adventure games poetry site info

compiled by Arethinn

Contributors/Credits in the older versions of the list: Ambianya Sindar-Wolfkitten, the Wild Muse, Hakim Bey, Lelya, Eric, Illuviel, Feral, Eshari, Celebron, Adara, Willow, the SidheLady, Ely, Thistle, Ki'taye, Pixie, Skiewing, paperishkitten, rhwimsickal, ladawn, extatika, Amy, izzykite, Jeffrey Yamaguchi, blackberryfairy, Roasted Kiwi, and others. (As of 2/21/2005 I credited new additions individually rather than adding more to this general list.)

See this page for a list of suggestions of things to write on glamourbombs that involve words in some way.

1. The "classic" glamour bomb is some sort of filled package: Blow out eggs and use the shells. Try origami boxes. Use glass bottles or jars that have lids or corks. Fill these with any or all of the following: biodegradable glitter, paper confetti, potpourri (lavender, thyme, mistletoe, heather, elderflowers, hawthorn flowers, marigold petals, jasmine, orange blossoms - or try the faery incense from RJ Stewart's Dreampower site), bells, beads, feathers, sea glass, shells, small tumbled gemstones (fluorite, quartz with rainbow veils, andalusite, staurolite), seeds, notes or small scrolls with faery "catch-phrases" (see the texts page). If you used a real eggshell, paste over the holes with tissue soaked in a little white glue. Decorate the outside of the container to taste. Add a tag that says "open me". Leave on strangers' doorsteps, in supermarkets, on restaurant tables, at public computer terminals, and in other out-of-the-way, hidden-in-plain-sight kinds of places.
   
   
2. Glue strange and wonderful arrangements of pennies to the sidewalk.
   
   
3. Sprinkle seeds in the shape of a pentagram, septegram, ring, or other symbol in a vacant lot. Try bachelor's buttons, marigolds, or other such annuals, or try the seed of a grass that is a different shade than the area in which you are sprinkling. (RESEARCH INVASIVE SPECIES IN YOUR AREA FIRST. Even "wildflower" mixes that are supposedly targeted for your region can have invasive species in them. See this post and the PDF it links to .)
   
   
4. Make flyers or signs with art and/or messages, such as faery phrases like "the gates are opening" (see the texts list), and put them up in various places, under car windshield wipers, etc.
   
   
5. Distribute seasonal decorations/greetings to anyone and everyone or all over the place. For maximum effect, do it at least several months out of season. Try Pagan holidays, especially Imbolc (January 31-February 2), the summer solstice, Lughnasadh (July 31-August 1), and the autumn equinox, which haven't been blended into better-known religious or secular holidays (unlike spring equinox/Easter, Beltane/May Day, Samhain/Halloween and winter solstice/Christmas). Make use of made-up holidays people normally don't care about (such as Grandparents' Day), holidays from religions uncommon in your area, or your own birthday. For greater effect, engage in seasonal activities out of season: go caroling on Halloween or Beltane, trick-or-treating on Valentine's Day, etc.
   
   
6. Write messages on and beglitter paper money, such as a "fingerprint" of glitter with the message "touched by a faerie".
   
   
7. Sidewalk chalk art.
   
   
8. Find seven poles or trees and weave an elven star with yarn. Hang trinkets on it and pile offerings or such things at each pole.
   
   
9. Donate books to the library with the note "donated by an elf" (or whatever your kin may be).
   
   
10. Go about a library or bookstore and put little bits of paper in books with "THE MAGIC IS REAL" on one side and the other side stating "You have been the target of a GlamourBomb. Pass it along to someone who needs a little magic in their life."
    
    
11. Tie good wishes on a tree in a public park with ribbons/scrolls.
    
    
12. Wish bombs: get some small, easily openable/closeable containers. Keep a few on you at all times. When someone looks like they need some magic, pull one out, and say, "Here. this is for you." Blow into the container and close it up. "There. Now this has a wish in it. When you need it, make a wish and open it up and set it free. Then, blow into it and close it up and and pass it along."
    
    
13. Dress the part. Use your imagination on this one. Wear green or rainbow colours and faery dust.
    
    
14. Enter a county fair with something fae, such as elderberry or dandelion wine, or sculpture, photography, paintings, drawings, needlearts, "costume," etc. in appropriate themes and motifs.
    
    
15. Scatter flower petals or cattail or cottonwood fluff in places like subway stations, sidewalks, etc., especially if there's not any such plants nearby.
    
    
16. Exude glamour from your pores. Shoot it at people passing by.
    
    
17. Music. Dance. Preferably in a public place. Dance in public fountains.
    
    
18. Have exquisite sex and dedicate it as a ritual towards increasing the amount of glamour in the world. Orgasm orgasm orgasm.
    
    
19. Stickers, stickers, stickers. (Try Sticker Junkie if you want to have your own made.)
    
    
20. Ran-dumb sculptures of "found" stuff in visible places.
    
    
21. Megaphone. Car (better yet bicycle, skateboard, or feet). Yell things. Shakespeare is always fun to quote.
    
    
22. Publick magick.
    
    
23. Write mysterious, fey messages on the white rubber line that runs around tennis balls and toss them back in the game.
    
    
24. Wander the city with a Sharpie pen in your pocket, using every public restroom you can, and writing messages on the walls (or in other such places). To be kinder to those who have to clean up this sort of stuff, write on some kind of removable-adhesive surface, such as blue painter's tape, and stick that up instead. Or try washable marker (though it will not stick to all surfaces due to being water-based).
    
    
25. Try making Ukranian-style decorated eggs, done in an appropriately fey fashion. Use them alone or as the container in a Classic Bomb (see #1).
    
    
26. Cut out small squares (or other shapes) of construction paper and decorate with stickers, glitter, or as you see fit. Leave these in shoes or clothing pockets at department stores, tucked into cracks in packaging, anywhere you can think of where someone buying an object would come across it.
    
    
27. Mail appropriately be-glamoured greeting cards, postcards, or other such treasures to random people pulled out of the phone book, or found on postcard exchange sites like Postcrossing.
    
    
28. Collect rocks from public places, decorate them, and strategically replace them where you found them; or use them as paperweights for your messages of glamour that might otherwise get swept off wherever they're put.
    
    
29. Carry around a packet of blank notecards or business cards, a few colored pens, some stickers, a gluestick, and glitter. Make a glamourbomb on the spot whenever you see someone who seems to need one, or whenever the mood strikes.
    
    
30. Hang decorated notes on the doorknobs of all the rooms in a hotel or apartment building.
    
    
31. Get a blank, printable magnetic sheet. Make little magnets with designs, quotes or poetry on them. Cut apart and place on cars, file cabinets, phone booths, display cases in the grocery store, anything a magnet will stick to.
    
    
32. Mail/leave around mix CDs, or record yourself or a chorus of a few people speaking appropriate quotes or poetry. Try mini-discs (especially the sort which are shaped like a business card) and record just a song or two on them.
    
    
33. Make some kind of frameable (i.e., flat, or flat-ish) glamourbomb. Frame it using a frame that isn't brand new. Hang this up someplace you oughtn't to, but where other people will assume at first glance that it is supposed to be there (the lobby of your apartment building, in a motel room, a quiet part of a library...).
    
    
34. Make travel or shipping tags out of cardstock, which request travel to beautiful places, or to the Faerie realm, etc. Put them on out of place objects or strange buildings. Put tags on lonely trees which say "Please send me to the forest", or on people's cars requesting to be taken to the beach, park, etc.
    
    
35. Get washable paint in any colour you like, a pie plate, and an old towel. Find a deserted parking lot. Pour paint into pie plate, dip bare feet in, and walk/run around the lot, leaving coloured prints. Use the towel to wipe off afterwards. You can dust the prints with glitter if you want, or spell out a message with them if the lot is big enough.
    
    
36. Paint a magical message on an old sheet (or other large piece of cloth) using sparkly paint and glitter. Drape over a lonely-looking car.
    
    
37. Add faery-related bookmarks to the web browsers on public computers (libraries, school computer labs)... or change the home page, if possible.
    
    
38. Make two sets of palm-sized wings, or buy them. One: white, possibly sparkly, feathery, or both. The other: red or black, and possibly bat-style. Attach to these as appropriate one doll dressed as an angel, one doll dressed as your stereotypical devil. Affix these winged creatures one to each shoulder in some fashion: on the shoulder, above the shoulder on the end of a stick, suspended from a hat, or any other way you can get the desired effect: an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Be seen with them. Converse with them, if need be.
    
    For super-happy extra fun, incorporate a cellphone earbud/microphone in the design and make sure the volume's turned up loud enough for passerby to hear (but keep the thing far enough away from your own ear to avoid hearing damage), conceal the wire and the cellphone, and have an accomplice or two play the part(s) needed to fill in the blanks. (As a bonus, this can allow those who have the spare time to be in on the mission but for some reason can't do the active or physically present on the scene parts of it to participate.) The truly gadget-creative could perhaps adapt the same sorts of design I've seen in assorted shoulder-puppets at renfaires, and have a shoulder-thing that moved apparently on its own.
    
    Let your imagination go wild on the possible topics of conversation. What would your personal angel and devil tempt you or entreat you to do? Who would win? Why? Let your id and superego out to play in public. Verbalize the arguments you have with yourself about not doing this or that because it would freak the mundanes. Use caution in the public contemplation of illegal activities and/or the sexual attractiveness of assorted people, as some people have no sense of humor, and sometimes they can get violent or annoyingly law-person-involved with it all.
    
    Abandon stereotypical roles. Who says the angel has to be the good guy and the devil has to be the bad guy? Who says it has to be good and evil? Perhaps you can set your shoulders up with Grayface and Eris, or other appropriate and personally significant avatars of vocal opposites who like to play out their battles in your head. Around election times with a two-party election, one could reasonably employ images of one candidate on either shoulder. (AzureLunatic)
    
    
39. Dress like you just stepped through the veil. Sit in a public place with some stationery, quill or other fancy writing utensil, along with whatever other props you wish to bring, and sit and write in the public's full view. Write in elaborate script no human has seen before, poems about the goings-on of the Otherworld, or fill the page with mysterious pictures and symbols. Leave as if you remembered you were late for something. "Forget" the writings behind you for those people who have been curious about your doings to investigate when you're gone. (Tala El'Shiharan)
    
    
40. Glamour corral: Choose a building or complex with multiple entrances, or a public area with multiple paths leading in (such as a downtown plaza). Cook up a magical (or just mysterious-looking) symbol or object for each of the entrances. Maybe think up a quote or quick piece of artwork for each. Place one at each entrance (for example by chalk on the pavement). If you can enlist friends so you're all doing them at the same time, so much the better. While doing so, focus on the idea that you are creating a kind of "net" or "vortex", so that everyone contained within the "enclosure" gets a little dose of glamour.


41. "Haunted" houses: If you decorate your house/yard for the delight of trick-or-treaters on Halloween, instead of doing the "haunted" kind of theme, how about doing an Enchanted Grove? Or a Many-Coloured Plain? Or the Unseelie Queen's Court? (Or, keeping with the theme of Death, the "haunted" idea can be adapted: the Shadow-lands?)


42. You can SEE me? : Go to either a place fairly well deserted (a big 24hr store with few people in the wee hours, etc) or to simply find someone out around a club that is off by themselves... wander over, and if they say something or look at you funny (and they will, if you're doing the odd make-up thing.. or wearing something Unusual), blurt out "you can SEE me?" Look a little panicked and not happy about it, press some random object into their hands and beat a hasty exit.


43. Strange ritual 1 : This would work best with a group, but might work with an individual. Dress in your chosen strange fashion and go to a public place. Proceed to engage in a "ritual" for the purpose of "gaining passage into the Otherworld". When complete, express surprise that you can now see all the buildings and trappings of the human world, and the humans themselves ("omigosh! you mean they're really real?"). This can include the "you can SEE us??" thing.


44. Strange ritual 2 : This needs at least a pair, and practically might work best in a park with a wooded area because you need a place from which someone can emerge without having been seen waiting for the cue, but if you can figure out a way to do it right on a street or something, have at it. One person sets up and begins to perform a "ritual" to "summon a faery" or similar. At a suitable point, person playing part of the "summoned" duly appears. This can go a number of ways at this point. For example, surprise on the part of the ritual operant, who clearly wasn't really believing faeries would exist or answer, and subsequent irritation on the part of the "summoned" one, with amusing consequences - perhaps they touch them with a magical object, and they fall over entranced. Or maybe have a whole gang of Unseelie types appear. The rest is left as an exercise for the reader. ;)


45. Fishing for Faeries : Or ravers, or dogs, or angels, or whatever it pleases you to fish for... Sport fishing is a fundamentally cruel activity, so don't patronise tackle stores for this bomb! Borrow, buy second-hand, or otherwise obtain without financially endorsing sport-fishing, enough fishing rods to go round. These will need lines and potentially sinkers, but no hooks. Get dressed up in your best stereotypical fishing gear, stereotypical hunting gear, stereotypical yokel gear, monster suits, ballgowns, Mad Hatter's Tea Party costumes... Bait your lines with dog toys or treats if fishing for dogs, glowsticks if fishing for ravers, toys if fishing for children, donuts if fishing for cops, Monopoly money, bells, Christmas decorations... use sinkers if you need the weight to cast, use plastic Xmas baubles instead of floats. Cast your lines from your balcony, the fort at the playground, the comfy tree branch in the park, the overpass, the bridge, the roof, the fire-escape... Pack and bring a picnic lunch in a basket, a cooler full of beer or beer-like beverage, tea and crumpets, fairy-bread, wine & cheese, picnic chairs... When you catch someone, make them come and fish with you, paint their faces, give them faery money, solemnly present them with fish certificates or cryptic and magical letters, kiss them and throw them back. Be completely sincere at all times. (Malice/extatika)


46. The Glamourbomb Squad : I was wishing I had a faery squad to go in and get a whole bunch of those MD [muscular dystrophy?] shamrock thingies that they sell in stores for "Jerry's kids" and write fae-ish messages on them instead of names. Or write a message and sign it with a faery name. What immediately came to mind was... The Glamour Bomb Squad. I suddenly got a mental image of a group of glamourbombers pouring quickly out of a vehicle like a swat team in some sort of faery uniform. In addition to wings, they could have headset communicators (being operational is not required), and sunglasses with those bright-colored lenses instead of the non-descript black ones. Each would have a wallet with a faery ID to flash and a codename, and would only call each other by those codenames to protect no one in particular. The whole squad would swoop in with a coordinated plan of attack, cause whatever chaos is needed, then drive off again, with at least one faery totally in the Jack Webb mode the whole time. (Calisa Silvertail)


47. Sergeant Selkie of the Glamourbomb Squad : I was walking down the street in my coat and sunglasses (think Neo from the Matrix). With a glowstick. And I saw this guy who looked sort of sad. I broke my glowstick (so it would start working), walked up to him, added a professional note to my voice and started this conversation:
    "Excuse me sir. Have you seen any Fairies around here?"
    "What!?!?"
    "Fairies Sir. They're causing the heat. I'm hunting for them. Sergeant Selkie of the Glamourbomb Squad."
    "I see..." I gave him the glowstick.
    "This is a fairy detector. If it's glowing, there are fairies around. If that happens, tell somebody wearing sunglasses like mine IMMEDIATELY. They are also undercover agents. Thank you sir" As I walked away he stood, looking at the glowstick and laughing.
    It felt great. So I did it to every other person I saw on my walk home. If they were alone I explained that they should place pink glitter on the windowsill to keep "evil fae" out and "good fae" in. And if they had children, I commended them for keeping a "fairy watcher" nearby. (Leine/shadowfire13)


48. Faery treasure hunt : Make a "faerie treasure", be it a magic wand, a knotwork pendant, or a bottle of seltzer water that says "drink me" on it. Now, hide it somewhere about your town or city. Make a treasure map on an odd sort of paper, and write it in quill and ink if you can. Fill it with odd faerie symbols and riddles for those who would dare follow it. Make it just difficult enough that it can still be solved. Now leave a copy of the treasure map about-- on playgrounds, behind the statue in the library, on the bus-- wherever your fancy strikes you. Check back in a few weeks. If the treasure hasn't been discovered, leave another copy of the map at a different location. (Onyxrising)


49. Faeries don't kill faeries; SUVs kill faeries : Make a rough, tiny fairy form, mostly out of a "flesh tone" clay (though for fairies green or blue will work as well). Find something to use as wings, either cut out some paper wings before hand, or some multicolored feathers, and a little bits of scrap ribbons for clothes.
    Make sure no one is around when you get out of your car, and take the clay fairy and *SQUISH* it into the tire treads just enough to make it look like the poor thing was run over. Dust with glitter..... maybe leave a note: "Fairies don't kill fairies, SUVs kill fairies =~( " (Zion/syntheticat)


50. Lost faery travellers : While normally it's difficult to herd enough glamourbombers into a group to pull of a multi-purpose stunt, we do seem to carpool to such events as the FaerieWorlds Festival, otherkin gatherings, and such fun. Road trips can be an opportunity for group glamourbombs by way of making sure everyone looks their faerie best, and then stopping to ask for directions with such things as: "Good m'lord (or fair lady) we seem to be lost. We were on our way to yonder ball of Titania's beneath the seventh moon, and we appear to have gotten... lost. We managed to purchase yonder chariot from one of your countrymen. Might you have a map we can purchase?" Stop at cafes and truckstops along the way to eat, dressed as yourselves. Always be the confused otherworldly travel. Have matching exotic and unearthly accents if you can. Ask your waitress for wines that don't exist in this realm, or wonder why there isn't cockatrice on the menu. If you need to sign checks, do so with a quill pen. Pay where you can in Sacajawea dollars -- and when you pull them out make a remark about that being what faerie gold looks like when you turn it into the local currency. If you feel particularly capable, offer wishes to those that aid you-- and grant them. If small children ask, say you're journeying to visit your godchildren. If possible, and if it's your style, always have a little something for them in your pocket (hint: the dollar store has eight packs of tiny bottles of bubble soap) Speak frequently of how more efficient it is to travel by dragon, even if you can never properly get the smell of smoke out of your clothing. Make up new faerietales and tell them (in the form of your discussion around the cafe table, of course) as presently happening events. (Onyxrising)


51. Suitors seeking their princess : A number of faerie ladies legendarily have been known for their beauty, and hence numerous stories about suitors going on quests for them are told. What happens when the suitors take a wrong turn into a modern suburban neighborhood? You need at least two guys willing to dress the part to knock on doors and ask for directions in the same neighborhood, being careful to never cross paths. Both should be looking for the castle of the same lady or princess, and be utterly confused. Questions as to where they came from should be answered with such things as "I took a ship from Tir-na-nog, went past the fifth star, and crossed through the forest of the Dragon King on foot." They should always be in a hurry to get there by midnight, because if they don't, she'll be married to that bastard from wherever the other glamourbomber is claiming to be from. Feel free to mix the magical with the mundane ("Can I use your phone? My car broke down and it's so hard to find a gremlin to bribe about these things around here"). If the two suitors find out there other's been there, they should ask which way their rival headed and promptly set out in that direction. If you want to get really creative, the faerie lady in question can come around later, looking to rescue her lost suitors. If you can find additional people, the more suitors trying to stop her wedding that come through, the better. (Onyxrising)


52. Pixie snipers : This one will require a few people, some squirtguns (more powerful=better) some glitter, and costumes. I would recommend camo jump-suits, glitter, and faery wings. Get a group of at least three together in get-up like this. Shake the glitter and evenly disperse it in the water, make sure your squirtguns have wide openings to let the glitter out. Go around with squirtguns and walkie-talkies, talking about catching bogies. If anyone tries to talk to you, say over the walkie talkies that you've been spotted by a mortal and need to leave. Make sure to refer to your organization: Pixie Insurgency for Liberation of Lilliputions Organization (PILLO) or something similar. You can either hunt down mundanes or hunt down each other. If you can get the gear, recruit humans into it. If you get good water, a good squirtgun, and keep moving, the glitter should stick to whatever you blast. Make sure to utter good lines, very important: "Team Silver to Base: Bogie in my sights. Commence Operation: Faery Dust." (Erelin)


53. Catching Robin Goodfellow : Get a few friends and a bunch of butterfly nets and go to your local park, preferably one with a lot of greenery to hide in. Begin the hunt for Robin Goodfellow. When passers-by ask, explain that the dastardly puck has upset her majesty, the faerie Queen, for the last time after that incident with her ball. She's offered a substantial reward for his capture, and you're out to get it. Everyone in the hunting party should have a different thing they want to do with the faerie gold, whether they want to buy the fastest horse to go east of the sun and west of the moon to convince the princess to marry them, or buy the fastest ship and become the most feared pirate man or fae has ever seen. If possible, bring extra squirt guns and butterfly nets to enlist passers-by. Make sure to look in places someone man-sized couldn't possibly be, like holes in trees or under rocks.
    Bonus points if you can have someone dressed as Robin Goodfellow burst out of the bushes when things get slow, and go off after him at a mad dash.
    Extra bonus points if you manage to tastefully alter a safari costume into a "faerie hunters" outfit. All points shall be taken away if you do any Crocodile Hunter impressions. (Onyxrising)


54. Faerie Forum Downtown : Stage a public forum, like in ancient Greece & Rome, maybe scripted, but likely improvisational, of people who look perfectly normal but who seem to be channeling a debate betweeen the Seelie & Unseelie courts. Men in suits shouting at each other about who shall have the right to choose the color to paint the flowers in the king's meadow. Women on their soapbox about the dreadful lack of lewdness in the songs of the swallows these days. Discussions on the rights of the Seelie to venture out at Night, the empire of the Unseelie... bringing up their use of fog-shrouded checkpoints and tattoo passports. Not only would it be fun and ethereal and discordant... but maybe it would make observers think on why our society doesn't do forums anymore for important matters. If we can debate "nonsense", why not get together with our communities and discuss issues of political & social concern? Don't leave it up to the pundits & politicians to duke it out, w/out consulting the common people. Mundane dress over costumes, because costumes might make people dismiss it as just a play. The discordant note of normal clothes and normal people talking (w/out accents or overly flowery language), but using words/topics that don't fit... might jar them into thinking. (Lia/sylvanfae)


55. Riddle ransom : So, what if you steal something of one of your friends/family members/whatever? Nothing major, of course, because that would be a bit too nasty. Maybe...a can opener? A few books? Something normal enough. Leave a message that it has been confiscated by the faeries, and can be retrieved by answering a series of riddles. You can set up a place where the victim can drop off the answer to their riddle, and get a new one. Continue as long as you like, or until they get too frustrated, and then have the mischievous faery bring the item back to them! (Anghain)

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last updated 10/03/2020