Dark world with Grimm stories. Grimmdark? Ideas for a dark fantasy with fairy tales.

[S@tanicoaldo]

So I plan to use some dark fairy tales world in my next campaign.

And I need help with ideas or/and criticism for the ones I already have.

It can be either be a dark tone where everyone is evil or make the villain the hero and the hero the villain.
Here what I came up with until now:

The red hood witches: Deep in the the heart of a dark forest lives an old crone all by her self. Many wonder why such a old lady decide to live in such dangerous reclusive place... But few know the reason. She is a servent of entities, spirits and demons sealed within the forest. The young awkward and misfit maidens run away from home in search of power and knowledge. The old lady is called by the initiated coven as "granny" she presents them with red cloaks that provides power and authority.

The Frightened population called in desperation a witch hunter called " The Wolf" a cold and unscrupulous man who will do all he can to kill that menace. To protect themselves the witches charmed the hunters of the forest to act like soldiers in their fight against the hunter.

The players will have to choose who they will help. The once oppressed and discriminated outcasts that now have the power. Or the hunter who is secretly a werewolf that feeds on human flesh and do this job to be above suspicion.

The Three Little Pigs: Three half human half pig creatures called “Orcs” are in the command of a army composed of lesser creatures and dominated an entire area.

They built three great fortress. One made of Black wood, the other made of black bricks and the last made of black iron.

A resistance group called “The big bad wolfs” are trying to overthrow the tyrants by using wind magic. But the effects of the spells may cause more destruction than the monsters themselves.

Snow white: The old king long time ago married a sorceress princess. She was more than pleased to know her bloodline would generate the next monarch. But soon they found out the king was unable to produce a child. Consumed by anger the sorceress queen summoned a snow devil and a night demon by sacrificing her own blood she created the most beautiful princess of all. Because of the spell her skin was white as snow, her hair black as the night and her lips red as blood.

The ritual consumed the queen life force and soon she died. The king who had a deep curiosity for all things magical and occult married another spellcaster. This time a powerful witch who had a pact with a Mirror devil. The new queen tried to be nice with the princess but soon became suspicious that she was not entirely human. Using the power of her demon, she found out the horrible true.

After some years the king died and the trone was left with no heir. Part of the populace wanted the fair witch queen to regin but the other part was charmed by the Fiendish princess.

The queen sent out a monster hunter to kill the princess but he also as all the men was charmed by her unnatural beauty. By mind controlling the animals, the horrible gray dwarfs of the mines and part of the populace the princess started a civil war that consumed the realm in chaos. The players as mercenaries must choose a side.

So any suggestions, compliments, criticisms or ideas?

[Talakeal]

Great ideas. I would spend a little more time "filling off the serial numbers" though, as it will be hard for most players to keep a serious attitude towards the game when they figure out they are playing through the plot lf what they think of as a childrens cartoon.

[Aka-chan]

A couple of additional sources you could look at:

--Some of the traditional fairytales were actually changed to make them more suitable for children. If you can find the original versions of the stories, those might make for some good ideas. (http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ has annotated versions of some classic fairy tales, for example. Neil Gaiman also has a short story called "Snow, Glass, Apples" that's a dark version of the Snow White story, though you seem to already have one of those.)

--In a similar vein, literal fairy tales, i.e. stories of the Fair Folk. Again, these used to be a lot darker than the Disneyfied version that modern readers tend to be familiar with. If your PCs visit a town in close proximity to a wilderness region, they might find that people have iron horseshoes nailed over their doors, or that people going into the forest carry iron nails with them even if they have no practical use for them. It might be considered bad luck to openly praise a child's appearance/intelligence/manners/whatever, for fear that the Fair Folk will hear, take an interest in the kid, and steal him/her away. Susanna Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, in addition to being a great fantasy novel overall, has an old-school fey as the major antagonist.

--The story of Bluebeard is one that seems like it would lend itself well to a dark setting.