From: hopcraft@spock.ecs.umass.edu (Geoffrey S Hopcraft)
Subject: Re: Usage of Faerie
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 16:50:45 GMT

Treena Genest (io11085@maine.maine.edu) writes:
>I'm curious how other GMs handle the Faerie in their campaigns (also known
>as the Sidhe, Tuatha de Danaan, Vanir, Daoine Sidhe, Fay and countless
>Other names). How do you handle characterizations, describing
>their realms and homes so they are unique. The special qualities of
>the places they dwell, such as time differentials and the sense
>that everything is alive. And just about anything else.
>I'm interested in anything from personal accounts to stories to
>game mechanics (no matter the system, I'm pretty flexible) to general
>guidelines. So lets fire up those syntaxes, the Sidhe have the potential
>of being one of the most interesting types of beings in Fantasy
>and I'm feeling often under or badly used.
>Also I would be curious to hear about non-Celtic or Germanic fay.
>Thanks,
>Treena Genest
>P.S. Either post or email, my address is io11085@maine.maine.edu

Have you ever seen the Ars Magica supplement faeries? I haven't read it yet
(it's on order), but I've heard it gives a wonderful treatment, and I do
appreciate the look at faeries in the Ars Magica rules.

When I run faeries, they always take a role, and are caught up in it. As stated
in ArM, they are immortal, and have no real needs, so they live for their
roles. In acting, I find it helps the believability of my character if I
believe in it myself; the fay are masters of illusion and acting because they
live the illusion.

There are three primary types of scenarios which involve faeries, as I run
them:

1) The faeries have a problem, potentially tied in to human encroachment, which
the characters are asked to solve (either by the faeries or by the humans).
This one is pretty easy and fun, though you do have to have altruistic players;
just make up a problem, and think of an interesting application for it. The fay
may even be capable of solving their own problem, but they are caught up in
their roles and don't see the solution. The characters must first understand
the problem, then solve it. If they solve it within their roles, the fay will
like them (this may or may not be desireable); in most cases, however, they
will prefer to solve the problem in some more "reasonable" way.

- A faerie race travels on top of plants, and believes that human roads are
actually prisons for them. They have begun to strike back at local humans for
building these barriers and prisons; the farmers do not understand the problem,
and the characters may not either.

- A seelie princess comes to the character's campsite in the evening to ask for
help freeing her court from the unseelie who control it. Traditionally, the
seelie control it during the day and the unseelie at night (the characters
don't know this), but the princess feels the loss every bit as much as a
disowned human princess (as above, she's not lying, she really believes it).

2) The fay are trying to strike back at the characters for some wrong. Another
enjoyable scenario, because the faerie 'villans' can have all the grandiose
plans and fatal flaws of fantastic literature, and you don't have to worry
about psychological realism. The ArM supplement Mistridge contains a good
example of this.

3) The characters experience the life of the fay. This may be because the
characters are attending a faerie party, or are passing through faerie lands,
or because they need some information from a faerie lord. This scenario is a
bit more challenging to prepare because you need numerous motives and
inclinations for the various faeries, but is actually easier to play 'off the
cuff' if you don't mind doing a little outrageous improv.

A further side point to this is that a single faerie may develop an attachment
for a character or characters, and decide to accompany them. This is always
good for humor value, though you of course have to make sure he/she/it isn't
too rowdy so as not to strain the mood of other adventures.

Anyway, these are just the basic three types of scenarios I use, and I enjoy
them immensely after a month of court intrigue or world-saving adventure. Give
your players the opportunity to let their hair down; if they are always in
situations where the wrong move will lead to grisly death or disrupt their
carefully laid political plans, the mood can get too tense. Even in the
situation where the faeries are opposed to the characters, if you play them
like classic villains more interested in style than efficiency, most people can
enjoy responding in kind. Of course, some people won't enjoy fay adventures,
but they are usually pretty easy to spot from the WHFB t-shirt, so you should
be able to find a few people who will enjoy a fine faerie adventure.

lilac,
geoff
hopcraft@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc