Recently the HUB network, one of the newer "retro" programming networks hit the air and brought back one of my all time favorite childhood programs, Fraggle Rock.
I remember when this show first came out and being lucky enough to have HBO at the time (a pretty big deal in 1983). I have always been a Muppet maniac and this was right up there with the Muppet Show and the various Jim Hensen Christmas specials like Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (now available on DVD!). I quickly found myself caught up in the series and the adventures of little Fraggles in their ever more complexly fantastic world.
Once I started gaming, the series was still on and the appeal of the show to my budding gamer mind was not lost. Here we had a twisting, winding bunch of catacombs populated by a variety of creatures and perils. The Fraggles had secret orders, great halls, holy men, social pr4oblems and even a symbiotic relationship with other creatures. There were giants and oracles, kings and realms and a strange interdimensionality between the outside world on one side of the rock and the other. As much as these ideas might have bounced around, I never really did anything with it.
Until now...
As I am re-watching these episodes, I shall be taking notes on elements that are worthy of interpretation as gaming fodder. Rather than straight, silly homage pieces, I'll try to interpret these write-ups into something that can be used in people's games in a versatile and serious manner. Of course, I'll still include plenty of fun images from the original series when I can, though episode stills are hard to find in programs predating the explosion of Internet fandom. I'll likely be writing them up in either a Labyrinth Lord format as it is what I am using for fantasy RPG fun these days, but this should still make them useful to other OSR players as well as players of newer systems.
Stay tuned as I venture forth into the world of Fraggle Rock.
Thanks for reading,
-Eli
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That was a great show! I still have my stuffed Wembley doll!
ReplyDeleteLoved Sprockett.
ReplyDeleteMy dad got this for my daughter for her Birthday this year! What a great show! I remember watching it when I was a kid growing up.
ReplyDeleteThat show was genius, though few things Henson did during that same era were not. I am a huge fan of the Muppets and once used Sesame Street to teach gaming to a group of kids. Rock on with your Fraggle self and take in all the wisdom the All Knowing Trash Heap can provide.
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