harpy
2009-12-15, 02:20 PM
I've read in posts that many people use poetry in their RPGs. I've never encountered that, but I thought I'd like to give it a try as extra trimming for age old tales, clues and hints for quests, etc.
I'd like to find poetry that is either short, or there are good chunks that can be lifted from a longer poem, that I could use in the game.
In general I'm looking for things that are just 4 to 10 lines, and prefer poems that rhyme. This isn't about doing poetry slams, but just adding an extra bit of punch to add flavor.
I could and probably will take a stab at writing my own awful poetry, but if there are gifted poets that I could use material from then all the better.
In many ways I'm just looking for stuff like what you can find in The Hobbit, such as:
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.
On silver necklaces they strung
The light of stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, from twisted wire
The melody of harps they wrung.
But I'd like to find sources of material that aren't widely read so that people don't get thrown out of the story when they realize its Tolkien.
I'd like to find poetry that is either short, or there are good chunks that can be lifted from a longer poem, that I could use in the game.
In general I'm looking for things that are just 4 to 10 lines, and prefer poems that rhyme. This isn't about doing poetry slams, but just adding an extra bit of punch to add flavor.
I could and probably will take a stab at writing my own awful poetry, but if there are gifted poets that I could use material from then all the better.
In many ways I'm just looking for stuff like what you can find in The Hobbit, such as:
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.
On silver necklaces they strung
The light of stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, from twisted wire
The melody of harps they wrung.
But I'd like to find sources of material that aren't widely read so that people don't get thrown out of the story when they realize its Tolkien.