I’ve been playing Ryuutama with Leighton, Anne, and Peter
for several months now. Ryuutama is a charming, pastoral RPG about nice people
travelling from town to town, meeting new people, helping with their problems,
buying and selling trade goods, and seeing the sights. With the real world on
fire and everything, we all decided that playing something nice and pleasant was
what we really wanted. Ryuutama has fit the bill nicely. It also lets me
indulge in one of my favorite GM activities—creating quirky little villages and
filling them with eccentric NPCs.
That brings us to the village of Grizzlethorpe and their
annual festival, the Running of the Bears.
You know how in Pamplona, Spain they run bulls through the streets while
the citizens run in front of them to prove their courage? It’s just like that
in Grizzlethorpe, but with bears.
Isn’t that dangerous? Yes, it is! Don’t people get brutally
injured, scarred, and maimed? Yes, they do! But the people of Grizzlethorpe are
proud of their tradition and are happy to include willing visitors in the
festivities.
And the bears? Why they love it of course. These humans
willingly bring them into their town and let them run amok and beat people up.
The bears have a good thing going, so they don’t ruin it by killing (many)
villagers. Just some good-natured maiming.
The players, perhaps wisely, declined joining in the Running
of the Bears. They just watched from the sidelines. That’s too bad, because I
wrote up rules for the Running of theBears!
The Running of the Bears takes place in four legs:
Leg 1: The participants try to outrace the bears. Roll
Dex+Dex (Diff: 8) to put some distance between you and the bears or suffer 1d10
damage from bear mauling!
Leg 2: The bears coordinate their chase and try to
pen you in! Roll Int+Dex (Diff: 8) to avoid getting flanked by bears. Take 1d10
damage if you fail, as the bears gnaw on you some more.
Leg 3: The villagers have taken down the bridge that
crosses the creek that runs through town. What a fun joke! Roll Dex+Str (Diff:
10) to leap over the creek. If you fail take 1d10 damage as a bear violently
smacks you across to the other side.
Leg 4: You’re almost to the safety of the finish-tower
where the villagers will pull you up to safety. Roll Dex+Dex (diff: 9) to get
there before the bears catch you! Take 1d10 damage and suffer the Crippled: 6
condition if you fail.
 |
| Grizzlethorpe, using a village map I found online somewhere (sorry!) |
My GM Notes for the village of Grizzlethorpe:
Terrain: Deep Forest (Diff: 10)
Specialty Goods: Wooden housewares
Town Food: Crusted honey cakes
Pleasant woodland village of 500.
Full of fantasy-expy faux-Slavs and faux-Germans.
Large, multi-generational homes. Black Forest
style. Long hipped roofs with eaves that almost touch the ground.
Lots of woodwork carved with images of bears and
swans. Red and green paints in abundance.
Robust, friendly people of Gladian stock. Many
with horrible scars. Outgoing and amicable.
Town council consists of the the oldest
resident, the elected sheriff, the head woodsman, and the winner of the Running
of the Bears.
Places of Interest
Magda’s Beerhaus
Shrine to Rowenna, the Girl Hero
- Flanked
by dragon statures
Martin Jimjam’s Tannery and Leatherworking
Runcible Hawk’s Sundry and General Goods
Griff Harbo’s Goatlery
People of Interest
Intense young activist Hesperline Preet does not
approve of all this bear wrangling
- Sign reads: “I Stand Firmly Opposed
to the Exploitation of Bears!”
Ancillary Scrumm – Griff’ Harbo’s brother-in-law.
Chief bear wrangler. Big scar
diagonally bisecting his head. Looks like his face is misaligned.
Olly Yumpster – Band leader of local barumpapapa
band. Round, and red-faced. Missing several teeth.
Job Board
Take several barrels of Grizzlethorpe Stout to the Drunken
Diva tavern in Larksong
- Stanislav Garr – Local
brewer. 6 barrels (size 5 each). Jennifer at the Drunken Diva in Larksong will
pay 500 gp for each barrel.
Collect several pints of honey from the speckled bees in the
forest for Sigfrid the Baker
- Will pay 200gp for each pint.
Procure a Walking Broom from Dwimmerstaff for Magda’s
Beerhaus.
- Magda will pay triple the purchase
price. Get a receipt.
