A Great Thank You Is Due
So one goes out to Raven Wulfgar, and another goes out to the Readers.
The growth of The Grove Of Odin is truly a credit to our readers, and their willingness to share what they read. We have aimed to bring our History, The Pagan Faith, and The Aesir, to the curious masses and dedicated readers of our Pagan-centric publication. If you are reading this now, that means you already kick ass.
The Future Of The Publication.
Over the next few months, we will be meeting behind the scenes to discuss several new ideas for growing the publication and spreading the message.
I will soon be arranging a meeting with our organizations Co-Founder, Gothi, Runeologist, writer, and publisher
. This meeting will be centered around the induction of new writers from the Grove of Odin Group, to our publication. Being that our publication is free and will always remain that way, there will be an attempt to incentivize new writers by other means. This may include the publication of a few paperback and hardcover compilations of historical essays, short stories, and if Raven has anything to say about it, and I truly hope he does there will be a component built around TTRPG.Let me start by explaining why TTRPG is tied to our publication about Paganism. This can be done with one word “Community,” but it can be explained far more deeply. So let me give a basic layman to the TTRPG worlds attempt at explaining.
Pagan folk once met together to worship, praise, hail, and appease our God's, the Orderly Aesir and Naturally Chaotic Vanir. Over the last 2000 years, our religion, meetings, burial rights, and many more aspects of our beliefs have been made illegal, or even into social and cultural taboo in some cases. Fortunately our practices are now not only becoming socially acceptable, but they are also becoming a popular choice among American men and Women now that many people have begun to dig into their genetic lineage.
The meeting around a gaming table is being made more appealing to Pagan folk, now that the stigma of “Satanic Panic” isn't pointed at every Wiccan, Norse Germanic, and Celtic Pagan. We are no longer being called Satan worshipers at such a high rate, now that not so many are ignorant to the old ways. Whether we attribute that to pop culture trends, like the show “Vikings” or the equally popular Marvel comics movies based on “Thor,” we may never really know. What we do know, is that we can go in public now with our Tattoos, and Pagan medallions, and people recognize it as Norse Germanic, rather than pointing and screaming “Devilry” or “Satanic Imagery.”
The company Troll Lord Games who make Castles and Crusades, and who are far superior to D&D, have launched several recent giveaways of their TTRPG based games that have very Pagan themes.
These Games bring several people around a table, and they learn these Pagan histories and it's been made into a game they play together.
The key to that is “Together” and “As a group.”
Coming Together
We have another member of our Group that produces Pagan items like Runes, Charms, and Games. While another member creates some of the coolest hand crafted blankets, stuffed animals, and figurines, that will all soon be advertised, talked about, and possibly sold through our platform. Needless to say, we do much more than just scream into the static of the internet, and an expansion of our group, our handcrafted goods, discussions, and message is long overdue.
We have not lost, or forgotten our goal of creating a physical space for Annual Blots and Seasonal Celebrations. These things are still in our sight, and are becoming closer to being realized every day, but we also need the express inclusion, support, and visibility for our other members.
Stay Tuned For More Updates.
Any suggestions for future articles, ideas for expansion, and possible partnerships, are always welcome. Air them here.. 👇
A minor correction, Troll Lord Games produces Castles & Crusades, the game.
To Josh's point, in my own opinion, it is superior to D&D (especially the modern drivel Wizards of The Coast produces) and yes, can absolutely be played for free as long as you have dice or a dice roller app, pencils and paper.
Earlier printings (not editions) are available in PDF and even if you were to bring those PDFs to my table and I were using the Reforged printings, they're still compatible save for some terminology changes which were needed to get away from Wizards of The Coast's Open Gaming License.
Also, there are the Codeces like Codex Nordica, Codex Germania, Codex Classicum, etc. which explore ancient lore of all types. It's treated with respect and a certain reverence but the real reason why I look at tabletop games such as these is because, Castles & Crusades, Ragnarok: Fate of The Norns and even games like Runecairn give us a teaching tool for history, both good and bad. Immersing children into history makes them more interested and will encourage them to study further, making that world very real in their minds. They'll be able to retain the events in history (Such as a game of WWII: Operation Whitebox or WWII: Operation B/X) and have a real leg-up on other students.
As well, these games can teach math and probability, problem-solving, reading and reading comprehension, writing, story structure, dialogue, etc. These are skills that are sorely-needed these days.
While I often try to keep Tabletop Gaming and my own spiritual life separate, there is a degree of intersection that, when utilized in a healthy way, can very much benefit the spiritual.
For those of you who would like to try Castles & Crusades and Amazing Adventures, go to this page and scroll down to the bottom. You should see four PDFs at a cost of zero. Then look for the Bag of Holding section and everything you'll ever need to play those two games is yours absolutely free.
https://trolllord.com/product-category/featured-product/