After reaching and exceeding our goals, we are finally in a position to bring FOTN out of the underground and into the mainstream. This would take a significant amount of effort as FOTN:R has props such as play-mats, runes, etc… Thankfully I found Kickstarter! Not only would it help defer the cost, but it would validate if the market was really there. They sold quickly and the appetite from the fans grew for FOTN:R to go into print as well. Well I embarked on a personal project to get the first book into hard cover print. People were nostalgic and wanted to get the first edition once more. I didn’t realize how many players we had until the start of 2012 when e-mails from fans started pouring in about the 20th anniversary. With FOTN:R I also fast forwarded the time period to the Viking apocalypse, taking the mythology into higher fantasy.Īll of these editions were underground indie. There were no other games to draw on for inspiration. It took 4 years as this was uncharted territory. After many dead-ends, redesigns, tests, a winning formula came about in 2006. Ever since 2002, I was looking at how I could integrate runes as a core mechanic. The first edition of Fate of the Norns came out in 1993, and was followed up with a much more historical edition in 2001. How would you briefly describe the background of your Fate of the Norns – Ragnarok RPG? According to what I have seen from the game system and the adventure this is a very special RPG.Īndrew Valkauskas: Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok is the successor to Fate of the Norns. : You just released a new version of the Fate of the Norns – Ragnarok: Fafnirs Treasure quick-start rules with a gritty sandbox adventure? Some of my favourites would be Arkham Horror, Ticket to Ride, Small World and Catan.įate of the Norns: Ragnarok – Fafnirs Treasure (Helena Rosova, Pendelhaven) In the last 5-7 years my collection has grown from 2 board games to near 20. I played Stratego and Axis and Allies, but had been missing out on the Eurogame invasion. Then roughly around 2005 I discovered the world of board games.
As much as I loved the game for its ingenious design and collectible aspect, I hated it for the exodus it caused among the RPG community. I’d say Magic the Gathering consumed a lot of my gaming bandwidth in the 90’s, and it was bitter sweet. Well after a few months of testing, the players really wanted FOTN to become a table-top RPG… and the rest is history. It had some pretty extensive mechanics and vast content so I decided to test it via table top (using dice) to ensure it would hold up before committing it to code. One of the most ambitious games I was working on was a Viking based RPG called Fate of the Norns. I started like most everyone else: with AD&D, and then took the plunge into to some of the other RPGs that broke onto the scene like Warhammer Fantasy, GURPS, Palladium, Cyberpunk, etc…When the early 90’s hit, I had been impressed by some of the RPG’s that went digital (Bard’s Tale, Ultima and Might and Magic), so I created a few simple RPG games for DOS 6.2. : Hi Andrew Valkauskas, Please tell us about yourself and your gaming experiences.Īndrew Valkauskas:: I have been an avid gamer since about 1982. Before reading the interview watch the nice evocative teaser to get in the appropriate mood.
Storytelling and narration over physics … Tastes are different.Īndrew Valkauskas, the very kind and responsive author of FOTN:R, discussed with me about his fantastic and unique viking RPG. I prefer roleplaying games without imagination limiting figures on a map. Anyway! I think the miniature style is a remnant of times gone by. I know the roots of roleplaying come from tabletop wargaming. The „conflict engine“ is for me the only downside of Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok. On one side there is this truly epic setting of viking heroes and gods at the end of the world, a straightforward basic game system that uses rune stones instead of dice, enchanting and authentic art and on the other side there are these detailed miniatures combat and magic rules. Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok – Box concept (Helena Rosova, Pendelhaven)įate of the Norns: Ragnarok (FOTN:R) is one of those roleplaying games I can’t get enough at the moment.