So, as I’ve thought about this (losing some sleep last night), I came to the conclusion that I’m going for a full three set block, despite the fact I didn’t even finish the first set of my last attempt.
To make a block, you need a story. Nothing complicated. Just some change in the environment. Granted, back in the day they had a storyline with characters whose lives we followed, and so forth, but who cared about Gerrard? Therefore, we just need three points in a the history of the environment we are in. Of course, these need to be interesting points with some relation to each other.
What’s a good Norse event, which changes the environment in an interesting way? How about Ragnarök? Now, the question is whether its the second or third set. If its the second set, the third set would be the surviving world with rebuilding, if its the third set, the second set would be just foretelling.
Since the game already has an Ice Age set, perhaps its not a good idea to have the second set be the long winter before the Ragnarök itself, which would be the obvious choice. However, as the whole set, I could do this differently, with emphasis on the humans enduring through the bad years… and Ice Age was almost 20 years ago.
So, I don’t really have a name for the first set, but I do have names for the other two (which I thought up right now):
First set: Unnamed, probably just an evocative place name, like Innistrad. World of adventuring seafarers out there seeking opportunities and using them.
Second set: The Long Winter. Sort of middle step before the real Ragnarök. Some strange beings begin to surface (or move down in rarity) and there are bad signs. Lots of hardship for the common people. Larger communities break down.
Third set: Twilight of Gods. All sorts of calamities. The last battle. Gods and humans meet all sorts of monsters and the denizens of Hel in one last ditch effort to save the world.
In any case, that would give me three very different, but clearly related sets, with all the things people would expect from such a block, including (perhaps) even some of the gods, although they probably wouldn’t be indestructible like the Theros ones.
I decided to order a couple of books on Norse mythology, both versions of the Edda included (in English). Some of the more interesting books on Amazon (UK) were only available for British addresses, so I couldn’t get them, but I think I’ll make due.