For a long time now I've wanted to write up a pseudo-Japanese dungeon or hexmap (maybe in a setting like this one) in which each entry in the key consists of a single haiku (5-7-5 syllables) or stanza of an extended renga (5-7-5-7-7 syllables) - not excluding stats. So a typical entry for a dungeon chamber might read something like:
Here eight red oni
Cluster around a dead troll
Skinning it with knives
Red oni: HD 2, AC 5, #ATT 1, DMG By weapon +2, Move 120, ML 9, TT S, U, V
And a typical hex entry might read something like:
A gold dragon's lair
Is found here in a dark cave
Atop a sheer cliff
Within is a captive girl
The local daimyo's daughter
An entire book written in this form would have a rhythmic and mesmerising quality to read, and keeping to a fairly strict poetic structure of this kind would be a way of benefiting from the creativity of constraint. One wouldn't have to use Japanese poetry as the model, of course - think of a pseudo-European version written all in the form of sonnets, or rondels, or Beowulf-style alliterative verse, or alcaic stanzas, or even clerihews; or a pseudo-Middle Eastern one all in ghazals, or whatever.
[I am currently running a Kickstarter for the 2nd edition of Yoon-Suin, the renowned campaign toolbox for fantasy games. You can back it here.]
Lovely idea, just wrote one for my project. Feels fun.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same for npc descriptions but it was to hard.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you could do that but it would be quite a task.
DeleteThey're also the perfect length and vagueness for backstories for potentially-short-lived OSR PCs -> https://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/2022/03/senryu-backstories.html
ReplyDeleteA while ago Patrick put out a call for poetic dungeons - http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/dungeon-poem-challenge.html - and I responded with a dungeon keyed in haiku: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IcZVeO7Db3g7TJH_rkHlG-e0sTh1vT22/view
ReplyDelete