Disney in the Mists
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:42 pm
So, a long time ago, while I was still a new, struggling DM, a friend of mine offered me a piece of advice.
"Jim, everything doesn't have to be original. Your game isn't going to get shut down for violating copyright laws, and no one's going to care if you rip off someone else's story, so long as we all still have fun."
Best. DM. Advice. Ever. My games improved dramatically after that. I'm generally not going to steal another DM's plot, or the storyline to a popular movie, (generally) but I no longer have any compunctions about ripping off obscure literature, film, or television ideas that I find intriguing.
In any event, after the birth of my first child, I found that myself with little to no time to plan game, so I started winging stuff a bit more, or recycling old ideas from games these players never participated in. At some point, I wound up ripping off a Disney film. And that's when I realized how awesome Disney movies are when you do a little fine tuning and turn them into Ravenloft plots.
First up was Hunchback of Notre Dame. ('But it was a French novel first!' you say. And you're right, but my version had gargoyle minions, so it definitely qualifies as a Disney ripoff.) It all went down in Port-a-Lucine, with Armand Pineau playing the part of the cardinal. (My game is set a little later, so he has ascended to the head of the faith.) A number of grisly murders around town began terrifying everyone, especially since they seemed to be targeted in and around the street prostitutes. Eventually, the truth comes out, and Pineau's adopted (Caliban, of course) son is pointed out as the culprit. He's been killing people who have threatened or inconvenienced his long-distance crush, a gypsy hooker. To the dismay of the PCs who go to confront him, however, the gypsy has discovered her secret admirer, and joined with him!
I ended up increasing the size of Ste. Mere de Larmes for this one, so that there could be a climactic battle on the rooftop. It was pretty successful.
So I did it again. A couple of months later, I went back to the Happiest Watering Hole on Earth, for more plundered ideas. This time it was The Little Mermaid. Once again informed by the original source, it wound up being some pretty sweet material. The group found a woman wandering alone, and sussed out that she was a mermaid who had given up her voice to seek her soulmate on land, and that unless he chose to spend the rest of his life (and half his soul!) with her, she would dissolve into sea foam. (One of the PCs has a follower who is a bard--specifically for this kind of exposition.)
Of course, the man in question is ALREADY engaged. And he's a jerk, who doesn't care that his cadding around is going to get this poor girl killed. ("Why does it matter? You already told me--she doesn't even have a soul.") And of course there's the sea witch to contend with, who doesn't want the players interfering with her plan to steal the rest of the mermaid's immortality. Eventually, one of the PCs chose to marry the mermaid instead, (gaining a powerful follower in the process).
In ANY event, to make a long story longer, I think I'm going to do it again. I had an epiphany the other day while watching something about Dustin Hoffman.
How is Peter Pan and Never-Never Land not ALREADY a Ravenloft domain?! I mean, seriously. Immortal, sinister child who kidnaps people and is locked in eternal conflict with a man who may or may not represent the child's adult self, all while the adult is being pursued by a thinly veiled metaphor for his own mortality, in a conflict that just drips with allusions to the internal conflicts between childish and adult desires during maturation, and all of this set in an island isolated by mists? Seriously, how is this not already a domain?!
That, I think, is my next project. The only question is whether to make Peter or Hook the Darklord. (Or perhaps some conjoined deal, like Adam and Mordenheim.)
What do you guys think? Peter Pan a good source to steal from? Any other Disney flicks you think would make good source material?
"Jim, everything doesn't have to be original. Your game isn't going to get shut down for violating copyright laws, and no one's going to care if you rip off someone else's story, so long as we all still have fun."
Best. DM. Advice. Ever. My games improved dramatically after that. I'm generally not going to steal another DM's plot, or the storyline to a popular movie, (generally) but I no longer have any compunctions about ripping off obscure literature, film, or television ideas that I find intriguing.
In any event, after the birth of my first child, I found that myself with little to no time to plan game, so I started winging stuff a bit more, or recycling old ideas from games these players never participated in. At some point, I wound up ripping off a Disney film. And that's when I realized how awesome Disney movies are when you do a little fine tuning and turn them into Ravenloft plots.
First up was Hunchback of Notre Dame. ('But it was a French novel first!' you say. And you're right, but my version had gargoyle minions, so it definitely qualifies as a Disney ripoff.) It all went down in Port-a-Lucine, with Armand Pineau playing the part of the cardinal. (My game is set a little later, so he has ascended to the head of the faith.) A number of grisly murders around town began terrifying everyone, especially since they seemed to be targeted in and around the street prostitutes. Eventually, the truth comes out, and Pineau's adopted (Caliban, of course) son is pointed out as the culprit. He's been killing people who have threatened or inconvenienced his long-distance crush, a gypsy hooker. To the dismay of the PCs who go to confront him, however, the gypsy has discovered her secret admirer, and joined with him!
I ended up increasing the size of Ste. Mere de Larmes for this one, so that there could be a climactic battle on the rooftop. It was pretty successful.
So I did it again. A couple of months later, I went back to the Happiest Watering Hole on Earth, for more plundered ideas. This time it was The Little Mermaid. Once again informed by the original source, it wound up being some pretty sweet material. The group found a woman wandering alone, and sussed out that she was a mermaid who had given up her voice to seek her soulmate on land, and that unless he chose to spend the rest of his life (and half his soul!) with her, she would dissolve into sea foam. (One of the PCs has a follower who is a bard--specifically for this kind of exposition.)
Of course, the man in question is ALREADY engaged. And he's a jerk, who doesn't care that his cadding around is going to get this poor girl killed. ("Why does it matter? You already told me--she doesn't even have a soul.") And of course there's the sea witch to contend with, who doesn't want the players interfering with her plan to steal the rest of the mermaid's immortality. Eventually, one of the PCs chose to marry the mermaid instead, (gaining a powerful follower in the process).
In ANY event, to make a long story longer, I think I'm going to do it again. I had an epiphany the other day while watching something about Dustin Hoffman.
How is Peter Pan and Never-Never Land not ALREADY a Ravenloft domain?! I mean, seriously. Immortal, sinister child who kidnaps people and is locked in eternal conflict with a man who may or may not represent the child's adult self, all while the adult is being pursued by a thinly veiled metaphor for his own mortality, in a conflict that just drips with allusions to the internal conflicts between childish and adult desires during maturation, and all of this set in an island isolated by mists? Seriously, how is this not already a domain?!
That, I think, is my next project. The only question is whether to make Peter or Hook the Darklord. (Or perhaps some conjoined deal, like Adam and Mordenheim.)
What do you guys think? Peter Pan a good source to steal from? Any other Disney flicks you think would make good source material?
: Trapping people in the 'It's a Small World' ride at Di$neyland. Boy, you ARE evil, Dr. D.