Fishing From the Classics (Episode 94)

On the Shoulders of Dwarves

# What is Fishing? (in the context of RPGs and this episode) Taking the good stuff, form or content, and remixing/remodelling or re-whatever to use in your game. # Why fishing from the classics? They’re the classics for a reason. Now we will go over some of the elements you can fish from a classic and show how it can be done. Uri will use [Shakespeare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare)’s [Romeo and Juliet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet) as an example because he’s such a sucker for Shakespeare and Eran will use [Treasure Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island) because he’s such a sucker for pirates. # Plots & Plot Elements (03:03) Romeo and Juliet : two rival houses, with forbidden love - Doesn’t have to be your main plotline - I did it with a dragon rider and a vampire. Who were the side characters. (there was a bounty on their heads. Treasure Island : Mutiny, back-stabbing. It’s not about finding the treasure, it’s about the competition. # Locations (08:49) R&J : In Romeo and Juliet there is a city with a simple structure: we have one prince that rules the city and everyone must listen to him, we have 2 main patriarchal families that control most of the city, complete with guards and minions. We have the church that tries to stay out of trouble and please everyone. Just taking all these elements and the power relations between as a template and changing some of the names gives you an instant setting. Sometimes it is easier to fish from people who already did the fishing for you. When I wanted to have a Verona in a futuristic setting I simply fished elements from the anime “[Romeo X Juliet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_%C3%97_Juliet)” that is a retelling of romeo and juliet in Neo-Verone located on an asteroid and involve flying dragon horses and magical trees and what not. TI : The ship - small, isolated. A world unto itself. # Organizations (15:05) R&J : Our list of assets: we have a ruling prince, 2 families, 1 church and a guild. These can be easily converted to organizations with tangible limits, power structure and specific organizational goals. TI : Black Sails - Pirates: votes, shares and power struggles. # Characters (20:05) R&J : Let's just name a few as archetypes: **Lord Capulet** \- the powerful patriarch of the family, **Mercutio** \- the crazy and loyal friend with the sarcastic tongue, **Romeo** \- the naive child lost in adolescent love, **The Maid** \- who is that comic relief NPC that is really loveable and wants to help but speak in the most TMI way possible. **Tybalt** \- the antagonistic overly zealous asshole. I often fish one of these when I need it. I usually fish a character from [a movie version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_%2B_Juliet) so I will have a visual image or an accent in my mind when I play the character. TI : **Long John Silver** - obviously dangerous, but also super-likeable, and no reason to confront him. **Ben Gunn** - comes in mid-story, comedic and tragic at the same time # Relationships (28:07) R&J : Forbidden love between rivals, rivalry between wealthy families, abusive father and his daughter, a maid and her young protege. Fishing a few elements allows us to fish the relationship between them as well and that creates a much more believable scenario for our game as well as make it easier for us the GMs to remember the dynamic between the elements in our game. TI : Eran don’t believe in relationships. Only Allegiances. # Summary (31:11) Fishing is an excellent practice. It lets you create complicated scenarios for your campaign. Makes it easier to remember and manage. --- # Taking the load off (31:33) - Uri - Just finished a Campaign! The “[Curse of the Crimson Throne](https://paizo.com/products/btpy9nme?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-Curse-of-the-Crimson-Throne)” adventure path.[Summarised in a GI