Thread #97900369
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In a fantasy setting complete with all sorts of weird monsters that one might pass in their day-to-day life, how does a Freak Show work?
Surely someone who looks slightly odd because of a deformity is nothing compared to a monstrosity of magic, and surely people can easily determine fakes such as the Fiji Mermaid.
I've used Freak Shows and Circus gimmicks a few times when running games, but I've just never really understood how something like that works in a setting where a deformity is nothing compared to actual straight up magic.
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>>97900369
It doesn't.
Welcome the non-human zoo! Take some (relatively) tameable non-human with a bizzarre appereance and let the unwashed masses dropo their silver coins to watch them!
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>>97900369
I always sort of expected that any given freak show would be more akin to the bootleg zoos out there that fake some of their animals because they can't afford the real ones. Where they've got the biggest dog they could find and stuck a mane on it instead of actually getting and taking care of a lion.
And the freakshow would fall into the same basket, where it would just be a mix of actual fantastical creatures, where somebody managed to cage a goblin. And then fake fantastical creatures, where they've got a harry guy in a cage because keeping a live werewolf caged is hard enough without also having to ensure it's constantly transformed into werewolf mode instead of just turning into their human guise and pleading for freedom.
And in some cases they might just make shit up. Conjoined twins? No, this is a Gemininoid from Bytopia, where all of the people are doubled like this.
And sure, any customer with some better knowledge might recognize the fakes, or call out the bullshit. But then what? There's still not a better zoo unless you're actually going to a major city, and even then it might not be much more impressive. And so the con artists at carnivals still manage to carve out their niche at towns and villages where the people don't know any better, or are at least entertained enough to not demand a refund.
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>>97901108
I do tend to overthink things, so i might be.
>>97901153
That's a really good point, especially if it's a traveling carnival. If you're in the rural village of Woodcrestshire, you've never seen a werewolf, so it might be as good as you can get. Adds opportunities for experienced adventurers to be like "Wait a second, what? That's not what that looks like at all." when they come upon the werewolf.
>>97902190
This also a good idea I hadn't really thought of.
>>97900390
The Human Zoo is also kind of interesting. I guess there are probably some places that hadn't seen like a Tiefling or something, so the person with horns and a tail might be a curiosity.
>>97902207
I'm asking how to better represent a freak show in fantasy games where "freaks" would be mundane.
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