Hello friends!
The Sagas of Rimholm Kickstarter is well underway! In fact, as this post goes live there’s a little bit less than two days left in the campaign. I hope you’ll consider backing it if you haven’t already. It’s a zine, but also more than a zine! We zoom into a whole region of the Middarmark, from the Sakki Downs to the Temple of Black Skulls, and give you all the details and background for dozens of adventure sites. The hub of this region is Rimholm, and from any direction your adventuring party travels, there are rewards and dangers everywhere they go.
As an example of what we’ve been working on, I want to share a little bit about ghost fences.
When Koch first came to me to propose this project, he noted that he was particularly taken by a passing reference to “ghost fences” in the Middarmark Gazetteer. Could I write more about them?
I’m not sure, but I think I first stumbled across the concept in an issue of Mark Smylie’s Artesia comic, where the titular warrior-priestess character and her war band are caught out-of-doors on the night of the Wild Hunt after a battle. She makes a ghost fence from the heads of her defeated enemies to hide her warriors from the Wild Hunt.
I’ve read some suggestions that the Celts made such things, but there doesn’t seem to be much real evidence.
Anyway, the image was striking to me and I’ve borrowed it for the Sakki people.I should note that while the Bjornings would have you believe the Sakki are evil incarnate, and the practice of chaining ghosts to their severed heads is horrific, I don’t think the Sakki are any more or less evil than any of the other folk of the Middarmark. The cycle of violence and reprisal in the Middarmark is terrible and never-ending.Here are some rules for ghost fences and using them in your games. Enjoy!
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