Well, I'm no Lawspeaker, but here's a quick and rough guide to them, Viking style. Leaving out the cases where B's family is too weak to seek redress, or A is too powerful to care, then wergild is always due. The two extremes occur often enough, but they're the same as saying that there is no wergild.
When the parties are more evenly matched, wergild must be paid by someone to avoid a blood-feud. If A was attacked by B, he can take the precaution of posthumously declaring B an outlaw, for whom no wergild need by paid. If circumstances won't allow this, he can still claim a partial wergild from B for making the attack. This reduces the amount A must pay. If A was wounded, this entitles him to another partial wergild from B, the size depending on the severity of the wound. If A has a friend C with him, who is also killed in the fight, A can set C's death off against B's, and actually collect wergild from B's kin for B's attack.
Even if A does the attacking, he can use any wounds he received to offset the price he must pay. He may even be able to use the excuse of justifiable homicide to decrease the fine.
There was a more or less set basic wergild, but it could be raised or lowered due to mitigating or aggravating circumstances. And if several people were involved in a fight, the calculations could get very complicated indeed. And while there was a general standard, the aggrieved party might demand the right to set their own wergild. It even happened that the offending party might offer such a right.
All in all, wergild is a great idea for use within a clan/tribe/kingdom setting, but it could cause real problems for adventurers far from home. Their best bet would be to run fast and far, because they'd probably only be offered the option of blood-feud.
The best source IMO for the wergild in action is "Njals Saga", which is also a good place to learn about the Viking legal system. Being written a couple of hundred years after the fact, it's not necessarily accurate, but it's certainly close enough for role-playing.
Ed Tonry
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