Knights and Wizards

[Afgncaap5]

Are there any first party settings (or sub-locations within settings, I suppose) that offer a good, fun take on, uh... I don't know how to phrase this well... just a "generic" fairy tale kingdom?

In spite of arguments that D&D really isn't good at representing that kind of story (and the arguments are good ones, high level wizardry kinda interferes) I've seen this kind of game played, and played well, and it was super refreshing. But the in-world reaction to things sort of informs the possibility of it, I think, so I was wondering if anyone knows of any locations in Faerun or Eberron or Oerth or any of the other main settings that 3.5 has taken note of that would be really primed for it?

Possibly a fools errand, but for those days when I just want something out of The Princess Bride or Galavant and don't feel like teaching all my players about PDQ# or another system, I'd like to know if there are some in-world locations that might be handy to drop them into.

[Tvtyrant]

I don't know of any currently in existence that are in D&D, but it shouldn't be too hard to tweak the rules to make it work.

1. E6 variant, you can include Incantations (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/incantations.htm)and or the sacrifice rules from Book of Vile Darkness for high/cult magic.

2. Eliminate the planescape and spelljammer parts, afterlife is a big mystery. The monsters are rarer but more dangerous, big focus on human eating shapeshifters like Rakshasa, Hags, Doppelgangers, and Oni. Places become cursed by horrible things happening there.

[Zombulian]

I'll echo Tvtyrant about e6. When the levels cap at 6th, the most powerful spells a caster can get are 3rd's. They'll still have the Merlin-like image of being spooky and mysterious arcanists, but they won't have insane, world-breaking power. Incantation rules in conjunction with this adds to the effect because an entire group of cultists need to be stopped before they can trigger a ritual to unleash a 6th level spell oooo.

[Tvtyrant]

"The cult has created a Mohrg, which is transforming the backcountry into zombies and threatens the entire world. The brave knights need to fight an army of zombies to kill this monstrosity and prevent a zombie apocalypse."

A lot of mid level spells actually get way cool as Incantations in E6. Create Undead is very weak in normal games, extremely powerful in E6.

[Blackhawk748]

Kingdoms of Kalamar is a pretty grounded and solid setting and Brandobia could easily be a "fairy tale" kingdom with little effort.

[Uncle Pine]

I'll echo what others have said about E6, but also add that there's no reason you couldn't have such fairytale kingdom in a normal setting. Even though teleporting flying shapeshifting wizards exist in most of the setting, it's plausible that these powers may not be as common everywhere. Third World Magic areas may exist, places where the overall power level is just lower and magic/technology hasn't progressed as far: maybe these kingdoms lack certain resources and riches high-level characters and creatures require; maybe the population is too busy killing each other that the chances of someone reaching middle age, or 7th level, or both are just that slim; maybe a certain guardian figure is keeping these places sheltered to protect them from external danger or to advance his own agenda. The PCs could either start inside one of these fairy tale kingdoms and later discover that there's a much more crapsack world outside the borders, or have a few adventures and then discover said kingdom.

[Florian]

@Afgncaap5:

If you don't mind it, Golarion by Paizo is a setting that tries to bridge the gap between "d20, the rules" and "d20, the fluff", with the fluff being firmly the leading element. Both, the old 3,5E and the newer PF-based version of the setting book are pretty rules-agnostic and feature regions that are heavily influenced by typical stereotypes. Ie. Varisia is more Conan-style fantasy, Molthune is more roman inspired, Ustalav is gothic horror, so on, with some region directly tied to that "fairy tale" feeling, like some of the northern regions picking up on the scandinavian and baltic myths, Taldor being classic medieval with the Darkmoon Valley region for the added faery touch and so on.