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Fantasy lore 101
Feb. 2nd, 2012 12:27 amHey RPG/gaming people! Help!
In my urban fantasy novel, I have a scene in which my characters, a group of gaming nerds, are brainstorming a supernatural creature's identity (what kind of creature it is, I mean) based on the handful of clues they've already picked up on.
The most obvious answer is the correct one, and it's obvious to them as well, but I need some ideas for other possibilities that they toss out there. Most of their knowledge of mythology comes from tabletop and online RPG game settings, so it's going to be slightly skewed. *g* I have done some gaming, but not recently and not in enough depth to remember the creature supplements well enough to come up with ideas.
The clues they have are:
- It can't touch iron
- It has to tell the truth to humans
- It's several hundred years old, at least
- It uses illusion to make itself beautiful
What I'd really like are specific things (rather than just "elf", say, a specific kind). The more esoteric and geekily specific, the better, especially if you can also tell me what game it comes from! These options don't have to fit all the evidence; in fact, since it's supposed to be a brainstorming session, it's best if some of them are really obvious wrong answers. I just need more specific creatures than "fairy", "ghost", "witch", which are the ones that I plugged into the rough draft.
(Anything that was probably created for a particular game system and is therefore under copyright will need to be left out or changed, but don't let that stop you from suggesting it; at the very least, it'll give me ideas.)
ETA: Thank you, guys! This was immensely helpful, and I've got my scene written now. :)
In my urban fantasy novel, I have a scene in which my characters, a group of gaming nerds, are brainstorming a supernatural creature's identity (what kind of creature it is, I mean) based on the handful of clues they've already picked up on.
The most obvious answer is the correct one, and it's obvious to them as well, but I need some ideas for other possibilities that they toss out there. Most of their knowledge of mythology comes from tabletop and online RPG game settings, so it's going to be slightly skewed. *g* I have done some gaming, but not recently and not in enough depth to remember the creature supplements well enough to come up with ideas.
The clues they have are:
- It can't touch iron
- It has to tell the truth to humans
- It's several hundred years old, at least
- It uses illusion to make itself beautiful
What I'd really like are specific things (rather than just "elf", say, a specific kind). The more esoteric and geekily specific, the better, especially if you can also tell me what game it comes from! These options don't have to fit all the evidence; in fact, since it's supposed to be a brainstorming session, it's best if some of them are really obvious wrong answers. I just need more specific creatures than "fairy", "ghost", "witch", which are the ones that I plugged into the rough draft.
(Anything that was probably created for a particular game system and is therefore under copyright will need to be left out or changed, but don't let that stop you from suggesting it; at the very least, it'll give me ideas.)
ETA: Thank you, guys! This was immensely helpful, and I've got my scene written now. :)
