Hi, so, I've just joined up on these forums.
I'm working on an RPG that focuses on Renaissance Italy. The next character option I want to make is going to be a witch-class. However, I want to really draw on Italian folklore for this, perhaps with some Greek and older Roman lore in the mix. However, I'm not really sure what a good source for Italian folklore would be. I've started googling a little, but, anyone have some suggestions for good books to look at? Have any other RPGs tackled witches (folkloric witches in particular) in a way that's interesting that I should look at (and also worry about differentiating mine enough from)?
Oh, that's a rich vein, and there's lots of meat to chew on, but I would highly recommend you start with the Benandanti, the werewolf witches who dueled seasonally with the Malandanti in order to guarantee a good harvest and save the world.
The Benandanti give you a whole established real world, well-documented magical mythology to choose from, and the Malandanti and their skirmishes give you a natural opponent to hang things on. It'll be easy to color to suit, either making the Benandanti a world-spanning cult a la the Assassins from "Assassin's Creed" (see Elizabeth Hand's WAKING THE MOON) or tying it to secret sorcerous survivals from a period of sword & sorcery.
Oh, my, how have I never ever heard of the Benandanti before? They sound so incredibly awesome. The other one I plan to look into more is the Strega, though I'm unsure of how I want their influence to show up yet.
Thanks.
The best books on the subject that I've come across in my many years of research:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cZOpyZWSL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Witchcraft in Europe: 400 - 1700 Edited by Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters
(http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/img/covers/13483.jpg)
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Ed. by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
This is a six volume series that is incredibly comprehensive and all volumes are worthwhile but for the magical traditions of Italy I especially recommend Volumes 2: Ancient Greece and Rome and 4: The Period of the Witch Trials
I'll be watching this thread for ideas to use.
Thanks TristramEvans, looks like time for a trip to the library for me.
I've read a lot on various magical traditions, and ancient religious traditions.... just not on the Italian folklore tradition in particular.
I might have to make the Benandanti a faction and flesh them out that way, rather than have them be a character class... I can imagine more than just characters of a single class being a part of them. I guess it depends how I approach them though, they could even be a specific species/race depending on what sort of spin I put on things.
I actually was considering the Striga being a species/race for this as well (if I don't just make them monsters), but I may draw on them too for some ideas for abilities that players can gain through a class instead. I all ready have class that involves being possessed by spirits, and a class where one of the options is the character can basically project their soul into a familiar beast, so that could cover some of the things I'm reading about them (Striga, and Benadanti) doing now as I make use of my Googlefu. That means whatever I do with a witch class I'll have to take care to make distinct from anything another class can all ready do.
The Malandanti make me think a bit of the Striga (or maybe they are even different names for the same thing).
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/s/striga.html (http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/s/striga.html)
I love the owl imagery, and it makes me somehow want to make "striga" a race of women who can be found both among the Malandanti and the Benandanti, along with some form of lycanthrope.
I second the Kors and Peters book. Also recommend The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe by Brian P. Levack. Someone mentioned the Benandanti and for that I suggest reading Carlo Ginzburg's The Night Battles. His conclusions are not without detractors, but it is an interesting read (The Cheese and the Worms is also worth checking out, though that deals more with Heresy).
Just remember to leave the +1 sword and take the cannoli.
I haven't managed to get my hands on those books yet (Night Battles or the other mentioned), but picked some other ones up at the local library that are more general Renaissance Italy history.
I might end up using the Benandanti in the adventure I'm working on with a partner... but we haven't quite decided on that yet. But it is really looking so far in any case like it's going to have a ton of intrigue, and dirty politics to get engaged with, along with some good old monster hunting. There will most definitely be witches of some sort too (trying to nail down details), and in positions of power (though a very covert sort of power).
We're setting it in a place that the Romans are going to march on and take over too (found the perfect place and date for it) so the players can have fun with either totally ignoring that and seeing it go down, or trying to prevent or otherwise alter it.