A Fairytale Setting--Recommendations/Advice?

[Amaril]

I 'm thinking of starting up a new Pathfinder setting, and this time I'm leaning towards a fairytale/fable style for things. I have some general ideas already, and I'm looking for any advice people might have, whether it's possible methods for strengthening the flavor I 'm going for, or suggestions for particular elements to include in the world.

Here's an outline of what I'm thinking so far:

- The scope of the world will be pretty small, probably focusing on one smallish kingdom or region. Locations will probably include a few towns and villages plus one major capital city.
- The main supernatural force will be the fae, ranging from friendly Seelie-type stuff to really scary and monstrous.
- Playable races will probably be human-only. There will be two main cultures: an oppressed native people with a Druidic religion worshipping the fae, and a foreign culture that conquered them, with a monotheistic religion that treats faeries like demons.
- Arcane magic will be based on communication with the fae; divine will be the more ambiguous "miracles" of the new church religion.
- I'll probably axe the sorcerer and wizard classes (and possibly the monk), replace them with the witch from the Advanced Player's Guide, and make the Druid an arcane class (same spell list, though).

Any advice?

[Zap Dynamic]

Hi there! I've been working on a setting that combines the spirit of Grimm's fairy tales and chinese wuxia action for about a year now, and you're welcome to check it out for ideas: The Blackwood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232675).

You might also check out another project (which was inspired by my setting): The Darkwood (http://www.korpg.com/wiki/doku.php?id=darkwood). It cleaves a little more closely to the fairy tale side of things, and has some very interesting ideas.

Have fun!

[Amaril]

Hi there! I've been working on a setting that combines the spirit of Grimm's fairy tales and chinese wuxia action for about a year now, and you're welcome to check it out for ideas: The Blackwood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232675).

You might also check out another project (which was inspired by my setting): The Darkwood (http://www.korpg.com/wiki/doku.php?id=darkwood). It cleaves a little more closely to the fairy tale side of things, and has some very interesting ideas.

Have fun!

Um...well, this is sort of awkward--The Blackwood was actually one of the main works that inspired me to do this, and I may or may not have been sort of ripping you off in a few regards since I started :smalleek: Although I guess if somebody else already did The Darkwood, you must be okay with stuff like that...then again, I might find that the person who made The Darkwood has already done pretty much exactly what I'm trying to do, since I'm basically doing pure fairytale without the wuxia stuff...

[Vitruviansquid]

I'd like to read more about how the two cultures interact.

Does the ruling, foreign culture give the native culture any concessions to keep things running smoothly? How antagonist are they toward each other? How consistent is that antagonism in the cultures?

[Thunderfist12]

Hmm... I'd have some things called inaccurate names due to being pure legend in day-to-day use. People might call mountain dwarves motendorfs, because it was passed down orally and people don't hear well.

Examples:
* Mountain Dwarf = Motendorf (MOE - tehn - dorf)
* Wood Elf = Woadalf (WOE - dahlf)
* Kobold = Qovaldt (KOE - vault)
* Gorgon = Goregon (gore - EE - ghen)
* Dragon Turtle = Draegentirtellen (DREE - ghen - TEER - tell - ehn)
* Ankheg = Ounshaegh (OON - sheef)
* Banshee = Baenasie (BEEN - ah - see)

Et cetera, et cetera. Most creatures of non-human origin will most likely be either near-extinct, mostly invisible, or hiding really, really well.

[Amaril]

I'd like to read more about how the two cultures interact.

Does the ruling, foreign culture give the native culture any concessions to keep things running smoothly? How antagonist are they toward each other? How consistent is that antagonism in the cultures?

Well, as I'm picturing it now, the foreign invaders have been in the area for quite a long time (since they founded the current kingdom about two centuries ago), and in that time, the two peoples have sort of learned to tolerate each other. The original natives have pretty much been absorbed into the new kingdom's culture, and the majority of them now live in developed settlements, except for a few fringe groups still trying to make their way out in the wilderness, often by banditry or other illegal means. Although the Fae-worshiping animistic religion of the natives has been officially declared heresy by the church, most of the common folk don't really care much what god or gods their neighbors pray to (actual witchcraft is another matter, though), so the native beliefs and ceremonies have managed to survive to a significant extent (to say nothing of how many of them have been absorbed into the new religion over the years). There might occasionally still be some tension or prejudice between the two groups, but most of the really serious conflict has gone away with time, and the most the natives usually have to worry about is occasional name-calling or petty insults.

By the way, if you want to follow this project, I've started up another thread over here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309574) that I'm devoting entirely to working on my continually expanding setting guide. Head over there if you want to check out what I have so far, and feel free to leave your comments.

[Darcand]

I like that you limited magic, but I would take it out almost altogether. One of the elements which gives a fairytale the traditional feeling that it has is the normalcy of the protagonists. In fairytales, both traditional and modern, magical aid almost always comes from outside sources and in very limited quantities.

I wouldn't give the PCs more then one or two magic items each, and even those need to be well earned, i.e. a sword gifted by the Queen Beneath the Wake, a ring riddled away from the Thing Which Lurks, or the sword, bow, horn, and vial bequeathed by the Morning Lord.

I know that wealth by level is sort of hardwired into 3.X and eliminating magic really hurts character effectiveness, but the good news is that fairytales, traditionally, aren't that much about out fighting, as they are about outsmarting the enemy.

[Amaril]

I like that you limited magic, but I would take it out almost altogether. One of the elements which gives a fairytale the traditional feeling that it has is the normalcy of the protagonists. In fairytales, both traditional and modern, magical aid almost always comes from outside sources and in very limited quantities.

I wouldn't give the PCs more then one or two magic items each, and even those need to be well earned, i.e. a sword gifted by the Queen Beneath the Wake, a ring riddled away from the Thing Which Lurks, or the sword, bow, horn, and vial bequeathed by the Morning Lord.

I know that wealth by level is sort of hardwired into 3.X and eliminating magic really hurts character effectiveness, but the good news is that fairytales, traditionally, aren't that much about out fighting, as they are about outsmarting the enemy.

Yeah, I completely agree. In case you didn't happen to see this on my main world-building thread, I've since moved away from Pathfinder as the system and switched to Warrior, Rogue & Mage, which has built-in variant rules that allow for very low-magic games without a huge amount of editing. It also doesn't assume equipment progression nearly as much--all its magic items are the same quality rather than there being an expectation of increasing bonuses and continual gear upgrades.

[Darcand]

I stopped in and looked at your other thread and it seems good so far. I admit that I like that by using that system you'll be having to build nearly all of your creatures from scratch. As soon as I saw how limited their bestiary was and how simple the monster creation was my mind took off.

I am imagining different categories of creatures; trolls being high(w) low(r) medium(m), fey that are low/mid/high templated, griffons mid/high/low. Sort of generic creature classes to work as building blocks.