Looking for a reason to have many princesses (maybe some princes too) locked in towers scattered across the wilds. Arthurian-like high fantasy setting, with colorful knights, evil sorcerers, fairy tale vibes.Why would they be locked in some towers, guarded by monsters, including dragons? Why couldn't their families help them? It's for a classic knightly adventure so let's assume the king would be much pleased to see his daughter back, you get a reward etc.
A powerful dragon demands a hostage in exchange for not burning down the kingdom.
>>97665283Does the dragon fall in love with the princess?
>>97665299You mean like Stockholm syndrome but in reverse?
>>97665301Was thinking more Beauty and the Beast but sure whatever?
>>97665281Well, one obvious answer for why their families couldn't help would be if their family was the one who locked them up there in the first place, as a form of safekeeping.That would require some other element for why they'd also need to keep her distant from the actual throne though. A potential angle there is that there's some curse or prophecy that is basically assured to come true if she spends her life at the castle, and so having her isolated at the edges of the kingdom is safer for all involved.If you're going for fairy tale vibes, then leaning into the fae as an excuse also works. If the tower is in some enchanted forest that only the pure of heart can access, then it doesn't really matter if the king could send an army marching towards it if the fae magic repels them.And obviously, evil sorcerers and dragons are sufficient force multipliers that sheer numbers might be insufficient anyway.As for why all of those sorcerers/dragons/fae keep capturing all of the princesses, aside from some sort of scheme to marry her in an effort to take over the kingdom, some sort of magical influence is probably the simplest. Either the princess being some sort of vague blessing of prosperity, or something more direct like healing people with a touch.
>>97665301>>97665305That is the plot of beauty and the beast
>>97665281Some spellcasters make use out of power enhancers.Wizards live in towers, since further up from the ground there's less interference with their spells.Princesses' royal blood have magical properties that a spellcaster can use to empower certain spells.Maybe a witch lives in a swamp, but a horizon away she's locked up a princess in a tower, that relays magical power to her.
>>97665281The Witcher books did this. They were born under a bad sign, destined to cause misery and destruction, so their parents either killed them or locked them up in towers.
>>976652811. Evil sorceress curses the 9 royal families of the land2. "Your first-born daughters will bring about doom, doom, doom! And if you slay them, then doom, doom, doom!"3. Well shit guys, wut do?4. Towers? Towers!5. The fairy godmother says "no but secretly they're the keys to salvation!"6. The kings love their daughters but fear them
>>97665281>Why would they be locked in some towers, guarded by monsters, including dragons?Dragon discovers the human custom of ransoms, believes it has found the infinite money glitch and brags about it to its friends.
>>97665281>locked in towersIt might be a tangent, but I have a question: If the princesses are to be locked up somewhere, why specifically lock them up in towers and not in, say, underground dungeons?
>>97665281The cool thing about TTRPGs, or any medium created as fantasy, is that you can come up with the reasons yourself.The only limit is your own imagination.
>>97665974It's a lot harder to lose track of a tower than it is to lose track of a dungeon. Also, people complain when they can't see outside and gravity makes it much much easier to integrate a latrine into the design.
>>97665974Ground would interfere with the magical relay as in: >>97665659
>>97665986If OP had imagination, he wouldn't be on /tg/ leeching ideas.
Imagine if you battled a sorcerer or dragon to rescue a princess in a tower, but she was a modern foid so she still wouldn't give you sex/true love that you deserve.... What would your character do?
>>97665805Oh or even better:...5. The fairy godmother says "but if you slay the 9 demons linked to their souls, the princesses can go free"6. Heroes slay demons one by one7. Heroes free princesses one by one, after each demon slayage8. Each time get feasted and kingdom's sacred treasure as reward9. Repeat in next kingdom10. Free final princess, something something, fight soreceress11. Happily ever after
>>97665281There was a Gene Wolfe short story about a princess locked in a tower but I can't find it now. Arthurian times. The princess is Chinese.
>>97667645Britons didn't have towers in Arthurian times. A wooden Motte and Bailey if you're lucky
>>97666392Firstly. Im doing this for either fat loot, or the love ofnthe game, roasties dont concern me. Ill either fucker her & forget her, or toss her at her father & go get a handful of tavern wench pussy
As >>97665757 said, the witcher books have basically what >>97665316 describes:There was the belief that all girls/princesses born under a certain star were cursed to be evil. So they were locked up in towers where some of them got saved from adventuring knights. The books raise the question if the curse was real at all, or if these women only grew bitter and hatefull because of their treatment. The BaW DLC to the game picks that story up again.
>>97667820Damn, so roleplaying really is power fantasy for you losers
>>97665281The perhaps the most classic reason for a princess to be locked up in a remote location is to deny her marriage to a political enemy, or as sort of a house arrest punishment for spurning a marriage. A tower is the chosen location to keep a high status hostage or prisoner because it befits their status to be kept in a well appointed cell with plenty of fresh air, a clean privy, nice views, limited access to make securing the arrest/defense of the prisoner and her retinue easier, etc etc.The retinue is important, she should always have a maid or two and a lady in waiting unless she’s held by an animalistic captor or someone mocking her civilization by intentionally ignoring their mores. And guards. Even if held by a hostile civil power, she should have at least two guards from her own house.
>>97666363This is what this board is for - to discuss and share ideas and knowledge.
>>97668455OP did at least start the thread with more than one sentence. Whether he'll come back to actually discuss remains to be seen, but this thread at least has a semblance of someone asking for advice for running a particular campaign.
>>97667694Both the Gaels and British Romans had towers long before when Arthur was supposed to have lived, unless you're going to play the "actually that tall building with a single ground-level entrance and internal staircase isn't sufficiently tall enough for my personal definition of tower" game.
>>97668317Buddy. 50 years ago, men didnt simp like you. Its not a power fantasy to disregard bitches, some of us have that capacity because were not Low T and emasculated like you
>>97669130Ah yes the 70 year old tabletop gaming chad, lmao, thank you for infusing this board with your high-test bvsed and trvd grandpa wisdom that is definitely not a LARP
>>97669130Ok Tommy Toughknuckles
>>97667820Or you died from your own retardation long before you get to her. Not you are playing any tabletop games anyway.>>97669130You don't have brain capacity play tabletop games, retard.
>>97668502>>97667694While pre-Roman Britons erected structures made of various materials including stone, earth and timber, the techniques and inclination to build stone towers were introduced by the Romans. Following the end of the occupation, the skill and inclination to erect a multi-storey stone building in Britain was largely lost for centuries. Many such stone buildings as were made often fell into disrepair and may have been disassembled to reuse stone elsewhere. There are few if any examples of Sub Roman Britons engaging in the construction of stone fortifications for centuries. There is debate if such as have been found, like Anglian Tower, are Sub Roman or late Romano-British. This means dismissing the idea all-stone towers popping up all over Sub Roman Arthurian Britain. That's for the story books and the movies.Wooden and stone towers were a feature on many but not all Romano-British forts and fortified towns, sometimes built with the original walls, sometimes later additions. Earthen ramparts were a common feature of these defensive works. Wooden towers were not essential to the castra that legions would erect each night. The more permanent castra had towers as a matter of course. The towers in temporary castra were likely of the form of a walled platform elevated on posts. Longer lasting castra could have these or more durable designs.Castra, being a versatile word, also meant a simple watchtower. A typical watchtower would be a fully-enclosed three-storied square. This castrum may or may not have had a palisade, the ground floor could be made of stone or timber, and access was via a first floor not ground floor door. This is a simple design to erect and "experimental archaeology" says watchtowers could easily have been built by Sub Roman Britons.>>97667694> Arthurian times. A wooden Motte and Bailey if you're lucky.Don't be silly. Motte and bailey construction post-dates Arthurian Britain by 4 or 5 centuries.
>>97669249>That's for the story books and the movies. Well fortunately OP specifically asked for fairy tales, so emulating a story book and ignoring any historical inaccuracy is one of the stated goals here. So towers aren't a problem.
>>97669285You might have missed the part where those two were discussing actual real world architecture in Sub Roman Britain so we've kind of moved on from being subject to OP's limitations.
>>97668455So where in the first post are his ideas and knowledge?
>>97669249Brochs are tall enough to count, and while there's debate over whether they were constructed by Gaels, Picts, or Danes, the earliest predates contact with the Romans by a few centuries. I do think you're overestimating the level of technical know-how needed for "stack a bunch of stones on top of each other with a central staircase." It's more likely that they would be cannibalized so they stone could be repurposed into more sophisticated buildings centuries later.You're also overestimating how late into the sub-Roman period Arthur existed, if he existed. Even if you want to assume that nobody in Britannia was capable of stacking a bunch of stones together when the inhabitants of present day Scotland were able to as far back as 2nd century BC, Arthur was early enough that there would have been plenty of Roman towers that wouldn't yet have fallen into disrepair.
>>97669194Dying to the challenge was also half expected in classic play yes.
>>97665281What game?
>>97669757The one you play. You do play games, right? You're not a gameless loser trying to moderate a board you clearly don't understand, right?
>>97669718The challenge for people like you is resisting the urge to eat the dice.
Princesses and Princes before they mature exhibit unstable powers and sociopathic tendencies. They are sealed in towers for the people's protection.
>>97667694>Britons didn't have towers in Arthurian timesNo Roman-made towers that are still standing in that period? Because I'd think there would still be some.
>>97669393> I do think you're overestimating the level of technical know-how neededNo, I'm reporting on lack of archaeological evidence of Sub Roman Britons erecting stone buildings. Anglo-Saxons started the stone trend in Britain again. I think you on the other hand are overestimating the Roman propensity for making towers.
>>97670010Didn't they have a tower ever few miles on hadrian wall?
>>97668455So you agree it's for sharing and not leeching? Good to know.
>>97669137You're welcome, low T beta faggot.
>>97665281>The world is full of a great many dangers.>As such, it's a sign of success and wealth for a female to be beautiful, light, slim, and delicate, as it shows she has resources enough that she herself doesn't need to be the kind of strong needed to survive.>Similarly, higher class feminine behavior mirrors this, where the more and more wealthy and successful/royal the woman, the more and more delicate and unsuited to the dangers of the world she is.>Naturally, in a bid to outcompete each other for the attractiveness of their princesses, the question comes 'how to store them'?>You can't keep them in the castle proper, as that's leaving them vulnerable to any number of knives in the dark, poisonings by rival politicians/jealous maids, sieges by rival households, or general fuckery by the local population who sees an attractive young woman deliberately kept away from good habits about self-preservation.>But you can't exactly keep them in a cabin in the woods either. She'll inevitably walk outside and get eaten by a bear or something.>Hence, towers. A nice, solitary tower away from things, with a good view over the forest in an idyllic, but little known plot of land.>She can stay at the top, secured safely in a fine studio room with a view, supplies can be delivered by trusted servants, magic, or flying courier animals that don't talk too much, and only the King and anyone he trusts get the key to her chambers.>Of course, someone can rappel up the side to her window, sure. But frankly if someone can manage the 80ft vertical ascent and not fall, or get his rope cut by the princess, frankly he deserves to get the girl.
>>97670015That's right. They were like 4.5 meters tall, on top of the wall itself, which was of similar height.
>>97669757No specific system, I just stated the feeling of the setting. It doesn't matter what game.
>>97665281Maybe you should look to Sardinia and the Nurhag towers.
>>97675014
>>97675019They were all over the island.
>>97675014Irish round towers are perhaps a little late chronologically and served a different purpose, but I'll bring them up too just because IMO their aesthetic seems prime for ithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_round_tower
>>97666392Same thing I would do IRL: beat them to within an inch of their life, then leave them to die in the desert.
>>97665281Princesses of certain bloodlines serve some kind of function being kept in specific places, away from other people. Maybe they need to give magical power to the land that is dependent on these conditions.
>>97671152Maximum nogames.
>>97675834Thats really the classic fantasy tower. Good pic, anon.
>>97665281In my setting, parents locked away their daughters to preserve their virginity until marriage
>>97676348What's with that fixation on having to play games? This board is also for worldbuilding and shit.I started this thread because I'm thinking about making a Pendragon campaign but it could work in any system.
>>97677972Is the resident spammer and shill with bot responses. Report him for spam and move on.
>>97677972>What's with that fixation on having to play games? NTA, but it's the traditional games board. If people here wanted to discuss worldbuilding for a novel they'd be over in /lit/.>I'm thinking about making a Pendragon campaignThen you should just say as much. If you want to discuss and plan for a game there's no need to play coy about it. But if you want to discuss that, then I'm not sure why you're wasting time replying to posts insulting you instead of actually replying to the posts in the thread that had ideas and suggestions. After all, if the OP of a thread isn't interested in discussing it, why would anyone else be?
>NTASure you're, spammer.>Muh hall monitor jannieHoly fuck mods just ban this fucking troll already.
>>97677972>What's with that fixation on having to play games?Pic related, newfag.>it could work in any systemOf all the rule books for so-called games I've read, I've never seen any establish a reason for a princess to be locked in a tower.This means whatever you or anyone else comes up with in that regard has nothing to do with a game.If there is a game system out there that does establish a cause-and-effect for royalty being trapped in towers, and outlines challenges (with consistent and clear success and failure conditions) pertaining to such things, it would be relevant to gameplay. So, does Pendragon have such challenges and rules, and what was stopping you from answering >>97669757 properly?
>>97665281Princesses can all communicate through the strands of their magical hair so they've been set up as a communication network allowing the kingdom unprecedented prosperity.
in the OSE module Winter's Daughter, a fairy princess has been locked in a tower to keep her from her human beloved (already deceased)she can leave anytime she wants, but she has to renounce him first
