By: Raphael Falk AKA the Games Gardener
What is folklore? Ghost stories told around a campfire? The harvest festival or children’s double-dutch chants?? Folklore is a broad category that includes myths, music, superstition, and fairytales. If your world has people then it should have folklore. Think about telling stories, with a sliver of truth. About old folk songs that tell of the ancient ghosts who hold court once a year in the cemetery on Red Robin Hill. Incorporating folklore and practices to the peoples in your world adds a wonderful layer of richness.
Folk stories can provide story hooks, sure, but they can also enrich your world. Think of the granny who spits three times to ward off the evil eye after she tells you bad news. Or the towns folk who chastise their children for whistling at night, lest they accidentally summon ghosts and foul spirits. What do people fear? What do they believe can protect them from danger? What does the average person keep on hand to protect themselves and their families from supernatural threats? In our world strong-smelling herbs are often said to drive off evil spirits, garlic, rue, sage. Average people are likely to keep some on hand for protection.
Liminal times and liminal places are often associated with magic and the supernatural. Cemeteries, birth, death, weddings, funerals, holidays, change of seasons. What are the in-between spaces in your world?
Folklore can show a society’s values. Do people crave good luck? Wealth? Fertility? Are there rituals for martial prowess or a good hunt? What foods do they cook for good luck? What blessings or pilgrimages do they make for fertility? What lucky charms are said to bring wealth? Who are the main characters of local myths? What cautionary tales do people tell? What are they weary of?
Let’s build a little example for a moment:
Misheghas is a large village situated by the river Nudnik. It gets some trade from barges traveling up and down the river and from trappers who come by from the forest. Rumor tells of a terrible beast that lives in the woods, that walks like a human but bears the face of a leech. From time to time, trappers claim to see the beast drinking from a fallen deer or wolf. Legend claims that once, long ago, the beast was a human, a member of the village who angered a forest witch by spurning her invitation to dance and was cursed to live like a leech.
In Misheghas the villagers hang garlic from their window sills to ward off foul spirits. To prevent nightmares, they place a clove underneath their pillows. Many carry little pouches of garlic, salt, rosemary, and rue to keep the spirits at bay. They warn their children not to walk alone in the night or ogres will seize them to eat their flesh. They tell them to beware of the river because river goblins will grab their ankles and drag them into the rapids. No one has ever seen a river goblin or a night ogre, but the stories persist, a warning against dangerous behavior.
Vlada spotted chicken prints in her room and the village is in an uproar. Everyone knows that demons have chicken feet. Everyone gathers for protection, they huddle together and pray, a sage has been called from a neighboring village to do an exorcism.
Were the prints caused by chickens? Children playing a prank? Is Vlada lying about the prints to delay her wedding? Or is the folklore true, are there really demons in town, demons that cause danger, demons to be weary of?
Mix together superstitions, suppositions, and facts and I promise your games and world will be better for it.
Like this article? Check out Raphael’s games at https://gamesgarden.itch.io/
Or any of his other links including a free substack about topics in Jewish fantasy at https://thegamesgardener.carrd.co/#
About the Author
Raphael is an indie ttrpg designer best known for Lucid: Sea of Dreams. He has a substack on topics in Jewish Fantasy and world building with an emphasis on ttrpgs. When not writing, or working his day job Raphael enjoys listening to birds, lazing around at home with his wife, and falling down internet rabbit holes.
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