RPG Idea Spreadsheet - June 15 Update
I recently finished reading Ann Dooley and Harry Roe's translation of Tales of the Elders of Ireland, a twelfth-century Irish tale. I ultimately wasn't too impressed with the story, though that is no fault of the translators. The text is a collection of dinnshenchas, or place names, relayed through the framing narrative of CaÃlte, a pre-Christian Irish warrior, telling short stories to Saint Patrick, kings, and sÃd. While it's interesting to see the way that medieval Irish scribes treat the sÃd with alternate degrees of respect and disparagement, the short and shallow stories combined with the weight of Christian colonization made it a difficult read.
That all said, I did my usual thing and marked down interesting people and items that I can repurpose for tabletop games! I updated my old RPG Idea Spreadsheet from Cohost with a half-dozen or so items and people to use. Here are a couple standouts:
Créde - CaÃlte describes Créde as the most deceiving woman in Ireland, having stolen away almost all the great treasures of Ireland and Scotland to her palace. She would only wed someone who wrote a sufficiently pleasing poem that praised both her and her treasures. Anyone who failed was slain.
The Rock of the Weapons - A large stone with a valuable arm ring embedded deep within it. The FÃana - the legendary warriors who served Fionn mac Cumhail - would use it to sharpen their weapons. This makes a great pilgrimage point for farmers, crafters, and warriors - anyone who would benefit from a sharpened blade. I will probably use it as a site in a hex crawl or else as the center piece of a town.
I'm hoping to update the spreadsheet again sooner than later. My tiny tabletop group is going to start a new campaign within the next couple months and having all my loose ideas in a single spreadsheet instead of in notebooks, private Discord messages, and book annotations will help with prep.