Fate of the Norns

Hail, brave warriors!

So I'm starting a new broadcasted campaign in July, currently doing some planning and whatnot.

I'm going to do the saga from Denizens, that involves the players looking to unify the kings of Midgard against the coming crusades.

We'll be doing a session 0 soon to work out characters, their relationships, and discuss the world and what the players want to focus on. I think the focus will very much be on morally grey roleplay, punctuated with the occasional tense and deadly combat.

So far I have one player who is very keen to play a Blacksmith, but the rest is up in the air.

Any advice for starting a FoTN campaign? I'll be doing quite a bit of research on these kings around Midgard for sure, but I wonder if there's anything else you'd look into? I'm hoping to set quite a bit of it in Ireland, as that's where I live. I'll be looking to bring in quite a bit of Irish mythology.

Also what's a good starting level? We had played last week, and didn't use metas, and the characters felt pretty powerful. However, I'm really new to the system and wasn't great at designing my baddies. I'd like the characters to be new, easily able to deal with like thugs and whatnot, but struggle a bit against monsters and tougher opponents. Thinking level 10.

Any advice, ideas or discussion would be excellent, cheers!

One thing that helps settle my players in Midgard is to go through an exercise of home town creation. Have the players collaborate on where they start or you can pick the town because of your story, but you let them bring it to life. Ask them:
1) How big is this town?
2) Who runs it?
3) What's the town's reputation abroad?
4) What are the main economies?
5) What (if any) shadow markets exist?
6) What is the town's secret that they don't want outsiders to know about?
7) Does the town have any close neighbours?
8) Any notable people in town?

Then you can help situate the player contacts in the town. After this exercise I find that players have a much better feel for their dweller roots and adventures feel like they are part of a broader and richer tapestry.

Good luck!

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