Thoughts about Gaz7: The Northern Reaches

 

I like this one. It is in contrast in tone and adventure style to Gaz9: The Minrothad Guilds. Here it shows the brutal, perhaps bloodthirsty, streak in the culture of this land, with lots of opportunity for conflict and adventure, which seems to be in stark contrast to the rather peaceful and boring Minrothad islands.

I’ve gone through the player’s pull-out section. I like the descriptions of the land and the people, the laws and attitudes. The rules I take with a pinch of salt and I may not incorporate them all as written.

• The personality traits I think are interesting suggestions but I would more likely to use them as guidelines for the DM to roleplay NPCs, rather than as actual game mechanics. 
• The skills are something I have noticed in other gazetteers but not really paid much attention to. But it’s nice for rounding out a PC or NPC. 
• The list of Norse names is always useful. 
• The part on clerics and their rune magic is interesting and I would certainly use this for NPCs. In fact part of me wants to start creating new runes right away but I ought to see how the published runes work first. They are not just simple spells. However, I am also wary of game balance issues - the Know Runes spell does involve a ritual of considerable hardship and risk but after that the cleric with runes has power that clerics from other lands simply do not have access to.

One aspect that I noticed is the introduction of a pantheon of deities that many other gazetteers simply do not address.  This is the classic Norse pantheon, with Odin, Thor, Frey and Loki. My head goes off on different directions with this one. What about the other Norse deities, described in Deities and Demigods? Tyr, Balder, Frigga and Heimdall could all be brought in.  

But also how do these gods fit in with immortals that were previously mortals who found the path to immortality? My gut instinct is to put these ones in a different category: Elder Immortals, who were never human.  

Although not exactly the same pantheon, the category of Elder Immortal can also include Kagyar from the Dwarves of Rockhome and Apep from the Nithian (i.e. Egyptian) pantheon. In fact, if I am to take the Norse pantheon on board in this campaign it opens up the possibility of other pantheons in other nations and regions, which changes the focus away from Law vs Chaos that has been the predominant religious and metaphysical conflict so far in this campaign. Would these Norse immortals take sides in Law vs Chaos? Or do they ignore it, staying neutral in an uncaring way? Loki and Hel are chaotic, while Tyr is Lawful but even then that does not mean they are integrally tied to these cosmic forces but merely an indication of their behaviour and attitutes, like most mortals. 

The three nations of the Northern Reaches, old-fashioned and brutal Ostland, the more civilized Vestland and the fragmented and somewhat anarchic Soderfjord Jarldoms, offer three different environments in which to set adventure, but all of them seem to offer plenty of excitement and opportunities for brave heroes. The raiding culture and reliance on strength and combat prowess over law, trade and diplomacy, particularly in Ostland, makes for great human opponents who fight first and ask questions later. I would say in terms of alignment that even if the raiders think they are simply carrying on a tradition that they have held for centuries, to anyone else (especially those targeted by them) these norse raiders are no better than orcs, goblins or chaos warriors - indeed their actions are seen as chaotic at least in outcome if not in philosophy. This raises the question in my mind: were vikings the original murder-hobos? I’m sure the monks of Lindisfarne would say yes. 

And yet there is also opportunity for diplomacy, trade and perhaps espionage. The Ethengar Khanate, the Heldannic Knights and the Emirates of Ylaruam are all neighbours who at least want to keep an eye on the Northern Reaches, maybe do business with them and perhaps even influence the decisions of the leaders. Vestland is trying to shift from a raiding culture to a trading culture, and while not everyone in Vestland agrees with this change, it is perhaps safer to do business here than in either Ostland or the Jarldoms. Of course, a merchant may well hire adventurers to protect him and his interests from those who prefer the old ways. 

Trade links extend all over the Sea of Dawn and can take merchants and adventurers far afield, from Norwold to Thyatis, from Alphatia to the Pearl Islands. This reflects real-life vikings who found themselves in North Africa, Ireland, England, France, Sicily, Russia, Greenland, Byzantium and even Nova Scotia in North America, trading, plundering, colonising and fighting as mercenaries as the opportunities presented themselves. In some ways I see vikings as the ultimate opportunists, roaming around, judging situations and settlements and deciding what is best for themselves. 

The  non-human races of the Northern Reaches, particularly gnolls, trolls, kobolds, gnomes and dwarves, are all mentioned and briefly discussed. The first three (trolls, gnolls and kobolds) are perpetual foes of the humans, making the mountainous borderlands to the west and south very dangerous. Although expeditions against them might be a tad simplisitc, perhaps even hack and slash, it is at least straightforward and always available as a way of finding loot and action. 

The dwarves, including the Modrigswerg (moulder dwarves) and gnomes are a different matter, and although it is possible that some may be hostile, it is usually much more a matter of how the PCs approach them. Dwarves are much like those in Rockhome and many are descended from the dwarves of Rockhome. Gnomes are not given as much description having driven to near extinction by kobolds but I like to think of them as similar to rock gnomes found in Karameikos, with warriors and tricksters. I don't feel tinker gnomes fit this setting. They would be very rare, and perhaps not even having their own settlements, but as enclaves and refugees with dwarf clans. I suspect the author of Gaz7 (Ken Rolston) did not expect any gnomes to have survived. 

The Modrigswerg are a subrace of unpleasant, unhinged dwarves who are still remarkably skilled at creating powerful magic items. As a DM and creator of adventures I reckon they could fill a variety of roles from outright villains to someone the PCs need to negotiate or trade with, to a source of wondrous items that can become either plot McGuffins or rewards for successful quests. They are tricky and truculent, and difficult to work with, and often quite treacherous. Yet their crafting skills make them extremely useful. There is even a paragraph about their skill and imagination in creating dungeon traps - they could probably teach the goblins of Zugguth Peak about how to build really nasty traps.  In terms of AD&D & later editions they have elements of both duergar (their greed and brutality) and derro (their paranoia, mental instability and isolationism). I like them already....

A combination of various subterranean races means that the Northern Reaches, particularly the areas on the mainland, have substantial cave complexes and excavated lairs. Thus the Shadowdeep, Mystara’s underground realm, extends substantially under the mountainous parts of the Northern Reaches. 

At the end of the DM’s book there is a substantial adventure set in the Falun Caverns, formerly a gnome settlement, now overrun with kobolds.  I would be tempted to use my own rules for humanoid NPCs here, with kobold warriors and nobles having levels in the warrior class, and kobold wiccas being replaced by shamans, but to each their own. There are also shorter adventures including “The Defence of Otkel’s Stead” and “The Jarl’s Hall”. 

I can see myself using the Northern Reaches a lot on this blog.