11-19-2018, 08:41 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Harlem, New York
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broken-hearted barbarians
Just finished some GURPS Fantasy at a con in Scranton and the players wreaked some Machiavellian havoc - the kind you hope for, to be clear, ha. One of the feudalizing swidden chieftains has now had his heart broken twice - once led on by a courtesan, and now by the shame-suicide of his pregnant lover. Unsettling but epic!
So my question is, what do you do after two amorous tragedies? The game plays with the push-and-pull between (the rhetoric of) chivalry / high fantasy and realistic (ancient or modern) relationships and social tensions, so if examples come to mind of anything from medieval epic "cast yourself off a cliff too" to modern "focus on your political career, maybe try another marriage based on trust rather than passion" I'd be interested to hear them. Many thanks for your thoughts! |
11-19-2018, 09:44 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
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In this setting he might swear to slay a dragon, or to gain more glory then any warrior ever has, or something of the kind. Or he might take a blood-oath against whoever was responsible for his lover's suicide (taking a leaf from Lady Lucretia).
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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11-19-2018, 10:33 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ft Collins, CO
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
Work with your GM to have the perfect girl for the chieftain show up, but have him be to damaged to realize it at first. He mopes around, she is over there being perfect. He rides into battle seeking suicide, she is the shield maiden standing over him protecting him.
After a long, long, time, have him come out of his black pit of doubt and despair. But is it too late? |
11-19-2018, 11:18 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2011
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
A political marriage for convenience does the trick. Then explore the nowadays unconventional story of a married couple that falls in love.
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11-19-2018, 07:25 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
Dalinar Kholin from The Stormlight Archives wouldn't be a terrible place to look. Please be advised the following contains some spoilers for book 3 (Oathbringer), but only in terms of Dalinar's past from well before the bulk of book 1.
Spoiler:
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GURPS Overhaul |
11-19-2018, 07:47 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
Note that there is about a page discussing courtship and marriage, including this specific case, in GURPS Social Engineering, if you have that.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
11-20-2018, 07:30 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
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One other complication for him, his underlings probably ought to be grumbling a bit about his obvious character flaw. In our modern culture we think of love as a good thing, but many societies see it as a sign of weakness, or type of insanity. This is actually one of the big splits you ought to be looking at for the chivalric/realistic split - love as a positive thing is something of an *invention* of southern French chivalric poetry.
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-- MA Lloyd |
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11-21-2018, 07:34 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Harlem, New York
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
Many thanks for all of those - barbarian equivalent of atonement / redemption Crusade, looking up from the pit of despair before or after marriage, [spoiler alert] and Social Engineering all excellent suggestions. And Malloyd you bring up good points on both of those:
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Our barbarian friend Cathálon himself would doubtless argue his courtship of the civilized maiden was going to be an farsighted political alliance but you're right, the elders have probably nodded knowingly at his protestations this whole time. |
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11-21-2018, 12:39 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
I'm going to say that the classical formula is that a tragedy ends when the main characters are dead, a comedy when they're married.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
11-21-2018, 07:11 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: broken-hearted barbarians
Quote:
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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