Was there ever a published adventure based on Baba Yaga's Hut?

[der_kluge]

I own that 2nd ed. one - The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. The NPC in question is nearly a god, and is pretty much invincible. She takes on more of a storytelling role, not a combat one. It's kind of interesting. I never ran it. It's for really, really high levels.

 

[Voadam]

I ran the 2e one with the highest level party member at the time being 9th. The party ended up working for BY, it was a lot of fun. I didn't much care for the godzilla or terminator ghost rooms however.

 

[kenjib]

None of the 1e Lankhmar material used it? I seem to recall the origin of this item being from a Fafhrd & Grey Mouser story.

 

[Tarek]

Dancing Hut's Origins

The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga is *straight* out of russian folktales.

The Baba herself is portrayed as: an ogress, poling with an iron pestle amidst the clouds in her iron mortar; a cruel trickster; a ruthless taskmaster whose servant (if she can work uncomplainingly for a year), is given gifts of great magic; and so forth.

The only two things that are consistent about the hut are that it dances about on chicken's legs when the Baba is away (attacking intruders viciously if they don't know and speak a simple charm), and that it is larger inside than out.

It certainly did not originate with Fritz Lieber and his Lankhmar stories.

Tarek

 

[Voadam]

White Wolf's Werewolf the Apocalypse also has a module for her in modern times called Rage across Russia (I think that is the name).

 

[Tonguez]

The NPC in question is nearly a god, and is pretty much invincible.

Mother of gods actually Baba Yaga (Baba = Older woman/Mother) is a Slavic diety associated with Winter, Death and sometimes Harvests. She is said to guard the waters of Life and Death. Baba Yaga takes the Crone figure of the classic Maiden-Mother-Crone triumvate (and sometimes is depicted with 2 sisters also named Baba Yaga). She is Death and fear and etc etd. She has the same status as the Hindu Kali and similar Mother-Destroyers.
However with the christinisation of the pagan slavs her status devolved to that of primodial hag - in fact she is THE Hag upon which all others are based

It certainly did not originate with Fritz Lieber and his Lankhmar stories..

Its sad isn't it (and probably says something about modern culture) that ancient mythologies are forgotten and the 'quotes' of modern fiction becomes regarded as the source of our ideas - quite ironic really

(actually I was listening to some kids talk about the LOTR movie the other day (I'm a teacher) and speculating on the conclusion of the story as if Peter Jackson had some kind of control over the outcome) - funny.

 

[kenjib]

Its sad isn't it (and probably says something about modern culture) that ancient mythologies are forgotten and the 'quotes' of modern fiction becomes regarded as the source of our ideas - quite ironic really

Naw, more just like a simple mistake in this case. The postmodern theory around this phenomenon goes under the moniker "simulacra." Or it can just be viewed as a simple corruption of information. From these angles, it is usually seen negatively. However, viewing it as another form of evolution actually provides a positive aspect of the same phenomenon. Old symbols are semiotically reinvented in the modern context and thus gain an entire new life, often drawing from and reinforcing the old symbol. I wouldn't think of it so simply as to say that it's always a sad thing -- anymore than I would agree with people who bemoan the ever changing vernacular in language while holding up the Oxford English dictionary as a linguistic bible to diverge from which is tantamount to sin.

But anyway, mistake it was indeed and thanks for the correction! I did know that somewhere in the back of my mind, but things don't always come to the front as readily as I would like...

EDIT: One could even argue that the vast majority of fantasy tropes are exactly such reinventions, and we do love them no?

 

[thundershot]

Heh. The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga was a major event in our 2e campaign. They were pretty high in level, and one of the more powerful characters, a Bionoid, was killed, and the party hauled around her crystal eye until they could find a new body. Well... they never really had time, because they ended up fighting Baba Yaga, and were getting their asses handed to them. Then one of the PC's hurled (without making skin contact) the eye and hit Baba Yaga... and she failed her save, and the body became the new vessel for Alanna the Bionoid.

Everyone was just... gaping. It was a brilliant move on the PC's part, and I let it happen...

Later on, when I did the Ravenloft: Requiem (i think that was it) adventure, the PC's became undead, and it turned out that Baba Yaga was slowly trying to come out of Alanna's body, and being turned into a vampire only made it easier. In the end, Alanna lost her old body, lost her bionoid self, and was just a normal human once more... but Baba Yaga got away, now more powerful than ever, being what she was before, and now a Bionoid AND a vampire...

I've yet to even attempt statting her yet in 3E... any takers? I eventually want to have her return when the PC's are in epic levels.


Chris

 

[der_kluge]

Here are her 2nd ed. stats (from the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga)

They give her stats as if she were a monster, which may be appropriate, I don't know...

25th level wizard, 12th level priest, 10th level thief (sort of)
Alignment: NE
AC -4
Movement: 12
hp: 150
Thac0: 3
No. of attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: 4d4+9 (claw x2) / 2d10+9 (bite)
special attacks: fear aura; poison; aging; spells
special defenses: +1 or better weapons to hit, non-metal weapon to hit when inside hut; regeneration; immunities to poison, fire, and cold; spells
magic resistance: 75%
str 21
dex 18
con 22
int 25
wis 23
char 5

There are literally 3 pages that describe all her special abilities. Some of the key ones:
psionic wild talent of mind blank (power score of 16) - active at all times (even when sleeping)
infravision
magically enhanced sense of smell
feed upon spirites (sort of like a death knell, except she uses it on corpses, and they are unable to be raised
immunity to : chaos, charm monster/person, command, confusion, emotion, fear, feeblemind, forget, friends, fumble, hold monster/person, hypnotism, magic jar, quest, ray of enfeeblement, scare, suggestion, illusions of 7th level or less
A number of rogue-like abilities at 10th level of ability.

 

[johnsemlak]

Naw, more just like a simple mistake in this case. The postmodern theory around this phenomenon goes under the moniker "simulacra." Or it can just be viewed as a simple corruption of information. From these angles, it is usually seen negatively. However, viewing it as another form of evolution actually provides a positive aspect of the same phenomenon. Old symbols are semiotically reinvented in the modern context and thus gain an entire new life, often drawing from and reinforcing the old symbol. I wouldn't think of it so simply as to say that it's always a sad thing -- anymore than I would agree with people who bemoan the ever changing vernacular in language while holding up the Oxford English dictionary as a linguistic bible to diverge from which is tantamount to sin.

But anyway, mistake it was indeed and thanks for the correction! I did know that somewhere in the back of my mind, but things don't always come to the front as readily as I would like...

EDIT: One could even argue that the vast majority of fantasy tropes are exactly such reinventions, and we do love them no?

While I think it was important here to point out Baba Yaga is a from Russian folklore, I do agree with kenjib about how myths get twisted. Who knows where Baba Yaga comes from in Russian Folktales (please post here if you do; I'm no expert). She may be a Russian interpretation of some much older myth.

There are so many examples of myths being taken, changed, and rewritten. Take Christmas. It was originally nothting to do with the birth of Jesus, and Jesus couldn't have even been born in December. It is an ancient celebration of the beginnign of the year, going back to the Sumarians or even further. How many priests bring that up during the x-mas mass?

And look at how Tolkien and Gygax et. al. have taken and twisted myths and folklore to create new fantasy worlds themselves. Teh Q&A with Gygax includes many posts on the origin of the drow, how he found the word somewhere and went on to invent an evil elf race. And how much to Tolkien's elves and dwarves really have to do with their counterparts in nordic myths? Yet, at least among those who read modern fantasy works, our first conception of dwarves and elves is from Tolkien.