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1. I don’t like GURPS (or any ‘universal’ system), and I’ve never played it. So why the heck did I buy a game supplement for a system I don’t use?
Because GURPS books tend to be chockfull of information on their subject, information that can be downright difficult to find anywhere else. GURPS: Rome gives more information on ancient Rome as a living community than anywhere else I’ve seen. GURPS: Biotech has a great deal of genetics made simple—enough so I can sound like I know what I’m talking about. Heck, I even used a GURPS supplement for a college paper on Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream (got an A- on it, too)! This, combined with a love for White Wolf’s now defunct and never-done-right Changeling, and I decided that Faerie was a good gamble.
THE BASICS:
Construction: The Book is, like all GURPS sourcebooks, a small paperback folio size, this one 128 pages. It seems sturdy enough, although I’ve owned it for a total of two days. Though, the other GURPS supplements have held up well in their time, showing only marginal wear and tear.
Art: The artwork, done by Alex Fernandez, is in a similar vein to GURPS artwork—pen an ink drawings with chunky layers of wash to them, giving them a sense of depth. It’s professional but for the most part forgettable, although there are a few images that stir my brain around. The front cover is especially nice, with a deep midnight blue cover and a negative image of a pixie with large wings that seem not quite ghostly, not quite organic. A nice change of pace from the sickeningly sweet faerie art that is normally in this vein.
The interior art does a great job of showing the fair folk as mysterious and not just a little threatening. Everything from tiny people with wings to vicious old hag monsters to giant trolls and happy leprechauns are here, and while they might not all be baddies, nobody seems helpless or weak in this book.
Chapter 1: The Nature of Faeries deals with how to spell the word (and history of), as well as a number of popular theories of what the little people are, from dead spirits to aliens! Since GURPS doesn’t have canon, it’s nice to see the options, and gets you thinking about game ideas quickly. It also includes some broad styles of fae (noble, nature, old hags, etc), getting people out of the “faeries are six-inch tall people that wear flowers for hats” or “popular derogatory for a sexual lifestyle”. It also has popular fae animals, and a section what might not be considered a faerie (including banshees (?!), griffins, and other things). It was a good start, letting you know exactly what the book qualified as a faerie, which can be a very broad title if you want it to be.
Next, it deals with faerie around the world, focusing on Great Britain and Europe, but including all the other continents as well. Some faeries get a great deal more information than others, but it’s a decent rundown of the ‘race’. Look elsewhere for the more international supernatural, and some of the other fae seem a bit shoe-horned into being a fae, but it’s still nice to see the myths of many cultures and how they’re alike.
Finally, sections on Faerie Psychology and Activities let you know how faeries tend to think and what they do. Good sections for both GM and players, letting you realize that these creatures are not just humans with wings or horns or whatnot.
Chapter 2: Faerie Realms gives you the land of the fae, from the classics of Tir Na Nog and Arcadia, all the way to different dimensions and cyberspace (very interesting theory there that wasn’t quite developed…). It also grants some fictional locations, such as Oz and Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Speaking of Tolkien, there’s a few points of Tolkien trivia here, such as which race he might have gotten the word Orcs from, in case you’re not winning your Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit…
It also talks about how to get into and (more tricky) how to get out of the Faerie realms, faerie mounds (historical and mythological), and where the fair folk might hang out, although they kind of ignore more modern settings here, mainly discussing trees and rivers—no dance clubs or Ren-fairs.
Chapter 3: Faerie Abilities gets into character creation—kind of. It deals with common powers, advantages, and disadvantages for the fae, which like all GURPS supplements assumes you have certain books for full details. It includes some new stuff, as well as a page description of the new power “Morph”, which allows you to turn into anything. Nice rundown of how fae transform stuff and themselves, but it gets a bit complicated, and would probably need a few read-through's if I had a player that had it. But then, turning into whatever you want is a pretty complicated idea that needs some rules.
Chapter 4: Faerie Templates makes some cardstock fae, breaking the little ones down into ‘races’ (Domestic, fearsome, noble, Faerie Vampire, Little People, etc), including names from around the world, appearances, behaviors, and points cost for them in GURPS systems. A nice section for “standard” fae, although due to their starting chapter, I might have like one or two “modern” fae, such as their alien theory, or a cyber-fae. I understand why they didn’t put this in, but it once again seems to push for an old world feel for these capricious creatures.
Chapter 5: Mortals is basically chapter 4, except with humans that might bump into the guys from chapter 4. Includes changelings and wise men (hedge mages that the book proclaims as undefined in GURPS), new skills and stuff for mortals. Not bad, but probably the weakest chapter in the book—but then again, it’s not called GURPS: Mortals, is it?
Chapter 6: Faerie Magic deals with how faerie magic works, both in story and in GURPS. It correctly shows that the faerie don’t use ‘spells’, but more have magical powers, and don’t need to chant mumbo jumbo or make pentacles to do their stuff (although it brings up the faerie dancing as possible rituals). It also deals with Fey-shot, seeing the faeries (and ramifications), and how to protect oneself from the magic. Again, it’s very in feel with the subject.
Chapter 7: Campaigns and Adventures gives some hints for running faeries in your game, in both their natures (from chapter 1), and the style you want to run—from comedy to space to Lovecraftian terror, they’re all here. It goes into detail for these styles as well, including their Cabal, Black Ops, Space, Historical, and even Steam punk and Goblins settings, so you can include your other books if you’d like. It has a great, if small, section on Non-suspension of Disbelief, asking what happens to claustrophobic Knockers and dryads allergic to pollen. It doesn’t answer these, but are a great way to get thinking about the world and the characters. I especially liked asking how fae might curse if they can’t stand the name of God. It ends with a three-page, meaty glossary that is a pretty good listing of faeries and related terms, as well as related game supplements and movies. While they won’t beat some of the faerie ‘encyclopedias’ out there, they’re handy references.
In Short: GURPS does great on giving me information in an easy to read format, without me looking through tomes of ancient libraries. “Faeries” is no exception, and throughout does a great job on giving you a good idea of what a Faerie is, and what it is not, and how to implement these great stories into your own games. I would have like a few more off the wall concepts in their fae types (do fae have cybernetics, etc?), but all in all it’s a good book that stays loyal to its subject and gives you ideas for games. I’d recommend it for anyone with a game where magical forces are involved, as the faeries can give a great deal of flavor, both as PC’s and NPC’s.
