Medieval rap battles and the ill-mannered art of ridicules
A quick look at the use of flyting and ridicules in the Peasantry TTRPG
In 15th-16th century Scotland, a new form of literary competition became popular. Flyting: a contest where poets would face off in a verbal exchange of insults in verse form. Essentially, a medieval rap battle. One of the most famous historical examples of a flyting is that of Dunbar and Kennedy, who faced off in the Court of King James IV of Scotland!
Flyting in the Peasantry TTRPG
Well to put it simply, it’s a tie breaker!! In Peasantry all the players are competing to become THE FILTHIEST PEASANT. If two or more players are tied for filthiest peasant, then they will have a flyting competition to determine the winner! The competition will consist of 3 rounds, where each player will write and proclaim their own insults! All insults must be done in character and be directed at the other players character (no insulting of real people should be had). The game master and other players serve as judges for the contest and determine the winner. It is a super silly and fun way to resolve ties, and the play testers thus far have enjoyed it immensely.
1d100 Ridicules
I have also compiled a 1d100 list of ridicules pulled from The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. Translated and rewritten for ease of use. This will be included in the core book for whenever you need a random ridicule; it can be quite useful as the GM.
1. Your balls hang from your trousers
2. Take a fiddle or a flute and jest
3. Polecat, ferret, raised in filth and swamp
4. Your filthy backside drips and will never dry
5. Ragged scoundrel, you shall fall from your perch
6. On that sniveling snout of yours
7. One who dwells with devils
8. Foul-mouthed scoundrel
9. Ridiculous fool, know well that you shall be flayed
10. Ignorant old man, ape, irregular owl
11. Dried up like a rat
12. A lowland ass would make a better noise
13. Scorched scavenger and common scoundrel
14. Staring, gaping fool, you have been deceived
15. As lazy as a leek
16. You can only blabber with your thick carrick lips
17. Pale pickpocket and plunderer
18. You’re better suited to leading a dog to the gutter
19. Go beg for a rag to wear, bard, for you shall go naked
20. You have no trousers to let your bollocks jingle
21. Lousy in groin and loins
22. You are nothing but scabby and shriveled
23. The gallows gapes for your graceless snout
24. You would sell yourself for a haggis, you hungry hawk
25. Lazy, awkward lout, always a swineherd sweating for scraps
26. Three-times-shamed deceiver in a threadbare gown
27. You scrounge and beg for more beer and oats
28. Rambling and roaring, begging for cows and ale
29. Not worth a pair of old socks
30. Rotten corpse
31. Foul vagrants, you’ll be hanged for stealing hens
32. You have a dangerous face to be near lambs
33. Like two thieves sneaking off with cocks and hens
34. You steal poultry
35. Your scorched skin is consequences of a saffron bag
36. Your spine rattles, and your ribs poke out in a row
37. Filthy beggar, cry for mercy on your knees
38. Your hunched bones jut through your skin
39. Pale, writhing wasp, you have shat out more worms than you have eaten
40. Your hips never let your trousers stay dry
41. Beardless bard who has no bed
42. Hanged, mangled, beaten down, a descendant of fools
43. Straw wisps hang from the holes in your clothes
44. Filthy beggar, oyster dredger, a coward who flees the fight
45. Shriveled sausage, rough rag, licking shells in the millhouse
46. Mutton thief, grain stealer
47. You ask, coward, if I dare to fight you?
48. The father and mother of murder and mischief
49. Rotten mutton, chewed-up button, peeled glutton
50. Always lounging like a useless rogue on a ladder
51. Pale, wretched gallows-bird, out of your mind
52. You lay prideless in the peas
53. Your blabbering annoys everyone who hears it
54. Ignorant fool, full of nonsense and mockery
55. Lying bastard, hold your tongue
56. You defile everything with your worthless face
57. The ravens shall rip out your tongue by the roots
58. Barefoot, breathless, and dressed in rags
59. Cursed, thieving crow, I’ll make you cut out your own tongue
60. You will lick your lips and swear you are lying
61. Your home will be among rats
62. You’ll hang for half a coin
63. You drank away your fortune and sold your clothes
64. Lazy, useless oaf, pig-keeper always drenched in sweat
65. Your soul has sunk because of your sins
66. You would shit a cartload in one go
67. You even fight other poor beggars for wages
68. A rotten pot, loose in the arse.
69. Take away this diseased carcass
70. Ill-shriven, ill-thriven, neither clean nor careful
71. Crabby, scabby, ugly little mongrel dog
72. A witless fool, rude and injurious
73. Lazy fool, loosen your belt
74. Your patched-up cloak, your bag, and your pilgrim’s shell
75. Filthy hut that housed lepers
76. Mermaid, deformed beast, monster among men
77. Foul fiend, your face is a disgrace
78. Liar, traitor, reckless tyrant
79. Always stirring the pots of hell and never stopping
80. Cursed, wicked, convicted wretch
81. Sink, stink, and rot away
82. Your jaw and throat make men lose their appetite
83. Honest folk avoid this loathsome scoundrel
84. Your ancestors’ bones rattle in the grave at night
85. Scorched, ugly, common vagabond
86. Wretched fool and card cheater
87. Miserable creature, made a master only in mockery
88. Ill-born bastard, made a fool by nature itself
89. A rough hedgehog, hobbling, hunched like a harrow
90. You curse the day you were born
91. Cowardly, cursed bastard
92. Misshapen monster, mad with every full moon
93. Blasphemer, always a beggar
94. A deceitful tyrant with a forked serpent’s tongue
95. You are nothing but a fool, with your gilded hips
96. Pathetic fool, rejected by the whole world
97. Your vile look would frighten even mothers and their children
98. You mistake the sound of a goose for wisdom
99. Shrunken and shriveled like a hanged man on a hill
100. The slack-jawed look of your long, lean neck
Peasantry TTRPG Updates
The game is progressing nicely; we are running a couple more playtests next month to test out a couple rules and adventures. The writing for the book is about 80% complete, just adding some more random tables and some introductory adventures. Fingers crossed we will be able to launch sometime this year or early next.
I am also going to be at Gen Con this year running a couple of games and talking about all things Peasants. We won’t have a booth, but if you see me running around feel free to say hi!
If you are looking to hop into some online Peasantry games, come check out our discord channel!
Thanks again everyone