Welcome to the tenth title in Skirmisher Publishing’s popular and ongoing “100 Oddities” series! "100 Oddities for a Viking Encounter" is a thematic sourcebook that contains lists of 100 Items, 20 Places, and 30 People & Monsters that can be used separately or in conjunction with one another to add some evocative details to a Viking-themed encounter or to construct one from scratch. These elements routinely cross the line between actual mythological elements and meta-references to them, and storytellers can decide in any given case whether they are dealing with something legendary or merely reminiscent of it. 

Oddities are things that stand out from the ordinary and prompt both storytellers and players to wonder about them. Oddities intrigue and awaken curiosity and creativity, adding interest to encounters, or even creating them out of nothing. Traditional combat encounters with stock monsters in standard subterranean rooms, followed by obligatory searches and looting, tend to run together after a while and become unmemorable to players. A crippled blacksmith found trapped in a mountainside cave, however, who is repairing an oversized iron plow that he says once belonged to a goddess and which must be fixed in time for an important annual ritual, is more likely to stick with them.

Other volumes in the “100 Oddities” series include 100 Oddities for a Chaotic Mutation, 100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House, 100 Oddities for an Enchanted Forest, 100 Oddities for an Egyptian Tomb, 100 Oddities for a Found Car, 100 Oddities for a Graveyard, 100 Oddities for a Pilgrimage Trail, 100 Oddities for a Sewer, 100 Oddities for a Thieves’ Guild, 100 Oddities for a Treasure Horde, 100 Oddities for a Wasteland, 100 Oddities for a Wizard’s Library, and 100 Oddities for a Wizard’s Tower.