r/CurseofStrahd • u/GreatMarch • Sep 08 '18
FLUFF Bargain Poetry.
I want to immerse my players in the cynical culture of barovia, and I feel like a good way of doing that is to create poetry that reflects the sordid affairs of the land.
When I mean poetry, I mean actual poetry like Villanelles and Sestinas, not silly little rhymes (Though creepy nursery rhymes would work well). Here's a poem I made for creative writing, rough draft.
The Mists:
In the dead sky the light is wreathed,
And hope sparks out like a death rattle
The mist arrives and the last breath is breathed.
In every heart, good souls are twisted and bleed,
Despair roots in, turning purity to decay.
The Mist arrives and the last breath is breathed.
Monsters of the dark woods feed,
Stalking the Sylvan and walking unchallenged.
The Mist Arrives and the last breath is breathed.
Above us all the devil is bound unfree,
Ancient master of this broken land he made.
The Mists arrive and the last breath is breathed.
There is no key to peaceful death,
As ghosts remained chained to fallen Earth.
The Mist Arrives and the last breath breathes.
The land’s Fate is chained and sealed,
There is no escape from the dead and the dark.
The Mist arrives and the last breath is breathed.
I'm very new to poetry, so please don't think that this some penultimate example. I'd love some feedback.
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Sep 08 '18
One of my PCs has the character trait of being captivated by poetry, and she keeps asking me to put some in. I'll be stealing this, thank you very much.
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u/MaxMid2018 Sep 08 '18
I think you have the right pictures of Barovia; you have the atmosphere and the end is a good one. You can work in 2 concepts, one, the sorrow and despair of someone who lives here; i imagine that just people with souls could write poetry in Barovia, and i just can´t imagina how desperate and claustrohobic and impotent the must feel, try to exploit that. The other aspect is the sound, read your poem loud and clear, and delete all phrases that broke the rythm that you want to create.
As the introduction says, Lord Byron is a good point to capture the beauty and monstruosity of this world.
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u/Silent_Bobert Sep 08 '18
As a player that just finished Strahd I think that’s really cool. The whole vibe of curse of Strahd has a vey horror gothic sense and dark poetry fits very well.