As I mentioned not long ago, Maestro Media is coming out with an official Smurfs Tabletop Roleplaying Game and I don't think I've been this excited about a game in a very long time.
I've been so inspired by the announcement and my reading of the rules in the Quickstart Guide that I've asked one of my gaming groups if I could run them through a scenario and for some insane reason they said yes.
I immediately started putting together an adventure, some setting material, and generating some illustrations for the occasion. I will definitely be reusing and/or repurposing some concepts I came up with back in 2011 for my first Smurfs campaign [which I ran using a homebrew system]. I have expanded upon that earlier work a bit but not overly so as I only intend to run this one adventure (probably two or three sessions tops) for the time being. If I were to run a full on campaign I'd definitely go through both the old and new ideas more thoroughly.
For now...
The Smurf Player Characters
I noticed that each of the pre-generated Smurfs in the Quickstart has a set of Attributes - Quick, Brawn, Mind, and Heart - that total 24 points. Based on this, I allowed the three players to arrange their 24 points of stats as they liked and used the the Smurfs in the Guide as templates to determine the other aspects of a PC (along with the rule mechanics provided).
The end result is three original Smurf characters with rather odd Motivations and Specialties that fit perfectly with what I have in mind. The strange combination of Medieval Fantasy and humorous anachronism should provide for a very entertaining adventure. In addition to the three PCs, I recreated my assisting NPC 'Spacey Smurf' from my the previous game to help them get accustomed to the game world.
The Cursed Lands and Smurf Village Setting
The official Map of The Smurf Village by Peyo and his studio
from the book 'The World of The Smurfs', 2011.
English Translation from French and minor modifications by me.
For the game's setting, I am beginning with the classic, official depiction of the Smurf Village and it's surrounding area, originally called 'The Cursed Lands' from its earliest appearances in Peyo's comic series, 'Johan and Peewit'. Added to this are some canon inconsistences between that comic and the later Smurfs comics and cartoons that I've reconciled to my personal tastes and the requirements of the adventure.
From there I expanded and detailed the region based on the notes I wrote up for my original Smurfs campaign that include and flesh out the milieu, inspired by the folklore of Belgium and France combined with the comic book, cartoon, and other related materials. The end result is this map:
Scale is not really a concern so much as direction and placement of the different important locations. It was necessary to place larger waterways and how they might feasibly connect in order to work in one of the characters having a nautical theme. That and two of my favorite old Smurf stories involve our little blue heroes traveling by river.
Curiously, another favorite tale had a river (a stream really) running through the center of the village when nearly all other comics featuring the Smurfs show the nearest body of water to be river going around the wooded area where the Mushroom Village is located. I have included both ideas in my interpretation to allow greater versatility to the Smurf House building aspect of the game. I am also toying with the idea (as has been suggested in more recent Smurf media) that this may be 'a' Smurf Village and not 'the' Smurf Village. I'd like to imply that but keep confirmation of it vague for now.
My design for an updated, post-Gargamel's Rampage Smurf Village.
Do other Fee or Fairie beings dwell in the Enchanted Woods? Are there really Giants in the Northern Mountains? Has any Smurf reached the Sea at the end of the River that goes there?
I really like the idea of exploring beyond the Enchanted Woods and Forbidden Forest we generally see in the Smurf stories to discover what else might be out there.
That's it for now. I should have a write-up of our first sessions later this week.
Any comments or questions are greatly appreciated.
AD
Barking Smurf? Smurfing Alien? This is a tough one...
I cannot wait to see where you smurfing go with this. I hope our little blue heroes get to explore the whole of The Cursed Land and had many a great adventure. While we're waiting please tell us more about the three player-Smurfs...
ReplyDeleteI might give you a little but I want to hold off going too deep into the PCs before the players get the chance to play them.
DeleteLots of things emerge during play that you don't account for during Character Creation, especially in the area of personality.
Totally understand; it would just be nice to see where they start from, so we can appreciate their growth on their smurfy journey.
DeleteWell clearly the smurfs have expanded to the nearby river and built Smurfport to facilitate trade ... er ... whatever smurfs would do on a river.
ReplyDeleteA second village also explains where all of these other smurfs come from that we didn't see in the show if that matters. I'm assuming most people know them from the show so it might be nice to have a built-in explanation but I don't know if it really matters.
Looking forward to see what you do with this one.
Maybe that's it...Oh my Smurf! Blacksteel you're a genius! You just gave me two absolutely smurfy ideas!
DeleteThe official game actually begins with a brilliant conceit; one which explains the building of ones Smurf House as a part of the RPG.
While the Smurf Village is hidden from the senses of Humans, Gargamel does periodically find ways to locate it. Luckily, he promptly loses his way back there once more after leaving it.
You start the game with a Gargamel Rampage having occurred very recently. Your Smurf House, along with those of several others, were wrecked. Now you are in the process of rebuilding them.
Maybe the Smurfs don't just rebuild but as you suggest, they expand. They make a second village on the far side of the river.
Second idea is that he didn't damage the Smurf Village we are all familiar with but another one across the river that was always there. Gargamel can't tell them apart and since he gets lost anyway because of enchantments, he (and the audience) had no idea there were always two.
Hmm...
With all of that water around, are they adequately prepared for a Snork attack?
ReplyDeleteHeheh. One of the guys in my group that's participating in this had an interesting suggesting regarding the Snorks but to reveal it now would give away too much.
DeleteKeep smurfing this blog for future smurfs!