Hiya all

I'll be starting a TOR campaign soon ™, and thinking about possible inspirations, I suddenly remembered Spice and Wolf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_and_Wolf

Spice and Wolf is a great little anime series based on light novels. The story revolves around a lone travelling merchant that stumbles upon Horo (a wolf god.... spirit.... whatever, you know how japaneses are with gods and such . It takes the form of a girl with wolf ears and tail) that is the goddess of the harvest of a small town.

But the town doesn't need her anymore, nor apparently really believe in her anymore (and when they do, is to blame her for the bad harvests). So she wants out, sneaks into the travelling merchant's cart and barters with him until he agrees to carry her to her homeland.

And the thing is, Spice and Wolf is an amazing series, and I believe that many aspects of it translates well into Middle-Earth. Yes, not so much the mercantile antics (or rather, the monetary ones; I believe that travelling merchants would be nice for TOR and I'm planning to play a hobbit tobacco merchant when I get to play ), but the pacing, the music, the character interactions, the landscapes, the ancient mythologies...

So, what do you people think? Would it be a good fit? What would you do with these themes and (maybe) characters?

EDIT: Also, I'm aware that in Middle-Earth wolves tend to be bad guys, so I'm open for interpretation in that regards . Some kind of maia, maybe...

I'm not familiar with the series, but if you think TOR would be a good fit I'd say give it a try (what have you got to lose?)!

Regarding wolves being "evil" in Tolkien, I've always assumed a distinction between mundane wolves (which are just regular animals and are no more evil than they are in the real world) and the wolf-like wargs that serve the Shadow. After all, the wolves in The Hobbit can talk, and in FotR the slain wolves didn't even leave physical bodies.

That said, mundane wolves are probably persecuted because of their similarity to the wolves that serve the Shadow, so a good wolf-spirit/god/whatever would provide an interesting dynamic to roleplay.

First and foremost - it's your campaign. Do whatever you want with it. Having said that, some comments on trying to do so while still remaining 'true to canon'.

In general the story sounds viable, although it is really going to depend on the capabilities of the anime characters. Specifically Horo, but including the other Loremaster controlled NPCs, and possibly those NPCs that will be replaced by TOR player characters. I'm assuming you're going to try and re-enact the Spice and Wolf storyline as much as possible.

I believe Tolkien tied his nature spirits to specific points in the terrain. As such, they are not capable of traveling freely from one to another. A classic example would be a dryad who cannot leave the vicinity of her tree. Many of these types of spirits are former elves - which might not be what you want (fea, hroa).

If Horo is capable of little or no magic, then it makes things easier. You might just be able to handle things narratively without game mechanics to back your actions up. However, if on the other hand she's tossing fireballs, summon/exorcising spirits, shape-changing, etc you are going to have more difficulty. The latter version of Horo is probably going to be an E...something, I forget the term, a member of the lowest rank of the Ainur (Valar, Maia, E...).

Check posts by Tolwen to read up on them. He had just mentioned them a week ago or so. The topic name is not specifically about spirits. I think he said Tolkien's letters and Morgoth's Ring (book, part of HoME) are the primary sources for info. However, I could be completely wrong on that. Definitely read Tolwen's posts in favor of my memory. (Tolwen has quoted portions of the relevant text into a couple of forum topics, so look around a bit. Nothing should be older than 60 days at most. Use the search link from the TOR Resources pinned topic, not the broken search link at the bottom of forum pages.)

The rest should be able to play out normally, depending on what happens. Keeping in mind that you will have to generate your own monsters if their is no equivalent in TOR.

Please note that you may or may not want to remain canon. I'm referencing it here just in case that is your intent. Use or ignore any of the above as you see fit.

That's a very good point, thank you! And it would also fit very well with the original story, I think (well, she is persecuted by the church, but it would be easy to translate).

I'm going to change a bit the flow of the text to giuve my answers in a "better" order. Sorry about that.

I'm not really all that worried about staying absolutely "on canon", but rather to stay true to Middle-Earth's themes and feel.

Well, kinda. Horo is not really completely free to move wherever she wants. In the original story, Horo, as a result of ther ancestral pact with the village, lives in the wheat of the fields that surround that village (there's a really nice harvest festival where they enact how the last leaf of wheat carries with it at the goddess Horo and how they have to keep her there).

To be able to escape, Horo makes a pact with Lawrence (the merchant), that was there buying wheat from the harvest, and escapes to the wheat in Lawrence's cart. Afterwards, Lawrence picks the grain from the wheat plants and put it in a pouch, that Horo wears from then on.

So, basically, she "carries her home with her".

Well... from most of the series, Horo does not have powers of any kind. She is just ages-wise ("I'm Horo, the wise wolf of Yoitsu" is a thing she kinda likes to tell ) and very perceptive. She also seems to have a knack for manipulation XD.

That said, she does have a power. As I said, Horo takes the form of a girl, with wolf ears and tail, but if the proper sacrifice is paid (be it blood, be it wheat), she can revert to her true form, that of a gigantic spirit wolf (and I mean gigantic: http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg228/scale...pg&res=landing )://http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg22...g&res=landing ://http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg22....g&res=landing ://http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg22....g&res=landing ://http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg22....g&res=landing ) with all the power that entails.

Then again, to revert again to a girl, she needs another sacrifice (I said blood, but that is never showed, and everytime the "sacrifice" is wheat). And she still needs wheat to inhabit.

Nah, not really. I just though that the general premise was neat and that it fitted well with (to me, at least) with Middle-Earth, so I though that would be cool, be it for a player character, a NPC or as a premise for an adventure phase or something.

Thanks! I'll have to take a look.

For those who are interested Spice and Wolf is available from Netflix, both DVD and streaming.

As for Tolkien's wolves, I think they are much like Men some are wicked, some are not. European wolves seem to have historically been more antagonistic towards humans than their North American cousins.

As for the wolves/Wargs in Fellowship, I think that he lack of bodies in the morning points to something else also being present. Perhaps werewolves, perhaps some other malign spirit in wolf shape, but definitely more than mundane wolves, or even wargs which I have the sense of being Dire Wolves, larger, stronger, fiercer, smarter, but still animals.

In Tolkien's stories ëalar that take a shape follow a certain pattern. This is shown that the chosen form is somewhat related to the the theme (e.g.Yavanna occasionally taking the form of a tree or the Tree-shepherds that almost look like trees themselves). Along this line, I would expect a spirit of harvest to resemble an animal related to sowing and agriculture (e.g. some kind of wild form of a domestic animal). A wolf - as a predator - is the antithesis of harvest and agriculture as it slays those that harvest and do agriculture/husbandry. IMO the wolf as an animal has no connection to the supposed theme, and within Tolkien's world this should be taken into account IMHO.

In principle it is not bad if it is not taken too far (e.g. the ëala being always somewhat strange and unusual and not very "human") and reminds me of some of MERP's "Lesser Ainur" used in some of their modules.

Cheers
Tolwen

A Corn Maiden spirit would fit well I think, but I am not sure she would be much of an adventurer.i do agree with Tolwen that she would be very unlikely to manifest with wolf-like characteristics, that might be a spirit more akin to he fox-women of Japanese myth.

I haven't watched the anime or read the novels so I am not sure how it all plays out in he original source.

Still, if it inspired you towards ideas for TOR gaming that impulse is worh following up on. Good inspiration is always worth exploring.

Actually, I believe that the simbolism of the wolf as a harvest spirit is taken more or less verbatim from northern and central european folklore:

http://www.bartleby.com/196/106.html
http://www.orkneyjar.com/tradition/harvest/wolf.htm

Both dog and wolf appear as embodiments of the corn-spirit in harvest-customs. Thus in some parts of Silesia the person who cuts or binds the last sheaf is called the Wheat-dog or the Peas-pug.

Along the same lines, if a living wolf were seen in the crop fields, the peasants would watch to see whether his tail hung low or was carried high. The animal's tail hanging down was a sure sign that the creature was a manifestation of the crop spirit and was therefore saluted by the watching workers.

Also, whereas true that wolves are predator they would be the antithesis of harvest and agriculture, because it does not attack those. It does does attack herds and herders, though, but this is usually not quite the same. They are also very organized and hierarquical, and are also famous for being cunning and for working as a team (that is not as true, though).

It is also irrelevant . As I said, I'm not married with the exact interpretation, rather with the idea and the possibilities it could entail. I'm completely open to variant interpretations or alternate takes of any kind

Pure supposition....

Maybe the wolf is a harvest spirit because it's prey tends to be herbivores that would be seen as ruining a farmer's crops? So by stalking deer, rabbit, sheep, goats, cows, etc the wolf would be "protecting" the wheat? (A bit like reverse psychology here).

It could also be a bit of an outgrowth of the domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors. With some proto-dog 'guarding' the fields from herbivores being revered as a wolf, instead.


re: Canon
In this I meant simply trying to maintain Tolkien's Middle-earth logic for how things fit together / work. Not the storyline itself (Bilbo, Aragorn, etc).

It may be true in both cases. I've found that wolves tend to be either revered or reviled, sometimes even between two neighboring cultures.

Ah, cool . Well, as I said I'm not too worried about going "out-of canon" in the specifics, but I'd prefer to stay true to the themes and inspirations.

Also, to start stirring the pot a bit, let's ee what could I do with the theme at face value as a character background:

Name: Sairanarmo, the wise wolf

Culture: Elf of Mirkwood (Well, near enough ^^)
Cultural blessing: Folk of the dusk
Calling: Scholar Shadow weakness: Lure of secrets
Specialities: Elven-lore, Mirkwood-lore, Rhymes of lore
Background: Wise, weary wolf
Distinctive features: Cunning, clever
Body: 6 Heart: 2 Wits: 6
Body (favored): 7 Heart (favored): 4 Wits (favored): 9

-Common skills-

• Awe: 2 Inspire: 1 Persuade: 0
• Athletics: 3 Travel: 0 Stealth: 2
• Awareness: 2 Insight: 2 Search: 0
• Explore: 0 Healing: 1 Hunting: 1
• Song: 2 Courtesy: 2 Riddle: 2
• Craft: 0 Battle: 2 Lore: 3

-Weapon skills-

• (Spears): 2
• Dagger: 1
• Sword: 1

-Rewards-:
-Virtues-: The speakers