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The Physical Thing
This 64 page black and white softcover showcases above average production values for its $14.95 price tag. The artwork throughout the book is wonderful, clearly evoking the mood and feel of the product. The formatting is well done, including a variety of specific side boxes such as “For Kids” that gives specific advice to those playing with children. The editing is also excellent, few typos were found. A detailed index rounds out a fantastic product.My only concern here is that the book is so small, in terms of page size, that it may not weather heavy wear well.
The Ideas
In Faery’s Tale you play a tiny faery who goes on grand adventures, alone or with friends. This game was created with children in mind, and offers a lot of advice that takes child development into account. What sorts of things interest children of different ages, the age when a child can appreciate a moral dilemma, and how to use Faery’s Tale as a teaching tool to reinforce lessons in honesty and other virtues are just a few of the bits of advice offered. As a children’s game and introduction to roleplaying, Faery’s Tale shines. As a game for adults, however, it fares just as well. Dark faeries, menacing goblins, and the very tone of faery tales can be altered to provide a darker play experience for those interested. Many adults will find the game charming and engaging, and there’s nothing childish about the simple but fun game mechanics.Be aware that simple rules for playing Faery’s Tale as a LARP are available as well, so kids could play this on the playground or adults could organize a standard LARP around it.
Under the Cover
This product begins with an appropriate and flavorful piece of setting fiction and a general discussion of the content of Faery’s Tale.Chapter 1 Once Upon a Time: The Faery World
This chapter introduces faeries and the world they live in. Faeries are small magical beings, no more than two or three inches tall at the very most, that live alongside humanity. The book generally assumes you’re playing in a faery tale land similar to the middle ages, but this isn’t a requirement. Faeries could be watching over us today just as surely as they did centuries ago.
Most faeries are tricksters at heart, but in the playful sense. Some will play tricks on mortals for fun, others for vengeance at being unappreciated. The book stresses that faeries are ultimately good, if whimsical, beings and that only Dark Faeries use their powers for wickedness. Since evil faeries, and moral issues generally, are sometimes beyond or inappropriate for small children the book wisely places this material closer to the end. For the sake of being concise, I’m including some of that information here.
The types of faeries are introduced here as well. Pixies are playful faeries who flutter about on little wings and leave magical dust in their wake. Tinkerbell would be an example of a pixie. They tend to be happy, playful, and mischievous – actively playing more pranks on people than other faeries. When corrupted Pixies, become Wisps. Wisps lead mortals into dangerous bogs, mine shafts, and other sinister places.
Brownies are stout faeries that help out with the house work. They sweep floors, find missing trinkets, and see to the dishes when they can. When they go unappreciated brownies become hurt and may play vengeful tricks on the home, such as soiling the dishes or bringing dirt into the home. A corrupted brownie becomes a sinister Boggart.
Sprites are valiant faerie knights who often ride animals into battle. They’re strong, proud, and noble. When not fighting against goblins and other evil sorts for their lord or lady, sprites spend their time jousting and enjoying mock combat. Sprites often form lasting bonds with the animals they ride. Corrupted sprites become Redcaps.
Pookas are wild faeries, loners at heart that tend to live far away from humans. With the power to change shape into animals at will, pookas tend to be dirty and uncivilized by faerie standards. Corrupt pookas are Phoukas. Where a pooka might take a mortal on a wild ride into the countryside, as a horse, and leave them in a strange place not too distant from their home a phouka would take them on a ride of terror and leave them in a place of danger.
Other inhabitants of the land, such as Hags, Dragons, and Trolls, are briefly mentioned as well though more information on them is found in Chapter 5.
Chapter 2 One of the Fae: Your Faery
This is the character creation section, and it’s both simple and robust. Faeries have three Attributes: Body, Mind, and Spirit. They also have a pool of points called Essence that are used to add automatic successes, work faerie magic, and function as life force. Faeries also have special powers, called Gifts. Every faery begins the game with two gifts based on what type of faery they are, and additional points to buy more gifts. These points may also be spent to start with a boon (owed favor), title (noble title), or charm (magical object).
Let’s build a character!
Example: I’m going to build a male pooka named Warble. Warble automatically has the Gifts Change Form and Travel Magic just for being a pooka. Warble also starts out with Body 3, Mind 1, and Spirit 2 before I spend any points – that’s just how pookas tend to be! I have three points to spend. I want Warble to be a particularly clever pooka, so I spend 2 points on Mind and 1 point on Spirit to give him 3s across the board.
I now have 5 points to spend on Gifts. I want a special companion for Warble, so I buy Sidekick for 3 points. Warble has a Flutternuffer, a sort of field mouse with tiny wings straight from my imagination. With 2 points left I decide to buy Brave for 1 point and Clever for 1 point. Brave gives me +2 Spirit whenever I need to be Brave, and Clever gives me +2 Mind when I’m trying to solve riddles and other problems.
That’s it. Characters can easily be built in just a few minutes. I could have bought all kinds of other abilities – from True Seeing to Lore. Maybe next time!
Chapter 3 A Sense of Wonder: How to Play
Whenever a faerie is challenged by something the GM sets a Difficulty Rating from 1 to 6. The faery rolls the relevant Attribute, adding any relevant Charms, and tries to get that many successes. Any type of dice can be rolled, evens count as successes. If the faery doesn’t have quite enough to succeed the player may spend one point of Essence for an extra success as many times as they like. That is the simple core of the system. In LARP play nothing is rolled (though it may be that difficulties should be increased appropriately).
The same process occurs when the faery and another creature oppose one another, except instead of rolling to beat a DR they both roll and compare successes. Then, in secret, both the GM and player may spend Essence on automatic successes. This prevents challenges from just becoming a bidding war, and it encourages players to spend Essence on things that are really important to them.
Faeries have starting Essence equal to double their Spirit score. Further Essence is rewarded through play, and rewarding Essence for desirable conduct is one way parents can use Faery’s Tale as a teaching tool. Note that faeries do not die when they run out of Essence, they just fall into a deep sleep that lasts a variable amount of time (GM’s discretion). The game also encourages the GM to give out bonus Essence whenever a player suggests, and the GM invokes, a fun complication for the story. This is really great for kids who will want to throw out ideas like “What if the pony is lost?” or “Can the goblins be working for an evil knight?” Essence may similarly be spent to get a clue or resolve a challenge the player can’t figure out.
Dark Essence is gained through doing wicked deeds. Every time a character gains Dark Essence a point of their default Essence becomes Dark. When their default Essence is all Dark they become a Dark Faery. Moral dilemmas and seductively sinister power can be easily introduced to your game with this mechanic, should you desire it. Dark Essence can be removed through quests and other efforts at atonement.
Example: Warble has gotten into a riddle contest with the tricky Duchess of Strawberries. The Duchess has a Mind of 5 and the GM rolls 5 dice, getting 4 successes. Warble has a Mind of 3, but since he’s Clever I get 2 bonus dice for a total of 5. I roll and only get 3 successes. The GM and I both spend Essence if we want to. I put my hands under the table, move around some dice, and then prepare to reveal how many Essence I’m spending. The GM does the same. I end up spending 1 while the GM spends 2. Uh oh, looks like Warble has gotten himself all perplexed! This riddle will likely plague him for some time to come.
Most challenges are going to be resolved just like this in faery tale land, because that’s just how challenges tend to be. There’s a nice bit of flex room too. The book offers an example of a faery defeating an evil faery through bravery in the face of danager – a Spirit based contest. However, there is still a system for actual Combat and it’s a little different.
When combat (which does not involve terrible injury or death, just stings and bruises) begins the player and GM each split up their Body dice into Attack and Defense dice. Attack dice are normally used for one attack, though they may be split into lesser attacks against more foes. Defense dice are applied against all incoming attacks that turn. Simply put, the Attacker and Defender roll dice and compare successes. If the Attacker got more than the Defender, the attack succeeds and the Defender loses that many extra Essence. Nice and simple. Duels often end when one party runs away or surrenders.
Chapter 4 Faery Princesses & Magic Wands: Titles, Boons, & Charms
This chapter begins with the social order of faeries, from Knights to Princesses. All members of the nobility have some sort of title, such as “of Lemons” or “of Butterflies.” To become a noble a character must accumulate Boons from a higher ranked noble. Boons are just favors gained through performing tasks, saving the land from goblins, and winning prestige. They are also similar to Experience Points in this game. Becoming noble means taking on the title of whoever granted the character nobility, and often some minor ability is included as well. A Knight of Butterflies may be able to count on all butterflies as friends, for example.
Charms are magical objects, such as a shield that blocks dragon fire or a broom of flying. Many faeries can create temporary magical objects through Essence, but making them permanent requires the expenditure of 2 – 20 Boons. A person’s imagination is really the limit on what can be created, though the more utility something has the more expensive it is.
Chapter 5 Here There Be Dragons
This short chapter provides several pages of special Gifts for strange creatures and monsters along with two pages of mini stat blocks. Want a fire breathing cat in your game? Cat + Firebreathing = Done. Creating fantastical creatures takes seconds, and I can easily make any sort of imaginative creature with these tools.
Chapter 6 Tales of the Fey: Adventures
This chapter provides some general advice on running Faery’s Tale, from making it lively and adventurous to keeping the story moving. An example adventure based on Jack and the Beanstalk where the faeries must rescue Jack from the cloud giant’s castle is provided as well, and it’s very well done.
My Take
This is a wonderful game for both children and adults. I must confess that this is what I always wanted the original Changeling to be. Some may scoff at a light hearted game of make believe and adventure, with no chance of death or lasting horror, but it’s exactly what I want. The book is incredibly true to its source material, and the game mechanics seem excellent for the simple resolutions they’re asked to perform. More than just a game for kids, I expect Faery’s Tale to provide me with hours of fun as my group explores the fantastic land of Brightwood.Please help support RPGnet by purchasing the following (probably) related items through DriveThruRPG.
