Virgins and harpies (Spanish)

A role-playing game in which you rewrite the role of women in fairy tales, folklore and mythology. The protagonists will overcome challenges and acquire empowerments. Together you will free yourself from the limitations imposed by tradition and rewrite the role of your characters!

Fairy tales, folklore and mythology are infused with hidden messages that normalize the oppression of women. In a society striving for equality, it is crucial to recognize the flaws in our oral traditions and improve the representation of female characters.

Many stories divide women into two categories: the admirable and the abominable. The first represents the ideal woman, beautiful, submissive and self-sacrificing. The second is the evil woman, with an ambition that corrupts her, with an unpleasant appearance or with an apparent beauty that she uses to deceive and hide her true grotesque nature.

Virgins and Harpies invites players to remodel the imagination and role of women in folklore. To play, you will need 2 to 5 players (one will be the narrator), at least 3d6, a Storybook for each one (the classic Character Sheet) and safety tools. Its author, Kimi Hughes, places special emphasis on this last requirement and, in addition, pays close attention to how to establish a collaborative and safe space for the development of game sessions.

Players begin by interpreting one of the 8 classic archetypes or tropes of women in folklore (the reward, the offering, the teacher, the chosen one, the witch, the schemer, the libertine or the shrew) and selecting some descriptors related to their way of being or acting. Throughout the story and with the help of the game mechanics, the protagonists will overcome challenges and acquire empowerments with which to replace the initial descriptors. Together you will free yourselves from the imposed limitations and rewrite the role of your characters!

The narrator can create a premise or present it in a group before the first session, but the course of the plot will lead you to improvisation. Will you focus on the story of one of the classic characters and find out how the others got there? Will you mix traditions? What could Guinevere and Snow White be doing in the world of One Thousand and One Nights? Or maybe you prefer to transfer classic characters to the real world? Whatever the case, history is in your hands and you are here to transform it.