Reading Notes: Narayan Ramayana Part A

I'm going to begin by highlighting the fact that, given I've already read one version of the Ramayana, the main purpose of these notes is going to be to give structure to a new set of stories. Of course, I'll highlight where the stories differ, but, apart from that, I intend to simply focus on a different set of characters and give a basis for a story centered around them. As such, these notes are going to be structured in more of a free thought, paragraph style.

I like the reading notes mention of the parallel between the god's quest and Dashartha's need for children. It gives me an idea that I think will be fun to write about. I'm going to write the gods as a bunch of people playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and the main characters as the characters built by the gods. Obviously, there's going to be some slight alterations to the humans and a little adjusting to make the plot fit. I'm not sure if I want the goal of the heroes' quest to be the same or if it should simply mirror the structure of the true quest of the Ramayana. Either way this should be a lot of fun.

The part about the birth of the four sons can be some light character creation, and the bit about the gods asking for Brahma's help can just be a quick bit (if I decide to write about that part) about them planning the game.

One of the fun things about writing this is going to be the absolutely ridiculous number of NPCs that Brahma, the Dungeon Master (the person who runs the story of the game) will have to juggle. Vishvamitra would be an interesting one to write as he's almost like access to a side quest or a training quest the DM has written to give the characters a chance to level up before the main quest. That storyline could be a fun session to write. It would be almost like a little one-off session set apart from the arc of the typical quest.

The story told by Vishvamitra about Mahabali and the incarnation of Vishnu was not in the other form of the Ramayana I read. I think it's a neat little story that I could potentially work into the one-off session as a local legend explained by the Vishvamitra NPC.

I really like that this version is full of shorter stories about the gods that the other version lacked especially since they would be easy fun little inclusions for the story I want to write. I'll be interested to see how I play out the villains' roles in the story though I'm not sure whether I want these stories to focus on the main quest or mainly on side quest at the moment.

I think I might have a player for Ravana if I decide to write on the main quest just because I think it would be fun to see his interactions with other characters from the perspective of one player operating against another player. He might roll an intimidation check to try and persuade Maricha to help him capture Sita, for example. I really think it would add an interesting element to the story.

(A set of polyhedral dice used in RPGs such as D&D)

Bibliography:
Narayan's Ramayana, Reading Guide