Can You Judge a book by its cover: A Fate of The Norns Review

Although I might sound like I never play RPG, as a gamer, I pretty much try everything that sounds fun...And it just happens that Fate of the Norns new Core Rules just arrived in stores...and boy does that game sound fun!

So I decided to treat myself and buy the nice book that Fate of the Norns Core Rulebook is.

Can you judge a book by its cover?

1.ART

The first thing that struck me and probably will anybody who has a look or buys the book: Art. Helena Rosova has done a superb job and her art is on almost every page of the book.

I love her style! It looks good in black and white...

And is amazing in color!

So Art I would give a 5/5. A fair warning: If you don't like Helena's art, then consider this rating as a 0/5 because Andrew decided to use only her art in this book.
I personally think it is a wise choice as the book is more coherent and feel more immersive. (Richard Kane Ferguson, while having amazing pieces too has a very different art style from Helena's)

2.SETTING

I knew names when it came to Viking mythology but most of my knowledge has been lost to time...When I opened Fate of the Norns and started to read about Rime Jotuns (Frost Giants), the Aesirs (Gods like Odin, Thor, etc..) Yggdrasil (The Universe-Tree) I couldn't stop but think of the 'Hollywood Thor movie' that came out in 2011and how bad it was compared to the real thing.

Well, let's put it this way: in Fate of the Norns, Loki, the Fire Giants and Frost Giants 'might' actually be the good guys...The Vikings worship gods who make a mess of other worlds, deceive other races and are real pricks to almost everybody.
And it is because of these careless gods that Midgard(Earth) is now thrown into Ragnarok No more sun, no more moons and eternal winter, it is as close the apocalypse as you can get.

Isn't this the perfect setting? The quest options are endless! You can go as low as having your Vikings survive everyday life in a Ragnarok'd world, as fight some Eastern Crusaders from England trying to bring their White God to Islandia as you can aim for truly epic and have your Vikings try to break into Hvergelmir (The realm of serpents) to stop Nidhogg the Dragon from gnawing the Universal tree's roots (trying to save the whole universe kind of thing).

If you take into account the fact that most of the stories and setting is illustrated by the amazing art I mentioned before, it is little surprising that 30 minutes in my reading of the book, I was already dreaming of epic sagas. I hate giving high ratings because I always believe there's place for improvements but I can't see myself giving less than a 4.5/5 for the setting as this part of the book is doing perfectly its job!

3.GAME SYSTEM

Okay, fluff/setting and artworks make for great graphic novels and books but we bought this book expecting a Role-Playing Game, how is the system?

Imagine the setting, roleplay aspect and rules as three different elements. Well that's your regular roleplaying game. In Fate of the Norns, it feels as if all three elements have been tightly weaved into this unique RPG. Ie: for Vikings, a glorious death in battle was the best death...Well in Fate of the Norns, your character will probably die at some point!!! But don't despair: there's a chance a Valkyrie might grab his soul and bring him to Valhalla...your next character is then somehow related to your previous one and can call him for help from beyond (or unlock special powers, etc...). Isn't this cool??
There's a ton of things allowing you to use the setting for real game effects (ie: trying to call a god for help...or not as this could backfire if you anger him!).
I really liked this, the fact that role-playing and setting had been deeply taken into account while writing the rules and the rules are not just an excuse for an RPG.

What about this 'Runic System'??

Yes, what about us runes?!?

 This is the real thing. You remember these fights that were ''I attack with my bow, rolled a 12, I hit. 3 points of damage. Next''? Well not going to happen in Fate of the Norns...Every fight your character has a ton of options, reactions, abilities, etc.. available to him.
Every rune is linked to an Active Power (like a spell or special attack), a Passive (like an enchantment) and a Skill, so every runes gives you 3 options in addition to generic options like walking, attacking, etc...
A mid-level character can expect to have 3-4 runes available every turns.
Whew! That's a lot of options...
But far from being the end: ie: add to that the fact that Active Powers can be 'modified' by adding more runes to amplify their effects or modify the spells, the fact that you can play multiple actions and only now you can have a very slim idea of the infinite possibilities the Runic Game System brings.

I might make it seem complicated but the truth is this: it is super easy to learn and have a grasp...just that there's always more possibilities and stuff to discover. You can really sense the ''Easy to learn, long to master'' philosophy Andrew had when he designed the Runic Game System. (I Think I read that on this nice blog: Interview with Andrew, Obskures.de)

I hope you kept all these old Mage Knight minis... ;)

In a nutshell: Designing a character is easy and the game seems very well balanced despite all the combos that can run around. (Yes, I've played a game...and I played it with a guy that can break any game he touches, he found a way to do crazy stuff but he did notice that spells that could have allowed effects outside of their proper use have been nicely designed in order to avoid any kind of abuse.)

Finally combat. This is where I'll drop the rating for the system: it might surprise you coming from a miniature gamer, but I actually prefer avoiding using miniatures in RPGs and that includes during fighting. I'm sure you can role-play the fights but I have a feeling you wouldn't get 100% of the tactical options and combolicious madness this game has to offer if you are not using a mat and miniatures.
Fighting was exciting, enemies can level so if you encounter a human warrior at lvl 8, encountering a 'human warrior' at lvl 19 will still be a major threat.

My Rating for the system would be a good 4.5/5, the system's main flaw is that it is so unconventional it is hard to explain without the person seeing it. The second main flaw would be the miniature use required for the full experience. This is a system powergamers will love but nowadays no system is powergamer-proof.
Other than these two flaws, it is a very nice system that makes every fight unique and allows for a really cool 'Denizens' (enemies of the players and NPC) to be created.
4.5 -1(for miniature use) = 3.5 (or 4.5 if you like miniatures in your RPGs)

TOTAL RATING of Fate of The Norns Ragnarok Core Rules: 13/15

(depending if you like the Art, the use of miniatures, etc..)


As I said, I hate giving high grades because I feel there can always be improvements...Well in this case, Fate of the Norns as rightly earned each and every one of these points.You CAN Judge a book by its cover: it is an amazing book which represents very well the well-thought and fun game system that is very likely to replace your other RPG game in your group.(In other words: ''Definitely one of the best RPG out there!'')

See ya in Valhalla!

guru