DF: Wild Hunt of the Faery Underworld

b-dog · 03-18-2008, 12:02 PM

Deep in the giant vault of the Faery Underworld the populace awaits the Wild Hunt. As the trumpets sound the mines of the dark dwarves empty along with the castles and noble houses of the shadow elves. Orcs, trolls goblins, ogres, boggarts, bugbears, puck, sluagh, black annises, and common shadow elves and dark dwarves line the main street to celebrate the Great Parade. First up comes the Hunt Soundsman along with the Clockkeeper, then musicians fill the streets with riotous music.

The next wave is the guardsmen who are usually orcs, trolls, bugbears and other goblinkin. They carry the chains of the of the "rabbits" as they say, which typically consists of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and other good humanoids, There are also some traiters of the wicked faery races as well. Sometimes even mindwarpers are "rabbits" as well, they are often fitted with special collars made by the dark dwarves to stop their psychic powers. These collars will be retrieved once the heads of the mindwarper have been severed. This is a time of revelrous joy for the dark faeries and a time of great sorrow for the "rabbits."

After the "hunt" is lead through the town, often with the populace booing and throwing rotted food at the "rabbits", come the riders. Many of the great warriors are among the riders. The greatest boggarts, who are around 1 foot tall, often ride giant rats or giant centipedes. The greatest orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and others often ride giant hunting spiders or cave wolves. The greatest ogres trolls, ogres, bugbears and larger faeries often ride giant wargs or acid spiders. The dark dwarves and shadw elves typically ride nightmares, wicked horses with flaming hooves. Sometimes they even ride wyverns or even dragons. After the riders come the footmen, who help the riders and often lead thehellhounds and other tracking beasts. The populace cheers the riders and footmen as they pass through the city.

The parade then goes through a great gate which leads to the mushroom forrest. There is a great wall of adamant surrounding the faery city. Once the parade leads to the starting line there is a huge commotion of anticipation. The trumpets sound again and the faeries become quiet. The Wild Hunt soundsman leads a sermon on the value of the great hunt. He begins with a tribute to the Great Arachnia, queen of the faeries. They celebrate by sacrificing a holy cleric or holy warrior to her. An evil faery is selected by lottery to alight the holy man who is tied to a pole, covered in oil, set upon a bonfire pile of old dried mushroom trees. The populace is supposed to be silent at the tribute but there are often snickers and laughter at the howls and shrieks of agony as the holy man ignites.

The object of the hunt is to collects as many heads as possible. The heads are counted by the soundsman and the faery with the most heads is the winner. It would seem that the shadow elves and dark dwarves would always be the winners but that is often not the case. The goblinkin, trolls, ogres and other lower faeries often cheat by having preset ambushes and traps. The boggarts are said to be particulary unsportsmanlike, they often cut the achilles tendons of the "rabbits" to ensure an easy kill. In fact all of the faeries cheat to some degree or other as it is a great honor to be the winner.

The soundsman instructs the "rabbits" the rules, they are to be given a 10 minute headstart which is timed by the clocksman, after that the Hunt begins. The "rabbits" quickly run and hide in the mushroom forrest. Often there are many dangers here as well for many monster lurk here. Once the soundsman sounds the trumpet starting call, the populace cheers wildly. The riders and footsmen race after the "rabbits." The crowd follows the Hunt and celebrates the goriest deaths with the greatest applause.

After the Hunt and the heads are counted, the festival begins, with the bodies of the hunt roasting on spits. Mushroom wine and ale flow freely and the city become drunken, often leading to bloody fights and worse. Still the wicked faeries love these festivals as they are a time of great joy.

demonsbane · 03-18-2008, 04:40 PM

Today I just received 3e Faerie. It seems a great book about the theme.

Let me recommend it to you, because you seem very fond of Faeries!

4e Fantasy, however, already offers pretty good material about Magical Realms, Otherworlds and Spirits, too.

b-dog · 03-18-2008, 06:29 PM

I am sure I will get GURPS Faeries one day, right now I have plenty to read of the other books. As far as why I like the faery, I guess it is because they seem to have some style. They are really good bad guys because they have such unpredictable behavior. Undead are pretty boring because they really have no other motive than just power or simple destruction.

AD&D really ruined the faeries in my opinion as do most games. In myths, one goblin was a real problem but in AD&D fantasy and J.R.R. Tolkien, character mow them down like they are nothing. I try to take the middle road, some faeries are weak but some are reallly powerful. Orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and such in my games can have some extremely powerful warriors, this makes the players respect when they see an orc cave, because they don't know how powerful they are. I really don't like a game where characters enter a room and slay a hundred orcs or goblins with little difficulty. I prefer to have less of them but make them more powerful and more of a challenge.

Thats just my opinion though.

demonsbane · 03-18-2008, 06:56 PM

Quote:

I am sure I will get GURPS Faeries one day, right now I have plenty to read of the other books.

I know ;)

Quote:

AD&D really ruined the faeries in my opinion as do most games. (...) Orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and such in my games can have some extremely powerful warriors, this makes the players respect when they see an orc cave, because they don't know how powerful they are. (...)

Yes; they don't need to be fodder. They can even be easily related with the Fomor, mythic enemies of the Tuatha de Danaan (again mentioned in Faerie). Very powerful beings.

Quote:

Thats just my opinion though.

But is is founded, and I agree with your approach. In fact, the spirits and faeries issue isn't straightforward by its own nature. AD&D treatment of them was, again, too trivial and unfaithful to folklore in general.

Another very good GURPS book related with this subject is 3e Spirits (you have in 4e Basic Set and Fantasy some of the material already "converted" and available). On the other hand, Jumper (Spirit) (for access to spiritual, Magical Realms and Otherworlds) is detailed in Powers (p. 57).

I like 3e Celtic Myth, too.

b-dog · 03-18-2008, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demonsbane

I know ;)

Yes; they don't need to be fodder. They can even be easily related with the Fomor, mythic enemies of the Tuatha de Danaan (again mentioned in Faerie). Very powerful beings.

But is is founded, and I agree with your approach. In fact, the spirits and faeries issue isn't straightforward by its own nature. AD&D treatment of them was, again, too trivial and unfaithful to folklore in general.

Another very good GURPS book related with this subject is 3e Spirits (you have in 4e Basic Set and Fantasy some of the material already "converted" and available). On the other hand, Jumper (Spirit) (for access to spiritual, Magical Realms and Otherworlds) is detailed in Powers (p. 57).

I like 3e Celtic Myth, too.

I assume that goblin-kin, trolls, ogres, and other ugly faeries were related to fomor in that they were their children. The fomor were bosses while the goblin-kin, ogres and trolls were servents. The goblinkin, ogres and trolls did have faery blood so they often had some magical power though, not necessarily spells but they could do some things that humans could not. For this reason, they were never taken lightly by players because you never know if any orcs may some supernatural ability.

I have not read those books you have mentioned completely but I have looked through them. One GURPS book I really liked was GURPS Middle Ages, it had good treatment of faeries. Other books I say that are awesome are Ars Magica books and Changeling ( especially Autumn Nightmares ). They really look into the faery material and do a great job on them.

In any case thanks for your suggestions.

tshiggins · 03-20-2008, 12:00 AM

Have you checked out Castle Falkenstein, or GURPS:Castle Falkenstein? Best treatment of faeries I've ever seen. That series, combined with G:Faerie, gives you an amazing number of tools to deal with the Good Folk.

Captain-Captain · 03-20-2008, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demonsbane

I know ;)

Yes; they don't need to be fodder. They can even be easily related with the Fomor, mythic enemies of the Tuatha de Danaan (again mentioned in Faerie). Very powerful beings.

But is is founded, and I agree with your approach. In fact, the spirits and faeries issue isn't straightforward by its own nature. AD&D treatment of them was, again, too trivial and unfaithful to folklore in general.

Another very good GURPS book related with this subject is 3e Spirits (you have in 4e Basic Set and Fantasy some of the material already "converted" and available). On the other hand, Jumper (Spirit) (for access to spiritual, Magical Realms and Otherworlds) is detailed in Powers (p. 57).

I like 3e Celtic Myth, too.

You want Celtic Myths if you're going to use Formori and Sidhe. Warning: VERY cinematic/powergamish.

b-dog · 03-20-2008, 01:10 AM

I have read through GURPS Celtic Myth a little. I think that for fomor and sidhe the power level is fine but it is way too much for goblins, orcs and trolls. I still like the idea of having them be somewhat more powerful than the standard AD&D plan where they are swatted down like flies. I usually have many of the orcs and goblins be typical but they often have leaders that are much more powerful with combat skills and occasionally have a faery like advantage. I like the idea that the goblins, orcs and trolls didn't just evolve from the mundane world but they came from the faery world instead. It seems to fit in better with myths.

demonsbane · 03-20-2008, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b-dog

I like the idea that the goblins, orcs and trolls didn't just evolve from the mundane world but they came from the faery world instead. It seems to fit in better with myths.

Of course. Orcs, Sidhe, Fomor, Nymphs . . . wathever otherwordly or spirit creature, never appear as having evolved from anything.

03-18-2008, 12:02 PM	#1
b-dog Join Date: Nov 2006	DF: Wild Hunt of the Faery Underworld Deep in the giant vault of the Faery Underworld the populace awaits the Wild Hunt. As the trumpets sound the mines of the dark dwarves empty along with the castles and noble houses of the shadow elves. Orcs, trolls goblins, ogres, boggarts, bugbears, puck, sluagh, black annises, and common shadow elves and dark dwarves line the main street to celebrate the Great Parade. First up comes the Hunt Soundsman along with the Clockkeeper, then musicians fill the streets with riotous music. The next wave is the guardsmen who are usually orcs, trolls, bugbears and other goblinkin. They carry the chains of the of the "rabbits" as they say, which typically consists of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and other good humanoids, There are also some traiters of the wicked faery races as well. Sometimes even mindwarpers are "rabbits" as well, they are often fitted with special collars made by the dark dwarves to stop their psychic powers. These collars will be retrieved once the heads of the mindwarper have been severed. This is a time of revelrous joy for the dark faeries and a time of great sorrow for the "rabbits." After the "hunt" is lead through the town, often with the populace booing and throwing rotted food at the "rabbits", come the riders. Many of the great warriors are among the riders. The greatest boggarts, who are around 1 foot tall, often ride giant rats or giant centipedes. The greatest orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and others often ride giant hunting spiders or cave wolves. The greatest ogres trolls, ogres, bugbears and larger faeries often ride giant wargs or acid spiders. The dark dwarves and shadw elves typically ride nightmares, wicked horses with flaming hooves. Sometimes they even ride wyverns or even dragons. After the riders come the footmen, who help the riders and often lead thehellhounds and other tracking beasts. The populace cheers the riders and footmen as they pass through the city. The parade then goes through a great gate which leads to the mushroom forrest. There is a great wall of adamant surrounding the faery city. Once the parade leads to the starting line there is a huge commotion of anticipation. The trumpets sound again and the faeries become quiet. The Wild Hunt soundsman leads a sermon on the value of the great hunt. He begins with a tribute to the Great Arachnia, queen of the faeries. They celebrate by sacrificing a holy cleric or holy warrior to her. An evil faery is selected by lottery to alight the holy man who is tied to a pole, covered in oil, set upon a bonfire pile of old dried mushroom trees. The populace is supposed to be silent at the tribute but there are often snickers and laughter at the howls and shrieks of agony as the holy man ignites. The object of the hunt is to collects as many heads as possible. The heads are counted by the soundsman and the faery with the most heads is the winner. It would seem that the shadow elves and dark dwarves would always be the winners but that is often not the case. The goblinkin, trolls, ogres and other lower faeries often cheat by having preset ambushes and traps. The boggarts are said to be particulary unsportsmanlike, they often cut the achilles tendons of the "rabbits" to ensure an easy kill. In fact all of the faeries cheat to some degree or other as it is a great honor to be the winner. The soundsman instructs the "rabbits" the rules, they are to be given a 10 minute headstart which is timed by the clocksman, after that the Hunt begins. The "rabbits" quickly run and hide in the mushroom forrest. Often there are many dangers here as well for many monster lurk here. Once the soundsman sounds the trumpet starting call, the populace cheers wildly. The riders and footsmen race after the "rabbits." The crowd follows the Hunt and celebrates the goriest deaths with the greatest applause. After the Hunt and the heads are counted, the festival begins, with the bodies of the hunt roasting on spits. Mushroom wine and ale flow freely and the city become drunken, often leading to bloody fights and worse. Still the wicked faeries love these festivals as they are a time of great joy.

03-18-2008, 04:40 PM	#2
demonsbane Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Spain —Europe	Re: DF: Wild Hunt of the Faery Underworld Today I just received *3e Faerie. It seems a great book about the theme. Let me recommend it to you, because you seem very fond of Faeries! 4e Fantasy,* however, already offers pretty good material about Magical Realms, Otherworlds and Spirits, too. __________________ "Let's face it: for some people, roleplaying is a serious challenge, a life-or-death struggle." J. M. Caparula/Scott Haring "Physics is basic but inessential." Wolfgang Smith My G+

03-18-2008, 06:29 PM	#3
b-dog Join Date: Nov 2006	Re: DF: Wild Hunt of the Faery Underworld I am sure I will get GURPS Faeries one day, right now I have plenty to read of the other books. As far as why I like the faery, I guess it is because they seem to have some style. They are really good bad guys because they have such unpredictable behavior. Undead are pretty boring because they really have no other motive than just power or simple destruction. AD&D really ruined the faeries in my opinion as do most games. In myths, one goblin was a real problem but in AD&D fantasy and J.R.R. Tolkien, character mow them down like they are nothing. I try to take the middle road, some faeries are weak but some are reallly powerful. Orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and such in my games can have some extremely powerful warriors, this makes the players respect when they see an orc cave, because they don't know how powerful they are. I really don't like a game where characters enter a room and slay a hundred orcs or goblins with little difficulty. I prefer to have less of them but make them more powerful and more of a challenge. Thats just my opinion though.

03-20-2008, 12:00 AM	#6
tshiggins Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Denver, Colorado	Re: DF: Wild Hunt of the Faery Underworld Have you checked out Castle Falkenstein, or GURPS:Castle Falkenstein? Best treatment of faeries I've ever seen. That series, combined with G:Faerie, gives you an amazing number of tools to deal with the Good Folk. __________________ -- MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1] "Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.

03-20-2008, 01:10 AM	#8
b-dog Join Date: Nov 2006	Re: DF: Wild Hunt of the Faery Underworld I have read through GURPS Celtic Myth a little. I think that for fomor and sidhe the power level is fine but it is way too much for goblins, orcs and trolls. I still like the idea of having them be somewhat more powerful than the standard AD&D plan where they are swatted down like flies. I usually have many of the orcs and goblins be typical but they often have leaders that are much more powerful with combat skills and occasionally have a faery like advantage. I like the idea that the goblins, orcs and trolls didn't just evolve from the mundane world but they came from the faery world instead. It seems to fit in better with myths.