The Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index and material for a RPG/Video Game

By studying the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index for fairy tale and folktale classification, and being a nerd myself, I have come to the conclusion that the Index is a veritable goldmine for authors and game developers, especially the section of "Tales of Magic" (ATU 300-749).

In this thread, I'm focusing on the latter part, since many of the tale types can serve as inspiration/material for scenarios/scenes.

For example:

1) Plots:

• ATU 300, "The Dragonslayer": a hero fights a dragon (with the help of three dogs).
• ATU 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses": three heroes join forces and only one of them descends a pit to rescue three maidens from down there. Either the hero is betrayed by his companions or not, the hero can only reach the surface world by flying on an eagle's back. Just imagine the visuals: the hero on the eagle's back on a long flight, in a cinematic sequence!
• ATU 313, "The Magic Flight": the hero works for the villain and forced to do tasks for him, which are done with the villain's servant/daughter's help. Later, the hero and his helper escape on horses and throw objects behind them to hinder the villain's pursuit: a comb becomes a thicket of thorns, a coal becomes a conflagration and a mirror becomes a sea or river. The three objects can be the lower level spells/Materia that, with proper levelling up, create the most powerful magic of their element.
• ATU 328A*, "Three Brothers Steal Back the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars": dragons/serpents/villains literally steal the luminaries and plunge the world in darkness, and it's up to the hero (and his companions) to steal them back. Is this not an RPG plot?.
• ATU 530, "The Princess on the Glass Mountain": the hero finds and tames three horses he later uses to climb a steep Glass Mountain. Some tales interpret the "Glass Mountain" as an ice mountain, very Himalayan- or Alps-like.

2) Characters/Party:

• ATU 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses": the hero finds two or three equally strong companions, one that can bend sturdy oaks, another that can smash mountains, and a third one that can bend iron with his own hands.
• ATU 513A, "Six Go through the Whole World": the hero finds a group of misfits with amazing abilities (one with accurate vision/aim, another with cold breath, one that can drink the whole sea, one that runs very fast, etc.), and they work together to beat the challenges of a king. This is basically every RPG party.
• ATU 400, "The Quest for the Lost Wife" (Swan Maiden narrative): the protagonist finds a magical girlfriend in the shape of a swan maiden, a maiden that can shapeshift between human and avian forms. She can be requisite "magical woman" from a video game and the protagonist's Love Interest.
• ATU 403, "The Black and White Bride"/ATU 404, "The Blinded Bride": in both stories, the heroine is blessed with the ability to produce gems/pearls with her tears and flowers with her laughter. Can also fit the Living MacGuffin female character that appears in RPGs.

3) Items/Apparel/Equips:

• Swan Maiden - the swan maiden's feather cloak can be interpreted as a flying cloak that allows the character to fly or float.
• The Golden Bird/Firebird's feather - the character is essentially the same, but the Firebird is from Slavic tales. That said, their bodies are made of luminous feathers that shine. Can be the lamp/light key item for a portion of the game.

Edited by KHR-FolkMyth on Mar 30th 2024 at 10:37:45 AM

Webcomics and animation as well.

Imagine slaying a dragon with the help of three dogs, but they're three chihuahuas.

Did this thing just die?

Generally speaking around here, an OP will get more responses if they ask a question or request some specific feedback.

Maybe it would help to make a useful notes page on the index