Gurps Vikings: Has anyone tried to write a saga?

[Delvidian]

Oh, yes, please don't consider my approach to be in any way canonical. I settled on a poetical approach based on A) 15 minutes of exhaustive Wikipedia research and B) not wanting to detract from the GM's session recaps which would in straight prose, and C) I thought writing poetry about RPG adventures would be cool.

I read that the sagas were prose stories with bits of poetry embedded here and there, but decided on poetry alone for the reasons above.

My (cursory at best) research led me to Germanic alliterative verse instead of rhyming verse. Eleven syllables per line, 4 lines per stanza came from what I thought would be manageable to write for and because it "sounded right" to my American ears of what skaldic verse should sound like. I was going for a rhythm more than anything else.

If you go this route, you'll need to explore new and different ways of describing the concepts "we discovered that," "we went there," and "we kicked serious butt." Best of luck!

[Anders]

In Sweden, we would use Knittelvers, eight or nine syllables and an a a, b b, rhyme scheme.

[ULFGARD]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

In Sweden, we would use Knittelvers, eight or nine syllables and an a a, b b, rhyme scheme.

But would you write them in English? Different languages translate to different types of verse. In my (limited) experience, English poetry isn't as easy as, say, Greek or French. Couldn't say about Swedish.

Not that a talented bard couldn't do this. And since I think it'd be awesome to try, especially in a Viking campaign...

Still, I'd rather do prose. Love the Sagas of the Icelanders, among others..

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

But would you write them in English? Different languages translate to different types of verse. In my (limited) experience, English poetry isn't as easy as, say, Greek or French. Couldn't say about Swedish.

Not that a talented bard couldn't do this. And since I think it'd be awesome to try, especially in a Viking campaign...

Still, I'd rather do prose. Love the Sagas of the Icelanders, among others..

Well, if you translate a saga, it won't always turn out 8 syllables with an aabb scheme, but you certainly write one in that scheme in English.

[ULFGARD]

Originally Posted by Danukian

Well, if you translate a saga, it won't always turn out 8 syllables with an aabb scheme, but you certainly write one in that scheme in English.

Oh yes, clearly. Translation is a highly under appreciated art form in and of itself. Merely translating meaning isn't that tough for someone who understands both languages well. But translating even a shadow of the beauty of the original language takes someone who can both appreciate the original and artfully render it into the second language.

The point I was trying to make is that it's FAR easier in some languages than others to follow certain rhythm or rhyme conventions than it is in other languages. I don't claim to be a poet, but someone who had some real talent could make it work just fine.

[Þorkell]

My point above is that a saga is not a poem. What Danukian posted is a poem, an epic poem sure, but still a poem.

Go, click on the link I posted above. It goes to an English translation of Brennu-Njáls saga (The Story of Burnt Njal). See what it looks like, read a few chapters (the chapters are short). Most, if not all of the sagas are written in similar form.

[ULFGARD]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

My point above is that a saga is not a poem. What Danukian posted is a poem, an epic poem sure, but still a poem.

Go, click on the link I posted above. It goes to an English translation of Brennu-Njáls saga (The Story of Burnt Njal). See what it looks like, read a few chapters (the chapters are short). Most, if not all of the sagas are written in similar form.

I prefer them for the reason I mentioned before -- it's too hard to translate the beauty of the language. But the meaning, the good story, and often even nuance can be translated much, much easier. And the sagas are great stories!

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Most, if not all of the sagas are written in similar form.

The Icelandic sagas are primarily prose but they are almost certainly rooted in an earlier poetic tradition of which there are some surviving examples. For example the Old English poem Beowulf is related to a Legendary Saga in Icelandic both of which almost certainly descend from a older Scandinavian poetic source.