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| God forbid a girl have one night out away from her father without waking up kidnapped and guarded by a three-headed troll |
WHAT MAKES A FAIRYTALE?
Prismatic Wasteland created a large list of questions to blog about. The question "What makes a fairy tale?" caught my eye. And because I often think of running a sorta fairytale D&D and back the Dolemenwood KS, I started to write out what I consider to be key elements.
Its more than just excellent illustrations by Arthur Rackham, Henry Justice Ford, and Kay Rasmus Nielsen.
Initially, from a Western context, these stories were there to entertain, but also teach children how to behave and protect themselves in a potentially violent world. The stories often emphasize doing the right thing, amending the wrong thing, being clever, being brave, and overcoming something bigger and stronger than you. They also had a tendency to reinforce gender stereotypes (despite many stories featuring women at the center) and societal power structures.
So while we don't want to simply repeat 1:1 these sorts of stories, we might want to take various elements from them to roll our Dolmenwood campaigns. Fairytales are also a nice touchstone to seed your home games of D&D with become while few people have read a lot of Appendix N, most people have been exposed to fairytale stories and, at least as children, even imagined themselves in one.
This is a good well to tap to get people into RPGs as it is a very familiar baseline allowing shortcutting in terms of campaign setup, reducing the amount of explanation and lore dump prior to getting to actual play. Ty over at Mind Storm recently covered the importance of a baseline in world-building.
I've tried to organize those elements into loose categories below:
PROBLEMS & CONFLICTS
- Initially, it might a societal or class conflict that the main character has no natural way to solve and so seeks supernatural means: too poor to attend the prince's ball
- Often centered on a problem that is supernaturally caused and needs a supernatural solution or has been exacerbated by a supernatural shortcut: couple can't have children so seeks a witch's council
- Problems also arise because the main character did not listen to the initial conditions of a solution or a deal that was struck: do A & B, but never C despite that it will give you more (the character does C)
- Often caused by curiosity and not staying in your lane: What happens if I do untie the green ribbon around my beloved's neck despite the fact she said no?
- Solutions sometimes are not supernatural but are also displays of bravery, courage, kindness, and to a lesser extent humility
- Mistaken identity is often a big problem
QUALITIES of ADVENTURERS
- Being clever is a lauded trait and also helps the hero overcome asymmetry in an encounter
- You are what you wear, how you look, and what your title says you are: ugly, dark clothing, poison, subterfuge, and being wolf-headed is considered "evil"
- Titles come with responsibilities that must be fulfilled no matter how convoluted or contradictory to the person owning the title
- If you are a boy and you wear the tiara of a princess then you are treated as a "princess" but maybe not a girl (or you could be depending on the game)
- You will be required to wear a pink gown because that is the expectation of a princess, but if you decreed by the office that you can wear pants well that is what a princess (during your reign) can wear
- Except during state dinners where it is imperative to follow the old ways including pink dresses for princesses for the sake of the old families. (And hold still because the cat, 12 mice, 24 doves, 2 raves, donkey, and 5 squirrels dressing are trying to make magic happen and the 6 white stallions waiting to take you are quite proud and hate being late)
- Yes, good people can wear dark clothing or be wolf-headed but everyone still suspects them of being blackhearted no matter the public display of goodness
- Because of this, disguises often work well (which is why mistaken identify is a source of problems)
QUALITIES of MAGIC (Thank you RiseUpComus for pointing these qualities out)
- Magic often augments an object or ability but rarely does the actual work which still requires a person- a magic broom is good at cleaning and flying, but a person still has to sweep; gold still has to be spun from hay
- However, often magic items are bestowed as a test to see what a person does with them, and the bestower might show up to take it back should it be used incorrectly
- Magic items can be "OP" such as the Philosopher's Stone providing infinite gold and invincibility
- Those sorts of items can still have a corrupting influence
- Item from God often come with stringent requirements even if it means risking the life of the bearer- so if you steal bread while starving, you lose the right to hold the holy sword because you sinned even if it was for a good cause
SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS
- Everyone makes a deal with everyone else and your word is your life; in breaking your word, you quite easily forfit your life
- Manners are important while sometimes violence or murder is overlooked; this is especially true in the Legends of Arthur
- Most knowledge is local and if someone doesn't know something, they often know someone who does (or they think they do)
- And while good and evil do apply, more often other dualities divide like selfish vs generous or loner vs social or black-hearted vs kind-hearted
- Ownership is like 9.5 tenths of the law in fairytales- beings place far more importance on it
- Current beings are responsible for generation grievances
THE WIDER WORLD and OTHER LANDS
- The Crown is distant, but 1 or 2 of its agents are always nearby and more likely than not abuse that power
- The Christian god can be the "new kid" on the block but still quite work via the old ways: quests, potents, magic items, and chosen ones; only really "talks" when given a form consistent with the rest of the world such as Aslan the Lion
- Josh also pointed out that invoking God is also an un-gameable silver bullet. I agree. I think the issue with evoking the Christian God too much is that it is sorta a giant reset button. All magic, good or bad, ends allow order and the mundane to reign. Buzz kill.
- The devil though is often an antagonist
- The Fay realm is pretty much like Las Vegas- what happens in the fay realm, stays in the fay realm at least until the fay wants to use it against you
- The middle distance between two points is the best moment for the fay to intercede in a thing being done
- Any structure forgotten can be claimed by the fay and/or the supernatural
- Death, Dream, and Sleep are always close in a fairytale world, and deep ponds, lakes, caves, tree hollows, and holes in the ground are passages to the underworld
- Seasons generally are the extremes of what they are: Spring pleasant, Summers hot, Autumns cool/colorful, Winters very snowy; food is likewise predictably cyclical unless an external force interrupts
- For more modern fairytales, I really love Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and for something a bit darker, Howls From the Dark Ages
- In terms of rulesets, I really like BLUEHOLME Printice Rules because most of the pictures are in fact Henry Justice Ford illustrations. It just gives this Holmes Basic D&D game a great feel!
- Dolmenwood is a must for a fairytale campaign however I think it hides an almost Harn World-like political layer
- The Jim Henson Storyteller series is amazing for some inspiration- I particularly like The Soldier & Death (above)- look at 'em, playing cards with imps!
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