Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SeptimusMagistos 01-22-07, 05:15 PM	Baba Yaga is one of the more interesting characters in Dungeons and Dragons. Has anyone here had an interesting experience with her? (Stories related to Baba Yaga in any way, no matter how remote, are also accepted.)
hmmmm 01-22-07, 05:20 PM	Who and/or what is a Baba Yaga?
Witch 01-22-07, 05:22 PM	Baba Yaga is the mistress of the night hags, I do believe (this might've been cosmology specific).
a_psh 01-22-07, 05:30 PM	Baba Yaga is a witch-like figure from Slavic mythology. Wikipedia 'er.
Seeker95 01-22-07, 08:21 PM	I've played three different adventures with her (one from Dragon Magazine back when they had design competitions) and loved all three. As for real life, I found her to be an okay sort, as long as it isn't your own kid she is stealing. :devil:
WhiteRaven810 01-23-07, 12:54 AM	Damnit I dun want to get up to find the magazine for details, or to even know how to spell names correctly, so please bare with. But Koesthe (Tanr'ir giant, I want to say the 23rd layer of the Abyss, cold place), before becoming Koesthe, found Baba Yaga who hid his soul in a series of skulls, like those fancy Russian dolls, and that made the giant unbeatable. Sorta. Tomorrow, when I have a few hours of sleep under my belt, I'll double check my story and repost with a few more details.
a_psh 01-23-07, 08:54 AM	The Abyss' Kostchie (Kasheiy is a much more natural transliteration) has like nothing to do with the mythical one, WhiteRaven. If he did, he'd be this weird undying skinny guy instead. That's the inspiration but, in this case, adapted rather shoddily.
Demarest 01-23-07, 12:06 PM	Baba Yaga is in D&D? How did I not know this. I study Russia! You have no idea how awesome this is. Where is the D&D information related to Baba Yaga? Which Dragon Magazines? Thanks in advance!
Seeker95 01-23-07, 01:12 PM	The Dancing Hut Dragon Magazine #83. Roger Moore did great.
metamind 01-23-07, 03:21 PM	Yep, legends like that make me proud of my slavic heratage.
WhiteRaven810 01-23-07, 04:33 PM	Damnit I dun want to get up to find the magazine for details, or to even know how to spell names correctly, so please bare with. But Koesthe (Tanr'ir giant, I want to say the 23rd layer of the Abyss, cold place), before becoming Koesthe, found Baba Yaga who hid his soul in a series of skulls, like those fancy Russian dolls, and that made the giant unbeatable. Sorta. Tomorrow, when I have a few hours of sleep under my belt, I'll double check my story and repost with a few more details. Wow I was way off on my spelling. According to the Demonicon of Iggwily (Dragon #345) Kostchetchie was a human, as mortal as you or I, but who was violently angry constantly. He was outcast from his village, and while in banishment he came across a witch known as Baba Yaga, and so Baba Yaga gave Kostchetchie a gift. A frost giant skull with an ogre's skull inside, and within the ogre's cranium was a human skull, followed by a that of a halfling, and finally the miserable quasit. But inside the quasit's skull was a black diamond, which the future Prince of Wraith tied his soul into. So for as long as Kostchtchie hid his soul, his mortal body was invunerable. I could go into more but I don't want to ruin the story, and I don't want to infringe on Dragon's property rights. I will say that Kostchthie does loose his fancy diamond hiding skull, but that's far from the end. The Abyss' Kostchie (Kasheiy is a much more natural transliteration) has like nothing to do with the mythical one, WhiteRaven. If he did, he'd be this weird undying skinny guy instead. That's the inspiration but, in this case, adapted rather shoddily. On page 33, the article does go into a breif summary of the origin of Kostchtchie in Russian folk lore, it fails to menion Baba Yaga however.
OneEye589 01-23-07, 04:37 PM	Baba Yaga, don't know about D&D, but she was the Russian/Slavic witch with the house on chicken legs, right?
metamind 01-23-07, 04:55 PM	But Koesthe (Tanr'ir giant, I want to say the 23rd layer of the Abyss, cold place), before becoming Koesthe, found Baba Yaga who hid his soul in a series of skulls, like those fancy Russian dolls, and that made the giant unbeatable. Sorta. Actually, in the real legend, Koschei's (that's how its spelt) soul is hidden in a neddle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest, which is buried under a green oak tree, which is on the dissapearing island of Buyan.
PhaedrusXY 01-23-07, 05:07 PM	Back when I was a youngin', I played in a ridiculously overmunchkined game. The DM used 2nd edition rules mostly, but also alot of 1st edition monster books. Our characters were absolutely ludicrisly overpowered. We had used countless Wishes to grant ourselves insane permanent powers. One guy had a strength of 25 with no magic items (that was as high as it went back then). We fought and killed the Avatar of Takhisis on a regular basis, and also killed a few other gods. However, Baba Yaga toyed with us like we were 3 year olds. :D We came upon her chicken-legged hut, and entered it. Our magic items were immediately whisked away from us, and we were forced to fight each other (and some other monsters) in an arena for her amusement. We were totally impotent to do anything to her, and she eventually just let us go when she tired of playing with us. I think the DM enjoyed it immensely. :P We were so humiliated, that we never even tried to go back and take revenge on her. :D
mvincent 01-23-07, 05:18 PM	Here are my Baba Yaga related ramblings : "Track down Baba Yaga’s Chicken-Legged Hut to its nest and steal a couple of its eggs. You then raise the hutchlings to adulthood and start breeding them like crazy, starting a whole medieval line of RV's... perhaps even branching into a line of sapient luggage. The overhead would be (literally) chicken feed. Eventually, you could outfit these creations with weaponry and flying gear, then (while attacking in a reckless manor) take control of the region with a diverse array of chicken-mecha that can disguise themselves by transforming into houses. You could also use your house-husbandry skills to breed a special flock that could combine into a devastating super-mansion (that is bigger on the inside than it appears). A sort of Super-Dimensional Fortress. Yeah baby!" (I had actually presented this as a player... the DM didn't know if I was serious or not)
sparticus_eleisum 01-23-07, 05:38 PM	Eventually, you could outfit these creations with weaponry and flying gear, then (while attacking in a reckless manor) take control of the region with a diverse array of chicken-mecha that can disguise themselves by transforming into houses. You could also use your house-husbandry skills to breed a special flock that could combine into a devastating super-mansion (that is bigger on the inside than it appears). A sort of Super-Dimensional Fortress. Yeah baby!"[/I] A :cookie: for the Macross reference;)
Oblix 01-23-07, 05:59 PM	"A hut of brown, now sit down!" Baba Yaga, an ogress-witch known for her chicken-legged hut, was the villain of the first game. When she first arrived in Spielburg, the Baron tried to force her to leave, so she put a curse on him that led to the death of his wife and the disappearance and transformation of their son and daughter. The evil witch has a fondness for turning wandering heroes into frogs, and using them to run errands for her (such as retrieving Mandrake root from graveyards at midnight). After the Hero forced her to leave Spielburg, she settled in Mordavia. She lives with her pet bat and spider; and her chicken legged hut is always guarded by Bonehead, a talking skull. In order to access Baba Yaga's hut in both games, the Hero must give him something he wants: an eye in the first game, and a hat in the fourth. ;) Just remember, all you need to defeat baba yaga is a mirror. When she tries to turn you into a frog, reflect it back at her and turn her into soup! Er...wait...this isn't 1989... <3 Quest for Glory.
Armoracia Rusticana 01-23-07, 06:31 PM	Hey, it seems to me that there are lots of Slavic folk there! Metamind even recalls that correctly. It is weird spelled for English, though OK for Russian. And Koschei and Koscheische are one name, actually. The second is used in 'bigger, badder and scarier' form, that's all. I am so glad that Slavic folklore was somehow adopted by D&D... I like that someone studies Russian. That someone knows folklore... that someone still remembers Quest for Glory, aka Hero's Quest by Sierra... Those were the days! Ну-ка, кто там изучает русский? Не ответишь ли, лаже в порядке офф-топика? Мне интересно, тут вообще русские-то есть? Метамайнд, я уверен, что ты отлично понимаешь, что я тут понаписал. В любом случае, позволь выразить своё уважение. Рад, что ты не прошёл мимо, а восстановил, так сказать, историческую справедливость. Я не являюсь националистом, мне просто приятно встретить тут кого-то, кто тоже знает, что баба-яга это не совсем ведьма... И что кое-где в сказках она вполне себе положительный персонаж. А то напридумывали... череп гиганта, огра, человека, халфлинга, связь с личами... Честно говоря, искажение серьёзное, хотя связь всё ещё просматривается. Sorry, was unable not to write that. This fragment in Russian doesn't contain anything insulting or whatever. But I appretiate answers of those who understand.
metamind 01-23-07, 06:59 PM	Ну-ка, кто там изучает русский? Не ответишь ли, лаже в порядке офф-топика? Мне интересно, тут вообще русские-то есть? Метамайнд, я уверен, что ты отлично понимаешь, что я тут понаписал. В любом случае, позволь выразить своё уважение. Рад, что ты не прошёл мимо, а восстановил, так сказать, историческую справедливость. Я не являюсь националистом, мне просто приятно встретить тут кого-то, кто тоже знает, что баба-яга это не совсем ведьма... И что кое-где в сказках она вполне себе положительный персонаж. А то напридумывали... череп гиганта, огра, человека, халфлинга, связь с личами... Честно говоря, искажение серьёзное, хотя связь всё ещё просматривается. Well, of course I understand what you are saying, AR, hell, Russian is my first language! (actually, its my second, my first is the Українська мова [Ukrainian language], with English as a third, French as a fourth, and Klingon as a fifth). I would gladly write back a response in the <<Ру́сский язы́к>>, but Cyrillic is such a pain to type. http://www.cossacks.ca/images/coat-of-arms.JPG http://riv.co.nz/rnza/hist/images/rucoat.gif
Demarest 01-24-07, 01:09 PM	Ну-ка, кто там изучает русский? Не ответишь ли, лаже в порядке офф-топика? Мне интересно, тут вообще русские-то есть? Метамайнд, я уверен, что ты отлично понимаешь, что я тут понаписал. В любом случае, позволь выразить своё уважение. Рад, что ты не прошёл мимо, а восстановил, так сказать, историческую справедливость. Я не являюсь националистом, мне просто приятно встретить тут кого-то, кто тоже знает, что баба-яга это не совсем ведьма... И что кое-где в сказках она вполне себе положительный персонаж. А то напридумывали... череп гиганта, огра, человека, халфлинга, связь с личами... Честно говоря, искажение серьёзное, хотя связь всё ещё просматривается. I got some of that. I've been studying the Russian language for two and a half years. "халфлинга." I guess most monster/creature-type words transliterate directly into Russian, then. I've seen some Russian magic cards as well, and some of the Magic card game terminology has been directly transliterated into the Russian.
Mister_Sinister 01-24-07, 01:42 PM	Yeah, I'm of Russian origin as well. I would reply to the Cyrillic in kind, but again, it's a pain to type when one is used to QWERTY keyboards... It may be of interest to you all that Baba Yaga is also mentioned in the Epic Level Handbook, somewhere close to the start. I'm AFB at the moment, so can't say exactly where. The fact that she's an epic level character is pretty awesome, though. It would be rather cool to DM a game based on all of these stories that I spent ages reading as a kid. I can still remember most of them, which is surprising. They all fit DnD parameters very well, too.
Armoracia Rusticana 01-24-07, 01:46 PM	Actually, Halfling has no a special word for their kind. I mean, there are not official one. Of those which are used I know two - полурослик и половинчик. First one relies on their half-than-human-height, the last emphasise greatly on the HALF part of halfling. It's hard to tell how much creatures were transliterated into Russian from English - Nymph isn't quite an English word, I believe. Anyway, I find the translation of MtG cards into Russian plain terrible. Some specific cards' descriptive text in Russian contradicts directly to the English version - and to common sense, too! PHB was translated much better. Anyway, there's no special word for Dwarf. Better to say, there ofcourse is, but has somewhat offensive meaning. Being 'карлик' is like being shorty, or cripple. So I, personally, use English word. Anyway, I'm not having any difficulties with English! And the thread's topic, Baba-Yaga has been transliterated from one of (or from all, most likely) slavic languages.
Millennium 01-24-07, 02:40 PM	The old 2e Book of Artifacts had a chapter dedicated to her famous chicken-legged hut. They didn't really go much into Baba Yaga herself, although they suggested that if the characters did find her then she should be "certainly no less powerful than a lich."
SeptimusMagistos 01-25-07, 06:23 PM	Hey, it seems to me that there are lots of Slavic folk there! Metamind even recalls that correctly. It is weird spelled for English, though OK for Russian. And Koschei and Koscheische are one name, actually. The second is used in 'bigger, badder and scarier' form, that's all. I am so glad that Slavic folklore was somehow adopted by D&D... I like that someone studies Russian. That someone knows folklore... that someone still remembers Quest for Glory, aka Hero's Quest by Sierra... Those were the days! Ну-ка, кто там изучает русский? Не ответишь ли, лаже в порядке офф-топика? Мне интересно, тут вообще русские-то есть? Метамайнд, я уверен, что ты отлично понимаешь, что я тут понаписал. В любом случае, позволь выразить своё уважение. Рад, что ты не прошёл мимо, а восстановил, так сказать, историческую справедливость. Я не являюсь националистом, мне просто приятно встретить тут кого-то, кто тоже знает, что баба-яга это не совсем ведьма... И что кое-где в сказках она вполне себе положительный персонаж. А то напридумывали... череп гиганта, огра, человека, халфлинга, связь с личами... Честно говоря, искажение серьёзное, хотя связь всё ещё просматривается. Sorry, was unable not to write that. This fragment in Russian doesn't contain anything insulting or whatever. But I appretiate answers of those who understand. To answer your question, I can read this. However, I cannot type a response because I never learned keyboarding in Russian. I vouch for him not using anything insulting, by the way.:)