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Since first posting here I've had an idea bouncing around in my head for a game.  Though I am not sure how to implement it, or even if it would make a good role playing game-- might be better as a board game-- but since it was reading messages in these forums which gave me the idea I thought I would share the bit of background which I finally sat down and typed up.  (And the poem that kept nagging at me to the point I had to rummage for an old poetry book and type it, too.  Makes for a nice intro I think.)

Comments, suggestions, criticisms are all welcome.


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FAIRIES' SONG

We the fairies blithe and antic,
Of dimension not gigantic,
Though the moonshine mostly keep us
Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.

Stolen sweets are always sweeter;
Stolen kisses much completer;
Stolen looks are nice in chapels;
Stolen, stolen be your apples.

When to bed the world are bobbing,
Then's the time for orchard-robbing;
Yet the fruit were scarce worth peeling
Were it not for stealing, stealing.

- Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)

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Pixies: The Gleaning

In folklore Pixies, being described as elementals or fairy spirits, are often depicted as little people.  Often with an elfin appearance.  As with most fairy kin they are said to be mischievous and to take (or use) things which are not theirs.  Or at least which Humans consider to be their property.  They are considered to be opportunistic thieves, much as a raccoon or squirrel might be .  Which illustrates the primary philosophical difference between pixies and humans.  Pixies don't understand how any creature, being themselves mortal and impermanent, can have the audacity to claim anything as their sole possession; much less deny its use to another.

Which is perhaps why pixies like to visit humans.  Or more precisely human families.  For pixies life moves like sweet molasses in winter, while humans are a hot breezes in summertime.  Always moving too fast and too harshly for comfort.  Of course the thing about summer breezes is that  they an be fun, for a little while.  Which is all the time most humans have, at least from the perspective of a pixie, which is perhaps why some take it upon themselves to try and bring some cheer into humans everyday lives.

Not that the average human appreciates what pixies are doing for them.  But that never stopped a pixies from trying.  Besides humans grow the most wonderful things in their gardens and on their farms!

So far Pixies have managed pretty well, all things considered.  Which brings us to those "all things", namely cats.  To the eyes of pixies cats are bundles of wickedness, selfish sinew wrapped around bones of malevolence.  Worse even than imps!  At least dogs care, or seem to, about the humans they decide to adopt.  While cats merely purr at humans in their own language telling them how stupid and ignorant they think humanity is and 'where is my food anyway'.  Of course humans don't even realize what's going on, but pixies do, and despite the fact most humans no longer see a pixie even when they are sitting on the edge of their can of soda that doesn't mean that pixies have ignored the plight of humans.

That such a creature should have found a way to exploit the stupidity of the average human does not surprise pixies.  However that cats consider pixies to be interlopers on their territory, and a good snack besides, does!

So the stage is set and the battle lines are drawn.  In the orchards, across the open fields, between the neatly planted rows of farms...

Welcome to Pixies: The Gleaning.

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For the pixie humans are like sunflowers which sprout continually in the open fields.  Of course Humans speculate that stories about pixies may have originated as thinly veiled folktales told about the Picts or Druids of old.  "Out of mind, out of sight." as most humans say.  Then pixies are all too eager to oblige humans in their skepticism, so long as they continue to disbelieve their eyes and "rationalize" the facts away.  Not that all humans are like that.

{{}}


Ok, that's what I have so far.

First question:  Has this sort of thing been done before?

Second:  As for rules...

Right now I only have an basic idea (and what I think is a decent title).  Mostly involving pilfering of apples and trying to save humans from the "evil cats", that and maybe instead of having Stats like usual have a loose set of abilities which the player can choose from.

[ Something about the 'evil cats' strikes me as familiar.  But I don't know why.  ?? ]

About the abilities.  I was thinking to have them be simple, self explanatory, like:  Pilfer, Sneak, Filch, Pocket, Run, Thump, Moon (not the one in the sky), etcetera.

Not sure.  Tons of ideas, but was wanting to know if anyone thought this sounds like the basis for a fun role playing game.  Of course I was also thinking small, under an hour or  to play the average scenario, so rules would have to be quick and easy to use and learn.

Any thoughts?


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius.

Perfunctory Forge questions:

What do the Pixies do in the game? Just fight cats? What would a sample session look like in terms of what happened in several hours of play?

A vision of what would happen in play is necessary for you to continue at this point.

Mike

I like the flavor, it could be fun to play a game like this.

Couple of sources of inspiration you might want to check out.

"The Three Musketeers" a board game by Task Force Games many years ago, often available on Ebay.  It has elements of roleplaying but is essentially a run my pawns around the map of the palace performing feats of derring-do for a particular scenario.  I immediately thought of this format as being a potential way to do your game...some roleplaying, but alot of moving pixies around a map (apartment, farm, suburbia) with differen't feats of mischief-do to accomplish.

"Cats" by John Wick.  Since his site is now gone, I don't know where you might find info on it, but it had a very cool "mythology" around cats and dogs and their relationship to humans.  One that is actually completely opposite of yours (the cats were the "good guys") but might have some nuggets of catness for you.

I think it sounds like a fun concept, especially if you have some bad faeries (the kind that cause milk to spoil and set fire to things) stirring up trouble that the good faeries get caught up in.

Quote from: Mike HolmesPerfunctory Forge questions:

What do the Pixies do in the game? Just fight cats? What would a sample session look like in terms of what happened in several hours of play?

A vision of what would happen in play is necessary for you to continue at this point.

Mike

Good questions.

What Pixies do is quite simply be Pixies.

No, they wouldn't *just* fight cats; though everyone needs a nemesis of some sort.  Cats just come standard for fairy kin.

During play Pixie characters would mostly be engaged in 1) trying to pilfer apples, vegtables, and otherwise avoid nasties like cats, brooms, and hungry foxes.  They would also be interacting with humans...

I'm still working out the details, viz the post.

My questions:

What do gamers like *you* think the Pixies should be doing?

Should they have assigned goals (in either a board game or RPG goals could be used to acquire points, once completed)?

Should the game be limited to Pixies or should I include other fairy kin like Bogles, Harlequins, or ??


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius.

Quote from: ValamirI like the flavor, it could be fun to play a game like this.

Couple of sources of inspiration you might want to check out.

"The Three Musketeers" a board game by Task Force Games many years ago, often available on Ebay.  It has elements of roleplaying but is essentially a run my pawns around the map of the palace performing feats of derring-do for a particular scenario.  I immediately thought of this format as being a potential way to do your game...some roleplaying, but alot of moving pixies around a map (apartment, farm, suburbia) with differen't feats of mischief-do to accomplish.

That's sort of one of the basic premises I way toying with, albeit abstractly.  Hmm... I suppose the modules could each come with a board keyed to the scenario.   (Oh yeah, there's delusions of publishing gradeur for you! HEH)

Quote from: ValamirI think it sounds like a fun concept, especially if you have some bad faeries (the kind that cause milk to spoil and set fire to things) stirring up trouble that the good faeries get caught up in.

Answers one question I had.

Including other types of fairy kin wouldn't be a problem.  In fact I could probably add a few goblin/gremlin types or two that few have heard of.  

Kallicantzari anyone?

Interesting ideas.  Thanks for the input.

Quote from: Kester PelagiusWhat Pixies do is quite simply be Pixies.

No, they wouldn't *just* fight cats; though everyone needs a nemesis of some sort.  Cats just come standard for fairy kin.

During play Pixie characters would mostly be engaged in 1) trying to pilfer apples, vegtables, and otherwise avoid nasties like cats, brooms, and hungry foxes.  They would also be interacting with humans...

...What do gamers like *you* think the Pixies should be doing?

If I remember correctly...collect Pixie-berries, laugh and play, run from cats, and keep the village's location a secret.  Don't Pixies each have an incredibly defining personality trait?  Perhaps their usenames could take this form as well.

Oh yeah, Pixies run whenever Gargamel chases them too.

Fang Langford

p. s.  I just had to Pixie, I couldn't help myself.  All those years, the blue skin, the singing oh the singing!  Just Pixie me gone.

Okay, now that I'm done being a bad boy, let me speculate a little by way of question.

Scenario 1

The house Pixies are happy with the residents, but something has gone wrong recently; something has infested the dreams of the patron.  Will the Pixies go on a quest to the most ancient of Pixies to find a cure?[/list:u][/list:u]

Scenario 2

Pixies are aboriginal garden dwellers, uncomprehending nor worshipful of the gardener.  They live in fear of the Cat and horticulturally encourage catnip as defense.[/list:u][/list:u]

Scenario 3

Something not so 'alien:' Pixies are an invisible segment of human culture.  A Pixie lad may get in fair trouble for all the pickpocketing he's been doing down at the market.[/list:u][/list:u]

Scenario 4

The Human girl has the sight; together with no one watching, she's fallen in love with a Pixie.  Soon they run off together, but find that neither can fairly live in the other's world.[/list:u][/list:u]

Scenario 5

You fly around supplying magic flying dust for the trickster god of boys and his apostles.[/list:u][/list:u]

Scenario 6

The Pixie elders had put the chosen one of humans into your care, but you've blown it.  Now you race to save the only human who can save both your kinds.[/list:u][/list:u]See, there's lots of ways you can play it.  I came up with these in only 15 minutes.  What's the relationship with people?  What era is it set?  How focused will it be?

I think Mike's question stands.  Tell us how

you envision play going, a session, a scene, or even a whole campaign.  What ultimately gets done (at least from the player character point of view)?  If it were a movie, what section of the store would it be racked in?  Over in Depressing Drama with that banal Changeling?  Up in Children's Cartoons, with all the Disneys?  Down in Classical Action, next to "I'll be Bach" Schwartzenegger?  You're making us do too much of the design; if that is what you want, then it's doubtful we can create what you'll like.  (Each of us having their own opinion and all.)

I know you've piqued my curiosity.

Fang Langford

I think it is easy to assume a fighting game because the title is the WW structure.  You know, "animal", the "something", Vampire, The Masquerade.  WW games tend to end up with a lot of fighting.

Personally, all I can think of is the Pixies, the band.

Jeremy

Quote from: Le JoueurWhat's the relationship with people?  What era is it set?  How focused will it be?

Well the essence of the Pixie/Human dynamic would be sort of how I outlined it in the posted text.  We think they aren't real, they think we are rather peculiar for refusing to believe what is plainly before our eyes.

Hopefully hilarity will ensue as the two (Human and Fairy) meet in play.

I'm thinking the setting should be relatively modern, without being too time specific.  Yet providing enough room for Pixies and Fairy kin to encounter confounding human gadgets like computers, electric toothbrushes, automatic door openers, and other things most of us would consider mundane but which may seem rather odd to Pixies.

Quote from: Le JoueurI think Mike's question stands.  Tell us how you envision play going, a session, a scene, or even a whole campaign.  What ultimately gets done (at least from the player character point of view)?  If it were a movie, what section of the store would it be racked in?  Over in Depressing Drama with that banal Changeling?  Up in Children's Cartoons, with all the Disneys?  Down in Classical Action, next to "I'll be Bach" Schwartzenegger?  You're making us do too much of the design; if that is what you want, then it's doubtful we can create what you'll like.  (Each of us having their own opinion and all.)

As I said I have a general idea of what could go either way as a role playing game or a board game.  Which is why I am testing the proverbial waters to see which way I should develop this.  At present I think my idea of Pixies tip-toeing through the tulips to sneak into Farmer Frodo's garden to steal carrots and maybe a few apples would be better in a board game.

However I have recieved some interesting feed back which leads be to believe that a roleplaying game repleat with a full fairy kin cast, a sort of "Good Fairies verses Bad Fairies" subtext might work for an RPG.  In fact when I have time I am going to sit down and come up with a list of fairy kin I think might be interesting to play.

As for genre... I was thinking something leaning more towards camp sprinkled lightly with sugary comedic goodness.  (I want players to actually get into thinking up fun mischiefs for their fairies to do while taunting Farmer Frodo in an effort to get him to notice them!)  Or, well, something like that.

Obviously I am still trying to suss this all out.  Once I have done that I will need to tackle mechanics, but first I need to square away what it is the game is going to be doing.  But I want to be sure of what I have before I set anything in stone.

As for game design, shucks, I have two or three systems in various stages of development but Pixies... well...  It doesn't really fit the mould of the sort of game I've been writing.  Besides this idea has been nagging at me.

What the game *wont* be is old school saturday morning fairy land.  All my descriptions and background will becoming straight out of folk lore...

Hmm, should I include Sidhe?

Quote from: Le JoueurI know you've piqued my curiosity.

Glad to hear it.  I was worried no one would think playing Pixies would be interesting.


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius

Quote from: nipfipgip...dipI think it is easy to assume a fighting game because the title is the WW structure.  You know, "animal", the "something", Vampire, The Masquerade.  WW games tend to end up with a lot of fighting.

Personally, all I can think of is the Pixies, the band.

Jeremy

The title is a *spoof*!

Of course if "Pixies: The Gleaning" doesn't work as a title I suppose I could always use "Fairies Song" from the poem... hrm...

But the title "Pixies: The Gleaning" just sprang to mind and wouldn't go away.  Fitting, too.  Gleaning.  heh

Lately that's what I have been interested in.  Writing spoofy games.

Besides combat systems make me stall.  I have two games that are sort of just sitting there, waiting, because I don't like the *feel* of the combat system I have.  (The one is all %ile and skill based.  But the resolution mechanic just doesn't sing for me, you know?)

I've almost resolved the issue in one, though.  In fact it's so close to being finished I am begining to wonder what publishers might be interested in it.  (Delusions of Grandeur peeking from behind the corner.)It's a total spoof of the fantasy genre, and rules systems, but it's also something which I have tried to keep small.  Small enough to maybe be published in a magazine.

Sigh.  Did I just get side trekked with babbeling or what?  heh

Thanks for the input.

Quote from: Kester Pelagius
The title is a *spoof*!

Thank god, I was trying to be polite.

Jeremy

Greetings All,

The input I've received so far has been very interesting.  Your ideas have taken me much closer to deciding the sort of rules I'll  be implementing, and much more.  Would still like to get potential players (thinking positive thoughts here) input as to what they would like to see in this sort of game before I start building the system.  Also constructive criticism from fellow game designers would also be appreciated.

For those wondering I am, more or less, constructing the game mechanics around the premise and your input.  So if you've ever wanted to influence an game design now is your chance.

Here's the changes to the basic script of the proto-game so far ::


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<picking up from near end of original post>

Welcome to Pixies: The Gleaning.

{{}}

For the pixie humans are like sunflowers which sprout continually in the open fields, pretty things that grow real big and are nice to look at.  Alas, since most humans either can't or wont believe in fairies, they speculate that stories about pixies must have originated as thinly veiled folktales told about ancient peoples like the Picts or Druids.  "Out of mind, out of sight." as most humans say.

Which is fine by most fairies,  pixies included.  In fact they are all too eager to oblige humans in their skepticism, so long as they continue to disbelieve their eyes and "rationalize" the facts away, it means the average pixie is far more likely to get at the choicest apples whether anyone is looking or not.  Alas every human isn't like that, especially in rural areas.  Since pixies don't much care for human cities this tends to pose a problem for the more brash pixie youths who haven't yet mastered the finer points of Sneaking or Blending into Scenery.

<transition into explanation of Abilities/Skills would go here>

Ok I have a few loose threads that need weaving together before I have a solid system mechanic.  Presently I am leaning toward all Skills/Abilities.  No Stats, save perhaps one or two; probably Agility and Wits.  No Magic, per se, just action based abilities.  Though that could change.

What I'd like input on, if you would be so kind, is the following thumbnail outline of character creation :

1.  Abilities (tentative name until I can think of something better than "Skills")

Sample Abilities :  Pilfer, Sneak, Filch, Pocket, Run, Thump, Moon (not the one in the sky), Taunt (the Cat), Blending into Scenery (think camouflage), etcetera.

My main question here is this--  Do those of you following these posts prefer %ile or "roll X# of dice under skill" systems, and which would you rather see applied to the lighthearted nature of Pixies?

2.  Would you prefer to see an "Template" style character system where you choose a Fairy Kin Archetype that comes pre-equipped, as it were, with Skills; or would you prefer to have Ability Scores/Stats with Skills ("Mischiefs", maybe, or "Flairs"?) that you generate/choose on your own instead?

3.  About dice.  If I made Pixies ALL %ile based (even the two possible Stats) do you think that would work for you?  If not what mechanic would you prefer to see?  (2d6, 2d10, dice pool, tarot cards, etcetera)

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<text explaining difference between good and bad fairies would be here>

Ok here would go the required explanation to let the reader know that a Callicantzari is essentially a nasty Gremlin, Brownies are shy domestic sprites who like to kick back a bowl of milk every now and then, Sprites are more than just pixels, Leprechauns have a fetish for making shoes, and whatever else I can think of to write up.

All of which will be wrapped up with statements like...

"Then not all fairies are as likable as pixies.  Some can be downright mean, chew the ears off a rabid junk yard dog mean.  There are good fairies and there are bad fairies, of course pixies already know this.  It's humans who have difficultly telling the difference."

Essentially I will be explaining the game/background setting as you read.  I want to try to make the game as seamless as possible.  No charts.  As few rules as possible.  But everything else designed for fun and humorous play.

Also their may not be much of a combat mechanic in this, save of course for a bit of Fencing (standing on and taunting from a distance) with the Cat.  And maybe rules for mouse steeds, and using straws and swizel sticks as lances.  ;-)

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Cast of Mischief Weavers

<Current outline for possible PC/NPC/Monster types>


Good Fairies                    Bad Fairies                Spirits

Pixie                               Spriggan                   ?Undine
Bogle                         Callicantzari         ?Barghest
Bogart            Gremlin         Fetch
Pooka            Harlequin                  Banshee
Sprite            Kelpies
Leprechaun

{{}}


Those are my current ideas.   Thanks for reading this far.



Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius

Quote from: Kester Pelagius


Good Fairies                    Bad Fairies                Spirits

Pixie                               Spriggan                   ?Undine
Bogle                         Callicantzari         ?Barghest
Bogart            Gremlin         Fetch
Pooka            Harlequin                  Banshee
Sprite            Kelpies
Leprechaun

Don't know what the problem is but I've tried to edit this to no avail, my formatting wont take.  So I am going to retype the above so you can read it....  Apologies for the inconvenience.


Good Fairies: Pixie, Bogle, Bogart, Pooka, Sprite, Leprechaun.

Bad Fairies: Spriggan, Callicantzari, Gremlin, Harlequin, Kelpies.

Spirits: Undine, Barghest, Fetch, Banshee.

At this point this is only a rough outline.  Anyone able to comment on fairy folklore don't hesitate to point out anything I've miscategorized.  (Most of my sources conflict about basics anyway.)

Hope everyone was able to better read the above.

Thanks again for reading all this.


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius

In answer to one of your specific questions, I'd find using percentile dice in a game about pixies pilfering apples to be particularly jarring.  The implication for precise statistical measure seems ill suited for such a game.

caveat: but then I loathe percentile systems in general so I may well be biased there.

Quote from: ValamirIn answer to one of your specific questions, I'd find using percentile dice in a game about pixies pilfering apples to be particularly jarring.  The implication for precise statistical measure seems ill suited for such a game.

caveat: but then I loathe percentile systems in general so I may well be biased there.

Yeah, I am leaning toward using six sided dice (and probably only D6s) for the game.

Using D6s at least would allow for the game to be printed, posted, signalled by semaphore and allow the person reading the rules to start playing simply.  After all we all have at least one board game that used 6 siders, right?