A little shameless self-promotion

I'm not just a (very) part-time gameworld creator.  I'm also a regular gamer (mostly RPGs, some board/war games, and I like to push (other people's) tin when I get the chance.  I'm also a poet, when the stars align and I find myself in possession of both the free-time and inspiration.

About a year ago my friend Brett was running a truly inspiring Hellfrost game. One of the other guys at the table - Declan - was playing a skald (a bard for those of the Old Faith). Dec mentioned that he'd try his hand at writing a ballad commemorating the brave deeds of his fellow Saxe warriors. I thought this was a good idea, and said I might have a go at it as well. So for five nights I worked feverishly on what became a 3,000-odd word saga of our first adventure, entitled The Second Death of Rangnar Bloodaxe.

Presenting it to the group, everyone loved it.  Unfortunately I didn't have the time to try to tackle the following adventures of our brave little band (I'm still hoping Brett will ressurect the campaign).

Anyway, fast-forward six months, and I stumbled across the electronic file  After a few moments contemplation, I thought "what the heck", and sent it to Hellfrost setting creator and one of the busiest fellows in RPG publishing, Paul "Wiggy" Wade-Williams.

Paul wrote back almost immediately and asked if he coupld put it up as a free download for the punters.  I was honoured and said yes. And so there it is - my first (unofficial) published work for a serious and respected gaming publisher. If you haven't dozed off yet, and you really feel like putting yourself though that particular ordeal, you can find a copy of the PDF here. I'd welcome any feedback.

For the technically curious, I wrote the poem in a non-standard eleven-foot metre, which was designed to read a little clumsily, evoking the rhythm of trying to walk though waist-deep snow carrying a heavy axe and shield, and half-expecting something big and hairy to jump out from behind a tree and try to eat you. There was a lot of that throughout the campaign.

All the action in the saga is relayed as it occured at the table, although I shortened the combat sequences, leaving out the bad roles and the associated bad language and queries relating to the provenence of the dice in question.