Proposed Story (Horror Theme)

They'll be quirk for sure, but they won't be THE comic relief. Everything in FP is kinda funny in some weird way from some odd angle and our game should be the same. Creepy is an additive, not a solvent.

the odd angle is covered, the challenge is making it funny without being cornball.

Okay, I've got ideas for tying into the meat of the game, but wifey's probably going to bed soon and I don't want to be interrupted. Should be up tomorrow; for now, the broad strokes:

Pumpkinhead isn't full grown yet when he finds out about the Pumpkin Witch's demise. He's not totally evil yet either. He lashes out at the specific lords that used the soul burning device of course, but he's injured or worn out or just plain scared afterward and goes into hiding. Alone and angry, waiting for himself to become stronger for reasons he doesn't know yet, he turns bitter, then hateful, then evil. Demon seeds take a long time to bear fruit though, so I time of superstitious peace is had.
Enter the four sisters, who's personalities and histories we need to get into some. The key to it though is the 'weaker' sister, the troubled and shy one with the gift for magic. She may or may not know about it, but if she does she hides it and doesn't nurture it. Through it, Pumpkinhead starts to talk to her. Through that, she starts having dreams, and through those she talks in her sleep. The other three hear about the pumpkin patch and decide it would be funny or interesting or adventurous to go check it out with their poor 'weak' sister. Pumpkinhead watches it all but does not reveal himself. He leaves a book of treacherous knowledge, some spells fake, some real, some traps, and sees what these silly young women will do. He's getting impatient waiting to grow to full power, and wants to play.
So play with them he does, not allowing them to leave, scaring them from the shadows, whispering secrets and misdirections about the book into the wind. One by one, the sisters trigger traps, changing them forever to better represent their nature. What they become and how their personalities are exaggerated become the basis of the three monster fiefdoms when the war breaks out.
The 'weak' sister though, her gift guides her away from the traps and toward the knowledge. Pumpkinhead gets nervous, knowing what deceitful creatures humans are, and reveals himself to the 'weak' sister. She can't fight him and so she's taken.
Pumpkinhead's kingdom is the fourth one and by far the most powerful. But something he's learned from his destroyed mother is that death is not the greatest suffering. He torments the lesser armies, torments the freshly changed sisters, and torments the dangerous 'weak' girl he's captured. But still she learns. Each bit of magic Pumpkinhead uses on her is studied while she recovers from her wounds and curses. Each cruel battle tactic is remembered from his boasting, his taunts. Someday, she will escape. At first it's to save her sisters, to change them back, but as she learns more, becomes stronger, and is poisoned by having only a demon teenager for company, escape is all that matters. She is special. She had to pretend to be weak to be safe... had to. She doesn't have to anymore; she is strong. She will have her revenge.

today's inspiration is "The Craft" from 1996



i got the idea for the witches in my story from this cult classic.  ahh, the 90s...



i like the idea that these four are misfits...

if the sisters are shunned by their peers, it gives the audience/reader/viewer an understanding of what motivates their actions, and the four are easier to forgive for their wrongdoing.  this is comparable to the idea that the FP princesses were naive for eating a strange cake waiting in the woods - they shouldn't have done it and two kingdoms are at war because of it, but the viewer disregards this because the cake has magical properties that make it irresistable.

you're thinking of "The Witches if Eastwick" which is def a great flick, but that story was a witch triumvirate, and Jack Nicholson was the devil. <HE would be an awesome archetype for Pumpkinhead

I like the teenage angst angle. Here's my 2¢:

Because the witch's soul belonged to the devil, the moment she was vaporized her soul went straight to hell. The devil, none to pleased at being tricked, made sure that her tormenting was extra special.

One night, Pumpkinhead has a dream (vision?) of his mother in hell. Highly disturbed by what he sees, he decides that he is going to save her soul. He comes across one of her spell books that mentions a way to bring back a soul. In order to do so, you need a vessel - another living thing for the soul to bond to. The monsters are out of the question because their souls are permanently bound by the curse. He needs a human being.

Enter the sisters...

Today's inspiration

fan art from "Pumpkinhead" (1988)

the image file doesn't show up when I post it, so I'm just linking it:  www.elfwood.com/fanq/r/o/rocambe3//pumpkinhead.jpg

This story is hinged on revenge. A man conjures a demon called Pumpkinhead to kill the teens who unwittingly killed his little son. This relates to your Pumpkinhead's revenge motif. I like this illustration because of the pumpkin patch, almost like the ward of his mother's property.




Jack-o-Moon!



still from "Return to Oz" (1985)

Jack Pumpkinhead and Jack Skellington are aesthetically how I picture the game version of Pumpkinhead. In the second Oz movie, Dorothy, who is perceived to be a witch, finds Jack imprisoned in a tower. Jack mistakes her for his mom and continues to refer to her as his mom after Dorothy corrects him. The mother/son theme is consistent with the game's story, and also the surrogacy aspect since the wizard raises Pumpkinhead in JR's story.

Also noteworthy; Dorothy is played by Fairuza Balk in this film, who later went on to play the bad witch in "The Craft" (yesterday's inspiration). See how that comes full circle? That's how I do.