Solo RPG From Midgard to Eternity borrows from God of War and Banner Saga in showing the end of a Viking life

Vikings don’t normally live into old age, as raiding, battle, feats worthy of songs and grappling with mythical creatures tend to cut them down in glorious fashion and send them straight to Valhalla. So, what happens to a Viking that outlives their own sagas? That’s what new solo RPG From Midgard to Eternity is all about.

Designer duo Armanda and Hipólita delve into what it means to seek death and how you can create meaning for your life by embracing the final chapter. Crowdfunding as part of Zine Month 2024, From Midgard to Eternity is a 32-page booklet that contains all of the rules one player will need to create their Norse figure and begin charting the course of their storied life as it wends towards Destined Death.

Everyone bears tags that represent their physical, mental and spiritual strengths, along with situational or goal-based trails and their devotion to the gods. Characters will gain and lose tags throughout play, representing changes, growth and influences. As an example from the demo, the player-character is challenged to a duel by Snorri, whose tags are Stern, Haunted by Nightmares, Protecting His Treasure - all of which come from different categories. Taking advantage of - or exploiting - these tags are key to surviving encounters.

Tags have inherent strengths or weaknesses in a class paper-scissors-rock fashion, and players may evoke or cross out their own tags to nullify their opponent’s advantages. You’ll want to do this so that the eventual die roll lands well under your Destined Death rating. One day, all that adventuring will catch up to you, but you’re determined to go down cursing, spitting and swinging your axe.

Players will only need a pair of ten-sided dice (or one golf-ball shaped d100) to roll as their character moves between the Nine Realms or encounter other heroes, beasts of legends or the gods themselves. All characters start with an Age rating - representing years on earth - that will gradually tick up to their Destined Death. Failures, grevious wounds, trauma and curses will lower this number, and their trevails will close the distance between their age and when the Nornir tie off the yarn of their tapestry.

From Midgard to Eternity, which is crowdfunding on Crowdfundr, also has rules for managing resources and quests and maps for areas in each of the Nine Realms so that return trips still feel fresh. Cover art was illustrated by Amanda Lee Franck, and cover art comes from Vapordruid. Plus One Exp will publish and fulfil the zine, which hopes to ship physical copies starting in September. A digital version is also available and should be ready for delivery to backers later this year.