Jürgen Hubert@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social
I've often been asked if I wanted to produce some #ttrpg material based on my research of German #folklore , and in fact I have often thought of that myself. Considering my time constraints, this is currently nothing more than a fantasy - but it is fun to think about.
One important question is the setting. There are two main opinions:
(a) An entirely fictional "fantasy counterpart" version of Germany - the approach taken by #Brancalonia and #WFRP .
(b) A real world historical period, but with added fantastical elements.
For (b), I think the aftermath of major wars would be best, since that would offer the most opportunities for stereotypical "roving bands of adventurers" as player characters, with the PCs likely being war veterans (the war themselves would likely be too bleak for much of the folkloric whimsy).
The best periods I can think of are the aftermaths of the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars. The latter would be more authentic to the folk tales, since most of the folk tales were written down in the 19th century. The former, on the other hand, would allow for more fantastic stories, since they were set longer ago. But I do think the setting should be within the Modern Era, and not the Middle Ages, since the folklore would have been too different back then.
What are your thoughts on this? How would you conceptualize a setting based on German folklore?
L. B. Heuschkel@lbheuschkel@helvede.net
@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social Did similar thinking for my novel writing. The problem with RPG in this setting is that most of these stories aren't mysteries to be solved -- they're warnings or instructions, information passed from generation to generation. In some cases, social control.
A historic setting where all magic can be true if you're skilled enough or believe enough, can be a very exciting place. But it's people who drive the story -- the magic is window dressing still.