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Pranks in a fantasy setting

ShadeZ

Maester
What are some era fitting pranks?

I'm working on a mini story in which a young brother plays a prank on his big brother.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Think about your technological level and how you can mess with things. Fantasy doesn't automatically mean medieval, so I can't tell what era you're working with, but it's going to depend a great deal on your characters' ages, where they live, what they do, and how they interact with the world around them.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
>Not all appropriate
Yeah, that's a problem. Medieval pranks often ran along the lines of "let's trip the blind guy" or drowning cats. Today we would simply call it cruelty. In the same spirit as Jackass but less sophsticated. <g>

A. E. Lowan has it right. Try looking at any number of modern pranks, pick ones that strike you as funny, then adjust for technology level. That's what I'd do, anyway. I'm lousy at inventing whole cloth, but I shine at petty theft!
 

Chasejxyz

Inkling
As others said, "era" doesn't tell us much. Some fantasy settings are far future, some are paleolithic.

A prank is generally making someone think X is true so that they're surprised when Y happens. They expect to be able to sit down and not hear a fart sound, so when they do, haha, that's funny, whoopee cushion. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans are a really good example, because you expect to eat some yummy candy, not something that tastes like feet.

Any sort of minor illusion would be good. Any material that looks like one thing but acts like another could be interesting. If there's a lot of magical/weird stuff in the world but it's not all common knowledge, then you could SAY that you actually have 1 black cat that sometimes makes clones of itself and people would believe it, not that you have 3 separate black cats.
 

ladyander

Scribe
I mean, this is something very up to your story's setting and "era" isn't a setting.

What is around your characters to use as a prank? What can they access easily? Where do they go that can be the setting of the prank, and who do they want to prank, and what would it take for that individual(s) to notice? These are all question you ask yourself to design a prank.
 
What kind of fantasy setting do you mean? Does this fantasy setting include magic? If so, magic could be used to play pranks, but how depends on what magic can do in your setting, and who can do it.

Do they have access to chemicals? That can mean anything from made up stuff to what you would find in a modern chemistry lab. Another possible avenue for pranks.

Are you thinking of a Weasley twins style prank, or more on the order of a fake love note from his crush? The first would require whimsical magical technology. The second, just convincing forgery, although I suppose magic could be used to achieve it.
 
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