Features Propp’s Fairytale and Fantasy RPG

Propp was one of the most brilliant folklorists of all time, very knowledgeable about fairy tales, their meanings and, above all, the structure of their stories. As people in his day tried to categorize stories by key features and elements, something that led to hundreds of story types, Propp felt it would make more sense to examine story structure based on features.

In his studies, Propp found 31 fairy tale features, it was his claim that while not all of these features were in any one fairy tale, fairy tales were driven by these features occurring in numerical order. that he described for them from smallest to largest.

While it can be argued that there may be folktales, especially those in other cultures, that don’t exactly follow the pattern Propp created, he certainly found something to be true more often than not, and when it comes to humans, it’s usually the best. . can get, as humans have few to no rules regarding their imagination that hold true all the time. So it’s wise to use Propp’s feature set as a tool for understanding fairy tales, rather than simply working to discuss them, because if you try, you’ll find fairy tales that don’t match, but you’ll find many more that do. they do. .

What Propp means for fantasy stories and role-playing games

So what does Propp’s features have to do with fantasy RPGs and fantasy worlds? All because it is Propp’s features that have given the outline of most of the early fantasy stories, and certainly some of the most famous of such stories. In defining this story, Propp has not only created a tool for understanding fairy tales, but has also created one for writing them, and structured fantasy stories like them, and keeping in mind the power and timeless nature of fairy tales. fairy tales, this is undoubtedly a valuable narrative tool. When creating a quest for your characters this tool is invaluable in helping to spark ideas, many times quests are simply a series of challenges rather than a story. Propp offers a more concrete structure for ideas. In this way, a game master creating an RPG quest could instead of simply matching challenges, match hero gathering events, receive magic items, and reveal the nature of villains.

Of particular interest to those creating roleplaying missions includes the interdiction violated (the players, or someone close to them, does something they were told not to do). Common in fairy tales, someone is told not to do something, so they must inevitably do it. In the case of a hero, this could be a good opportunity to use external characters to pressure him. Someone close to them bothers them until the moment they do what they were told not to do. Or PCs may be forced to choose between a known negative event and an unknown one, as they are chased by a dragon, poisoned, or driven to do something they normally wouldn’t do to survive. Because by fleeing from the dragon they enter the private kingdom of the fairies and enrage him. To cure themselves of the poison they make a deal with a stranger. There are many other ways to direct the PCs toward breaking the ban, allowing you to prepare them for the fantasy quest.

Once the interdiction is broken, the PCs could find themselves in trouble, requiring the help of the villain who is disguised as a helper at this point. One of the things that makes fairy tales so interesting is the way that villains often start out as those who seem to help the hero characters. However, they do it just to deal some kind of damage or get something out of the hero. In your RPG, this villainous character duality could add interest and of course a more story-like feel.

On the other hand, the hidden villain is the actual helper character, someone who provides magical help to the hero. Fairies play this role well because they don’t have their own unknown reasons for helping out, and can therefore simply choose to be helpful if the player characters are friendly to them. What is important to understand in this is that these are not simply random events; It’s okay if the PCs get miraculous help from an outside source in this story structure because this structure is well known to most people. After all, the Propp structure is the structure on which most of our fantasy stories are originally based.

Propp’s feature began with an initial situation of who, what, when and where, after this, the stories according to him would follow in order some of the next 31 features.

1. A family member leaves home (hero is introduced);

2. An interdiction is addressed to the hero (‘don’t go there’);

3. The interdiction is violated (the villain enters the story);

4. The villain makes a reconnaissance attempt (either the villain is trying to find the children/jewelry, etc., or the potential victim questions the villain);

5. The villain obtains information about the victim;

6. The villain attempts to trick the victim into taking possession of the victim or the victim’s belongings (deceit; villain in disguise, tries to gain the victim’s trust);

7. Victim deceived by deceit, unknowingly helping the enemy;

8. The villain causes damage/injury to a family member (kidnapping, stealing a magical agent, spoiling crops, looting in other ways, causing a disappearance, driving someone out, casting a spell on someone, substituting a child, etc.) ., commits murder, jails/detains someone , threatens forced marriage, provides night torment); Alternatively, a family member lacks something or wants something (magic potion, etc.);

9. Misfortune or deprivation is made known (hero is dismissed, hears a cry for help, etc./alternatively victimized hero says goodbye, released from prison);

10. The Tenant accepts or decides on the contrary action;

11. The hero leaves home;

12. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., preparing the way for his recipient or helper (donor) magical agent;

13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor (resists/fails the test, frees the captive, reconciles the disputants, performs the service, uses the adversary’s powers against him);

14. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, bought, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drank, help offered by other characters);

15. Hero is transferred, delivered or led to the whereabouts of a search object;

16. Hero and villain join in direct combat;

17. The hero is marked (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);

18. The villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed in his sleep, banished);

19. The initial misfortune or lack is resolved (quest item distributed, hex broken, dead resurrected, captive released);

20. Hero returns;

21. The hero is pursued (the pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);

22. The hero is rescued from the chase (obstacles delay the pursuer, the hero hides or hides, the hero is transformed beyond recognition, the hero is saved from an attempt on his life);

23. Unsung hero, arrives home or in another country;

24. False hero makes unsubstantiated claims;

25. Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, strength/endurance test, other tasks);

26. The task is solved;

27. The hero is recognized (by brand, mark or thing given to him);

28. The false hero or villain is exposed;

29. The hero is given a new appearance (he becomes complete, beautiful, new clothes, etc.);

30. The villain is punished;

31. The hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).