System and Rules

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Welcome to Faerie Tales!
These rules have been inspired by the original Stargazer System by Shek and Emma Round and adapted by Rhona O’Sullivan, Gordon Rotheram, Angela Liu-Wilkin, Steh Ferguson and Byron Magnavacca. They have also drawn on the adaptations made by Kaitie Franco for Otherland. If you wish to use the Faerie Tales LRP adaptation in whole or part, then please discuss this with us first.

The system was created from the ground up with accessibility and cinematic combat in mind. It’s a system that encourages stage fighting and drama over physicality and actual martial skill. As such it is accessible to a much wider range of players and serves narratively focused games well. Combat in this system is short, brutal and significant to better reflect scenes of violence in dramas and to make it an uninviting option primarily in social settings and to reflect the immortal nature of the Fae.

As a non-contact system, there are calls such as "got you" for grappling, "take that" for bruising damage and RP effects, "lethal" for what should be obvious and so on. There are also talents and magical abilities that can be used to create your own unique character, but the basic rules you need to play will fit on a page of A4.

You may gain a player's permission to touch them (for example to hug or maybe RP being grabbed) but the default is you do not do so. This allows players who may suffer from, for example, a pain condition or who find touch from strangers distressing, to gain the full experience. You may bring your weapons, you just can't use them

In addition, it allows physically disabled people to be as effective as able-bodied. Some characters will be disabled and their disability aids will be IC, others not. I may use a wheelchair all weekend (depending on how well I am) but if I point a sword at you and say "lethal" it is as effective as if someone who has played LARPs and trained with swords for years. For people who find the idea of hitting others or being hit to be detrimental to their mental health, this also gives that opportunity to be an amazing warrior or sneaky assassin

This then opens up the possibilities for RP, drama, personal relationships, dramatic PvP in a way we think is awesome. The system can definitely still result in character death, it just does so in a fairer way!

The system may seem very strange to some of you, but we have found that people who try it have generally loved it. Think of it as somewhere between a LRP and a Freeform.

The system is built around five interconnected areas; Conduct, Social Mechanics, Combat Mechanics, Magic and Talents.

Conduct
Covers a lot of stuff to help players with mental health concerns, survivors of abuse and members of other marginalised groups. This is where the “Amber”, “Red” and “Checking the Perimeter” calls reside.

Social Systems
Mostly just covers the Bonds mechanic, which is designed to make player support integral to the game, give people the opportunity to take a break from RP effects that are troubling them and to reinforce in-group/out-group drama.

Combat Mechanics
Details a low-to-no contact combat system that can be used by people at varying levels of physical capacity and focuses much more on the dramatic consequences of violence than the actual acts of violence themselves. There is virtually no healing in the system, so choose your battles well

Magic
Is the power of Glamour that all Fae and some other creatures possess. It is intended to be flexible to allow you to personalise your character, but also for higher-level spells to be expensive to choose and cast so that the use of magic on other players is something to consider carefully.

Talent
Come in Major or Minor form, and are the things your character is good at that may come in to play. You do not, for example, need to take Enchanting Performance to be a great singer or musician, but if you want everyone in earshot to fall silent and listen then that talent comes in to play. You also do not need to take normal everyday skills, these are the talents that set you apart from others.

Raising Concerns & Issues to the Ref Team
At any time players may, of course, raise any concerns or issues to the Ref team who will do their best to resolve these as fast as possible. These concerns can be raised without the other player needing to know who raised it if you prefer. For example, a Ref may ask someone to remember the no contact rule or to dial back the aggression. Alternatively, they can step in to help mediate any situations where that is appropriate.

Refs will also try to keep an eye on anything that looks like it could be an OC conflict, and may check in with you to ensure you are comfortable with the situation. This doesn’t mean you did anything wrong but sometimes we can’t know what are OOC tears and anger, and which are IC!

Ask the Oracle
We are going to trial a mechanic in this game which we hope will help players who feel a little lost or left out to interact better with the plot in spite of being

given unique briefs at game start that we hope will give everyone plenty of "ins".

If any player feels this way they can go to Ref and say "I would like to speak with the Oracle". Someone will then take you aside and, depending on who is available and what works best for your character, will take you to an NPC who will cast a divination - tarot, oracles, runes, etc. These encounters will never be harmful to you and while they won't give plot solutions they will give unique snippets of information and clues that should enable better interaction

Obviously, we hope no one needs to speak with the Oracle, but that is being rather too optimistic.

A word of warning, Oracles do not like deception and so if any players try to game this system the information they receive may well be misleading