In the savage north lies a realm where only those who slay mighty draconic linnorms are fit to rule. Where giants and trolls dwell just beyond the veneer of civilization, lying in wait to attack any who tread too far into the wild. Where the magical influence of the First World of the fey hides just beyond a thin layer of reality. Where barbarians, berserkers, and raiders constitute civilization, and the weak serve the strong. These are the fabled, savage, and noble Lands of the Linnorm Kings.
Lands of the Linnorm Kings presents a comprehensive overview of these mighty kingdoms, a realm of powerful viking kings, capricious fey, and savage beasts.
Inside this book, you will find:
A complete overview of the seven realms of the Linnorm Kingdoms, from the traditional raiders of Broken Bay to the sinister fey of Grungir Forest and the war-torn borderland of Hagreach, complete with histories, notes on current events and society, and a gazetteer of each region.
Detailed maps of seven of the most important cities of the Linnorm Kingdoms, from the streets of White Estrid’s Halgrim to the sprawl of Kalsgard, the region’s capital.
Numerous adventure sites and events where hopeful adventurers can prove their worth.
Rules for building reputation among the vikings of the land, using weregild to avoid blood feuds, and designing effigies and punishments capable of putting fear into the hearts of your enemies.
A bestiary of new monsters and NPCs from the land, such as the legendary linnorm Fafnheir and the fey animal template or iconic Ulfen raiders and berserker cannibals.
Lands of the Linnorm Kings is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.
Written by Matthew Goodall, Jonathan Keith, Colin McComb, and Rob McCreary
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-365-1
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
This setting is perfect for the Dungeon Master who likes to slip in historical fact into his fantasy. For everyone else, who doesn't love Vikings? Check out my full review: Lands of the Linnorm Kings.
Nice book with a great viking style flavor, with some detail on cultures, varius towns, dangerous locations, special payment for death and maiming, and much more. There some fun mosters in here such as Fafneir, the Huldra, Fey animal template and Mountain trolls to name my favorites. If you like viking style settings then this is a book you will want to add to your collection.
The ‘Northern Thing’ has been around for a long, long time in fantasy and fantasy fiction, and Lands of the Linnorm Kings is Paizo’s stab at it. Like the rest of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting books, it is 64 full color pages long, with magnificent cover and inside back cover art, as well as a well done map inside the front cover that shows the location of every place mentioned in the book as well as a few more.
The first and biggest chapter, the Linnorm Kingdoms, is a brief yet information-packed guide to the nation proper. After a three page timeline, you get the various kingdoms. There are five of them, each with its own individual character like Hagreach’s border war with Irrisen and its witchery, trolls, and monsters, or the Ironbound Isles and their desire to reach out to the larger world. The kingdoms all get four pages of coverage, going into their rulers, local culture, and settlements. You also get sections covering the fey and monster-haunted Grungir Forest, complete with a city of talking beasts, and Icemark, home to reindeer-herding nomads.
Next is the Proving Grounds chapter, covering several adventurous locales and adventure ideas for the setting, ranging from the classic “Slay a Linnorm (Norse dragon) and become king” to exploring local dungeons and haunted areas like the rusalka-haunted Black Tarn and Kalva and its savage cannibals. Be warned, a few of the monsters are found in Pathfinder Bestiary 3, so you may want to get that to use this, though it’s not completely necessary.
Third is a chapter on how adventuring in the Linnorm Lands differs from other locales in the larger setting, and it is easily far and away the most unique part of the book. There are well-done rules covering the gaining and losing of reputation, something more valuable than gold among these people. There is a section covering effigies, basically a kind of ritual involving somewhat brutal sacrifices and preparation in exchange for putting very potent curses upon enemies. This is everything from the nithing-pole to the blood eagle to the wicker man. Next comes a section on weregild and ransom, and lastly are some well-chosen unique treasures for your players. The whole book is wonderful, a great source of ideas, but this is the best section from the ‘make it different but keep it simple to use’ viewpoint. I’ve used and read several Viking-based RPG sourcebooks over the years but few have used such basic yet utterly Norse-feeling ideas as this.
Lastly we get an extensive bestiary that includes both monstrous and human foes. You get the classic raider, cannibal berserkers, and monsters such as fey animals, the Scandinavian huldra, the truly horrid mindslaver mold, and Fafnheir. The latter especially is one of THE nastiest monsters ever to show up in a Pathfinder book.
In conclusion, this is far and away one of the best “Viking” books ever done in RPG form. The setting and feel of it is very Norse and it’s done in a way that’s easy to use. If you want something different in feel from the typical European fantasy setting that’s still somewhat familiar, or just want to see how to handle things like PCs developing reputations, get this book. It’s more than worth the money.
I agree with the other reviewers. This is an excellent product. If you're interested in Vikings or in a campaign in Northern Golarion then his book is for you. It has little rules content so its usable for systems other than Pathfinder.
Yet another excellent book from Paizo. In it you have everything you could ever need to run a Viking (or ESV:Skyrim) themed game.
Inside cover has a close up picture, and unlike other Pathfinder setting books everything on the map is covered in the book.
Chapter 1: The Linnorm Kingdoms
Detail history of the Linnorm Kingdoms, followed by four page(Very familiar to those who have the Inner Sea World Guide) write ups of each of the regions. They are all very different despite their Norse influences. I particularly love the Fey of Grungir Forest the Varki human ethnicity the closet thing we get to a Half-Orc homeland in Averaka.
Chapter 2: The Proving Grounds
A variety of story seeds and location of interest to adventurers. The Lair of Fafnheir would make a great high level location while I love the icy fortress of Zar Kragnaral and it's beautiful Frost Giant ruler "The Deathless Jarl".
Chapter 3: Adventuring in the Linnorm Kingdoms
Four things here: Reputation, a system that is interesting. Effigies, which strike terror and curse to those who come near. Really cool, I could see a lot of Big Bads using them around their lairs, especially the Tree of Souls. Wiergild and Ransom, detailing the practice of raiding for captives and them selling them back. We finish off with a couple of magical artifacts.
Chapter 4: Linnorm Kingdoms Bestiary
I really like that they gave use NPCs like "Blackraven Scout" or "Longship Captain". Those will be really helpful to GMs. The real treat here is CR 24 Fafnheir, King of the Linnorms!
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Just out of curiosity, if Fafnheir's name considered Open Game Content? I know the dragon Fafnir is mythological, and so can't be protected content, but the spelling here seems to be unique to this book, and between that and the prohibition that specific character names are Product Identity, I'm curious where "Fafnheir" falls.
Just out of curiosity, if Fafnheir's name considered Open Game Content? I know the dragon Fafnir is mythological, and so can't be protected content, but the spelling here seems to be unique to this book, and between that and the prohibition that specific character names are Product Identity, I'm curious where "Fafnheir" falls.
Fafnheir's name is deliberately similar to the mythological name you mention... but we changed the spelling PRECISELY to protect it as product identity. It is not open content as a result.
are there any set modules out for this setting yet?
I have a northlands setting and having some pre-written modules would be great as I dont always have the time to write my own.
There's Curse of the Riven Sky as well. Although in my opinion the plot in that is generic enough that it could take place almost anywhere in Golarion.
Creative Director
