I’m looking for opinions on exclusive character books for the hack I’m working on publishing – Midsummer. This seems like a good place to ask. It’s a game where you play fairytales in the modern world inspired by the likes of Fables, Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Sandman and the works of Charles de Lint. The standard character books are Child, Domestic Animal, Fairy, Hero, Magician, Prince, Princess, Villain, Wee One, and Wild Animal. For exclusives, I’m considering:
Elemental (from the Four Winds to Godfather Death to Saint Nicholas), Magical Creature (from Jack Pumpkinhead to Gingerbread Man to Pinocchio), Giant(from Ogres to Blunderbore to Bridge Trolls), Dragon (from Fafnir to Tarasque to Gargouille), Fool (such as Simpleton or Ilsebill), King (Cole, Arthur, etc.), Myth (gods, goddesses, etc.), Folktale (Babe, Johnny Appleseed, etc.), or finally Mundane.
Pinochhio could be his own archetype alla Golem. I think it’s a difference between beeing just an animated something with cool abilities or something cursed not to be human.
How about Dragons?
The hero is probarbly the one with the big magic artifact right? This would also be a archetype.
The God?
Coyote, good to see you here (revel911) I really am hoping to, Magical Creature and Elemental definitely.
If you want to get that G+ going, I will make time for Midsummer.
Tim Franzke Hero is in there – one of the basic character books. You do get the option to pick a big magic artifact like a wishing lamp or Excalibur. I’d say they are more about being the center of the tale (and that’s what their options focus on) and using tricks to get what they want. They are the hero in the old sense, not the modern sense. Like Jack the Giantkiller who beat the giants by tricking them. Pinocchio and anything else animated is probably about trying to be human, though I haven’t done all my research for that one yet. Only the peripheral from rereading a few of the Oz books and Pinocchio. 🙂 A modern dragon hiding out sounds fun to me, though there are actually few in fairy tales.
Tommy Rayburn Good to see you here as well! Those 2 seem to be the most requested so far. Still mulling over the hangout. I think I might have time either this coming weekend or the weekend after to run one.
Years ago, I ran a pdq game on the something awful forums with very similar themes called Imaginaries, so I’m very excited about midsummer!
The Imaginary folk in my game ran the gamut from imaginary figures like Peter Pan, a Siren, the Armless Maiden, a Gremlin, a Crossroads Devil to anthropomorphic concepts, like the embodiments of comedy and tragedy, Wonder, Heroism, to archetypes like The Trickster.
Bogey-folk definitely deserve a spot in midsummer, and they have a lot of room for interesting moves about giving people a fright.
What will the PCs be mostly doing in the game? Going on adventures or getting involved with each other? Trying to maintain their od purpose in a modern world?
That sounds pretty cool. The bogey-folk probably fit under Elemental – that’s where I have them penciled in. I have that one half worked out and so far it seems to work. Needs play testing though.
What PCs do – mainly the goal of the game is to bring fairytales to life in the modern world and see how that plays out. In practice, this means a whole lot of things. The players can and should have any goals they want. The Evil Queen can still be holding on to her goal of being the most beautiful by any means, for example. This might mean she is a modern day cosmetics magnate. Or addicted to plastic surgery. Or anywhere else the player wants to go. The narrator pushes for goals. There are tools called Adversaries (very much like Fronts but different) that you use to propel the drama forward. So the Queen might run into her old nemesis Snow, who is still her unknowing rival in the beauty department. Or perhaps a rival cosmetics company run by goblins. Maybe an adversary that is Death itself (to bring back the Elemental) and all its withering powers of age. Anything that you want to use to threaten her goals, directly or indirectly. The other PCs will be friends, allies, associates, lovers or enemies known to the Queen. Their goals will tangle together or come at cross purposes and they will run afoul of the same adversaries and may decide to pool their resources. Sort of like fairytale Pulp Fiction, if you will.
This looks like the flip-side to the AW-engine game I’m working on called Under Hollow Hills ! It’s neat to see how ideas ebb and flow in design-space 🙂
Oh that’s cool! Would love to hear more about it.
Yeah, I really ought to make a top-level post about it soon. Midsummer sounds like bringing fairytale elements to the modern real-world scene, as per the inspiration sources you mentioned. Under Hollow Hills is all about going into Fairyland, and is in no way restricted to a modern time-frame. It also sounds like the PCs and PC goals are pretty different.
Meguey Baker, all of my games with Midsummer have been ran in Fairytale settings, but never as a non fairytale being.
Tommy Rayburn, meaning you are playing “cannon” fairytale characters, like Snow White or Pinocchio or Jack Frost?
No, they played non-cannon figures, ones with fairytale like attributes, unlike a regular human like you or I waking up in a fairytale realm.
Cool, I see.
Robert Burson, I just looked around the net for your work on Midsummer; it’s looking good! I especially like the side-by-side NYC art. Under Hollow Hills is directly building on ideas raised in my setting for Robin Laws Hillfolk game, that was kickstarted last fall. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robindlaws/hillfolk-dramasystem-roleplaying-by-robin-d-laws
Fairy-influenced stuff must be in the air!
Meguey Baker Thanks! I like how that one came out myself. 🙂 Fairytale stuff does seem to be in the air. A lot of it seems to trace back to Fables, one of my primary influences. Grimm and Once Upon a Time actually started out as Fables adaptations, for example. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend a look. Meanwhile, I’m eager to learn more about Under Hollow Hills.
On the subject of fairytale realms, I’ve added a new winkle to the Apocalypse World fold called Realms. You pick a Realm Book and then make choices as a group. Realm books are archetypes like the character books – but for the whole group. So you might pickup the Wonderland realm book and then make choices as a group to decide what your version of Wonderland will be like – even what it will be called – when you visit it. Realms get moves and can gain experience and improve just like characters.
Though mainly the action is meant to happen in the modern, mundane world there is no reason why it can’t all happen in the realms if that’s how it plays out.
Tommy Rayburn Hey, out of curiosity, did you try any of the optional rules for non-cannon fairytales? (In the advanced rules chapter.)
Robert Burson, I did not!
Robert Burson, yeah I read Fables a few years back. I liked it fine. I watched some of Once Upon a Time and keep meaning to watch more, but it keeps getting edged out. Grimm looks good; I do tend to like police procedurals. Did you watch 10th Kingdom?
I haven’t seen 10th Kingdom but it looks fantastic. I’ll have to check it out. Once Upon a Time is our family show, though I think we may be an episode or 2 behind. I actually like the supporting cast more than the main characters. Looking forward to the Mad Hatter spin-off though I think they shifted direction to Alice as the main character.