The Grim North Returns

Not a great plan

 

Like seriously, for real this time. I did run an online con game set in the Grim North a couple of years ago but essentially now is the time to bring it back as a campaign. Something I feel excited about. Time is against me. Not just me, I realise, but I don’t have a lot of time to prep and play games. The Grim North is probably the easiest thing for me to get to the table because it exists entirely in my mind. There is no referencing of source books or whatever. I have notes and random tables and so forth but any lore comes from me. I don’t have to concern myself with adherence to any particular aesthetic for the setting. When I run the Old World or even Legend I have considerations about whether my additions are consistent with the fictional coherence of those worlds. Not so with the Grim North. This is the great advantage of crafting your own setting. When I was trying to decide what to run after WFRP ended abruptly, I was sat in the garden and surprisingly for a summers evening (even in England,) there was a chill on the wind. It felt like the Grim North was calling me home. Of course it helps that I have been quietly tinkering away on the material in the background of whatever else I was playing or running at the time. So, while I sometimes feel the need to try out new systems and settings I always seem to return to the one that I devised to run over hangouts in the G plus days. It was intended for drop in/ drop out, open world play in a giant fantasy city. It uses old school D&D rules for ease but could really run with anything if I set my mind to it. There are no overarching narratives, it supports emergent storytelling. The stories we tell of our adventures in the Grim North are crafted after the events. Characters explore and interact with the setting, it’s an old school method. Because it springs directly from my imagination it’s dark and whimsical, and it hates pretension. It’s the campaign in the old sense. The story isn’t about player characters necessarily, they are often fragile but their actions can permanently alter the setting. Alvis of the Jug might be dead, poisoned by White Spider venom in the Grimwood, but the Alleyway Brotherhood are still on the warpath after he stole Gary’s Nan’s recipe for scones. The time is right. It’s dark and smoky in the Secret Shack of Mercenaries, Sellspears and Blades for Hire, outside it’s snowing (moderately) and the Grim North awaits…