The Northern Realm (First Edition)

The Northern Realm is governed by 7 principles; a rich history, realism, mystery, grit, tension, sacrifice, and tragedy.  It draws from history and fable, providing a setting equal parts familiar and surreal. The Northern Realm affords many tools for the storytelling experience, which you can participate in as the player or story master. Within this book there are many story hooks and mysteries, including the first chapter of a campaign at the end. There are also myths, artifacts, ruins, magical creatures, gods, and, of course, heroes that can spin many stories unto themselves.

This project started as a streamlined version of D20 with a strong emphasis on realism, in a setting heavily influenced by history, old folktales, and some of my favorite books, including the Silmarillion, the Vlad Taltos novels, Wheel of Time, and others. In the five years I've worked on The Northern Realm a lot of the rules fell away and the Northern Realm became more of a novel. With that said, gameplay can be easy, but the option for complex gameplay and character design is still there. There are tons of options for players to be exactly who they want to be and to interact with a world that truly hits back.

The book itself is easily navigable via thousands of hyperlinks, which despite its size, allows you to toggle through the document without difficulty. It includes rules on character creation and gameplay, twenty classes, grab and go NPCs, five comprehensive spell lists, feats, creatures, deities, and lore. The final chapter of The Northern Realm includes the first chapter of the campaign entitled, A Dark Crown. As more content is added to The Northern Realm, more chapters will be added to A Dark Crown campaign story.