Inspiration For Adventure - Swamp Witch
by
, May 26th, 2016 at 12:59 (10185 Views)
I draw inspiration for the torture - sorry, adventures - I put my players through from many sources; movies, books, magazine articles, and of course, songs. Swamp Witch by Jim Stafford is one of my favourites - its a southern, Louisiana-style slow ballad that just drips with adventure ideas and plot. If you can, see if you can locate a copy and have a listen - youll be glad you did!
In the meantime, Ive written out the lyrics here to provide my fellow Torturers - sorry, GMs - with some potential inspiration. See if you can come up with an adventure idea more evil - sorry, exciting - than what I put my players through.
Black Water Hattie lived back in the swamp,
Where the strange green reptiles crawl.
Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees,
Like sausage on a smokehouse wall.
Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes,
An all of them watching you!
Stay off the track to Hatties Shack,
In the back of the Black Bayou.
Way up the road from Hatties Shack
Lies a sleepy little Okeechobee town.
Talk of Swamp Witch Hattie
Lock you in when the sun go down.
Rumours of what shed done,
Rumours of what shed do,
Kept folks off the track of Hatties Shack,
In the back of the Black Bayou.
One day brought the rain and the rain stayed on
And the swamp water overflowed.
Sqeetes and the fever grabbed the town like a fist;
Doc Jackson was the first to go.
Some said the plague was brought by Hattie,
There was talk of a hangn too!
But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles
From the bowels of the Black Bayou.
Early one morn tween dark and dawn,
When shadows filled the sky,
There came an unseen caller
On a town where hope run dry.
In the square there was found a big black round
Vat full of gurgling brew.
Whispering sounds as the folks gathered round,
It came from the Black Bayou.
There aint much pride when youre trapped inside
A slowly sinkn ship.
Scooped up the liquid deep and green
And the whole town took a sip.
Fever went away and the very next day
The skies again were blue.
Lets thank ol Hattie for savn our town.
Well fetch her from the Black Bayou.
Party of ten of the towns best men
Headed for Hatties Shack.
Said Swamp Witch magic was useful and good
And theyre gonna bring Hattie back.
Never found Hattie and they never found the shack,
And they never made a trip back in.
Twas a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
Said Dont come lookn again!
Thanks to Jim Stafford for an fantastic song.