The Ford Over the Shiver Water

In the first session of my new Frostholme Advanced Fighting Fantasy Campaign, the Adventurers met Bjorn Erikson, rejected his wager and instead demanded that he join them as a companion if Snaggletooth the Dwarf won the wrestling match. Snaggletooth won, and so now I am lumbered with a boasting loudmouth of an NPC to play!

2. THE FORD OVER THE SHIVER WATER

The Shiver Water rises somewhere in the Freezeblood Mountains, flowing down into Bjorngrim’s Sea. Here, on the trail west of Skara, the river widens and shallows, flowing calf-deep – except when the melt-waters rush down – over a bed of polished pebbles. On the southern bank of the ford a brightly coloured tent has been pitched. A muscular, ruddy-faced bare-chested Vynheimer leans against the waystone, soaking up the sun. His body is covered in blue tattoos of intricate knotwork, his thick arms are adorned with a great many armrings. He is BJORN ERIKSON, or BJORN RED-BEARD, and he will offer most travellers a friendly greeting. He will not, however, let anyone pass over the ford unless they test their strength against him. He challenges the bravest warrior in any group to a wrestling match, with their weapons as the stake. If they accept, he will oil his body and lock arms with his opponent.

Bjorn will offer his heirloom axe as a wager, but if defeated will sink into great melancholy at the prospect of handing over his family weapon, and will try to offer the victor a beautiful curved silver dagger that he says has come all the way from the dark continent of Khul. If Bjorn wins and takes his opponents weapon he will have the metal forged into a new armring. 

Wrestling: Treat the match as ordinary unarmed combat. However, a combatant who wins three Attack Rounds in succession has managed to pin their opponent and force a submission. Regardless of the victor, 1d6 STAMINA are recovered by both combatants after they have had a chance to rest and catch their breath.

Bjorn will, very reluctantly, agree to armed combat, but in such a case it must be to the death. In such a case, he will dress in his chainmail and take up his fearsome heirloom axe, Shield Splitter. 

BJORN ERIKSON

SKILL 9 STAMINA ⑩⑨⑧⑦⑥⑤④③②①

Weapon	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Handaxe	2	2	2	3	3	3	4
Fists	1	1	1	1	1	2	3

Bjorn gains a +1 to all damage rolls.

Armour	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Chainmail Cuirass	0	0	0	1	2	2	3
Small Shield	0	0	0	0	+1	+1	+2

Shield Splitter: Bjorn’s axe is a heroic weapon, used by his father, his grandfather, his father, and so on. It was forged by his distant ancestor Kraka from the armour of a Chaos Warrior. As its name suggests, the axe is particularly adept as splintering shields. Each Attack Round won by the wielder damages an opponent’s shield if the shield protects against any damage on the armour roll. Shield Splitter will splinter a small shield on two such blows, and a large shield after three.

While I haven't had the chance to test Shield Splitter's rules in actual play, the Wrestling rules work well and could easily be used in less 'friendly' situations, even involving multiple grapplers attempting to overbear an armed opponent (but remember the -4 modifier when fighting unarmed against an opponent armed with a weapon larger than a dagger).