Runestone Blessings

In the Isle of Fury adventure, our characters have found several runestones detailing the mythological history of the Norse people. Each stone, when read, has a different magical effect. All effects can be triggered as a free action and can be used once. The players have proven, however, that rereading the stone recharges the effect.

The following text is from Goodman Games The Adventure Begins, from their Dungeon Crawl Classics line.

The Rune Stone of Creation: Upon the rune stone of creation the past is revealed, the true story of the beginning of existence. The planting of Yggdrasil, the world-tree, is described and upon its branches are placed Asgard (the realm of the gods), Niflheim (the underground realm of the vulgar humanoid and the dead), Jotunheim (land of the giants), Svartálfaheim (home of the dark elf), Álfheim (home of the light elf), and Midgard (home to man). The carvings tell how the world was created, and how the years are numbered. The secret origins of the dwarfs are revealed, as is the creation of the first man and woman.

Reading the stone grants the effect of the Cleric power Bless, detailed here in the D&D Compendium:

Bless, Cleric level 2 power

Rune Stone of Fury: Upon the rune stone of strength is carved the secrets of the berserker: the rage brought on by battle, a gift from Thor, the ultimate weapon of Northmen, of Æsir and Vanir against their many foes. The runes recall the events that led to the first war, what occurred in the struggle between the Æsir and
Vanir, and the peace that was wrought from the bloody conflict.

Reading the stone grants the following effect:

Savage Beserker, Barbarian Blessing
You rage with the fury of a thousand Conans.
Daily Divine
Effect: Expend and gain the following powers for the rest of the encounter:
Murderous Frenzy
The savage berserker gains 1 action point the first time it reduces a foe to 0 hit points in an encounter.
Savage Rebuke (immediate reaction, when hit by a melee attack; at will)
The savage berserker makes a basic melee attack.

Rune Stone of Wisdom: This rune stone reveals what Odin sacrificed of himself in the pursuit of knowledge. The stone speaks of Odin’s eye, which was plucked out in exchange for inner sight. It tells the story of how Odin willingly impaled himself upon his own spear and was hung from the branches of Yggdrasil until he saw the secret of the original rune stones. The stone reveals that only through pain and loss was knowledge gained.

Reading the stone grants the effect of the Paladin power One Heart, One Mind, detailed in the D&D Compendium:

One Heart, One Mind, Paladin Utility 6 power

Rune Stone of Rebirth: The rune stone of rebirth reveals a story of hope. It speaks of the day when a sliver of golden light will shatter the endless gloom of night. Out from the ashes of the destruction of the gods, a beautiful world will rise. The breath of life will once again fill the lungs of the fair Baldr. Baldr reborn will travel the new world and everywhere his foot touches ground, abundance will sprout without the sowing of seeds.

Reading the stone grants the effect of the magic ritual Remove Affliction, detailed in the D&D Compendium:

Remove Affliction, Level 8 magic ritual

Making Characters

While we have a decent-sized player group now, we're always recruiting. Here is some information for new players.

Characters in Savage Vinland will start at first level. In a playtest, we all had fun at this low power setting, and decided that this was the best way to learn the new system. Making characters is going to be very easy, and I encourage anyone with a Player's Handbook to make your own and bring it to the game. I ask that you use one of the two Attribute Assignment methods instead of rolling. Any class or race in the book is available, as well as the Warforged race that's not in the book.

Note: This contradicts my original plans; I had wanted to introduce Dragonborn and Warforged in game and make them part of the crazy new world of the campaign. But plans changed, we started out at first level, and to put too much into delayed gratification would be a mistake.

Make your character as complete as possible, with whatever equipment is available at the first level with the standard starting resources. The book does a good job of limiting this, and I don't need to design any further.

If you don't have a book, look things up in the online D&D Compendium (link below). It's a crap way to go, but pretty much the whole Player's Handbook is there.

I would prefer that you use some kind of electronic resource for character creation, such as a savable PDF or the great Excel character sheet. When you're done, send it to me; more for records and less for approval. Give your character a Viking name (more on this later).

Here are some resources:

D&D Compendium

D&D PDF and Excel Sheets

Warforged in 4th Edition

Using Pre-Made Characters

I will be happy to make characters for players; in fact, this may be the only way we can handle creation for players that don't have books. Start an e-mail discussion with me about what you want to play. We'll pick role, race, class, and one of two builds for each class (for instance, a Ranger can be built as a ranged bowman or a close-in two-sword fighter). This can be as involved a discussion as you want: I can run with "Make me a shit-kicker," or I can refer you to different text excerpts online until I'm just filling in the dots at your direction. I'll then make your character and have it ready for the first game.

If I make your character, you can change powers, skills, race, class, anything, for the first three games of the campaign.

Using Pre-Made Characters

I will be happy to make characters for players; in fact, this may be the only way we can handle creation for players that don't have books. Start an e-mail discussion with me about what you want to play. We'll pick role, race, class, and one of two builds for each class (for instance, a Ranger can be built as a ranged bowman or a close-in two-sword fighter). This can be as involved a discussion as you want: I can run with "Make me a shit-kicker," or I can refer you to different text excerpts online until I'm just filling in the dots at your direction. I'll then make your character and have it ready for the first game.

If I make your character, you can change powers, skills, race, class, anything, for the first few games you play.