It is currently funding on the Gamefound. (4 days left as i post this review)
My history with Thorgal
I fell I love with the Thorgal comic series as a teenager in the nineties when they occasionally ran an album (sometimes split in half over two issues) in the Norwegian edition of the Phantom comic (the Phantom was huge in Norway but that is a story for another day).
Thorgal had a blend of fantasy inspired by Norse mythology and a style of European science fiction that I had never encountered before. It blew my mind. In addition, it had strong characters, which was very different from other comics and the relationships portrayed packed some real emotional punch.
My points of comparison at the time were the Norwegian editions of Conan comics (mostly black and white stories taken form the Savage Sword of Conan) and Elfquest. Both of which I loved and still love. Thorgal however was special. It was, in one sense, just a combination of the emotional character drama of Elfquest and the action of Conan in one comic book series, but in Thorgal they became greater than the sum of the parts. Thorgal, to the teenage me, was just the perfect fantasy comic.
And I had a crush on Kriss de Valnor. (One of the first, if not the first, Thorgal stories I read was The Archers which introduces the complex character of Kriss de Valnor)
The downside was that the double issues of the Phantom running Thorgal were few and far between. In addition, the series seemed to be printed out of order, so the story was always incomplete. As I got a bit older, I found some Danish album editions at different libraries, but reading the entire series from beginning to end would take me getting a job and my own money to spend on Danish collected editions that have been releasing up until recently.
As a grown-up my views of Thorgal as totally perfect has maybe changed a bit. Mostly by being exposed to other terrific European comic series created with the same originality as Thorgal. Things are rarely perfect to disillusioned adult eyes. But playing is the antidote to disillusion and with role-playing as a hobby since before I discovered Thorgal I have played quite a bit. So, I can still honestly say that I’m a fan of Thorgal.
So, you can guess the sheer joy I felt when I came across, quite by accident, the Gamefound campaign for Thorgal the Roleplaying Game. I downloaded the Starter pdf at once, and as I was reading it I found that I wanted to write a review of this game.
The Starter pdf reviewed
The pdf starts with a short introduction to rpgs before the text goes on to frame the game in terms of who the characters are and what they will do in the game. There is also a short introduction to the Thorgal character which is fitting as the framing of the game is giving all the PC’s a similar background to the main character of the comic.
There are no character creation rules (they will be part of the full game) but there is some decent advice on playing a character in this game and the starter set comes with several pregenerated characters. The advice given places the game within a tradition of ttrpgs that highlight character immersion.
Basic rules
The basic rules of the game are presented over three pages. The system is a d20 system with a roll over a difficulty level. To the die roll you add the sum of your stat and skill. One interesting feature is that you always roll two dice. The dice are thematically and evocatively named the Destiny Die and the Luck Die. Usually you read the Destiny Die, but there is a simple mechanic called God’s Grace allowing you to read the Luck Die instead which may give you a better result. It’s bit like having an optional, but limited, advantage on every roll.
There are also rules that let modify rolls (called shifts) and abilities that allow you re-rolls. Rolling the same number on the Destiny and Luck die is also a good thing, while a one on the Destiny die is called bad luck. Perhaps counterintuitively (rolling a 1 on the Luck Die seems to have no effect). A jinx is a bad thing that can happen which will take away your opportunity to modify or re-rolls your roll.
World of Thorgal and character professions
The next three pages presents the world of Thorgal, which I won’t spoil any of here except to say that game is set in a geographic area called Northland populated by Vikings. This is a nearly historical fictional representation of Scandinavia in the 9th century (sans any Christianity).
The character types, called professions, are introduced from page 14 to page 25. All the professions are introduced with a sample character that maps onto the pregens provided. There is no personal information on the pregenerated character sheets so there is also room to make this up. The professions are as follows:
- Lagman
- Viking
- Berserker
- Archer
- Rogue
A character of any profession can have supernatural powers, but only the lagman and viking have powers in this Starter set. All characters being able to have (or possibly develop) supernatural powers in accordance with the setting as established by the comic. Avoiding that to many characters have these types of abilities may also help ensure the grounded (perhaps low fantasy) feel of the comic.
Game Master or Mistress advice
There are two pages of advice to the Game Master on Running the game following the characters. This part of the book is clearly within a traditional style of rpgs with a focus on the GM as moderator, rules referee and driving force of a campaign.
The best part of this section is the somewhat extensive and well-written description of the scope of a campaign. I think my personal advice would be to encourage the players to read this information as well, especially if they aren’t acquainted with the Thorgal comic beforehand.
Introductory scenario
A 17-page introductory scenario (including a short bestiary) rounds out the Starter set. The adventure seems quite simple with 3 stages searching for some kidnapped children. The first stage is a journey to find the children, the rescue itself takes place in stage 2 and the last stage is the return to the characters home. Here the adventure goes into what might have happened “at home” while the characters were away. The main game will provide rules on developing the characters home settlement and their relationships with the people they care about. In fact, the adventure suggests that some of the player characters are the parents of the kidnapped children in the scenario. Having a focus on interpersonal relationships are very much in keeping with the Thorgal comics.
The final part of the book is another rules section that summarizes the basic rules, but also provides a little more information on the combat rules. This will probably be better fleshed out in the main game, but it is mentioned that different weapons provide an Accuracy bonus. There are also rules specifying the effects of a crit in combat and so on.
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| The RedBurn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
I like this game. As all games built on existing media, I think being a fan of the preexisting product is always going to put you either in the “I love it!” or the “I hate it!” camp. If I try to ignore my feelings for the Thorgal comic I still think this is a solid medium-complexity trad game that promises some extra flair with settlement rules and rules for relationships/attachments.
Beyond that I love how they have handled putting the player characters into the setting. When using existing media there always a danger that some players might end up feeling like their characters are playing second fiddle to a Luke Skywalker or a Lancelot. In this game your character is on equal footing with Thorgal because your characters are basically ersatz Thorgals. Thorgal does not even have to exist in your game. This works especially well with the game’s focus on PC relationships and the home settlements of the characters in addition to going on adventures.
I’m exited to see the full game, and I would love to take players into the curious and intoxicating mix of history, mythology and science fantasy that is the world of Thorgal. It is a world of grand adventure, but never detached from human relationships – family, friendship, and rivalry in a world where your destiny, or perhaps not having a destiny, looms large.
Disclaimer: I have no attachment to the publisher Dark Rabbit or any of the people involved with the game. I downloaded the freely available Starter pdf with is available from the Gamefound campaign page. My primary motivation for writing this review is that I’m a fan of both the Thorgal comic series (as you might have gathered from my longish gushing above) and tabletop role-playing games.
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