Native tribe harassing outsiders

[Jd Smith1]

So, its the usual encounter: PCs travelling through howling wilderness encounter native tribe.

Natives are not actively hostile, but take the opportunity to force the PCs to do stuff in other to 'earn' the right to travel through their land.

Its an old trope. Violent games, getting them to eat disgusting parts of the entrée under the guise of 'its an honor', and the like.

Anyone come up with something original? No magic, please, there's none in the setting.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Violent games, getting them to eat disgusting parts of the entrée under the guise of 'its an honor', and the like.

I was just posting about an anthropologist visiting a rainforest tribe during their annual tarantula hunt. According to his account, they thought he was a fool for trading legs (“lobster-like” in his estimation) for abdomens (revolting). And the footage seemed to bear that out.

Another tribe (in another documentary) ate meats only after they had fermented in the ground a while- sometimes months. Some northern fishing cultures eat fermented pinnipeds, cetaceans, and bony fish or sharks.

IOW, disgusting food is subjective.

That said, enduring a pain ritual would work. Perhaps even submitting to a tattooing. That tat could have important meanings down the road in the campaign.

Or winning 2 of 3 “martial” contests against tribesmen (think of Thor & Loki in the hall of Utgarda-Loki, sans magic). “Counting coup” against a dangerous animal or neighboring tribesman would qualify quite well.

Retrieving a hard to obtain and highly valued food- a particular kind of egg or honey, perhaps- would work.

You could have them challenged to contests of musicianship, dance, poetry or storytelling.

Abstaining from an offered temptation would work, though that might be a difficult challenge to frame for players without making it either too easy to pass or a virtually guaranteed failure.










* The Tale of Utgarda-Loki - Norse Mythology for Smart People

 

[Jd Smith1]

I was just posting about an anthropologist visiting a rainforest tribe during their annual tarantula hunt. According to his account, they thought he was a fool for trading legs (“lobster-like” in his estimation) for abdomens (revolting). And the footage seemed to bear that out.

Another tribe (in another documentary) ate meats only after they had fermented in the ground a while- sometimes months. Some northern fishing cultures eat fermented pinnipeds, cetaceans, and bony fish or sharks.

IOW, disgusting food is subjective.

That said, enduring a pain ritual would work. Perhaps even submitting to a tattooing. That tat could have important meanings down the road in the campaign.

Or winning 2 of 3 “martial” contests against tribesmen (think of Thor & Loki in the hall of Utgarda-Loki, sans magic). “Counting coup” against a dangerous animal or neighboring tribesman would qualify quite well.

Retrieving a hard to obtain and highly valued food- a particular kind of egg or honey, perhaps- would work.

You could have them challenged to contests of musicianship, dance, poetry or storytelling.

Abstaining from an offered temptation would work, though that might be a difficult challenge to frame for players without making it either too easy to pass or a virtually guaranteed failure.

* The Tale of Utgarda-Loki - Norse Mythology for Smart People

Interesting stuff. I like the gathering a hard to get food, that has a nice touch. also like the artistic approach; our current system really isn't suited for that, I'm going to note that for our next campaign.

 

[aco175]

My brother and I traveled to Ireland 30 years ago and some of the locals at the pub told us to not kiss the Blarney Stone since locals go and pee on the thing as a joke at night. You could have something simple like this and have several of the local boys snickering in the background.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My brother and I traveled to Ireland 30 years ago and some of the locals at the pub told us to not kiss the Blarney Stone since locals go and pee on the thing as a joke at night. You could have something simple like this and have several of the local boys snickering in the background.

Thanks for the warning!