Since the singular Player and their Followers are always the star of the show, we also provide rules for journaling the ‘off-screen’ activities of the Followers and Hero and reward the Player for investing into the game world. This makes it easy to explore choices like the Hero’s alignment (whether with the Church, the Old Ways or carefully Neutral) in a changing world, the way they choose to enact the role of the hero, and their relationships with NPCs. The nature of the Hero sets the tone for the whole campaign.
When you’re playing a duet game, there is a singular focus on one player character, meaning that you can engage with them in a deeper way than you can with bigger games.
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You can check out the system of BEOWULF: Age of Heroes by downloading our free preview, the Hermit’s Sanctuary at But more recent translations have their own features to recommend them, especially the lyrical beauty of Seamus Heaney’s work and the scholarly thoroughness of Tolkien’s translation. There are numerous versions available - from the array of public domain versions we are fond of Grummere’s version as well as the translation by William Morris and A. It’s an incredible work, which we see reflected in so many other works that came after.įor uncounted years, Beowulf has thrilled readers and inspired authors of fantastic fiction. The language of the poem tells us as much of the mindset of the people it was written for as do the events described. The poem Beowulf evokes an incredibly atmospheric and rich period in history, when the world of Northern Europe was subject to great change. That monsters can be overcome by the righteous, and death is not inevitable. Meanwhile numerous passages in the poem, clearly additions to an older tale, promise hope, and rewards after death for those faithful to the new, in-coming ways of the church. This is the perfect material for a one-GM, one-Player RPG.Īside from the exciting adventure story, a fascinating part of how the tale is written is the clear struggle between two contemporary forces: the doomed 'pagan' hero who dies a glorious, song-worthy death fighting monsters, speaks to the melancholy Northern pagan tradition of inevitable doom. He then presents himself to the king, learns the history of the hall and its people and faces down the Monster, having guessed correctly its only weakness. Given leave, he sails the ocean (and while successful, we learn soon enough about its dangers when Beowulf relates one of his previous adventures). But Beowulf does not blindly charge forth: he gathers omens and advice from the wise, collects a crew and then asks his own king for permission to fight the Monster. In Beowulf's adventures, we see many elements of the heroic story that can be represented in a roleplaying game to fantastic ends.Īfter being provided some setting background by the storyteller, we and Beowulf learn that a king and his hall are under threat by a Monster. It's amazingly atmospheric stuff, and a genuine glimpse into another world. We learn of the wisdom of kings as gift-givers, and queens as peace-weavers, and how loyalty and bravery are highly prized. Through the poem, we learn of the customs of the Anglo-Saxons, of hospitality and honour, of wide-gabled mead halls and heirloom swords, pattern-welded, bearing ancient names. He sails his ship to wherever there is trouble, leads his band of followers in pursuit of what is right, and busies himself fighting monsters. The poem is one of the finest epic poems of its kind, the northern equivalent to the Iliad or The Odyssey.īeowulf himself is an epic hero, larger than life, with the strength of thirty men and the ability to fight monsters on land and sea with scant weapons or even his bare hands. The poem then tells of Beowulf’s successful turn as a king before he is forced to fight a dragon at the end of his life. He must then hunt its mother after she attacks the hall in retribution for Beowulf’s mortal wounding of her son. In it, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, travels to Denmark and fights the terrible monster Grendel in King Hrothgar’s hall, tearing off its arm. It tells a story of the Migration Period (or “Dark Ages”)- between the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Middle Ages. What is "Beowulf"? Why is it good? Why are we making a game about it?Ībout a thousand years ago, the epic story of Beowulf was written down and it has been a source of wonder and inspiration for hundreds of years.
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