Fate of the Norns

Ragnarok

The Search for Fafnir’s Treasure

Andrew Valkauskas

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�ate of The Zorns

www.FateoftheNorns.com A. Valkauskas © 2012-08-23

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© Andrew Valkauskas 2012

First Edition

Published by Pendelhaven 2006

121 Place Bourbonniere

Lachute, Quebec

J8H 3W7 Canada

www.pendelhaven.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced for resale without the prior written

permission of the copyright holder.

This publication is meant for free distribution as an unalterable PDF document.

Author and Designer:

Andrew Valkauskas

Artists:

Arthur Rackham c.1910

F. Von Stassen c.1914

J. C. Dollman c. 1900

Play-Testers

Ron Kriz

Davide Zanoni

Frank Villeneuve

Marc Durivage

Editors

Carole Zabbal

ISBN# 978-0-9865414-4-5

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�ate of The Zorns

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Contents Ragnarok ....................................................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 6

And It Shall Come to Pass… ....................................................................................................................... 6

History ....................................................................................................................................................... 7

Heraldic Signs & Portents.......................................................................................................................... 7

The Ages of Ragnarok ............................................................................................................................... 8

Destiny and Rebirth .................................................................................................................................. 8

Saga: The Search for Fafnir’s Treasure ........................................................................................................ 10

Saga Setup ............................................................................................................................................... 10

Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 10

The Heroes .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Customizing the Saga .............................................................................................................................. 22

The Quest ................................................................................................................................................ 24

Part i: The Locales & Denizens of Evingard ......................................................................................... 25

Part ii: The Journey ............................................................................................................................. 36

Part III: Skridnir ................................................................................................................................... 41

Denizens: ............................................................................................................................................. 43

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 48

Equipment ................................................................................................................................................... 50

Instruments of Death .............................................................................................................................. 50

Sundered Shields ..................................................................................................................................... 51

Other Necessities .................................................................................................................................... 52

Game Rules Light ........................................................................................................................................ 54

Terms Used ............................................................................................................................................. 54

The Runes of Power ................................................................................................................................ 54

Skill Checks .............................................................................................................................................. 55

Opposed Skill Checks .............................................................................................................................. 56

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�ate of The Zorns

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Skill Descriptions ..................................................................................................................................... 56

Combat .................................................................................................................................................... 57

Initiative .............................................................................................................................................. 57

The Play Mat ....................................................................................................................................... 57

The Phases of Combat......................................................................................................................... 58

Action Phase & Rune Chains ............................................................................................................... 59

List of Generic Actions ........................................................................................................................ 61

Meta Tags ............................................................................................................................................ 63

Damage ............................................................................................................................................... 65

Healing ................................................................................................................................................ 68

Condition Tokens ................................................................................................................................ 69

Sacrifice ............................................................................................................................................... 69

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................... 71

The Jotuns & Their Allies ......................................................................................................................... 71

The Gods & Their Co-Conspirators ......................................................................................................... 72

Other Notable Personages & Locales ..................................................................................................... 72

The Runes ................................................................................................................................................ 73

Printable Materials...................................................................................................................................... 76

<Runes> ................................................................................................................................................... 77

<Playmat> ............................................................................................................................................... 78

<Map> ..................................................................................................................................................... 80

<Hex Mat> ............................................................................................................................................... 82

<Initiative Tiles> ...................................................................................................................................... 83

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�ate of The Zorns

www.FateoftheNorns.com A. Valkauskas © 2012-08-23

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Ragnarok

Everything has a beginning, and the Norns dictate that what has a beginning will have an end… Welcome

to the beginning of the end!

The age of patience, reason, and restraint has been overshadowed by an age of rage, vengeance, and

destruction. Old grievances have resurfaced and reparations come in blood, rivers of blood!

The Twilight of the gods nears, Brother will kill brother,

Families sundered by incest, Four ages afoot,

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

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�ate of The Zorns

www.FateoftheNorns.com A. Valkauskas © 2012-08-23

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Introduction

What you have in your hands is an introduction to the adventure saga, Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok – a

smaller, pruned-down version of the adventure game world and rules.

The saga takes place in the Viking age, right before the beginning of the Coming of Ragnarok. Some brief

contextual stories of Ragnarok are provided to help set the context and mood. The full version of the

game, along with other playable sagas, is available at www.fateofthenorns.com.

And It Shall Come to Pass…

The beginning of the end was heralded by many signs and portents.

These signs were powerful in the heavens and the world of man. Every branch and root of the cosmic

tree Yggdrassil had an indelible mark left on the worlds by the coming of the twilight of the gods.

None could forestall prophesy or derail the fate of the Norns.

The Jotuns and their allies were burning and seething with unquenchable aggression towards the Aesir

gods and their profane conspirators. Because the Jotuns had been wronged for centuries by the gods,

they felt that there was too much sin to bear, the blasphemous deeds of the gods needed purging.

The Primordial Murder of the first Jotun Ymir by his Aesir great-grandson Odin and a long series of

grievances and transgressions were written down in a document known as “The Writ.”

Read more about the heroes and villains in the Glossary on page 71.

The Writ

Odin, the king of the Aesir, the hanged god, lord of ghouls,

Consumed in jealousy and greed

Slays his great and noble Jotun progenitor Ymir;

Odin's attempt at genocide of the Jotun race fails,

with a torrent of Ymir’s blood.

Odin steals the sun that serves all,

He places it over the worlds of Asgard, Midgard, Vanagard and Alfgard

Plunging Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, and Muspelheim into darkness.

The Aesir strike a bargain with the Great Jotun Architect

To have an impregnable wall built for the Aesir city Asgard

In return for the sun, the moon, and the Vanir goddess Freya for the Jotuns,

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