The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First let me state that I am a big fan of the Ars Magica system and setting. I started playing with the 3rd edition rules and our group managed to recreate the suggested troupe-style play for quite some time (i.e. we took turns as Storyguides and everyone managed a certain aspect of the overall saga). As the Storyguide I introduced a Scandinavian hedge wizard, a troll and some elves into the saga. Consequently I was excited when I saw this sourcebook on Mythic Scandinavia and purchased it quickly.

Layout and Style

The layout of the book is simple and clear, with enough white space to make the reading enjoyable, but not so much that the space seems wasted. Left and right page margins always contain the same two illustrations, but other pictures and text inserts regularly intrude into these margins, keeping them from becoming boring. The interior black and white illustrations range from average to good quality (one every three to four pages on average).

Reading begins with an ugly surprise, because the introduction ends in mid-word (yes not sentence but word). The rest of the page was obviously lost somewhere. Luckily this bad first impression does not hold true for the rest of the book - I found few if any similar errors or typos. Proof reading seems to have been thorough, except for the mentioned mistake. The book's prose is clear and simple, making it easy to read, but sometimes perhaps just a little bit dry. Still better that than a clutter of bad "flavour texts" in my opinion.

It was a pleasure to see a bibliography, glossary and index at the end of the book. All of these should be a must-have in all RPG sourcebooks, which sadly is not always the case.

Content

For those who do not know the Ars Magica background, the games setting is a magic and mythology enriched version of 13th century Europe, so-called "Mythic Europe". While it strives to include historical relevant events and as much real-world info as possible, it does not pretend to be historically accurate. Ultima Thule promises to provide information on Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Greenland and "delves into Mythic Scandinavia's culture, rulers, customs, mythology, deities, and their often violent interactions with other Mythic Europeans." It manages to fulfil these promises very well, but let us look at its content in detail.

In addition to the introduction (Chapter 1) the book contains chapters named Mythic Scandinavia (2), Norse Society and Culture (3), Character Creation (4), Norse Magic (5), Runes & and their Power (6), Other Magic Systems (7), Norse Bestiary (8) and Adventure Seeds (9).

Chapter 2 gives an overview of the lands that make up Mythic Scandinavia and those areas that have a strong connection it. Therefore it not only covers the traditional Scandinavian countries but also Greenland, England, Scotland, Ireland, several islands, Finland, Normandy, the Baltic lands and Russia. While most of these are very short, the core countries receive longer treatment including short histories and lists of the countries' rulers. A longer text insert gives a general Norse timeline. Chapter 2 also covers the realms of Norse mythology (Asgard, Jotunheim, etc.). Overall the entries in the chapter are very short, but informative. Of course they can not give more than a quick intro and further reading is certainly required, if somebody wants to set a complete saga in one of the countries.

The chapter on Norse society and culture is the heart of Ultima Thule (34 of 143 pages) and also one of the best parts of the book. Topics like social class, personal virtue, daily life and religion get an interesting and informative treatment. As far as I can tell everything is very thoroughly researched. Of course a RPG supplement has to generalise and can not reach the depth of a history text, but the chapter provides an excellent background on which to base your characters and adventures. The integration of Christianity is especially noteworthy, historical accuracy combined with the unique flavour of the Nordic mythology makes for a conflict rich setting.

Chapter 3 covers the necessary Character Creation info for Ars Magica. It contains character types, new virtues and flaws and some sample characters. Nothing out of the ordinary, but everything is well thought out and presented. The examples are nicely integrated into a specifically Nordic setting.

Of course the meat and bones of Ars Magica is its magic system. Its hermetic background and greek-roman heritage (the basic magic system from the rule book) does not fit the Scandinavian setting of Ultima Thule of course, so three new magic systems are provided in Chapter 5 through 7. The main one is based on the power of the Nordic runes (the Futhark alphabet) used by the "vitki" (basically the priests of the old religion). Chapter 5 gives an elaborate system for using the runes and combining them in different ways to increase their effectiveness. The individual runes and their associated powers and effects are described in chapter 6. Overall the rules leave the runes' possible uses very open and rely very much on the imagination of both players and storyguides to make the system work. This is true to the overall style of magic in Ars Magica, a few more examples for rune effects (especially combined runes) would have been useful however. Chapter 7 introduces Finnish wind magic (also usable for characters) and Dwarven magic (for NPCs only). Both of these are even more open than the rune magic. One page at the end of this chapter discusses special aspects of hermetic magic in Mythic Scandinavia (High up north sun duration spells can become very powerful indeed!). All three magic systems manage to convey a distinctly "Nordic" feeling. How well they integrate into the Ars Magica game balance is a thing only extensive play testing can reveal. My personal favourite is Finnish wind magic. Although treated very shortly it seemed to convey a very "alien" and mysterious aura for me.

As its name implies the next chapter - Norse Bestiary - presents a collection of critters from Norse mythology, like elves (alfar), a variety of giants, trolls, etc. Luckily general descriptions and background dominate over game statistics. If needed, the given creatures provide an adequate supply of supernatural enemies, neutrals and allies.

Adventures ideas are always something I look forward to in RPG sourcebooks. Most contain a section dedicated to those and Ultima Thule is no exception. But also most of these sections are fairly short and again this book holds true to industry standards. Chapter 9 is only 5 pages long and contains 5 separate story seeds. The ideas are nice but are nothing more than that: ideas. There is still a lot of work to do for a saga set in Mythic Scandinavia.

Ultima Thule is rounded out by two appendices (a table with the Futhark runes and a description of Ragnarok) a glossary, a bibliography, an index and a informative if not very stylish map of Scandinavia.

Overall Ultima Thule's content made an excellent impression on me. It is well-thought out, obviously well-researched, clearly written and provides an excellent resource for campaigns set in historical, quasi-historical or even fantasy version of the European north. While it contains quite a lot Ars Magica specific material it will also be very useful for campaigns set in a different background. It is much better than the old AD&D Vikings sourcebook (which does not say much). I can not compare it to Runequest Vikings though, because I never managed to lay my hand on that one. Congratulations to Paul Williams and Atlas Games for a highlight in the Ars Magica series!

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Ultima Thule: Mythic Scandinavia
Author: Paul Williams Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Line: Ars Magica (4th edition) Cost: $20.95 Page count: 143 ISBN: 1-887801-75-8 Capsule Review by Ralf Schemmann on 05/27/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	First let me state that I am a big fan of the Ars Magica system and setting. I started playing with the 3rd edition rules and our group managed to recreate the suggested troupe-style play for quite some time (i.e. we took turns as Storyguides and everyone managed a certain aspect of the overall saga). As the Storyguide I introduced a Scandinavian hedge wizard, a troll and some elves into the saga. Consequently I was excited when I saw this sourcebook on Mythic Scandinavia and purchased it quickly. Layout and Style The layout of the book is simple and clear, with enough white space to make the reading enjoyable, but not so much that the space seems wasted. Left and right page margins always contain the same two illustrations, but other pictures and text inserts regularly intrude into these margins, keeping them from becoming boring. The interior black and white illustrations range from average to good quality (one every three to four pages on average). Reading begins with an ugly surprise, because the introduction ends in mid-word (yes not sentence but word). The rest of the page was obviously lost somewhere. Luckily this bad first impression does not hold true for the rest of the book - I found few if any similar errors or typos. Proof reading seems to have been thorough, except for the mentioned mistake. The book's prose is clear and simple, making it easy to read, but sometimes perhaps just a little bit dry. Still better that than a clutter of bad "flavour texts" in my opinion. It was a pleasure to see a bibliography, glossary and index at the end of the book. All of these should be a must-have in all RPG sourcebooks, which sadly is not always the case. Content For those who do not know the Ars Magica background, the games setting is a magic and mythology enriched version of 13th century Europe, so-called "Mythic Europe". While it strives to include historical relevant events and as much real-world info as possible, it does not pretend to be historically accurate. Ultima Thule promises to provide information on Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Greenland and "delves into Mythic Scandinavia's culture, rulers, customs, mythology, deities, and their often violent interactions with other Mythic Europeans." It manages to fulfil these promises very well, but let us look at its content in detail. In addition to the introduction (Chapter 1) the book contains chapters named Mythic Scandinavia (2), Norse Society and Culture (3), Character Creation (4), Norse Magic (5), Runes & and their Power (6), Other Magic Systems (7), Norse Bestiary (8) and Adventure Seeds (9). Chapter 2 gives an overview of the lands that make up Mythic Scandinavia and those areas that have a strong connection it. Therefore it not only covers the traditional Scandinavian countries but also Greenland, England, Scotland, Ireland, several islands, Finland, Normandy, the Baltic lands and Russia. While most of these are very short, the core countries receive longer treatment including short histories and lists of the countries' rulers. A longer text insert gives a general Norse timeline. Chapter 2 also covers the realms of Norse mythology (Asgard, Jotunheim, etc.). Overall the entries in the chapter are very short, but informative. Of course they can not give more than a quick intro and further reading is certainly required, if somebody wants to set a complete saga in one of the countries. The chapter on Norse society and culture is the heart of Ultima Thule (34 of 143 pages) and also one of the best parts of the book. Topics like social class, personal virtue, daily life and religion get an interesting and informative treatment. As far as I can tell everything is very thoroughly researched. Of course a RPG supplement has to generalise and can not reach the depth of a history text, but the chapter provides an excellent background on which to base your characters and adventures. The integration of Christianity is especially noteworthy, historical accuracy combined with the unique flavour of the Nordic mythology makes for a conflict rich setting. Chapter 3 covers the necessary Character Creation info for Ars Magica. It contains character types, new virtues and flaws and some sample characters. Nothing out of the ordinary, but everything is well thought out and presented. The examples are nicely integrated into a specifically Nordic setting. Of course the meat and bones of Ars Magica is its magic system. Its hermetic background and greek-roman heritage (the basic magic system from the rule book) does not fit the Scandinavian setting of Ultima Thule of course, so three new magic systems are provided in Chapter 5 through 7. The main one is based on the power of the Nordic runes (the Futhark alphabet) used by the "vitki" (basically the priests of the old religion). Chapter 5 gives an elaborate system for using the runes and combining them in different ways to increase their effectiveness. The individual runes and their associated powers and effects are described in chapter 6. Overall the rules leave the runes' possible uses very open and rely very much on the imagination of both players and storyguides to make the system work. This is true to the overall style of magic in Ars Magica, a few more examples for rune effects (especially combined runes) would have been useful however. Chapter 7 introduces Finnish wind magic (also usable for characters) and Dwarven magic (for NPCs only). Both of these are even more open than the rune magic. One page at the end of this chapter discusses special aspects of hermetic magic in Mythic Scandinavia (High up north sun duration spells can become very powerful indeed!). All three magic systems manage to convey a distinctly "Nordic" feeling. How well they integrate into the Ars Magica game balance is a thing only extensive play testing can reveal. My personal favourite is Finnish wind magic. Although treated very shortly it seemed to convey a very "alien" and mysterious aura for me. As its name implies the next chapter - Norse Bestiary - presents a collection of critters from Norse mythology, like elves (alfar), a variety of giants, trolls, etc. Luckily general descriptions and background dominate over game statistics. If needed, the given creatures provide an adequate supply of supernatural enemies, neutrals and allies. Adventures ideas are always something I look forward to in RPG sourcebooks. Most contain a section dedicated to those and Ultima Thule is no exception. But also most of these sections are fairly short and again this book holds true to industry standards. Chapter 9 is only 5 pages long and contains 5 separate story seeds. The ideas are nice but are nothing more than that: ideas. There is still a lot of work to do for a saga set in Mythic Scandinavia. Ultima Thule is rounded out by two appendices (a table with the Futhark runes and a description of Ragnarok) a glossary, a bibliography, an index and a informative if not very stylish map of Scandinavia. Overall Ultima Thule's content made an excellent impression on me. It is well-thought out, obviously well-researched, clearly written and provides an excellent resource for campaigns set in historical, quasi-historical or even fantasy version of the European north. While it contains quite a lot Ars Magica specific material it will also be very useful for campaigns set in a different background. It is much better than the old AD&D Vikings sourcebook (which does not say much). I can not compare it to Runequest Vikings though, because I never managed to lay my hand on that one. Congratulations to Paul Williams and Atlas Games for a highlight in the Ars Magica series! Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Ultima Thule: Mythic Scandinavia