"Ragnarok! Tales of the Norse Gods" is another d20 product from Avalanche Press for those who want to use the d20 system without necessarily playing D&D. This skinny 48-page book gives a quick overview of the Norse Mythos and provides guidelines for running a campaign in which the PCs are Lesser Gods.

The long term goal of the campaign is to stave off Ragnarok, the end of the world, which Odin has seen in a vision. Every time the Gods fail a quest, they lose "Fate Points". When all the Fate Points are gone, Ragnarok comes about, all the Gods get involved in a final battle with the forces of Chaos, and the campaign comes to an end. The Gods also gain Fate Points for succeeding, but because "… the tone of the setting is fatalistic, failure is punished more than success is rewarded… the characters are struggling to prevent the End of Time, a task that, according to the mythos, is impossible."

The Norse Gods of this setting are not omnipotent entities, they are very powerful high level characters with limited immortality. The players create Lesser Gods as characters by choosing one of the traditional Norse God as a patron and defining the Lesser God according to the main characteristics of the patron. Ability Scores are very high (nothing under 20), and Gods have a variety of natural powers, like Spell Resistance and Damage Reduction. It is suggested that characters start between the fifth and eight level. These Lesser Gods will be the players' main characters. The players also create statistics for the Greater Gods that they chose as a patron, because they may get to play them once in a while. It is also suggested to create a few mortal followers of the God because a few "Mortal Quests" can be played.

All the Gods have a measure of magical power in the form of Rune casting. Each of the twenty-four Runes correspond to a magical effect, similar to a low level spell. The effect of each Rune is described like a spell in terms of duration and saving throw. The casting of Runes requires a Runecraft Skill Check and the range is a function of the caster's character level. Gods know a few runes and can cast a number of them every day equal to their intelligence modifier (remember, no ability score under 20).

Some rules are included to encourage a Norse ambience, such as the Hurl Axe class ability for barbarians. Some equipment is prohibited to reflect what was available in the "Dark Ages". The standard races like elves and dwarves are a bit different to reflect the mythology.

Some background is provided on the Norse culture and their methods of warfare. There is a brief description of each of the nine worlds of the mythological setting, including their inhabitants and tidbits of history, with an emphasis on Midgard, the realm of mortals. Eight NPCs, mortal political figures and a few antagonists, share a pair of sidebars with a couple of new monsters. Close to a dozen greater Gods are given a paragraph of description as well as very summary game statistics, except for Odin who is well detailed because he his the province of the High Skald (i.e. the DM). One God named Vidar seems to have been shafted because his statistics have been omitted.

They have also included some adventure seeds or, more accurately, some brief suggestions describing potential adventures and ideas to put in play some of the characters provided with the book.

The author states that a good working knowledge of the Nordic Mythos is highly recommended though not required to start playing with the material. I believe this is misleading and that a good working knowledge of the mythos is necessary to enjoy this product as a gaming supplement. The information provided is very introductory and insufficient to run a campaign of any length.

New Rules:

Weaknesses:

A little bit of fuzzy Third Edition compliance, read only if you are into that stuff...

The new feats are bizarre. The effect of Weapon Catching is that an enemy embeds his weapon in your wooden shield on a natural roll of 1 or 2 on his attack. Throwing your shield away disarms the enemy. This seems more like a fumble rule than a feat. The other feat in the book is incomprehensible in terms of Third Edition rules or even in terms of benefits. It is called Weapon Expertise: Throwing Spear. I think they are trying to modify the Two-Weapon Fighting rules in some way that permits someone with the feat to throw one halfspear from each hand in a single round without incurring any penalty. There is no mention of the kind of action (partial or full round) it implies, so the number of attacks per round and the bonuses involved are… what? (Two, of course!…one spear in each hand. Of course not! If the character is level 6, he could throw four spears, the first two at +6, the others at +1, and so on…*) The only specifications are that the +1 bonus from the prerequisite Weapon Focus feat does not apply to the second throw, and that the range increment is reduced by 15 feet. Mind you, it is not specified that the second spear is thrown from the off-hand, just that the off-hand must be free. I think no one should take those feats for their characters as a sign of protest. This is the only way we can let them know we wont let them mess with the rules!

* "My God always has twenty spears with him, which his magic goat carries around for him. He has the Quick Draw feat that permits him to draw spears from his goat as a free action, and the new Hurl Goat feat that permits him to throw the goat when he runs out of spears. My God PC has taken a Weapon Focus: Goat feat. Also, the new feat Extended Range Critical Goat Sneak Attack means that my goat counts as a Keen Animal on a natural roll of 12 or more and that it gets sneak attack bonus damage if it succeeds on a Bluff test against the opponent's Sense Goat Motive test, which is a Cross-Class skill for everybody except my character. The goat is enchanted and counts as a +2 weapon. The goat also gets to make a separate attack roll, and it is a 10th level goat Rogue. The fact that it is being thrown gives it the bonuses of a charge attack. After the fight, everybody eats the goat, and the next day it is still alive, like all good Norse mythological animals." - A creative player expending on the rules.