Fairy tale themed encounters

[Sivar]

Hello, people of giant in the play ground! I have started a new campaign in a fairy tale themed setting but, I'm having trouble making my own encounters in this setting without directly stealing them from a fairy tale. can you people please help me brain-storm ideas?

[Ardantis]

I ran a 3.5 campaign which veered into the fairy tale- but it started as a hard-boiled detective story.

Basically, the party (a Duskblade and a Master of Many Forms) were called to a murder scene where a wizard had apparently had his head exploded in his tower by a demon he'd been summoning. The Guard wanted to keep this under wraps because the wizard in question had been a member of the Royal Wizard's Guild, and this might make the King look bad to the people.

The two of them, working in the King's name, hunted down a Warlock which had apparently come through the wizard's portal, and was either the murderer or came through the portal after the demon. After an aerial battle he was captured, but he wouldn't give up the goods on who he was working for. We let him rot in prison.

After a sidequest investigating a troublemaking orc in the more questionable part of the city on the behalf of local merchants, the partners were summoned back to the castle because strange thorny bushes had grown all around the base of the Castle, and strange monsters were inhabiting it.

This is where the story went straight-up fairy tale.

The guard couldn't get through the monster-filled briars, so they begged the P.C.s to delve into the brush to get to the castle and open the gate so the soldiers could retake the Castle. Our heroes agreed to do their best in the name of King and country, and they battled their way through the misty brambles to get to the Throne Room.

The Master of Many Forms discovered, although he could transform into many types of animals, only in his true human form could he pull the winch in the Gatehouse which activated the gate and portcullis.

Meanwhile, the Duskblade, a member of the King's Royal Guard, discovered that the King had had his brain removed by a power-mad Intellect Devourer who planned to take over the Kingdom wearing the body of the monarch. In an act of incredible will, and with the understanding that he might be framed for the death of the King if it didn't work, he cut off his head and slayed the Devourer, sparing the Kingdom the blasphemous rule of an unnatural usurper.

They lived happily ever after, with the Master of Many Forms marrying a comely elven shapeshifter from the hidden Elvish lands, and the Duskblade assuming command of the King's Guard in return for his valorous act of saving the Kingdom.

Basically, this:

- Any story can become fairy tale
- Remember high fantasy, outlandish monsters and events
- Coupled with homespun morality, personal issues, and of course, Happily Ever After (or gruesome cliffhangers, in the case of Grimm's Fairy Tales)