Crothian
First Post
There are many different type of role playing games out there. There are the well constricted encyclopedias of rules and options to create worlds and characters. Then there is the more simple games that exist in a single book and place the emphasis a bit more on the people playing. That is what Faery’s Tale is. It is a small RPG that knows what it is and does not try or pretend to be anything else.
Faery’s Tale is a game set in the world the Faery’s live in. Unlike other such games like Deleria and Changeling the Dreaming, the Faery’s here are more child like and small and perhaps simple. It is a game aimed a little more towards children but it is not a game only for children. It is like Meddling Kids though in that it will be a good and fun game for the younger generations. The book does a nice job with sidebars prepared specifically with children in mind and how to make the game a little more accessible to them.
The book comes in either a PDF or print format. The print book is a small sized book making it a little easier for kids to handle. The art is the book is very impressive. There is a gorgeous full color picture as the cover and the black and white art on the inside is equally impressive. The lay out is equally well done. When looking through this book it appears like a small work of art in itself. Some very creative and visual pleasing ideas found its way into this book. The PDF has book marks but it is not well book marked. It does have a very well done index in both versions of the book and that will be very useful. There is also some very nice fiction of a typical band of Faeries on an adventure through out the book.
The game allows players to play simple child like Faeries. One can play a Pixie, Brownie, Sprite, or a Pooka. Character generation is really simple with a more complex point buy option for those that want that. Pixies are small flying mischievous faeries. Brownies are more earthbound being secret helpers of humans in the place they live. Sprites are valiant warriors and unlike the other fairies they do not practice magic. Pooka are the most wild of the fairies and have the ability to become an animal.
The system is not as simple as I would have hoped. It is a simple system but when dealing with children of six years it can still be a little complex. There are a lot of nice options so each Faerie even ones of the same type are not going to be carbon copies of each other. There are three attributes: Body, Mind and Spirit. Each of these has a number that represents a die poll. One rolls that many d6’s and an even number is a counted as a success. A roll of a six is a success and allows a reroll. The more success one gets the better they do. A character also has Essence equal to twice their spirit. Faeries do not die they just run out of Essence. I like that bit. Essence is also used to power spells and can do other things like be used to count as a success. Essence is gotten back by role playing, clever thinking, and a character can earn more essence then the started with. This will be a good way to encourage certain types of behavior. All that is fairly simple but the complicated part I feel is in combat when dice pools can get split. I know grown ups that still can struggle with the idea of splitting a dice pool.
Adventures seem to pretty easy and straight forward here. They have a nice section that uses kid safe versions of some fairy tales. So, no need to worry about the dark Fairy Tales like in Grimm. They are presented pretty well with plenty of action and ideas for the players to take a hold of. There is only one adventure and it is based on Jack and the Beanstalk. But the story telling advice is well done, short, and simple.
Faery’s Tale is a good solid game especially for people that have children they want to slowly get into gaming. It can also be a nice rules light game for adults. It has plenty of options to take the simple kids friendly basic game and make it a little more complicated or even go completely diceless.
Faery’s Tale is a game set in the world the Faery’s live in. Unlike other such games like Deleria and Changeling the Dreaming, the Faery’s here are more child like and small and perhaps simple. It is a game aimed a little more towards children but it is not a game only for children. It is like Meddling Kids though in that it will be a good and fun game for the younger generations. The book does a nice job with sidebars prepared specifically with children in mind and how to make the game a little more accessible to them.
The book comes in either a PDF or print format. The print book is a small sized book making it a little easier for kids to handle. The art is the book is very impressive. There is a gorgeous full color picture as the cover and the black and white art on the inside is equally impressive. The lay out is equally well done. When looking through this book it appears like a small work of art in itself. Some very creative and visual pleasing ideas found its way into this book. The PDF has book marks but it is not well book marked. It does have a very well done index in both versions of the book and that will be very useful. There is also some very nice fiction of a typical band of Faeries on an adventure through out the book.
The game allows players to play simple child like Faeries. One can play a Pixie, Brownie, Sprite, or a Pooka. Character generation is really simple with a more complex point buy option for those that want that. Pixies are small flying mischievous faeries. Brownies are more earthbound being secret helpers of humans in the place they live. Sprites are valiant warriors and unlike the other fairies they do not practice magic. Pooka are the most wild of the fairies and have the ability to become an animal.
The system is not as simple as I would have hoped. It is a simple system but when dealing with children of six years it can still be a little complex. There are a lot of nice options so each Faerie even ones of the same type are not going to be carbon copies of each other. There are three attributes: Body, Mind and Spirit. Each of these has a number that represents a die poll. One rolls that many d6’s and an even number is a counted as a success. A roll of a six is a success and allows a reroll. The more success one gets the better they do. A character also has Essence equal to twice their spirit. Faeries do not die they just run out of Essence. I like that bit. Essence is also used to power spells and can do other things like be used to count as a success. Essence is gotten back by role playing, clever thinking, and a character can earn more essence then the started with. This will be a good way to encourage certain types of behavior. All that is fairly simple but the complicated part I feel is in combat when dice pools can get split. I know grown ups that still can struggle with the idea of splitting a dice pool.
Adventures seem to pretty easy and straight forward here. They have a nice section that uses kid safe versions of some fairy tales. So, no need to worry about the dark Fairy Tales like in Grimm. They are presented pretty well with plenty of action and ideas for the players to take a hold of. There is only one adventure and it is based on Jack and the Beanstalk. But the story telling advice is well done, short, and simple.
Faery’s Tale is a good solid game especially for people that have children they want to slowly get into gaming. It can also be a nice rules light game for adults. It has plenty of options to take the simple kids friendly basic game and make it a little more complicated or even go completely diceless.
