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dnalorsblog: The Troll’s Monster Handbook and Roleplayer Carnival: The Schalk im Nacken- A creature of transitions
Published by The troll on 2 January 2018
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:
The Schalk in the neck
Height: 0.80 step Height Weight: 100 stone
Courage 15 Wisdom 14 Intuition 15 Charisma 15 Agillity 13 Constitution 12 Strength 8
LP 20 AP 100 KP – INI 14+1D6
AW 6 SK 6 ZK 3 GS 7
Unarmed: AT 10 PA 5 TP 1D6 RW short
Armor/Malus 0/0
Actions: 1
Advantages/disadvantages: Bad trait (curiosity, vindictiveness), True name
Special skills: Feint I+II (weaponless)
Talents: Intimidation 8, Climbing 10, Trading 1, Body control 8, Strength 12, Knowledge of human nature 8, Swimming 0, Self-control 4, Sense acuity 10, , Concealment 14, Willpower 8
Magic tricks:Ventriloquism, Crazy giggling, Creepy laughter, Pinching
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.
Dream Askew und Dream Apart öffnen die Tür zu einem besonderen Rollenspielerlebnis, in dem Spielende marginalisierte Gemeinschaften in einer postapokalyptischen Zukunft oder einem jüdischen Schtetl erschaffen. Die deutsche Version wird über ein Crowdfunding finanziert. Spielerisch und erzählerisch lädt es dazu ein, Fragen von Zusammengehörigkeit und Identität neu zu erkunden.