'Fairy tale' fantasy RPG settings?

darjr · Nov 30, 2008

jdrakeh said:
I assume that that you mean "antagonists" when you say "protagonists" — or are the bad guys really the central figures of the game (i.e., the PCs), and their good counterparts (i.e., uncorrupted fey) their opponents?

You're correct. Antagonists.

jdrakeh · Nov 30, 2008

darjr said:
You're correct. Antagonists.

I suspected that this might be the case, but you never know — I mean, there is a subset of D&Ders who won't play anything but villains (and there are more than a few books/games dedicated to that target audience). Thanks for the clarification! I may have to pick up a copy of this after Christmas.

Evil_Dead_Jedi · Dec 1, 2008

Check out Fairy Meat by Kenzer. :devil:

Herobizkit · Dec 1, 2008

Blue Rose, the precursor of True20, describes itself as "romantic fantasy storytelling". Its setting is very kid friendly.

* it describes good and evil as Light and Shadow (and the Twilight in-between); monsters are generally Shadow in nature
* there are talking animals as player races.
* the world itself is generally dominated by Light; Shadow exists in pockets and particularly cursed places
* Spellcasters who use certain spells can be overtaken by (or willingly submit to) Shadow, which has in-game effects; also, depending on what a player chooses as personality traits, they can be rewarded for acting in-character according to their Light/Shadow nature

You'd really have to read the setting to get what I mean, but as I read it, I got a very "Chronicles of Narnia" feel from it.

Silvercat Moonpaw · Dec 1, 2008

You might want to check out The Zorcerer of Zo, which is a rules-light game focused on portraying fairy tales and includes a setting that draws from all the settings mentioned here as well as others (such as Oz). Unfortunately for the purposes of plugging it I've never actually read the book, but it's the only setting I can think of that meets your criteria (Blue Rose might work, but somehow strikes me as too formal to count as a "fairy tale setting".)

Cadfan · Dec 1, 2008

Herobizkit said:
Blue Rose,...

...You'd really have to read the setting to get what I mean, but as I read it, I got a very "Chronicles of Narnia" feel from it.

Blue Rose is more Valdemar than Chronicles of Narnia. Up to and including the inclusion of sexual politics as part of the setting and the default conflicts of the world.

Punnuendo · Dec 1, 2008

I was already beaten to the Zorcerer of Zo punch, darn. There is also Princes' Kingdom which is a fairy tale game based off the Dogs in the Vineyard system.

CRN Games: The Princes' Kingdom

jdrakeh · Dec 1, 2008

SilvercatMoonpaw2 said:
You might want to check out The Zorcerer of Zo, which is a rules-light game focused on portraying fairy tales and includes a setting that draws from all the settings mentioned here as well as others (such as Oz). Unfortunately for the purposes of plugging it I've never actually read the book, but it's the only setting I can think of that meets your criteria (Blue Rose might work, but somehow strikes me as too formal to count as a "fairy tale setting".)

You know, I was sorely tempted by Zorcerer of Zo for a good year or two, but ended up grabbing Questers of the Middle Realms (also PDQ fantasy) instead, specifically because SoZ is 90% campaign journal. I finally decided that I wasn't willing to pay $30+ dollars for a product that only contained about 20-30 pages of content I would be likely to use (the setting and rules). Story Hours and campaign notes are for internet forums, not filler in commercial products

Yair · Dec 1, 2008

Ars Magica, which is my favorite game and setting, is definitely not what you are looking for. However, its faerie realm, Arcadia, seems to fit what you're looking for. The 4th-edition Faeries book describes it, although I wouldn't say it presents a setting in the traditional sense. It even says at one point "One cannot draw a map of Arcadia"; how can you draw a map of a place where walking under an bridge's shadow will lead you to places of Dark Winter, while waling on the bridge leads you to Bright Summer? Anyway, it might be interesting to read but I'm not sure if it's got enough setting material to fit your needs.

The 5th edition's Faeries book should be out in a little while. From what I hear, it will focus on faeries as drawing power from stories. Not sure how much will it talk about Arcadia.

Foolster41 · Jun 6, 2009

Hi. I kind of have a similar question (though in a way I'm looking for negative results

).

I'm currently working on a fairytale inspired role playing game. I know some have been already mentioned, but right now I'm hesitant of looking at a lot of other games because I don't want it to subconsciously affected, but I thought I might describe my game somewhat and maybe can tell me if one of these matches what I'm doing too much that this is superfluous and there's something that already is what I'm trying to do.

My main focus is on the stories of Grimms, Hans Christian Anderson (my favorite story of all time is still the Snow Queen) and George MacDonald. While my main aim isn't to be dark, it will probibly be less watered down somewhat than the more modern versions of the tales, refering more to the original versions (Specifically Grimms).

The story focuses on children as the main player chracters (I'm trying to still decide whether there's a "narrator" or players play the bad guys and other supporting characters as well). It's set in a more Victorian-era city that is situated on the borders of "fairyland", so I'm also thinking it will have infused a more urban steampunk feel as well, though right now I'm not sure how I'm going to make incorperate it into the game itself.

I plan to have the mechanics to be not as free form as say Universialis or Fudge, but have a little bit of "crunch" but still by far looser than D&D. The system uses Mind-Body-Soul as major attributes and minor attributes under each must equal the major attribute it's connected to. (hopefully I haven't accidentally invented an existing mechanic!)

Anyway, if you know of a game that's similar to my description I can take a look. Thanks!