Tinkering with a kid-friendly, adult-exciting setting featuring Dragons and Faeries

Psion · Nov 16, 2005

Hey all,

I am tinkering with a new setting idea. I want it to have a high level of kid appeal. It seems to me that books about Dragons are all the rage with kids my daughter's age. Similarly, Faeries are a topic of interest to kids.

It seems like the standard D&D/d20 settings leans more towards militaristic and dark fantasy. It seems like these creatures, despite their classic roles in the game and in the fantasy literature and folklore that inspired it, play second fiddle in most such settings. I am picturing a setting in which the plots would be driven largely by the bizarre magical natures of fey and dragons.

Aside from making a setting that would interest todays kids and still play up some classic D&D tropes, I want to to be a fun setting to DM. There should be lots of interesting plot possibilities, and the world should be interesting and three dimentional, otherwise *I* will lose interest in it.

This may seem a vague request at the moment, but any ideas/examples/inspirations along these lines?

Crothian · Nov 16, 2005

Why not do something like Grim? Keep the more fairy tale aspects but get rid of the need for the characters to be kids. Keep the world new and unexplored with realms of positve creatures and bright lights and not always the dark over tones of evil.

Herobizkit · Nov 16, 2005

In keeping in the vein of certain fantasy works already in existence, here's a few ideas:

The setting is reality; everyone knows what a toaster, television set and car is. Dragons, faerie, et al exist in a world that threatens to drive them out. The kids inteact with these creatures, learning more about the seelie world and their eventual place in it. You could use the d20 Modern rules, or rules found in the Blue Rose campaign setting (better suited for less violent, more RP-intensive games, IMO).

Same setting, different place: The kids can go through a magic wardrobe, mirror, take a magic train, or whatever and appear in a completely new, fantastic world. Here they must make new friends and stop some diabloical plot. Lean away from demons and towards "ugly" creatures, like ogres, goblins, and perhaps even "dark" faerie.

One book I've read called Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold! by Terry Brooks had an interesting story. A middle-aged man, disenchanted with the doldrums of reality, invests in an alleged magic kingdom for sale. Upon his arrival, he finds an actual tarnished castle, talking animorphic dogs, and the deed for a, well, magic kingdom. There's lots wrong with it, and it's up to the hero to decide if he wants to keep the kingdom or return home. Might be fun for kids to come up with ideas for the kingdom... they'll do all the work for you!

You could also take an idea from the video game Kingdom Hearts by Square-Enix (then SquareSoft): Essentially, all the Disney kingdoms are real and being taken over by the King of Nightmares or some such. The hero is given a key (which he also uses as a weapon) that can open doors between worlds and lock away the Nightmare monsters once defeated.

And you can't go wrong with Anime. Between Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, DuelMasters, and so on, kids like making things appear from nowhere and making them fight.

arscott · Nov 16, 2005

Your best bet might just be to read those fairy and dragon books that your daughter and her friends enjoy. I'm sure you know what books those are better than I.

Beyond that, Blue Rose might be worth looking into. It's got the whole romantic fantasy aspect that goes over well with preteen and teenaged girls, plus it's gotten rave reveiws as a rules-lite system and should be perfect for beginners.

In terms of specific setting advice: the best thing you can possibly do emphasize the ethereal otherworldly aspect of the Fey is to eliminate non-human PCs. Turn elves, dwarves, and all the rest into mysterious and powerful faerie creatures instead of pointy-eared humans.

jdrakeh · Nov 16, 2005

Psion said:
This may seem a vague request at the moment, but any ideas/examples/inspirations along these lines?

If you can find it, I whole heartedly suggest Below the Root and the rest of the Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (it's somewhat rare). I loved these books as a child, and spent countless hours enthralled by the C64 game of the same name.

Psion · Nov 16, 2005

I'm not looking for system advice guys. This is a setting thread.

This is to be a principally D&D game. On the outside, I might go with BESM d20 or a mix. But principally, I am looking for setting ideas.

And you can't go wrong with Anime. Between Pokemon

Part of the inspiration for this thread is I consider dragons and faeries a palatable alternative to Pokemon (where's that yak icon...).

JoeBlank · Nov 16, 2005

I like the idea of a kid-friendly setting (and just told Bret Boyd the same thing in his similar thread). I run games off and on for my sons, ages 7, 5 and 3.

In my opinion, kids do not want to play kids their age, so a setting should be geared towards PCs that are at least a little older than the target audience of players. For instance, my sons don't mind the Harry Potter idea, but for the most part they run around pretending to be Batman, Superman, Regdar (since we use the iconic characters when we play), and other adult characters. Not that kids will refuse to play kids, but keep in mind when creating a kid-friendly setting that the PCs do not have to be children.

JimAde · Nov 16, 2005

My daughter has a book called "Ignis." It's about a dragon (named Ignis, obviously) who can't find his fire. It's an ok story, but the art is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of visual inspiration if you need it.

Kahuna Burger · Nov 16, 2005

Some inspiration could be drawn from the Pern setting. There's big powerful dragons that partner with humans, little playful dragons that make fun pets, the "enemy" is a force of nature that while deadly is not actively evil, and any farmer's kid can be chosen to be a hero based on an indefinable talent the dragons sense.

Hmmm... how bout this : in the Fairy Land, there is a Blight. It has seeped in from the Dark Land, which is connected to the Fairy the same way the Fairy is connected to the Real Land. It turns the creatures of Fairy into dark twisted versions of themselves which do violence upon Fairy. Any of Fairy who try to fight them risk being infected by the Blight themselves.

Enter the heroes (or children, or random passersby) from the Real Land. They can fight the blighted without risking infection themselves (we think, heh heh) and some of them have the ability to cure the blight by their power of perception. (They look into the blighted's eyes and see its true Fairy form, and calling it by its name cast out the blight.)

Advantages for kids - without an evil race to fight you don't get bogged down in that to do with baby orcs, deciding how evil to make the evil warlord, etc. They are actually trying to save the very things they are fighting, making a ratchet down of the violence level realistic. They get to save and befriend fairies and dragons.

Advantages for adults - The Blight allows you to use your imagination willy nilly to "evil-fy" every creature, plant and building you feel like. There is undoubtably a backstory to the Blight, a sentient evil that could eventually be fought, the possibility of it spreading to the Real Land, and other options to up the maturity level either in your private backstory or sowly in game as you judge a particular group's readiness.

FATDRAGONGAMES · Nov 16, 2005

I agree, Pern would be a great source if inspiration.

Kahuna Burger said:
Some inspiration could be drawn from the Pern setting. There's big powerful dragons that partner with humans, little playful dragons that make fun pets, the "enemy" is a force of nature that while deadly is not actively evil, and any farmer's kid can be chosen to be a hero based on an indefinable talent the dragons sense.

Hmmm... how bout this : in the Fairy Land, there is a Blight. It has seeped in from the Dark Land, which is connected to the Fairy the same way the Fairy is connected to the Real Land. It turns the creatures of Fairy into dark twisted versions of themselves which do violence upon Fairy. Any of Fairy who try to fight them risk being infected by the Blight themselves.

Enter the heroes (or children, or random passersby) from the Real Land. They can fight the blighted without risking infection themselves (we think, heh heh) and some of them have the ability to cure the blight by their power of perception. (They look into the blighted's eyes and see its true Fairy form, and calling it by its name cast out the blight.)

Advantages for kids - without an evil race to fight you don't get bogged down in that to do with baby orcs, deciding how evil to make the evil warlord, etc. They are actually trying to save the very things they are fighting, making a ratchet down of the violence level realistic. They get to save and befriend fairies and dragons.

Advantages for adults - The Blight allows you to use your imagination willy nilly to "evil-fy" every creature, plant and building you feel like. There is undoubtably a backstory to the Blight, a sentient evil that could eventually be fought, the possibility of it spreading to the Real Land, and other options to up the maturity level either in your private backstory or sowly in game as you judge a particular group's readiness.