Okay. This is the campaign where we break all the rules and reforge them. There are two major things happening with Midgard:

1. The core rules have been rewritten. Many, many new things have been introduced, making Kim D&D a new gaming system. Some of the changes require tweaking during playtesting, so expect some real time modifications of rules in the first several sessions. With luck most of the initial values will be playable without alteration. An extensive set of documents will be distributed when I get to California (sometime before Sept 22nd).
2. This is a specialty campaign. Remember those things I said to avoid in the general player intro? I'm doing pretty much all of them in spades. In particular, I have created the infrastructure of Midgard, and it is fixed the moment the campaign begins. Unfortunately, this places a sharp restriction on player backgrounds. Please let me apologize for this: this is not how I usually run things. But hey, characters will probably die frequently enough that their backgrounds won't make much of a difference anyway... :-)

Here's a listing of characteristics, in decreasing order of restrictiveness on player pasts.

There are no long lost cultures, no cyclic histories, no relics from a bygone era. There are no large empires or sprawling civilizations, just small struggling settlements. Consequently, your character past should not include anything which is unlikely to exist in this war torn world. But if you really want a particular past and can come up with something plausible...

Play will begin in Fallersholm, a diverse but organized settlement whose Jarl is High Adversary Sigurd. While the most convenient past will simply start the PC in Fallersholm, it is of course possible to start from somewhere else (especially if that `else' was wiped out ;-)

For example, on Midgard most humans aren't born via sexual reproduction. When a person dies, their corpse is speared to a branch of the Yggdrasil tree and watered with blood. Very quickly a cocoon-like skin forms over the body, and after nine days a new person of random gender is born. The `son' or `daughter' is born what we would consider a teenager, and learns and grows very quickly for the first ten years (one hundred weeks). In most communities a ten year old is considered an adult. 

This has far-ranging consequences. First and foremost, the genders are equal. Women are not inconvenienced by bearing young, nor are they physically inferior to men. Don't worry, sex still exists! But it is a recreational, not procreational, sport. ;-) Second, the constant warfare only slowly depletes the population. As long as the corpses can be recovered after the major combats, everyone can eventually be reborn. In fact, humanoid corpses and blood are a valuable resource.

The major implications for a PC are on childhood and parentage. These `children' are normally assigned to `parents' to learn a trade or profession; their actual living arrangements vary according to settlement. By far the most common assignment is to famous warriors, to learn the art of combat, and thus as one's prowess grows so does one's `family'. Of course, a deviation from this pattern in a PC past could also be interesting... 

Assume nothing! Very little on this world works the way you expect! It is one huge deathtrap waiting to snare the presumptuous player and their unwary character! Tread carefully! No, don't step th- "Aaarghh!"

The Norse Gods ideally fit this campaign world, hence the name: Midgard. I am leaning toward exclusive Pantheony, i.e. only the Norse Gods exist. If as a player you would like to worship another set of gods, we can certainly work something out. But those Norse are a pretty forward lot with a weapon, and aren't very tolerant of other religions...

Furthermore, the Norse Gods may be different from what you might think:

• Odin - The Hanged God, Father of Battles. A fickle creature who grants a warrior victory or defeat at whim. Inspires berserker fury in his followers during combat. Be careful of consecrating yourself to him; One-Eye always collects.
• Thor - The Thunder God, Master of Combat. A brutal warrior who settles everything with his hammer. RedBeard is ruthless in war and a remorseless hunter of monsters.
• Loki - The Cunning God, Patron of Civilization. In this world, more than brawn is needed to survive. Speed, ingenuity, and guile are also advantages, as is associating with others. A master of resourcefulness, The Swift has given man much to aid his survival.

The gods are directly involved in the affairs of men, and interact regularly with the clergy. Even ordinary folk have a favored patron god, and often before combat warriors invoke the names of divinities.

In most interactions law and chaos are the primary source of conflict; good and evil mingle shoulder to shoulder in all walks of life. To emphasize this point, clerics are no longer aligned by good and evil; the six allowable alignments for the clergy are LG, LN, LE, and CG, CN, CE.

People tend to cluster according to their beliefs. Orders are cooperatives of law-oriented people; associations are collections of chaos-oriented people. Don't be fooled by the names. There are both rowdy orders and smoothly run associations out there.

The focus here is individuality: lawful people believe their own survival depends mainly on the well-being of the group, while chaotic people believe survival lies mainly with their own personal strength. Both philosophies have advantages and disadvantages...

For those of you who are curious, the alignment order for humans is {CG, CN, NG, CE, N, LG, NE, LN, LE}. Humans are predominantly chaotic and lean toward good, while demi-human races favor neutral alignments. Players starting from Fallersholm should feel free to choose any alignment, since the Lawful Evil adversary running the place makes it something of a rarity anyway...

Dirt is magical, dude. Here's a smattering of useful ores:

• Coral - Holds liquids
• Luminice - Gives off cold light
• Hematite - Cures damage
• Lardale - Nourishes humanoids

Metals are used to create magical weapons. In fact, this determines the relative worth of metals. Why else would people dig this stuff from the ground, anyway?

• Copper = +1 Weapon
• Silver = +2 Weapon
• Electrum = +3 Weapon
• Gold = +4 Weapon
• Platinum = +5 Weapon

Right after warfare mining is a major pursuit. Typically mining supervisors are learned Magic-Users or wise Clerics, since many ores are dangerous to handle due to their magically volatile nature...

• Spellcasting is done using runoc magic: runes scribed on surfaces using a device called a runoc. There are no spell components, and no spell books!
• Bards, Druids, and Rangers are unavailable in this world. However, Amazons, Assassins, and Barbarians are ready for their debut. On Midgard Amazons will be Valkyries: virgin warrior women aspiring to become Valkyrior.
• In most campaigns I ease players into the sessions for the first couple levels and take the "kid gloves" off the third level adventure. On Midgard I will showcase the new rules the first session and then deglove in the second. I expect either half or all of the party to die in the first level adventure. Gird yourself!
• Oh, by the way, don't even think about going upside until you are at least fifth level.

Here's a guide to help you choose a Norse sounding name. A prefix is the start of a name, and a suffix is the end; a prefux can serve as either. A `c-` or `v-` means a consonant or vowel should precede the fragment; likewise, a `-c' or `-v' means one should follow. Interesting adjacencies are character combinations distinctive to this genre of names, and singles are names which can stand alone.

The simplest way to make a name is {pre + fux}, like {Bur- + -alf} = Buralf. But you can spice things up by dropping an adjacency in there somewhere, like {Bur- + lj + -alf} = Burljalf. Longer names can be constructed in this fashion (but I think Finnskallaburljalfson is near the limit of pronounciation! ;-)

Note that suffixes are grouped according to like structured endings, but the list itself is in no particular order. Also note that most everyone has a norse-sounding name, though of course a particular race, tribe, or monster might have a distinctive flair.

Interesting adjacencies: {bj, dd, dr, ed, fj, fn, gg, gn, hj, hr, ld, lf, lj, mj, nd, nn, rd, rh, rm, rn, rr, sk, sv, thj}

Interesting adjacencies: {sa, va, id, ig, fn, fr, gj, gn, gr, hl, hr, ka, kt, ll, nd, nn, rh, sk, st, sv, ud, vj, yd, yr}

Below is another naming resource, used to give characters a Norse sounding nickname. Almost everything in the Norse world is named (weapons, items, animals, places, etc.) and a well chosen battle name can flesh out a character. Of course, a particularly humiliating nickname can, too. 8^) A base is a class of objects used to finish a portion of a template. Epithets are descriptions of the person themselves and can be several words, like "Last Man at Cutter's Gap". This list is by no means complete, and is intended mainly to get some creative juices flowing.

There is one caveat, though. On Midgard PCs should not choose {Food} related nicknames, and may want to avoid certain {Animals} and {Plants}. This will become clear once play begins... (foreshadowing)