Wednesday 10 July 2019

The Wizard's Garden

Perhaps CS Lewis is to blame, for making the perfectly-manicured but eerily-empty garden of Coriakin in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader so compelling to my young mind. Or maybe it's just having been dragged around so many stately homes and gardens by my parents as a child. Whatever: I find the idea of a magical, and/or haunted, and/or labyrinthine, and/or infinite wizard's garden very compelling.

What would the platonic Wizard's Garden, the ur-Wizard's Garden be like? Well, first it would be apparently very pleasant and welcoming, full of the scents of flowers and freshly cut grass (almost certainly with a variety of magical effects).



Second, it would have a maze - perhaps one that is deceptively modest-looking in scale...until you enter.



Parts of it would be overgrown and full of hidden threats.



While other parts would contain ponds and streams and other waterways in which mysterious aquatic beings dwell.




There would be follies, such as a bell tower.



And there would be walled sections behind magical, secret or perhaps even sentient doors.




There would be fancy podiums and raised areas.


Not to mention fountains and statues - none of which, of course, would be what they seemed.



There would be eccentricities.




And wildflower meadows hiding all manner of creatures, objects and ruined buildings.



Not to mention greenhouses full of exotic, sentient plant life and the servants who tend and guard them.




And right in the middle, of course, there would be the home of the wizard himself, surrounded by the garden he created for his own pleasure, or to keep out trespassers - or to lure them in and trap them for eternity.


19 comments:

  1. Not to mention diurnal, meteorological and seasonal variety.

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    1. Yep - possibly varying randomly or across different parts of the garden.

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  2. You need to check out The Gardens of Ynn. Its almost exactly what you just described.

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    1. I'll second this. I ran a short LotFP campaign set mostly in the Gardens of Ynn last winter and it was delightful.

      This post is a lot of fun simply for all the images you shared - the strange bisected rabbit goddess alone is making me want to roll dice! And why have I never run a hedge-maze adventure before?? Thank you for the fresh ideas!

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  3. I'm with the above Anon; and made the comparison of stately homes and Ynn at the time: https://worldbuildingandwoolgathering.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-gardens-of-ynn-some-thoughts.html

    Of course, the difference is in the ruin and abandon of Ynn - a different state of affairs to the wizard in his tower at the centre of it all. Though The Gardens of Ynn could likely be adapted for that easily enough...

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    1. I like the idea of the garden being mysteriously well-cared for in the main, possibly by invisible servants.

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  4. Also, if you want plants, grab the Titan Herbal which has 250+ of them:

    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/218039/The-Titan-Herbal

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    1. Ha. There is a sourcebook for everything.

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  5. I recently read The Maze of Maal Dweb for the first time. Maybe a bit creepier than what you have in mind.
    http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/130

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    1. Indeed, CAS was a writer AND also a gardener.

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  6. In the real world, you should check Quinta da Regaleira (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinta_da_Regaleira), a palace (complete with gardens) at Portugal. It's the inspiration for the Ars Magica adventure "The Fallen Covenant of Calebais".

    It's also the main source of inspiration for the OSR adventure "Muerte en la Mansión del Mago Malifax" (http://lamarcadeleste.com/muerte-en-la-mansion-del-mago-malifax) where the adventurers explore the gardens and palace of a recently dead mage. Only available in spanish, I fear.

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  7. This was lovely and inspirational. I have been experimenting with different kinds of dungeons lately, and a wizard's garden labyrinth megadungeon would be a fun lark. Thanks for the idea.

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  8. Sounds like something to build with inspiration from The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions.

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    1. Yeah, I think The Seclusium of Orphone was a bit of a lost opportunity really. Not sure Vincent gets the point.

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  9. I know I'm piling on here, but the Parco dei Mostri (and in particular the online tour at the link) is a wealth of monstrous imagery and esoterica. I'm now desperate to visit.

    http://www.doremishock.com/parcodeimostri/parcodeimostri-1.htm

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