Runestone: Six Gun Ragnarok

The homeworld of Dvergar, Troll, and Skroggar. It is a sunless world rich with precious stones and minerals. Trolldom reflects from the glittering gold and uncut gems casting the landscape in unsettling hues. Those Men and Dvergar that reside in Myrkheim begin to take on the appearance of a aging corpse, milky-eyed and blued flesh.

Terrain for games in Myrkheim should include lots of gems and crystals, cavern or cave terrain would be quite suitable.

Notable Realms of Myrkheim

Svartalfheim: The Home of Dark Elves, is not dark, nor does it contain any Alfar. This city state is the Grand Bazaar of the Nine Worlds, it is here that one finds goods and wonders from all the realms. In the goblin markets everything can be had for a price.

Nidavellir: The land of the Dvergar. “The Dark Fields”. This is where the great halls, forges and foundries of the Dvergar craftsman can be found. It is here, hidden from all light, that the greatest treasures can be crafted, from a magical sword, to an enchanted revolver that never needs to be reloaded.

The underworld. An ice-clad land of dense creeping mist and darkness. The beating of the wings of the carrion birds create howling gales that force the cold to bite deep and the winds tear at the flesh. It is a primordial realm of ice and darkness. It is the birthplace of fear and dread.

Terrain options for games set in the realms of Niflheim should feature snow, ice, or cold barren rock with as many skeletons and corpses as you have access to.

Notable Realms of Niflheim

Helheim: The realm of Hel Lokenasdottir, it is the a land of the dead. A subterranean realm located deep below the ground. Those who died of illness or old age, are buried with the supplies needed to cross the Gjoll Bridge and reach Hel’s Hall – Eljudnir.

Nastrond: The pit beneath the roots of the World Tree, it is the home of the great dragon Nidhoggr, it is the final punishment for murderers and oath-breakers.

Hvergelmir: The well from which all waters rise. The bubbling spring is located deep into Niflheim, and it is thought that those who drink of its waters see the source of the cycle of life and death.

Nagrindr – The Corpse Fence. The great fortifications that surround Helheim and separate it from the rest of Niflheim. Made from the corpses of the dishonorable.

The lands of the Jotunar. It is worth noting that what-ever or where-ever the Jotunn homeworld was, it has long ago been shattered, and fractured pieces of it are found throughout the cosmos. There is no easy entry into one of the Jotunheimar, there is always some difficult barrier to cross: a storm tossed sea, treacherous mountain fell, blistering desert, a wild fire, a raging flood river, etc. Here,the lands are truly wild, and untamed. The Giants of the Jotunheimar do not farm, few and far between are their cities. The Jotunheimar are best recognized for their otherness. No matter how mundane the lands might seem to a person from Midgard, there always a sense of otherworldly-ness about the lands.

Terrain for games set in the Jotunheimar might include dense forests, rocky mountain side, or very over-sized buildings.Trees that are out of place, or waterfalls that come from nowhere.

Notable Jotunheimar

Thrymheim: The mighty stone fortress of Skathi, built by her father Thiazi, sits atop a steep craggy mountain, it is best accessed by air.

Utgard: “The Outer City” Utgard is far. No matter where to start from the journey to Utgard is farther than you could hope. If you find yourself in the great city of the Jotunar, you have strayed far, far from your path.

Mimisbrunnr: Mimir’s Well, the waters of knowledge and wisdom. To drink from the well is to gain access to unfathomable secrets. But like all knowledge it may only come with great personal cost. The Allfather, gave up his eye to drink from Mimisbrunnr.

Homeworld of the Vanir, a tribe of gods that ruled before the rise of the Allfather and the Aesir. Vanaheim is a city state in crisis, a land of wise scholars and philosopher kings forced to become a staging ground for the wars against fate.

Terrain for games set in Vanaheim might be inspired by the Greek countryside, or an idealized ancient Rome, Athens etc.

Notable Realms of Vanaheim

Folkvangr: the great meadow and practice fields for war. Ruled by Freyja and home to her hall Sessrumnir, which serves as a war college for generals and tacticians.

Glitnir: Great debates and matters of law are settled in the cobbled streets and courtyards outside the Hall of Justice.

Noatun: The great port city, ships of all times and places might be found moored the along the dock or in the harbor. Ruled over by the Vanir god Njord.

Homeworld of the Aesir. The great walls around Asgard have been sundered, its safe and guarded bridge to the other worlds burned to ash. Asgard is a desolate wasteland, over run by monsters and nightmares. The Einherjar and those Aesir that still live battle against the Muspellsynir and their dire beasts. Those outsiders that find their way through the cracks and broken holes in the great wall, rarely ever make it out again.

Terrain for games set in Asgard might be scorched earth style ruins, dark age or viking terrain, or even Rohan terrain from the Middle Earth miniature games.

Notable Realms of Asgard:

Trudheim: the realm of Thor, and location of his hall: Bilskirner

Valhalla: The realm of Odin, its contains the silver and gold covered hall of Valaskalf, as well as the Allfather’s throne, Hlidskalf. The great feast hall of Sokkvaback is also found in this realm, along with the great meeting hall of the 13 highest ranking Aesir, Gladsheim.

Himinbjorg: The meadows around Bifrost, the domain of Heimdall. The shattering of the bridge has left this realm a desolate scorched earth.

Breidablick: the realm ruled by Baldur, on the outskirts of Asgard.

Vide: the deep dark forests of Asgard, home to the god of vengeance, Vidar

The world of man – earth. This is where most games of the Runestone campaigns take place. It is the Old West, but peppered with Old Norse mythologies. The Ashes of Creation – which in truth are the dying embers of the burning World Tree – have rewritten reality. The usual passage of time ended in 1860 when a comet stuck the earth, in a near-extinction level event. There are those that believe it was merely a comet, and that effects of which are natural, and those who know that it was the flaming sword of the fire giant Surtr, flung from the primordial realm of Muspelheim, and the beginning of the end of all things.

On Midgard, Jotunar who have been affected by the Ashes appear as men of large stature, 6’6” to 7’ tall. Rarely the 12’ or more giants you might find in other worlds. The Alfar become physical beings of beauty and grace, the Dverge look not like bloated corpses, but stoutly built shorter folk.

Because the burning of the World Tree began in Midgard, the effects of the Ashes of Creation are more pronounced. Outsides who enter Midgard tend to quickly conform to the reality of this dying realm, and the inhabitants of Midgard simply incorporate these newcomers into their reality and memories as though they have always been there. It goes beyond simple delusions, reality itself changes backwards though time. History books, and property deeds might one day include references to a Elven Dynasty that from an outside perspective only fled into Midgard last week.

The same cannot be said when a Midgarder, be they native inhabitant or incorporated refugee, travels to another world.

Terrain for games set in Midgard should likely be your normal Wild West terrain, with a few anachronistic scatter pieces like Carved Runestones, dragon head accents on an otherwise normal old west wood buildings, etc.

The End is a very delicate concept, the conclusion of all that is, and often mistaken for its unfolding. But an Ending is distinct from The End. An Ending is not an instantaneous event, but may encompass a thousand lifetimes.

The repercussions of the Sword of Surtur are vast and nuanced. Though the burning blade struck home in Midgard, the roots and branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree that holds the Nine Worlds and all the Realms together, are burning.

This is not the ending of a world, but of all worlds. The universe is ending.
The Aesir, the ruling tribe of gods, move throughout the realms seeking their fates, some have already fallen.

The Vanir, the tribe of gods that ruled before the Aesir, struggle to defend what they can and to stave off oblivion as long as possible. Their vain hope that they can find another universe to seek refuge in, drives them and their acolytes to seek out the ancient pathways into other realities.

Bifrost the Four Color Bridge, the safe path between Midgard and the world of Asgard lays in ruin.

Space, Time and the Boundaries between worlds, are bent and twisted by the violent thrashings of Jormungandr, the World Serpent that encircles Midgard. One can step into a Saloon in Santa Fe, and find that the interior is a Trollish Dungeon, a wagon train can round a bend in the road and find themselves descending in to a verdant valley of Alfheim splendor. A hunting party of Sioux might stalk deer over a hill only to be confronted by a shambling horde of aptrgangr.

The Five Hundred and Forty Doors of Valhalla are flung open, and alone, the Einherjar, the Soldiers of the Last Army, march to the Final Battle. Unlike the acolytes of the Vanir, the Sons of Odin do not fight to win. They fight to make the battle as bloody and costly for their enemies as possible. The demands of their convictions as absolute and unwavering as the foretelling of their destruction.

But for those who do not share the Secret Knowledge purchased from the Wells of Fate, nor have feasted in the Halls of the gods, nor eaten of Idunn’s Golden Apples, nor drank of the Mead of Poetry, for those who did not stir at the crowing of the gold and the red and the soot colored roosters, those who did not hear the blasting of the Gjallarhorn, for those mortals of all the races and all the realms, today is but another day, in the world as it has always been.

A Broad Brimmed Hat He Wore
A Sky Colored Cloak He Bore
And None There Knew His Name