Two players play the cooperative, GMless rules for Ironsworn, a viking-themed TTRPG.

Ironsworn Co-Op Mode

Perhaps the most classic answer you can get is Beowulf, a recorded story from the Viking Age. It's also possible to read translated Norse sagas and Icelandic epics for more primary sources. Today, movies like The Northman and the 13th Warrior explore a mythologized Viking history, as do television shows like Vikings and The Last Kingdom. There's even a Scandinavian comedy show called Norsemen that treats a Viking village like an office comedy!

Viking settings are also popular in video games, including Assassin's Creed, God of War, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Valheim, and Banner Saga. The Elder Scrolls installment Skyrim is also heavily inspired by Vikings and Norse mythology.

Sailing through storms and harsh conditions, dealing with monsters of land and sea, contending with the whims of the Norse gods, and raiding, trading, fighting, and mingling with the other peoples of the lands around you. Exploration and combat will likely be major focuses of a Viking RPG.

You might be a hardened sailor or shipwright, a master of the longships that carried Vikings across the seas. You could be a warrior or shieldmaiden, a fighter and raider seeking fortune for your people. There are also skalds, shamans and priests of the gods who know by heart the epics, stories, and songs that inspire their people. You might even be a merchant or trader, looking to establish sea routes to gain ever greater wealth! Depending on the game, there might also be magic or monstrous characters available as well.

What kind of characters can I play in a Viking game?

Norse mythology is a collection of stories, recorded oral histories, poems, songs, and beliefs held by the people of northern Europe in the Middle Ages. They detailed the creation myth of nine worlds, including our own, by the gods and giants of ancient days, and prominently feature gods like Odin, Thor, Loki, Freya, Frigg, and Hel. They believed that the end of the world, called Ragnarok, was foretold, a promised battle across the worlds that would destroy and rebirth the world.

Viking

Viking is a setting or subgenre placed directly or inspired by the seafaring Scandinavian people of the Viking Age, from about 800-1050 in the Middle Ages. The Norse people during this time sailed to, raided, pirated, traded with, and settled among people all throughout Europe, and even as far as North Africa and North America! It might also refer to media that prominently features Norse and Icelandic mythology. The focus, appropriately enough, is usually on the Viking raiders, the class of warriors and sailors who attacked, robbed, and pillaged what ships and settlements they could during this era.

In tabletop roleplaying games, seafaring travel (often colored with a fantastical lens of gods and monsters), warfare and raiding is an exciting topic for a game, so it's no surprise that quite a few games pick up a Viking theme. Norse mythology and its gods like Odin, Thor, Loki, and Hel are also quite popular, and they or gods based on them often appear in Viking RPGs. These games cast players as the hardened raiders facing the brutal storms and seas, the wrath of the gods, monsters of ancient lore, and the warriors who stand against their raids and conquest.

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