Disney in the Mists

[Jimsolo]

So, a long time ago, while I was still a new, struggling DM, a friend of mine offered me a piece of advice.

"Jim, everything doesn't have to be original. Your game isn't going to get shut down for violating copyright laws, and no one's going to care if you rip off someone else's story, so long as we all still have fun."

Best. DM. Advice. Ever. My games improved dramatically after that. I'm generally not going to steal another DM's plot, or the storyline to a popular movie, (generally) but I no longer have any compunctions about ripping off obscure literature, film, or television ideas that I find intriguing.

In any event, after the birth of my first child, I found that myself with little to no time to plan game, so I started winging stuff a bit more, or recycling old ideas from games these players never participated in. At some point, I wound up ripping off a Disney film. And that's when I realized how awesome Disney movies are when you do a little fine tuning and turn them into Ravenloft plots.

First up was Hunchback of Notre Dame. ('But it was a French novel first!' you say. And you're right, but my version had gargoyle minions, so it definitely qualifies as a Disney ripoff.) It all went down in Port-a-Lucine, with Armand Pineau playing the part of the cardinal. (My game is set a little later, so he has ascended to the head of the faith.) A number of grisly murders around town began terrifying everyone, especially since they seemed to be targeted in and around the street prostitutes. Eventually, the truth comes out, and Pineau's adopted (Caliban, of course) son is pointed out as the culprit. He's been killing people who have threatened or inconvenienced his long-distance crush, a gypsy hooker. To the dismay of the PCs who go to confront him, however, the gypsy has discovered her secret admirer, and joined with him!

I ended up increasing the size of Ste. Mere de Larmes for this one, so that there could be a climactic battle on the rooftop. It was pretty successful.

So I did it again. A couple of months later, I went back to the Happiest Watering Hole on Earth, for more plundered ideas. This time it was The Little Mermaid. Once again informed by the original source, it wound up being some pretty sweet material. The group found a woman wandering alone, and sussed out that she was a mermaid who had given up her voice to seek her soulmate on land, and that unless he chose to spend the rest of his life (and half his soul!) with her, she would dissolve into sea foam. (One of the PCs has a follower who is a bard--specifically for this kind of exposition.)

Of course, the man in question is ALREADY engaged. And he's a jerk, who doesn't care that his cadding around is going to get this poor girl killed. ("Why does it matter? You already told me--she doesn't even have a soul.") And of course there's the sea witch to contend with, who doesn't want the players interfering with her plan to steal the rest of the mermaid's immortality. Eventually, one of the PCs chose to marry the mermaid instead, (gaining a powerful follower in the process).

In ANY event, to make a long story longer, I think I'm going to do it again. I had an epiphany the other day while watching something about Dustin Hoffman.

How is Peter Pan and Never-Never Land not ALREADY a Ravenloft domain?! I mean, seriously. Immortal, sinister child who kidnaps people and is locked in eternal conflict with a man who may or may not represent the child's adult self, all while the adult is being pursued by a thinly veiled metaphor for his own mortality, in a conflict that just drips with allusions to the internal conflicts between childish and adult desires during maturation, and all of this set in an island isolated by mists? Seriously, how is this not already a domain?!

That, I think, is my next project. The only question is whether to make Peter or Hook the Darklord. (Or perhaps some conjoined deal, like Adam and Mordenheim.)

What do you guys think? Peter Pan a good source to steal from? Any other Disney flicks you think would make good source material?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Never thought about Peter Pan that way, but it sure does fit. I can't believe it didn't occur to me before, since I have two fairy- and pirate-obsessed daughters, and have spent way too much time trying to reconcile the Neverland continuity between various sources. (Why is Tinkerbell so disdainful of "Clumsies" in the Nevergirls, book 1? She mentions Peter Pan, so we know it takes place after The Great Fairy Rescue movie, where she meets and befriends Lizzy, the first human she's met (and never called her a clumsy). And why do all the fairies live in the same tree in that book, when we know the Tinkers have their own little village. For that matter why does Tinkerbell get a brief tour of Winter and see cold-fairies in the first Tinkerbell movie when we learn in Secret of the Wings that it's forbidden? And don't get me started on what could have happened to Captain Hook between Return to Neverland and Jake and the Neverland Pirates to explain his character arc.)


Now if only we could make a domain around some other Disney characters, Pinocchio, perhaps?

ETA: Oh, and another thing: How does Izzy's pixie dust fly unwilling subjects and inanimate objects? Wendy and her brothers (and Kate and her friends from the Nevergirls) couldn't fly until they thought happy thoughts. How does a treasure chest (or an angry Captain Hook for that matter) think happy thoughts? This way lies madness, I tell you....

[Zilfer]

Never thought about Peter Pan that way, but it sure does fit. I can't believe it didn't occur to me before, since I have two fairy- and pirate-obsessed daughters, and have spent way too much time trying to reconcile the Neverland continuity between various sources. (Why is Tinkerbell so disdainful of "Clumsies" in the Nevergirls, book 1? She mentions Peter Pan, so we know it takes place after The Great Fairy Rescue movie, where she meets and befriends Lizzy, the first human she's met (and never called her a clumsy). And why do all the fairies live in the same tree in that book, when we know the Tinkers have their own little village. For that matter why does Tinkerbell get a brief tour of Winter and see cold-fairies in the first Tinkerbell movie when we learn in Secret of the Wings that it's forbidden? And don't get me started on what could have happened to Captain Hook between Return to Neverland and Jake and the Neverland Pirates to explain his character arc.)


Now if only we could make a domain around some other Disney characters, Pinocchio, perhaps?

ETA: Oh, and another thing: How does Izzy's pixie dust fly unwilling subjects and inanimate objects? Wendy and her brothers (and Kate and her friends from the Nevergirls) couldn't fly until they thought happy thoughts. How does a treasure chest (or an angry Captain Hook for that matter) think happy thoughts? This way lies madness, I tell you....

Not that your daughters should probably think this but being able to fly and kill peter pan is probably up there on Hook's 'happy list'. xD

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Not that your daughters should probably think this but being able to fly and kill peter pan is probably up there on Hook's 'happy list'. xD

Yes, true, but at the time, Hook was trapped in a tree, pursued by the tick-tock croc and Pan was not in Neverland, and Izzy, Jake, and Cubby had to save him, so.... OK, look, let's just forget I said anything, I clearly need help. (BTW, which is the sole source of Pixie Dust: The Pixie Dust Tree (Tinkerbell Movie) or the Fountain of Forever (Jake & TNP)? They can't BOTH be true! You think Ravenloft canon has contradictions.....)

[Nathan of the FoS]

I think we have to regard any straight-to-video productions as quasi-canonical at best, don't we?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Sorry for the derail.... getting back to the topic at hand:
Frozen is a different spin on Jezra Wagner.
Beauty and the Beast certainly has some horror overtones.
Lion King in the Wildlands.
A character from Fantasia already appears in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

[Jimsolo]

Jezra Wagner? Not familiar.

Lol, I can only imagine trying to sort out the canonical nitpicks for a Disney franchise.

[Ryan Naylor]

The spectre who resides on Mt Baratok, from RL MC II

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

This may be more fitting in the "real life horror/fear/madness" thread, but when the wife and I were at Euro-Disney a decade or so ago, we went on the "It's a Small World" ride. In the middle, there was a malfunction of some sort. The audio stopped, but the little child manakins kept silently moving. Their little mouth clacked open and closed, and their rictus grins bobbed up and down as they waved to us. The clicks and whirrs of their motors were the only sound, and our little boat ride took an unexpected detour into the Uncanny Valley. It was easy to imagine these little doll golems deciding to attack us.... and then the sound came back and all well. (sort of.)

[Nemesio]

This may be more fitting in the "real life horror/fear/madness" thread, but when the wife and I were at Euro-Disney a decade or so ago, we went on the "It's a Small World" ride. In the middle, there was a malfunction of some sort. The audio stopped, but the little child manakins kept silently moving. Their little mouth clacked open and closed, and their rictus grins bobbed up and down as they waved to us. The clicks and whirrs of their motors were the only sound, and our little boat ride took an unexpected detour into the Uncanny Valley. It was easy to imagine these little doll golems deciding to attack us.... and then the sound came back and all well. (sort of.)

Ha! Great story!

My first homemade domain and darklord, back in the 90s, was inspired by the "Beauty and the Beast" story. I just couldn't help but think, "Ravenloft", while watching the Disney cartoon! My beast wasn't very cuddly though. Thinking back, he actually had more in common with the guy from "Jeepers Creepers", as he had large bat wings, and it didn't pay to be beautiful in that domain...

[Dark Angel]

This may be more fitting in the "real life horror/fear/madness" thread, but when the wife and I were at Euro-Disney a decade or so ago, we went on the "It's a Small World" ride. In the middle, there was a malfunction of some sort. The audio stopped, but the little child manakins kept silently moving. Their little mouth clacked open and closed, and their rictus grins bobbed up and down as they waved to us. The clicks and whirrs of their motors were the only sound, and our little boat ride took an unexpected detour into the Uncanny Valley. It was easy to imagine these little doll golems deciding to attack us.... and then the sound came back and all well. (sort of.)

That makes me think of the SNL bits where the carnival ride breakdown and the couple is (eventually) accosted by the 'animatronic' performers (real people) and it is funny, but really, really creepy too. Not domain/darklord worthy, but definitely could add to twisted circus or carnival atmospheres.

[Matthew L. Martin]

As Ken Hite put it a decade ago, "if you can't make [ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ] into a Ravenloft campaign, you're not even trying." He was talking about the original fairy tale, but the Disney version isn't that different. And the Evil Queen's laboratory sequences are one of my touchstones for portrayals of the Dark Arts.

[Resonant Curse]

So...what you're saying there is that Neverland is the Nova Vaasa of Disney's Core.

[Manofevil]

My favorite Disney series, Kim Possible, has someone who would make a great DarkLord. Dr. Drakken is constantly thwarted by a teenage girl and her bumbling buddy. I could see him as a Darklord constantly trying to sieze control of his realm and eternally being foiled by two youths. He could also have an sarcastic female enforcer who always torments verbally him for these failures, making the curse worse. Kim has all the makings of a Ravenloft hero, too. Though she always beats the bad guys, she would be cursed to be constantly beset by the social pressures of being a teenager. Her Bumbling friend (later boyfriend) Ron Stoppable also has all the earmarks of a Ravenloft True Innocent.
Lastly,




: Trapping people in the 'It's a Small World' ride at Di$neyland. Boy, you ARE evil, Dr. D.

[High Priest Mikhal]

When I first saw this thread I was skeptical of Diz-knee in Ravenloft. Then I found this. Not that I agree with everything but it's enough. Carry on.

To MOE: Okay, now that is evil. I went on that ride once. Before it was over I was trying to drown myself.