A couple of weeks back, I talked about the Norn Die in Ragnarok, the RPG of the Viking Apocalypse!
You can go back and reread that entry, but essentially, when a hero rolls to determine success or failure, one die (the Norn Die) is included in the roll. The Norn Die can be any d6 as long as it is visually distinct from the rest of the dice rolled. Of course, in the fullness of time, awesome custom Norn Dice will be available for purchase, but for now we will just use regular D6s . . .
if the Norn Die roll matches with the result of one or more of the other dice, something happens:
- On a match of 2-6, the player gets a Bonus Die.
- On a match of 1, the player still generates a Bonus Die, but it goes to the Sagamaster (the GM).
Today, I would like to talk about the Bonus Die, how it can be used, both by Players and by the Sagamaster.
The Bonus Die is, in many ways, the work-horse for some of the other cool stuff in Ragnarok. There are two basic things anybody can do with a Bonus Die:
- It can be rolled immediately and added to the current total.
- It can be held back and added to a later roll.
Both of the above can be significant in tipping the balance in the hero's favor. But there are other things you can do with a Bonus Die - things that you, the player, decide, when you create your character - Talents.
Talents reflect the "special" abilities of your character, as opposed to skills, which determine how well you do those and other things.. Talents include things like Backgrounds (maybe one of your parents was a shape-shifted giant), Eldritch powers (perhaps you are the shapeshifter, or you can regenerate wounds), and mundane abilities (maybe you are intimidating, hard to hit, or you have away with words).
Many talents can be triggered by spending a Bonus Die. For example, you can spend a Bonus Die to shapeshift to your alternate form (if you have that talent), or heal a wound suffered in battle. Players can use Bonus Dice they have "held" from current or previous matches with the Norn Die to trigger such a Talent.
But some Talents generate their own Bonus Dice specific to that power. For example, the Background: Giantblood, allows such a character to always roll a Bonus Die for the use of raw strength (Called Brawn in Ragnarok), Giants and their kin being naturally very strong. Generated Bonus Dice cannot be saved. They are always rolled with the Talent that grants them.
And, because some of you are probably already asking, You CAN add a Bonus Die you have "held" back to a roll that include Bonus Dice from other sources like Talents (Or Hindrances, but that is a subject for another Development Diary). SO you could roll to Intimidate with a Bonus Die you have "Held", as well the one that you get from the Talent: Intimidating.
Sounds pretty good right? Well, things don't always go your way. After all, the Norns cut the cords that end the lives of men and gods alike. So too do the Norn Dice affect for good or ill.
More simply put - the Sagamaster gets to have some fun too!
ANY matches your Norn Die makes with a 1 on your other die or dice go to the Sagamaster. Same goes for all your friends (or at least those who roll Norn Dice, but that is a topic for another day too). And the Sagamaster gets to collect all the dice the heroes give him into a single pool of dice - that he can spend against any or all of you (or on certain encounter-specific, or Saga effects).
One final thing about Bonus Dice. Bonus Dice cannot Match with the Norn Die unless they were part of the original roll! SO if you get a generated bonus die to intimidate from that Talent, it means you have an extra die that could Match - for good or bad. And if you add a "held" Bonus Die to a roll BEFORE you roll the dice, it could Match too. But maybe you want to hedge your bets and see what the dice say, before devoting a held die. In that case the added die cannot match. It still adds to the total, but it cannot be used to match for a Bonus Die, either for you or for the Sagamaster.
That's it for today, but stay tuned!
LMK what you think of all this in the comments below - and if you have any questions, fire away!
