In a fantasy setting complete with all sorts of weird monsters that one might pass in their day-to-day life, how does a Freak Show work? Surely someone who looks slightly odd because of a deformity is nothing compared to a monstrosity of magic, and surely people can easily determine fakes such as the Fiji Mermaid. I've used Freak Shows and Circus gimmicks a few times when running games, but I've just never really understood how something like that works in a setting where a deformity is nothing compared to actual straight up magic.
>>97900369It doesn't.Welcome the non-human zoo! Take some (relatively) tameable non-human with a bizzarre appereance and let the unwashed masses dropo their silver coins to watch them!
>>97900369You're overthinking it. Even a moron can still recognize an unhealthy animal from a normal one in most cases.
>>97900369I always sort of expected that any given freak show would be more akin to the bootleg zoos out there that fake some of their animals because they can't afford the real ones. Where they've got the biggest dog they could find and stuck a mane on it instead of actually getting and taking care of a lion.And the freakshow would fall into the same basket, where it would just be a mix of actual fantastical creatures, where somebody managed to cage a goblin. And then fake fantastical creatures, where they've got a harry guy in a cage because keeping a live werewolf caged is hard enough without also having to ensure it's constantly transformed into werewolf mode instead of just turning into their human guise and pleading for freedom. And in some cases they might just make shit up. Conjoined twins? No, this is a Gemininoid from Bytopia, where all of the people are doubled like this. And sure, any customer with some better knowledge might recognize the fakes, or call out the bullshit. But then what? There's still not a better zoo unless you're actually going to a major city, and even then it might not be much more impressive. And so the con artists at carnivals still manage to carve out their niche at towns and villages where the people don't know any better, or are at least entertained enough to not demand a refund.
>>97900369Well, magical accidents do happen. Sometimes, there isn't a cure for Far Realm exposure.
>>97900369Traditional games?
>>97901108I do tend to overthink things, so i might be.>>97901153That's a really good point, especially if it's a traveling carnival. If you're in the rural village of Woodcrestshire, you've never seen a werewolf, so it might be as good as you can get. Adds opportunities for experienced adventurers to be like "Wait a second, what? That's not what that looks like at all." when they come upon the werewolf. >>97902190This also a good idea I hadn't really thought of. >>97900390The Human Zoo is also kind of interesting. I guess there are probably some places that hadn't seen like a Tiefling or something, so the person with horns and a tail might be a curiosity. >>97902207I'm asking how to better represent a freak show in fantasy games where "freaks" would be mundane.
>>97902274Have you tried playing traditional games?
>>97900369Depends entirely on the setting.
Those are not weird monsters in that world, they're just monsters. That would be like someone from a world where platypuses and girrafes dont exist talking about earth and saying "They have fucked up chimeras with duck beaks and furry bodies, why would they think a dragon is weird and mythical?"Basically what I'm saying is you're a retard with an underdeveloped theory of mind.
>>97902274>The Human Zoo is also kind of interesting.I'd imagine there would be a lot of overlap. Not in the sense that they'd keep Tieflings in cages (although some cultures might), but simply that if you're already going to have a zoo full of exotic creatures from exotic places, then having a stage show where you've got a Tiefling playing a fiddle is still related enough where you might as well add it to the circus. >I'm asking how to better represent a freak show in fantasy games where "freaks" would be mundane.Tying it back into games, the most engaging ways to incorporate a freakshow would likely just stem from the system's equivalent to skill checks related to knowledge or spotting lies. Either by observing the freaks and realizing that they're merely medical conditions and knowing what the real versions should be, or managing to pick up on the clues that the the person putting on the show is lying about it. The former probably is easier than the latter, although in either case I'd expect any seasoned PCs wouldn't have too much trouble with it. If they'd ever actually fought a werewolf, it's basically automatic. And there are some events that could stem from that. Like the owner hiring the PCs to get them some real monsters, an angry mob thinking the freaks are real monsters and getting riled up, a real monster disguising itself amidst the freaks and using the show as a cover to commit crimes, etc. Plenty of mystery an adventure to be had.
>>97900369You'd have to work hard to establish the hypotheticals of what "is normal" and "isn't normal" in the fantasy setting, then, it would be up to your group to process the hypothetical and remember what "is normal", then engage with the hypothetical to decide their reaction to what "isn't normal".But as /tg/ continues to prove more and more every day, the ability to think in hypotheticals (even those of one or two layers) is becoming a rarity.Now that we have the settings shit out of the way, can we talk about games yet?
