Atlanta is the home of the Center for Puppetry Arts, whose museum (besides housing the largest supply of Jim Henson puppets outside of the Henson workshop) has an International Puppetry wing. Taking a walk through it this weekend, I spotted a couple things that could add to the immersion of your Blades in the Dark game. Literally every culture has puppets; they’re a cheap and entertaining diversion from long before radio and TV… So why not Duskvol?
This first guy sounds perfectly Duskvol: a streetside puppet that entertains you while you wait to have your teeth yanked out by the local dentist. Since this puppet’s character was an “Everyman,” you can populate a scene with this background detail and use it to casually remark on the ghosts and dead and crime of the city.
This other guy was on a metal wire and jumps around when you tap it, giving the illusion of dancing. Works just fine on its own, and I could imagine many of the poor an impoverished of Duskvol doing little shows like this to try and get some pennies to rub together. I could also imagine some small and very rudimentary clockwork being used in this field.
There you go! Just an interesting idea to think about for adding some atmosphere to your haunted streets.
Hello fellow Atlantan, the center for puppetry arts has just about any kind of inspiration you could want. So many kinds of puppets.
It’s pretty great! Between the recent museum renovation and the annual Experimental Puppet Theatre, it’s the place to go for weird and fun inspiration.
And in a creepy Chucky way – they could also be used as Hulls, perhaps
Did not know. As I live here I will be checking it out. Thanks.
Go for it, Scott Acker! It’s awesome! Look out this October for their Halloween burlesque “The Ghastly Dreadfuls.” It’s a night of horror- and ghost-themed puppetry and music; another good thing to mine for Blades in the Dark inspiration.