Glenn is playing the hits! Thieves' World was HUGE in my mid-80's RPG group. I think my brother's friend Derek got it originally, and it and Tales From The Vulgar Unicorn (possibly the greatest book title ever) got passed around to everyone in the crew.
Right from the start, Cappen Varra has a big Han Solo-style charming rogue style, and I love him for it. Charming rogues are my favorite kinds of (anti-)heroes. “In Caronne, where he grew up, most folk had no use for magic. In his later wanderings he had encountered sufficient strangeness to temper his native skepticism.” Pretty much, “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.”
“Civilization was old in Ilsig when Ranke was still a barbarian village...” Classic sword & sorcery trope of the ancient civilization, lost to barbarian invaders. Straight from Kull or Conan.
I picked up the first Thieves' World anthology in the early 80s and I LOVED that version of fantasy. Had a huge impact on my D&D group when I shared it around. Some great characters (Jubal!) and an awesome setting. I'm not sure I was aware until this episode that Poul Anderson wrote novels that led to this anthology. I've read stories by him going way back but only in the last ten years have I read any novels by him.
I also remember getting to the third anthology and being pissed about some of the stories and never reading another one. 😆
The older Cappen Varra story that was discussed
The Valor of Cappen Varra
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29542/29542-h/29542-h.htm
Enjoyed the crossover with dicegeeks.com podcast.
You said that Jamie (Cappen Varra's warrior friend) was modeled on a Viking, but I figured he was a Scot, not a Viking. One of his favored weapons is a claymore.