Grog For Games

Using Folklore to generate cool myths in your TTRPGs

Myths don't have to end up in powerful creatures or supernatural beings that your players fight, they can just be stories passed down through time by a culture to explain things, glorify ancestors and warn listeners about certain behaviours and environments.

The Banshee

The banshee from Irish folklore is a perfect example of a legend that isn’t “evil” or needs to be “fought”. Banshees are believed to be fairies who used to rule Ireland but were deposed by human settlers, after which they retreated into ancient burial mounds.
Bean Sí in Irish means “Woman of the fairy mound”. A banshee is a long haired woman who warns members of certain families who are believed to be descended from the fairies, that one of their family members is about to die. This isn’t evil, they aren’t doing anything to harm your family member, they are just warning you that death is close. Myth’s don’t always feature humans or human-like creatures as their focus though.

Naga Sri Gumum

In Malaysian folklore, Tasik Chini, or Chini Lake, in Pahang is believed to have been formed after a very unfortunate case of mistaken identity. Whenever a group of farmers arrived to settle the land where the lake now sits, an elderly lady approached them. She warned the group that they should have asked the spirits first and planted her walking stick as a boundary between her land and the farms. The farmers discovered that a rotten log near their farming area would bleed whenever it was struck, as the farmers set about attacking the log a fierce storm erupted and knocked the walking stick out of the ground. This resulted in a fountain which continually flowed for years, flooding a nearby city in the process and creating the lake. The farmers were actually attacking a powerful Chinese dragon, known in Malaysia as Naga Sri Gumum, believed to inhabit the lake to this day. It protects the sunken city and occasionally accepts a drowned human as a sacrifice in exchange for stopping floods. The lesson of this story is to respect nature and the natural environment, you never know when you’re going to accidentally poke a dragon!

A helpful myth creation process

The tables below seek to help you formulate myths for your world that do not always just result in “Hit it until it’s dead and take it’s treasure”.
They are influenced by folklore tales from around the globe and they can help immerse your players in the world more easily by finding out about it’s ancient stories. To craft a myth, follow the process below, rolling or choosing as you go:

First of all, what is this myth going to be about? (1d6)

  1. An upcoming once in a year/decade/century/millennium event
  2. An Explanation or teaching about the world
  3. The future riches of the Player Characters/Nations/NPCs
  4. The deaths/Injuries of Player Characters/NPCs/Creatures
  5. Future weather/Environmental changes
  6. What was long before this era and what will be long after it.

After you’ve decided on the type of myth you want to create…

Create a sign that is associated with this myth, it’s “Calling card” – The senses that the sign will most excite or focus on. The sign for a banshee would be sound and sight, her wailing and her physical presence. (2d6)

  1. Sight
  2. Sound
  3. Smell
  4. Touch
  5. Taste
  6. Temperature

Under what conditions does the sign appear? What combination of things must align for the sign to appear or occur?

E.g. a banshee’s conditions are that it has to be night time, and their descended family member is in danger. (2d6)

  1. When the weather is just right
  2. When there is peril ahead or around
  3. At a specific time
  4. In a specific place
  5. When a ritual is performed
  6. A specific person/creature is present

How do the players first interact with the myth? (1-NumberOfPlayers d6)

  1. Find a book/pamphlet on it
  2. Hear a spiritual leader, storyteller or another NPC relay it
  3. Experience the sign partially
  4. Have a vision/dream
  5. Discover unexplainable objects related to the myth
  6. Experience the sign fully

Finally, what forms do the components of the myth take (1-3 d6)

  1. Creatures
  2. Gods
  3. Humans/Another Race from your world
  4. Natural elements (Earth ,Wind ,Fire ,Water)
  5. Structures or buildings
  6. Spirits

This should give you enough of a framework to create interesting mythical creatures, civilisations and stories with some more depth than typical myths found in roll tables.

Tips for using these myths

Deploy the sign to players individually if appropriate, vary the senses or descriptions slightly between people to create a bit of mystique. Ask players to regale the table of similar myths from their character’s culture/society, this can help to build overlapping myths which cultures may interpret or retell differently to suit their own needs. Lake monsters for example are a common myth across the world, these tales also happen to be a fantastic way to dissuade children from playing near dangerous waters.
Inhabitants of your world should have varying levels of belief in the myth all along the spectrum from a rigid non believer up to an announcer in the town square. Most inhabitants will be somewhere in the middle.

Finally - The myth does not have to be true.

The players may never uncover the full mystery, you may choose to never reveal it no matter what they do and that’s fine, it’s only a myth.