Some thoughts

Not blogging  (Still strikes me as strange that's an actual verb nowadays) about Hawaiian Noir, or Empire today. Like I've said previously this blog is about me putting ideas down on paper so to speak. So I don't lose them. Don't worry I'll be back to them. They are really rough gems that need polishing. But not tonight.
So some random thinking here. Been reading over my blog list. Lots of good stuff out there. You know that. But that's not what this is about. Like all great minds I'm stealing and combining some ideas. Kinda like good blues music. Bryce over at Tenfootpole reviewed Dungeon Magazine #41. (You read his blog right? No? Why not? Follow the link der Kamerad) The last adventure is what caught my eye. Titled "Old Man Katan and the Mushroom Band", it has a fairy tale quality to it.
Over at Swords & Stichery Needles reviews Cold Drake Canyon which is kind of a mini setting.
I think it would be a swell combination. A small setting just a valley, or woods full of fable and whimsy.
Thats leads me to another thought that I've had this evening. The emphasis on weird. Now don't get me wrong I like weird. But it seems like everyone is pushing it so hard. Maybe its just the blogs I read, I don't know. Everything seems to need to be strange and push the boundries. If Lovecraft dreamland's is awesome, that dreamland's on LSD stuffed in a pinata inside of an alligators stomach is even better. No, no its fucking not. Stop trying so fucking hard. Your making my teeth hurt. Weird is cool. But it seems so over done.
I'm not saying whip out the vanilla garbage. I'm saying it doesn't have to be so fucking weird. It has to be different, it has to have enough originality to stand on its own. To be different, yet familiar and accessible.
Back to my original idea, before the little rant. Take the fairy tale/whimsy combine that with a little horror. Then place it all in a small contained setting. Few keyed locations, some motivations for the NPC's. Good, bad, or somewhere in the grey in-between. A diminutive sandbox. Let the players pick their poison, and how they drink it. I'm gonna meditate on the whole thing and probably post a little something.