Welcome back to Behind the Curtain.

In the first two updates to this column, I brought things, well, up to date. The company had a couple of rocky years, fueled by some mistakes and a lot of changes in the industry, but rebounded with a new strategy using those changes to our advantage. Now Firefly Games is poised for its biggest release yet – Faery's Tale, an interactive storytelling game of faery folklore for ages 6 and up.

Faery's Tale began as an idea at GenCon 2000 in Milwaukee, so it predates Firefly Games itself, which I didn't establish until 2002. In fact, I founded Firefly Games chiefly to publish Faery's Tale, but I knew the game couldn't be ready by that first summer convention season so I released Monster Island, instead. Then the company's troubles hit, plus doing Faery's Tale right just took a long time, so here we are in 2006. But let's go back to the beginning.

While at GenCon 2000, I happened to see a miniature of a gnome or brownie on a mechanical dragonfly. Now, I've always liked the idea of tiny people in a big world, so I was intrigued by the idea of creating a game about faeries who ride insects and animals. Then I noticed plenty of folks walking around the hall in faery wings, and I began to think there might be an audience for such a game.

I knew a faery game – particularly an empowering one about tiny people with amazing powers they use to save a world that doesn't believe in them – would appeal to children. After releasing Monster Island, which is suitable for ages 8 and up, I heard from so many parents at shows looking for games for kids, so I knew I wanted to hit an even younger audience. And, as those of us who began gaming in high school in the 1980s get older, I also heard from many gamer parents looking for a good way to introduce their own kids to the hobby.

Of course, in order to succeed, Faery's Tale also would have to provide enough depth and interesting game design for adults and experienced gamers to enjoy.

A tall order, and it took a long time to get it right.

Fortunately, I didn't have to work alone. Co-authors Sandy Antunes and Christina Stiles contributed key parts of the game, and editor Spike Y Jones put all the pieces together. I also had a project e-list, with friends like Nicole Lindroos, Doc Cross, David Millians, and others offering invaluable advice and reviewing drafts. Industry folks like Chad Underkoffler, Liam Routt, and Larry D. Hols offered feedback on various drafts, and plenty of friends playtested the game for me.

I started working on Faery's Tale in fall 2001 and didn't really finish until fall 2005. Even then, I kept tinkering right up to our print deadline.

It's a good thing I'd founded my own company to produce Faery's Tale, because I don't think any other publisher would have let me rewrite the rules three times.

The first set, a simple but fairly traditional set of roleplaying game rules, almost made it into production before Chris Pramas of Green Ronin asked me a cogent question to which I had no good answer: "If this is a storytelling game, why does it have move rates?"

A lot of other relics of the wargamer roots of roleplaying had crept into the draft, so I knew I needed to do something radical. I rewrote the rules to be diceless, emphasizing storytelling elements and downplaying tactical ones. I flirted with the idea of keeping Faery's Tale diceless, but I knew I'd have to give the rules another rewrite to judiciously add the dice back. Kids love dice, and so do gamers, so the diceless version really was more of an exercise to trim away the fat in the rules than a destination in itself. There's still a sidebar on diceless Faery's Tale play in the finished game, though.

The other big change involved Essence. Faery's Tale started out with a simple wound track system for faeries, and a Faery Point mechanic for some basic dramatic editing rules. Later on, co-author Sandy Antunes wrote up a brilliant set of rules for Boons, magical promises of favors owed, as an experience-point equivalent – meshing the rules seamlessly into the game world. In that light, the wound track and Faery Point systems just seemed clunky. So I merged them into Essence, which is your faery's mystical life force.

As immortal magical beings, faeries are not creatures of bone and flesh, but pure arcane energy. Attacks sap Essence, and faeries who run out fall into a healing sleep as it replenishes. Faeries also can use their precious Essence to perform magic, work wonders, cheat fate, and even alter reality – changing the story itself. Players earn Essence for their faeries by doing things that make the game more fun, whether it's making everyone laugh, coming up with a great idea, or acting out a dramatic scene. On the flip side of the dramatic editing rules, players can earn Essence for suggestions that make things harder on their faeries.

Of course, I changed more than the rules over the years. The basic idea of Faery's Tale – you play tiny faeries in a magical fairy-tale world – remains the same. Ideas like fallen fey, dark faeries, and Dark Essence expanded the world, adding a new dimension that provides some moral depth for older players.

Faery's Tale not only had to be a great game, it had to look great, too. Hal Mangold, a good friend who handles Green Ronin's production, offered to design the book. He found two great artists, Patricia Ann Lewis-MacDougall, who did the amazing cover, and Jennifer Meyer, who shared interior artwork duties with Patricia Ann. They made Faery's Tale gorgeous.

Of course, coming up with a great game's only half the battle. You also have to let folks know about it so they can buy it. How did we promote Faery's Tale?

First, Robin D. Laws agreed to write some fiction previews to be released in the lead-up to the game. Robin wrote a four-part story about faeries rescuing a kidnapped human girl, with each chapter focusing on a different iconic faery. Not surprisingly with an author of Robin's caliber, the fiction pieces turned out so well we included them in Faery's Tale, too. We released one preview a week in July, including one of the illustrations by Patricia Ann in each.

Next, I knew I wanted to produce an introductory adventure to help new gamers learn to play and give those considering the game a chance to try it out. The intro pack would have pre-generated faeries and the basic rules of play – just enough to play through the adventure, but sufficient to give folks a good introduction to the game. I wrote the adventure, "Tournament of the Fey", but had a tough time freeing up enough time to write the introduction to the setting and rules. Fortunately, Matt Forbeck had an opening in his busy schedule and agreed to finish off the intro pack. Dan Zillion, the Firefly Games production designer, put together the graphic design using some of the artwork from the game, and the intro pack went up for download at Firefly-Games.com last week.

Also, I created an FAQ that I posted to Firefly-Games.com filled with information on the game, release dates, future products, and as many other details as I could. And webmaster Keith Sears created a Faery's Tale animation using art from the game set to music.

Then there were our routine promo strategies – preview files, review copies, banner ads, and so forth.

So, how did it all turn out? The initial buzz has been extremely positive, and the Faery's Tale PDF has already received some excellent reviews, including some here on RPGnet. Sales of the PDF are very strong, ranking in RPG Now's top 10 hot-sellers, and pre-orders of the print edition are amazing. The real test is yet to come, though.

You’re reading this column after GenCon ends, but I’m writing it just a few hours before I head to the airport to fly to Indianapolis for the print debut at GenCon. Five years ago, I got the idea for Faery's Tale at a GenCon, which led to the creation of Firefly Games and everything that followed. So it's somehow fitting that the game debuts at GenCon, opening a new chapter in the life of the company.

And that brings us up to date on Firefly Games, wrapping up this three-column return to Behind the Curtain. Thank you for reading. See you around.

As Patrick mentions, Faery's Tale has already received reviews here at RPGnet. There's also more info on the game at the Firefly website. I loved the idea of a fantasy game that would help get kids into the hobby from the first time I heard of it, and it's why I invited Patrick back to revisit Behind the Curtain. I encourage you to take a look at the game too. --SA, ed.