The Campaign Builder's Guild

I tried making a völva seer, but she seems very ... frail. Assuming this scenario is going to include a fair amount of violence, she appears dangerously inefficient considering that she can't see beyond 30 ft and can't hit with a dagger. Hmm. Although she does have the nifty ability to read entrails. I'll post her here for now, but I might go back to tinkering with character concepts.

[spoiler=Siiv Sangsdottir]
Level 2 human oracle (seer) - time mystery

STR 10 +0 (0)
DEX 14 +2 (5)
CON 12 +1 (2)
INT 11 +0 (1)
WIS 12 +1 (2)
CHA 16 +3  (5)

Max HP: 11 (2d8+2)

BAB +1
AC 12

CMB +1
CMD 13

FORT +1
REF +2
WILL +4

Speed: 30ft

Melee attacks:
Dagger +1 1d4 19-20/x2


Skills (8 points):
Bluff +4 (1)
Diplomacy +8 (2)
Sense Motive +6 (2)
Knowledge (religion) +5 (2)
Survival +2(1)

Special Abilities:
Clouded Vision

Feats:
Extra Revelation (Aging Touch)

Revelations:
Aging Touch (1/day)
Natural Divination

Spells:
Orisons - Detect Magic, Light, Create Water, Detect Poison, Spark
1st (5) -Cure Light Wounds, Murderous Command, memory lapse

Equipment: 
Ragged blindfold
Bone charms
Bone-handled knife
Grey robes
[/spoiler]

Did a restatting of my seer. Also, based on your suggestion she might now be an enslaved East European woman.

[spoiler=Mila Kaupas]
human seer 1/winter witch 1 (nature mystery, portents patron)

STR 10 +0 (0)
DEX 12 +1 (2)
CON 11 +0 (1)
INT 16 +3 (5)
WIS 12 +1 (2)
CHA 14 +2  (5)

Max HP: 8 (1d8+1d6)

BAB +0
AC 11

CMB +0
CMD 11

FORT +0
REF +1
WILL +5

Speed: 30ft

Melee attacks:
Dagger +0 1d4 19-20/x2
Quarterstaff +0 1d6 x2

Skills (5+7 points):
Bluff +4 (2)
Diplomacy +6 (1)
Intimidate +7 (2)
Knowledge (Arcana) +8 (1)
Knowledge (Nature) +7 (2)
Knowledge (Religion) +7 (1)
Heal +5 (1)
Sense Motive +5 (1)
Survival +2 (1)


Special Abilities:
Oracle's Curse (Clouded Vision)
Patron (Portents)
Witch's Familiar (white raven)
Ice Magic (+1 cold DC)
Cold Flesh (Endure Elements - Cold)
Revelations (1)
Hexes (2)

Feats:
Extra Hex (Slumber)
Spell Focus (Enchantment)

Revelations:
Natural Divination

Hexes:
Evil Eye
Slumber

Oracle Spells (spontaneous):
Orisons - Detect Magic, Light, Detect Poison, Spark
1st (4) -Cure Light Wounds, Murderous Command, Charm Animal

Witch Spells (prepared):
Cantrips (3)  - Daze, Message, Dancing Lights
1st (2)-Frostbite, Charm Person

Equipment:
Ragged blindfold
Bone charms
Bone-handled knife
Grey robes
[/spoiler]

EDIT: It might seem like a rather drastic change of character, but the core of the concept is the same.

The Witch/Oracle thing makes additional sense if she's experienced in two distinct spellcasting traditions - her original one and the tradition of the Hrafnii.

Looks great! I already have a fantastic mental image of her even with only the crunch and your brief comments :)

PS. Suggestion - take whichever class gives 1d8 HD first so you have a minimum of 9 HP rather than a minimum of 7.

Yeah, that's a good idea!

Is there any additional information people would appreciate next?  I'm planning on doing a map or two soon.

EDIT: May I suggest that Mila invest in some furs and food?  These could represent stolen objects if she's an escaped thrall.

Also, having checked the numbers, if you did 4 levels of Oracle and 3 of Witch, you could qualify for Mystic Theurge (we'd rename it something...) for your final level :P.  Just a possibility.

A map of the "Blóðlands."  Don't read this map as an accurate depiction of the actual land - the maps leaves out a great deal (numerous towns, settlements, sacred groves, and small geographical regions) and isn't intended to properly represent distances - but rather as a crude approximation, the sort of thing your average semi-learned Iron Age denizen would scrawl on a scrap of parchment.

Note: this region is but one of the many petty kingdoms of the North.

I may change or update this - we'll see...

It is a beautiful map.

Thanks!  For whatever reason I never seem to do maps with software.  I also always seem to overestimate my scanner's breadth :P.  It'll at least give the PCs some idea of their whereabouts.

The starting location will be a somewhat uncertain somewhere in the rough vicinity of Skrikborg (where the Hall of Screams is located).  Drekaborg, Wulfheim, and Wightgard are all Blóðbard-garrisoned fort-towns.

Very nice! Will you be posting a map of the entirety of the North? I'd be interested in seeing that.

Eventually I will definitely get one together.  For Skryim-players out there, I'm thinking of the above map as an area roughly equivalent to one of the nine Holds.

Nice map!

Also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYCreOzCxP8

Thanks!

Are there any other rule variants people might be interested in?  Called Shots, Honor, or even Wound and Vigor Points?  The lattermost, arguably, might suffer from the same redundancy Polycarp! rightly identified with lowering the Massive Damage Threshold, though I think it's effect are a little more nuanced.  All of these are just options.  Any opinions?  I think I'm going to keep Armour as a Defense bonus (as opposed to DR) simply for greater ease of conversion with monsters :P.

EDIT: Game is on for tomorrow, just to remind everyone.

I'd agree that VP/WP would be a bit redundant. I love the called shots, although I'm slightly unsure about this "minimum 50" thing for the damage needed to cause critical called shots and debilitating blows. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it but that seems awfully high for a low-power game like this one. Honour is in theory cool, but my instinct would be to just handle that kind of thing through RP rather than a hard-and-fast rule.
If others particularly want or don't want any of those three rule variants, though, I'd be happy to use or not use them, those are just preferences rather than passionate opinions :)

Also, I've just been watching a BBC documentary series called Weapons that Made Britain, and feel it's somewhat inspirational for this game. While the episode on the Sword focussed on the 15th century, there was one section where he tested four different replica swords and found that the viking/saxon era sword performed pretty much identically to its 15th century equivalent (as in the same size sword from that era, not the larger hand-and-a-half sword) in both the cut and the thrust, which is surprising as the later sword had a much less rounded point.
The episode on the Shield is even more relevant, focussing mainly on viking/saxon era shield wall tactics and technology. Rawhide covering glued linden is surprisingly durable, with only a Danish two-handed axe breaking the shield in their tests, and making the shield lenticular rather than flat made it able to resist even that (they eventually broke the lenticular shield, but they had to get a machine to hit it with the axe nearly four times harder than the man was able to).
Not really suggesting you should house-rule anything to reflect this, just thought it was interesting and relevant. The whole series seems to be up on youtube if anyone's interested, I've only watched the Sword and Shield episodes so far :)

To explain the 50 thing - 50 is for Debilitating blows.  Anything below 50 that's still a critical hit counts as a Critical Called Shot, whereas anything over 50 counts as a Debilitating Blow.  The wording is just awful (I had to read it a couple of times to understand).  The regular Called Shot effects have no damage threshold.  Basically, there would be very few Debilitating Called Shots unless some 8th level badass with feats gets a critical.

I wouldn't let Called Shots stop me from describing things viscerally, or of letting players describe gory kills through things like heart-stabbing and decapitation.  In effect they're just a mechanic to allow for a more nuanced variety of the Dirty Trick (which is always available in Pathfinder) with some extra bonuses for a critical hit.

Still, I'm a bit on the fence.  More input would be awesome.

I think I'm with you on Honour.  Mechanizing it feels too clumsy.

Sounds like a cool series!

I don't feel strongly about the variants either; I just wanted to put them on the table in case anyone really wanted them :).

Rumours

Rumours blow as freely as the winter winds across the North, though few are wholly accurate, and doubtless most are exaggerated or otherwise faulty.

Roll a 1d10 1d2 times and read the corresponding spoiler tag(s).  It goes without saying not to look at the rumours you don't roll.  These rumours represent snatches of gossip, overheard conversation, and other hearsay.  Rumours reported in the section on the tribes can be considered general knowledge (such as King Geirmund Greatmane's bounty on wolves).

If you're an Ægiran, you automatically know either rumour 2 or 5 (pick one and roll 1d2 – on a 2, roll again to learn another rumour, rerolling if you get the same rumour twice).  If you're an Austrogoth, you automatically know rumour 6, if you're a Hrafnii you automatically know rumour 10, and if you're a Görning you automatically know either rumour 1 or 4 (again, roll 1d2 and learn a second random rumour on a 2).

1 - [spoiler]Insane Seeresses: The imminent arrival of Ragnarök is causing seeresses who peer too deeply into the future to go insane.  They say it begins with nightmares and hallucinations, flashes of the impending Doom; those who behold the final battle in its terrible, enormous totality, however, are driven hopeless insane.  To avoid this fate, those skilled in the Seid should avoid divining too extensively.[/spoiler]

2 - [spoiler]Strange Island: A strange new island has appeared in the west near Ériu.  Called Hy-Brasil by the Fir Bolg, some claim the island rose from the sea, others that it simply appeared out of a bank of mist, others still that it floated across the ocean from some distant corner of the earth and has now come to rest.  Whatever the case, Northern adventurers have returned from the isle with tales of fabulous treasures found within ancient, empty cities.  Other rumours suggest that these cities may not be empty after all...[/spoiler]

3 - [spoiler]Army of the Dead: They say that an army of the dishonoured dead – shades from Hel itself – has established a camp in the Eyði – the savage, contested wasteland west of the Gjöll River.  These vile ghost-warriors, the Again-Walkers, slay all living beings they come across and pull their spirits from their corpses, cheating them of Valhalla to add to their own ranks; shadow-fleshed and screaming, they cannot be harmed by ordinary weapons.  They say their commanders are Hel-Giants, Jötnar who died dishonourably – Hrímgrímnir, Helreginn, Hyrm, and Modgud.[/spoiler]

4 - [spoiler]Rift to Svartálfaheim: Rumour holds that somewhere deep in the Slaughterstone Mountains an earthquake has caused a great rift to open which leads to Svartálfaheim itself, the subterranean Homeworld of the Dwarfs.  Though climbing through the mountains in the midst of Fimbulvinter is perilous, the wonders of the Dvergar are legendary.  Whether or not the Dwarfs are emerging from the rift into Midgard is unknown.[/spoiler]

5 - [spoiler]Skræling Uprising: Reports from the west hold that a group of Skræling thralls being transported to the North along with goods from the distant lands across the ocean managed to kill the crew of their ship and have landed in the North.  Ruthless freedom-fighters, they are now roving the Northlands freeing any Skræling or Thule thralls they come across and killing their masters, taking their scalps for trophies.  It is said that some of their number are shamans capable of summoning a terrible flesh-eating spirit that possesses certain of their warriors, transforming them into something called "Wendigos."[/spoiler]

6 - [spoiler]Plague in Austragötaland: A horrible sickness is sweeping Austragötaland.  Some say it's a Southron plague, others a punishment sent by the Gods to cleanse the land of the Fathermen.  The Faith, of course, contends that the plague has been sent by their deity to punish heathens and sinners – a holy fever which burns the brows of unbelievers and other depraved souls.  Their priests are busy administering holy cures to those they deem pious enough to merit them.[/spoiler]

7 - [spoiler]The Wrathsword: A mysterious wanderer claiming to wield the sword known as Gram, the Wrathsword, has been seen abroad.  Some say this individual is a hero, a dragon-slayer who was given the sword by the ghost of the famous warrior Sivard.  Others insist that he is nothing more than a thief, a tomb-robber who despoiled Sivard's barrow and stole the legendary blade.  Others still dismiss these stories as the fabrications of increasingly desperate vagabond Skalds hoping to exchange fanciful tales for their suppers.[/spoiler]

8 - [spoiler]Hræsvelgr: Sightings of the Giant in eagle-form known as Hræsvelgr have been reported across the North – brief glimpses of the massive creature high above the clouds, or perched momentarily on a mountaintop.  The Corpse Swallower, as he is known, is supposed to sit at the End of the World and fan his great wings to make the wind blow.  His appearance in the North is said to account for the wild gales and blizzards that afflict the land.  They say that Hræsvelgr is larger than the largest mammoth, a bird so huge that he can devour an aurochs at a single sitting.[/spoiler]

9 - [spoiler]Fire in Myrkwood: They say that Myrkwood, the great forest which separates the North of Midgard from the lands of the now-dispersing Húna, is partially aflame.  The fire is said to be uncannily hot and ferocious, somehow able to resist snow, rain, and sleet.  Some of the Myrkari woodsmen are fleeing their homes, and beasts driven from the wild, strange wood are roving northwards to escape the flames.  No one knows what caused the fire.[/spoiler]

10 - [spoiler]Sky-Stone: A falling star has landed somewhere in the Hrafnlands.  This queer black rock is being used by a local weapon-smith to forge blades of extraordinary quality – wounds caused by the black swords and axes crafted from the sky-stone are said to smoulder and smoke.  Some Hrafnii mercenaries and brigands are already employing these powerful weapons against their foes.[/spoiler]