CANUTS ! 

Ce jeu historique vous invite à incarner des canuts et canuses – les tisserands de soie lyonnais – lors du premier soulèvement ouvrier de 1831, qui a marqué l’histoire de Lyon ; et qui allume l'étincelle des révolutions sociales qui transformeront le 19e siècle.

Ce jeu a été créé entièrement en 15 jours, dans le cadre du Défi 3 Fois Forgé 2022. Cette version est celle présentée au 3FF, avec une limite de signes. 

Elle propose un système simple, une présentation de la France de l'époque et du cadre du jeu, puis une plongée au jour le jour dans la première révolte des canuts à l'automne 1831. 

La Forest est un Jeu de Rôle narratif, à MJ fixe ou tournant, où les PJ incarnent des errants amnésiques, perdus dans une étrange forêt infinie et changeante, creuset de tous les mythes, contes et légendes à son endroit.

Perdus entre les troncs des arbres et les protagonistes d'antiques histoires, arriverez-vous à retrouver le moyen de quitter cette prison végétale et à rentrer chez vous ?

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Le principe du jeu est de proposer variété et rejouabilité via une longue table aléatoire, mais en gardant une narration structurée et logique. Pour ce faire, au lieu de tirer les entrées au hasard, on se déplace sur la table aléatoire – appelée La Piste – à la manière d'un jeu de l'Oie… 

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Vous êtes libres de reskinner ou hacker le jeu en reprenant le principe de La Piste, merci dans ce cas de citer ce jeu (La Forest), son auteur (Tolkraft) et son site web (www.dendrobat.fr).

Cliquez sur l'image pour en savoir plus ! 

Version française en bas de l'article.

In early 2022, I was invited to write for The Merry Mushmen's “A Folklore Bestiary”.

As the Kickstarter is nearing the end of its subscription (with great success, more than 2000 backers!), the lil' shroom-headed guys asked their authors if they were willing to write a small “behind the scenes” about one of their entries.

I was invited on the “Folklore Bestiary” project in the late when – after discovering it – I told Olivier that I had quite a similar project in mind: using local folklore as game material. More about this in 1d4 years ^^. As my own folklore project is far from completion, I participated in theirs.

I was born in the east of France, a countryside region where old mountains are covered with dark pine forests, and I wanted to pay homage to a folk tale I found very funny when I was young: the dahu.

Unlike many tales, a dahu is not a monster used to frighten kids, nor a threat aiming to teach a moral; but a joke, a mere mountain goat with shorter legs on one side, ever preventing it from making a U-turn. When trekking in the mountain or when walking on a steep slope in the woods, adults — with an accessory blink of an eye — send young kids, gullible newcomers, and credulous tourists on a dahu hunt, where they must approach the peaceful beast quietly, and spook it from behind to make it tumble down the slope.

Dahus are well known in all mountainous regions of France, even if each has its name for the beast: darou, dairi, dahut, tamarou… Even non-mountainous regions have their variation of the dahu hunt, but the beast's description then varies. Anyway, the dahu hunt is the French version of the American “Snipe hunt”, or the Spanish "Cazar gamusinos". It seems that everybody, everywhere, enjoys a good prank.

Design-wise, I decided, on the contrary, to treat this prank in a very realistic way, and figure out why locals would ask for the help of travelers to hunt the dahu… Well, maybe because it’s a beast you can only see once in your lifetime! I found the idea unique and funny and expanded on it.

Next was to give a purpose to the dahu hunt. Having their pelt inherit some kind of magical “you do not see me” power was easy, but I added the twist that you must kill the dahu without spilling their blood. But I was still missing an incentive. While researching about ibex and mountain goats, I rediscovered that they sometimes form bezoar in their gastrointestinal system, and that, for centuries, bezoars were rumored to have wondrous healing and anti-poison properties. It was perfect!

Finally, a side idea was cut off: a predator specialized in hunting dahus, and that shared some of their peculiarities (shorter legs on one side, visible only once). It would have been a mix between a lynx and a wolf, and the intent was to offer a dangerous opponent while hunting dahus. You can still see remnants of it in the Hook with Amédée the hunter, where this monster has been replaced by a couple of displacer beasts.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this small sneak peek into the creation of the dahu. Do not hesitate to have a look at other behind-the-scenes stories from “A Folklore Bestiary”, and let us know what is your #favefolklore. Back the book if you want to enjoy fun reading folk tales and gorgeous art by Letty Wilson (@toadlett). 

Regarding the art, you can see the different versions and iterations of Letty's illustration. Funnily enough, the Dahu is the entry that needed the more sketches before reaching its final form, illustrating how elusive the beast is (or how picky I am ^^).

The initial sketch shows dahus on a mountainous slope. We added a man in the background then. This version was penciled, but I asked Letty to alter the man, so it looks like a hunter with a net, instead of a trekker. Wanting a more medieval feeling, I asked for another modification of the hunter, as depicted in the stunning final illustration. And as a bonus, you get to see Letty's study of the dahu, next to an actual lovely chamois.  

To conclude, if you like fantasy bestiaries, I'll release in Q4 2022 my own “Bestiary of our lands and elsewhere”, to use with Hardy* or any OSR (and it's easily adaptable for 5e). More than 90 classical monsters, fully illustrated, with stats and a short description providing fun or original ideas to use these entries in your games and campaigns. 

*Hardy is my own OSR game, inspired by Knave and Macchiato Monsters, to be released around 202X, first in French then in English. Beta version of the text is available in French.

English version at the bottom.

Depuis quelque temps maintenant, devant des demandes répétées, je travaille sur un bestiaire médiéval fantastique classique, en vue d'accompagner mon jeu Hardi.

Ironiquement, le bestiaire fut prêt bien avant le jeu. ^^ J'ai donc décidé de le sortir en amont, indépendamment, et les fonds récoltés me serviront à payer des illustrations originales pour Hardi. Il devrait être disponible à la rentrée 2022.

L’Hardi bestiaire de nos contrées et d’ailleurs est un recueil qui présente de manière efficace et concise plus de 90 créatures emblématiques des Jeux de rôles Fantasy. Il est écrit pour le jeu Hardi, mais est compatible avec n’importe quel jeu OSR, et facilement adaptable à la volée pour jouer avec la 5e édition du premier des JdR.

• Un format compact et pratique à emporter partout.

• Plus de 90 entrées, toutes illustrées et souvent présentées avec un twist ou des pistes de jeu pour introduire et utiliser ces créatures.

• Compatible OSR et adaptable à la 5e.

• Un index alphabétique et un index par catégorie, pour retrouver facilement la créature dont vous avez besoin.

• La compilation en fin d’ouvrage de tous les statsblock des créatures.