The isolation continues. The covids swarm at the doors. They hunger. We will not let them in.
The Game: Saga of the Icelanders
The Publisher: Red Moose Games
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this, have played quite a lot of other PbtA games
Books Required: Just the one.
Saga of the Icelanders is a bit of an odd duck (or moose, maybe). It's meant to tell stories about settlers in Iceland in the 10th century or so, and it has some thematic similarity, the book tells us, to westerns, post-apocalyptic fiction, and fantasy. But (and this I appreciate) the book also tells us how Saga is not like those genres.
All in all, it's a historical fiction game for a very specific niche of history. It's an interesting game, but it doesn't have any of the genre elements that I really like in RPGs. But then again, I've played plenty of RPGs (usually of the Fiasco/Tragedy/etc style of game) that are pretty grounded in real-world physics. So maybe this would be interesting to play? I dunno. I can see it being satisfying, but I can also see it landing with a big ol' thud with a group that's accustomed to anything more remotely trad (like, even other PbtA games).
Well, anyway, I have a theme song for today's character, courtesy of my gf Jenn ("Refugee," Tom Petty):
What's interesting here is that playing a literal refugee is very much in keeping with the game's setting. Let's see which playbook appeals.
Well, I think that given the theme song, Wanderer, Thrall, or maybe Huscarl make the most sense. Of those, I think that Thrall has some interesting potential, plus I can be Scottish, so I'll do that.
So! Appearance first. For face, I'll choose scarred. For body, growing. For hair, red.
For stats, I choose between two arrays and then add 1 to one. I think I'll pick the one where I get -1 gendered (gender roles are different where I come from), and I'll add one to versed. That gives me versed +2, young +1, gendered -1, and wyrd +0.
Moves, then! I get all the common moves and the male moves (since my thrall is male), and then I get two from the Thrall list. I want Gaelic Heritage, so when I reveal my ancestry to someone through story or song, I get a bond. And then...hmm. I kind of like Odd customs, which lets me take another move from a different rolebook, but I'm having trouble deciding what my displaced Scottish thrall might have. I think I'll take Belligerent (from the Huscarl playbook); when I join a fight, invited or no, I take a bond with someone present if we both survive. Us Scots are a contentious people.
Relationships, of course, would normally include other PCs, but can also include NPCs. Either way, hard to do this without a group, so I'm gonna skip it.
My character is a young man, red hair and barely a beard. His master tried (barely) to pronounce his real name, but couldn't be bothered and now just calls him Thorir. Thorir was captured as a teen and forced into thralldom, but has gradually learned that he could, in theory, buy his way out and become a free man. He wonders if he could fight his way out, too.
That'll do it. Tomorrow I'll do something more complex. Maybe I'll finally do Slayers.
