Sometimes I get my themes for the weekly Picks from the most fun and interesting places. In this case, my friend Lana Smith (AKA Alana Smith Brown of King of the Geeks fame) was asking about games in which her group could play fairies and experience fairy-tale style storytelling. Since I delved into the subject on her behalf, anyway, here's the fruits of that labor. There's some very fascinating games and ideas below, great for kids and adults alike! PS - Changed the order from the original posting due to Faery's Tale Deluxe having too small an image.
COSTUME FAIRY ADVENTURES
Onward through Tales of the Fairies Week with this fun gem that features fairies changing character abilities as fast as they can change clothing.
Nope, not even kidding a little bit. It’s fantasy fae mischief as one never-ending costume party. Costume Fairy Adventures is one of those “fun for everyone” games, clearly – kids, kids-at-heart, and anyone who thought putting on a costume should come with extra awesomeness.
Welcome to Costume Fairy Adventures, a game about fairies. In costumes. Having adventures.
(Fairies are not good at creative titles.)
From enchanted forests to star-faring spaceships, and even to your own backyard, fairies can be found just about anywhere – and where fairies go, shenanigans are sure to follow! Drawing magic from the power of mischief, fairies can turn the world upside-down with whimsical wishes and preternatural pranks – and when their usual tricks aren’t enough, new talents are only a change of clothes away.
Costume Fairy Adventures is an improvisational roleplaying game for 2 to 7 players. Gather your friends and a handful of six-sided dice and take on the role of a fairy of your very own. With lightning-fast character creation, over 100 ready-to-wear costumes courtesy of the Core Costume Deck, and a whole passel of pregenerated pranking patsies – including fuddled philosophers, solicitous spiders, and gnefarious gnomish gnecromancers – you’ll be ready for mischief in mere minutes.
What are you waiting for? Adventure awaits!
This product includes:
Character record sheet PDFs in both printable and form-fillable formats*
* The indicated items are also available for download from the Penguin King Games website at www.penguinking.com.
FAERY'S TALE DELUXE
My friend Lana Smith (AKA Alana Smith-Brown) was asking about fairy-tale oriented games, and thus was launched a Pick of the Day theme week! Kicking off Tales of the Fairies Week is this foundational entry from Green Ronin Games. Faery’s Tale Deluxe takes the alternate spelling popular among gamers and runs off into full-bore “play all the faeries” territory with a complete game system customized for the experience. This is a full-on update and expansion of the highly-nominated original.
Welcome to Brightwood!
Play a pixie, brownie, sprite, or pooka in an enchanting storytelling game of imagination and wonder. Suitable for ages 6 and up, Faery’s Tale is a perfect introduction to adventure games for children and adults alike. It includes:
The original edition of Faery’s Tale was nominated for an Origins Award and three ENnie Awards. This new deluxe edition include the entirety of the original game, plus 32 pages of new material.
The realm of Brightwood awaits!
CHUUBO'S MARVELOUS WISH GRANTING MACHINE
As part of the Evil Beagle Movie Club, we’ve watched a few Studio Ghibli movies, and Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine definitely skews in that direction (though it still relies on Western themes and ideas, too). There’s lots of fairy-tale aspects, especially if you also pick up The Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG Halloween Special, which very specifically serves as an “introduction to its “Fairy Tales” genre.”
The Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG is the new diceless RPG from Jenna Katerin Moran, author of the well-regarded Nobilis and an important contributor to Eos’ Weapons of the Gods and White Wolf’s Exalted RPG.
It’s a progressive, warm-hearted game that focuses on adventure and slice-of-life stories — think Laputa: Castle in the Sky or Kiki’s Delivery Service, but also Western stuff like Friendship is Magic, Harry Potter, and Adventure Time!
Pursue fabulous quests.
Progress through Issues.
And find a place for yourself in a world of breathtaking beauty.
THE ZORCERER OF ZO
Flitting along through Tales of the Fairies Week, we stop to explore the lands of Zo in this lovingly-crafted full-on setting + game by Atomic Sock Monkey. It’s “its own thang,” but it’s also intentionally a guide on how to run a fairy-tale style game as opposed to more traditional RPG adventure experiences. That makes The Zorcerer of Zo both a great game and a great source for research.
Once Upon a Time, in the Zantabulous Land of Zo…
Tailors face giants, enchanted queens dance with human peasants, talking creatures perform domestic duties, witches cast curses and fairies grant blessings. And all are seeking their Happily Ever After.
Fairy tales and folktales have served as fertile ground for many stories, novels, cartoons, movies, and games. They speak to common – possibly timeless – human emotional concerns. Despite being retold again and again until they are cliche and their images instantly familiar, something about fairytales always remains fresh and new, speaking expressively to even long-familiar readers or hearers. Fairytales unite the ordinary and the extraordinary in stories full of magic, wonder, and moral lessons.
The Zorcerer of Zo (ZoZ) is a fairytale RPG by Atomic Sock Monkey Press, publishers of Dead Inside and Truth & Justice. Inside ZoZ, you’ll find:
In the words of Willy Wonka:
Close your eyes.
Make a wish.
Count to three.
Come with me
And you’ll be
In a world of
Pure imagination. . .
LOOSE THREADS
This line sells it like I never could – “On the edges of fairy tales live members of the Company—collateral damage from someone else’s Happily Ever After.”
(Seriously, if you ever want a lesson on how to write a piece of sales text for a property, there it is.)
We close out Tales of the Fairies with this extraordinary premise for a fairytale-based RPG – what happens after Happily Ever After, if it wasn’t your fairy tale ending? Find out in Loose Threads.
On the edges of fairy tales live members of the Company—collateral damage from someone else’s Happily Ever After.
Maybe their fairy godmother got lost on the way, or they failed to solve the riddle, or their siblings forgot to save them before riding off into the sunset. Now Company members live on the edges of tales and travel the In-Betweens, helping others like them who need rescuing from ogres, reversing of curses, and freedom from the evil clutches of bandits. People who the stories have forgotten. It’s difficult work, and every story must end eventually.
How will yours turn out?
Will you be a dashing damsel, a prince in distress, a charming witch, or something else new and interesting that breaks the mold? Find out in Loose Threads by Tara Zuber.
Loose Threads requires Fate Core to play. This 42-page supplement includes:
Everyone has a tale to tell in Loose Threads. What’s yours?
The Fate Adventures & Worlds line provides compact, rich, affordable, gorgeous settings with a ready-to-go adventure for GMs in a pinch. Buy one this afternoon, be ready to run this evening.
-----
Gonna be a work/play weekend for me, folks. Tonight, friends coming over for relaxing and such, but tomorrow I am heads-down all day on the Freedom Squadron project (including a bunch of stuff for our Freedom Squadron: Global Operations Force fan organization/shared narrative experience group). We've got a huge event planned for this year's Genghis Con, and the Kickstarter is coming 10 MARCH 2018.
Just for fun, here's one of the promo posters we've created for use in game stores and elsewhere. Each one has a phrase from my daily #GamesAndLife posts on Facebook -
Sunday, the Storm Knights return to action in my Prowlers & Paragons: Ultimate Edition campaign in the Modern Gods setting.
So, overall, a good mix of stuff. I hope your weekend is fun and productive!
The Adventure Continues!
Note that I use affiliate links in all my posts as a way to generate additional revenue for my efforts; I make my Picks and other article choices, however, based on the desire to share a wide variety of things with you. Thank you for your support.
Sean Patrick Fannon
Writer & Game Designer: Shaintar, Star Wars, Savage Rifts, much more
Please check out my Patreon and get involved directly with my next projects!
COSTUME FAIRY ADVENTURES
Onward through Tales of the Fairies Week with this fun gem that features fairies changing character abilities as fast as they can change clothing.
Nope, not even kidding a little bit. It’s fantasy fae mischief as one never-ending costume party. Costume Fairy Adventures is one of those “fun for everyone” games, clearly – kids, kids-at-heart, and anyone who thought putting on a costume should come with extra awesomeness.
Welcome to Costume Fairy Adventures, a game about fairies. In costumes. Having adventures.
(Fairies are not good at creative titles.)
From enchanted forests to star-faring spaceships, and even to your own backyard, fairies can be found just about anywhere – and where fairies go, shenanigans are sure to follow! Drawing magic from the power of mischief, fairies can turn the world upside-down with whimsical wishes and preternatural pranks – and when their usual tricks aren’t enough, new talents are only a change of clothes away.
Costume Fairy Adventures is an improvisational roleplaying game for 2 to 7 players. Gather your friends and a handful of six-sided dice and take on the role of a fairy of your very own. With lightning-fast character creation, over 100 ready-to-wear costumes courtesy of the Core Costume Deck, and a whole passel of pregenerated pranking patsies – including fuddled philosophers, solicitous spiders, and gnefarious gnomish gnecromancers – you’ll be ready for mischief in mere minutes.
What are you waiting for? Adventure awaits!
This product includes:
- The Costume Fairy Adventures Core Rulebook PDF, in both singles (one-up) and spreads (two-up) formats
- A 108-card print-and-play Core Costume Deck PDF
- A zipfile containing high-resolution images of all 108 cards (for use in online tabletop apps)
- A freely distributable Costume Reference Booklet PDF (for use in online games that aren’t using a tabletop app)*
Character record sheet PDFs in both printable and form-fillable formats*
* The indicated items are also available for download from the Penguin King Games website at www.penguinking.com.
FAERY'S TALE DELUXE
My friend Lana Smith (AKA Alana Smith-Brown) was asking about fairy-tale oriented games, and thus was launched a Pick of the Day theme week! Kicking off Tales of the Fairies Week is this foundational entry from Green Ronin Games. Faery’s Tale Deluxe takes the alternate spelling popular among gamers and runs off into full-bore “play all the faeries” territory with a complete game system customized for the experience. This is a full-on update and expansion of the highly-nominated original.
Welcome to Brightwood!
Play a pixie, brownie, sprite, or pooka in an enchanting storytelling game of imagination and wonder. Suitable for ages 6 and up, Faery’s Tale is a perfect introduction to adventure games for children and adults alike. It includes:
- Information on faeries, faery lore, and the fairy-tale realm of Brightwood!
- Easy rules for creating and playing your own faeries!
- Seven titles to which faeries can aspire, from knight to faery princess!
- 35 fairy-tale creatures, from bumblebees to dragons!
- Three ready-to-play adventures!
- Over 15 sidebars with tips on playing with kids!
The original edition of Faery’s Tale was nominated for an Origins Award and three ENnie Awards. This new deluxe edition include the entirety of the original game, plus 32 pages of new material.
The realm of Brightwood awaits!
CHUUBO'S MARVELOUS WISH GRANTING MACHINE
As part of the Evil Beagle Movie Club, we’ve watched a few Studio Ghibli movies, and Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine definitely skews in that direction (though it still relies on Western themes and ideas, too). There’s lots of fairy-tale aspects, especially if you also pick up The Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG Halloween Special, which very specifically serves as an “introduction to its “Fairy Tales” genre.”
The Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG is the new diceless RPG from Jenna Katerin Moran, author of the well-regarded Nobilis and an important contributor to Eos’ Weapons of the Gods and White Wolf’s Exalted RPG.
It’s a progressive, warm-hearted game that focuses on adventure and slice-of-life stories — think Laputa: Castle in the Sky or Kiki’s Delivery Service, but also Western stuff like Friendship is Magic, Harry Potter, and Adventure Time!
Pursue fabulous quests.
Progress through Issues.
And find a place for yourself in a world of breathtaking beauty.
THE ZORCERER OF ZO
Flitting along through Tales of the Fairies Week, we stop to explore the lands of Zo in this lovingly-crafted full-on setting + game by Atomic Sock Monkey. It’s “its own thang,” but it’s also intentionally a guide on how to run a fairy-tale style game as opposed to more traditional RPG adventure experiences. That makes The Zorcerer of Zo both a great game and a great source for research.
Once Upon a Time, in the Zantabulous Land of Zo…
Tailors face giants, enchanted queens dance with human peasants, talking creatures perform domestic duties, witches cast curses and fairies grant blessings. And all are seeking their Happily Ever After.
Fairy tales and folktales have served as fertile ground for many stories, novels, cartoons, movies, and games. They speak to common – possibly timeless – human emotional concerns. Despite being retold again and again until they are cliche and their images instantly familiar, something about fairytales always remains fresh and new, speaking expressively to even long-familiar readers or hearers. Fairytales unite the ordinary and the extraordinary in stories full of magic, wonder, and moral lessons.
The Zorcerer of Zo (ZoZ) is a fairytale RPG by Atomic Sock Monkey Press, publishers of Dead Inside and Truth & Justice. Inside ZoZ, you’ll find:
- An extensive discussion on fairytales, their nature and tropes.
- An evocative game setting: the Zantabulous Land of Zo (and its five Kingdoms) — strongly influenced by much-beloved fairytale otherworlds like Oz (naturally), Narnia, Wonderland, Fantastica, The Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Florin & Guilder, Neverland, Living Island — and how it developed in-play with the help of the author’s gaming group.
- The “Good Parts” PDQ System — a slimmed-down version of the PDQ Core Rules, complete in itself, suitable for fast-paced, straightforward fairytale play.
- Extensive notes on how the initial ZoZ campaign was begun, the setting and episodes were developed, how the game was run, and the campaign came to an exciting climax (and advice on how you can do the same yourself).
- Two “DVD commentary tracks” of textboxes — one from the author/GM and one from the players of the PCs — on the Actual Play of the campaign.
- An appendix with Bonus Material like campaign production notes and additional NPCs.
In the words of Willy Wonka:
Close your eyes.
Make a wish.
Count to three.
Come with me
And you’ll be
In a world of
Pure imagination. . .
LOOSE THREADS
This line sells it like I never could – “On the edges of fairy tales live members of the Company—collateral damage from someone else’s Happily Ever After.”
(Seriously, if you ever want a lesson on how to write a piece of sales text for a property, there it is.)
We close out Tales of the Fairies with this extraordinary premise for a fairytale-based RPG – what happens after Happily Ever After, if it wasn’t your fairy tale ending? Find out in Loose Threads.
On the edges of fairy tales live members of the Company—collateral damage from someone else’s Happily Ever After.
Maybe their fairy godmother got lost on the way, or they failed to solve the riddle, or their siblings forgot to save them before riding off into the sunset. Now Company members live on the edges of tales and travel the In-Betweens, helping others like them who need rescuing from ogres, reversing of curses, and freedom from the evil clutches of bandits. People who the stories have forgotten. It’s difficult work, and every story must end eventually.
How will yours turn out?
Will you be a dashing damsel, a prince in distress, a charming witch, or something else new and interesting that breaks the mold? Find out in Loose Threads by Tara Zuber.
Loose Threads requires Fate Core to play. This 42-page supplement includes:
- New aspect categories, including the Heart’s Desire, to create characters worthy of a fairy tale
- A scaled tension aspect that allows characters to slide between two dueling ideas, states, or desires
- A system for fairy tale favors—a new kind of boost
- Ideas on how to create a fairy tale story in a non-traditional setting like a space station or a high school
- A phase trio character creation adventure—Mr. Fox—and a sample adventure—Pecked to Death
Everyone has a tale to tell in Loose Threads. What’s yours?
The Fate Adventures & Worlds line provides compact, rich, affordable, gorgeous settings with a ready-to-go adventure for GMs in a pinch. Buy one this afternoon, be ready to run this evening.
-----
Gonna be a work/play weekend for me, folks. Tonight, friends coming over for relaxing and such, but tomorrow I am heads-down all day on the Freedom Squadron project (including a bunch of stuff for our Freedom Squadron: Global Operations Force fan organization/shared narrative experience group). We've got a huge event planned for this year's Genghis Con, and the Kickstarter is coming 10 MARCH 2018.
Just for fun, here's one of the promo posters we've created for use in game stores and elsewhere. Each one has a phrase from my daily #GamesAndLife posts on Facebook -
Sunday, the Storm Knights return to action in my Prowlers & Paragons: Ultimate Edition campaign in the Modern Gods setting.
So, overall, a good mix of stuff. I hope your weekend is fun and productive!
The Adventure Continues!
Note that I use affiliate links in all my posts as a way to generate additional revenue for my efforts; I make my Picks and other article choices, however, based on the desire to share a wide variety of things with you. Thank you for your support.
Sean Patrick Fannon
Writer & Game Designer: Shaintar, Star Wars, Savage Rifts, much more
Please check out my Patreon and get involved directly with my next projects!
