Do you have children? Then you’ve probably already seen that sparkle, that glint in their eyes, seconds before they come up with a joke, a mischievous little girl, before they paint Princess Lilifee on the walls in the living room, practise tying knots with your shoelaces, clean the windows with Penaten cream or, in keeping with the season, throw a snowball at your neck (I was a naughty child). That glint in your eye… that’s him… the mischief in your neck!
Etymologically speaking, we are dealing here with a farmer or farm labourer. The word „Schalk“ probably comes from the Latin „scalcius“ (= barefoot) and „di scalceatus“ (= without shoes) and means something like farm labourer. Incidentally, the word „Schalk“ is related to „Seneschall“ (old servant, i.e. something like an old, deserving servant and supervisor of the servants = steward) and Marscharl l (originally the horse servant, later as field marshal leader of his employer’s army). The original idiom that someone had a mischievous look in their eyes probably only meant that the person’s status as a servant could be recognised.
However, people seem to have had problems with mischievous, rebellious servants with a tendency to make crude jokes since the 16th century at the latest, when the mischievous creature on the neck became a metaphor for this very behaviour. Sometimes the prankster became a demonic, mischievous creature that latches onto the necks of innocent victims and drives them to reprehensible deeds… and we are already at the Aufhockern , a group of goblins, ghosts and demons that make German legends and Thai horror films unsafe.
In short, stools are creatures of transition. They lurk at streams, bridges, lakes, forests, ditches, crossroads, hollow paths, cemeteries and murder or execution sites, i.e. all places of transition between one world (the world of order, the living, the cities) and another (chaos, the dead, the wilderness). They are waiting for the unwary traveller, jump invisibly into his neck or appear as old men who ask the traveller to carry them on his back for a while and cause him mental or physical harm. Sometimes even fatal damage. For me, the whole devil’s pact story (see the legend of Robert Johnson) resonates a little in such legends at , as well as the fear of revenants, of course, but above all an attempt to explain epidemics or assassinations (I suspect the plague, tuberculosis and typhus). There are dozens of such figures in German legends, from the Drud here in Bavaria to the Huckup in Hildesheim and the Bachkalb from Aachen. Even Sindbard has to deal with such a creature during his fifth journey.
According to the legends, prayers, a praise-to-Jesus-Christ, a silver cross on the forehead of the prostrate person or wine, with which one intoxicates the creature until it falls off, usually help against prostration.
And what does this digression do for the role-playing game? A new goblin for DSA, for example:
Spells: Visibili 12, Look into the mind 8, Own stupidity 7, Great greed 8, Imperavi 10
Quantity: 1
Size category: small
Type: supernatural being and culture creator, humanoid
Prey: none
Fighting behaviour: Schalk do not fight physically (at most they sometimes bite and kick). They have an astonishing number of spells with which they can circumvent any fight or turn it into a farce.
Escape: individual
Magic Lore (Magical Beings) or Sphere Lore (Sphere Beings):
#Q 1: Schalk are goblins and therefore fairy-like creatures who only have malicious nonsense on their minds.
#Q 2: They lie in wait for travellers at places of passage, then perch on their victim’s neck and seduce them into evil deeds.
#Q 3+: If you know the true name of a Schalk, you have power over it. A prayer to Praios, the stern gaze of a Firun or Boron devotee and holy garlic will banish him.
Special rules:
Instant magical regeneration: The Schalk can draw magic from the air and do so automatically when casting spells. They regenerate 1D6 AsP at the end of a KR.
This month is crying out for a new monster! And what better monster than a pilot’s nightmare come true (from the early days of aviation)? The Gremlin!
Unlike most of the monsters I have introduced in my monster handbook, the Gremlin is a recent invention, just 100 years old. The Gremlin was probably invented by the pilots of the Royal Air Force. There it served as a kind of accident devil. A creature that could be blamed for accidents, technical defects and material fatigue. In WWII in particular, there were plenty of accidents and technical problems that could be attributed to Gremlins, but which were actually caused by fatigue, stress, drugs and the like.
A Starfleet captain made the Gremlin known to the general public. In an episode of the Twilight Zone, W. Shatner played a passenger who was able to observe the goings-on of a Gremlin from his window and slowly but surely went crazy. The Simpsons parodied this. The Gremlins films then gave Gremlins their appearance: small, green-skinned, nasty goblins.
More great info on Gremlins can be found over at Hoaxilla, including the link to the Twilight Zone episode.
Gremlin in the role-playing game
As Gremlin is a goblin with an affinity for technology and mechanics, it’s not much use for classic fantasy settings. High fantasy… ok, just about, steampunk and dieselpunk… yes, hit. WW scenarios… home game. I once developed the Beutelschneider system here as a universal system for a Gremlin.
Gremlin 2 red marbles, 3 green marbles, 3 blue marbles, 1 white marble, 1 black marble
Invisibility: Draw three marbles. If all the marbles are blue, the Gremlin is complete and invisible to everyone else. If two marbles are blue, all of Gremlin’s opponents draw three marbles. If there is at least one blue marble, Gremlin remains visible to these opponents. If there is only one or no blue marble, the Gremlin remains visible.
Destroy technology: Draw three marbles. For each blue marble drawn, place a black marble in the bag of a technical construct. If there is a black marble among the marbles drawn, place a black marble in the Gremlin’s bag. If three black marbles have been drawn, put a black marble in the bag of the technical construct and destroy the Gremlin.
I’ve just watched Tucker and Dale vs Evil. It’s a great film and an ingenious, warm-hearted but also splatteringly bloody parody of teen horror films and the whole Backwood genre . Backwood is a type of horror film in which some guys from the city get stranded in the middle of nowhere and then have to defend themselves against incestuous, mutated, cannibalistic country bumpkins, hillbillies. Wikipedia lists a whole 40 films that belong to this genre. Frankenstein, no, better Frankenstein’s monster, after all a veteran of horror, only makes it to 33 films and the mummy is a distant second (15 films). Actually, when you get right down to it, Backwood is a sub-category of the slasher flicks (Wrong Turn at least appears in both lists).
Anyway, a few interesting questions now arise: Why are the city dwellers so scared of us country bumpkins (we just want to play )? Are hillbillies any good as opponents or heroine characters and what the hell are hillbillies anyway? And how can I interpret the whole thing in a new and exciting way?
Hillbilly, redneck and waidler – definition of the terms
Before we start defining the individual terms: These are all external ascriptions. Someone else has labelled a certain group as hillbillies, rednecks or whatever. The groups then adopted the external attribution and turned it into a group identity. The foreign attributions are also relatively recent, from around the end of the 19th century. Before that, this attribution did not exist because almost the entire population of the USA and, in the case of the Waidler, Bavaria lived similarly (poor). The attribution was also a characterisation that was based on city dwellers and described country dwellers.
Hillbilly: The word hillbilly first appeared in The Railroad Trainmen’s Journal (vol. IX, July 1892) and a few years later the term was used in the New York Journal as a
[…] a free and untrammeled white citizen of Tennessee, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him“ Source
defined. The word itself is probably a reference to the fact that they are the descendants of Scots who fled Highlandsto the in the 1660s and supported King Billy. Hillbillies are the inhabitants of the Appalachians and Ozarks, especially those from Tennessee and Alabama
Redneck: The word describes people whose necks have been burnt by the sun while working in the fields. Geographically, it refers to residents of the southern states of the USA, especially Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Kansas. Today, the term redneck is no longer necessarily associated with a poor, less educated lower class, but rather with a middle class that has developed its own sense of status.
Cracker: On the plantations in the south of the USA, there were white overseers who often liked to crack the whip. After the American Civil War, they were unemployed. They developed into crackers, named after the whip they wielded. The word cracker was not only used to describe former slave drivers, in Georgia and Florida the term was also used to show that one’s own family had lived here for generations.
Waidler: And here’s a Bavarian, rural personal attribution. I’m using it here because it has similarities to the hillbillies and is intended to demonstrate that the ideas behind the concepts can also be applied in Germany. Waidler are the inhabitants of the Bavarian Forest. For me as a Gaibonbiffe (disparaging term for all inhabitants of the Gäuboden), the Bavarian Forest begins beyond the Danube, the people of Parkstetten and Bogen have identified Viechtach as the border, Deggendorf calls itself the gateway to the Bavarian Forest and the people of Engelmar can no longer deny that they are Waidler. Waidler are rude, stubborn people who speak an incomprehensible language (for Bavarians, that is; Bavarian must sound incomprehensible to Fischköpf) and have wild customs. They also brew a terrible schnapps. They are not stupid, but in order not to be poor, they commute to Regensburg, Dingolfing and Munich on weekdays.
City dweller vs. country bumpkin – the horror of rural life
At the moment, it seems to be a kind of idealised dream among city dwellers to move to the country. As a country bumpkin, I can understand it, country life is really nice. Space, peace and quiet, community, tamed nature (at least in Germany)…
But I can also understand those who have fled to the city to escape life in the country. After all, country life has a few horrors in store, which are thematised in exaggerated form in the backwoods films.
When Billy and his cousin – incest and family ties
This clinching is true… in part. Not so much the incest thing, which may have existed in Hinterkaifeck in the past, but rather the family ties. In my home village, before the new settlement was built, there were three large family clans to which most people in the village were somehow related. My grandmother memorised family relationships down to the cousin of her aunt’s nephew’s brother-in-law. Her husband, my grandfather, was a Bukovina German who came to Bavaria as a refugee. He did genealogical research and would have traced the family tree back 200 years, including all the side branches.
Foreigners vs. long-established residents
Foreigners (be they city dwellers or refugees or even Prussians) find it difficult to integrate into a village. Everyone is somehow related to everyone else and has known each other since childhood. Strangers first have to show who they are and get to know the others. The biggest mistake the newcomers can make is to wait for the country bumpkins to approach them. Why should they? If necessary, you can manage without the strangers.
Tips from a landing egg for village immigrants
Go to the fire brigade. There is hardly such an integrating force as a bottle of beer after the exercise.
Get to know your neighbours and let your neighbours get to know you.
Take part in festivals, whether profane or religious.
Buy local, as far as possible.
Get to know the surroundings of the village.
Individual vs. collective
This is the conclusion from the first two points, so to speak, and probably also the reason why many of my homosexual and transsexual friends have fled from the villages to the cities. It’s possible to be an individual in a village, but you’re still a part of it because of family ties or simply because you grew up in the village and everyone knows who you are (in our village, the question is: „Yes, where do you belong?“). The older ones ask which family you belong to and who your parents are. Children learn to answer this question at an early age). The disadvantage, however, is that the whole village has probably seen you drunk or knows what a snot you used to be. This is certainly not easy for those who deviate from the norm (please don’t take this negatively). Such closeness can overwhelm you.
The gentle reader may object that I have described villages so far, but Letherface and co. live in lonely huts somewhere in the wilderness. Yes, that’s true. But even Letherface can’t produce everything he needs to live on his own and needs an infrastructure in the background. Clothes, canned beer, medicine… Letherface also has to communicate with the environment in order to survive. In some of the backwoods films, sheriffs or shopkeepers support the murderous hillbillies. Completely self-sufficient groups or families who have no connection at all to any kind of village life are likely to be crass outsiders, even among backwoodsmen.
Strange customs
The Waidler and the Bavarian Forest are a treasure trove of strange customs. In one place Rauhwuggerl are driven, in a neighbouring village wolves are hunted for, there a slain saint is sought, elsewhere people ride on horseback to pilgrimages either to Georgi or to Leonhard. Or a spruce wrapped in wax across Bavaria is carried and the last few metres up a hill. Not to mention the Corpus Christi procession, various parades and other (religious) customs. Many of these traditions are incomprehensible to foreigners. Foreign. Mysterious. Threatening. They primarily serve the cohesion of a village. Those who do not join in the celebrations are not part of the community.
Two more comments on this: Firstly, I am aware that there are also strange old customs in some cities. But by no means in every city, as these customs need a certain amount of time and a certain social cohesion in order to grow. They are a reflection of a past time and a past community. And yes, there are also customs that are more than 20 years old, but they too have grown and are a reflection of the society that created them. My main concern is that these customs are strange or even bizarre to outsiders.
Hillbillies and rednecks also have such customs. The annual chilli festival somewhere in Texas, Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney or a battle for some godforsaken hill during the Civil War, including getting drunk on Negro kiss schnapps … nothing is so crazy that it doesn’t exist on this planet.
Guns and beer – the weapons of a hillbilly
Hillbillies and rednecks without guns? Unimaginable. Of course, a real hillbilly needs an AR-15 and a Reminton 870 . And a good old double-barrelled shotgun. A triplet. And a revolver, from granddaddy Abraham.
Even if some city dwellers may not believe it, hunting is part of rural life. Here in Bavaria it’s less to ensure food security and more to decimate pests, but in the USA things are a little different (hunting is cited there alongside the 2nd Amendment as a reason for the right to bear arms). If you are indifferent to hunting, I recommend that you visit a hunter, ask him for a wild boar salami or sausages and cevapcici made from deer or venison, prepare them and enjoy them. Dear Franconians, with your three in the Weckla you can pack your bags when a venison sausage is on the barbecue. By the way… good barbecue food doesn’t need sauces, the flavour of the meat alone is enough.
As for the accusation that we country bumpkins consume a lot of alcohol… Beer is a very ingenious, flavourful drink…
Welcome to the horror – hillbillies as monsters
Hillbillies as monsters / enemies are well established in the Backwoods films. There are cannibals, incestuous mutants, chainsaw-wielding psychopaths… all familiar. Hillbillies also lend themselves to cultists who worship Shub-Niggurath (or adhere to another cult) and do unspeakable things in the woods. A hillbilly mafia is also a way to present the country bumpkins as an enemy. Remote barns or self-dug bunkers in the woods are a good place to distil moonshine or cook meth.
It should not be forgotten that the enemies are rooted in the area and that the population of the rescuing village may be related to / friends with the hillbilly opponents. There’s nothing like the look on the players‘ faces when they realise that all the deputies are related to the cultists from the forest and that they’ve just checked the number plates of the heroine’s broken-down car…
„These are my cousins Jack, John-Boy and Jim… they’re going to help us!“ – A hillbilly as heroine
Hillbilly heroines should have huge advantages in their home region. Not only should they be very familiar with the area (after all, they grew up there), have certain natural skills (woodworking, hunting and fishing skills, basic botany), they should also be socially rooted there.
In terms of rules, this could translate into a kind of Minions. No matter what the heroine wants to do, she always knows 1W10 relatives, friends or former lovers who are immediately ready to get their shotgun out of the cupboard and stand by her side. All it takes is a phone call or a visit to Uncle Billy. Of course, the relatives also want to be paid… in beer, schnapps and BBQ or a favour that triggers a side quest. The latter means that you have to use the hillbilly connection wisely, otherwise you’ll suddenly have 10 side quests on your hands and lose the central theme of the game, which imho also exists in a sandbox.
The fascination of landing ice – a brief summary
What is the fascination of land ice cream? To be honest, as a country bumpkin, I don’t know. But I could imagine that you city dwellers out there are envious of us. Of our culture, of our family ties, of our healthy, savoury country air…
Your envy has led to hillbillies always being the bad guys in backwoods films. Fair enough. It’s also a cool idea to equip the enemies with social contacts to the „normal population“ (vulgo NPCs) and thus make every NPC a potential hillbilly opponent. The forest or wilderness as the setting is the canvas for the whole thing. The focus here is on remoteness and the lack of resources. The hillbillies know their way around the area, they know where to get medicine and food or ammunition.
Oh well… this post is of course another role-playing breakfast. In keeping with the theme:
Role-player breakfast: white sausages with sweet mustard, a pretzel and a nice wheat beer.
Soadla, I’ve finally done it. I’ve finished Rebuild the Dungeon. This is my version of the dungeon from Заклятье Черного Mага. The dungeon was written according to DSA1 rules, but it can easily be adapted for other OSR systems.
Soadla, jetzt ist es so weit. Ich bin mit dem Dungeon Rebuild fertig. Hier meine Version des Friedhofs aus Заклятье Черного Mага. Der Dungeon wurde nach DSA1 Regeln geschrieben, ist aber leicht für andere OSR-Systeme adaptierbar.
Today, my non-German-speaking readers, you are in for a special treat. The reason for this is a video by The Fantasy Forge, which was uploaded on 17 December 2025. It is about how to create cults for your roleplaying group that are not immediately recognisable as ‘evil’. For almost exactly 7 years ago, I came up with a cult like this. The reason for this was a different German-language blog that invited role-players to a breakfast and raised the idea of a cult for which a very specific time of day is important. The cult that I have developed here is not necessarily evil. At first glance, it may even seem harmless or can serve as a quest giver for the heroes. The evil lurks beneath the surface, in dealing with those of different faiths or beings that are more nocturnal (or have dark sight). The evil lurks in the depths of the teachings, in the disputes over the correct interpretation and the correct worship. The evil is very subtle…. muharharar!
What happens when people adopt religious concepts from other races that are completely different to them in thought and body? They mix things up, abbreviate important beliefs and overwrite concepts that are incomprehensible to them with easily understandable generalisations. The result, at least in Rakshazar, is a new cult that no longer has much to do with its origins.
The origin: The religion of the Tharai
The world of belief of the Tharai, also known as stone lizards, combines a primal, threatening world view of a world sphere surrounded by primordial fire with archaic belief in spirits and a dualistic basic principle in the form of an all-determining pair of spirits. According to their conception, the sun is the all-destroying maw of a huge volcano through which one can look directly into the fires surrounding the world. The canopy of the sky – like a cloak of shadow, cold and darkness – defies this fire with all its might, but at the same time tries to shroud everything in eternal night. In addition to the great maw that spins across the sky, they also see the stars as holes in the shadowy mantle of the heavens, through which the light of the eternal fire shimmers and thus breaks through the darkness. The Tharai interpret this world view as an eternal battle between the two principles of light and darkness, heat and cold, which is fought out everywhere in this world. These two principles are personified in the highest purity as the two great spirits: the fire spirit Frissis (Fff-r’ssis) and the dark night spirit and moon shadow Fsx (Fff’Sfx). They represent all that is good and all that is bad in equal measure, each bringing death and destruction on their own, whether through cold and darkness or through fire and blinding light. It is only through their perpetual duel and the resulting mixture and balance of their two principles that perfect existence is created. According to their belief, the constant duel, in which the battle constantly surges back and forth and sometimes one has the upper hand, sometimes the other, is also the cause of almost all cyclical changes that can be observed in the surrounding nature, above all the change of day and night and the course of the seasons. In the eyes of the stone lizards, therefore, the greatest threat to the deric creation is also the lack of struggle. This also explains why, despite the complexity of the Tharai language, there is not a single suitable word for peace. The word that comes closest is „Tha’ci“, which literally translates as „a state without fighting“, but in the everyday language of the Tharai stands for death, annihilation and destruction. Accordingly, the Stone Lizards see the annual „Time of Tha’ci“ as their greatest test. Once a year, the great spirits interrupt their constant battle for five long days. During this time, in which the spirits take turns dominating each other, Frissi’s sunfire burns relentlessly for five long days, interrupted by five nights in which Fsx’s cloak of darkness seems to have „shaken off“ most of the star holes and the astral rivers go crazy. During this time, the Tharai recognise the danger posed by peace and the one-sidedness of the different principles, for then the souls and spirits fall into madness, the forces of nature degenerate, the scales of the spirit dancers turn crimson red and many an egg from the clutch begins to rot. In the beliefs of the stone lizards, every living being and every object has a Sfff’x, which means idea, being, mirror, spirit or soul. The Tharai are – according to their own conviction – able to recognise the Sfff’x of all objects and living beings thanks to their keen sense of all things magical. They even believe they can perceive imbalances in the Sfff’x caused by illness or prolonged contact with spirit beings. This is why the magically gifted spirit dancers, the shamans of the stone lizards, can often be seen calling the spirits away from the camp in the early hours of the morning and before sunset: they ask the spirits to enter their bodies and take part in the clan’s daily disputes. During the course of the day or night, those possessed in this way constantly start arguments. By the next dawn, the possession is over again and the ghost dancers fall into a deep sleep that lasts for hours. Twirling sticks are used as an aid in all rituals, especially when calling the spirits. The shrill sounds of the twirling woods are said to attract and lull the spirits.
The cult of the rising sun: when breakfast becomes a church service
The idea of the constant battle between light and darkness immediately fell on fertile ground with the Sanskitars, especially as their beliefs also included such a battling pair of gods, the sky god Braiorag and the earth god Ongferan, who vied for the favour of the fertility goddess Ipkara. Their stone lizards, mostly kept as skaven, observed early morning rituals, often during breakfast. As the slaves spoke Gmer poorly and the masters hardly spoke the language of the stone lizards, there was an effective mixing of the worlds of faith. The cult of the rising sun worships Braiorag, the god of the sun and fire. Every morning he returns exhausted from the underworld where he is in constant battle with Fiss Ongferan, the god beneath the earth, god of all death, monsters and darkness. Braiorag’s wife, the goddess Ipkara, prepares a proper breakfast for her returning husband. To the sound of harps and singing, fortified with meat, eggs, fish, vegetables and wine, Braiorag ascends to his throne, reigns for half a day (the afternoon hours) and then returns to battle against his adversary. The most important task of the cult, however, is to celebrate the morning hours extensively and have a good breakfast, as Braiorag has returned from the realm of night and death and now his siphon, his soul power, must be strengthened so that he can take up the fight again. The god’s soul power is strengthened by rich food and drink, the sound of harps, laughter and dancing. However, all gloomy thoughts at dawn, fasting and starvation or even quarrelling, fighting and resentment diminish Braiorag’s power. Aspects: Breakfast, sunrise, morning, sun, light, fire Pantheon: Sanskritic sect Creation doctrine: none specific. Where Braiorag, Fiss Ongferan or Ipkara come from is not specified. Distribution: The cult is very small and comprises a maximum of 300 followers, almost all of whom belong to the urban upper class. Only they can afford to feast and drink from early morning until midday without working. The city in which the cult is active can be freely chosen. Worldly tasks: Eating breakfast to keep the world running Important temples: The cult has no temples in the conventional sense. Religious life takes place every morning at the breakfast buffet. Holidays: the equinoxes Offerings: a proper, rich, extensive breakfast with the sound of harps. Political influence: Indirectly great, as most members of the cult belong to the upper class. However, it has not yet been observed that the members interfere in politics. As the breakfast buffets are often eaten together, it is hardly surprising that many a political intrigue has started here. Hierarchy: Hardly pronounced. The cult is led by a head, the taster. However, his task is only to preserve and pass on the mythology of the cult. The respective heads of household, who must be appointed by the taster, are responsible for the cult acts at the breakfast table. Tolerance towards people of other faiths: Surprisingly low, especially against cults whose religious acts take place at night, in the dark or underground. Also against people who enjoy themselves in the evening or at night or who are nocturnal. According to the cult’s beliefs, these are all worshippers of Fiss Ongferan. Enemy images: Night, darkness, cult acts or celebrations after the setting of the sun, undead, death Teachings of the cult: Eat, dance and rejoice in the morning to strengthen the ooze of the god Braiorag. This is the only way he can win the battle against Fiss Ongferan and shine again as a new sun in the sky the next day. Objectives of the cult: To eat breakfast as long, lavishly and lavishly as your wallet will allow. Image of the afterlife: Although the cult has been around for several generations, its image of the afterlife is strangely blurred. While some believe that the dead become stars that support Braiorag in the fight against the Lord of the Night, others believe in an eternal breakfast table. World view: Breakfast is the most important event of the day. There is no morning without a good breakfast. The cult members therefore save the world from destruction. Image of man: They see themselves as the elite and only recognise other people if they can afford to eat an extensive breakfast. Strongest argument: Yesterday we had breakfast, today the sun came up. So eat and celebrate so that there will be a tomorrow. Image of the faith among the population: Followers of the cult of the rising sun are often perceived by the population as rich, spoilt scroungers who can afford to eat from sunrise to midday and not work. Temple guards and military influence: There are no temple guards in the cult, but there are bodyguards who protect the cult members at breakfast.
A typical breakfast: how the cult celebrates its festivities
Preparations for breakfast begin in the middle of the night. The house chefs bake, grill, set the table and tune their harbour. The first guests arrive about an hour before sunrise. They are greeted in silence by the hostess and led to an east-facing window or balcony. There they wait together until the first ray of sunshine appears on the horizon to loud cheers. Afterwards, they eat and drink what the Rakshazarian cuisine has to offer. Ale, wine, Lichii schnapps, rat on a spit, three-horned ham, testicles of the rare Shahanna tiger, soft-boiled Nagah eggs… the rightmost cult members even have the food coated in gold leaf. The slaves play harps, flutes and drums, dance naked in front of their masters and sing about breakfast and the power of the god Braiorag. As soon as the sun reaches its highest point, the cultists leave everything behind. Bites of bread rolls land on the plates, half-empty wine goblets are left standing. The company now make their way home and go about their worldly duties, the slaves clear the tables and make a mess of the leftovers.
Of croissants and human sacrifice: optional design options
Option: Underground in Teruldan The Cult of the Rising Sun is condemned to an underground existence in Teruldan, where the upper classes, and especially the Sultan himself, worship Uthar, the god of death. For the cultists, Uthar is just another name for Fiss Ongferan. The members of the cult are very careful not to let strangers into their celebrations. The guards who watch over the breakfasts have had their tongues cut out. The young sultan has put a considerable bounty on the head of the taster .
Option: Human sacrifice The cult has become radicalised and now practices human sacrifice. Option 1: Beautiful slaves are strangled and offered as burnt offerings to celebrate breakfast. Variant 2: Beautiful slaves are courted, even fattened up, during breakfast. In the evening, they are tied up outside the gates and left alone outside at night. They are supposed to attract the attention of all the evil lurking out there in the darkness with the sound of harps and singing. What is already dangerous in a city is even more so in the rural areas of Rakshazar. There, dark worms, ashogers, drakes and trolls lurk in the darkness. If the distraction manoeuvre, which is supposed to support the god Braiorag, does not survive the night, so be it. But if it does survive the night, it must hope that nothing has happened to the community. Otherwise its life is forfeit. However, if nothing has happened, the slave is freed. Variant 3: Similar to variant 2, people are sent into the darkness by the cult. This time, however, they are volunteers, fighters who are supposed to protect the cult’s shivering followers from the horrors of the night until the next morning. The reward is more silver, wine and slaves than the fighter against the darkness could ever dream of.
Option: Heretics and dividers A cultist from a nameless cult has become aware of the lavish breakfast buffets of the upper class. He/she attempts to infiltrate the Cult of the Rising Sun, change its teachings and plunge it into damnation. The following questions, which are still unresolved in the cult, are suitable starting points for the split:
When does the morning start? At sunrise, of course. However, the further away you are from the ground, the sun rises a few minutes earlier due to the curvature of the earth. On a nearby mountain, the difference may already be half an hour, especially if the town where the cult exists is located in a hollow or a valley. In the minds of the cultists of the Cult of the Rising Sun, this means a lot. If the celebrations start too early, they may even be paying homage to Fiss Ongferan[1], either by mistake or through ignorance.
What does life after death look like? At the moment, two schools of thought prevail in the cult of the rising sun: Some believe that they will partake of Braiorag’s eternal breakfast after death, others that they will become stars, comrades-in-arms in the battle against the darkness in the night sky. The taster has no advice here. The oral secrets of the cult are stubbornly silent on this point.
The cultist of the Nameless One could use the dispute to bring a third option into play: After death, you become breakfast yourself. In order to replicate this spiritual step in this world, the dead, prepared as pâté, should be eaten at breakfast. It is only a small step from eating those who have already died to real cannibalism in honour of the Nameless One…
Which food is hallal? There is also disagreement about this in the cult due to a lack of traditional rules. One group favours the idea that everything that grows underground is hallal, i.e. forbidden. The other group, however, does not want to do without delicious truffles, sweet turnips and savoury tubers. The old, ailing taster wants to settle the dispute during his lifetime and convenes a council[2].
For a delicious breakfast: adventures around the cult of the rising sun
Alone in the dark The heroes are approached by a member of the Cult of the Rising Sun and asked to join them at the next breakfast. There, the heroes are allowed to eat their fill of harbour sounds and are pampered until midday. Shortly before midday, they are told that they are expected to do something in return for breakfast. They are to keep watch in the neighbourhood throughout the night. What the heroes are not told, however, is that the neighbourhood is haunted at night by a horde of demons (1W3+2). The originator of the demon horde is a vengeful former member of the cult.
I just listened to the podwichtel post from Steamtinkerers Klönschnack. They were asked by the Gruftschrecken ‘What are your five music albums that can inspire roleplaying?’ and recorded a great, inspiring episode. Moritz from the Seifenkisten-Blog has now added his own mustard. In good old troll tradition, I now throw in my 5 albums that can inspire role-playing. For my non-German readers: during the Podwichtel, German role-playing podcasts ask other role-playing podcasts questions that they have to answer in an episode, preferably around Christmas time.
Demon The Unexpected Guest (1982)
My first album is really old school, good old metal from the early 80s. A kind of concept album that follows a story, the story of a demon summoning. Well, that’s not so surprising, since the band’s name is Dämon (demon). As an old metalhead, I love the driving guitar riffs, the fat sound, the melodies and the lyrics are ingenious, too. Each song on the album brings a different facet of an incantation into play. My favourite songs are Don’t break the Circle and Deliver Us From Evil.
Don’t break the circle
Don’t break the circle
Don’t break the circle
Don’t break the circle
Concentrate
I’m your contact link across the great divide
Many voices in my ear, hold on
I think there’s something coming through from the other side
It’s for all those who believe
The chain is stronger if the lifeline is unbroken
So beware the presence of the Unexpected Guest
Demon: Don’t break the Circle
Ayreon Into the Electic Casle (1998)
I bought the second album I want to present based on a recommendation in Rock Hard magazine. It got 10 out of 10 points, so it could only be good. Yes, it is. And it’s a concept album again. Arjen Lucassen brought everyone who was anyone in the scene into his studio for his third album (Sharon den Adel, Fish, Robert Westerholt…). A mysterious being (whose story is told in the following double album) kidnaps eight people from different places and times. To be released, they have to reach the electric castle. Unfortunately, one character after another crosses over on the way there. Basically, a DDC adventure almost writes itself.
My favourite songs are Amazing Flight, Across the Rainbow Bridge, Valley of the Queens and, of course, The Castle Hall. Man, did I shake my imaginary mat on that last one!
[Forever of the Stars (Peter Daltrey)]
At last! You enter the Electric Castle! Here, in this vast hall, where
Even shadows fear the light. Here, you must confront your past
If you have killed, beware the Gathering of Spirits
For they do fish for men. Here, the disembodied Astral World
Becomes flesh once more. I pity the men of swords
For here, blood runs cold…
[Barbarian (Jay van Feggelen)]
Cries from the grave resound in my ears…
They hail from beyond my darkest fears…
Faces of the past are etched in my brain…
The women I raped, the men I’ve slain!
Shades of the dead are sliding on the wall!
Demons dance in the castle hall…
Ayreaon: Castle Hall
HIM Razorblade Romance (2000)
Now it’s getting gothic. Or at least goth-pop. The album has a very special place in my heart. That’s when I fell in love with my wife and the album was often playing in my room in the evenings when we snuggled up together. For vampires or other urban-gothic-fantasy role-playing games with vampires, this is the right soundtrack.
Steppenwolf The Second (1968)
Back to the past, from the late 90s and the year of the big toilet into the 60s. In 1969, Easy Rider came out, a film that is rightly considered a cult and is the distillate of the hippie era. The film’s soundtrack included Magic Carpet Ride, which was on the B-side of the Steppenwolf album released the previous year. If you don’t know the 4 ½ minute song: that wouldn’t be a gap in your education, that’s an educational Grand Canyon. The album is something for headphones, time and a glass or two. Then the ideas for a travel adventure will come almost by themselves.
Gnome Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome (2024)
While we’re being old school, here’s a record that’s brand new but comes across as very old school. Stoner Rock, Krautrock. Raw, unfiltered, BASS! I have two videos for you here. The first is, of course, the link to the album
and here is the official music video for the first song, Old Soul
Watch the video. Don’t you want to roll some gnomes and throw them into a funnel or directly onto a campaign? Don’t you want to rewrite the video directly as an adventure and then play it? Doesn’t it scream ALRIK or some other OSR system (I urgently need to roll my dice again)?
Ich hab gerade den Podwichtel-Beitrag von Steamtinkerers Klönschnack angehört. Von den Gruftschrecken haben die die Frage „Was sind eure fünf Musikalben, die Rollenspiel inspirieren können?“ bekommen und eine tolle, inspirierende Folge aufgenommen. Moritz vom Seifenkisten-Blog hat mittlerweile seinen eigenen Senft dazugegeben. In guter, alter Troll-Tradition schmeiß ich nun meine 5 Alben ein, die Rollenspiel inspirieren können.
Demon The Unexpected Guest (1982)
Mein erstes Album ist wirklich Old School, guter alter Metal von Anfang der 80ger. Eine Art Konzeptalbum, das einer Geschichte folgt, der Geschichte einer Dämonenbeschwörung. Gut, ist jetzt nicht so überraschend, nennt sich doch die Band Dämon. Ich als alter Metalhead liebe die treibenden Gitarrenriffs, den fetten Sound, die Melodien auch die Texte sind genial, jeder Song auf dem Album bring eine andere Fassette einer Beschwörung ins Spiel. Meine Lieblingssongs sind Don’t break the Circle und Deliver Us From Evil.
Don’t break the circle Don’t break the circle Don’t break the circle Don’t break the circle
Concentrate I’m your contact link across the great divide Many voices in my ear, hold on I think there’s something coming through from the other side It’s for all those who believe
The chain is stronger if the lifeline is unbroken So beware the presence of the Unexpected Guest
Demon: Don’t break the Circle
Ayreon Into the Electic Casle (1998)
Das zweite Album, das ich vorstellen möchte, hab ich damals aufgrund einer Empfehlung im Rock Hard gekauft. Da hat es 10 von 10 Punkten bekommen, das konnte also nur gut sein. Ja, ist es. Und es ist wieder ein Konzeptalbum. Arjen Lucassen holte in seinem 3 Album damals alles ins Studio, was Rang und Namen in der Szene hatte (Sharon den Adel, Fish, Robert Westerholt…). Ein geheimnisvolles Wesen (dessen Geschichte im darauffolgendem Doppelalbum erzählt wurde) entführt 8 Personen aus unterschiedlichen Epochen und Orten der Erde. Um freizukommen müssen die das Elektrische Schloss erreichen. Leider gehen auf dem Weg dorthin ein Charakter nach dem anderen über den Jordan. Im Grunde schreibt sich da ein DDC-Abenteuer fast von selbst.
Meine Lieblingssongs sind Amazing Flight , Across the Rainbow Bridge , Valley of the Queens und natürlich The Castle Hall. Man, hab ich zu letzterem meine nichtvorhandene Matte geschüttelt!
[Forever of the Stars (Peter Daltrey)] At last! You enter the Electric Castle! Here, in this vast hall, where Even shadows fear the light. Here, you must confront your past If you have killed, beware the Gathering of Spirits For they do fish for men. Here, the disembodied Astral World Becomes flesh once more. I pity the men of swords For here, blood runs cold…
[Barbarian (Jay van Feggelen)] Cries from the grave resound in my ears… They hail from beyond my darkest fears… Faces of the past are etched in my brain… The women I raped, the men I’ve slain!
Shades of the dead are sliding on the wall! Demons dance in the castle hall…
Ayreaon: Castle Hall
HIM Razorblade Romance (2000)
Jetzt wird Gothik. Oder zumindest goth-popig. Das Album hat bei mir einen ganz besonderen Platz im Herzen, damals habe ich meine Frau lieben gelernt und die Scheibe lief oft abends auf meinem Zimmer, wenn wir zusammen kuschelten. Für Vampire oder andere Urban-Gothik-Fantasy-Rollenspiele mit Vampiren ist das der richtige Soundtrack.
Steppenwolf The Second (1968)
Zurück in die Vergangenheit, aus den späten 90gern und dem Jahr der großen Toilette in die 60ger. 1969 kam Easy Rider raus, ein Film, der zurecht als Kult gilt und das Destillat der Hippie-Zeit ist. Zum Soundtrack des Filmes gehörte Magic Carpet Ride, der auf der B-Seite des im Vorjahr erschinenen Steppenwolf-Albums war. Wer den 4 ½ Minuten Song nicht kennt: Das wäre keine Bildungslücke, das ist ein Bildungs-Grand-Canyon. Das Album ist was für Kopfhörer, Zeit und ein Gläschen oder Gräschen. Dann kommen die Ideen für ein Reiseabenteuer fast von selbst.
Gnome Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome (2024)
Wo wir grade Old School sind, hier mal eine Platte, die zwar brandneu ist, aber sehr Old School rüberkommt. Stoner Rock, Krautrock. Roh, ungefiltert, BASS! Hier hab ich zwei Videos für euch. Das erste ist natürlich der Link zum Album
und hier zum offiziellen Musikvideos des ersten Songs, Old Soul
Schaut euch das Video an. Will man da nicht sofort ein paar Gnome auswürfeln und die in einen Trichter oder direkt auf eine Kampagne schmeißen? Will man das Video nicht direkt zum Abenteuer umschreiben und dann spielen? Schreit das nicht nach ALRIK oder irgendeinem anderen OSR-System (ich muss dringend wieder meine Würfel rollen lassen)?
Wie sich die Entwicklung von Rollenspiel-Abenteuern verändert, wenn eine KI wie CustomGPT unterstützend mitwirkt: Eine persönliche Erfahrung aus der Welt von Legend of the Five Rings. Zwei Abenteuer, eine Vielzahl von NPC und auch Bildmaterial wurden für eine private Spielrunde mit Hilfe des Assistenten entwickelt.
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)? Are hillbillies any good as opponents or heroine characters and what the hell are hillbillies anyway? And how can I interpret the whole thing in a new and exciting way?