Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Mary Poppins and D&D

Aside from the original bag of holding, I think there's a lot of potential inspiration from Mary Poppins that you could incorporate into your game. One thing in particular struck me recently though: not Mary Poppins, but rather Bert the chimney sweep.

Bert is a seemingly itinerant man who works a variety of jobs, yet knows the magical Mary Poppins. What if neither Bert nor Mary Poppins are human? What if they're fay? Mary from the Seelie Court, and Bert from the Unseelie Court?


Focus on the bit from 1:25-2:14.

Or if you want to take it a step further, what if Bert is actually from the Shadowfell, and so thrilled to be in the Prime Material Plane that he's irrepressibly happy? Yet, like the clip above suggests, still haunted a bit by things he's seen... haunted and awed even...

I can't be the only one who's gotten some inspiration from Disney. What have you been inspired by? And bonus points if it's not one of the cartoons!


2 comments:

  1. I have used Mary before. I even did a bit on her as either a witch or a Timelord for various games.

    I love your idea for Bert.

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  2. If TSR had realized how much of disney IS D&D and marketed accordingly rather than to the fringe sword and sorcery set it would have been much bigger and more pervasive - with the cultural impact an order of magnitude greater with more instant results than what it was. Sort of Harry Potter to Lloyd Alexander.

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