An extract from the first page of the book: “If tabletop roleplaying games are not familiar territory, this is a great game to start with. It is easy to learn and is filled with examples. For those who have played RPGs before, but have not acted as the GM, The North Sea Epilogues is a perfect way to learn the craft”. No and no.

Here’s why: To start the ball rolling the players, and presumably the GM, nut out the players’ clan. The book offers a short series of questions that will , very loosely, define the clan. As this review continues, you will notice that questions are this game’s schtick. We are told the clan will be small with little influence—something which will be contradicted in the coming campaign. New players may struggle here. Next there’s a single page on viking life. A new player may need to Google but since this is a world loosely based in the realm of history we need more.

Hero creation is another series of questions backed with some light crunch making up the game statistics. More questions for that new group. The player also chooses a path which calls for yet more questions, grants some equipment but ultimately provides a mechanical bonus if relevant to the action at hand.

Following a brief but good (for me but probably not for a fresh player or GM) overview of the game’s flow comes the GM’s chapter and here is where we can say goodbye to the notion that this is a game for new players and game masters. To perform an action, also referred to overcoming (which is fine), the player throws a die and the GM references a chart giving the difficulty level which includes a range of numbers which are not named. If the die plus modifiers equals or exceeds the mystery range of numbers a success is achieved, the more difficulty levels exceed result in a more beneficial outcome. This is also referred to as the number of successes achieved.

The next number is the “Target Number”; that unnamed range of numbers that must be met or exceeded by the die roll isn’t the target number. Strange. Broadly, the target number is the number of times a successful die roll is required to succeed. A better term is required for this target number.

For the new GM, there’s no assistance given to determine which of the numbers in the difficulty level range should be used for determining the target number required by the die roll, no, I mean success level, no I mean, darnit, I don’t know what those numbers are called. Further, there’s almost no guidance on the subject of those target numbers which are key to determining the outcome of every action with the exception of general actions which only require one success, after that the new GM is on their own. Additionally, the GM is advised to consider the attributes and skills of the character when settling on a difficulty level. No. A task is as difficult as it is; that task is made easier with suitable mitigation which is, or should be, considered after the difficulty level is set.

Scenarios and campaigns. I’m resisting the urge to apply quotation marks to these to nouns. A new GM will have no idea what to do with these things which make up the bulk of the book. Each is comprised of a long list of questions the novice GM must answer. That new GM will surely flounder. Essentially, a very brief opening event kicks off the adventure then stalls as that novice GM actually writes the adventure. What happens in the middle? What happens at the end? The GM answers the questions as best he or she can making a stab at the author’s intent.

In one scenario a huge rock, with a mysterious rune, appears on the edge of the clan’s land. Even the author doesn’t know why it’s there or what it represents. Instead, the GM must decide. I should point out that gods and magic do not exist in this setting so the poor struggling GM has to come up with a viable mundane reason, or perhaps wisely, not present a clear outcome. When I first started out in the hobby I read the Homes Basic D&D book and whilst excited to play, I didn’t understand it at all…until that is, I read the included adventure. Make of that what you will.

Not a scenario or campaign in any kind of traditional sense and certainly a minefield for those whom have never played or taken the role of game master.

Here’s a few other thoughts: The writing is, at times, clunky. I stumbled across some instances where a number appears in the text where a word is required, for example, “A huge man appears before you, the biggest 1 you have ever seen”. From an editorial view this is rubbish. Also, the text makes little or no distinction between the player and character resulting in many instances where the character, rather than player, is called upon to roll a die. No.

More clunky: In an attempt to remain gender neutral, players and characters are referred to as “they”. In so many cases it just doesn’t read right. There are many alternatives, the obvious being, “the character” and, “the player”.

On a personal note, the start of the book asks the gamers to respect the feelings of one another, to the point of suggesting a safe word to indicating an impending trigger…I don’t think you need a role-playing game to tell adults and children alike to be nice to each other. In summary, this game needs a good serving of background material; the writing sometimes (not often) needs an edit, not just for spelling but for context and readability. The rules, which are interesting are also opaque, more work is required; more detailed examples needed. Without a structured scenario, new players have no where to go. At least one traditional adventure should have been included. A series of questions do not an adventure make.

I don’t dislike the game, it’s a 2.5 to 3-star effort that could have been so much more. However, for my tastes I probably should have purchased the PDF before ordering a hard copy.

I don’t own any of their boardgames nor did I back this RPG on KS (alas). Rather I brought this from RPGNow based on the expected great artwork (expectations met) and pre-gen character sheets (that you can download from the games KS page – the 27th Sep update) that left me wanting to know more. In an initial flip through I wasn’t sure if this game was for me but now that I have read the rules properly (1st pass) I quite like what I see. Mind I have not read the campaign and only skimed through one adventure at this stage.

We are told it is a narrative game but given it uses a d20 I thought it would be closer to the RPGs I am used to (D&D, AD&D, 3e, 4E, 5E, and Starfinder). It is indeed a narrative game but one that I think I would enjoy playing. The rules (including a page of typical male/female Viking Names) is less than forty pages. The rest of the book is a campaign and 16 adventure modules! If each module takes one (two to four hour) session I think I got my monies worth. Oh, and when it says it’s not the final print version, it looks pretty complete to me.

It starts with one page on introducing RPGs and this games game flow. Next two page sets the scene – briefly introducing the Viking world. One page covers questions the GM/Players should answer to create their clan. The next ten pages cover Hero creation. Players assign points to the four attributes (Mind, Will, Body, and Combat), assign points to the twenty skills (five per attribute), pick a Quality from a suggested list of eleven (reduce Difficulty Level (DL) of relevant challenges), write some traits/flaws (be creative), choose one specialised skill (grants advantage to skill roll), and choose one of ten Viking Themed paths (e.g. The Skald). Each path has a one paragraph description of the path (what they typically do), something particular (special) to the path, the starting gear for that path, and a list of questions to help flesh out the character.

An example scenario can be downloaded (again from the KS page) which gives a good overview of what a GM needs to do when writing an adventure, provide: a summary, an opening, a description of the setting the heroes are in, list some questions for the heroes, another list of likely scenes, a series of challenges, a list of complications, some hooks, and some paragraphs describing “Other Considerations”. Now if you look at an example character sheet it has the Game Flow depicted on it: the GM presents the situation, the player states their Goal and their Approach, the GM sets the DL and Target Number (described later), adjustments are made (traits, situation, etc.), the player rolls a d20 and the outcome is determined. All of this, adventure creation, setting challenges, and game flow are described very well in only a few pages. These days I like games that are brief and NSE nails it.

I was reminded of Apocalypse World (which I have not played) in that rather than Pass/Fail, there are degrees of success/failure. The GM summarises the result but (the part I like) it is the player who describes exactly what happens. A challenge may be a simple one roll affair, but complicated tasks may take several rolls. This is where the Target Number comes in. TN three means three successes are required (but a player may gain three successes in single roll if they roll high enough). If they roll badly they take Strain (which again the player describes the form of strain) and once enough strain is accumulated an injury results (making skill checks with the related stat harder, or even impossible).

So whilst a d20 is used, this is not D&D. There are no turns, grids, movement speed, hit points, magic or monsters (no kick down the door so you can then kill them and take their stuff). Foes in this game are challenges with DLs and TNs assigned by the GM. Other additional stuff are some rules on reputation (heroes’ and clans’), economy and gear (equipment, plunder, expenses). All these are briefly described over half a dozen pages (some might say slightly hand wavy, but that would be a harsh statement). For this sort of game you don’t need anything more. The rules get the job done and do it well.

I am used to playing “save the world” epic campaigns so I am not sure how I would go about coming up with my own adventures initially, but with a campaign and sixteen adventures in the book I have plenty to feed my imagination. Initially I wasn’t sure if I had spent wisely adding this game to my vast collection, but after reading the rules I am pretty sure it was money well spent. If it does see the table it will be a nice change of pace from our usual affair. Finally, the game fits the theme very well Vikings, longships, and reputations but there would be no reason you couldn’t take the rules and use in another setting. The rules are simple enough you could add/take as you see fit. If you think a narrative game that uses the fickle d20 is up you alley, I think you could do much worse. I will give it an unplayed five stars. It is one of very few narrative games I think could work at our old school table.