Michael Hopcroft Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Reading through Tuala Morn, I was reminded how similar its structure is to that of the Scotland presented in Shakespeare's Macbeth (aka "That Scottish Play"). The Scotland of the play is very much a Scotland of myth and legend, where individual soldiers liike Macbeth and Macduff are capable of extraordinary feats, and when they duel the world shakes; where even the stoutest of souls can face the lure of temptation and succumb, and where lusts for power and glory can turn a hero into a monster in the blink of an eye. So here we have Macbeth, a great warrior who has earned acclaim, wealth and power through his feats of daring in the service of one of the Kings. Suddenly that King is murdered in his sleep and his heirs have fled the lands. Macbeth, who discovered the body, is acclaimed the new King. And then things start to go wrong -- things that start to reflect the terrible truth of the death of King Duncan. "The water of my land" begins to show sickness, as the King be4comes guilty, paranoid and eventually cruel towards enemies real and imagined. It is up to a true hero -- Macduff -- to break the geas that protects Macbeth's life and place the true king back on the throne. Would this saga play out no differently in Tuala Morn, or would there be differences? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn Akira Kurosawa had the story play out the same in feudal Japan, so I bet the story could play out just about anywhere. I remember watching it as a teenager for the first time, not knowing anything about what it was about, and exclaiming over and over, to the increasing annoyance of my friends, "Hey, this is MacBeth!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted October 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn Akira Kurosawa had the story play out the same in feudal Japan, so I bet the story could play out just about anywhere. I remember watching it as a teenager for the first time, not knowing anything about what it was about, and exclaiming over and over, to the increasing annoyance of my friends, "Hey, this is MacBeth!" As has been pointed out in other threads, anywhere you have the primal human emotions and conflicting values is a place where a Shakespearean tragedy can play itself out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn Would this saga play out no differently in Tuala Morn' date=' or would there be differences?[/quote'] Most of the differences, I feel, would reflect what magic spells would be available to be used. The three that most clearly come to my mind. 1) Speak with Dead: "Though I be dead, I tell ye plainly, a pox on Macbeth, verily." 2) Detect Evil: "The spell's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." 3) Fireball: "Call forth fire as if it twas rain, Till Birnam forest DOESN'T come to Dunsinane." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn 2) Detect Evil: "The spell's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." Uh, I'm thinking you might'a thrown a bad roll on your KS: Willie Shakespeare there, Blue Jogger. "The play's the thing..." quoth the doomed Prince of Denmark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn Uh, I'm thinking you might'a thrown a bad roll on your KS: Willie Shakespeare there, Blue Jogger. "The play's the thing..." quoth the doomed Prince of Denmark The play wouldn't be the thing if he had a Detect Evil spell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn The play wouldn't be the thing if he had a Detect Evil spell... Except that there isn't such a spell in most HERO campaigns, or at least there shouldn't be. "Detect Hostility" I might let slip by, or detect particular types of beings such as demons (i,e, you can tell whether the person you're talking to is a demon in disguise), but "evil" is so nebulous that I'm not sure it would be detectable. Aside from which, Claudius isn't evil in the traditional sense -- vile as his deed of murdering King Hamlet was, he had reasons for it that seemed to him rational and even good (Hamlet the Elder was dangerously warlike -- Claudius might have preferred to make peace with such a formidable foe as Fortinbras -- and Claudius may have feared a dangerously inexperienced Hamlet the Younger would lead Denmark into disaster if Hamlet the Elder had died naturally and left him the throne). Also, remember Hamlet's dilemma: he didn't know whether he could trust the Ghost -- it could have been lying, or not his father's shade at all, or any number of things. No magic he could have had would have resolved this dilemma. He needed logical proof that Claudius had murdered his father -- hence the ruse of the play. And Hamlet wasn't exactly pure of heart himself -- he refrained from killing Claudius in the chapel because he wasn't willing to just settle for Claudius dying, but wanted him damned as well. Deliberately consigning your enemy to everlasting torment is a much more evil act than simply killing him.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilFleischmann Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn I think there was a Dungeon magazine (or something similar) that had a D&D module in it based on Macbeth. Instead of Scotland, it was based in the "Underdark" - Drow, instead of Scots. I swear I'm not making this up. I might still have the magazine somewhere. I got it free somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted October 17, 2007 Report Share Posted October 17, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn I think there was a Dungeon magazine (or something similar) that had a D&D module in it based on Macbeth. Instead of Scotland' date=' it was based in the "Underdark" - Drow, instead of Scots. I swear I'm not making this up. I might still have the magazine somewhere. I got it free somewhere.[/quote'] I think you mean this one from issue #54: DARK THANE MACBETH AD&D adventure, 4-7 characters of levels 9-10 Written by: Michael Selinker Artwork by: Jim Holloway Subterranean/any wilderness, temperate to sub-arctic 19 pages Description: The evil drow Macbeth conspires to seize control of the Court of Thanes by murdering Duncan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames Posted October 17, 2007 Report Share Posted October 17, 2007 Re: Macbeth -- in Tuala Morn I'm trying very hard to resist the urge to jump into this discussion... I'm a big fan of Hamlet, and I could carry on about it ad nauseum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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