Campaign Setting

The quick and dirty campaign idea behind Savage Vinland is Viking colonists in the New World, but this will be introduced in media res around fourth or fifth level. The strange dark continent of Paleo-America is much to badass for first-level characters, so we're going to start fighting goblinoids in the Old World first. All the characters will be junior members of a multi-racial Viking clan that has been forced to resettle in Hyboria (Greenland). You all grew up together, and have known each other and most of the people in the background of the campaign since childhood. Throughout the campaign, you will travel with your community, defending it and eventually ruling it. This opens up some options that don't fit the normal Vagabond Adventurer mold. Consider the following:

Is your character married, or shacking up with anyone?

Is your character related to anyone else in the clan? If not, why not?

Does your character have a long generational history with the Norse, or are they more recent, like the child of a slave, or a foreigner that joined the warband?

Medieval social structures are absolutely not the focus in this game. I'll be playing fast and loose with historical Viking details anyway to accommodate magic and races and whatnot. But these elements are just sitting there, so pick them up and run with them if you want.

As for gods, Clerics and Paladins have a mechanistic requirement to pick a D&D god like Pelor or Bahumut. Pick this god, then translate them into a Norse equivalent (Pelor = Baldur, for instance). It doesn't matter how the mapping goes, or even that it is consistent among the party. It's mainly an excuse to get Clerics of Thor.