Running FABLES with a modified ADRPG engine

[jibbajibba]

Really into the Fables comics of late, been picking up back issues of the trade softbacks in a little comic shop here in Singapore.
For those not familiar with Fables you can check out some of its goodness here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_(comics) or http://www.clockworkstorybook.net/forum/

The premise is simple. All those guys from fairytales are real and they got kicked out of fairy land and now they live in New York. There is some posibility that Grimm (a poor TV show) and Once upon a Time (a slightly better TV show) drew some of their inspiration from Fables which has been in print now for about 10 years, but fables is very much it's own thing and I think a thing that maps well to the Amber model and here is why.

The protagonists are 'supernatural' to various degrees but still founded in reality. You don't get superhero level or types of powers things are more fablulous.  
The protagonists can travel between different worlds either through various portals, via magic, via artifacts or in a few cases as part of their own powers.
Whilst there are two 'sides' The Adversary and the Fables the sides aren't clear cut and most fables are out for themselves first and foremost.
The Protagonists are known to each other and the more famous you are the more likely you will get reborn if you die or your wounds won't proove to be as deadly as thought etc. So whilst characters do regularly die its usually as a result of conflict with other fables or their own decisions.
Fables have lots of unusual powers so Little Boy Blue is a great trumpet player, Prince Charming a skilled swordsman (in all senses of the word) and Bigby Wolf (Big Bad Wolf) has supersenses and can change into a wolf...

Fables shares a lot of DNA with Books of Magic and other Vertigo titles and I think it would make a great setting for a Diceless game.

[Panjumanju]

I agree.

I like Fables quite a bit, and I think it is well-suited to the system.

Now you have the joy of coming up with fables-appropriate powers. Do you get points back if you have to stay on the farm?

//Panjumanju

[daniel_ream]

There is some posibility that Grimm (a poor TV show)

FWIW, Grimm is basically just a reboot of Angel.  Same showrunners, producers, writers, etc.

and Once upon a Time (a slightly better TV show)

According to the producers they basically wanted a TV version of Enchanted.

[jibbajibba]

FWIW, Grimm is basically just a reboot of Angel.  Same showrunners, producers, writers, etc.



According to the producers they basically wanted a TV version of Enchanted.

Yeah I was checking the wiki entry and found this (all hearsay of course)

Television series[edit]A television series based on Fables was put into development by NBC in 2005 for the 2006-2007 Television Season. The show received a script order and was developed by Craig Silverstein and Warner Bros. Television[27] but was not developed any further than the scripting stage. NBC would later go on to produce Grimm, a police procedural set in a world where fairytales are real.[28][29]

On December 8, 2008 it was announced that ABC had picked up the rights to develop a pilot of Fables for the 2009-2010 television season. Six Degrees creators and executive producers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner were writing the script for the hourlong drama, again set up at Warner Bros. Television, while David Semel had come on board to direct.[30][31] There has been no news since concerning a series based directly on Willingham's series and, in late 2010, he said "[t]he TV show that was prematurely announced is probably dead."[32] Instead, ABC has announced a new series called Once Upon a Time, which features fairy tale characters such as Snow White and Prince Charming exiled in the "real world".[28][29] The show's creators, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, stated that they "read a couple issues" of Fables but believe that while the two concepts are "in the same playground," they are "telling a different story."[33]

[jibbajibba]

I agree.

I like Fables quite a bit, and I think it is well-suited to the system.

Now you have the joy of coming up with fables-appropriate powers. Do you get points back if you have to stay on the farm?

//Panjumanju

I would use a power tree partial powers model and have maybe 4 high level powers

Magic - would included curses, glamour, enchantment
Weaving - (Manipulate reality) - would include shapeshift, fairy luck,
Travelling - would include flight, opening portals, moving between worlds
Fate - prophesy, destinies

Then I would have a systerm a bit like the Amber equipment system where you buy equipment or apply effects to yourself.
An abstracted system for level of wealth 0,1,2,4,8,16 etc social status and political contacts.

For attributes I like
Leadership (inc strategy)
Warfare (personal combat)
Stamina
Strength
Psyche

Run them as Mortal, Fable, ranked (effectively removing 'Chaos' rank) and allow people to buy down from Mortal on a halving model so you could play Cock Robin (an actual bird) and reduce your stregth to 1/32 Mortal and gain 5 points (1/2, 1/4,1/8, 1/16, 1/32). Big loss for low return.


So take say Puck a typical fairytale character.

Statwise
Leadership - Mortal
Warfare - Fable
Stamina - low rank
Strength - Fable
Psyche - Mid Rank

Magic
Glamour & Advanced Glamour (10)
Enchantment (5)
Charm & advanced Chanrm (10)

Weaving
Fairy Luck (5)
Domain (5)

Travelling
Advanced Portal Manipulation (10)
Create Portal (5) (requires advanced)

Items
Pan Pipes -
Create Glamour (2)
Spell Effect - Sleep (1)
Spell Effect - Enrage (1)
Spell Effect - Seduce (1)

Wealth - 0 No possessions or access to wealth
Political Contacts - 5 - allied to Oberon Lord of Fairy
Status - 2 Courtier

Course I just ad libbed that but seems interesting

[Croaker]

Seems quite interesting!

I've wanted to read fables for years. A friend told me good things of it. Thanks for reminding me.

[finarvyn]

Nice post, jibbajibba. I like your take on how powers work, etc.

The only nit I'd pick is that I still prefer ADRP's basic PSEW attributes.

[Croaker]

Nope, really, the more I think about it, this is an awesome idea, too bad this won't be done as an RPG.

[jibbajibba]

Nope, really, the more I think about it, this is an awesome idea, too bad this won't be done as an RPG.

We just did it as an RPG didn't we....

I run games with a lot less rules that that

I might try a PG version with my daughter and her mates now they all just started their summer holidays and will be hanging arround polluting the condo swimming pools all day (although they may prefer a harry potter game and I think fairy tales done right should never be PG).

Bill Wittingham the creator of Fables started life as an artist for TSR and FGU (V&V) and wrote a few modules and stuff so I am sure a game is a possibility if you write to him and get his approval

Hmmm.... possible ... hmmm... maybe an idea for a PBM game here see how it rolls course that would require a little more structure but ... I can se a brief adventure maybe titled 'The Prince that never was' or 'Dreams of Fairies Filled their Heads' ...

[RPGPundit]

I certainly think Fables would work well with some version of the diceless rules.

[Arref]

Agree, great idea.

[jibbajibba]

necro-ing this as I am taking a break from my Strontium Dog campaign after a near TPK and the players have voted for a Fables diceless game out of all of the options.

I have nearly finished the chargen rules and the players will be making characters and getting into it this saturday.

I have a few decisions to make, whether to add guile as an attribute (it works well in the fairytale context but in actual play works best as a roleplay thing not a stat), how to handle wishes, etc

Currently my powers are

Magic - Glamour, Sorcery, Naming and enchanting objects
Opening - generally moving between worlds
Weaving - shapeshift, making (a type of conjuration)
Fate - Fairy Luck, Prophesy, Destinies (which is creating destinites like "on her 16th birthday she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die")


I am using a simple skill system as an aid to the players.

Because I am out here in Sing my players have opted for a mix of cultures. I have the Man who couldn't learn how to shudder (ie he is fearless through a lack of understanding) from the Grimm fairy tale; an Oni (Japanese ogre like monster) and a Kitsune (Japanese fox spirit).  One more PC idea to come.

I will add to the auction Jack, Snow White, Bigby wolf, hansel, Cinderella, Visu (a giant Japanese woodsman), some version of Monkey (Sun Wukong), and a couple of other elements mixing the oriental and western stuff with some sort of diplomatic visit I think ... not sure yet.

[Panjumanju]

Do you anticipate using the standard 4 Attributes?

Also, I think auctions for titles like "King of X Kingdom, in exile" or "Captain of the Guards" might make for a nifty auctions after the Attributes are done. You can even have one for Sheriff and one for Mayor of Fabletown.

//Panjumanju

[jibbajibba]

Do you anticipate using the standard 4 Attributes?

Also, I think auctions for titles like "King of X Kingdom, in exile" or "Captain of the Guards" might make for a nifty auctions after the Attributes are done. You can even have one for Sheriff and one for Mayor of Fabletown.

//Panjumanju

I am going to have a few extras up for aution but not sure what yet.

attribute wise I am using

Leadership (includes tactics and strategy)
Warfare
Strength
Psyche
Endurance

I am toying with Guile as its very fairy-talish but I can't see how it would work in play.

I will introduce
Wealth & Political Influence as things to spend bonus points on at the end working on a WoD kind of model (0 wealth means you have no funds, 1 you have a regular job, 5 you have millions stached away; 0 politcs means no contacts/influence, 3 means you have a title, 5 means you could be mayor if you wanted etc)

There will be Stuff but you also get Fairy Luck as a power which can gift you with stuff for the short term though ther eis usually a price to pay for any gift

[jibbajibba]

So quick summary after chargen and session 1.
The only rules I have are a summary of chargen. I figure for a diceless game that is all I need.

We had 5 PCs
On a diplomatic mission from Tokyo
Kyou - Japanse Kitsune and master of illusions
Takashi- The Japanese Oni - being an 8 foot tall ogre monster with huge studded club is only an issue in NY if you aren't invisible.  

From Fabletown
Tom - the name we gave to the fearless guy from Grimm's fairytale. A deputy working for Bigby wolf
Morty - the dragon that everyone thinks St George killed by he didn't. Now in human form due to a magic ring he is a master of Fable lore and the owner of Morty's diner in fabletown
Jim the 4th little pig - We removed the 3 little pigs saying they all vanished back in the homelands. Jim was the only survivor. A shape-shifter he usually appears as a chubby little kid carry a stick (he has a magic stick, a magic straw and a magic brick to remind him of his brothers) and is sworn to search for his brothers , hates Bigby wolf despite the amnesty.

Auction was good , I dropped Guile as a stat and gave the players 150 points to play with.

So far they have eaten dinner and met Reynard the fox. Watched Jack Horner's apartment get blown up, found an unconscious Puss in Boots, in human form, found a crate containing a 13 year old Japanese Princess who has been missing for years, let her out of the crate to feed her then realised that, since she was Princess Kaguya so long as she was out of the crate the wards on it that shield her from the prying eyes of the People of the Moon, who wold be coming at her in strength to take her back, wouldn't work, so having failed to get her back in the box under snow white's orders they knocked her unconscious and stuffed her back inside and went to see if Frau Tottenkinder would help. The witch will replicate the spell as a tattoo or a brand (the PCs were curiously warey about branding a 13 year old Japanese girl ) but in return she wants the Magic golden harp.

So the PCs have to find Jack, see if he knows where the magic beans are hidden so then can climb the beanstalk, steal the harp and get the witch to tattoo the princess.
They have worked out that the crate is the work of Ade no Seimie a Japanese sorcerer .

So far excellent stuff.
I riffed the plot and the bad guys once the PCs were created and used google to throw up some interesting japanese folklore as i was running the game which i mixed in (not very strong on Japanese folklore) .
As with most Amber-esque games it all kind of just worked.
Diceless mechanic works really well so far.