Midgard

Midgard is a third party world created by Kobold Press. Created by Wolfgang Baur, it began as a homebrew setting which eventually grew into into its own thing, originally with a heavy influence of Germanic and Slavic fantasy tropes but growing over time to include the fantasy kitchen sink of Lovecraftian horror, Arabian Nights, and Vikings among other things. As of D&D 5th Edition it's become quite notable, with tie-in products such as Tome of Beasts considered on par with official Wizards of the Coast publications.

Setting Summary

A representation of Midgard's Material Plane.

The world is a flat disc surrounded by the dragon-god Veles biting its own tail to keep the oceans from spilling out. Magical energy known as ley lines flows through the world, and magicians aware of their existence can tap into local sources of power to enhance their spells. These ley lines proved instrumental in the founding of civilization: the Egyptian knockoffs found a bigass ley line along a river which they built their cities along, the elves used them as teleportation networks to create a world-spanning empire, and some human magocracies used them to summon and develop Lovecraftian superweapons for war...which naturally plunged their kingdoms into a nightmarish hellscape. Great going, guys.

Midgard was originally a savage place, but some buff Nordic dudes found the way to becomes gods. That bastard Loki spilled the beans to his catgirl girlfriend Bast, allowing for other people to take the divine mantle themselves. Soon things got out of control, and the gods started killing each other to suck out each other's god-juice powers. Eventually the world-serpent slapped them around and set some ground rules. Ever since the gods wore masks, taking different forms in different cultures and obscuring their true number. As a result there's much speculation on which god is a mask of another, and where one begins and the other ends. Some are open secrets (the war god Perun is known as Thor in the Northlands) but some gods are sneaky and adopt entirely different portfolios.

Overall the world has many classic fantasy tropes, but with neat twists. The major city of Zobeck is a steampunk metropolis with warforged knockoffs, true dragons are the nobility caste of a mighty empire who are invading everyone, and the last bastion of elves is now run by the half-elf and human aristocrats who outbred them. For villains you have the mythical Baba Yaga whose own dentures are an animated object which are actually smarter than her, a living primordial Margreve Forest home to all the twisted fairy tales of Grimm and Aesop's fame, and the tiefling Master of Demon Mountain who's heavily implied to be a direct or distant father figure of PC tieflings. A major sourcebook was made for the Southlands, Midgard's Africa/Arabia analogue, and the upcoming Brilliant East is its Oriental Adventures.

Crossroads

The geographic heartland, where Midgard's Germanic/Slavic influence is strongest. Is home to the steampunk city of Zobeck, the fairy tale Margreve Forest, a nation of gun-slinging dorfs, and a kingdom of man-hating amazon paladins.

Dark Kingdoms

These were once Crossroads nations, but a bunch of vampires and undead took over and now oppress the peasantry. They have trade relations with the gnome nation of Neimheim, whose king sold his people to devils in order to stay Bab Yaga's wrath. The most Dark Fantasy of the regions.

Rothenian Plains

The Eurasian Steppes. Filled with gypsies, Mongolian archers, centaurs, and a pseudo-Russian kingdom ruled by a crazy Tsar.

Dragon Empire

The Ottoman Empire, if Arabs and Turks were reptilian races. Midgard's dragons realized that sleeping around in hoards was counterproductive to wealth generation, so they combined into a larger kingdom so they can tax the tiny races and add their wealth to their hoards. Now that they got a taste of government, they now want to rule the world! The scaly races are the norm here, and humans and their ilk are low-caste civilians.

Southlands

Midgard's Africa, most known for its pseudo-Egyptian Kingdom of Nuria Natal whose animal-headed gods chill in their favorite cities. A group of Arabian traders sail the deserts in sandships, and further south are more classic African nations such as a jungle magocracy and magical Zulu warriors.

Seven Cities

Instead of fighting for loftier ideals, the people of this peninsula realized that war's just an excuse for people to plunder the losers. As a result they organized society along the lines of orderly mercenary skirmishes who gain and lose territory every season for the glory of the war god Mavros.

Wasted West

The shattered remnants of human magocracies who thought it'd be a swell idea to summon the Great Old Ones into the Material Plane. Now said eldritch gods are frozen in time from ancient rituals, looming over alien horizons. The few bastions of civilization are meager outposts or tyrannical kingdoms making hard decisions to prolong society.

Grand Duchy of Dornig

The former seat of the elven empire of Thorn. It's now mostly ruled by half-elf and human families jockeying for meager parcels of forest with a confusing array of land and inheritance laws. The Queen fell into a deep slumber, and the shadow fey are making inroads with forest colonies.

Northlands

VIKINGS! MEAD! GIANTS! This realm is as hardcore as the people it's based upon, where status is defined by martial ability and longships set sail for distant realms to raid and loot. It's home to an advancing glacier slowly consuming the land, as well as a nation of several thousand god-giants who by all rights should have conquered the region (they're CR 20+ beings) but they've fallen from grace and are depressed about the fact that Midgard is literally made of the slain corpse of their god.

Shadow Realm

The extraplanar realm beneath Midgard. It is a land of perpetual twilight, a dark mirror to the world above. The Shadow Fey are its most famous denizens, but is also home to an outpost of bearfolk warriors resisting the darkness and a lost legion of ghoul soldiers from the Dark Kingdoms.

Races

In Soviet Russia, kobold conquers you!

• Humans: You know the drill.
• Dragonborn: The soldiers of the Mharoti Empire. They began as ascended kobolds favored by their dragon masters, but became a race all their own. They serve as higher-ranking soldiers and administrators in peace-time. Also have subraces based around elements instead of colors, lack a breath weapon, have an innate spell, and a overall less-shitty statblock.
• Dwarves: The dwarves hailed from the Northlands and had a thing for looting and pillaging, but some of their ancestors went elsewhere to pursue other vocations. The dwarves of the Ironcrag build big guns and airships, while the ones in the Southlands built the pyramids and clockwork constructs.
• Elves: There's less than a thousand true elves in Midgard today, making them even more of a special snowflake if that's even possible. They ruled over a great empire that fell cuz of decadence, and the few remaining live in isolated forests. The drow are all but wiped out by ghouls, meaning that the Shadow Fey serve as the "evil elf" equivalent.
• Gearforged: Warforged, but instead of being created wholly a living soul is transferred into a metal body. Also tend to be more steampunk in appearance.
• Kobolds: The oppressed buttmonkey of the setting and company mascot, kobolds were enslaved by dwarves and forced into ghettos in human lands. The oppression and mistreatment serves as ample opportunity for the Mharoti Empire, who both promise liberation and a higher social standing if they help their invaders while also serving as a land of freedom and opportunity for them to one day visit.
• Minotaurs: They are honorable seafaring warriors, much like Dragonlance minotaurs. Unlike Dragonlance, they retain their more monstrous ability to avoid getting lost, and as such all of their cities are confusing mazes to stymie enemy armies.
• Ravenfolk: A race of thieves and troublemakers who the gods love to use as seers, and often inhabit the tallest buildings and roofs in cities as "rookeries." Often seen as having special connections as seers and messengers with Wotan (discount Odin) in the north and as master swordsmen and desert-dwelling mystics with Horus (no not that Horus) in the south.
• Shadow Fey: Evil elves and the most numerous kind in Midgard. They live in the Shadow Realm between Midgard's two sides and worship the goddess of night and magic.
• Minor Races: There are other playable races in Midgard, but are often relegated to certain regions or sourcebooks than being as widespread as the above. The most notable include the bearfolk, who are as awesome as they sound, and actual garden gnomes who lull you into a false sense of security with their silly red hats before sacrificing you to Lucifer in their forest homes. What? You want the full list? Okay...
  • Aasimar: Either born as celestial orphans of dead gods or mortals with celestial blood, they're pretty typical of most settings' Aasimar. Can take some alternate racial abilities to show off their heritage like getting 10ft of blindsight or getting to cast Gaseous Form once per long rest.
  • Alseid: Distant cousins of Midgard's centaurs, they're much like their cousins in being a blending of elf torso on a deer's body plus antlers. Automatically proficient with Stealth, Elvish, Shortbows, and Spears but have trouble with more humanoid-oriented architecture like manholes and ladders. Notable for having their one picture in one of the "Heroes" expansions be topless.
  • Bearfolk: Big, badass bearmen. Known for being extra passionate, loyal, and honest while at the same time being unpredictably violent and savage. Also known for essentially loaning themselves out to other families when they are kids, leading to some Winnie The Pooh comparisons.
  • Centaurs: Rothenian Plain raiders that have entire mobile cities composed of wagons and giant-shield walls. Different from the generic/Ravnica centaur for being both Large (albeit with a Medium-sized torso to balance things out) and, like their Elfy brethren, being of the Monstrosity type. When they reach their teens, they go out and become bandits for a few years before either coming home or going off on their own, leading many to stereotype them as raging, drunken assholes (which to be fair isn't too far off from the truth).
  • Darakhul: Bigger, badder, smarter ghouls that make up a good portion of the Blood Kingdom. Have several different subraces based on what race they were in life which give stat bonuses, their speed, their size, and bonus languages. Any races not listed could be homebrewed up. Outside of their subraces, they get a +2 to Constitution, 60ft of Darkvision, a 1d6 Bite attack, Sunlight Sensitivity, the need to ear raw flesh once per day lest they gain a point of Exhaustion (which they can only remove by eating at least 30lb of meat), the ability to speak Darakhul, and resistance to certain life-saving spells like Revivify or Reincarnate, though Resurrection and True Resurrection brings you back as your original race. They also tend to look like Count Orlok from Nosferatu after a while, regardless of their original race.
  • Derro: Insane, somewhat dwarflike humanoids that inhabit the Underdark and certain cities in Midgard, Derro are a bit of a mystery. Not even the Derro themselves know their own (their "historians" claim they do but such stories tend to not only change from person to person but from time to time as well) though some theorize they were originally driven mad by a little too much contact with the Great Old Ones in the Wasted West. Gets a +2 to Constitution and a +1 to Dexeterity, Superior Darkvision, Sunlight Sensitivity, resistance to charm and fear effects through their insanity (also you to get to roll on a few tables to determine quirks, kinda like the Tiefling or Aasimar appearance tables in earlier editions of the game), advantage on Constitution saving throws against spells, and the ability to speak Dwarvish and either Common or Undercommon.
  • Dhampirs: The half-undead/half-living results of the union between male vampires and human women. They're said to be charismatic but off-putting in an uncanny valley-sort of way. Are a bunch of brooding, lonely sops that either give into their baser natures or try to rise up against them, often banding together in groups following the Walking Crow edicts, often taking "Crow" as a surname in the process.
  • Dust Goblins: Goblins forever changed by the eldritch radiation given off by the imprisoned Old Ones, which they often worship, in the Wasted West, Dust Goblins are hard-core. Barely anything lives in the West yet the goblins still thrive like nothing's changed since their homeland got turned into a magical-themed Fallout wasteland. Gets a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to Constitution, 60ft of Darkvision, advantage against being charmed or frightened much like the Derro, proficiency with Stealth and Survival, the ability to make creatures roll a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of their next turn after attacking while hidden, and the ability to speak Common and Goblin.
  • Gnolls: Pretty similar to their pre-5th Edition counterparts, Gnolls are lazy, cowardly assholes native to the Southlands of Midgard. They're matriarchal like real-world spotted hyenas, where even the lowest female on the proverbial totem pole is higher than the highest male. Male Gnolls who dislike their womenfolk lording over them often leave their packs and make up the bulk of Gnoll adventurers. Get some pretty nifty abilities related to their innately cowardly natures like adding an extra 10ft to their Disengage action and adding double your proficiency bonus to Intimidation rolls against obviously smaller/weaker targets. Are usually pretty devout followers of Anubis/Anu-Akma and Bastet, and are usually seen as guiding worshipers of the former into the afterlife as well as acting as temple guards.
  • Halflings: Either seen in the courts of Elves or on river-bound barges like in 4th edition, Halflings or Winterfolk as they're sometimes called are assumed to have been indentured to the Elves before shit hit the fan as even now they tend to defer to them or Elfmarked. All the standard subraces exist plus an extra one simply called the Winterfolk Halfling that gets a +1 to Constitution, recovers from all levels of exhaustion after a long rest, and can use their Wisdom modifier instead of their Intelligence modifier when making History and Religion checks. Pretty cool all things considered, especially since their picture in the Midgard Heroes Handbook has one riding a motherfucking snow-white sabertooth tiger like a horse.
  • Jinnborn: Kinda similar to genasi in a lot of ways, being descended from elementals called Jinn (no duh) that're like genies only much more powerful, Jinnborn are native to the deserts of Midgard where they follow paths called siratti based upon the 4 elements. These paths are chosen for them by Patron Jinn, oftentimes near-godly Jinn that like to muck around with their technicolor offspring. Like Jinn and Genies, Jinnborn often speak in riddles or half-truths but rarely lie. Gets a +2 to Constitution, 60ft of Darkvision, proficiency with Persuasion, a Siratti path that comes with an elemental language, and a choice between 2 subraces: Speaker and Shaper. Speakers get a +1 to Wisdom, have advantage on saving throws against being stunned, extreme environments, navigation, and getting lost as well as the ability to gain advantage on any saving throw or ability check/disadvantage on attack rolls against you a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest. Shapers get +1 Strength, resistance against an element that corresponds to your siratti, and the ability to add a d6 of damage of your siratti choice equal to your Constitution modifier per long rest. Jinnborn also get Desert Dependent: where for every month you remain away from the desert, you must roll a DC15 Charisma saving throw or get inflicted with INDEFINITE MADNESS which is utter horseshit in every campaign that doesn't take place in the Southlands or Mharoti, making Jinnborn difficult to play outside of those places.
  • Kijani:
  • Lamias
  • Lizardfolk
  • Orcs
  • Ramag
  • Ratfolk
  • Sahuagin
  • Tieflings
  • Tosculi
  • Trollkin
  • Werelions

System

Originally a 90's homebrew and in magazine articles during the 3rd Edition era, Midgard's been converted to quite a few systems.

As of 2019 there's support for 3rd through 5th Edition D&D, Pathfinder 1st Edition, 13th Age, Fantasy AGE, and Swords & Wizardry. Currently, most of the products being made now are for 5th Edition, with other systems receiving scant support beyond a single conversion book and maybe a Bestiary. Fortunately for Pathfinder fans, there's a huge backlog of material you can use due to the system's ties to 3.X.

Also, back in the late '90s, Midgard was made into a Civilization II scenario and released as part of the Fantastic Worlds expansion pack.

External Links

• Main Site