So, I'm strongly considering starting work on a setting in my free time based on American Mythology and Folklore. Who and what absolutely has to be included? Anachronisms perfectly welcome, Paul Bunyan squaring off against Al Capone, Billy the Kid teaming up with Nixon, John Henry fighting against a corrupt Henry Ford, anything at all. What historical and semi-historical characters have to be brought up when addressing the cultural melting pot that is America's oral tradition?
>>46192521
Include the Jersy Devil, Jason, and crocodiles in the sewers.
>>46192521
John Henry
Salem witch trials
I guess Slendermen would count?
>>46192521
Emperor Norton.
John Brown because we need old dudes who gave 0 fucks. Also had a song written about him, the tune of which was later used for the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Also Preston Brooks, the guy who beat another man with a cane in Congress.
And no good american story is complete without Andrew Jackson being a colossal douche and badass simultaneously.
>>46192521
Ethan Allen
>>46192521
Our Lord and Savior John Moses Browning.
>>46192521
http://www.fearsomecreaturesofthelumberwoods.com/title.htm
You need some fearsome critters thrown into the mix. They include such formidable beasts as:
>The Roperite, a kangaroo rattlesnake bird which strangles prey with a lasso like beak.
> The Tote Rock Shagmaw, a moose legged, bear armed creep which enjoys confounding hunters and trackers.
> The Cactus Cat, a wildcat which uses the razor sharp blades on its arms to cut open cacti and drink the intoxicating juice.
>>46192521
Pretty sure /tg/ has done this several times now, have a look in the archives.
>>46192521
R A V E N
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M O C K E R
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>>46192521
Vampires.
Vampires are the mostly forgotten terror of early Americans. Far more than witches ever were.
Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe are great sources. Irving drew from some of the oral tradition of the Hudson River Valley.
Many small New England towns have a traditional "Death Coach" story. A traveler heads out at night despite evil portents. He never arrives at his destination.
Occasionally, his coach is seen, drawn by hellish nightmare horses, attempting to collect the souls of those bound for hell.
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" is also a great little folksy story.
>>46192521
Don't forget ascendant Washington, he who achieved apotheosis.
Oh, and the twin sisters of Lady Liberty and Lady Luck, the great mother Columbia, and Justice.
Make sure to include the (or a) Devil as well, but he must be a suave, smooth talking, polite gentleman. His words are tricky and flow like quicksilver, but he is an honest man if you are as witty as him.
>>46192521
Here's hoping none of your group takes one look at your setting and says:
>Stop forcing your weeaboo magical realm on us.
The devil is frequently found in the woods of New England.
Pioneer folklore, how about Davey Crockett? Daniel Boone?
Xenobiology feels like folklore, too. How about Lake Champlain monster? Bigfoot? Chupacabra? Aliens?
There is also the Native American traditions, from Coyote to Wendigos.
HP Lovecraft is from W. Massachusetts, does his mythology also count?
Oh fuck yeah, I just bought three textbooks about this shit, I'll dump when I'm out of class
>>46199056
Sweet, much appreciated.
>>46198807
I always liked the Devil as the old, poker-playing blind man in the swamp. But Mr. Slick is definitely an extremely close second.
>>46198766
I'll definitely look into them more carefully, then.
>>46197915
I'll do precisely that, after this thread goes down. Thanks for the tip.
>>46195154
Man, I'd totally forgotten about the insanity that was Andrew Jackson.
>>46194589
A personal favorite.
>>46195084
Oh yeah, it would, wouldn't it? Hadn't even really thought about the more recent stuff. This mostly stemmed from the realization that the kids I'll eventually have are never going to learn the stories that had an influence on me as a kid unless I tell them about them, and if I can get them learning math, practicing social skills, and playing TTRPG's at an early age, so much the better, I say.
>>46195122
This
>>46199056
Which one do you guys want first, Southern, New England, or Western?
>>46200266
I'll cast a vote for Western.
>>46200266
Western, Southern, and then New England
Let's go reverse chronological.
Besides the smooth talking city-man and the blind old man in the swamp, what other archetypes does the American devil show up in?
>>46200395
A mysterious man in black awaiting signatures in his ledger is some parts of New England
Also, goat
>>46198870
Recall his simple epitaph: "I Am Providence".
While many of his stories are all around New England, he was born in, and died in, Providence Rhode Island.
The area and/or fictional approximations of it feature highly in his stories. (Usually a little more "decadent" as he might have described it, or otherwise colored by whatever sense of distaste or anxiety struck him about this or that neighborhood or building).
You can't forget the sheer importance of the sense of place and atmosphere in his stuff. It's as important to the characterization of as anything else. He really liked architecture and it was a key way he used to judge the state of a place and signal things in his stories.
So you have these really unsavory and hoary old buildings up in the woods, or tumbledown boarded up rotten fishing towns, and absolutely nothing good is hanging around them. (The former almost certainly has inbred, half wild hillbillies churning in dark, hidden sins possibly including some even worse than you would expect like murder such, the latter has Freaky Fish Guys, in more than one sense of the word.)
He also gets those weird stone circles and megaliths into his game, and at least once, an actual zombie/Revenant type thing that is fueled by it's unholy rage and lust for vengeance against the cheapass drunken Yankee undertaker that defiled it's corpse so that he could get away with using a cheaper, and much too small coffin. (Besides of course, pocketing anything of value nobody would notice was missing.) It's actually amazingly dryly funny for Lovecraft.
It wouldn't feel out of place in "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark".
Bump for dump
>>46200506
I like that one.
>>46200636
New England is a good place for horror, from the metropolises to the run down cities past their prime to the just to perfect suburbs to the towns abandoned and falling apart, from the boonies to the forests. not to mention the diversity of the climes, not many people see hills forests and wetlands when they think of New York.
>>46200374
>>46200358
Alright, what are you guys interested in? I can dig around it for a little while
>>46202798
Oh not too mention all the stuff for the great lakes, fun fact they're some of the most dangerous waters in the world.
>>46192521
I'm gonna assume the better known heroes have been covered so
>John Brown
>Tecumseh (almost, ALMOST saved the Native Americans from totally fucked status but the federation wouldn't cooperate)
>Generals Grant and Lee
>Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis
>William Tecumseh Sherman (no relation)
>Lincoln
>Harriet Tubman
>Teddy Roosevelt
>John Basilone (WWII Pacific hero)
>Patton
>Chris Kyle (though more recent and controversial still irrefutable part of history now)
>Hugh Glass (frontiersman, see Leo's Oscar for more)
>Liver-eating Johnson (inspiration for Jeremiah Johnson)
>Samuel Colt
>Pat Garrett (caught Billy the Kid)
>Wyatt Earp
>Betsy Ross
>George McClellan (civil war)
>Stonewall Jackson
DON'T FORGET FAMOUS GROUPS/FACTIONS
>Butch Cassidy and his Hole in the Wall gang (includes Sundance Kid)
>Redlegs/Jayhawkers (guerilla fighters in neutral states during civil war)
>the Sioux nation (hella cavalry)
>The Chicago Mob
>The Bloods
>The Crips
>the 7th Cavalry (custer's)
>The Bluejackets
>The Revolutionary Militias
>Lobsterbacks
>Hessians
>Loyalistsand they say we have no heritage
This is all so cute, Americans pretending that they have actual mythology and folklore outside of what the Indians had before we beat them. Back when you guys were us.
t. European
>>46202939
oh, and don't forget more or less all characters of Last of the Mohicans.
>>46202955
Let me lay something on you Europoor
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc
>>46202865
Folk Heroes and monsters.
>>46195084
Slenderman is more of "internet folklore" than just American.
>>46202955
Eurocucks folklore is old and busted. American folklore is fresh and cool.
>>46196750
>CTRL-F "Browning"
Carry on.
>>46202955
Actually, it would be interesting to have a European perspective on a lot of this, even if I have to deal with a bit of sneering. Care to stick around? Waiting for anon to dump right now.
...That didn't come out right.
...Heh.
>>46202955
>European mad that their descendants are more relevant, awedome, and superior than them.
GET FUCKED YOU COMMIE SHIT.
>>46202939
>Commodore Perry (Hero of lake Erie)
>John Paul Jones
>Pinkerton Agents
>The Untouchables
>William T. Anderson (Bloody Bill)
>(Arguably) Flight 93
>Buffalo Bill
>About any gunfighter from the west.
>Emperor Norton
And many more.I know right?
>>46200395
My favorite was always the man at the southern crossroads, who finds young men with guitars on their backs and hope in their eyes and offers them to trade their soul for greatness.
>>46203068
>>Commodore Perry (Hero of lake Erie)
>>Pinkerton Agents
Grew up on stories of these guys. Good times
>>46203103
why is it always the Devil? Why can't God teach our musicians how to jam?
Do you fuckers think God can't rock?
DO YOU THINK JESUS DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO FUCKING PLAY METAL OR BLUES!?
>>46203068
>>46203112
Small addendum, The commodore Perry here is Oliver Hazard Perry(hero pf lake Erie), brother to Commodore Mathew Perry(Opened Japan).
>>46203177
Because taking the easy road to success is ALWAYS the devil's work. Americans have a deep puritanical streak, and hard work is always a virtue, therefore ease a vice.
Are the proverbial Men In Black and Ayys considered part of American folklore?
>>46203223
I believe so.
>>46203177
The devil has all the best tunes.
>>46203182
They both fought in 1812, right?
>>46203270
Correct, Mathew providing aide to the captain who fired the first shot of the war, but he was injured in the engagement and saw little action afterward.
>>46203341
>>46203270
Ahh the War of 1812, or, 'That time England reconquered America, marched around for a while, got bored and left"
>>46203381
More like 'that time England's navy got it's ass handed to them while the army was having a good time till they got kicked in the teeth'.
Militia really dropped the ball on that one, but the navy picked it up.
>>46203270
Should also be noted that both fought barbary pirates.
>>46203068
Emperor Norton is Easily my favorite historical flat out and a great character for stories
>>46203480
He certainly was a character.
>>46203223
This raises an interesting question: what about things like conspiracy theories? Magic bullets and black helicopters, underground secrets and hidden labs. Where is the line between history, fantasy and mythology in this regard?
>>46195122
His depiction in The Sandman was really touching.
>>46203647
History is what happened.
Fantasy is made up shit.
Mythology is made up shit we can enjoy and use to our heart's content.
>>46203647
You'd be surprised.
I imagine it to be like a maze.
>>46203704
History is what historians think happened.
Fantasy is made up shit.
Mythology is what storytellers think should have happened.
>>46202939
>The Bluejackets
I live in Columbus where that name is just synonymous with disappointment.
Funnily enough, I need some help on this topic.
PCs are currently visiting Texas. Are there any native American legends from the area about guardian spirits or watchful creatures?
Nobody said Johnny Appleseed yet?
>>46203177
You don't need God or the Devil to make the fiddle sing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6RUg-NkjY4
>>46203910
Oh my, how could we?
How about some good old Louisiana Voodoo?
>>46203869
Skinwalkers are terrifying.
>>46195122
>Emperor Norton.
Totally the king on the unseen world, like some combo of Lovecrafts dreamworld and a secret homeless world ala Neverwhere but with Murican sass
>>46195154
Andrew Jackson for being the lich lord of the dark side of the American Dream.
>>46203726
Well, if you're going to include that stuff, you might as well go absolutely nuts with it. Elvis is alive and living in Buenos Aires, 27 Club is the result of the Devil claiming tribute from America's music as stipulated in his original deal with Robert Johnson, reptilians run the White House, the bullet that killed JFK was not made with earthly technology, and then there's the whole assortment of Illuminati and the NWO and the Templars and all the various shadow councils and secrets lords of the world.
I think there should be an aire of fantasy. Like it's constantly 1940s dressings with modern trappings and such. There is the rebel nation of Texas, the Original Colonies are each ruled by their own families who consult to decide any group action, the west is filled with wild native men and is lawless besides a few major kingdoms like The City of Emerald and the corrupt Kingdom of Angels (known as Lost Angels to most).
There should be the wayward prophets of Silicon Valley whose intense inventions are married to their love of money and a constant knowledge that every four years the world is turned upside down with a battle, both literal and figuritve, for the next one to sit at the highest throne in the land to gain omniscience of all of America for four years.
>>46192521
Lumberjack folklore/Fearsome critters have to be included for sure
>>46204780
yes
>>46204800
even the wild men steer clear of the blackest parts of the untamed west, those who earn their respect hear tales of dark creatures who wear the skin of others....
>>46204908
Ok if we're ACTUALLY doing "racism but for fun" we gotta respect that vicious natives have been more or less overtaken by the proud warrior people Native Americans myth.
Motherfucking Stagger Lee.
>>46203043
Ave Nex Alea /k/ommrade
>>46204132
I wouldn't worry about it.
treeking
What about the alamo?
I'm no Texan but I've watched enough king of the hill to know its pretty important.
>>46202955
Europe pretending it has mythology and folklore outside of King Arthur, Robin Hood, and a few pagan gods it tried to snuff out.
Try harder.
Look for a book called Larger than Life for Champions and Savage Worlds. Has stats and bios for a lot of people from 1700-1900.
What about little roswell greys and area 51? Those probably should be part of the American mythology too.
>>46206478
Ooh, alright, will do. Much obliged, Anon.
