Midgard (role-playing game)
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This article is an ongoing translation from the German article. The German article is not very clearly written when it comes down to game mechanics, if you have played the game please contribute.
Midgard is a fantasy role-playing game of German origin. It was the first such game ever published in the German language and the first role-playing game that was created in Germany. The name comes from the Midgard of Norse mythology.
The system
The game uses 'W%' dice, i.e. a die with 100 sides, or two dice with 10 sides each, one representing the first digit of the actual number, one the last, with "00" meaning 100. This is convenient as the dice represent percentages, which is sometimes easier to grasp than other systems. It also uses an ordinary six-sided die and 20 sided die.
In contrast to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye), Midgard is not based very strongly on levels. The characters do have levels (Ger. Grade), but this only indicates how much a character has learned in life and they are not used to gain new abillities. New abilities or improvement of existing abilities are earned by spending experience points, which are earned by adventuring. There are 3 different classes of experience points (combat, magic and general), which means that for character classes that are a combination of fighter and magician, the amount of time spent using either capability is reflected in the experience earned (and used, of course). A characters level increases when he spends a certain amount of experience points to "buy" new capabilities.
There are 20 classes of characters, but those do not determine the entire look of the character, only how difficult or easy it is for a character to learn certain abillities.
In the edition of 1985, the game was the first role-playing game to incorporate the distinction between hit points and exhaustion points. While the last one increase greatly as a character advances in level, the ((latter)I think the person who wrote that meant former; Former means previous, while latter means next) remain very much the same. So even high level characters can't engage themselves in endless fights without danger. They can fight longer than beginners because they won't be exhausted that fast, but a well dealt strike kills them just like any beginner.
The game has received its 4th edition meanwhile, being greatly expanded and clarified now, with 3 major rule books in 2004.
The world
The game rules do come with a world, which is also called Midgard, but the system is designed to work with any fantasy world the players chose.
Rulebooks (in German)
- Midgard - Das Fantasy-Rollenspiel, Pegasus Spiele, ISBN 3-930635-21-6
- Midgard - Das Arkanum, Pegasus Spiele, ISBN 3-930635-67-4
- Midgard - Das Bestarium, Pegasus Spiele, ISBN 3-930635-59-3
- Midgard - Das Kompendium, Pegasus Spielede:Midgard (Rollenspiel)