cocker spaniel is fairly tolerant of this behavior.
Will this be also with print option like Sunken? I’m still waiting for that one to arrive in physical, but the pdf looks great. If the option might be available for this one, it will be too tempting.
Sounds like more “fluff” than Sunken Empires? I prefer these sort of things as setting neutral as possible… “Here’s a location that doesn’t officially exist in setting X that you can plop in there with little difficulty” isn’t as appealing to me.
@Jeramy and Jim, glad I’m not the only one to associate the music and the genre. The patron board is full of other folk/metal/musical crossovers of Norse myths.
@Jevhad, there will be the option to pick up print as with Sunken, yes. It won’t have the split between print and PDF as with Shore to Sea/Sunken, though. Just one book, not two!
@Terence, this is heavy crunch, with the same amount of setting discussions as Sunken (which talks about Lemuria and Atlantis, for example). As always, though, outline will be driven by patron demands. Maybe I oversold the locations in the post; they’re just a small part of the player-heavy crunch.
No one can think of Vikings without thinking of Led Zeppelin
And no one can think of Led Zeppelin without thinking of… Viking Kittens!
http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/
But on a more serious note, how about a (real) Norse folk song to kick off the project:
http://www.tempestmusic.com/multimedia/turn_of_the_wheel_clip_07_bonden_og_kraka.mp3
(Yes, it is a legitimate download from the band’s own website.)
Definitely wish I could get in on this. I have been running an Iron Heroes campaign set in a homebrew Norse world for some time now. As of yet, it is my favorite system that can emulate the low-magic world of Norse mythology.
The community needs more solid viking crunch! Wish I could contribute, but I’m starting grad school in a few weeks…
Oh wow. Honestly wish you were asking for submissions rather then patrons lol. I’ve been running a home brew viking flavored pathfinder game for months and I’m sitting on piles of material.