Propp was one of the most brilliant folklorists of all time, very knowledgeable about fairy tales, their meanings and, above all, the structure of their stories. As people in his day tried to classify stories by key features and elements, leading to hundreds of story types, Propp felt it would make more sense to examine story structure in terms of features.
In his studies Propp found 31 fairy tale functions, it was his claim that while not all of these functions were in any fairy tale, fairy tales were driven by these functions occurring in the numerical order which he described for them from least to greatest.
While it can be argued that perhaps there are folktales, especially those in other cultures, that don’t exactly follow the scheme Propp created, he certainly discovered something that is true most of the time, and when talking about humans, it’s usually the best. . can get, since humans have little to no rules regarding their imagination that are true all the time. So it’s wise to use Propp’s feature set as a tool for understanding fairy tales, rather than just working to discuss them, because if you try, you’ll find fairy tales that don’t match, but you’ll find plenty more that do. they do. .
What does Propp mean for fantasy stories and role-playing games?
So what do Propp’s features have to do with fantasy RPGs and fantasy worlds? All because it is Propp’s functions that have provided the outline for most of the early fantasy stories, and certainly the most famous of such stories. In defining this story, Propp has not only created a tool for understanding fairy tales, but also one for writing them, and structured fantasy stories like them, and taking into account the power and timeless nature of fairy tales. fairy tales, this is certainly a valuable narrative tool. When creating a quest for your characters this tool is invaluable in helping brainstorm ideas, many times quests are simply a series of challenges rather than a story. Propp offers a more concrete structure for ideas. In this way, a game master who creates a role-playing quest could instead of simply joining challenges, joining hero meeting events, receiving magical items, and revealing the nature of the villains.
Of particular interest to those creating role-playing missions includes violated banning (players, or someone close to them, doing something they were told not to do). Common in fairy tales, someone is told not to do something, so they must inevitably do it. In the case of a hero, this might be a good opportunity to use outside characters to pressure him. Someone close to them annoys them until the moment they do what they were told not to do. Or PCs may be forced to choose between a known negative event and an unknown one, as they are chased by a dragon, poisoned, or driven to do something they normally wouldn’t do in order to survive. Because by fleeing from the dragon they enter the private realm of the fairies and enrage it. To cure themselves of the poison they make a deal with a stranger. There are many other ways to direct the PCs toward breaking the ban, allowing you to set them up for the fantasy quest.
Once the ban is broken, the PCs could find themselves in trouble, needing the help of the villain who is disguised as a helper at this point. One of the things that makes fairy tales so interesting is the way the villains often start out as those who seem to help the hero characters. However, they do it only to deal some kind of damage or take something out of the hero. In your RPG, this duality of the villainous character could add interest and, of course, a more story-like feel.
On the other hand, the hidden villain is the actual helper character, someone who provides magical help to the hero. Fairies play well in this role because they don’t have their own unknown reasons for helping, and thus can simply choose to be helpful if the player characters are friendly to them. What is important to understand here is that these are not simply random events; It’s okay if PCs get miraculous help from an outside source on this story structure because this structure is well known to most people. After all, Propp’s structure is the structure most of our fantasy stories are originally based on.
Propp’s feature began with an initial who, what, when, and where scenario, after which the stories according to him would follow in order some of the next 31 features.
1. A member of a family leaves home (the hero is introduced);
2. A ban addresses the hero (‘don’t go there’);
3. The interdiction is violated (the villain enters the story);
4. The villain makes a reconnaissance attempt (either the villain tries to find the children/jewelry, etc., or the potential victim asks the villain);
5. The villain obtains information about the victim;
6. The villain tries to trick the victim into taking possession of the victim or the victim’s belongings (deception; villain in disguise, tries to gain the victim’s trust);
7. Victim deceived by deception, unknowingly helping the enemy;
8. The villain causes harm/injury to a family member (kidnapping, stealing from a magical agent, spoiling crops, looting in other ways, causing a disappearance, expelling someone, bewitching someone, substituting a child, etc. ., commits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a family member lacks something or wants something (magic potion, etc.);
9. The misfortune or lack is made known (hero is dispatched, hears a call for help, etc./alternative is that the victimized hero is fired, released from prison);
10. The Tenant accepts or decides on the contrary action;
11. The hero leaves home;
12. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., preparing the way for his receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor (resists/fails the test, frees the captive, reconciles the disputants, performs the service, uses the opponent’s powers against him);
14. The hero gains the use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
15. Hero is transferred, delivered or driven to the whereabouts of a search object;
16. Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17. Hero is marked (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18. The villain is defeated (killed in action, defeated in contest, killed in sleep, banished);
19. The initial misfortune or lack is resolved (quest item distributed, hex broken, dead man raised, captive freed);
20. Hero returns;
21. The hero is pursued (the pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22. The hero is rescued from the chase (obstacles delay the pursuer, the hero hides or hides, the hero is transformed unrecognizable, the hero is saved from an attempt on his life);
23. Unsung hero, comes home or to another country;
24. False hero presents unsubstantiated claims;
25. Difficult task given to the hero (test by ordeal, puzzles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26. The task is solved;
27. The hero is recognized (by brand, mark or thing given to him);
28. The false hero or villain is exposed;
29. The hero is given a new look (he becomes whole, beautiful, new clothes, etc.);
30. The villain is punished;
31. The hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).