Credits

Lead Developer
David J Prokopetz
Editor
Scott Vandervalk
Writers
D. Cobb Rebecca Mooney Jye Nicolson

Art Direction, Graphic Design & Layout

Ella Kurki
Cassandra McKown
Illustrators
Esme Baran Miranda “Frick” Harrell Nicole Sexton
Jordan Covert Alisa “Kiyo” Kyypelto Marie Torres
Dawn Davis Louise Leung Louise Kay Uy
Sasha Gallagher Istefany Macedo Kimberly Wang
Ami Guillén Lis Razo Hollie Williams
Amelie Rommeiß
Contributors
Sal Evans Ashley Flanagan Zach Welhouse

Playtesters

Alexander Beetle Dylan Humphries Rebecca Orth

Caroline Berg Emily Jackman Sarah Reed
Zachary Cieslinski Ben Leong Ashley Stevens
Ashley Flanagan Louise Leong Lon Teal
Caysi Hinchcliff Will Mendoza Zach Welhouse
Michael Hopcroft Jenn Winn

ISBN: 978-0-9936940-0-4
© 2016 Penguin King Games Inc. Costume Fairy Adventures and the Penguin King logo
are trademarks of Penguin King Games Inc. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance
to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental – and a pretty hilarious coincidence
at that, seeing as we’re talking about tiny magical fairies who gain super powers by
playing dress-up. Penguin King Games Inc. is not responsible for the consequences
of listening to advice given by fairies, imaginary or otherwise. Permission granted to
reproduce for personal use.
Core Rulebook
Revision 1.03
 Contents
Introduction 10
++ What Do You Need To Play? 14
++ Recommended Media 16
++ Glossary 18

Your Fairy 26
++ Kinds 29
++ Fairies 30
++ Pixies 32
++ Sprites 34
++ Brownies 36
++ Goblins 38
++ Elves 40
++ Facets 43
++ Quirks 46
++ Finishing Touches 52

For Players 54

++ Using Facets & Quirks 58

++ Tests 67
++ Contests 75
++ Stress & Temporary Quirks 86
++ Breaks & Intermissions 94
++ Magic 98
++ Powers 101
++ Costumes 105
++ Wishful Thinking 112
 For Game Masters 118

++ Setting Up A Game 121

++ Running A Game 132
++ NPCs, Hazards & Locations 147
++ Trouble 163
++ Shenanigans 173
++ Playsets 188

Plugins 210

++ Fairy Free-For-Alls 212

++ Methodical Mischief 221
++ Structured Shenanigans 226
++ Competitive Capers 231
++ Level Up! 248

Appendices 254

++ Appendix A: Custom Kinds 254

++ Appendix B: Random Quirks 263
++ Appendix C: Random Encounters 273
++ Appendix D: Illustration Credits 312
++ Appendix E: Crowdfunding Supporters 317
 Introduction

10
 Introduction
Since you didn’t skip straight to the fun bits,
you’re probably reading this to find out what sort of
game Costume Fairy Adventures is.

What Is Costume Fairy Adventures?

This is a game about fairies. In costumes. Having adventures.
(Fairies are not good at creative titles.) It’s a tabletop roleplaying
game – you might also know them as storytelling games – which
means that you and your friends will make up your own fairies
and tell a story about them, occasionally using cards, tokens and
dice to find out what happens next.
We’ll talk more about how that works a bit later – but first, we’ll
need to talk about what fairies are, and what they do.

What Are Fairies?

Fairies are minor spirits of nature given tangible shape. They’re
human in form (more or less), about a foot tall (give or take),
and often possessed of wings, antennae, or other minor bug-like
features. They come in a few common varieties, or Kinds – resilient
Pixies, mystical Sprites, creepy Goblins – and a bewildering array
of minor species besides.
Whatever shape they take, all fairies have a few traits in common:
++ Fairies are very tough. Even when squashed or blown up, they
have a habit of forgetting that they’re supposed to be dead.
++ Fairies have powerful magic – and worryingly, they often
don’t realise that they’re using it!
++ Fairies have a special relationship with clothing. We’ll talk
about that a bit more on the next page.
Ask a fairy, and she might tell you she’s a hero of the people, a
champion of love, or a defender of nature – or she might just tell
you she’s hungry. (Fairy appetites must be seen to be believed.)
Ask Big Folks – i.e., humans – and mostly they’ll tell you that
what fairies are is annoying. Many fairies would dispute
this assessment.

11
 What Do Fairies Do?
In a word: shenanigans. Fairies are all about mischief. This isn’t
a figure of speech: their magic is literally powered by it. Every
fairy has an instinct for where the “stress points” are in any
given situation – that is, exactly where she needs to push to make
everything blow up in an entertaining way. Fairy pranks aren’t
necessarily malicious – they almost never cause lasting harm, and
often end up helping people, in a roundabout sort of way – but
their targets rarely appreciate the finer points of fairy ethics.

Costumes?
Indeed! Most fairies change their outfits
as often as they change their minds – and
it’s not just for show. When a fairy puts on
a new outfit, she actually gains the skills,
powers, and sometimes the personality
traits of whatever that outfit represents
– be it an archetype, a profession, or
a particular kind of creature. Nobody
– least of all the fairies themselves –
knows how or why this works. Maybe
it’s just because fairies don’t realise that
it shouldn’t!

Get Your Game On

Tabletop roleplaying games are a varied medium, and each game
is tuned for a particular kind of play. Costume Fairy Adventures is
no different. We’ll go into the nuts and bolts of how that works in
subsequent chapters; for now, we’ll cover a few of the high points
– including some quirks that may come as surprises if you’re
accustomed to more traditional RPGs.

Shared Storytelling
Though Costume Fairy Adventures is a game, the
rules usually don’t have much to say about who
wins and loses. The result of picking up the dice
is less about “do I succeed or fail?”, and more
about “who gets to narrate the outcome?”. Though
For Game 118 there’s still a traditional Game Master, she’s not
Masters
always the narrator; that role will ping-pong from
player to player at the whim of the dice. Be ready
to think on your feet!

12
Introduction
We Need to Go Deeper

Introduction
Costume Fairy Adventures can get a bit “meta” at times. Thanks
to the costumery conceit, most of the time, you’ll be playing a role
who is, in turn, playing a role. Your fairy is playing a game just
as much as you are. While you should generally leave the fourth
wall alone (hasn’t the poor thing suffered enough?), it’s totally
appropriate for your character to be, if not medium-aware, then
very decidedly genre-aware.

And Then Everything Exploded

Costume Fairy Adventures is a very random game – not “random”
as in “wacky” (though it can be that, too), but as in relying heavily
on randomly determined elements. Chance meetings, plot twists
and other events will typically be determined by the roll of the
dice. Even your skills and powers are determined by random draw,
and will change frequently during play. It’s usually best to just go
with the flow!

The Rule of Fun

Costume Fairy Adventures isn’t the most rigorous game out there.
While we’ve made every effort to provide a robust and balanced
foundation, we also recognise that the game’s premise doesn’t
benefit from too much exactitude. Like the game’s stars, the
mechanics are built for resilience. If you’re running the game, we
encourage you to apply the rules based on what would be most fun
for your players, rather than what would be most “correct” – and
as players, we encourage you to abuse this indulgence at every
opportunity.

From here, we’ll move on to the glossary,

recommended media, and other obligatory bits and
bobs – but if you’re already raring to go, you can
skip ahead a few pages to the character creation 26 Your Fairy
chapter and start making your own fairy.
What are you waiting for? Mischief awaits!

At this point, most games would have a sidebar

reassuring the reader that this game is a work of fiction
and fairies aren’t real.
They’re lying. Fairies are totally real.

13
Introduction
 What Do You Need
To Play?
What you’ll need to play depends on whether
Setting Up A 121 you’re playing face-to-face or online. We’ll go
Game
over each venue in greater detail later – for now
we’ll just cover the required equipment.

All Games
Some things are needed no matter how you’re playing.
Players
Costume Fairy Adventures is built for 2–6 players plus a GM.
Many of the rules are built around players bouncing off each other,
so one-on-one games will take a bit of work.
The Rules
If you need extra copies of the rules for reference, you can
download the Costume Fairy Adventures Quickstart Edition from
the Penguin King Games website at www.penguinking.com. The
included Core Rules Booklet has all the basic rules in it.

Face-to-face
When you’re all in in the same room, you’re playing face-to-face.
Dice
The game uses six-sided dice, or “d6s”. You can get away with as
few as three, though ideally you’ll want at least five per player.

Tokens
Magic 98 You’ll need tokens to keep track of Magic and
Trouble. A dozen per player should be enough. If
Trouble 163
you’re using candy for Magic tokens, be sure to
ask about food allergies!

Costume Cards
If you obtained this game in PDF format, you’ll need to print off
the Core Costume Deck on lightweight cardstock and cut out all
108 cards. It’s a bit of a job, but you’ll only need to do it once!
Pencils and Paper
Naturally.
14
Introduction
Chat

Introduction
We’ll refer to any online venue that lets you communicate with
your friends in real time as a chat-based game.
Dice
Your platform may have a gaming dice app, or it may support dice-
rolling scripts or “dice bots”. If it doesn’t, it’s easiest for the GM
to roll for everyone – she’ll need at least five dice.
Costume Reference Booklet
Cards are of limited use in an online game, so you’ll likely want to
use the Costume Reference Booklet instead. If you don’t already
have a copy, you can get one from the Penguin King Games
website at www.penguinking.com.

Forum or Email
This includes any venue where you post your narration for others
to read later. Most social media platforms can be used this way.
Dice
As with chat, your venue may have a built-in dice roller. If it
doesn’t, you can use a dice-rolling site that will email your rolls
to the GM. A web search for “rpg dice server” should point you
in the right direction.
Costume Reference Booklet
See above.
Shared Documents
Since you may not be around to ask if your friends need any info,
you should create a shared document repository where everyone
can post their character sheets and such. A private wiki can work
well, as will most shared document-hosting services. Forum-based
games can also use a separate “OOC” (out-of-character discussion)
thread.

15
 Recommended
Media
While we hope this book will give you everything you need to
play, no game stands alone. Costume Fairy Adventures borrows,
adapts, and sometimes blatantly steals from a wide range of media,
including books, video games, and even other tabletop RPGs.
These are just a representative sampling of our inspirations.

Books
The Works of Brian Froud
Best known for his work as a creature designer in films like
Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, Brian Froud has also written
and illustrated a number of guides to fairykind. Drawing from
sources both fictional and folkloric, these books provide an
approachable introduction to the fairy lore that informs Costume
Fairy Adventures. Both Fairies and Good Fairies, Bad Fairies
are great places to start – or, for a slightly more grown-up take,
try Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book!

Computer and Video Games

Costume Quest
This adventure game/RPG hybrid sees the player collect and
wield a variety of Hallowe’en costumes in order to take on candy-
stealing monsters. The battles are somewhat more giant-monstery
than is customary for Costume Fairy Adventures, but the adventure
game side makes extensive use of each costume’s out-of-combat
abilities, perfectly capturing the slightly warped logic you’ll apply
to your own costumes’ powers in your pursuit of fairy shenanigans.
Final Fantasy X-2
Several Final Fantasy titles feature elaborate costume changes as
part of the game’s various “job classes”; X-2 sets itself apart by
treating the costumes themselves as sources of special abilities, as
well as by allowing costumes to be swapped out on the fly. On top
of that, its all-girl cast and light-hearted, frequently snarky tone
make it a good idea mine for Costume Fairy Adventures.

16
Recommended Media
Tabletop Games
Golden Sky Stories
Costume Fairy Adventures draws a lot of inspiration from Japanese
RPGs, and few make their influence more strongly felt than Golden
Sky Stories. Its non-violent mechanics and G-rated tone make for a
great introduction for young gamers, and a nice change of pace for
anyone who’s tired of solving their problems by beating people up!
Fate Accelerated Edition
If Japanese indie games like Golden Sky Stories are our major
inspiration in terms of style, the rules-based nuts and bolts of
Costume Fairy Adventures owe an equally large debt to Fate.
There are many different versions of the Fate system available;
Fate Accelerated is a rules-light edition with a YA adventure spin.

Multimedia
The Touhou Franchise
The fairies of Touhou – a popular series of “bullet hell” shooting
games – are a big influence on their Costume Fairy Adventures
counterparts. Though fairies appear in the core games mostly
as obstacles and mid-bosses, they have a major role in in spin-
offs like Great Fairy Wars and Strange and Bright Nature Deity.
Touhou’s whimsical worldbuilding and stream-of-consciousness
plots are also easily adapted for Costume Fairy Adventures games.

17
Recommended Media
 Glossary
68 6
When dice on one of your rolls come up showing 6, you get one
point of Magic per 6 rolled, and the GM gets one Trouble Die per
6 rolled. Normally, only 6s rolled by PCs have this effect.

153 Big Folk

Mostly, Big Folk means humans, though the term can also refer to
any person (or person-ish entity) larger than a fairy.

94 Break
A Break is any situation where your character is “off camera” for a
few minutes. Some game actions, like changing Costumes without
a Quick Change, can only be performed during a Break.

36 Brownie
One of the common Kinds. Big Folks tend to regard Brownies as
more respectable than other types of fairies, which allows them to
easily integrate into human communities. Some Brownies do odd
jobs for Big Folks in exchange for room and board.

75 Contest
A contest is a roll where one or more characters square off against
each other to determine who gets to narrate the outcome. The
participants in a contest can be other PCs, NPCs, or Hazards.
To win a contest, you need to get the best Result out of any
competitor; edge can help with this. Contests always inflict Stress
upon the loser(s).

105 Costume
The term Costume refers both to a suitable set of clothes and to the
collection of Quirks and Powers granted by that outfit. Costumes
are represented by Costume Cards.

44 Craft
Craft is the Facet that reflects low cunning. Fast-talk, schemes
and misdirections, and complex tasks of all sorts all fall under the
aegis of Craft.

18
Glossary
 d36

Introduction
As a d66, below, except that the “tens” die is divided by two,
rounding up, resulting in a number ranging from 11 to 36.

68 d6
A standard six-sided die. Used for most rolls.

d66
A pair of two differently-coloured d6s rolled together. Before
rolling, you’ll choose one to represent the “tens” place, and the
other, the “ones” place, resulting in a number ranging from 11 to
66. d66s are mostly used to roll on random tables.

171 Disaster
Disasters are special events that shake things up and place obstacles
between you and your goals. Disasters can be rolled from a table –
in which case they’re known as Random Disasters – or they may
occur as a result of a Power used by an NPC or Hazard. The GM
activates them by spending Trouble Dice.

79 Edge
Edge is a special bonus that increases your effective Result for
the purpose of determining whether you win a contest. It doesn’t
affect your Result for any other purpose (e.g., assessing Stress).

40 Elf
One of the common Kinds. Big Folks think that Elves are the
rulers of fairykind. Some Elves take this reputation to heart and
attempt to assert their authority, with a magnificent lack of success.

43 Facet
A Facet is a numerical trait that reflects how you overcome the
many challenges that beset your daily life. The five Facets are
Moxie, Focus, Craft, Grace, and Shine. Facets are rated on a
scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being terrible (just… terrible) and 5 being
world-class (for a fairy).

29 Fae
A collective term for the various Kinds. Most Big Folks use the
terms “fae” and “fairy” interchangeably. Formally, the fae are also
known as the “Fair Folk” or “Fair Ones”; fairies almost never use
these titles unless they’re trying to impress someone.

19
Glossary
 30 Fairy
One of the common Kinds. Fairies are speedy fliers, and have
a reputation for scheming. Big Folks often use the word “fairy”
to refer to the fae as a whole, much to the annoyance of many
members of other Kinds.

44 Focus
Focus is the Facet that reflects your ability to buckle down and
pay attention. Anything requiring stick-to-it-iveness depends on
Focus. If you fail a Focus roll, it could mean you messed up, or it
could mean you just got bored and wandered off!

125 Freeform
If you’re not using a Playset, you’re playing freeform. In this type
of game, the scenario is created on the fly with input from both
players and GM.

118 Game Master (GM)

The Game Master is a special player whose job it is to look after
all the stuff that regular players don’t. This includes narrating the
outcome of failed tests, playing NPCs, setting Shenanigans, and
spending Trouble Dice to make your life more interesting.

38 Goblin
One of the common Kinds. Goblins can’t fly, but they’re so agile
that it hardly matters. Big Folks think Goblins are ugly, baby-
stealing monsters, but that’s just not true. Goblins are adorable,
darn it!

45 Grace
Grace is the Facet that reflects both physical and social
comportment. It’s your go-to Facet for avoiding pitfalls, whether
that means a literal hole in the ground, or an opportunity to put
your foot in your mouth.

155 Hazard
A Hazard is an inanimate obstacle that the GM has decided to run
as a character. A Hazard typically has just one Facet. Some may
also have Quirks, Powers, and even a Stress Limit.

20
Glossary
 Introduction
97 Intermission
Whenever everybody is on Break at the same time, that’s an
Intermission.

29 Kind
Words like “species” don’t really apply to fairies, but they do tend
to come in several recognisable “flavours”. The most common of
these Kinds are Fairies, Pixies, Sprites, Brownies, Goblins and
Elves.

156 Location
A Location is wherever you currently are. Locations can have
Quirks and Powers just like NPCs do, but they don’t have Facets.

98 Magic M
Fairies can bend reality to their will, though not all of them
realise they’re doing it. By spending Magic, you can roll extra
dice, activate Powers, or even make things happen just by wishing
really hard. Magic is measured in points, which make up your
Magic Pool. The M icon represents Magic.

184 Mischief Mote

A tangible representation of the chaos your fairies have brought
into the world. Mischief Motes are special points earned by
completing Shenanigans. Some Playsets may have special uses
for them, but they’re mostly a way of keeping score.

44 Moxie
Moxie is the Facet that reflects courage, boldness and plain old
belligerence. Any time you’re rushing blindly ahead or solving
problems with brute force, you’re using Moxie.

147 Non-Player Character (NPC)

An NPC, or “Non-Player Character”, is any game character
portrayed by the GM. They’re the game’s extras, supporting cast,
and sometimes its antagonists. NPCs have most of the same traits
as PCs – Facets, Quirks and so forth – but are usually simpler
to run.

21
Glossary
 32 Pixie
One of the common Kinds. Pixies are more resilient than other
fae, and have a reputation among Big Folks for being rowdy and
violent. That’s not fair, though – it’s not your fault that everything
is so much more breakable than you are.

54 Player Character (PC)

A game character portrayed by a player like you. PCs are the
game’s protagonists, and are almost always fairies of some
description.

188 Playset
A Playset is a combination game setting and adventure scenario.
A Playset consists of a collection of NPCs and Locations, each
with associated pre-defined Shenanigans, as well as a sequence
of Core Shenanigans to help guide the scenario along.

210 Plugin
Plugins are packages of optional rules that can be layered on top
of the regular rules to add new features to the core game.

101 Power
A Power is a trait that gives you a special in-game ability, or that
lets you break the rules of the game in a particular way. You’ll
usually have several fixed Powers by virtue of your Kind, and one
or more variable Powers based on your current Costume.

109 Quick Change

When you change your Costume and you’re not on a Break, it’s
a Quick Change. Quick Changes happen instantly – as well they
should! – and cost one point of Magic.

46 Quirk
A Quirk is a descriptive keyword that applies to a person, place
or thing. You’ll typically have a couple of fixed Quirks based on
your personality, and a number of extra Quirks by virtue of your
current Costume. The people, places and objects you interact with
may also have Quirks. You can get extra dice on a roll by working
relevant Quirks into your narration.

22
Glossary
 Introduction
68 Roll
There are two kinds of rolls depending on whether you’re facing
any opposition: tests and contests.You gather up a number of dice
based on your Quirks and other traits, roll them, and pick the
highest one that’s less than or equal to the relevant Facet. The
value of this die is your Result.

107 Scrounging
When you search for a new Costume, you’re Scrounging.
Scrounging during play requires a test, while Scrounging on a
Break is automatic. Either way, you draw a new Costume Card.

80 Scuffle
A scuffle is a contest where everybody is trying to beat everybody
else up! Certain Powers specifically affect scuffles.

173 Shenanigan
Shenanigans are special goals that you can complete to score
Mischief Motes. If you’re using a Playset, each NPC and
Location will usually have one or more Shenanigans associated
with it. Playsets also tend to have special linked Shenanigans
called Core Shenanigans to help guide your mischief. In freeform
play, the GM will make up Shenanigans on the fly, with your input.

45 Shine
Shine is the Facet that reflects how in tune you are with your own
magical nature. Shine also comes into play whenever dumb luck
is called for.

34 Sprite
One of the common Kinds. Sprites find it especially easy to use
Magic. In fact, they have a worrisome tendency to use it without
realising it! Ironically, Big Folks usually regard Sprites as amusing
but harmless.

86 Stress S
Stress represents how much hardship you’ve suffered. The higher
it is, the more frazzled and beat up you are. When your current
Stress exceeds your Stress Limit, you Stress Out. The S
icon
represents Stress.

23
Glossary
 86 Stress Limit
Your Stress Limit is the amount of Stress you can accumulate
before Stressing Out. Unless you have a Power that says
otherwise, this is normally 10 for Player Characters.

89 Stressing Out
When your Stress exceeds your Stress Limit, you Stress Out. This
removes you from play for a little while. You also have to discard
your current Costume Card. Stressing Out counts as a Break for
all purposes, including off-camera Costume changes.

67 Test
A test is a roll in which you’re not rolling against anybody else.
Just rolling less than or equal to your relevant Facet is enough to
succeed at a test. You get to narrate the outcome if you succeed at
a test, while the GM gets to narrate your failure.

163 Trouble T
Trouble is a resource the GM uses to give your fairy a hard time.
It’s measured in Trouble Dice, which are gained when you roll
a 6 in a test or contest. Trouble Dice can be spent to enhance
NPC rolls and unleash Disasters, among other uses. The T icon
represents Trouble.

54 You
This game uses the term “you” to refer to both to you, the player,
and to your Player Character. It will usually be clear from context
which is which.

112 Wishful Thinking

Wishful Thinking is the most powerful sort of Magic: the ability to
make stuff happen just by wishing for it really hard! Some fairies
have no idea that they even have this ability, and think they’re just
really lucky!

24
Glossary
25
 Chapter One:
Your Fairy

26
If you want to play Costume Fairy Adventures,
you’re going to need a fairy. Those costumes aren’t
going to wear themselves, after all! This chapter
will guide you through the process of creating your
own fairy alter ego. Kinds 29
To create your Costume Fairy Adventures

Your Fairy
Facets 43
character, just follow this simple checklist:
Quirks 46
□□ Choose Kind. What sort of fairy are you? Finishing
Touches 52
□□ Choose Facets. How does your fairy
approach challenges?

□□ Choose Quirks. What motivates your fairy

to act?

□□ Note Stress Limit. How much abuse can your

fairy take before throwing in the towel?

□□ Describe Appearance. What does your fairy

look like?

That’s it! The following sections will discuss each

stage in more detail.

Parts of this chapter may refer to terms you haven’t

seen yet, like “edge” or “Magic”, or use icons like M
or S . You can look these up in the Glossary (page 18)
if you’re curious, but mostly you don’t need to worry about
them yet – they’ll all be explained in the next chapter.

Rebecca is going to be joining a game of Costume

Fairy Adventures, and her GM wants her character
ready when she gets there. She wants to play an ethereal,
dreamy character who carries a blanket along with her and is
often caught napping. Because she’s a bit sleepy, Rebecca decides
her name is going to be Poppy Petal.

27
Introduction
 Kinds
The first step in creating your fairy is to decide what sort of fairy
you are. There are many different types of fairies, ranging from

Your Fairy
the tiny flower-fairies to the mightly nobles of the Fae Courts. This
section will focus on the sorts of fairies that are most likely to go
on adventures. (That is, to go wandering about bothering Big Folks
and otherwise getting up to mischief!)

If none of the Kinds presented here feel right

for you, check out Appendix A: Custom 254 Custom Kinds
Kinds for guidelines on customing your Kind,
or even creating your own Kind from scratch.

The word “Kind” will be spelled with an uppercase K

when we’re talking about a particular type of fairy. This
can be extended to include the Kind name – Fairykind,
Spritekind, Elfkind, etc. – when you need to be formal, which
is almost never.

Pick any Kind you want for your character. If you’d rather leave it
up to the dice, roll d6 and consult the following table:

d6 Kind
1 Fairy
2 Pixie
3 Sprite
4 Brownie
5 Goblin
6 Elf

29
Kinds
 Fairies
Antennae make you
No problem is too big (or small!) more aerodynamic.
for a Fairy to make into a bigger It’s science!
problem.

What? Scheming?
Why I never…

The Artful Robin

30
Kinds
Of all the Kinds, Fairies are the most prone to
bothering humans. They’re so often seen that
many humans refer to all fae as “fairies”. This
book does the same; in order to make it clear
which we’re talking about, we’ll spell “Fairy”

Your Fairy
with an uppercase F when we mean the Kind.

Appearance
A Fairy looks like what most humans think of
when they picture a fae creature: about a foot
tall, with a youthful appearance, and a pair of
translucent dragonfly wings sprouting from her
back. Fairies have hair and eyes in all colours
of the rainbow, and some have small, bug-like
antennae on their foreheads as well.

Powers
As a Fairy, you have the following Power:

Superior Flight: Your wings let you fly

with great speed and precision. You can
easily outpace any ground-bound creature
and most other fliers, and you can hover
in place, fly backwards, and make hairpin
turns at top speed – handy when running
away from the consequences of your latest
prank! You get +1 edge in any contest of
speed or mobility. 79 Edge

Stereotypes
Fairies have a reputation for being crafty
schemers. This can work in your favour when it
makes your friends more likely to listen to your
plans, but it’s not so much fun when it makes
everyone else suspect you’re up to something!

31
Kinds
 Pixies
Who says redheads have a
temper? I’ll show them!

Shell is extra protection

in case of roughhousing.

Extra strong, could

probably bench a
whole pound.

Snapdragon Red
32
Kinds
When trouble comes knocking, it’s often a Pixie
leading the charge. Among the strongest of the
common fae – which admittedly isn’t saying
much – and unbelievably tough for their size,
Pixies are especially suited for mischief of the

Your Fairy
rough-and-tumble variety.

Appearance
Pixies are stockier and more muscular than
their kin, and have a less child-like cast to their
features. Their wings are small and protected
by a hard casing, like a beetle’s shell. Red and
gold hair and eyes are common among Pixies.

Powers
As a Pixie, you have the following Powers:

Flight: You can fly, if a bit clumsily.

Resilient: You’re tougher than most
creatures ten times your size. Your Stress 86 Stress Limit
Limit is increased by 5 (usually to 15, for
a normal character).

Stereotypes
One look at a Pixie, and most folks expect a
rowdy troublemaker. This reputation can make
Big Folks reluctant to antagonise you. On the
other hand, if anything gets broken, you’re
usually the first one to catch the blame for it.

33
Kinds
 Sprites
Bright colours are
always in season for
a Sprite! Could be an accessory. Could
also be growing there…

Care-free skipping and

dancing come naturally
when you’re this lucky.

Danainae “Queen Mabby” Mab

34
Kinds
Sprites wear the touch of magic more openly
than most of their kin, and are blessed with
exceptional good fortune even by fairy
standards. Of course, good fortune for a fairy
isn’t necessarily good fortune for anybody else!

Your Fairy
Appearance
Sprites tend toward slight builds and delicate
features, with brightly coloured butterfly
wings and hair and eyes in the colours of
healthy plants and blooming flowers. In fact,
Sprites are often seen with leaves and flowers
sprouting from their hair. (Though this may be
less a matter of fairy magic and more a matter
of hygiene…)

Powers
As a Sprite, you have the following Powers:

Flight: You can fly, though not with any

great speed.
Charmed Life: Fairy magic responds
easily to your call – so easily, in fact, that
you may not even realise you’re using it!
Whenever you roll one or more 6s in a test
98 Magic
or contest, you receive one extra M. This
does not give the GM an extra T. 163 Trouble

Stereotypes
Most folks don’t expect much of a Sprite in
the thinking department. As far as they’re
concerned, you’re good for dancing in meadows
and not much else. Sometimes it’s convenient
to be left to your own devices – but it’s so
frustrating that nobody will take you seriously!

35
Kinds
 Brownies
Earth tones go with
everything.
Pranks or thanks, who
knows what you’ll get.
It’s all good.

You say “dirty” –

I say “naturally
accessorised”.

Calla Lily
36
Kinds
Out of all the fae, Brownies are the most likely
to be encountered living alongside Big Folks.
Humans tell stories of Brownies performing
household chores and doing other favours in
exchange for special offerings. Some of those

Your Fairy
stories are even true!

Appearance
Brownies are short, even by fairy standards,
and often chubby, mostly as a consequence
of cadging regular meals from their human
friends. Their moth-like wings sport patterns in
vibrant earth tones, a colour scheme that carries
over to their eyes and hair.

Powers
As a Brownie, you have the following Powers:

Flight: You can fly with reasonable grace.

Instant Wardrobe: You have an easier
time with Costume magic than most fae.
Where others need a full change of clothes
to take on a new role, you can just quickly
swap out a few accessories. You do not
need a Break to change Costumes, and can
do so any time you’re not actively rolling
for a test or contest. You can still use the
regular Quick Change rules – paying the 109 Getting into
Costume
usual 1 M cost – if you need to change
Costumes mid-roll.

Stereotypes
In most humans’ eyes, you’re “one of the good
ones”, and it’s nice to be able to walk (well, fly)
down the street without causing a commotion.
It can cause a lot of tension with your non-
Brownie friends, though – and sometimes you
just get tired of explaining that no, you don’t
know how to mend shoes.

37
Kinds
 Goblins

Undisputed hide-and-
seek champions of the fae
kingdom.

Look at that adorably disarming

smile. Pay no attention to the
fangs and claws…

Who needs wings?

They’d only get in
the way.

Pooka Lavender
38
Kinds
Few fae are as misunderstood as Goblins.
Human folklore blames all manner of deviltry
on them, though in truth, a Goblin is no more
likely to get up to mischief than any other fairy.
In fact, some Big Folks don’t think Goblins are
a kind of fairy at all – but what do they know?

Your Fairy
Appearance
Folklore notwithstanding, Goblins much
resemble their cousins in appearance. Their
builds tend to be slender and acrobatic, and they
sport small claws on their hands and strikingly
pointed teeth. Goblins’ eyes are usually red or
purple (and glow in the dark!), and their hair
comes in white, purple, and other shocking
hues. Unusually for fairies, Goblins entirely
lack wings – but then, they hardly need them.

Powers
As a Goblin, you have the following Powers:

Agility: You can’t fly, but you can scuttle

up walls and even across ceilings like
a spider, squeeze through tiny gaps, and
leap great distances.
Keen Senses: All of your senses are just
as acute and discerning as your eyesight.
You can navigate a dark room by touch,
sense a human’s mood by scent, or even
read a book by taste (but don’t, because
it’s gross). You may count this Power
as a bonus Quirk that stacks with your 46 Quirks
Personal Quirks on any roll. In addition,
Surprise Attacks don’t count as Surprise Surprise
80 Attacks
Attacks against you.

Stereotypes
Humans tell each other that Goblins are ugly,
malicious monsters who love to steal babies.
This is, of course, a load of nonsense – I
mean, what would you even do with a baby?
And ugly? You are adorable, darn it. Still,
sometimes it’s fun to flash your teeth and watch
Big Folks cringe…
39
Kinds
 Elves
Bad hair day? Never! It
always just falls perfectly
in place like this.

Flying is so undignified.

It’s natural to wish to

kiss the ground an Elf
walks upon, but that
would be impossible.
Leticia Redleaf
40
Kinds
The stories claim that elves are the noble rulers
of all the fae. Nobody’s quite sure how those
stories got started, though most fairies assume
it was an Elf who started them! In truth, fairies
don’t really go in for hierarchy, though they’ll
sometimes play along if they have nothing

Your Fairy
better to do.

Appearance
Elves are among the tallest of the fae, often
towering over their friends by as much as a
full inch. They have hair like spun metal and
eyes the colour of precious gems; whether
the overall effect is beautiful or eye-watering
depends on who you ask. Like Goblins, Elves
have no wings.

Powers
As an Elf, you have the following Powers:

Twinkle Toes: You can walk on air as

though it were solid ground. When you
use this Power, your footsteps emit puffs
of sparkles and a noise like tiny bells.
Protagonist Syndrome: It’s strangely
difficult to upstage you or make you look
foolish. You always have perfect dramatic
lighting, and getting dirty or beat up just
makes you look dashing or lends you a
rough dignity, whichever best suits your
idiom. You get +1 edge against any opponent 79 Edge
who has at least +1 edge against you.

Stereotypes
It’s mostly just Big Folks (and some Elves) who
take the whole “rulers of the fae” thing seriously;
among other fairies, the Elvish stereotype is less
“noble ruler” and more “pompous blowhard”.
Humans might sometimes ask you to intercede
with other fairies on their behalf, which can
make for an awkward conversation.

41
Kinds
 Other Kinds?
If none of the Kinds in this section strike
your fancy, you’re welcome to create your
own Kind, or to customise one of the default
Custom Kinds 254 ones. See Appendix A: Custom Kinds for
guidelines on both options.

Poppy is the sort of fairy who sleeps a lot but still

gets things done. It could be dangerous – or funny
– for her to be a flier, but Rebecca is more interested
in the idea of someone who can take a nap anywhere and
has an excuse to poke her head up in unexpected places. So,
instead of someone who might doze off on the wing, she’s
going to be a Goblin who often turns up sleeping in the
weirdest places (and positions).

42
Kinds
 Facets
Fairies don’t have much in the way of physical or mental resources.
Your average fairy is about as strong as a small child, has very little

Your Fairy
in the way of life experience, and suffers from a conspicuous lack
of common sense. What you lack in basic competence, though,
you more than make up for in personality.
Your basic personality is measured by five Facets: Moxie, Focus,
Craft, Grace and Shine. These traits don’t represent qualities like
strength or intelligence; rather, each Facet reflects a particular
approach to the (many, many) challenges that beset a fairy’s daily
life. You might use the same Facet in physical, mental and social
challenges alike.
A normal fairy’s Facets are rated on a scale from one to four. To
determine your Facets, take the following spread of numbers and
allocate them – one to each Facet – as you see fit:
4 3 2 2 1
If you’d rather be surprised, you can roll two dice, sum their
results, and look up the total on the following table. Do this five
times, once for each Facet.

2d6 Facet
2–4 1
5–7 2
8–9 3
10 – 12 4

You’ve probably noticed that your Kind doesn’t give

you any Facet modifiers. This is intentional – every
character is an individual, and the stereotypes associated
with your Kind are just that: stereotypes. You’re perfectly free
to play a crafty Fairy or a graceful Elf if you wish – but if you
want to be a romantic Goblin, a scheming Pixie or a rough-
and-tumble Sprite, the rules aren’t going to tell you you’re
wrong.

43
Facets
 Moxie
Courage, boldness and just plain belligerence are the province
of Moxie. Any time you’re rushing blindly ahead, getting all up
in someone’s face, or solving problems with brute force – to the
extent that someone barely a foot tall is capable of brute force –
you’re rolling Moxie. Bluster, hot-blooded speeches and gratuitous
property damage are the order of the day. Moxie also helps you
stand firm when faced with scary situations.

You’re easily pushed around.

You can stand up for yourself if you need to.
Actions speak louder than words – though your words
are pretty loud too!
It’s better to be behind you than in front of you.

Focus
Focus represents the ability to buckle down and pay attention – a
rare enough talent for a fairy! Anything that requires focused effort,
a fine touch or attention to detail depends on Focus. Failing a test
of Focus is just as likely to mean that you got bored and wandered
off as it is that you messed up. Focus also determines how likely
you are to get sidetracked because you saw an interesting leaf.

Ooh, something shiny!

You can just about stay on task long enough to get from
point A to point B…
… and remember what you were planning to do once you
get there.
You’re kind of intense.

Craft
Few fairies are what you’d call geniuses, but many are possessed
of a certain cunning. Fast-talk, elaborate schemes and confusing
misdirections all fall under the umbrella of Craft. Roll Craft
whenever you try to solve a problem by making it more
complicated. Craft also governs working with complex systems
in general – particularly operating human machinery – and helps
you see through illusions, both literally and figuratively.

You’re not the sharpest bulb in the deck.

You’re no deep thinker, but you try hard.
Your schemes are as elaborate as they are impractical.
Sometimes you even confuse yourself.
44
Facets
Grace
Fairies are good at getting into trouble, but getting out of it is
another matter. That’s where Grace comes in; this Facet reflects
how smoothly you comport yourself, both physically and socially.
It’s the go-to Facet for avoiding pitfalls in general, whether that
means an actual hole in the ground, or an opportunity to put your
foot in your mouth.

Your Fairy
You don’t know the meaning of the word subtle. (You
really don’t!)
You know when to shut up.
“Smooth” is your middle name. Or it would be, if fairies
had middle names.
Whether in a verbal tiff or an all-out brawl, you’re
untouchable.

Shine
Fairies are born of magic, and have a natural connection with it
that few others ever achieve. Most of the time, this manifests as an
incredible supply of pure, dumb luck. Some fairies learn to tap into
it more deliberately, but it’s not a matter of skill – it’s more about
going with the flow and letting things fall naturally into place.
Shine is the Facet you roll when it’s unclear what else might apply,
or when you need a lucky break in something whose outcome you
can’t directly affect.

You’re scarcely luckier than a human – how tragic!

When you need a lucky break, you often get it.
Your good luck is often others’ misfortune.
You could fly through a rainstorm without getting wet.

Poppy is intended to be a bit sleepy and full of non

sequiturs, usually getting lost in thought and dozing off
in odd places (Craft 1). When she’s actually awake, she can
generally keep on task long enough to get something done (Focus 2).
She’s mellow and calm, not prone to pushing her way into things,
unless she falls asleep and flops onto something (Moxie 2), and
tends to do it with a certain serenity that makes it seem mostly
intentional (Grace 3). Mostly. The world seems to look out for
her, making her far luckier than she has any right to be (Shine 4).

45
Facets
 Quirks
Where Facets reflect how you approach challenges, Quirks are
all about why. Each of your Personal Quirks is something that
motivates you to act, and helps you out when you’re pursuing
that motivation.
By default, you have two Quirks, one tied to your highest Facet,
and one tied to your lowest Facet. You’re not limited in terms of
what Facet you’re rolling when you tag a Quirk, though – this is
just a guideline to help you come up with Quirks that suit your
fairy’s personality. Some Quirks might even work for multiple
Facets, depending on how you phrase them! If you have multiple
Facets that are tied for highest or lowest, you can pick any of them
for this purpose.
Pick two Quirks from among the examples given below, or come
up with two Quirks of your own. If you pick your Quirks from the
list, give them more evocative names if you want – the names on
the list are phrased to be as generic as possible.

There isn’t enough room in this chapter for randomly

rolled Quirks – the number of possible combinations of
highest and lowest Facet is just too large! If you want to
randomly determine your Quirks as well, flip to Appendix B:
Random Quirks on page 263.

Competitive
Everything’s a competition to you, and you play to win. This Quirk
helps whenever you’re participating in an “official” contest of skill
– or whenever you can turn something into an official contest of
skill!
Facets: This Quirk is often associated with high Moxie, though
it could also work for high Craft if you frame it so that it’s about
being smarter rather than about being better. Low Grace is also a
possibility if your fairy is in denial about how clumsy she is.

46
Quirks
Cowardly
Bravery isn’t necessarily a virtue when you’re only a foot tall!
This Quirk helps when you need to avoid danger or beat a tactical
retreat.

Your Fairy
Facets: Low Moxie is usually a given for this Quirk, though it
can also represent the hair-trigger danger sense that comes with
high Focus; in the latter case, it might be rephrased as “Jumpy”
or “Easily Startled”!

Creepy
You love to creep people out. This Quirk
helps whenever you’re deliberately
being weird or off-putting.
Facets: Creepy fairies are
sometimes compensating for
low Grace, though high Grace
is just as likely for those
for whom creepiness is a
calculated pose. Oddly, this
Quirk can also reflect high
Shine, for fairies who like to
play up their spooky, mystical
side. With slight adjustments, this
Quirk could reflect off-puttingly
aggressive cheerfulness instead.

Curious
So, what does the red button do?
This Quirk helps with investigating
new and interesting stuff, especially if
it’s stuff you really ought not be poking at.
Facets: Though curiosity is sometimes associated
with high Craft, this isn’t always the case – just as often, fairies
with high Craft think they know it all already! High Shine is a
more likely candidate, or possibly low Focus if your curiosity is
born of being easily distracted.

47
Quirks
 Daredevil
Never let them see you sweat!
This Quirk helps whenever
you’re venturing into a precarious
situation while steadfastly refusing
to acknowledge that you’re in any
danger at all.
Facets: This Facet is an obvious
choice for high Moxie, but it can
also work for low Focus or Craft if
you don’t so much ignore the danger
as fail to notice it in the first place! In
this case, it might make sense to rename
it something like “Oblivious” instead.

Insecure
You constantly need to prove your worthiness, and this Quirk helps
with exactly that.
Facets: Insecurity can stem from a variety of low Facets, ranging
from Moxie (lack of confidence), to Grace (lack of poise), to Shine
(insecurity over lack of magic) – it all depends on how you frame it.

Kleptomaniac
When you see something that catches your eye, you’ve just got
to get your hands on it. You might not even want to keep it – you
just want to have it. This Quirk helps with pursuing the current
object of your desires.
Facets: Low-Focus fairies are often kleptomaniacs. This Quirk
can be adjusted to suit whatever your fairy’s primary distraction
is – “Gluttony” for food, for example.

Lazy
You’re particularly averse to hard work – so much so that you’ll
often put enormous effort into avoiding it! This Quirk helps
whenever you’re trying to take shortcuts or find an easy way out,
even and especially if this ends up being more work than just doing
things properly.
Facets: Fairies with low Moxie are often lazy. With high Craft, this
Quirk can take the form of an obsession with working smarter, not
harder, even if the “smart” way is more effort than the “hard” way!

48
Quirks
Magnanimous
Look at your friends. Now look back to you. Sadly, they aren’t
you – but then, so few in this world are blessed with as much
awesome as you are. It’s your duty to put your awesomeness to
good use and help out the less fortunate – which is exactly what
this Quirk helps with.

Your Fairy
Facets: This Quirk can reflect a variety of high Facets. For high
Craft, it can represent the belief that you always know what’s best;
for high Grace, a sense of noblesse oblige; for high Shine, a simple
certainty that you’re Just That Awesome.

Melodramatic
Everything is a big deal to you. Everything! This Quirk helps when
you’re making a big production out of something.
Facets: A gloomy sort of melodrama is a frequent feature of low
Shine – you’ll take any opportunity to extravagantly bemoan your
poor fortune. Fairies with high Grace can be more proactive, often
going out of their way to engineer high-drama situations.

Optimistic
You’re absolutely certain that
everything will work out, in spite
of all evidence to the contrary.
This Quirk helps when you
keep up a positive attitude
when you’d be better off cutting
your losses.
Facets: This Quirk can work
for high or low Shine – unflagging
optimism can be as much a
response to bad luck as good!

Paranoid
You’re sure They’re out to get you
– even if you’re not quite clear on
who “They” are. This Quirk helps
when you make extra effort to
counter threats, real or imagined.
Facets: Paranoia is typically a feature of low Shine (the whole
universe is out to get you!), though it can also help to explain
exactly why a high-Focus fairy is so on edge.
49
Quirks
 Schemer
Even your backup plans have backup
plans. This Quirk helps whenever
things are going Just As Planned – or
whenever you can plausibly claim that
they are!
Facets: This is an archetypical Quirk
for high-Craft fairies, though it can also
work for low Craft; nobody said they
had to be good plans!

Show-off
You just love being the centre of
attention! This Quirk helps when
performing flashy stunts or otherwise
doing things to draw attention to yourself.
Facets: Show-offs often have high Moxie or
high Grace. Being a Show-off is distinct from
being Competitive in that this Quirk is all about seizing the
spotlight right now, not necessarily about being recognised
as the best ever.

Sincere
You wear your heart on your sleeve. Everyone can tell what you’re
feeling, and it’s clear you can’t lie to save your life – which helps
a great deal when you need to take a stand or convince others of
your good intentions.
Facets: If you’ve no patience for deception, this is a good Quirk
for high Moxie. On the other hand, if it simply never occurs to you
to be less than perfectly honest, it’s also a good fit for low Craft.
You might rename this Quirk “Honest”, “Earnest”, or for a more
heroic bent, perhaps “Goody Two-shoes”.

50
Quirks
Sneaky
You like nothing better than getting one over on others, especially
Big Folks. This Quirk helps when you need to get up to mischief
right under someone’s nose.

Your Fairy
Facets: Both high Focus and high Grace are often reflected in
sneakiness. Sneakiness can also reflect low Moxie if you think of
it more in terms of avoiding direct confrontation.

Sophisticated
You have elegant manners and know lots of long, fancy words.
Sometimes you even use them correctly! This Quirk helps
you navigate social situations and impress others with your
comportment.
Facets: This Quirk has high Grace written all over it. Rephrased
as “Formal”, it can also work for high Focus.

Rebecca decides that the first order of business is to

explain why Poppy goes on so many adventures in spite
of her love of sleep. Looking at the list of examples in this
section, Curious fits Poppy’s high Shine, and it would definitely get
her out of bed in the morning. After a moment’s thought, Rebecca
rephrases it as Around Every Corner.
Poppy’s low Craft is trickier. It’s obviously tied to her sleepiness,
but how to turn that into something that helps with going on
adventures, rather than avoiding them? None of the example
Quirks are quite right, so Rebecca works with her GM to come
up with a custom Quirk based on a tweaked version of Daredevil:
Half-asleep: Your sleepiness often causes you to miss the big
picture. You’ll wander into harm’s way without even noticing the
danger – yet you rarely come to harm, stumbling aside or sitting
down to rest at just the right moment to let any threats pass you
by. This Quirk helps whenever you’re braving the odds while
completely failing to notice the danger you’re in.

51
Quirks
 Finishing Touches
There are just two final steps left before your character is ready to
play: Stress Limit, and Appearance.

Stress Limit
Your Stress Limit represents how much trial and
turmoil you can tolerate before throwing in the
towel. This trait isn’t rolled against – it’s more of
Stress 86 a threshold. When your current Stress exceeds this
threshold, you have to sit out for a while.
Unless you have a Kind Power that specifically
says otherwise, your Stress Limit is 10. Costume
Powers can also modify your Stress Limit, but
only while you’re wearing that Costume, so don’t
include such bonuses in the value you write on
your character sheet.

As Goblins do not have a Kind Power that affects their

Stress Limit, Rebecca writes down that Poppy Petal has
a Stress Limit of 10.

52
Finishing Touches
Appearance
You’ve probably been thinking about this all along, but now’s the
time to make it final: what does your fairy look like? The Kind
you chose way back at the beginning will determine part of this,
but the details are really up to you.
Your character sheet has slots for your hair and eye colour – fill
those in now. You can also make a sketch of your fairy’s face in
the circle labeled “My Fairy”, or paste in a picture of a media

Your Fairy
character who looks pretty close; a Google Image search is great
for this purpose, as are online paper-doll programs, or character
creation tools for various free-to-play MMOs.

Rebecca takes a look at the general Appearance of

Goblins to get some ideas for how Poppy might look.
She likes the idea that Poppy has petal white hair like
the titular flower, with half-lidded bright red eyes that match
the other colour poppy petals can come in. Rebecca also starts
thinking up other little details to help bring Poppy to life, like the
blanket she prefers to use as a cape (and often loses, requiring
her to get creative), or the way she smiles to show only a few
fangs. Maybe Rebecca will bring a blanket to a session to play
with when she’s acting as Poppy, but she’ll have to ask the Game
Master about that…

That’s it! Now go play!

53
Finishing Touches
 Chapter Two:
For Players
Like most tabletop roleplaying games, Costume
Fairy Adventures is basically a conversation. Using Facets &
Quirks 58
One participant, the Game Master (GM), takes

For Players
on the role of narrator, describing the game’s Tests 67
setting and playing the roles of any supporting
Contests 75
characters you might run into. Everybody else
is a player, and takes on the role of a Player Stress & Temp.
Quirks 86
Character (PC) – one of the mischievous, well-
dressed fairies the game is named for. Breaks &
Intermissions 94
Playing the game goes something like this:
Magic 98
1. The GM describes a situation. Costumes 105

Wishful 112
2. You and your friends tell the GM what Thinking
you’re doing.

3. The GM narrates what happens as a result

of those actions.

4. Return to step 1.

You can continue in this way for as long as you

like. If you’ve ever participated in freeform
roleplaying in a moderated online forum or chat
room, this should be very familiar to you.

55
Introduction
 Rules and Dice
Eventually, though, the dice – the part that puts the
“game” in “roleplaying game” – are going to come
out. This can happen for a number of reasons:

++ The GM thinks that you’re trying to do

something with an uncertain outcome.

++ Your fairy and another character – possibly

NPCs 147 another player’s fairy, possibly an NPC –
decide to compete for something, or just plain
get in a fight.

++ Something unexpected happens, and you need

to find out whether you can stop or avoid it.

Powers 101 ++ There’s a Power or other rules-based effect

in play that allows you to gain some special
benefit by rolling.

++ Because it’s fun to roll dice!

Whatever the reason, you’ll pick up some dice,

possibly invoke a few special rules, and roll them.
This will give you one of two possible results:
success, or failure.

Success, Failure and Narration

If you’ve played other tabletop
roleplaying games, this will seem
like old hat. Succeeding at a dice
roll means that you succeeded at
whatever you were trying to do,
right? Mostly, this is exactly what
it means – but in Costume Fairy
Adventures that’s not always so!
When you make a successful roll, what
you’re really winning is the right to narrate
what happens next. By the same token,
when you fail, either another player (whom
you might be competing with) or the GM (if
you’re not) gets to narrate what happens next.
When you make a successful roll, you – and we
mean “you” as in the player – get to take over

56
Introduction
the story for a little while. This is the major
reason that you might insist on rolling for
something even though you don’t have
to. Succeed at that roll and you get to
narrate the outcome.
This isn’t the same as succeeding or
failing at a task. In fact, there’s no
rule against making a successful roll
and proceeding to narrate your fairy
messing up horribly. Similarly, when
you fail a roll, your opponent or the GM
may narrate that you get what you want
anyway. This is totally allowed. Though

For Players
it might not always be in the way you
expected…
The GM’s job is to provide
entertaining drama. If the GM’s
narration gives you what you wanted
on a failed roll, she probably has
something up her sleeve. This should worry you!
120
The GM’s
We’ll talk a bit later about when it’s appropriate Responsibilities
for the GM to narrate failure into success. For
now, just bear in mind: if your GM is being
unusually generous with her narration, be afraid.
We’ll talk about how to make rolls in a little
bit. But first, let’s take a closer look at the tools
you’ll use to do so: your Facets, and your Quirks.

If all this is confusing, you can assume that in general,

when you fail a roll, you’re not going to get what you
want. Likewise, even though there’s no rule that says you
have to use a successful roll to make your fairy succeed at
the task at hand, we’re going to assume that most of the time
you’re going to take advantage of your temporary narrative
authority to have your fairy do something awesome. It’s
completely okay to treat a successful roll as the same thing
as a successful action, and a failed roll as a failed action. The
game won’t break if you do!

57
Introduction
 Using Facets & Quirks
Before you actually roll the dice, the first step is always to
determine which Facet you’re using, and what Quirks you’ll use
to help.

Using Facets
Every roll you make is based on one of your Facets.
Most of the time, you’ll get to choose the Facet.
Sometimes, though, this will be decided for you;
Powers 101 for example, you might use a Power that requires
you to roll a certain Facet. Similarly, sometimes
the GM will ask for a roll against a particular Facet
in order to react to a sudden threat.
Your Fairy 26 Back in the character creation chapter, we talked
about how Facets are less concrete physical or
mental traits and more approaches to overcoming
challenges. In game terms, it means that there are
no real limits on which Facet you can roll to face
a given challenge. No matter how inappropriate a
given Facet might seem under the circumstances,
you’re always allowed to give it a try.
This doesn’t mean that Facets are interchangeable,
though. Remember that when you succeed at a roll,
the real prize isn’t doing well at some task – it’s the
right to narrate the outcome of whatever you just
did. Your narration has to be appropriate for the
Facet used for your roll. By the same token, if you
fail a roll, the Facet used will serve as the GM’s
guide when she determines exactly how things go
pear-shaped!

This section will assume that the GM is the one

handling the narration when you fail. It may well be
another player for some types of rolls, such as contests,
but if so, she’s likely to care more about what Facet she used
to win than what Facet you used to lose. She can still use the
failure guidelines for your Facet if she wants to really rub it
in, though!

58
Using Facets & Quirks
Rolling with Moxie
Moxie is all about pure force. This force can be verbal or physical;
you may not be able to bring much physical force to bear when
you’re twelve inches tall, but you’re going to use what you’ve
got! You’re not going to be doing anything carefully – or quietly
– with Moxie.
When You Succeed – Describe how you overwhelm all obstacles
in your path. This might involve breaking stuff, shouting someone
down, or punctuating your actions with a hot-blooded monologue.

Red disrupts a live telecast of the Gravityball World

Championship game by photobombing every camera in

For Players
the stadium.
Letty rolls a sleeping ogre down the hill and through the flock of
geese that were closing in on her.

When You Fail – Failing with Moxie is all about overdoing it.
The GM can have you break something you didn’t intend to break,
frighten someone away when you needed their help, or otherwise
make a spectacular mess of things.

Calla attempts to hurl a full sack of flour, but only manages

to tear it, subjecting the fairies to a bakery blizzard.
Mabby becomes the unwilling figurehead of a starship crew
mutiny after trying to awe them with her raw majesty.

59
Using Facets & Quirks
 Rolling with Focus
Where Moxie is force, Focus is precision. Roll this Facet to ignore
distractions and zero in on what’s important to your goals. This
might simply be a matter of staying on task, or it might be a matter
of finding just the right thread to pull – figuratively or otherwise!
When You Succeed – Describe how you overcome distractions
and find the most efficient solution to your problem. You could
find a hidden weakness, point out an important detail that everyone
else has been overlooking, or overcome a threat by ignoring it
completely – you don’t have time to get sidetracked!

Pooka carries the greased watermelon across the Valley

of Excessively Shiny Things without picking up any bling
whatsoever.
While everyone else is entranced by the slapstick puppet show,
Letty manages to notice the “puppets” are actually gnomes waiting
for a chance to attack, and more importantly, she successfully
pretends she’s too sophisticated for mainstream puppetry.

When You Fail – Too much Focus can easily work against you.
The GM can turn the tables and reveal an important detail that you
yourself have overlooked, or have you blunder into danger while
your attention is fixed elsewhere.

Robin is so intent on illustrating her fifty-seven-point plan

to take over the GnomeCorp Gnetwork that she doesn’t
notice the whiteboard being wheeled into the CEO’s office
and her with it.
Without realising its true nature, Red’s attempt to hypnotise a
Mirror Wasp only results in hypnotising herself.

Both Focus and Craft have an element of perception to

them. When we say that your successful roll can let you
notice or figure out new facts, you’re totally allowed to
make those facts up on the spot and declare that they’ve been
true all along. That’s what having narrative control means.

60
Using Facets & Quirks
Rolling with Craft
If it’s complicated, it’s Craft. This Facet covers both twisty
reasoning and complex manual tasks. You may not know precisely
what you’re on about – fairies so rarely do – but Craft will let you
fake it well enough that practically no-one can tell the difference.
When You Succeed – Describe how you cleverly puzzle out the
answer to the problem at hand. You can deduce hidden facts and
set up elaborate schemes. Even the craftiest solution tends to make
things more complicated, but it’s the kind of complicated that
works in your favour.

Robin passes off her literal napkin math as a doctoral

For Players
thesis at the Gnuclear Research Institute of Gnomoria.
Calla sneaks the Duchess of Spiders through the Hall of
Gazing Eyes by laying a meticulously placed trail of candied
bacon for her.

When You Fail – Failing at a Craft roll is just begging for

unintended consequences, and your GM will be only too happy
to oblige. Your clever reasoning may reveal that things are much
worse than they seemed, or your masterful scheme may (literally!)
explode in your face.

Pooka deduces the Parfait Ziggurat can’t possibly stay

upright. This alerts the universe to the problem, causing
the ziggurat to collapse.
When the Sultana asks Mabby to arrange the stars in the Ninefold
Harmonious Orrery, all she gets is giant cogs and crystal spheres
rolling through the streets.

61
 Rolling with Grace
You can be awesome with any Facet, but if you need to look extra-
awesome, Grace is your go-to Facet. Grace is often used reactively,
to avoid sudden threats and conversational pitfalls, but you can
also roll it just to show off.
When You Succeed – Describe how incredible you look as you
deftly evade the obstacles in your path. Even when you’re trying
to be inconspicuous, relying on Grace often means that you’re
playing to the crowd.

Mrs. Fotheringham’s garden party is saved when Mabby

reframes her wife’s faux pas as the “jape of the season!”
Robin humiliates a gnomish kgnight by wielding an oversized
pencil like a rapier and scribbling limericks on her white armour.

When You Fail – Even the most graceful fairy sometimes

overreaches herself. In some cases, you’ll find that you’ve avoided
one threat, only to dance directly into the path of another! In other
cases, your showboating will simply catch up with you, leading to
a painful – but elegant – pratfall.

Letty deftly avoids the laser security system by flitting

into the safe and locking the door behind her.
Pooka’s ritual dance placates the ursine ambassador, but is
interpreted by the weremoose ambassador as a declaration of war.

62
Using Facets & Quirks
Rolling with Shine
You’ll usually roll Shine when you need a lucky break, especially
when faced with something where you have no reasonable way of
affecting the outcome. Fortunately for you, fairies aren’t always
bound by what’s reasonable.
When You Succeed – Describe how you carry the day through
blind luck. You might do so with reckless panache, or you simply
might not realise that whatever you did shouldn’t have worked!

Calla wins the heart of a daredevil Pixie princess by

swooping through a swarm of Razor Bees to give her a
single rose.

For Players
Red acquires an opera house from an ogre dilettante in a game of
two-up rigged against her.

When You Fail – You have to take the bad luck with the good.
When you fail a Shine roll, the GM can have the power of
coincidence work against you in the most implausible ways. That’s
the downside of rolling Shine; while you can get away with just
about anything when you succeed, the GM can do the same when
you fail.

Letty’s attempt to swashbuckle her way through the pirate

ship is derailed when she discovers the cursed treasure
map in the Captain’s cabin and is sucked into an entirely
different adventure.
Robin’s plan to fund her new bandit army by raiding Imperial
caravan trains is complicated when every single one of them turns
out to be carrying nothing but inedible hard bread. For the Bread
Festival. Of the Bread Goddess. Because it’s Bread Month.

At this point you might be wondering if it’s okay to just

come up with excuses to always use your best Facet. The
answer is: yes, yes it is. Sometimes this might not be the
best idea in the long run, but if you really want to use Moxie
in a situation that calls for tact and discretion just because it
has the biggest number, go right ahead!

63
Using Facets & Quirks
 Using Quirks
Now that you know what Facet you’re rolling, you have to
determine how many dice you get to roll. At worst, you could
end up with a measly one die; sometimes, you’ll get to roll five or
more! More dice is generally better, though in some situations it
can cause complications in the long run.
This is where your Quirks come into play. You always get one die
to roll, plus one extra die for each Quirk you tag. Tagging a Quirk
means declaring that it should help you out with whatever you’re
trying to do. The bar for “help” is pretty low, though; most of the
time, just finding an excuse to mention it is good enough. The
GM or the group can veto a Quirk if it’s obvious that you’re really
stretching things, but this should be a rare occurrence.
Quirks fall into several categories, as outlined below. The primary
limit on Quirk use is that you can only tag one Quirk from any
given category on any given roll. For example, you can’t tag two
Personal Quirks or two Costume Quirks on the same roll, but you
can tag one of each.

Personal Quirks
These are the basic Quirks that you always have
Your Fairy 26 access to. As discussed in the character creation
chapter, Personal Quirks are about motivation.
Where your chosen Facet tells you how you’re
acting, your Personal Quirks tell you why. You’re
not required to tag a Personal Quirk on every roll,
but if you’re staying in character you should be
able to tag one on most rolls you make.

Mabby’s “Rich Fantasy Life” Personal Quirk is

applicable to almost anything so long as her vivid
imagination can paint it as something else. Rather than have
Mabby be pointlessly weird or random, her player has her do
things that fit with the story but describes her reasons for doing
so as divorced from reality.

64
Using Facets & Quirks
Costume Quirks
Every Costume comes with a couple of Quirks 105 Costumes
attached to it. You can tag the Quirks on a Costume
that you’re currently wearing on any roll. Some
Costume Quirks are like personality traits, in which
case you can use them to guide your roleplaying
while you’re wearing that Costume, while others
are more like skills. It’s usually pretty clear-cut
whether a Costume Quirk applies or not.

While Calla is wearing the Mascot Suit, her player

roleplays it to the hilt, adjusting Calla’s normally laid

For Players
back and jokey personality with big helpings of enthusiasm
and team spirit. This helps her tag the Costume’s “Energetic” and
“Distracting” Quirks on most rolls.

65
 Location Quirks
In spite of the fancy capitalised name, a Location
is simply wherever you happen to be. The GM’s
Locations 156 chapter talks about Locations in more depth, but
for now it’s enough to know that Locations also
have Quirks. You can tag a Location Quirk for
an extra die on any roll made in that Location.
Sometimes this will involve “stunting” off your
environment, finding a way to use its features to
your advantage, but for more atmospheric Location
Quirks it’s enough to work their ambiance into
your narration.

Pooka has been cornered in the Hen House of the Ochre

Temple by angry scholars that object to her creative
adjustments to their sacred scriptures. The Location has the
Quirks “A Bird in the Hand” and “Don’t Count Your Chickens”.
Her player tags “A Bird in the Hand” when using a hen as a
hand-held pecking weapon, and subsequently tags “Don’t Count
Your Chickens” when confusing her foes with a seemingly infinite
poultry mandala.

Other Quirk Sources

There are also a number of situational ways to tag
Quirks, like “borrowing” a friend’s Quirk when
Assistance 70 she decides to help you out, or even using an
opponent’s Quirk against her in a competitive
Contests 75 roll! We’ll mention those when we get to talking
about the types of rolls where they apply. For now,
though, let’s move on to learning when and how to
actually roll the dice.

66
Using Facets & Quirks
 Tests
Costume Fairy Adventures is a fairly freeform game. In many
cases, you’ll simply say what you’re doing, and the GM will
describe what happens. Often, though, you’ll want to do something
that a fairy might mess up. (Note: there are a lot of things that a
fairy might mess up.) That means it’s time to bring out the dice. A
basic roll to see if you mess something up is called a test.

For Players
 How to Make a Test
Making a test involves several steps:

1. Determine which Facet you’re rolling against.

Using Facets 58 Sometimes the GM will tell you what Facet
to use, but if you call for the roll yourself, you
get to pick – so it pays to be proactive!

2. Pick up one die, plus another die for every

Quirk you have access to that might help out.
Using Quirks 64 Remember that you can only tag one Quirk
in any given category.

Magic 98 3. Optionally, you can spend 1 Magic M to add

a die to your roll. (You can only “buy” one die
in this way.)

4. Roll the dice, and look for the highest die

that’s less than or equal to the Facet you’re
using. The face value of this die is your
Result. If all of the dice came up higher than
the relevant Facet, your Result is 0.

5. Count up the number of 6s rolled. For each 6,

you gain a point of M
, and the GM gains a
Trouble 163 Trouble Die T.

6. If your Result is 1 or higher, you succeed.

(Yay!) Otherwise, you failed. (Boo!) Your
exact Result on a success doesn’t always
matter, but you should remember what it is
since it may come up in a moment.

If you didn’t have any dice to roll, your Result is also 0.

This normally can’t happen unless some special rule is
in play, since you always get one die to start with, but we
thought we’d mention it.

68
Tests
 For Players
The fairies are attempting to make a convincing
doppelgänger of the Countess d’Millefeuille with stolen
clothes and a gaggle of farm animals in a village barn.
Pooka plans to integrate a duck volunteer into the “Countess’”
hat, reasoning that the outrageous fashion statement will
distract onlookers from the fact that their liege-lady is in fact an
overdressed ewe in a wheelbarrow.
Pooka’s player chooses to roll against her Focus of 4, arguing
that when combining duck with hat, a slow and steady approach
is kinder on both feathers and fashion. She wants as many dice
as possible. She starts with one die and must tag Quirks or spend
M for more. She tags Pooka’s “Disarming” trait, reasoning this
further helps the duck stay calm during the procedure for her
second die. She spends 1 M to outright buy her third. Finally,
her current Costume is the Alchemist’s Frock, so she gleefully tags
the Costume Quirk “Knows When to Duck” for her fourth die.
Now is most certainly the time to duck. Pooka’s player is obliged
to duck as the GM throws a handy cushion at her for the pun, but
the tag is allowed.
A fifth die could be earned if the fairies’ current Location had
a relevant Quirk, but she can’t figure out a way to make a barn
helpful for millinery.
Her dice show 1, 3, 6, 6. 3 is the highest die that is equal or less
than Pooka’s Focus of 4, so her Result is 3, which is a success –
and thus a fashion masterpiece is born.
With two 6s, Pooka gains 2 M and the GM gains 2 T.
69
Tests
 Assistance
If one of your friends wants to help you out, you can tag her Quirks
in addition to your own in step 2. She counts as a separate Quirk
“source”, so you can tag one of her Quirks and your own personal
set on the same roll. You can’t tag one of your helper’s Personal
Quirks and one of her Costume Quirks at the same time, though
– she can lend you at most one die, so you have to pick one or the
other. No double dipping!

Assistance on a test must be voluntary, but there’s

another situation where you can tag someone’s Quirk
even if she doesn’t want you to. We’ll talk about that in
the next section.

Calla, in the Artist’s Smock, is attending the ewe’s

makeup, hoping to emulate the Countess’ extravagant
style. For her test, Calla’s player uses Shine (Grace might
have been technically more applicable, but for this test, going
as fabulous as possible works), and tags her “Comedian at
Heart” Personal Quirk (lipstick on a ewe!) and the Artist Smock’s
“Creative Genius” Costume Quirk. Each Quirk gives a bonus die
in addition to her starting die, for a total of three.
Letty, in her Princess Dress, graciously offers her assistance,
being obviously the authority on all matters of beauty. Her player
suggests tagging the Princess Dress’ “Glamorous” Costume
Quirk, but Calla’s player feels Letty’s “Self-important” Personal
Quirk is more appropriate for emulating the Countess. This adds
another bonus die, for a total of four.

70
Outcomes
When you succeed on a test, you get to narrate
what happens. The GM or the group can veto you
if you try to do something that’s just too silly, like
saying that you ate cake so hard the world blows
up, but generally you’ll have free rein – with two
important limitations.
First, as the outcome of a test, you can’t narrate
anything that would remove another character
from play, tinker with her game traits, or otherwise
mess with her in any real way. You need to win a
different kind of roll, a contest, in order to do that. 75 Contests
For the purpose of this rule, anything with its own

For Players
Stress Limit counts as a character.

Calla’s player rolls four dice against her Shine of 4,

scoring 2, 2, 4, 5. This gives her a Result of 4, a success
(1 or better is a success on a test!). She narrates the ewe’s
makeup as being hauntingly reminiscent of the Countess, while
still reminding everyone a little bit of Letty.
Calla isn’t using a Costume Power, Wishful Thinking or anything
else that would create a literal illusion or otherwise convincingly
disguise a sheep as a noblewoman, so her narration is constrained
in that respect – but “hauntingly reminiscent” should be very
useful in the context of the duck hat and the rest of the plan.
Likewise, while she wanted to have a joke at Letty’s expense, she
can’t actually affect Letty herself without a contest. Narrating the
ewe as now somewhat resembling Letty doesn’t have any direct
consequences for the Elf, so that’s allowed.

71
 Secondly, if there’s anybody present who objects to whatever
you’re narrating, and she’s in a position to make that objection
matter, she can roll to try and stop you! This retroactively turns
the test into a contest. We don’t expect this to happen very often
– normally, such rolls will be contests from the beginning – but
we’re including it because sometimes it won’t be 100% clear what
you have in mind until after you’ve rolled.

Letty didn’t expect to be made fun of in return for her

assistance, and her player could legitimately object to
Calla’s player’s narration and oppose it with a retroactive
contest. But Calla’s Result of 4 is a little rich for her blood, so she
declines in favour of plotting a later revenge.

It’s bad form to wait and see how someone’s roll turns
out before deciding whether you object. It’s fine if
you didn’t realise what your prospective opponent was
planning, but if it looks like you’re consistently abusing the
privilege of objecting after the fact for tactical advantage, the
GM can decide that you missed your chance. This rule can be
relaxed if you’re playing by forum or email, since you may not
see the outcome of a roll right away.
(On the flip side, when you’re the one making the initial roll,
it’s in your best interests to make it crystal-clear what you’re
trying to do, so that nobody can claim they didn’t realise what
you were up to after seeing your roll!)

72
Tests
Failing a test means that the GM gets to narrate
what happens. This doesn’t necessarily mean you
don’t get what you want, but if you do, it’ll be on
the GM’s terms. This usually means more drama!
In addition, the GM can impose any or all of the
following consequences for your failed test:

++ You fail to avoid some form of danger and

86 Stress
suffer S . This might mean just a point or
two if there wasn’t much danger to begin with,
while something much more dangerous could
inflict 1d6 S or more!

++ You pick up a Temporary Quirk. This is 90 Temporary

For Players
Quirks
likewise often the result of failing to avoid
a danger.

++ The situation changes so that nobody can

use the same Facet to try and accomplish the
same thing. This is especially common when
the test was called for because of something
you did, as opposed to something you had to
avoid.

Red is taking care of the “Countess’” undercarriage,

converting a wheelbarrow into something that would
fit under the (admittedly voluminous) stolen skirts. Her
player declares she’ll just be bending and snapping off various
wheelbarrow pieces with her AWESOME PIXIE MIGHT, and will
thus be rolling against her Moxie of 4. Since she’s using her best
Facet, she’s confident of success and only tags Red’s “Noisy”
Personal Quirk in addition to her starting die, for a total of two
dice.
She rolls boxcars: 6, 6. Apart from gaining herself 2 M
and the
GM 2 T, she has no dice showing equal or less than her Moxie,
and thus has a Result of 0. She fails!
The GM narrates Red snapping the axle and bending its frame.
The former wheelbarrow still rolls, but awkwardly at best and with
a horrible grinding noise. It’s now so fragile that Moxie can’t be
used to repair it. Furthermore, she awards Red the “All Thumbs”
Temporary Quirk.

73
Tests
74
 Contests
Sometimes a simple test isn’t enough to sort things out. When two
players want mutually exclusive things, or when you’re trying to
mess with another character directly, it’s time to go head to head
– it’s time for a contest!

How to Have a Contest

A contest is basically an “opposed” test: you both 67 Tests

For Players
choose a Facet, gather up your dice, and roll.
Whoever gets the highest Result wins!
There’s no particular order of events, but you have
to make all of your decisions – including whether
to spend Magic or use Powers – before you see the 98 Magic
outcome of your opponent’s roll. This rule can be
relaxed if you’re playing via forum or email, or if
101 Powers
you didn’t realise what your opponent was trying
to do until she started narrating the outcome – we
talked a little bit about such “retroactive contests”
in the previous section.
Winning a contest can mean a couple of different
things, depending on what the contest was about
in the first place:
++ If you were competing for the same goal, you
beat the loser to the punch, and are allowed to
narrate her ignominious defeat.

++ If you were trying to do something to the loser

– push her into a puddle, paint her pink, etc.
– then you successfully do it, subject to a few
limitations discussed below.

In either case, the loser suffers Stress equal to 86 Stress

your Result. (This means your total Result, not
the difference between the two Results – we’re
not asking you to do any math here!) This happens
even if you were competing for an external goal,
and is not optional: the loser of a contest always
suffers Stress. Be sure to apply this effect first – you
might not be able to get what you want after all if you
accidentally make your opponent Stress Out! 89 Stressing
Out

75
Contests
 Contests and Consequences
The basic effect of winning a contest is the same as for succeeding
at a test: the winner gets to narrate the outcome. However, you
don’t get to narrate what your opponent actually does. You can
describe stuff happening to her, but her actions and reactions
remain her own. You also can’t describe anything that would
remove her from play or otherwise prevent her from taking any
actions at all unless your roll made her Stress Out. As with tests,
these limitations apply whenever you’re dealing with something
that has its own Stress Limit.
In game terms, the consequences for the loser can take two forms:
++ Stress
++ Temporary Quirks
The loser always suffers Stress equal to the winner’s Result, though
certain Powers can adjust this number. Whether she also suffers a
Temporary Quirk is up to the winner. A contest can impose at most
one Temporary Quirk.
76
Contests
 Calla has obtained the Polyester Suit and wants to wow
human theatre-goers with an anachronistic display
of funk. Her player tells the GM that she’ll interrupt the
production of “Romia and Juliet” at the Planet Theatre to lay
down some smooth moves. The GM is about to call for a test when
Mabby’s player interrupts.
“I won’t let this happen. As Queen of the Fairies, I’m honour-
bound to protect my subjects from even the most terrifying fates.
I’ve got the Firefighter’s Uniform on, and I swear I will rescue
Calla from disco!”
The GM declares they’ll be resolving this inanity with a contest.

For Players
She decides that the Planet Theatre has the Quirks “All the World’s
a Stage” and “Tragedy of the Commons”.
Calla’s player nominates Shine as her Facet, because her dance
will be dazzling. She tags Calla’s “Your Own Little World”
Personal Quirk (today, it’s a world of disco), the Polyester Suit’s
“Smooth Moves” Costume Quirk, and the theatre’s “All the
World’s a Stage” Location Quirk (because she’s bringing disco to
the world). Three Quirks plus her starting die gives her four dice,
and she spends 1 M for a total of five.
Mabby’s player decides she’ll use her Grace, intending to stage
a deft and heroic rescue in which she smoothly sweeps Calla off
the stage in her arms. She tags her “Noblesse Oblige” Personal
Quirk, her Uniform’s “Rescue Specialist” Costume Quirk, and
the theatre’s “Tragedy of the Commons” Location Quirk (because
there could be no greater tragedy than the commoners being
infected with disco). Like Calla, she spends 1 M
for a bonus die,
for a total of five dice.
Calla’s Shine is 4, as is Mabby’s Grace, so both fairies are rolling
five dice against a Facet of 4.
Calla rolls 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, for a Result of 4.
Mabby rolls 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, for a Result of 3.
Calla wins, and Mabby takes S S
equal to Calla’s Result, for 4 .
Calla’s player narrates dodging Mabby’s heroic rescue at the last
second with a particularly ostentatious strut, causing the Sprite to
hurtle past into the scenery. She elects to inflict a Temporary Quirk
on Mabby, bestowing “Can’t Stop the Music” on her.
She then proceeds to describe Calla’s extreme funk and the crowd’s
wild reaction in exhaustive detail until she is mercifully stopped
by the GM.

77
Contests
 Special Situations
Because contests involve multiple characters acting all at once,
there are many special situations that can come up. We’ll try to
address these below.

Ties
If you get a tie in a contest, nobody wins! This is the only
circumstance where the GM gets to narrate the outcome of a contest
between two players – expect her to be fiendishly inventive. In
addition, everybody involved takes Stress equal to the tied Result.
If both participants in a contest manage to fail their rolls, this also
counts as a tie; in this case, the GM can assign as much or as little
Stress to each participant as she likes.

Red and Robin have infiltrated the hold of a famous

explorer’s ship, intending to alter her trophies to support a
more fantastic image of lands across the far seas. Inevitably
they have creative differences over theme. Red wants to plant
evidence of terrifying dragon-fairy warriors; Robin wants bizarre
mystic enigmas. Naturally, they seek to resolve this impasse with
name-calling, glue and gunpowder.
After rolling, both have a Result of 3, a tie. Both fairies suffer
3 S , and narration passes to the GM, who gleefully explains
that they suffered that S in the course of accidentally sinking
the ship. Not only have they sent priceless artefacts to the bottom
of the river, they’ve made an enemy of the dashing explorer and
her crew!

78
Edge
In some contests, you’ll benefit from something called edge. Edge
is a special bonus that’s added to your Result only for the purpose
of determining whether you win contests. Having edge doesn’t
increase the amount of Stress your opponent takes when you win,
nor can it turn a failure into a success – a Result of 0 is always 0.
Edge can be specially granted by Powers, but the GM can also
grant edge whenever you’d logically have a big advantage over
your opponent. Common sources of edge include:

++ If you’re trying to escape from Big Folk, 153 Big Folks

and you’re in a large enough space to take
advantage of your superior mobility, you’ll

For Players
usually get +1 edge against them. This does
stack with edge from a Fairy’s Superior 30 Fairies
Flight Power – Fairies are annoyingly difficult
for Big Folk to catch!

++ On the other hand, if you ever end up in a

contest of raw strength with Big Folk, they’ll
get at least +1 edge against you! Fairies usually
don’t arm-wrestle humans for good reason.

Not long after, a damp and bedraggled Red and Robin

are fleeing the explorer and her wrathful crew. Since the
explorer is a crack shot, they reason staying low to the
ground and flying through the crowded wharf is the safest course.
Once again they differ on implementation details. Robin’s player
is of the opinion that Red’s higher Stress Limit naturally obliges
her to stay behind and delay their swashbuckling foe. Red’s player
thinks that everything that has transpired is Robin’s fault somehow,
and she should take responsibility. Red will hurl fresh-caught fish
at the fleeing Pixie, while Robin will try to startle cart-horses back
in Red’s direction to cover her escape – another contest!
The GM decides that Robin’s “Superior Flight” Power applies
to this contest, giving her +1 edge. Red’s player rolls a Result of
4, while Robin’s only scores a 3. But Robin’s +1 edge raises her
Result to 4 for the purpose of comparison, causing another tie.
The GM describes the hurled fish being mashed under the hooves
of the terrified horses, the odour overpowering the fairies. As the
humans on the wharf struggle to get away from the stench, our
heroines are left exposed, easily spotted by their pursuers…

79
Contests
 Surprise Attacks
In some cases, you might get the drop on your
opponent in a contest. This doesn’t have to
be a physical fight – you can get a Surprise
Attack by dropping a verbal bombshell, too!
When a Surprise Attack happens is mostly a
matter of roleplaying, but some Powers may
let you make Surprise Attacks more reliably.
When you get a Surprise Attack against
someone, her Result automatically counts as
0 against you. She’s still allowed to roll if she
wants to, especially if there’s some special
effect in play where her Result matters, but
you always get to count that Result as 0 no
matter how well she does.

If a Power or special rule says that you’re “immune

to Surprise Attacks”, that means that Surprise Attacks
don’t count as Surprise Attacks against you. It doesn’t
mean that you automatically win!

Scuffles
A scuffle is simply a contest where everybody is trying to beat
everybody else up! (This is what a more traditional RPG would
call “combat”.) There are no special rules for scuffles in general,
but they’re called out as their own type of contest because certain
Powers specifically affect scuffles.

Using Your Opponent’s Quirks

In a one-on-one contest, you may be able to use
your opponent’s Quirks against her! This works
Assistance 70 just like getting Assistance on a test, except that
she doesn’t have to agree to help you. You can get
help from friends and tag an opponent’s Quirk on
the same roll.
If there are more than two sides in a contest,
you can’t use this rule – it only works when you
can focus on one opponent at a time. A group of
Ganging Up 84 statistically identical NPCs counts as one opponent
for this purpose, as does a leader making a single
roll on behalf of several characters using the
Ganging Up rules.
80
Contests
 In contrast to the chaos surrounding her friends, Letty
strides through the silent pews of a grand cathedral,
planning to add her own special touch to the site of the
upcoming royal wedding. She even condescends to walk upon the
marble itself, lest her airborne stride alert the humans.
The GM cheerfully informs Letty’s player that such precautions
are useless against the even stealthier menace that attacks her
from the shadows – a gninjitsu smoke bomb explodes at Letty’s
feet! Gnomish gninjas in league with the throne! The GM decides
that their cowardly ambush is a Surprise Attack.
Letty’s Result is automatically 0, so her player elects not to roll for
the contest. The GM rolls for the attacking gninja and scores a 2,
beating Letty’s 0. Letty takes 2 S and the GM places the “Lost

For Players
in the Gninja Clouds” Temporary Quirk on her.
Letty’s player has been waiting to unleash her ace in the hole
– the Magical Girl Dress she’s been holding onto all session.
The Costume’s “Transformation Sequence” Power allows her to
Quick Change into it for free; she does so, narrating the smoke
being pierced by beams of ruby light as she unlocks the unlimited
power of her heart! In particular, she describes the Staff of Peace
materialising from the wellspring of her infinite compassion. She
then declares she’ll be playing a rousing game of Gninja Golf,
informing the GM that she wants a scuffle.
Letty beats the first gninja with a Result of 3. The Magical Girl
Dress has a Power named “Final Strike”, which can be activated
on a successful scuffle to double the S inflicted. Her player
happily pays 1 M , describing the attack as great ruby wings of
light bursting from the staff to envelope the gnome in a smothering
hug. 6 S is enough to Stress Out the gninja, leaving our heroine
victorious… but still outnumbered – gninjas never attack alone.
Mabby to the rescue! She’s here to redeem her shame from the
disco incident, but more gninjas emerge from the shadows – it’ll
be a contest. Mabby’s player nominates Grace as her Facet, tags
“Noblesse Oblige” and spends 1 M for a bonus die. She narrates
orchestral theme music playing over the rescue, tagging the “Can’t
Stop the Music” Temporary Quirk inflicted on her earlier. That’s
four dice, but since she really needs to win this one after her
humiliation at the theatre, she wants at least one more.
Mabby’s player declares she’ll tag the gninjas’ “Law of Inverse
Gninja Strength” Quirk, reasoning that if there’s this many of
them, they must be mere goons. (Gnoons?) The GM didn’t have
that Quirk written down for the gninjas, but it’s too good to pass
up – she scribbles it on their sheet, and grants Mabby her fifth die.

81
Contests
 Persuasion
Someone might get the bright idea of using a contest to persuade
another PC of something – to get her to do something, or convince
her to go along with some scheme.
This is allowed. Fairies are inconstant and easily confused creatures
at the best of times, and being bamboozled into going along with
something deeply unwise is all part of the fun! However, since the
winner of a contest never gets to control the loser’s actions, you
have options you normally wouldn’t:

++ If you find yourself persuaded, you’re totally allowed to

use Evil Genie Logic to twist your opponent’s words and
intentions. You are a fairy, after all, and those stories don’t
come from nowhere. When you convince a fairy to help you
out, it would often be better if you hadn’t!

++ Alternatively, you can voluntarily take a Temporary Quirk

reflecting the change in attitude that your opponent has
inspired in you. This works like any other Temporary Quirk,
and doesn’t compel any particular action, though it can be
used against you in future contests. This is normally the
only situation where the loser of a contest gets to choose the
Temporary Quirk she takes.

NPCs receive no special protection against being persuaded in

contests, and the GM should try to respect your intentions unless
you’re trying to get the NPC in question to do something really
out of character.

To be absolutely clear, these rules are meant to cover

situations where a contest is being used to persuade you
of something that your character would normally object
to. If another player is trying to use a contest to make your
character do something that you, as a player, are genuinely
uncomfortable with, don’t use these rules. Ask for a time-out
and explain that what they’re asking for isn’t cool with you.
Given Costume Fairy Adventures’ PG rating, we don’t expect
this scenario to come up very often, but everybody’s comfort
zones are different. Game rules cannot and should not dictate
where your boundaries lie.

82
Contests
 For Players
While swashbuckling and gninjitsu make for compelling
gaming, the GM is eventually forced to acknowledge that
Calla has been on a disco rampage all this time. She has
left nobles, merchants and commoners boogieing in her wake, and
has turned at last on poor Pooka.
She finds the Goblin helping herself to the luxuries of a fine manor,
impersonating the young heir to the estate despite being half her
size. Calla’s player declares she’ll attempt to persuade Pooka to
dance by busting out some enticingly funky moves along with a
beckoning finger.
Pooka does not want a bar of this and attempts to order “her”
servants to eject the troublemaker. But out-of-character her player
has no problem with it as the result of a contest, and is happy to
roll it out.
Both players choose their Facets and assemble their dice (Calla’s
player tagging Pooka’s “Disarming” Personal Quirk, arguing
the assertive ordering about of servants doesn’t fit the quiet and
gentle Goblin). Since disco is apparently an unstoppable force
at this group’s table, Calla rolls a Result of 4 to Pooka’s 3 and is
victorious.
Calla’s player narrates Pooka being grudgingly persuaded by
her hypnotic hustle, but can’t narrate how Pooka acts on that
persuasion. Pooka’s player is obliged to make good on the
persuasion, but is free to fulfil it as she pleases.
As such, Pooka locks herself in a store-room under the stairs and
dances her little heart out in the dark.

83
Contests
 Multi-way Contests & Ganging Up
It’s entirely possible for a contest to involve more
than two characters. We recommend a couple of
approaches to help keep things simple:

++ If it looks like there are two “sides” to the

contest, have each side nominate a leader to
actually make the roll. The other characters
on each side can contribute dice using the
Assistance 70 Assistance rules for tests. Roll things out as
though it was a one-on-one contest between
the two leaders. The leader of the winning
side gets to narrate the outcome, while the
leader of the losing side gets to decide which
character on her side takes the Stress.

++ If there are more than two sides, try to reduce

the number of characters acting as much as
possible using the previous rule, then just have
everyone who’s left roll and hope for the best!
Every side or character who doesn’t win the
contest takes Stress equal to the winner’s
Result; if there’s a tie for the highest Result,
then everybody suffers as though the contest
had been a tie.

If you want to handle things in more detail, you

Fairy Free- 212 can talk to your group about using the Fairy Free-
For-Alls
For-Alls Plugin, which is specially designed for
this type of contest.

84
 As the session draws to a close, the fairies are reunited
but trapped on the grand Capitol Bridge between
swashbucklers, gninjas and disco hordes. It’s an exciting
scene, but also a clash of genres the GM isn’t sure how to resolve.
“Can we please have a dance-off?” says Calla’s player.
“PLEASE? I’ll bake a cake for next session.”
The GM requires no further convincing and capitulates to the
disco juggernaut. She decides that it will be a three-way contest
between the heroic explorer, the Gninja Princess and Calla, each
serving as the leader of her own group. The winner narrates the
end of the session.
The explorer gains Assistance from her crew in the form of their

For Players
“Scurvy Dogs” Quirk. The gninjas help their Princess by not
helping, allowing her to claim Assistance from their “Law of
Inverse Gninja Strength” Quirk.
Calla tags “I Told You So” from Letty (she told them disco was the
future!), “Rich Fantasy Life” from Mabby (who hasn’t dreamed
of a pirates vs gninja dance-off?), “The Better Part of Valour”
from Pooka (this is so much safer than a scuffle), “I Have a Plan”
from Robin (the plan is disco) and “Hot-blooded” from Red for
hot-blooded funk. With her own Quirks and a M , she assembles
a terrifying nine dice.
The bones are rolled; the explorer gains a 3, the Gninja Princess
an unlucky 2, and Calla rolls a 4 (multiple 4s).
Disco reigns. The explorer, her crew and all the gninjas take
4S from Calla’s winning Result. Then Calla’s player closes out
the session by narrating the boogie that remade a nation in disco.

85
 Stress &
Temporary Quirks
Fairies are resilient creatures. In spite of her small size, the average
fairy is much tougher than the average human. Being made more of
magic than matter, fairies don’t really bleed or get injured (unless
it would be funny or dramatically appropriate), and even getting
blown up or squished flat isn’t that big a deal.
Being functionally immortal doesn’t mean that nothing bad can
happen to you, though – even fairies have their limits! In game
terms, these limits are reflected by two traits: Stress and Temporary
Quirks.

Stress
Every fairy has a trait called Stress Limit. This represents your
ability to shrug off bad stuff. You made a note of your Stress Limit
when creating your character; unless you have a Power that says
otherwise, a typical fairy’s Stress Limit is 10. Physical, mental,
and emotional hardships can all inflict Stress. Stress points add up
until they exceed your Stress Limit, at which point you Stress Out.

86
Suffering Stress
Stress can come from two sources: failing a test, or 67 Tests
losing a contest. When you fail a test, you suffer as
much Stress as the GM thinks is appropriate; this 75 Contests
can range from one point to 1d6 or more. When
you lose a contest, you suffer Stress equal to the
winner’s Result.
Stress suffered (or recovered, as outlined on the
next page) will sometimes be shorthanded with the
following icon: S . For example, 1d6 S means
“roll one die and suffer (or remove) that much
Stress”. This icon always refers to points of Stress
added to or removed from your current total; other

For Players
terms that contain the word “Stress”, like “Stress
Limit”, will always be written out in full.
Some Powers or other special effects can modify 101 Powers
the amount of S received in a particular situation.
Amounts like this will be written using a plus or
minus sign, like +2 S or −1 S . There has to be
at least some Stress for these effects to modify – a
Power that boosts the amount of Stress you inflict
doesn’t help you if you didn’t inflict any Stress in
the first place!

Because we know somebody is going to ask: a special

effect that reduces the amount of Stress you suffer from
a particular threat cannot reduce the amount below 0.

Letty and Robin have been fiercely debating how to

approach the famously testy Goat Queen of Herneswood,
and their players decide to resolve it with a contest. Letty
S
wins with a Result of 3, so Robin suffers 3 . Letty is wearing the
Gothic Dress, which has a Power that enables her cutting remark
S
to inflict a further 2 , bringing Robin up to a total of 5 . S
“The first time a plan of yours actually works, Robin dear, we’ll
have a parade and erect a statue in your honour. But nothing
you’ve suggested today will trouble the stonemasons I’m afraid…”
Robin’s player decides to roleplay her reaction as tearing up and
running away from that frightful Letty: while it’s true, it’s not nice!

87
Stress & Temporary Quirks
 Removing Stress
Your current Stress can go down as well as up. There are two ways
of recovering Stress that are open to everybody:
++ You can recover 1d6 S by eating something. The “something”
in question has to be food, and the amount must be at least
equivalent to a full-sized meal for a human. You can eat that
much food quickly enough that only one roll is allowed to try
and stop you. As a creature of magic, you don’t actually need
much food to sustain you, but you can really pack it away
when you’re so inclined!
++ You can remove all Swith a few hours of R&R. A good
night’s sleep always qualifies, as might a hot bath, a large
feast, etc.
Powers can give you additional ways of recovering Stress, so be
sure to read your Costume Cards carefully.

Fleeing from her awful Elf “friend”, Robin blunders

into the larder of a human cheese artisan. Sobbing
uncontrollably, she comforts her wounded heart by
devouring every piece of cheese within reach.
For a fairy, this is a healthy and appropriate way of dealing with
emotional wear-and-tear. Robin’s player rolls 1d6 to see how much
S S
she recovers, and scores a lucky 6. This removes all of the 5
inflicted by Letty, bringing her down to 0 S . If she’d had 6 or
more S S
a full 6 would have been removed, but as it is the
extra point has no effect other than making Robin feel better.

88
Stress & Temporary Quirks
Stressing Out
When your current Stress exceeds your Stress
Limit, you Stress Out. This means three things:

1. You discard your current Costume (i.e., the

Costume you’re wearing right now).

2. Your current Stress is reduced to 0.

3. You go on an enforced Break. This follows 94 Taking a Break

all the usual rules for Breaks, so you can
Scrounge, change Costumes, or anything 107 Scrounging
else you could normally do on a Break while Getting into
you’re waiting to get back into the game. 109
Costume

For Players
When you Stress Out, narrate your exit in a way that’s appropriate
for whatever took you out. You might get squished flat, storm off
in a huff, or just sit down and cry. If in doubt, you can always
explode in a cloud of multicoloured glitter – fairies are notoriously
unstable! (Don’t worry; you’ll get better as soon as you get bored
with not existing.) This is an exception to the rule that the winner
of a contest has full narrative control: a fairy’s player always gets to
narrate how she goes out. The contest’s winner may, however, veto
anything that would negate whatever she was trying to accomplish.

Letty’s player is quite fond of coming up with cutting

remarks, and has continued to use the Gothic Dress’
Power all session. As a result, she’s inflicted a tremendous
amount of S on… everybody… and taken 8 S in return.
She’s considering seeking out a pie, when Robin appears and rolls
a gigantic wheel of cheese downhill at her – initiating a scuffle
(her player reasons Letty can eat the cheese and heal up if she
S
wins, so it’s “fair”). Robin wins, and Letty suffers 4 , taking her
S
to 12 , over her Stress Limit of 10. She Stresses Out.
Letty’s player asks if she could, in accordance with Elven dignity,
imperiously explode before the cheese reaches her rather than
suffer the humiliation of being squished. The GM and Robin’s
player graciously grant her request.
The Gothic Dress is discarded, much to Letty’s player’s dismay.
She removes all S from Letty, and then heads off to the kitchen
to prepare more snacks during Letty’s Break while everyone else
gets on with the game. By the time she’s made tea and cut some
more cake Letty should be able to rejoin the game.

89
Stress & Temporary Quirks
 Temporary Quirks
On top of Stress, which serves as an abstract measure of how
frazzled you are, you can also pick up Temporary Quirks. These
are specific traits gained as a result of things that happen to you
in the game. Being dunked in a lake might make you “Soaking
Wet”, while drinking soda pop could cause you to become “Sugar
Buzzed”, for example.

Remember, kids: always drink soda pop responsibly!

Gaining Temporary Quirks

As with Stress, there are a few common ways of gaining a
Temporary Quirk:

++ When you fail a test, the GM can give you a Temporary Quirk
in addition to any Stress or other effects.

++ When you lose a contest, the winner can give you a Temporary
Quirk. This has to make sense in terms of the winner’s
narration of her victory. As with failing a test, this happens in
addition to any Stress you suffer.

++ Some Powers can cause you to acquire a Temporary Quirk.

Assuming the Power works, this is automatic – you don’t get
to make a test to refuse the Quirk!

++ Certain actions on your part may cause you to acquire a

Temporary Quirk. As above, there’s no option to refuse these,
though the GM should always warn you when you’re about to
do something that would make you pick up a Quirk.

Later, while defending the Goat Queen’s precious

collection of Curse Dolls, Robin unwisely uses her
cheese wheel as a bludgeoning weapon against a Volcano
Marmot. When she loses the scuffle, the GM decides that the
cheese is instantly melted, and Robin gains the Temporary Quirk
“Fondue’d” in addition to the S she suffered.

90
Stress & Temporary Quirks
Losing Temporary Quirks
As the name suggests, Temporary Quirks go away
after a while. This is mostly a matter of what makes
sense narratively: “Soaking Wet” will dry out in
short order, while “Covered in Garbage” might
need a bath to get rid of it, and “Sugar Buzzed”
goes away on its own after your next Break.
94 Taking a Break
If no other method of recovery suggests itself,
any circumstance or effect that would allow you
to recover at least 3 Stress may instead allow you
to remove one Temporary Quirk. If the Stress
recovery is rated in dice, you have to actually roll
a 3 or better to get rid of a Temporary Quirk.

For Players
A Temporary Quirk might also “fall off” because
you have too many of them already – we’ll cover
this a little later on.

“Fondue’d” represents a thick coating of sticky molten

cheese – it’s not easy to be rid of! A bath, scrubbing brush
and lots of soap are suggested, but the fairies have already
squandered a great deal of time, and would prefer a quicker
solution to avoid enraging the Goat Queen further.
Luckily, Letty’s player is in a generous mood with a plate full of
cake and a cup full of tea, and Letty is now wearing the Maid’s
Uniform. She spends 1 M and uses the Costume’s Power to
instantly and discreetly remove the cheesy mess and its attendant
Quirk, with a genuinely kind smile. All is forgiven?

91
Stress & Temporary Quirks
 Using Temporary Quirks
While you have them, Temporary Quirks work just
like regular Quirks. You can tag them for extra dice
on your rolls – and your opponent in a contest can
tag your Temporary Quirks for extra dice to use
Using Quirks 64 against you! Just like any other kind of Quirk,
you can tag at most one Temporary Quirk on any
given roll.
Temporary Quirks aren’t always bad. Sometimes
they can be just what you need to get out of a jam.
Just remember that since recovery from Temporary
Quirks is partly up to the GM, your helpful Quirk
may go away at the worst possible moment.
Costumes 105 Costumes are a better solution when you need a
reliable Quirk!

Earlier, during her snarky Gothic Dress rampage, Letty

acquired the “So Many Enemies” Temporary Quirk.
While she’s managed to patch things up with Robin, she
hasn’t appeased the humans, goats, gnomes, giant mantises and
flying crocodiles who suffered from her razor tongue earlier; even
her post-explosion Break hasn’t removed the Quirk.
Most of those enemies have now arrived to menace Letty and
anyone near her. She tries to lure the flying crocodiles into the
thick woods of the Queen’s Horns, but the GM tags “So Many
Enemies”, claiming that the gnomes on her flank slow her down
and make matters easier for the crocodiles. Letty’s player counters
by tagging “So Many Enemies” herself, arguing the gnomes are
themselves blocked by irate goats seeking to trample her.

92
Stress & Temporary Quirks
Limits on Temporary Quirks
Unless you have a Power that says otherwise, you can have at most
three Temporary Quirks at a time. If you ever end up with more,
the one that the GM thinks is least interesting “falls off”. This can
include a Temporary Quirk you just gained, so you can’t count
on picking up a new, harmless Quirk to push a more troublesome
one off the list!

The “So Many Enemies” Quirk is causing the fairies

too many problems, and the players convince themselves
overflowing Letty’s Temporary Quirk limit is the way to get
rid of it. With a combination of Wishful Thinking, Curse Dolls and

For Players
the Grand Goat Couturier they’ve managed to stick Letty with
“Fabulous Goat Mask” and “Bane of the Cheesemakers” – one
more to go!
Sadly the GM thinks “So Many Enemies” is more interesting than
their next attempts, “Herneswood Hero” (from an impromptu
medal ceremony) and “Lady of the Goat Lake” (in which Letty
distributed swords to the nonplussed Goat Court), both of which
fall off straight away, keeping the original three intact. It’s
only when Pooka’s gentle political negotiations tag Letty with
“Betrothed to the Goat Princess” that the GM finally relents,
allowing it to replace “So Many Enemies”, to everyone’s relief.

93
 Breaks &
Intermissions
Costume Fairy Adventures doesn’t have a formal framework of turns
and scenes. Instead, it has something called Breaks. Basically, any
time you’re “off camera” for a bit, you’re on a Break.

Taking a Break
A Break can happen in several situations:

++ First, if you’re actually away from the table (in a face-to-face

game) or away from the keyboard (in a chat room game), that
counts as a Break.

++ Secondly, if you’re not away from the game, but your

character isn’t present or isn’t participating for a while, you
can count that as a Break. You can even retroactively declare
that you were on a Break if you belatedly realise that you
haven’t said or done anything in-game for a bit. Maybe your
fairy wandered off when no-one was looking?

++ Finally, if you’re playing via forum or email, long delays

between actions are normal, so you should instead work out
with your group how many posts or messages have to pass
before it counts as a Break.

Formally, a Break in a face-to-face or chat room

game is five minutes long. In practice, it’s however
long it takes you to hit the restroom, refresh your
snacks, or just stretch your legs for a bit. If you’re
on an enforced Break for some reason – typically
Stressing Out 89 because you Stressed Out – you might as well
take the chance to do one or all of the above. In
a forum or email game, we recommend a Break
length of five posts or messages, though this will
obviously vary depending on how much stuff goes
on in a typical message!

94
Breaks & Intermissions
 If you do get up from the table or go AFK while on a
Break, we recommend that you don’t ask for an update
when you get back. Blundering into a scene without the
slightest clue what’s going on is both more in-character and
more fun!

The fairies are on the Avelice space station, planning to

steal the new flagship Excelsior for poorly thought-out
and largely forgotten reasons. Calla and Robin are having

For Players
an animated conversation with the station’s AI, trying to convince
her that she has gravity the wrong way around and should reverse
it post-haste. The GM is having a lot of fun roleplaying the AI, so
she keeps the back-and-forth going for some time.
Letty’s player takes this opportunity to excuse herself and go to
the bathroom. Red’s player is dying for another cuppa and gets
up to put the kettle on. So both Letty and Red are considered to be
on Break. By the time their players get back, Pooka and Mabby’s
players realise they haven’t said anything for five minutes and
retroactively declare their characters were on Break too.

95
Breaks & Intermissions
 Doing Stuff on a Break
By definition, you’re not making any rolls or
narrating any actions while you’re on a Break; if
you were, it wouldn’t be a Break to begin with!
That said, there are a few “off-screen” actions
you’re specifically allowed to take while on a
Break:

Scrounging 107 ++ You can Scrounge for a new Costume.

Getting into 109 ++ You can change into a different Costume,
Costume
including a Costume you just gained by
Scrounging.
Removing 88 ++ You can eat food to recover Stress, provided
Stress
that the food is unguarded and within easy
reach. (i.e., you can’t eat on a Break if you’d
need to make a roll to obtain the food.)

You can do any or all of these things on any Break,

including a retroactive Break or an enforced
Stressing Out 89 Break. See the Costumes section for more details
on Costume-related actions.

So what were Letty, Red, Pooka and Mabby doing during

Calla and Robin’s chatterbox display?
Red had (as usual…) accumulated a great deal of Stress, and
had earlier established that her pockets were filled with fistfuls
of cake acquired during the incident with the catering ship. She
spends the Break eating her cake on the cold floor of the server
S
room, restoring 1d6 .
Letty, Pooka and Mabby’s players all want to Scrounge, and
conclude between them that they ransacked the AI core’s souvenir
store. The GM isn’t sure the AI core should have a souvenir store,
but it’s funny enough to go with. Letty and Pooka Scrounge up the
Mascot Suit and Space-Age Armour respectively, and opt to change
into them. Mabby Scrounges up the Old Fedora, but elects to keep
her Deely-Boppers on until she can think of enough noir puns.

96
Breaks & Intermissions
 As an optional rule, you can also provide Assistance
while on a Break. Stick around and comment on what
other players are doing; whenever you come up with a
particularly good zinger, you can lend one of your Personal
Quirk dice to the target of your quip. This can be a good way to
let everybody participate even while Stressed Out. Just make
sure that you check with your group first – some will prefer a
firmer fourth wall than this rule allows!

Intermissions

For Players
An Intermission is when everybody is on a Break
at the same time. Usually, this happens when
you move from one Location to another, unless 156 Locations
the Locations are so close together that no real
time elapses during the trip – there’s no space
for an Intermission to happen if your destination
is literally the next room, for example. An
Intermission can also happen when the GM calls
for a time-skip or otherwise glosses over a stretch
of time.
An Intermission counts as a Break for everyone
involved, and follows all the usual rules for Breaks.

While the humans are dealing with the chaos of up and

down abruptly switching places, the fairies manage
to sneak onto the bridge of the Excelsior and conceal
themselves under chairs, inside maintenance hatches and by
impersonating the Admiral’s parrot. Robin’s plan is to wait until
the hangar doors are opened for the flagship’s launch ceremony,
then simply go for a joyride.
The GM feels this plan will go horribly wrong long before the
launch ceremony, but either way the fairies will have some time
undisturbed on the bridge. She declares an Intermission (during
which most of the fairies choose to eat food they’d picked up
previously), and then skips ahead to the well-meaning AI directing
the Admiral, Professor and the Senator to the bridge to throw a
surprise birthday party for Calla.

97
Breaks & Intermissions
 Magic
Fairy magic is very powerful. Thankfully, fairies aren’t the most
self-aware creatures. Most fairies don’t even realise that they’re
using magic – they just think they’re really, really lucky. Even
those who do have an inkling of their true power typically don’t
understand how they do it – though that doesn’t stop some of them
from pretending to be experts!

Magic Points and the Magic Pool

Every fairy has an individual trait called a Magic
Pool. You start each session with three points of
Magic in your Magic Pool. You can’t go below
zero, but there’s no upper limit on the number of
points you can accumulate.
“Magic points” will sometimes be abbreviated
with the following icon: M . You’ll usually see
Powers 101 this icon in the description of a Power to tell you
how much it costs to use (if anything).

98
Magic
Gaining Magic
You gain a point of Magic every time you roll a 6 on
a die in a test or contest. If you get multiple 6s on a
single roll, that means multiple points of Magic. The
GM also receives Trouble Dice equal to the number 163 Trouble
of Magic points you gained. Both of these effects
happen regardless of success or failure. Some Powers
may offer other ways of gaining Magic.

Robin is trying to pass the exam to become Chief

Magistrate of the Phoenix province by scribbling
expressive pictures in answer to its rigorous scholarly
questions. Using the Cardboard Robot’s “Filled with Useful

For Players
Devices” Power, along with a handful of Quirks, including
Assistance from Mabby’s “Rich Fantasy Life” Quirk, she’s
assembled six dice. Her player rolls against Robin’s Craft of 4,
getting 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6.
Robin’s player is overjoyed at earning 5 Mfrom all those 6s
on top of her Result of 4. The other players are not so happy, as
the GM earns 5 T in kind, almost as dangerous as giving Robin
political power in the first place.
Regretting her decision to help the new Chief Magistrate, Mabby
tries to pass it off as an unavoidable necessity to the city’s gossips
over tea. After tagging a collection of Quirks, she has four dice,
which she rolls against her Grace of 4. She gets 1, 3, 6, 6 for a
Result of 3. The GM gains 2 T for her 6s, while the Sprite Kind
Power “Charmed Life” grants Mabby a bonus M for rolling one or
more 6s, for a total of 3M . The GM is cackling to herself over her
growing windfall, but Mabby’s player still feels she came out ahead.

We recommend using small candies, like M&Ms or jelly

beans, to represent Magic points. In face-to-face games,
you can keep a big bowl of them in the middle of the table,
and grab one every time you gain a Magic point. When you
spend the point, you get to eat the candy!
In chat-based games, you’ll have to provide your own Magic
tokens. Using tokens is a good idea even in chat-based games
for the tactile element they add. The GM will just have to take
it on the honour system that nobody is snacking on their Magic
tokens when not spending Magic.

99
Magic
 Spending Magic
There are four major ways to spend Magic: adding dice, activating
Powers, performing Quick Changes, and Wishful Thinking.

Adding Dice
Tests 67 When you roll for a test or contest, you can spend
a point of Magic to add a die to the roll. You have
Contests 75 to decide whether to do this before rolling, and can
“buy” at most one die per roll in this way.

Conquering Axe Princess was obliged to put down her

cup of priceless Silver Plum tea to offer furious kung-fu
to a gang of ruffians. Letty considers the tea rightfully hers
by virtue of her wanting it; her player tells the GM she’ll weave
her way through the increasingly demolished teahouse and drink
the cup dry. The GM asks her to test her Grace.
Letty’s Space-Age Armour doesn’t offer any useful Quirks for this
situation, so after tagging her “Self-important” Personal Quirk
she only has one extra die to add to her starting die, for a total of
two. Not wanting to taste the Conquering Axe, she pays 1 M to
gain a third die. She rolls against her Grace of 3, getting 2, 4, 5
for a Result of 2. Letty succeeds and drains the hero’s cup.

Activating Powers
Some Powers cost Magic to activate. See the
Powers 101 Powers section for details and examples.

Performing Quick Changes

By spending a point of Magic, you can instantly
change into another Costume – even mid-roll! See
Costumes 105 the Costumes section for more information.

Wishful Thinking
By spending three points of Magic, you can indulge
Wishful
Thinking 112 in Wishful Thinking, the greatest expression of
fairy magic. This is a bit more involved than other
uses of Magic, so it has a section all to itself.

100
Magic
 Powers
Powers are special rules-based tricks that you can 29 Kinds
perform by virtue of your Kind, your Costumes,
105 Costumes
or for some other reason.

What Do Powers Do?

Powers usually take the form of special exceptions to the rules that
apply only to you. They might allow you to add or remove dice

For Players
from pools you aren’t normally allowed to touch, offer special
ways of removing Stress or gaining Magic, or adjust the normal
sequence of events when rolling for tests or contests.

Reading Powers
Some Powers use special icons to help keep things short and sweet.
These icons are as follows:

Magic This icon means “Magic point”. Usually, it tells you

98 the cost of activating a Power. If there’s no number
beside it, that means one Magic point. Some Powers
modify the cost of something else; this can’t reduce
a Magic cost below 0.

This icon means “Stress” – as in Stress suffered

or removed. “Restore” or “recover” means reduce
Stress the target’s Stress by the indicated amount, while
86 “suffer” or “inflict” means increase it. When you
see a plus or minus sign – e.g., +2 S – that means
a modifier to something else that inflicts or removes
Stress. Stress modifiers can’t make someone suffer
Stress in a situation that wouldn’t normally inflict
Stress, and they can’t reduce Stress suffered below 0.

Trouble This icon means “Trouble”. Some Powers add

163 dice to the GM’s Trouble Pool, either as a cost
for activating the Power, or as one of the potential
results. If no number appears beside the icon, that
means one Trouble Die.

101
Powers
 Resolving Conflicts
Sometimes, Powers might conflict with each other, or with the
game’s regular rules. If you run into a situation like this, use the
following guidelines to sort it out:

++ A Costume Power has higher priority than a

Kinds 29
Kind Power, both Costume and Kind Powers
Locations 156 have higher priority than a Location Power,
and all three have priority over regular rules.

++ A Power from a Costume that someone is

currently wearing has priority over a Power
from a Costume that’s merely being held onto.
(Note: A Costume’s Powers don’t apply when
it’s not being worn unless they say they do.)

++ If two currently worn Costumes have Powers

whose effects are totally contradictory, and
nobody can agree on a solution, flip a coin to
determine which one takes precedence. (Or, if
you don’t have a coin, roll a die and use odds
or evens as the decider.)

102
Powers
 For Players
A Pixie’s “Resilient” Power is always in effect, permanently
raising her Stress Limit by 5. Red never needs to do
anything special to be hardier than her friends.
A Brownie’s “Instant Wardrobe” Power needs to be explicitly
used, allowing the Brownie to change Costumes without needing
a Break if she’s not actively rolling for something. If Calla wants
to whip on a new Costume before sneaking into the patisserie, her
player needs to tell the GM that she’s using the Power.
The Bee Suit’s “For the Swarm” Power has a cost to use. It lets
its wearer spend 1 M to summon a swarm of duplicates of herself
for one roll. If Mabby wants a chorus-line to help her perform a
birthday dance for the World Toad, her player will need to spend
1M and tell the GM she’s using this Power.
The Pot Lid Armour’s “Ablation” Power reacts to the events of
play. Its wearer may discard it and ignore a physical threat that
would otherwise make her Stress Out. If Letty is hit by a literal
ton of feathers while sneaking through the Crystal Lily Palace’s
Pillow Room, her player can tell the GM she’s using this Power
and discard the Costume to save herself.
The Magical Girl Dress’ “Transformation Sequence” Power
works when the Costume is held. It allows its wearer to Quick
Change into it for free. If Pooka is being interviewed on a news
program while holding the Magical Girl Dress, she can use
“Transformation Sequence” and change genres for the audience.

103
Powers
 Costumes
Playing dress-up is no game! For a fairy, there’s not a whole lot
of difference between dressing as a thing and being that thing.
Nobody’s quite sure how it works; maybe you just don’t realise
that it shouldn’t!
Putting on a Costume has two effects. First, you gain the skills
and some of the personality of whatever you’re dressed as. If you
put on goggles and overalls, for example, you’ll know how to fix
mechanical devices. You don’t have to learn it – you just know.

For Players
If you change Costumes, that skill goes away. You can remember
that you had it, but it’s no longer in your nature.
Second, your magic naturally channels itself through your
Costume. Some Costumes let you spend Magic in new ways, while
others give you special tricks that don’t cost any Magic.

The Costume Deck

Costume Fairy Adventures represents Costumes using Costume
Cards, drawn from a deck. Everything you need to know about
a Costume is on its Costume Card. If you’re playing online, or
otherwise can’t use a physical deck, each card also has a number
on its bottom-right corner so you can use a d666 roll to “draw” a
card – just re-roll if you get one that’s already in play!

Running Out of Costumes

If the Costume Deck runs out of cards, your GM will re-shuffle
the discard pile into a new deck. If you’re rolling for Costumes,
don’t bother keeping track of discards; you can roll any Costume
that isn’t currently being worn or held by someone else.

The Core Costume Deck only has 108 Costumes, so the

numbering stops at 366. Halve the “hundreds” die on
your d666 roll (rounding up) to roll for a Costume using
just the core deck. Future supplements will expand the deck
to 216 cards, letting you use the full range of the d666.

105
Costumes
 Choosing Your Starting Costumes
Normally, you’ll randomly select three cards from
the Costume Deck at the start of a session (drawn
or rolled). You may then discard and redraw any,
all or none of them; if you do, you have to stick
with whatever comes up on the second draw.
Also, check with your GM before picking
Playsets 188 Costumes. Especially if you’re using a Playset,
some Costumes may not be available in the initial
drawing, or there may be special rules for which
Costumes you can start with.
Once you’ve determined starting Costumes, pick
one that you’ll be wearing when the game begins.

The in-game existence of Costume Cards is ambiguous.

Mentioning or messing with them in character is, at the
very least, leaning on the fourth wall – but then, fairies
tend to give the fourth wall a hard time just by existing!

It’s the start of a new session, and the GM has pitched

the group on the story of the fairies trying to run a stall
at the bustling and bizarre Widdershins Market, winding
between the subway lines of the capital city. Each player draws
her three starting Costume Cards.
Calla’s player gets the Pajamas, Tie-Dyed Shirt and Evil Overlord
Armour. She thinks the Pajamas’ S recovery Power is useful, but
doesn’t feel like having Calla out in her jammies in a busy market,
so she discards them. Likewise, Tie-Dyed Shirt’s Quirks look very
helpful, but she’s not sure its scuffle-preventing Power will be
important in a game likely to involve more wheeling, dealing and
flim-flam than fairy fisticuffs, so she discards that too. But she
guesses the GM might try to keep the fairies too busy to respond
to all the little jobs essential for a successful market stall, so she
keeps the Evil Overlord Armour with its minion-generating Power.
Having discarded two Costume Cards, Calla’s player must draw
back up to three, and is stuck with whatever she gets. She draws
the Pot Lid Armour (good in an emergency) and the Shopkeeper’s
Apron (perfect!).

106
Costumes
Gaining Costumes During Play
The most common way of gaining Costumes during play is
Scrounging. Just tell the GM that you’re going to search for a
new Costume, and make a roll. This is usually going to be a test,
unless there’s an NPC or Hazard around that might interfere. If you
succeed, draw a new Costume from the deck. Failing a Scrounging
roll has the usual consequences for a failed test.

Scrounging and Breaks

You can also Scrounge while on a Break. You can 94 Taking a Break
Scrounge a maximum of once per Break, but you
don’t need to make a test – it just automatically
succeeds. You can change Costumes during 109 Getting into

For Players
Costume
the same Break that you Scrounged, including a
Costume you just acquired.

Special Scrounging Locations

Some Locations will have special rules for 156 Locations
Scrounging. Be sure to check with the GM – this
might let you automatically acquire certain Costumes
without a roll even if you’re not on a Break.

Pooka has finagled her way into watching over a

Necromancer’s stall while she chases down a shoplifting
Pixie (yes, Red). Pooka’s player isn’t entirely happy with
her current selection of Costume Cards, so she tells the GM she’d
like to Scrounge with Focus (Pooka’s best Facet). She emphasises
how patiently and carefully the Goblin drinks in every detail of the
stall, looking for something she can bolt off with at the last moment.
The GM agrees, and Pooka’s player tests her Focus, succeeding.
The GM has already noted that the first fairy to Scrounge at the
Necromancer’s stall will receive the Vampire Makeup, so she
hands it over rather than drawing a random Costume Card.
Meanwhile, Red has been Stressed Out by the Necromancer
during a spectacular confrontation at the Troll Barbecue Pit,
and is on an enforced Break. She lost her last Costume (Red has
done a lot of exploding this session), and must Scrounge. Because
she’s on a Break, she succeeds automatically without a test, and
her player draws a random Costume Card, getting the Cunning
Disguise. When she reforms after her Break, its “Incognito”
Power will be very helpful in escaping any further consequences
of her earlier outrages.

107
Costumes
 Discarding and Redrawing
Sometimes you may be instructed to discard your current Costume.
This doesn’t automatically mean that you get to draw a new one
– at least, not right away. Likewise, if you’re told to draw a new
Costume, you don’t need to discard any of your current ones unless
you’re already at your limit for held Costumes. Unless the GM tells
you otherwise, this limit is three.

Remember that the enforced time-out after Stressing

Out counts as a Break. You should never end up
entering the game with zero Costumes; even if you
discarded your last Costume due to Stressing Out, you can
use the subsequent Break to automatically Scrounge for a
new one.

Mabby has made friends with a cheerful octopus tailor

in an ambulatory brine tank, who generously stitches up
a tiny Stylish Tux suitable for a Queen. Mabby is wearing
the Valkyrie Armour and holding the Tattered Cloak and Clown
Suit, so she must discard one Costume Card to make room for the
gift. Her player finds clowns horrifying, and gladly discards the
Clown Suit in favour of the Stylish Tux.
Meanwhile, Robin has given up her Witch’s Hat as security on a
ridiculous reinsurance scheme targeting the Elemental Unions.
She’ll have to Scrounge if she wants to replace it, especially since
she’s planning on betraying the elementals to the gnomes and isn’t
likely to get it back.

108
Getting into Costume
You’ll always start out wearing a Costume. If you need to change
mid-session (and you will!), there are two ways to do it:

++ Any time you’re on a Break, you can change into any Costume
you’re holding. This includes changing into a Costume you
Scrounged for in that same Break. If you end up on a Break
with no Costume (e.g., because you Stressed Out), you must
choose a Costume before returning to play.

++ At any other time, you can pay 1 M

to instantly change
Costumes. This is called a Quick Change. Quick Changing
takes no time at all – you can even do it mid-roll, if you
have M to spend.

For Players
Letty’s player has been away fetching cake, so Letty is
on Break. When she returns, she declares that Letty has
changed from the Leather Jerkin she was wearing into the
Chef’s Smock she was holding. She uses the Smock’s “Comfort
Food” Power to produce cake in-game to go with the real cake,
because there is no such thing as enough cake.
Meanwhile, Calla is playing pudding chess with a rakshasa
princess, with ownership of an exquisite Pumpkin Weaving
Spider on the line. As it becomes clear that Calla is going to win,
the GM has the treacherous Princess attempt to eat her whole.
They scuffle, and the rakshasa wins with a Result of 5.
Thankfully Calla is still holding the Pot Lid Armour she drew at
the start of the game. She spends 1 M to Quick Change into it,
S
and its “Heavy Metal” Power reduces the 5 she would have
S
suffered from the Princess’ Result to 4 .

109
 Costume Effects
When you don a Costume, it has two effects:

++ Each Costume comes with two Costume

Quirks 46 Quirks. These work just like your Personal
Quirks, and stack with them; i.e., you can use
both a Personal Quirk and a Costume Quirk
on the same roll.

++ Each Costume also comes with one or more

Powers 101 Costume Powers. These work just like any
other Power, and are considered to be part
of your character’s traits as long as you’re
wearing the Costume.

Normally, a Costume’s effects only apply while

you’re actually wearing it, but some Costumes have
Powers that take effect simply from holding them.
Powers of this kind will explicitly say that they
work even when the Costume isn’t being worn.

110
 The session is drawing towards a close, and Red’s player
realises nobody has been tending the stall for the last two
hours of play. Since the premise was to turn a profit and not
simply unleash fairy chaos on the Widdershins Market, she decides
to sell the stall itself as a franchise package. Finding a credulous
looking bansidhe with a good spruiking voice, Red goes for the
hard sell in the hopes of using her high Moxie.
The GM agrees, deciding it’ll be a contest in which the bansidhe
rolls against her Focus. She spends 1 T and tags the bansidhe’s

For Players
“Just Browsing” Quirk for two extra dice. Red is still wearing the
Cunning Disguise, so its Quirks are available in addition to her
Personal Quirks. She tags her “Hot-blooded” Personal Quirk and
the Costume’s “Trustworthy” Quirk for an additional two dice,
and spends 1 M for a third.
Red wins the contest with a Result of 4 to the bansidhe’s 3, selling
the stall to its lucky new owner and rescuing the fairies’ profits
for the day.
Meanwhile, Robin is caught up in the implosion of her reinsurance-
and-treachery scheme, and Lady Widdershins’ bunyip enforcers
are at the head of a phalanx of very angry people scouring the
market for her. Robin is high on S , low on M , and not liking
the look of the Moxie 5 on the bunyips. She’s not terribly likely to
get out of this with dice alone… but she’s holding a Costume with
a relevant Power.
The Angelic Dress has a Costume Power called “Aura of
Innocence”, which prevents the wearer from being blamed for
anything. Robin’s player spends 1 M to Quick Change Robin
into the Costume, then narrates her flitting up to the bunyips and
their enraged entourage, smiling sweetly and blaming Letty for
everything.
Normally the GM would make such outrageous cheek a difficult
contest, but the Costume Power automatically protects Robin from
suffering the blame for her misdeeds without need for a roll. It
doesn’t say anything about directing where that blame goes, so
the GM offers to make it a contest anyway if she’s serious about
pinning it all on Letty. Robin’s player looks at her Stotal, feels
the indignant glare coming from Letty’s player, and elects not to
push her luck.

111
Costumes
 Wishful Thinking
When it comes to fairy magic, Wishful Thinking is the real deal:
the ability to make stuff happen just by wanting it to. Most fairies
don’t even realise they’re doing it, and those who do generally
don’t understand how it works, but it’s still amazingly powerful.

Indulging in Wishful Thinking

Using Wishful Thinking involves three basic steps:

1. Say what you want to happen! If your fairy doesn’t realise

she’s using magic, you can phrase this in the form of a vague
hope, like “I sure wish that…” or “it would be really handy
if…”, but it’s fine to say that you’re trying to make stuff
happen in character, too. Don’t skip this step – the GM needs
to know what you were trying in case you fail!

2. Spend three points of Magic.

3. Roll an appropriate Facet. This is usually a test; nobody can

oppose a Wishful Thinking roll unless a Power or other special
effect explicitly allows her to.

You can use any Facet you want to make the Wishful Thinking roll,
but your choice flavours the outcome. Use the following guidelines
to determine which Facet is best for your wish:
++ Moxie results in wishes that make the situation more chaotic
and exciting – they get things fired up! It’s not so good at
getting you out of trouble, but it can certainly get you into
a different kind of trouble – hopefully one you’re better
equipped to handle.
++ Focus is the precision tool to Moxie’s blunt instrument.
When you need to make a single very precise change, this
is the Facet for you. Wishes based on Focus often have a
“butterfly effect”, producing one tiny effect with huge long-
term consequences.
++ Craft makes things more complicated. If you start adding
sub-clauses and footnotes to your wish to make sure it comes
out exactly how you want it, you’re rolling Craft. The results
of such wishes tend to be equally baroque, and filled with
unintended side-effects.
112
Wishful Thinking
++ Grace helps you make wishes that put you at the centre of
events. Unlike Moxie, wishes based on Grace don’t have to
cause chaos, but the one thing they can’t be is subtle. Wishing
with Grace is a performance, and you’re in the starring role!
++ Shine is just plain weird. When you make a Wishful Thinking
roll with Shine, you can cause strange coincidences, or make
changes that inexplicably go unnoticed. If you’re careful with
your wish, others might not realise that anything magical is
going on at all!
These rules will help guide your narration if your roll succeeds,
but if you fail, the GM will use them instead. Sometimes it’s best
to take into account what might happen if you mess up!

For Players
In practice, you can use any Facet you and the GM
agree is suited to your wish. The “use your best Facet for
everything if you think you can get away with it” principle
applies here as much as anywhere!

Red is guarding her friends’ retreat from the Clockwork

Ogres of the Findlespark Trainyard, her apparent
selflessness motivated by how awesome she thinks it looks.
But after the fairies’ pranks, the cake-gummed steamworks and
plush train engines don’t quite fit the idiom she’s going for. “Why
can’t I have a thunderstorm inside? IT’S NOT FAIR.”
Red’s player explains that she wants to wish for a storm in the hope
that it causes more trouble for the Ogres than it does for her. She
wants to roll Moxie, and the GM agrees that fits her wish perfectly.
She spends 3 M and tests her Moxie…

113
 Outcomes
Regardless of the outcome of your Wishful Thinking test,
something happens. As usual, the big difference is who gets to
narrate it
Success
If you succeed, you get to narrate your wish! Start with the
intention you declared before rolling, and use the Facet you chose
and any Quirks you tagged to help fill in the details.
The outcome of Wishful Thinking is primarily a narrative
matter, allowing you to literally describe new story elements into
existence. It can also have the following rules-based effects:

++ A wish can add new Quirks or modify existing

Locations 156 ones on your current Location.

NPCs 147 ++ A wish can summon or create a helpful NPC.

Such NPCs have the same Facet that you
used to make the wish (typically rated at 3),
Stress Limit 5, and other traits at the GM’s
discretion.

Hazards 155 ++ Similarly, a wish can create a Hazard of your

design, using the same guidelines as for NPCs.

++ A wish can grant a beneficial Temporary Quirk

to any number of willing recipients, including
yourself if you want. Everyone involved gets
Temporary 90
Quirks the same Temporary Quirk.

++ A wish can conjure up enough food to allow

Removing Stress 88 you and your friends to recover up to 6d6
Stress, divided up however you please.

Shenanigans 173 ++ A wish can instantly accomplish a Shenanigan

worth up to 5 Mischief Motes, or make major
progress toward a higher-value Shenanigan.
Competitive 231 ++ If you’re using the Competitive Capers
Capers
Plugin for your game, you can also use a
successful wish to create a one-shot Power
for later use. See the Plugins section for more
details.

Some wishes may have multiple effects from this list, and you can
work with the GM to invent others of similar scale.

114
Wishful Thinking
Wishes also have a number of limitations:

++ A wish can’t destroy or “disappear” anything.

++ A wish can’t inflict Stress or Temporary Quirks upon an

unwilling target.

++ A wish can’t remove any character or character-like entity

(including a Hazard or NPC) from play.

++ A wish can’t control the actions of any character.

For Players
++ A wish generally can’t reach beyond your current Location.
This is a flexible restriction; if the Locations you’re playing in
are very small – for example, the individual rooms of a house
– the GM may allow more wide-reaching effects.

In addition, if the narrative effects of a wish would inconvenience

another character, she can roll to avoid those effects (for herself
only). This is a test, not a contest – she just has to succeed, not
beat your Result. On the plus side, since avoiding a wish’s effects
isn’t a contest, she can’t actually stop you, either! In fact, there’s
normally pretty much nothing that can stop you from making a
Wishful Thinking test, unless you blow the roll all on your own.

Red passes her test, and her player narrates a storm

forming inside the train yard. She describes them as
the clouds of smoky alcohol vapour from Letty’s earlier
unfortunate accident mixing with a vat of whisky and the sparks
from Robin’s Indifference Engine, all combining with a dash of
fairy magic.
The most important outcome is that the scene becomes AWESOME,
with Red facing off against her clockwork foes amidst flashing
forks of lightning and rolling booms of thunder. On the mechanical
level, the GM allows Red’s player to whip up a Hazard to represent
the storm. The Hazard affects both Red and the Clockwork Ogres,
but Red’s player is confident the Pixie’s high Stress Limit will give
her an advantage.

115
Wishful Thinking
 Failure
Uh oh. This means that the GM gets to narrate your wish. All of
the guidelines in the previous section apply, except now it’s the
GM who gets to narrate the effects. Fortunately, you’re protected
by the same limitations that would have applied if you succeeded:
the GM can’t inflict Stress or unwanted Temporary Quirks, force
you to change Costumes, control your actions or remove you from
play. Beyond that, pretty much anything goes!
GMs are encouraged to be cruelly inventive, but must at least
vaguely respect your stated intention. This is another place where
Evil Genie Logic comes into its own!

Let’s assume Red failed her test. In this case, the GM

narrates the result and decides the effect.
She has to respect Red’s basic intent – to have a thunderstorm
indoors – and can’t directly hurt Red, her friends, or any other
unwilling target. But she reflects that the Clockwork Ogres would
be very willing indeed to receive a positive effect from the wish!
The scene still becomes AWESOME, with all the thunderstorm
Red could possibly want. But the lightning strikes the Ogres,
crackling around their metallic frames and granting them the
“Supercharged!” Temporary Quirk.

116
Wishful Thinking
117
 Chapter Three:
For Game
Masters

118
Up until now, we’ve focused more or less on the players’ side
of things: character creation, and the mechanics of Costume
Fairy Adventures. That’s only part of the picture, though. We’ve
mentioned before that there’s one player, the Game Master, who
has a special role in the game. As well as playing the game, the
Game Master is responsible for running the game.

What Is a Game Master?

Setting Up A 121
In a nutshell, if you’re the Game Master, you’re Game
running the show. The title is a traditional one; some

For GMs
games call it “Dungeon Master”, “Storyteller”, NPCs,
Hazards & 147
“Referee”, or any of dozen of other names, but the Locations
basic idea is the same: you’re the one who looks
after everything that the players don’t. If the game Trouble 163
was a movie, you’d be the director – and also the
stagehands, the extras, the costume designers, and Shenanigans 173

everybody else who isn’t playing the role of a main Playsets 188
character. It’s a big job! This chapter will provide
you with the tools you need to tackle it.

Players are more than welcome to read this chapter.

However, we’re going to assume that anyone who’s
really digging into it is looking for information on how
to run a game. Accordingly, for this chapter, “you” refers to
you-the-GM, not you-the-player.
 The GM’s Responsibilities
While the specific role of the GM varies from group to group, there
are several responsibilities that all GMs have in common:

++ Coming up with a premise for each session. This can be

as simple as picking a milieu and winging it, perhaps with
the help of the random tables in the back of this book.
Alternatively, you can brainstorm a specific scenario, either
alone or with the help of your players, or run a Playset.

++ Making sure that everything is in order before play begins.

This includes checking that everyone has a complete character,
ensuring that everyone’s starting Magic points, Costume
Cards, etc. have been dealt out, and – if necessary – explaining
the premise of the session to your players.

++ Providing a context for the players’ actions. This includes

describing the various settings they visit; playing the roles
of the characters they encounter; and filling in any important
details their own narration doesn’t cover.

++ Looking after the details of the game’s rules. Sometimes

you’ll be called upon to play referee if two players disagree
about how a particular rule should work, but most often you’ll
simply remind folks of the details, keep track of any numbers
that don’t appear on a player’s character sheet, and so forth.

++ Helping anybody who’s never played before to learn the

ropes. Your players can and should offer their own insights,
but ultimately, being the GM is at least partly a teaching role.
This is especially true if you’re running the game for young
children, who may not have played a tabletop RPG before!

++ Looking out for opportunities to make the Player Characters’

lives interesting!

For ease of discussion, we’ll divide these

responsibilities into two areas – stuff that happens
Setting Up
A Game 121 before the game and stuff that happens during the
Running A game – in the following sections. If you have past
132 experience as a GM for other games, you may wish
Game
to take a particularly close look at the second one.
Owing to the way that narrative authority switches
back and forth between the players and the GM
in Costume Fairy Adventures, a few things work
slightly differently here than they might in a more
traditional game.
120
Introduction
 Setting Up
A Game
There are four basic steps to setting up a game:

++ Pre-game discussion

++ Creating the scenario

++ Creating the characters

++ Miscellaneous bookkeeping

We’ve tried to provide a bit of guidance for novice

For GMs
Game Masters as well as experienced tabletop gamers,
but we don’t have enough space to go into too much
detail. Whole books can – and have – been written on how
to run tabletop roleplaying games! Any number of gaming
websites, including Penguin King Games’ own online forums,
may be better equipped to answer any questions you might
have as a first-time GM.
 Pre-game Discussion
Before you start, there are a few basic questions that need to be
answered. Talk to your players and make sure everyone is happy
with those answers before you proceed.

What Style?
Costume Fairy Adventures has two basic styles
of play: semi-random freeform play, or using a
Playsets 188 Playset for a more focused adventure. The first is
aimed at casual, pick-up-and-play games, while the
second takes a little more bookkeeping.

Meaghan has never played a tabletop roleplaying game,

but having backed Costume Fairy Adventures in one of
her typical Kickstarter fugues, she’s looking forward to
GMing. She’s recruited a few interested friends, but since their
schedules don’t coincide for another couple of weeks, she has
plenty of time to read through The Big Pie Caper to use on the
day. Meaghan is actually quite confident of her ability to improvise
nonsense, but figures it can’t hurt to have a Playset’s structure
backing her up.
Chie is an experienced gamer who has played with the same
group every week for ten years. She was supposed to be running
a session of her ongoing sci-fi political intrigue/mecha combat
game tonight, but stayed up late last night raiding in an MMO
rather than preparing for it. She sheepishly sends out an email
proposing an off-the-cuff game of Costume Fairy Adventures,
maybe in a Victorian era inspired setting, and is relieved when
she gets positive responses (along with an “I told you so” from
her guildie Zara). Chie knows improvisation isn’t her strong suit,
but the rest of the group is very good at it, and she habitually leans
on their creativity.

What Milieu?
Costume Fairy Adventures doesn’t have a specific
built-in setting, but every adventure has to take
place somewhere. That “somewhere” could be as
broad as “in an enchanted forest” or “on a space
station”, or as specific as “in the court of Louis
Random 273 XIV circa 1685”. This book includes random
Encounters
tables for three such milieux, and you can easily
create your own.

122
Setting Up A Game
What Goal?

For GMs
What’s the goal of this session? Is there a “quest”
that the fairies will be going on today? You don’t
have to spell it out in detail right now, but this is
the sort of thing that should be introduced early on.
In the absence of a particular objective, the default
assumption is that you’re playing a Mischief Race
– that is, trying to complete enough Shenanigans 173 Shenanigans
to reach a certain Mischief Mote total.

Meaghan is using a Playset, so her milieu and goal are

chosen for her. She gives her friends a brief idea of The
Big Pie Caper’s village setting via email so they know
what they’re getting into, and lets them know mischief is the goal
of the game.
Chie doesn’t have time to read a Playset! Since no-one objected
to her Victorian era idea, she uses the train ride to Zara’s place
for the game to scribble a few notes to flesh out the Magical
Gaslight milieu from Appendix C – electrified pea-souper fogs,
industrialised magic and dimensional portals to produce wonders
for the jaded Empress. Chie would like a specific goal rather
than random chaos, so decides the fairies will be responsible for
organising the Empress’ Jubilee celebrations, with Mischief Motes
measuring the event’s memorability.

123
Setting Up A Game
 What Venue?
Are you playing face-to-face? Via chat? On a web forum? They all
have their pros and cons; see Setup for Alternative Venues later
in this section for a look at the considerations each may involve.

Meaghan is hosting the game at her house. She has

a large dinner table for everyone to sit around, and
plans on serving tea and cakes. But she’s careful not to
overcater, since her friend Luciana always brings too much food!
Chie was first introduced to Costume Fairy Adventures via IRC
with her friend Seo-yeon as GM. This involved dice-rolling scripts
and using card numbers instead of shuffling a deck. Chie likes the
format for letting her compose her thoughts a little more while
still feeling like a real-time conversation. She loves playing with
friends from all over the world, but hates hearing about Seo-yeon’s
delicious dinner when she’s in the wrong hemisphere to share it!

124
Setting Up A Game
Creating the Scenario
You don’t need to figure out everything about your scenario right
away – and in fact, it’s often better if you don’t – but two essential
questions need to be answered: where are your players getting up
to mischief, and who are they mischiefing at?

Playing Freeform
This is Costume Fairy Adventures’ default style of
play. Just pick a basic setting and jump right in!
The tables in Appendix C: Random Encounters 273 Random
Encounters
will allow you to randomly generate places for the
fairies to go and people for them to mess with as
needed, or you can encourage your players to add
new people and places as part of their narration.
Since most of the scenario will be created in play,
we’ll talk about this more in the next section. 132
Running
A Game

For GMs
Chie’s group decides they’d rather have more detail
to start with than her notes provide. They brainstorm
up the various factions that are likely to get involved in
the Jubilee: governors of conquered territories, neighbourhood
festivity committees, a kindly bodhisattva and the local
Entertainers, Grifters and Fishmongers Union. Chie vetoes Zara’s
suggestion of having Ada Lovelace running around punching
steampunk hipsters.

Using a Playset
When you’re using a Playset, most of these questions will already
be answered, but there may be some details you need to fill in
yourself – with input from your players, of course – before you
start. Double-check the Preparation section (every Playset will
have one) to make sure you’re not overlooking anything.

In Costume Fairy Adventures, pre-written scenarios

are called Playsets. A Playset consists of a roster of
people and places, a few major goals for the fairies to
pursue, some scenario-specific rules, and so forth. You can
download a free starter Playset, The Big Pie Caper, from the
Penguin King Games website at www.penguinking.com.

125
Setting Up A Game
 Creating the Characters
Who’s going to be responsible for the incipient mischief? Well,
your players, obviously – but unless you’re running a very odd sort
of game, they’re going to need fairies to play as!

Pregenerated Characters
If you want a quick, easy-entry game, you can
hand out pregenerated characters. You can
download ready-made fairy playbooks from the
Penguin King Games website, or use the character
Your Fairy 26 creation rules to create your own. Once you have
your fairies in hand, you can pass them out at
random, let your players take turns choosing, or
some other method that works for you.
Some Playsets include fairy playbooks as well. With
some work, you can adapt them for freeform games.

Everyone has arrived at Meaghan’s house, each adding

their own contribution to the growing mountain of food.
As GM, Meaghan explains the premise of Costume Fairy
Adventures in general and The Big Pie Caper in particular (mostly
repeating her emails, but her friends forgive her), and then passes
out the pregenerated fairies for her players to choose. Luciana
quickly picks Red on the basis of her confident looking art. Senait
has read everything about the game and always planned to take
Calla. Aadhya was promised a dice game and so rolls to randomly
pick Pooka. Karyn and Nadya spend five minutes each insisting the
other choose first until Meaghan simply assigns them Robin and
Mabby respectively. With five players and six fairies, that leaves
Letty as not appearing in this session.

126
Creating Your Own Characters
By far the most common choice, though – especially for recurring
games – is to ask each player to create her own fairy. You might
have new fairies for each session, or re-use the same cast from
game to game. In either case, you can find printable and form-
fillable character sheets on the Penguin King Games website. If
you obtained this game electronically, a copy of the character sheet
is also included in your download package.

We recommend that you “reset” player-created fairies

to their basic, fresh-from-character-creation traits at
the start of each session. Costume Fairy Adventures is
intended for episodic play, without much continuity between
sessions. If you do carry stuff over, make sure to look over
each fairy and make sure she hasn’t picked up anything that
doesn’t make sense for the current scenario.

For GMs
Miscellaneous Bookkeeping
Lastly, there are a few odds and ends to look after:

++ Make sure that every fairy has Costumes!

Unless you’re using a Plugin, Playset or house
rule that says otherwise, each player should
randomly select three Costumes, and choose
one to start out in. The Costumes section 105 Costumes
covers this step in more detail.

++ Hand out everyone’s starting Magic points. 98 Magic

Again, unless you’re using a special rule that
says otherwise, every player’s fairy begins
with 3 M.

++ Gather up your starting Trouble Dice. 163 Trouble

Normally, you’ll start with a number of
T equal to the number of people playing,
including yourself. (e.g., three players plus
one GM equals 4 T to start.)

++ Finally, if you’re using a Playset, skim the 188 Playsets

Preparation section one last time – every
Playset will have one – and check whether
there’s any extra setup you need to do for that
particular Playset.
127
Setting Up A Game
128
Setup for Alternative Venues
There are many options for getting a group of players together
besides face-to-face gaming, including email, web forums, or chat
rooms. Each venue brings its own special considerations to the
table (so to speak).

Face-to-face
Face-to-face games are the most traditional option. Communication
between players is easy when everybody’s in the same room. Of
course, finding the time to get everybody in the same room in
the first place is the hard part! It’s customary for the GM to host
face-to-face games, so this section will assume that you’re playing
host. If this isn’t the case, whoever is hosting should give it a
read-over instead.

++ The stereotype of the gloomy gaming room notwithstanding,

good lighting is more important than you might think.
Costume Cards and other game props have small text on them,
and you’ll often need to recognise them – if not read them –
from several metres away.

For GMs
++ If you’re providing snacks (and you should!), find out if
anyone has any special dietary requirements. Apart from
allergy concerns, you’ll want to make sure that whatever
you’re using to represent M (you are using candy for , M
right?) is suitable for everyone at the table.

++ If you’re all sitting around a big table, a single set of 5–7 dice
should suffice. In a more spread-out play area, you’ll want
each player to have her own set. Likewise, make sure the
Costume Deck is within easy reach for everyone – you’ll be
needing it frequently!

++ Finally, everyone should have a handy surface to actually

place cards and tokens and roll dice on! Don’t make anyone
try to roll dice on the carpet; we’ve tried it, it’s not a pretty
picture.

Meaghan has set up for the game in her dining room,

where the table can easily accommodate six people,
gaming paraphernalia, and too much food. She’s
ransacked every board game in the house for extra dice, printed
out playbooks and pre-shuffled the Costume Cards. Having this
all ready four hours before the game is due to start is probably
going overboard, but it’s her first time!

129
Setting Up A Game
 Chat Room
Gaming via chat – whether using instant messaging, a chat client,
or the built-in chat functions of many social media sites – is a
common choice for groups whose players are located far away
from each other, or who just have difficulty getting everybody
together in person. In a chat-based game, you don’t have to worry
about making space to play or providing snacks, but the fact that
you’re limited to text-only communication can pose a whole
different set of challenges.

++ Make sure you know what time zone everybody is in. Unlike
face-to-face games, players in a chat-based game could easily
be on opposite sides of the planet.

++ Dice rolls can be a challenge in chat-based games. You could

have each player roll her own dice and report the results on
the honour system, but this can be inconvenient for play on
the go. If your chat venue doesn’t have a built in dice-rolling
script or “dice bot”, the usual solution is to ask the GM (i.e.,
you) to handle all of the dice-rolling for the group.

++ It’s likely that not everyone will have a copy of the Costume
Deck. The Costume Reference Booklet, available from the
Penguin King Games website at www.penguinking.com, has
all the information you’ll need to manage your Costumes, and
uses the same numbering scheme as the printed deck.

++ Have something handy to note your players’ current Stress,

Magic Pools, Temporary Quirks, etc. You can’t see character
sheets in a chat room, and keeping track yourself will save you
the trouble of having to ask every time it comes up.

++ Dropped connections and household emergencies happen at

the worst times. Talk with your players and set an explicit time
limit before a vanished player will be treated as on Break. This
limit usually shouldn’t exceed two minutes.

Seo-yeon has been running games over IRC for a long

time, and still uses the same server, along with pen and
paper for notes. She’d like to run the game over VOIP
and use the chat for dice rolling, but some of her players are in
wildly different time zones and play late at night while their kids
are asleep, so text is best. Seo-yeon is a fan of Costume Fairy
Adventures for chat gaming because it allows her to decide that
an unresponsive player’s fairy has been distracted by something
shiny and wandered off on Break.

130
Setting Up A Game
Forum or Email
Finally, you can play using a web forum or email
list. This is a good choice for groups that just
can’t get everyone together at the same time
(those pesky time zones again!), or for folks who
prefer to think things over before narrating. These
games bring most of the same concerns as chat
games, with a few quirks of their own.

++ Since players may post while you’re not

online (or awake), you can’t roll the dice
yourself. Instead, your players should use
an online dice server that can email you
their rolls. A web search for “rpg dice
server” will point you in the right direction.

++ Consider setting up a wiki for your game.

Emails will be missed, and forum threads can be long reads,
so it’s nice to have a summary. Wikis can also be used to keep
character sheets online. As GM, you should expect to be the
one who keeps these up to date.

For GMs
++ As with chat games, players in forum and email-based games
will sometimes disappear! Owing to the longer timeframes,
it won’t always be obvious when a player has gone missing.
An explicit time limit before a fairy will be sent on Break
is invaluable here. Depending on how regularly your group
posts, this could be as little as 24 hours, or as much as a week.

Zara doesn’t play in Seo-yeon’s game because she

blames IRC for some of the worst procrastination
incidents of her youth. Instead, she prefers playing on
forums, where she can take turns on her phone whenever she’s
waiting for coffee (that is, many random times a day). She’s
currently running Costume Fairy Adventures on a major tabletop
forum, using separate threads for story events and for out-of-
character chat. She even maintains a wiki with player information
and story summaries, so her players don’t have to search for it!
Zara’s policy is that the fairy of any player who does not post for
two days automatically goes on Break. She plays much looser than
Seo-yeon or Chie and isn’t concerned if there’s no meaningful
continuity on which fairies are in a scene. However, she does ask
players not to post in the In-Character thread more than once or
twice a day, to give busier players (such as herself) a chance to
catch up no matter their time zone.

131
Setting Up A Game
 Running A Game
Once the preliminaries are dispensed with, it’s
time to play! The basic “How to Roll Dice”
procedures have already been covered in the
For Players 54 players’ chapter, so now we’ll peek behind the
curtain and look at how each of those tools comes
into play, as well as introducing a few new ones
to help you do your job.

The GM’s Role Revisited

In the opening section of this chapter, we talked a bit about the
GM’s responsibilities. Now that we’re ready to play, it’s also
important to talk about what isn’t the GM’s responsibility. To wit:
you are not your players’ opponent.
It’s easy to think that you are! Games usually have winners and
losers. That’s not why you’re here, though. The dice and other
random elements of play will give your players trouble enough
without the GM gunning for them as well. You may at times act
as narrator, referee, or teacher, but never as an opponent.

132
Running A Game
The upshot is that your job isn’t to “beat” the players. In fact, since
Player Characters in Costume Fairy Adventures are impossible to
kill, and very difficult even to inconvenience for more than a few
minutes at a stretch, defeating the players isn’t really on the table.
On top of this, your players’ goals will often change from moment
to moment, so it’ll be hard to say what beating them would even
involve. Rather, your job is to keep things interesting. You’ll throw
obstacles, complications and opponents at the PCs not because
you want them to fail, but because you want to see what crazy-
awesome shenanigans they devise in response. When you make
their lives difficult, it’s only because easy is boring. From your
perspective, the game is a process of asking “I wonder what would
happen if…?”, and your players provide the answer.
This brings us to three basic rules for running the game:

I. Be the PCs’ biggest fan

As the GM, you want the PCs to succeed, in the end, and when
success isn’t in the cards, you want their failures to be as awesome
as possible. That doesn’t mean you’re going to go easy on them

For GMs
– in fact, it often means the opposite of that – but the adversity
you throw at them should always represent an opportunity to do
something cool.

II. Rule in favour of fun

Rules can help give direction when things seem aimless, and serve
as idea generators when folks get stuck. Thus, when you’re wearing
your referee hat, you should try to apply the rules consistently.
However, questions and disagreements will arise, and when they
do, you should decide based on what would be the most fun for
your players, rather than what would be most “correct”. Don’t be
afraid to check in with your players to make sure you made the
right call.

III. Know your players’ limits

It can be fun to watch a Player Character get frustrated, but
it’s less fun when a player gets frustrated. This is, in fact, the
opposite of fun. As the GM, you’ll occasionally be called upon to
be the responsible one at the table – to keep an eye out for when
someone’s having anti-fun, and to rein things in accordingly. If
you notice that someone doesn’t seem to be participating much,
it’s your job to find out what’s wrong. This goes for subject matter,
too; given Costume Fairy Adventures’ PG-rated tone, we don’t
expect anybody’s personal lines to be crossed often, but if it does
happen, it’s also your job to put a stop to it.

133
Running A Game
 Structure of a Session
The free-wheeling play style of Costume Fairy Adventures can be
a little overwhelming for novice GMs – but not to worry! There’s
actually a very straightforward structure to a typical session. These
guidelines are aimed primarily at freeform sessions, but they’ll
apply to most Playsets, too.

Setting the Stage

The basic unit of play in a freeform session is the
scene. This isn’t a formal rules term; there are
no Costume Powers with durations measured in
scenes, and there are no special rules for when a
scene begins or ends or how long it lasts beyond the
Breaks & 94 usual ones governing Breaks and Intermissions.
Intermissions
It’s a purely GM-oriented shorthand for a particular
way of grouping stuff-that-happens.

Places to Go, People to Prank

A scene consists of three essential elements:

Locations 156 ++ A Location

NPCs 147 ++ Potentially one or more NPCs

Shenanigans 173 ++ Shenanigans

Each of these elements has its own dedicated

section later in the chapter. We’ll go over each
one in brief now.

134
 In face-to-face games, we recommend keeping a stack
of index cards handy so that you can jot down each
of these elements and keep them on the table for your
players to see. In online venues, you can just post them instead
– copy-and-paste is your friend!

A Location is simply a place for things to happen

in. Every Location has one or more Quirks 64 Using Quirks
attached to it to help set the mood – and, more
importantly, for your players to exploit for dice!
NPCs are anybody who’s not a Player Character – hence, Non-
Player Character. Formally, anything with its own Stress Limit
is an NPC. People and animals can both be NPCs. There’s even
a special category of NPC, called Hazards, for technically
inanimate things like trees and weather patterns, when you think

For GMs
it would be more fun to treat them as characters. Most scenes
should contain one to three NPCs – just to give your players
something to bounce off.
Finally, Shenanigans are the fuel that makes a scene go.
Shenanigans are a bit like quests in a traditional RPG, and a bit
like video game achievements: a collection of pranks, stunts and
questionably advisable japeries that give your players something
to shoot for. When accomplished, Shenanigans award Mischief
Motes, a tangible representation of mischief managed.

135
 Creating Locations, NPCs and Shenanigans
When you’re using a Playset, you don’t need to worry about where
any of these elements come from. Each Playset will have a “map”
of Locations, a list of NPCs, and a built-in set of Shenanigans. This
doesn’t mean you can’t add your own touches, but you’ll start out
with plenty of stuff to explore.
In a freeform game, there are three basic options:

++ Rolling dice

++ GM improvisation

++ Player narration

Rolling dice is the default for freeform games.

Random 273 Appendix C: Random Encounters contains
Encounters
tables of NPCs, Locations, etc. for several flexible
milieux, and you can find more in official and fan-
created supplements, or create your own. When a
new scene begins, roll for a Location and one to
three NPCs, take a moment to ponder how they fit
together, and jump right in!

When Chie’s players decide to go to the Imperial

Aquarium, she has no idea what to put there. She
quickly rolls twice on the NPC table, getting “Infernal
Barrel Organist” and “Misplaced Philosopher”. She decides
that the philosopher is actually the kindly bodhisattva from their
earlier brainstorm (and a whale who needs the aquarium to give
a seminar in comfort), and the Barrel Organist is there to bilk the
crowds the aquatic guru has drawn.

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Running A Game
GM improvisation is likewise traditional. You’ll invent new
Locations and NPCs on the fly, possibly with player input. The
results will likely be a little less off the wall than fitting randomly
rolled elements together; the trade-off is that you can better focus
on things your players have shown interest in. In practice, you’ll
probably use a combination of improvised and random elements.

When Meaghan’s game needs a little extra content,

she’s feeling confident enough to add some of her own.
She declares that a fabulous carriage delivers infamous
Baroness Zbyslava to the village as a surprise entrant in the
pie-eating contest, along with her mysterious fairy ally… Letty.
Meaghan plans to have the carriage serve as a mobile Location,
and to add a Shenanigan or two after seeing how the players react
to the Baroness.

For GMs
Finally, if you prefer a more collaborative style, you can use player
narration. When a player wins a roll, she narrates what happens
next. She can even narrate whole new Locations and NPCs into
existence! This is within the rules, but it’s something that you
should discuss with your players in advance. Some will prefer to
keep the stage-setting with the GM, while others will relish the
chance to let their imaginations run wild!

Chie’s group prefers to lean on player narration as

much as possible, with the understanding that she’ll
need to veto things on occasion. When Zara narrates the
result of a Moxie test as cracking the aquarium roof so that an
orca hermit can burst through to challenge the whale bodhisattva
to kung-fu battle, Chie enthusiastically agrees.

Note that there are no random tables for Shenanigans – they

depend too much on the specifics of the scenario. If you’re not
using a Playset with preset Shenanigans, work with your players
to find out what potential pranks interest them; even if you’re
handling new Locations and NPCs yourself, player input is vital
when it comes to setting Shenanigans.

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Running A Game
 Changing Scenes
Eventually, your players will either accomplish all
the mischief there is to be accomplished, get bored
with their current toys, or be forced to flee by some
disaster! That means it’s time to set a new scene.
You typically shouldn’t bother to narrate travel
from place to place, or even worry about how
the fairies could possibly have gotten to their
destination. Just cut immediately from their
departure in the previous scene to their arrival in
the next one. Unless the notional distance between
the two scenes is very short (e.g., the next room
Breaks &
Intermissions 94 over), this transition counts as an Intermission.
Once you get there, start a new scene, either rolling
for a new set of elements, or making some up as
needed. In a freeform game using the dice-rolling
method, you should re-roll if you get a Location
you’ve previously been (unless the players
deliberately returned to someplace they’ve been
before, of course).

You can also re-roll if you get an NPC you’ve seen

before, but it’s not required; recurring NPCs are what
provide continuity in freeform games, so if the same
NPC comes up twice, you should definitely try to figure out
what she’s been up to – and how she remembers the PCs! –
since the last time you saw her.

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Running A Game
Drawing the Curtain
All good things must come to an end, even fairy mischief. You can
keep your session going until everyone is too tired to continue, but

For GMs
it can be better to end things on a high note.
If you worked out a specific goal with your players at the start of
the session, it’s easy to tell how close you are: when you meet the
goal, you’re done. Let the fairies celebrate their victory, then wrap
it up with a brief summary of how things ended up thanks to their
interference; depending on how invested your players were in the
various NPCs, a sentence or two on each of their fates wouldn’t
be amiss.
If you don’t have a goal, instead look at the group’s current
Mischief Mote total to gauge your end point. In general, a total of
about 100 Motes is a good target for a short session of two hours
or less, while 150 Motes is better for a three-hour-plus session.
The Shenanigans section will go over these options in more detail.

Three hours into Chie’s game, the fairies are at about

170 Motes and they just helped the Empress win a
full-contact lightning zeppelin derby by rigging up a
steam-powered alchemical fireworks launcher twice the size of
the palace. She narrates the Empress nodding in satisfaction and
declaring, “We are amused.” Chie then invites each player to
narrate a short epilogue showing how her fairy makes use of the
Empress’ favour for throwing the greatest Jubilee ever, and the
game comes to a close.

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Running A Game
 Playing as the GM
Now that we’ve gone over the general shape of
a session, it’s time to get down to the nuts and
bolts. Let’s look at the basic rhythm of play that
For Players 54 we talked about way back in the player rules, this
time from the GM’s perspective:

1. You describe a situation.

2. Your players tell you what they’re doing.

3. You narrate what happens as a result of those

actions.

4. Return to step 1.
It’s pretty straightforward to start with – but as
soon as the dice come out, narration becomes a
baton that can change hands in a real hurry!

Introductions
In any given scene, the narrative ball will always start
in your court. Your first task is to introduce your
players to the situation at hand. At a minimum,
you should provide a description of the fairies’
immediate environs; if it’s the first scene of the
session, an overview of what the session is going
to be about is also recommended. Even in face-
to-face games, it can be helpful to have something
prepared ahead of time, especially for the very first
scene. If you’re using a Playset, this may be taken
care of for you: there will often be a little piece of
boxed text to read out to your players, or to copy-
and-paste if you’re playing online.

The Big Pie Caper doesn’t give explicit text to read out
to the players, but does give guidance to the GM for
starting the game. Once Meaghan is satisfied her friends
are reasonably sure of their characters, the premise and how to
play, she launches into a description of the village as the fairies
arrive. She describes the sights and smells of the countryside
morning, the preparations for the contest, and briefly touches on
each of the major Locations from the Playset. She ends with a call
to action, asking the players where their fairies are going first.

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Running A Game
Player Prompts
From time to time, your players will
ask you questions, looking for more
information about the situation at
hand – or maybe just looking for
opportunities for mischief! This
is basically a prompt from your
players to take the narrative reins for
a bit. There are two ways to respond
to this: providing more information,
or asking for a test.
In the first case, you can take the question
as a sign that your players are stuck for
ideas or need cues on what to do next. Take
this chance to stick an immediate goal in front of
them; if you have any particular Shenanigans in 173 Shenanigans
mind, or if the question itself inspires one, this is
the perfect opportunity to reveal them.
In the second case, you’re throwing the question
back at the players. You might ask for a test if it

For GMs
seems like what the player is asking should take
some effort to find out – but never do it just for that
reason. Asking for a test has a specific function at
this stage in the game, which we’ll discuss next.
Note that in some cases, none of your players will
know what to ask. This is an unspoken prompt
either to provide more information, or to ask for
a test of some sort. (Other tools such as NPCs or NPCs, Hazards
147
Hazards can also be used to fill dead air.) & Locations

Aadhya has asked several questions about the village

carpenter – who they are, where their store is, etc. The
Big Pie Caper doesn’t mention a carpenter, so Meaghan
improvises the details: she’s a younger woman who’s struggling
to prove herself, and she got her start after finding a mysterious
saw as a teenager. After a few minutes of this, Meaghan’s sure
Aadhya wants the carpenter to be important but doesn’t seem
quite able to articulate it, so she comes up with a Shenanigan to
help the carpenter build the Great Pie Tower. This gives Aadhya
a specific opportunity to follow up her fancy.

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Running A Game
 Asking for Tests
There are three basic situations where you’ll ask for a test:

1. A player wants her fairy to do something that she might mess up.

2. A player asks a question where the answer requires her fairy

to do a bit of investigating.

3. A player narrates her fairy wandering into the path of danger.

That’s when you might ask for a test, though; why is just as
important. Tests are basically a way of passing the narrative baton:
when a test fails, the GM narrates the result, while a successful test
lets the player take over the story for a little while.
If a player is already on a roll, asking for a test is challenging her
to keep control of the story. You can ask for a test against a low
Facet if you need to put the brakes on – but this isn’t necessarily
going to end with you narrating. Even rolling two dice against a
Facet of 2 will succeed more often than it fails. This kind of test
is more about setting the pace.
On the flip side, if you ask for a test against a Player Character’s
high Facets, you’re passing the baton to that PC’s player. A player
who rolls two dice against a Facet of 4 will succeed nine times in
ten. By calling for an easy test in response to a player’s question,
you’re giving her a chance to answer it herself! You can also use
a softball test to give a player who hasn’t said much lately a turn.

It’s totally fine for a player to ask a question, then

propose a test to answer it herself. Players should be
encouraged to seize the narrative!

Seo-yeon likes to keep all the players active in driving

the story forward, particularly given the pacing
challenges of a chat game. Tests are one of her favourite
tools, especially for Chie who has a habit of planning and
analysing so much that she never actually acts. The next time she
suspects Chie is sinking into recursive contemplation, she declares
that a band of gnome partisans have mistaken Chie’s fairy for
their revolutionary messiah, and asks for a Grace test to deal with
her sudden mob of minions. Seo-yeon always tries to make such
surprise tests both a threat and an opportunity.

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Running A Game
Contests and NPCs
Your role in contests will vary depending on who’s
involved. When two PCs square off, you’ll usually
only have something to say if the contest is a tie.
If two PCs seem to be clashing over and over
again, use a tie to throw them into a more pressing

For GMs
situation than whatever they were fighting about!
Also, player-versus-player contests are likely to
generate large amounts of Trouble, which you can 163 Trouble
use to shake things up even without a tie.
If there’s an NPC involved, you’re more likely to 147 NPCs
end up narrating the outcome. The GM narrates
both ties and NPC victories, so this kind of contest
is biased in your favour. In addition, since NPCs
have their own Stress Limits, they’re protected
against being casually messed with or removed
from play. However, NPCs never make tests; a
roll made by an NPC is always a contest with a PC.

As Meaghan’s game is drawing to a close, the fairies’

antics have left the Baroness and the carpenter as the
only remaining competitors in the pie-eating contest.
She’s about to roll a contest between the two NPCs when she
realises that would take the end of the game out of the players’
hands. Instead she asks the players to have their fairies pick sides
and roll out a contest to see which one they can make win with
encouragement, threats, cheating, etc. In the event of a tie she,
plans to narrate them eating down to the last crumb of pie crust
in the village, for the contest’s first ever draw.

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Running A Game
 Session Length and Pacing
One of the major challenges of running a tabletop roleplaying
game is finding the time to get together and play! Costume Fairy
Adventures is designed for fairly short sessions, but it can still take
up lot of time. Since your venue of play can have a big impact on
how things play out, we’ll look at each one in turn.

Face-to-face
We’re assuming that most face-to-face games
will take two to three hours to play out, with a
Breaks & brief Intermission to stretch your legs in the
Intermissions 94
middle. Most Playsets will provide somewhere
for the fairies to safely camp out whenever they
want; those that don’t will generally have a two-
act structure with an obvious spot for a mid-
session Intermission. The semi-connected scenes
of a freeform game, meanwhile, make it easy to
interrupt things nearly anywhere.
If three hours is a tall order, you can take advantage of the two-act
structure to split a Playset into two sessions of two hours apiece.
Try not to pause like this for more than a couple of weeks – your
players will forget stuff! If it’s unavoidable, make notes while the
game is still fresh in your mind (or ask a player to do it for you)
and start with a recap next time. This counts as an Intermission,
so fairies can change Costumes between sessions.

If you’re having trouble getting back into things after

a long interruption, skip the “previously, on…” bit and
start a new scene in medias res. (i.e., begin with the fairies
already in trouble!) Once the dust has settled, let your players
retroactively decide how they got from the end of the previous
session to the start of this one.

Over the years Chie’s group has made an art of fitting

all sorts of games into a three-hour window, but this
does involve hurried last acts or surprise third acts to
stretch a one-and-a-bit session game to two. When continuing,
Chie always asks each player to recall a few important points
from the previous session, and interrupts only to correct Zara’s
embellishments and selective memory.

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Running A Game
Chat Room
Chat-based games tend to go a little slower than face-to-face
games. Partly, this is because of the increased handling time of
communicating rules-based information in a text-only medium;
partly, it’s because it’s so much easier for players to get distracted!
Generally, you should assume that chat room games will take about
twice as long to play out as face-to-face games: a two-to-three-hour
session becomes a four-to-six-hour session. It’s also likely you’ll
need to split things up as discussed on the previous page, unless
you can pull off a marathon gaming session! It might even take
three or more sessions to play out a single scenario.
Some Playsets can be tricky to split up like this. Freeform games
are less likely to be troublesome, as you can break between pretty
much any two scenes. If you know in advance that you’re going to
be doing multiple short chat-based sessions over successive days,
freeform games are probably a better choice than Playsets – but
don’t let us stop you!

For GMs
The chat log will save you the trouble of making notes,
but you should still prepare a summary, or get one of
your players to do it for you – raw chat logs can be time-
consuming reading!

Seo-yeon has run six hour chat games from time to time,
but finds keeping the same group of people in the chat
that long exceptionally unreliable, especially in groups
from varied time zones. Thus, while her pace is typically a bit
faster than the average chat group, she still assumes two sessions
of play per one session’s worth of face-to-face material.
 Forum or Email
The pacing of a forum or email game depends
Setup for strongly on your group’s average rate of posting.
Alternative 129 Back when you set your game up, you should
Venues have discussed a maximum interval of time before
a player’s fairy is treated as on Break.
Assuming that each of your players
posts an average of once per day, you
can usually treat one hour of face-to-
face play as equivalent to two weeks
of forum or email-based play. A
Playset designed for a three-hour
session (with a break in the middle)
will thus take about three weeks per
“act”, for a total of six weeks of
daily posting from start to
finish. This will naturally
scale up or down for groups
with faster or slower posting
rates. For a group that posts
more slowly, a single Playset could
span many months.

If your players are posting once per day, that doesn’t

mean that you can get away with posting once per day!
They’ll probably post at different times throughout the
day, and you’ll need to be on hand to provide needed GM
feedback for all of them. Don’t let it consume all your free
time, of course, but bear in mind that a GM will typically need
to sustain a higher rate of posting than any individual player.
Nobody said running a game was easy…

Zara doesn’t use Playsets, but as a long-time face-to-

face gamer she still has a rough expectation of how
much material goes into a session. She tells her forum
players to expect roughly a Playset’s worth of stuff every six
weeks, and throws in a couple of extra Shenanigans targeted at
the players who’ve been posting less if she thinks they’re dropping
off that pace.

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Running A Game
 NPCs, Hazards
& Locations
While playing pranks on other fairies is fun, eventually your
players will want to mess with something that’s not a fairy. NPCs,
Hazards and Locations are three related tools you can use to
provide targets for their mischief.

What Are NPCs?

The neighbourhood cat; the baker down the street; the Dread
Overlord of Skull Keep. They don’t have to be NPCs! But they
can be.
In game terms, an NPC is a character who has some or all of the

For GMs
same traits as a Player Character. At the very least, this means
having a Stress Limit – if it doesn’t have a Stress Limit, it’s
scenery, not an NPC. As GM, you’ll step into the roles of NPCs
the same way that players do with their PCs, with Powers and
dice-rolling and the rest.

Why Use NPCs?

Making a character an NPC means
that she’s important. Because she has
her own Stress Limit, she has PC-like
resistance to narrative mischief: the players
have to beat her in a contest to mess with
her, and they can’t narrate her out of the
story or otherwise prevent her from acting
unless she Stresses Out.
This doesn’t mean that an NPC can’t
be pushed around – a group of fairies
can cause an awful lot of Stress very
quickly! – but it does mean that your
players will have to engage with her,
narratively and mechanically, in order to
do anything that she might object to.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 NPC Traits
NPCs work in mostly the same way as Player Characters, with a
few key differences:

++ NPCs usually have only one or two Facets. So, for example,
a brash, aggressive NPC might have only a Moxie rating.
NPCs never voluntarily take actions involving Facets they
don’t have, and automatically fail with a Result of 0 if forced
into such an action.

++ NPCs can have any number of Quirks. These Quirks should be

chosen with an eye toward being fun for the PCs to tag when
getting into contests with that NPC.

++ NPCs don’t have Magic points or Magic Pools. You can spend
Trouble Dice on an NPC’s behalf to do anything that would
cost Magic for a player – for example, adding dice to a roll,
or activating a Power with a Magic cost.

++ NPCs can have Stress Limits as low as 0, so suffering even a

single point of Stress causes them to Stress Out!

++ NPCs can’t use Wishful Thinking – not even NPC fairies!

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
NPC Rules
NPCs are designed to be simpler to run than PCs. Most of the time,
if an NPC is doing something, she just succeeds if it makes sense
that she would. NPCs only have to roll dice when a player decides
to mess with them, either because her character doesn’t approve of
what that NPC is doing and wants to stop it, or because the NPC is
the target of her latest prank! This means that NPC rolls are always
contests against Player Characters.

These rules are meant to make NPCs quick and easy

to play, both to reduce your workload, and to avoid
intruding on the PCs’ spotlight by spending a lot of time
resolving NPC actions. You always have the option of giving an
NPC the full PC treatment if needed – but if you’re spending
a lot of time crafting an NPC’s stats, that may be a sign that
you should just play that character and give someone else a
turn as GM!

For GMs

149
 NPC Dice Pools and Dice Rolls
NPCs don’t count up dice like PCs do. When you
roll for an NPC, give her 1–3 dice based on how
“in her element” she is – one die for something she
Trouble 163 just doesn’t know how to deal with, and three dice
Location Quirks 156
for something that’s right up her alley. You can
spend Trouble to boost an NPC’s roll on a one-
Assistance 70 for-one basis; Location Quirks and Assistance
can add dice to this pool just as they do for PCs.

When Robin targets the baker Mae Honeydew with

a wand stolen from a sleeping wizard, Meaghan only
gives her one die – a life of baking doesn’t prepare one
for sorcery! She spends 1 T to give Mae an extra die, though,
and has fellow NPC Allison Carter help with her “Ready for Your
Shenanigans” Quirk, for a total of three dice.

NPCs’ dice don’t yield Trouble when they come up 6. However, 6s

on an NPC’s roll may trigger Powers, as shown below.

In Chie’s game, the fairies have accidentally activated

the Arcanodynamic Steam Pachyderm before its
completion. Chie decides the technomagical terror
has three dice for all contests during its rampage, and gives it
the profile shown below. She intends for the fairies to choose
between trying to remove the “Overheated” Temporary Quirk to
make things safer for themselves, or to leave it in the hope the
Pachyderm will Stress Out faster.

Arcanodynamic Steam Pachyderm

Miracle of Modern Metallurgy, Prodigious Prototype

moxie Missing Coolant Systems: The Pachyderm starts

4 with the Temporary Quirk “Overheated”. If it loses
shine this Quirk, the GM can reapply it for 3 T.
4 Enchanted Steam Explosion: When the Pachyderm
limit rolls a 6 while it has the “Overheated” Temporary
20 Quirk, all characters in the same Location – including
the Pachyderm! – take 1 . S

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 NPC Stress
A typical NPC has a Stress Limit of 0, meaning
that she Stresses Out if she suffers any amount
of Stress at all. In most cases, an NPC should
not have a Stress Limit higher than 5. You
should resist the urge to give an NPC a
mischief-proof Stress Limit simply because
she’s meant to be “important”. Fairies don’t
care how important you are! Higher Stress
Limits are best reserved for NPCs that are
specifically intended as “boss fights” that
players must work together to overcome.
(Like Chie’s pernicious Pachyderm!)

NPCs and Stressing Out

When an NPC Stresses Out, she isn’t
necessarily removed from play. She just
can’t meaningfully oppose your players’
schemes anymore. She might run away,
be reduced to helpless stammering, or

For GMs
simply give up and go along with the
fairies’ plans.
A Stressed Out NPC should stay down long
enough to prevent her from messing with the
fairies’ current scheme. After that, she can come
back whenever is appropriate. If in doubt, spend
Summon
some Trouble to Summon Opposition – then you 170
Opposition
can bring her back even if it doesn’t make sense!

Remember that anyone with a Stress Limit has

protection from being narrated out of play – even if
that Stress Limit is 0! Your players can’t just narrate an
NPC off-stage without first making her Stress Out.

Tanya Barrington, the village seamstress, has a Stress

Limit of 5. When the fairies visit her workshop, she
suffers 6S from their “friendly” pranks. Meaghan has
her throw up her hands, exclaim, “Do whatever you want then,
you little fiends!” and retreat to the back room with a book and a
nice cup of tea.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 NPC Powers
For the most part, NPC Powers work just like PC
Powers. They’re typically simpler in order to avoid
slowing down play, but they follow all of the same
rules. Some NPC Powers have a cost to activate,
Trouble 163 which is paid in Trouble Dice rather than Magic
points. A list of common NPC Powers appears at
the end of this section; you can pick from this list
or use it as inspiration when creating NPCs on the
fly. Other examples appear in the tables of random
Random 273 NPCs in Appendix C: Random Encounters.
Encounters

Tanya Barrington has a Power named “Professional

Advantage” that allows her to spend T when she
inflictsS on a fairy to force that fairy to discard her
current Costume. Meaghan has her use it to be rid of Calla’s
Witch’s Hat before she can be turned into a frog.

NPCs may also possess Disaster Powers. These

Unleash 171 Powers provide extra options when Unleashing
Disaster
Disaster. If a Disaster is called for while an NPC
with a Disaster Power is present, you can use that
Power instead of rolling for a Disaster.

The Empress has a Disaster Power named “Mandate

of Heaven” that changes the genre of the game as a
Disaster, requiring the fairies to earn 20 Mischief Motes in
accordance with her chosen theme before they can earn them from
any other source. When a Random Disaster occurs in the throne
room, Chie activates the Power and declares her Imperial Majesty
will only be amused by “Swashbuckling, Piracy and Romance!”.

NPCs normally can’t wear Costumes. If an NPC does

end up in a Costume, she can freely use that Costume’s
Powers, paying M
costs (if any) with T instead.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
Big Folk
There are a few considerations to keep in mind
when playing NPCs who are much, much larger
than fairies.

First, Big Folk have the advantage in contests of

pure strength. If a fairy gets into an arm-wrestling
match or the like with a much larger NPC, that NPC
receives at least +1 edge. On the flip side, fairies 79 Edge
being so much smaller and more manoeuvrable
than Big Folk makes them difficult to catch; a fairy
trying to escape from a much larger NPC receives
at least +1 edge. These aren’t Powers, though they
may sometimes be noted under an NPC’s Powers
as a reminder.

Red is trying to wrestle away a bottle of powerful whisky

from Xiaoling Shirazi, proprietor of the Rose Gables
Inn. Red has Moxie 4, while Xiaoling must make do with

For GMs
a Grace of 3 from her background as a merchant banker. But the
human woman is five times the Pixie’s size, and Meaghan gives
her +1 edge, levelling the contest.

Second, though fairies are surprisingly scrappy for their size,

scuffles with Big Folk can be risky. A much larger NPC who
knows her way around a fight inflicts extra Stress if she wins a
scuffle with a fairy, and suffers reduced Stress if she loses one.
This bonus is typically +/−1 for Big Folk up to human size, though
it can be higher; some particularly tough Big Folk are practically
immune to fairy-size violence! This is treated as a Power, and can
be worked around as such – especially by turning the contest into
something other than a scuffle.

Zara is planning to have her fairy tackle the Grand

Magistrate out the window of her Westbury Yard office,
so that the other fairies might ransack it. Chie coolly
informs her that would be a scuffle, in which the Magistrate
(and five-times Imperial Tournament Champion) would enjoy a
+/−2 S advantage. Zara discards her plan in favour of wafting
the scent of decaying fish through the office vents.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 NPC Fairies
Non-player fairies should be a rare thing to
encounter – you don’t want to risk taking the
spotlight away from the PCs! If you decide to have
one show up, use the following guidelines:

++ Like other NPCs, NPC fairies lack a full

complement of Facets.

Shenanigans 173 ++ Unless there’s a Shenanigan connected

to defeating her, an NPC fairy has half the
Stress Limit she would if she were a PC (i.e.,
5 for most fairies, or 7 for Pixies). NPC fairies
Stress Out according to the rules for NPCs,
not for player fairies.

++ NPC fairies can wear Costumes. They draw from the same
Costume Deck as the players; any Costume currently worn
by an NPC fairy is unavailable for the players to draw (and
vice versa).

++ NPC fairies can’t hang onto extra Costumes like PCs do. You
can spend 1 T to have an NPC fairy change into a random
Costume mid-scene, or 3 T to search the deck and discard
pile for any Costume you want. Both options are 1 T cheaper
(to a minimum of 0) for NPC Brownies.

++ If a player makes an NPC fairy Stress Out, she can steal her
Costume!

If you’re uncomfortable with the potential implications

of Costume theft, you can narrate that the NPC fairy
in question just explodes and leaves her Costume behind,
like loot in a video game.

When Letty appears in Meaghan’s game as an NPC,

she’s wearing the Maid’s Uniform to better match the
Baroness’ retinue, and has a Stress Limit of 5 (half her
normal 10). Later, Calla bulldozers her with an alchemical
rocket, causing her to Stress Out, and Senait cheerfully claims
the Maid’s Uniform.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
Hazards
The world can be a dangerous place when you’re only a foot tall.
In fact, some dangers seem like they’re actively out to get you!
A Hazard is any inanimate obstacle that’s treated as an NPC. All
of the rules for NPCs apply: a Hazard has a Stress Limit, at least
one Facet, and can engage in contests with PCs.
Since Hazards usually don’t have personalities, a Hazard’s Facets
can be metaphorical. A thunderstorm could have a Moxie rating
because it’s big and forceful, while a cunning fairy trap might have
Craft because it’s complex and sneaky.
One-shot Hazards, or those that only strike when poked at, can
have Facets as high as 5; they only get one shot, so it should be
a good one! Other Hazards rarely have Facets higher than 3 or 4.
Like all NPCs, a Hazard suffers Stress when it loses a contest. This
doesn’t necessarily mean it’s being “hurt” – it just determines how
long the Hazard sticks around. If a thunderstorm has a Stress Limit
of 10, the storm breaks once the fairies have accumulated a total
Result of 10 avoiding getting wet.

For GMs
A wily tanuki has sold the fairies an apparent fortune in
tart futures, and they’re hoping to cash them out at the
Five Directions Stock Exchange to finance their next prank.
Chie isn’t sure how to run a compelling financial transaction, so
she decides to treat it as a Hazard – the Great Four Leaf Clover
Bubble! She describes the exchange going into a panic as the
price of four leaf clovers plummets, taking down tart futures and
everything else with it. She explains the tanuki swindled the fairies,
but they can cash out if they make the Hazard Stress Out.

Great Four Leaf Clover Bubble (Hazard)

shine Irrational Exuberance: This Hazard only takes S

4 from actions that calm down or distract the panicked
crowds of investors.
limit
10 Eat the Rich: If this Hazard rolls a 6, the GM may
spend 2 T to cause the fairy with the most M
to
take S equal to her M .

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 Locations
Locations are your third and final tool for giving character to non-
PCs. The fairies are never not in a Location, but only some are
interesting enough to have their own stats. Locations have Quirks
and (potentially) Powers.

It’s very rare for a Location to have its own Stress

Limit. An entity with a Stress Limit but no Facets
automatically loses contests, but still has to have its Stress
Limit worn down before the fairies can run roughshod over it.

Location Quirks
Most Locations should have one or two Quirks. Everyone in a
Location can tag its Quirks for extra dice. A player can tag Location
Quirks even if she’s already tagged Personal and Costume Quirks.

Meaghan has added a village carpenter to her session,

so when the fairies want to visit her, she needs to add
that Location. She gives the workshop the Quirk “Smell of
Sawdust”, and remembering how strong she’d made the carpenter,
a second Quirk of “Broken Tools”.

A fairy can add a new Temporary Quirk to a Location with a

successful roll. Locations don’t resist or recover from Temporary
Quirks on their own, but NPCs or Hazards – or other PCs – might
oppose such rolls on the Location’s behalf. As GM, you can add a
Quirk to a Location as the result of a failed test (or tied contest),
rather than placing a Quirk on the fairy herself.

Zara’s plan to deal with the Great Four Leaf Clover

Bubble involves changing into the Seamstress Outfit and
distracting the stockbrokers with trollbone corsets. But her
contest roll is a tie, and Chie narrates the stockbrokers passing out
due to their supernaturally tight corsets. They’re no longer furiously
selling, but neither is the mood particularly calmed by half the city’s
financial sorority lying unconscious on the trading floor. Chie adds
the “Fainting Financiers” Temporary Quirk to the exchange.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
Location Powers
Not all Locations will have Powers, but many do. Like Location
Quirks, Location Powers can be used by anyone present.

For GMs
Remember that Costume and Kind Powers take
precedence over Location Powers.

Chie’s fairy is trapped in the Memory Temple of Lucretia

Hearn, an elaborate dollhouse with treacherous
porcelain residents. Seo-yeon gives the Location the profile
shown below. Chie spends 2 M to Quick Change into the Survival
Gear and use “Seasonal Nostalgia” to have “White Winter”
available. This is a risky move, as Seo-yeon could just as easily
spend T to switch “White Winter” to “Scorching Summer” – a
fine Quirk to use against Chie’s rugged-up fairy!

The Memory Temple of Lucretia Hearn

The World of Shallow Dreams, A Murder of Dolls

Seasonal Nostalgia: Pay 1 Mor 1 T to change one of the

Temple’s Location Quirks to Sprouting Spring, Scorching
Summer, Auspicious Autumn or White Winter.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 Common Powers
The following Powers are commonly encountered
among NPCs, Hazards and Locations. You can pick
from this list when creating NPCs and Locations
on the fly, or use them as templates when writing
up NPCs and Locations for your own homebrewed
Playsets. Any time a Power template refers to
“a particular” Facet, Quirk or circumstance, the
targeted trait should be chosen when the Power is
assigned to a particular NPC, and doesn’t change
during play.
Random 273 You can check out Appendix C: Random
Encounters
Encounters for examples of these Powers in
action.

For NPCs
The following generic Powers are commonly encountered among
NPCs. NPCs sometimes have Powers that represent special
weaknesses or vulnerabilities; these Powers are marked with an
asterisk (*).

Bad Timing: You receive a discount to Summon

Summon 170 Opposition when spending T to bring this NPC
Opposition
into play under appropriate circumstances. The
Power should specify those circumstances.

Cheaper Dice: You can buy extra dice for this NPC’s rolls at a
rate of two dice per 1 T under a particular circumstance or when
the NPC is acting in a particular way.

Counter Facet: The NPC receives edge against anyone who

opposes her using a particular Facet or Facets in a contest. This
Power usually grants +1 edge, and can counter up to two Facets.

Dice Bonus: The NPC receives additional dice for free (i.e.,
without paying T) under a particular circumstance. This bonus
can take her above the usual limit of three dice before applying
other modifiers.

Edge: The NPC receives edge when the PCs try to do a particular
thing to her, or when trying to do a particular thing to the PCs.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
Extra Stress: The NPC inflicts extra S when she
wins a particular type of contest – usually a scuffle
– or when she wins a contest under certain
conditions. The bonus can range from
+1 to +3. Big Folk often have this
in combination with Stress
Resistance.

Facet Bonus: The NPC

has a higher effective
Facet value, to a maximum
of 5, under a particular
circumstance.

*Fatal Flaw: The NPC has a critical

weakness. This “Power” causes the
NPC to automatically Stress Out,
regardless of her current S , under a
particular circumstance. Such NPCs
often have conditional Edge or
other Powers that make this

For GMs
weakness difficult to exploit.

Follow-up: Any PC who loses a

contest with the NPC must successfully test a particular Facet or
S
suffer some effect or penalty in addition to the usual .

Genius Loci: The NPC has a particular Location Quirk that

follows her around. This functions like a regular Location Quirk
in all respects other than its mobility.

Grandstanding: The NPC has a way of generating extra T.

Her rolls might generate T when the dice show 1s, or she
might automatically generate one or more T under a particular
circumstance. Alternatively, PC fairies might generate extra T
when rolling against her!

Inflict Quirk: The NPC can impose a particular Temporary

Quirk on the PCs, either in response to a particular trigger (such
S
as inflicting on a fairy), or at any time by spending 1 or 2 T
per target. This Power often appears in combination with the
conditional versions of Edge, Extra Stress or Stress Resistance,
giving the NPC an advantage against PCs who have the Quirk.

Minions: The NPC can summon or create additional NPCs or

Hazards under certain conditions. This always costs at least 1 T
per minion in addition to any other requirements.
159
NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 *Powerless: The NPC is powerless under a particular circumstance.
This “Power” reduces the NPC’s effective Result to 0 when opposed
in a contest by a fairy who takes narrative advantage of that
circumstance.

Retaliation: The NPC automatically inflicts

1 or 2 S under a particular circumstance
or in response to a particular action by
PC fairies; this circumstance can include
losing a contest!

Stress Resistance: The NPC suffers

reduced S from a particular type of
threat – usually physical threats – or
when she loses a contest under certain
conditions. The reduction can range from
−1 to −3. Big Folk often have this in
combination with Extra Stress.

*Stress Vulnerability: Tough NPCs

are often exceptionally vulnerable to a
particular type of threat. This “Power”
causes the NPC to suffer extra S –
ranging from +1 to +3 – when she loses
a contest in which a PC takes narrative
advantage of this vulnerability.

Surprise!: The first time in the session

that the NPC initiates a contest with a
PC, it counts as a Surprise Attack.

Touch of Death: When the NPC inflicts

Stress on a PC, you can pay T equal
to a particular Facet of the affected
PC to make her instantly Stress Out,
regardless of her current Stress total.
This usually represents the ability to
capture or eat fairies!

*Vulnerable Quirk: One of the NPC’s

Quirks is more trouble than it’s worth.
PC fairies who tag this Quirk in a
contest receive an additional benefit,
like an extra die, a bonus to S
inflicted, etc.

160
For Hazards
Hazards can have most of the same
sorts of Powers that NPCs can.
Weaknesses are more common
among Hazards than among
NPCs. In addition, a few
Powers that are usually
inappropriate for NPCs
may be more suitable for
Hazards; NPCs can have
them, too, but you should
exercise caution, as they
can be frustrating when
wielded by something that
can actively oppose the
players.

Bribery: A PC fairy may

gain 1 or 2 M (or some
other benefit) in exchange
for voluntarily suffering

For GMs
a particular Temporary
Quirk or other effect.

Costume Damage: The Hazard

S
forces any fairy it inflicts on to discard her current Costume.
The affected fairy may Quick Change into any other Costume in
her possession for free; if she doesn’t have any, she Stresses Out.
This Power usually has a cost or other strict limitation associated
with it; it can be really annoying if it doesn’t!

Counter Facet: As per the version for regular NPCs, except that it
can counter up to four Facets (i.e., every Facet except one).

Stress Immunity: The Hazard is immune to Stress from

contests with PCs unless the player describes what she’s doing
in a particular way. This Power is usually given to Hazards that
represent situations or abstract concepts.

Unstoppable: The Hazard can’t be opposed at all unless

some special condition is met. This could involve paying M ,
successfully testing a particular Facet, or discovering and tagging
a hidden Quirk. If a PC fairy initiates a contest with the Hazard
without satisfying this condition, her Result against the Hazard is
automatically treated as 0.

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 For Locations
Since a Location’s Powers can be used by anybody who’s present
in that Location, nearly any NPC or Hazard Power can be rephrased
as a Location Power. Such Powers should typically be conditional
so that they’re not used by everybody all at
once! In addition, the following types
of Powers are specifically applicable
to Locations.

Enhanced Scrounging: The

first fairy to Scrounge in
this Location automatically
receives a particular Costume.
The Costume should be
removed from the deck at
the start of the session to
make sure it’s available.
Alternatively, this Power
might grant extra draws when
successfully Scrounging.

Guardian: You receive a discount to

Summon 170 Summon Opposition when spending T
Opposition
to bring NPCs into play in this Location under
appropriate circumstances. The Power should
specify which NPCs are affected. You shouldn’t
claim a discount for both this Power and Bad
Timing – they’re just two different ways of
expressing the same effect.

Power Up: Characters in this Location can take a particular action

to recover S M
or gain . There’s usually a cost or limit associated
with this Power; a good general rule is three to five total uses. If an
NPC takes advantage of an effect that would grant M , you get T
equal to the number of M that would have been granted instead!

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NPCs, Hazards & Locations
 Trouble
Fairies live and breathe chaos. Not necessarily big, earth-shaking
chaos, but they make the world a less tidy place just by existing.
In game terms, this is represented by the Trouble Pool.

What Is Trouble?
The Trouble Pool is a collection of dice that you can use to mess
with your players. The Trouble Pool grows over time, and shrinks
as you expend Trouble Dice in order to complicate the PCs’ lives.
The effects of these expenditures can range from adding dice
to NPC rolls, to activating certain Powers, and even to directly
interrupting the game’s usual narrative back-and-forth to mix
things up.
In Power descriptions and other places, “Trouble Die” is sometimes
short-handed with the following icon: T.

For GMs

163
163
 Why Use Trouble?
Or, to be blunt: why do you need to spend dice to give you
permission to mess with your players? You’re the Game Master,
after all. Can’t you just do whatever you want?
Of course, that’s totally true. The narrative ball always starts out
in your court. Players can take control of the story for a little
while with successful rolls, but that’s a temporary state of affairs
– and in theory, you could always just throw impossible tests and
unbeatable NPCs at them to take that control back whenever you
want.
But why would you want to? You’re not here to beat your players
– you’re here to present them with fun challenges and entertaining
chaos. The Trouble Pool provides you with three tools to pursue
that goal.

Impending Doom
The first effect of the Trouble Pool is primarily psychological.
Your players can see the Trouble Dice piling up, and they know
that those dice are going to be used sooner or later. As the dice pile
up, the tension builds. When they’re spent, it means bad news, but
it’s also a relief for your players – at least now they know what’s
coming! Be sure to play this up; in online games, you should
frequently announce the current size of the Trouble Pool in order
to maintain that tension.

164
Trouble
 For GMs
A Licence to Railroad
Costume Fairy Adventures sometimes has very particular ideas
about whose turn it is to narrate. These rules usually do a good job
of making sure that everyone gets her turn in the spotlight – but
what if you need to rein things in a little? Or just nudge events in
a new direction?
In this sense, Trouble Dice are a licence to “railroad” your
players in a particular direction – you can spend T to interrupt
the story and interject as needed. This also helps to smooth over
any potential recriminations; if you blow things up for no reason,
your players can’t complain, because you “paid” for the right to do
so! (Be sure to practise your best evil smirk for such occasions.)

It’s Your Game, Too!

Finally, you shouldn’t forget that you’re not just here to babysit
your players – you’re here to play too! In a way, the Trouble Pool
is the GM’s “character”; it represents the strange whimsy of the
world that the fairies live in. Call it fate, karma, or chaos theory;
whatever name you give it, there’s a very real force in the world
that wants the fairies to live in interesting times, and Trouble Dice
are that force’s “Magic points”. Don’t be afraid to get a little bit
into character when you reach for the Trouble Pool – it’s the one
role that will always be with you.

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Trouble
 Starting Trouble
The Trouble Pool starts with a number of Trouble Dice in it equal
to the number of players, including yourself. For example, three
players plus one GM equals four Trouble Dice.

Growing the Trouble Pool

Whenever a player rolls a 6, two things happen:

++ That player’s fairy gains a point of Magic.

++ The Trouble Pool grows by one die.

If a roll turns up multiple 6s, that means multiple Trouble Dice!

(And similarly, multiple points of Magic for the rolling player.)

Zara’s dice luck borders on supernatural. When making

a Grace test for her fairy to drive a carriage through a
department store, she rolls 5, 6, 6, 6, 6. In addition to the
failed test causing equine chaos in the petticoat department, it
grants Zara 4 M and a delighted Chie 4 T.

NPCs 147 Rolls made for NPCs don’t grow the Trouble Pool.
However, some NPCs might have Powers that
add to the Trouble Pool in other ways. Similarly,
a player might end up with Powers – typically
Costumes 105 Costume or Location Powers – that add to the
Trouble Pool even if she doesn’t roll any 6s. Extra
Locations 156
Trouble generated in this way does not grant
extra Magic points unless the Power in question
explicitly says it does.
166
Trouble
Spending Trouble Dice
When you spend Trouble Dice, things go badly for the players.
There are six basic ways to spend Trouble Dice: three interact with
the dice-based nuts and bolts of the game, and three that let you
mess with the narrative directly.

Add a Die (1 T)
You can spend a Trouble Die to add a die to an
NPC or Hazard’s roll in a contest. You can spend
as much Trouble as you like on any given roll,
though there’s usually no point going beyond five
dice. (Note that this differs from players, who can
buy only one extra die per roll with M .) 98 Magic

In Seo-yeon’s game, Chie’s fairy is trying to sit through

a performance of the Ouroboros Opera so that she
may detonate the firecrackers hidden in the lead actor’s
costume in the twelfth act. Seo-yeon decides that the tedium of

For GMs
the play goes beyond a simple test to a full Hazard, rolling three
dice at Focus 3 in contests. She spends T on each contest roll to
raise it to four dice, just so Chie gets the full cultural experience.
 Invoke a Quirk (1 T)
Any time a player makes a roll, you can spend a Trouble Die to
turn a Quirk against her. Often, this will be a Location Quirk – but
if you’re feeling particularly merciless, you can invoke Costume
Quirks, or even Personal Quirks! This reduces the number of dice
rolled for the affected test or contest by one. If the player is reduced
to zero dice in this way, she automatically fails with a Result of 0.
There’s no rule against invoking a Quirk that a player has already
tagged to claim a die, but it usually won’t make sense to do so.

Senait wants Calla to watch over the pies for the contest,
alert for (non-fairy) cheats and saboteurs. Meaghan
spends T on Calla’s contest with the nefarious Bill
Harvey as he attempts to drug a pie, tagging her “Your Own Little
World” Quirk to remove a die from her pool for obliviousness.

Timing issues will usually prevent you from using this

option in forum or email-based games. This is okay
– the more relaxed pace of such games will afford you
opportunities to make better use of Trouble Dice in other ways.

Use Power (1+ T)

NPC Powers 152 Some NPCs have Powers that cost Trouble to
activate. Also, if an NPC ends up wearing a
Costume, any Powers that have a Magic cost are
activated by spending Trouble Dice instead.

Chie is using an NPC named Dr. Hekyll, who has a

Power named “You Won’t Like Her When She’s Angry”
that allows her to spend 3 T to be replaced by Ms. Jyde,
a significantly nastier NPC.
In Meaghan’s game, Letty is unplayed and has been brought in
as an NPC. She’s wearing the Witch’s Hat, so Meaghan can pay
the “Polymorph” Power’s M
cost with T to have Letty turn
someone into a frog.

168
Trouble
Add a Complication (1 T)
The most basic trick of the Trouble Pool
is to interject into a player’s narration
to add complications. When a
player succeeds at a test or contest,
she gets to narrate the outcome. By
spending one Trouble Die, you can
jump in and add a proviso or two.
You can’t and shouldn’t directly
negate or invalidate whatever the
successful player was trying to
accomplish, but the narrative
“Yes!” becomes a “Yes, but…”.
Most often, the result should be
overcoming one problem, only
for the solution to create another,
equally pressing one.
You can spend a Trouble Die to Add a
Complication to the same successful roll

For GMs
that generated that particular die.

Chie’s fairy somehow survives the crushing tedium of

the Ouroboros Opera to the twelfth act and the prime
time for her big prank. Seo-yeon thinks the scene could use
a little more drama before it’s wrapped up, so she spends 1 T to
Add a Complication – the lead actor has switched costumes with
her co-star, so the firecrackers are on the wrong person! Chie will
need to find a way to swap the dresses back again, or go ahead
with the prank against the wrong target.

As an optional rule, a player can voluntarily Add a

Complication to her own success when she rolls a 6.
Doing so prevents that 6 from contributing to the Trouble
Pool, effectively “pre-spending” the Trouble Die it would have
generated. She still gets the usual M
. This is a good option for
forum or email-based games, where you might not be around
to interject in a timely fashion. Only one Trouble Die can be
negated in this way, so a successful roll with multiple 6s will
always generate at least some Trouble.

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Trouble
 Summon Opposition (3 T)
If you need to shake things up a little more
thoroughly, you can spend 3 T to add a
troublesome new element to the scene,
typically in the form of an NPC or Hazard.
By spending the Trouble Dice, you’re
“buying off” both narrative plausibility
and any obligation to play nice. You may,
with malice aforethought, have the worst
possible person show up at the worst
possible moment – even if there’s no
reasonable way for her to have gotten there!
When you’re playing freeform, this can be
resolved as a simple roll on the relevant
random NPC table, re-rolling if you get
an NPC who’s already present. (Unless
you have a fun idea for an “evil twin”
scenario, anyway!) Playsets will point out
the NPCs who are most useful to summon
in this way; some NPCs may offer a
discount for summoning them in Locations
or circumstances they’re particularly
associated with.
A Summon Opposition action may return a Stressed Out NPC to
play, no matter how little sense it makes for her to show up again.

Karyn and Nadya have had Robin and Mabby playfully

badmouthing the unplayed Letty throughout the session.
As they’re pulling the top off a keg on a plundered beer cart
they have a particularly cutting exchange about Letty’s inability to
hold her liquor. At this point, Meaghan realises that, as an NPC,
Letty can be summoned for 3 T, that the “Polymorph” Power
on the Witch’s Hat can be activated for 1 T, and that frogs do
not deal well with beer.

You can also use this option simply to pick up a lagging

scene. As the old Game Mastering wisdom goes: when
in doubt, ninjas attack.

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Trouble
Unleash Disaster (5 T)
This is the big gun. By spending five Trouble
Dice, you can overturn the entire scene to your
own ends. There are two ways this can play out.
Either something so overwhelming happens that
it completely co-opts the scene and redefines all
the players’ goals – or else the current scene just
ends. Start a new scene in medias res (i.e., with the
fairies already embroiled in some new trouble),
and leave it up to your players to work out how
they got there!
This book provides Random Disaster tables for 273 Random
Encounters
a few common milieux, and each Playset will
also come with its own specially tailored Random
Disaster table. Some NPCs, Hazards or Locations
may have Powers that can be activated in lieu of a 152 NPC Powers
Random Disaster roll. You can also make up your
own Disaster on the spot, but don’t be afraid to
lean on the tables – it’s often more fun if even you
don’t know what’s about to happen!

For GMs
Chie is a bit stuck for ideas as her group runs roughshod
over the city, but she does have plenty of T thanks to
Zara’s penchant for rolling 6s. She pulls 5 T from her pile
of Trouble Dice, slams them down in the middle of the table, and
asks the players to define a suitable Disaster. Alice cheerfully pipes
up with “Etiquette-enforcing alligators burst from the sewers to
correct our awful manners!”; Zara accuses her of treachery. Chie
quickly gives the alligators Facets, Stress Limits and a Power, and
the scene is away…
In Meaghan’s game, the players decide to have their fairies retreat
to a quiet backstreet of the village to plan their next move. She
doesn’t feel a quiet planning scene fits the fairy idiom, so she
spends 5 T on a Disaster, choosing “Carter’s Flock” from the
list in The Big Pie Caper. She narrates a quick cut, describing the
fairies hemmed in on all sides by sheep: sheep in the street, sheep
staring out from windows, sheep looming on the roofs!

Other Uses
Some Playsets will have additional options for spending Trouble.
Make sure to check for them before the start of the session.

171
Trouble
172
 Shenanigans
Fairies have an innate sense for how to cause the most chaos in
any given situation. There’s a little voice in the back of their heads
whispering: “Hey… you know what would be awesome?” And
that voice is never wrong.

What Are Shenanigans?

Shenanigans are the essential unit of rules-based progress in
Costume Fairy Adventures. They’re a bit like quests in a traditional
roleplaying game, and a bit like achievements in a video game.
Each Shenanigan consists of a specific immediate or long-term
goal, and a reward for completing it.

Why Use Shenanigans?

For GMs
Much of the time, your players won’t need any help getting into
trouble – on the contrary, they’ll generally have greater difficulty
avoiding it! Sometimes the chaos needs to be pointed in a particular
direction, though, and that’s where Shenanigans come in.
At its most basic, a Shenanigan is a dare, whether it comes from
you or a player. The opportunity to score Mischief Motes certainly
sweetens the deal, but the reason a Shenanigan exists in the first
place is because someone thought it would be funny to see if
the fairies will actually do it! It’s important to bear this in mind
when thinking about whether a given Shenanigan makes sense.
Remember the goofy stunts you and your friends used to dare each
other to do when you were kids? A standard Shenanigan should
make exactly that amount of sense.

All of the rules in this book are optional in a sense, but

Shenanigans should be considrered extra-optional. If
your players are having a grand old time running around
playing Grand Theft Donkey, don’t force it! Some people just
aren’t motivated by scoring points, and that’s okay. None of
the basic Kind or Costume Powers refer to Shenanigans, so
nothing will break without them.

173
Shenanigans
 Detecting Shenanigans
From an in-character perspective, fairies
become aware of potential Shenanigans
through a sort of ineffable intuition that leads
them to the times and places that would most
benefit from their nonsense. At the gaming
table, however, Shenanigans come from two
sources: you, and your players.
Whenever your players display interest in a
Location or NPC, you should usually reveal
a Shenanigan or two that’s associated with
it. Playsets will have a couple of suggested
Shenanigans attached to just about everything.
Such Shenanigans can come from an NPC
displaying an obvious need, an explicit
request, or just an irresistible opportunity.
Out of character, just reveal the requirements
and rewards of the Shenanigan to your players
as soon as interest has been established.
In a face-to-face game, you can write each
Shenanigan down on an index card and place it
on the table for everyone to see. (Most Playsets will
come with printable Shenanigan Cards to save you the trouble.) In
a chat or forum-based game, you’ll need to occasionally remind
your players of outstanding Shenanigans instead.

Meaghan has printed the supplied Shenanigan Cards

from The Big Pie Caper, neatly cut them out, and
presents them to her players as they become relevant.
Chie scribbles Shenanigans on index cards for her group.
When there’s too many cards on the table, she stops giving out
Shenanigans or removes some the group is happy to give up on.
Zara’s forum game runs at a leisurely pace, so she can easily
keep an up-to-date list of the active Shenanigans on a wiki page
for everyone to see.
Seo-yeon is a project manager by trade. She creates Shenanigans
as tasks in a lightweight project management web application,
dragging them between “To Do”, “Doing” and “Done” columns
as the fairies make progress. Her players keep the project board
open in a browser tab so they can remind themselves of the
Shenanigans at any time. Seo-yeon insists this is much simpler
and quicker than using paper.

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Shenanigans
Shenanigans can also be suggested by your players. The basic
procedure is the same as for GM-established Shenanigans. Some
players will be comfortable with explicitly proposing Shenanigans,
while others will prefer to hint, usually with phrases like “wouldn’t
it be awesome if we…”. Keep an ear out for such hints – it’s no
fun to miss an opportunity for mischief!

If you’re bad at taking hints, be sure to remind your

players to hint very strongly.

Meaghan’s group have never played a tabletop

roleplaying game together, so they don’t have any of
the conventions more established groups might rely on.
She responds to anything that might possibly be a hint for a
Shenanigan – Aadhya’s inquisitiveness about random details of
the village, Karyn’s harebrained scheming and Senait’s demands

For GMs
for more ways to get points. This leads her to give out perhaps a
few too many Shenanigans, but it’s better to err on the side of the
players having too much to do than not enough.
Chie and Zara have played RPGs together for their entire adult lives
and have longstanding workarounds for common communication
problems. They’ve learned the hard way that they’re terrible at
giving each other hints, so when Zara wants a Shenanigan, even
a retroactive one, that’s exactly what she asks for.

175
 Types of Shenanigans
There are five general categories of Shenanigans, each of which
can be distinguished in three ways:

++ How much effort it takes to accomplish in game terms

++ How complicated it is in narrative terms

++ How many Mischief Motes it awards

In general, the same guidelines apply whether a

Playsets 188 given Shenanigan is built into a Playset, cooked
up on the fly in a freeform game, or directly
proposed by your players. Some Playsets may
have alternative rules for determining when a
particular Shenanigan has been completed – be
sure to check the Shenanigan’s description for
details.

1 Mote – Incidental or Repeatable Shenanigans

The smallest Shenanigans don’t necessarily require a roll at all.
They can be accomplished in passing, as part of another action, or
even by accident! Shenanigans of this type are often repeatable, up
to a set maximum – usually no more than five times in the course
of a session.
Incidental Shenanigans are best suited for one-off jokes – or, in
their repeatable incarnation, for running gags. You might even
give credit for an incidental Shenanigan retroactively if a player
comes up with a good pun or one-liner or otherwise accomplishes
something notably entertaining on the fly.

The “Merry Mixologist” Shenanigan in The Big Pie

Caper requires the fairies to mix up an outlandish
cocktail and serve it to humans, gaining 1 Mote for each
that likes it, up to 5. In Meaghan’s game, Nadya has Mabby mix up
a “Royal-tea Fizz” and starts commanding villagers to partake of
her generous hospitality. Her first mark is the shepherd’s daughter,
who loves it – 1 Mote for the fairies!

176
Shenanigans
 For GMs
2 Motes – Minor Shenanigans
A minor Shenanigan can be accomplished with a single successful
roll. Basically, if a player is trying at all, she’s practically
guaranteed to get it.
Minor Shenanigans are “pranks of opportunity”, so to speak. This
is the appropriate level for basically any player-proposed prank
that you agree sounds like fun, but don’t want to risk turning into
an extended sidetrack. As GM, you’ll offer up minor Shenanigans
to dare your players to try something that you have no specific
consequences in mind for – you just think it would be funny to
see if they’ll do it!

In Chie’s game, Alice narrates her fairy flashing a

roguish smile at the Crown Princess and causing her
to blush as a side-effect of a successful Shine contest in a
duel with the dastardly Sir Elanor Crossingpot. Chie thinks that’s
a perfect swashbucklery touch and retroactively awards a 2 Mote
Shenanigan named “You Like Me Because I’m a Scoundrel”.

177
Shenanigans
 5 Motes – Standard Shenanigans
Standard Shenanigans require three or more successful rolls in
order to achieve. A single successful use of Wishful Thinking can
also accomplish a standard Shenanigan instantly, if it makes sense
that the wish in question would do so.

As the name suggests, the bulk of the Shenanigans

you’ll put in front of your players will be of
this sort. This is the default level for the built-
Playsets 188 in Shenanigans that come with a Playset. In a
freeform game, each scene should offer two or
three 5 Mote Shenanigans – these are what the
scene is “about”, and accomplishing all of them
signals that scene’s end. When taking player
suggestions, anything that seems to catch more
than one player’s attention should definitely get
the 5 Mote treatment.

You probably noticed that standard Shenanigans take

three times as much effort as minor Shenanigans, but
aren’t quite worth three times as many Motes. This is
intentional. Minor Shenanigans have slightly inflated rewards
in order to give players the occasional easy target. This isn’t
the sort of game that discourages messing about!

The Big Pie Caper includes a 5 Mote Shenanigan named

“The Pie Price”, in which the fairies must present a
gift to the baker, Mae Honeydew, to make good on their
theft of a pie in The Little Pie Caper comic. In Meaghan’s game,
Luciana has the idea of using Wishful Thinking to refine magical
salt from the fairies’ tears of contrition as their gift (and to cut up
onions to coax tears from the not-at-all contrite fairies). Luciana’s
Wishful Thinking roll is successful, producing the salt. Since this
is enough to accomplish a standard Shenanigan and Meaghan
agrees it’s an excellent gift for a baker, Mae is mollified and the
fairies gain their 5 Motes.

178
Shenanigans
10 Motes – Major Shenanigans
Without Wishful Thinking, major Shenanigans require five or
more successful rolls to accomplish. Even Wishful Thinking can’t
achieve this sort of Shenanigan straight away – your players should
make at least a couple of successful rolls to set it up before using
a wish to knock it down. Major Shenanigans might also need to
be “unlocked” by completing one or more more related standard
Shenanigans first.
In narrative terms, major Shenanigans are the big leagues. In a
Playset, they’re referred to as “Core Shenanigans”, and reflect
central goals or “quests” built into that Playset’s story. In freeform
play, proposing major Shenanigans is usually left up to the GM;
you’ll use them to set intermediary goals that help to guide the
fairies toward whatever your session’s goal is – or at least provide
them with an incentive to stop messing about and move on to the
next scene! If your session doesn’t have a particular goal, you
can also give any player-proposed Shenanigan that gets the whole
group fired up a 10 Mote target.

For GMs
Zara bluntly declares she’d like a Shenanigan to
convince the Empress to appoint a fairy as Admiral
of the Lightning Fleet, on the principle it would be both
awesome and hilarious. Chie names the Shenanigan “Mistress
and Commander”, and declares that it’s worth 10 Motes and a
commensurate amount of effort. Zara informs the group that she
expects every fairy to do her duty.

179
 15 Motes – Secret and Special Shenanigans
There are no standard guidelines for completing a Shenanigan
worth 15 Mischief Motes or more. In theory, such a Shenanigan
would require ten or more successful rolls or several carefully
targeted uses of Wishful Thinking to accomplish – but that’s far
too long to expect a fairy to stay on task!
Rather, these high-value Shenanigans serve a different purpose.
Playsets sometimes have “secret” Shenanigans worth 15 Motes;
these represent optional goals for curious and enterprising players
to discover. Conversely, in a freeform game, special Shenanigans
are usually major Shenanigans with deliberately inflated Mischief
Mote rewards in order to make them extra-enticing.

You should exercise caution with special Shenanigans;

used more than occasionally, they can give the
impression that you’re trying to lead your players about
by the nose. And it’s totally okay if you are – you just shouldn’t
be so obvious about it!

When Chie’s group blunders through the Imperial

Exhibition with its attendant contraptions and prodigies,
she offers a major Shenanigan “For SCIENCE!” to win
the Grand Prize for Esoteric Engineering, but assigns it a value
of 15 Motes. Chie just loves mad science, and Zara, Alice & co.
are happy to take the bribe.

180
Shenanigans
Achieving Shenanigans
It’s generally easy to tell when a Shenanigan
has been achieved. A well-defined Shenanigan
should have a clear objective – if it doesn’t,
you need to adjust the Shenanigan, not the
solution! Your players will frequently
come up with solutions that only
technically satisfy that objective, or that
do so in a roundabout way – this is both
expected and acceptable. If in doubt of a
particular solution, you can always burn
a Trouble Die to Add a Complication;
otherwise, it’s usually best to err in your
players’ favour.
Each tier of Shenanigan mentions a
particular number of successful rolls – either
tests or contests – that are required to complete it.
This is just a guideline, though it’s intended to be a reasonably firm
one. The rolls don’t have to be consecutive, or even
in the same scene, and it’s okay for fairies to

For GMs
work together; in fact, you should expect
major Shenanigans to be ganged up on! If
your players are particularly clever, you
can have some individual successes count
more than once toward this threshold.
For Shenanigans that involve overcoming or
defeating a particular Hazard or NPC, you can let
that NPC’s Stress Limit stand in for the number
of required rolls. A Stress Limit of 5–10 is
good for a standard Shenanigan, while a
Stress Limit of 15–20 is better for major
Shenanigans.

With Chie’s fairy trapped inside the Memory Temple

of Lucretia Hearn, Seo-yeon thinks the principle
difficulty of escaping the temple is the dolls themselves.
She models them as a 10 Stress Limit Hazard and creates a 5
Mote Shenanigan called “Curse of the Hanged Hearn Dolls” that
is fulfilled when the dolls Stress Out or the temple is escaped by
other means. 10 S is a lot for one fairy to inflict – hopefully one
of the other players will help Chie out!

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Shenanigans
 Player-versus-player Contests & Shenanigans
When two players’ fairies disagree on how best to go about
acheiving a Shenanigan, they might resort to a contest to decide
whose plan will prevail. Not only is this okay, there’s a trick to
it: a contest between two (or more) PC fairies always yields a
successful player roll, unless the outcome is a tie.
Astute GMs may note that it’s actually possible for a contest
between two players’ fairies to have better odds of advancing a
relevant Shenanigan than a simple unopposed test by either one
of them would. This is intentional.

Adjusting Shenanigans
Sometimes you’ll have a mismatch between a Shenanigan’s tier
and the level of effort your players put into it. What happens if a
player narrates a major Shenanigan’s completion after a single roll,
or takes a minor Shenanigan and milks it for all it’s worth? There
are three basic ways to address this.

Adjustable Rewards
The lowest-impact method is simply to adjust the Mischief Mote
award. If you reveal a standard Shenanigan, but your players only
put forth a minor Shenanigan’s worth of effort, they receive only
a minor reward. On the flip side, if a standard Shenanigan inspires
ever-more-complicated schemes, it might be a major Shenanigan
by the time your players are done with it!
This option is easy for you, but reduced rewards can feel like
a punishment. If you use this approach, let your players know
in advance that you’ll be strictly enforcing the required effort
guidelines – and warn them if they’re about to roll over a
Shenanigan before they’ve gotten everything they can out of it!
Conversely, scaling a Shenanigan’s reward up is a much easier sell.
Some Playsets formalise this option by providing Shenanigans that
can be “upgraded” with extra effort.

When her players poke at a carriage axle factory,

Chie hands out a 5 Mote Shenanigan to organise a
strike. The fairies’ efforts end up involving an impromptu
drama company, recruiting the police to the workers’ cause and
a barbecue using industrial furnaces. Chie feels obliged to cough
up 10 Motes for the sheer scale of the work.

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Shenanigans
The “That Was Too Easy!” Rule
A more rules-based approach is to use
Trouble to balance things out. If a player
is about to narrate a Shenanigan complete
before reaching the required number of rolls,
warn her. If she wants to go ahead anyway,
you get 2 T for each roll the fairles came up
short. This doesn’t grant M ; in effect, any
benefit has been “pre-spent” by making the
Shenanigan easier than it should have been!
This is good option if you want to encourage
your players to give Shenanigans their due
without breaking out the penalty stick.

Chie’s group created the Entertainers, Grifters and

Fishmongers Union, then promptly forgot about them
as they caused trouble through the city. In a last-minute
burst of productivity, Alice tries to get the Union on-side by

For GMs
having her fairy use Wishful Thinking to produce a massive haul
of Rainbow Trout (tastes like real rainbow!). She succeeds, and
narrates the charismatic fishmonger browbeating her colleagues
into compliance. Chie had planned on making the Union a 10 Mote
Shenanigan, so a single Wishful Thinking is a little too easy; she
offers to replace the two missing rolls with 4 T, and Alice accepts.

The Honour System

Finally, you can leave matters in your players’ hands. Just tell
them up front that you expect them to insert complications into
their own narration as needed to avoid making things too easy,
and that they shouldn’t expect a bigger payout for spending extra
time on a Shenanigan; mischief is its own reward! This option is
well-suited to forum and email-based games, where you won’t
always be around to interject when things start to go off the rails.

Since Zara tends to post at random times through

the day, she trusts her players to declare success in
Shenanigans when the dice agree, preventing her schedule
from acting as a bottleneck. She reserves the right to make
retroactive changes, but has had little cause to exercise it.

183
Shenanigans
 Mischief Motes
The basic reward for completing a Shenanigan is Mischief Motes:
a tangible representation of the chaos your players have brought
into the world. Mischief Motes are accumulated by the group as
a whole, not by any particular player; in a typical Costume Fairy
Adventures game, the objective is to gain as many Mischief Motes
as possible.
So: what do Mischief Motes do?
That’s the beauty of it: they don’t do anything.
Like trophies, badges and high scores in video
games, the point of Mischief Motes is to have
them. They’re a purely abstract reward, and don’t
have any particular rules-based benefits attached
to them.
In practice, this often matters less than you
might think. A great many players are motivated
to score points regardless of whether they can
do anything with them. Those who aren’t score-
motivated, meanwhile, have the narrative
rewards of pulling off awesome pranks to
satisfy them.
This isn’t to say that your players’ Mischief
Mote total will never be relevant, though.
There are a few situations where Mischief Motes
can be put to use.

Pacing a Session
Running A 132 Way back in the Running A Game section,
Game
we mentioned setting a Mischief Mote target
for a freeform session that otherwise lacks any
particular built-in “quest”. This can give your
players a concrete goal to work towards and help
keep them focused on targeted mischief over other
diversions.
For a face-to-face game, 50 Mischief Motes per
hour is a good general rule. Most groups will tend
to accumulate smaller numbers of Motes early
on, while hitting bigger rewards later, so this
goal should be set up front for the whole session,
not for each individual hour. For example, if you
expect to play for about three hours, you might set
a Mischief Mote target of 150.

184
Shenanigans
Games played via chat or real-time social media 144 Session Length
and Pacing
tend to go a little slower, so 25 Mischief Motes per
hour is a more realistic target there.
Finally, for forum or email-based games, it

For GMs
depends as always on your group’s average posting
rate. Assuming that each player posts an average of
once per day, with GM involvement as necessary,
you should expect your group to accumulate about
25 Mischief Motes per week of play. A typical 150
Mischief Mote target thus represents about six
weeks of daily posting.
All of these estimates assume a group size of three
or four players, plus a GM. You can scale up or
down accordingly for larger or smaller groups.

Meaghan’s group is not only new to Costume Fairy

Adventures, but new to the roleplaying hobby! They
earn 75 Motes in their first three-hour game, which is in
keeping with the amount of time they need to spend finding their
feet, and considered a success in The Big Pie Caper.
Zara doesn’t closely track the rate of Mote gain in her forum game.
Her policy of allowing players to resolve their own Shenanigans
leads to a very rough average of 5 Motes per day, but she only
worries about it when she wants to tie things up before a given
real life date (such as the holiday season). As long as everyone is
posting regularly, she feels the game is going well.

185
Shenanigans
 Player-driven Epilogues
As an additional motivator, you can tie some concrete narrative
benefit to your players’ Mischief Mote total. The default option is
to let your players each narrate a short epilogue scene if the group’s
Mischief Mote total reaches the target you set for the game.
Some Playsets formalise this by presenting an “epilogue ladder”
where the group’s Mischief Mote total directly determines how
things turn out, while others may may allow Mischief Motes to be
“spent” at the end of the game in exchange for particular narrative
outcomes.

As beginners, it took Meaghan’s group a while to get

going, but they hit the 75 Mote threshold needed for
bonus epilogue scenes in The Big Pie Caper! Meaghan
describes this as being like scenes played over the credits of a
movie. Aadhya responds by narrating Pooka officiating at the
wedding of the Baroness and the carpenter, Luciana adds a scene
of Red becoming the baker’s apprentice, Senait shows Calla
on a cleaning rampage to restore the village to pristine state,
while Karyn and Nadya collaborate for the “post-credits” scene
of Robin and Mabby approaching Mayor Rose Carter with a
suggestion for a brand new festival…

Plugins
Finally, for groups that prefer a bit of old-school
Plugins 210 character building, you can use a Plugin that gives
mechanical heft to Mischief Motes. One such
Plugin, Level Up!, is presented in this book.

Like Costume Cards, Mischief Motes sort of exist and

sort of don’t exist in-character. Some groups may prefer
to keep them strictly notional, while others may be okay
with fairies pulling Mischief Motes out of their pockets to give
them a shine. What you shouldn’t do is allow players lose them,
steal them from other characters, or otherwise mess with them
using any Power or other rules-based effect. Basically, don’t do
anything that would damage their integrity as a score-keeping
mechanism.

186
Shenanigans
Other Rewards
While collecting Mischief Motes is usually the main benefit of
completing Shenanigans, they can offer other rewards as well. This
is particularly the case in Playsets, but you can use these options
in freeform games, too.
Common additional rewards for completing Shenanigans include:

++ “Unlocking” another, higher-tier Shenanigan related to the

one just completed

++ Granting a beneficial Temporary Quirk to one or all fairies

++ Allowing free draws from the Costume Deck, or giving access

to a particular Costume

++ Additional M
If you’d like to provide extra rewards for completing Shenanigans,
but don’t want to sweat the details, a good approach for freeform
M
games is to give each fairy a free for every 10 Mischief Motes
the group accumulates. (i.e., at 10 Motes, 20 Motes, 30 Motes, and
so forth.) Many Playsets use this as a standard rule.

For GMs
Seo-yeon is planning her next game, and decides to
make it “The Enchanted Forest All-time Greatest
Pranker Championship!” Rather than award Mischief
Motes, she arranges her Shenanigans in a pyramid representing
advancement through the tournament. Each Shenanigan gives a
M
particular reward ( , Costumes, Quirks) and unlocks the next
tier of Shenanigans, which are more difficult and lucrative. The
final Shenanigan requires the fairies to prank the Fae Queen
herself, with the prize of eternal glory!

187
 Playsets
Up until now, we’ve talked about the individual tools that can be
used to run a game of Costume Fairy Adventures: NPCs, Trouble,
Shenanigans, and so forth. Put them all together, and the final
GM’s tool emerges: the Playset.

This section occasionally refers to The Big Pie Caper

in examples and such. You might find it helpful to have
a copy of this Playset on hand for reference. You can
download a free starter version as part of the Costume Fairy
Adventures Quickstart Edition, available from the Penguin
King Games website at www.penguinking.com.

What Is a Playset?
A Playset is a pre-written scenario for Costume Fairy Adventures.
In other games, they might be called “modules” or “adventures”;
we use the term “Playset” to reflect the fact that even the most
strongly directed scenario will quickly turn into a fairy playground!

Why Use a Playset?

There are a couple of reasons you might use a Playset. Running
Costume Fairy Adventures in freeform mode can tax even the
most creative GM’s improvisational skills. In addition, such games
depend heavily on players to set their own goals, often with very
little context to guide them. Some groups may appreciate a little
more structure to their game.
Playsets also have another benefit. Running a Playset takes some
of the weight off your shoulders and gives you the chance to
approach things with fresh eyes, exploring the possibilities of
the pre-written scenario along with your players – and possibly
even being surprised by what you discover! Even with a Playset
you’ve written yourself, the most entertaining story possibilities
are sometimes the ones you never anticipated.

188
Playsets
Components of a Playset
Like a freeform game, the basic building blocks of a Playset
are Locations and NPCs for the fairies to interact with. Playset
Shenanigans – which we’ll discuss in their own section later on –
are typically “attached” directly to NPCs and Locations.
NPCs in Playsets
For the purpose of a Playset, NPCs are divided into “major” and
“minor” bins. Major NPCs are specific, named individuals, with
histories and relationships of their own. Any time a Playset is run,
all of the major NPCs are assumed to be involved, and they can
be off doing their own thing even when the fairies aren’t involved.
Some Playsets will further subdivide major NPCs into main and
supporting cast, but that’s just for organisational purposes – they
all fall into the “major” bin.
Minor NPCs, on the other hand, exist only when
they’re needed. They can have full stat blocks and

For GMs
associated Shenanigans, but they have no direct
involvement in the “story” of the Playset. They
exist as targets of opportunity for fairy Mischief,
and as tools for you to shake things up by injecting
outside interference into established conflicts.
They’ll often closely resemble the NPC templates
provided in Appendix C: Random Encounters; 273 Random
Encounters
your Playset can even organise them into a
Random Encounter table of its own.

Particularly detailed Playsets may feature a third

category of NPCs: “incidental”. Incidental NPCs
are attached to Locations: for example, a shop may
have a shopkeeper, a temple a priest, and so forth. These
NPCs typically don’t have names, stat blocks or associated
Shenanigans – a Facet and a single Quirk will do. They’re
basically features of the Locations they inhabit, and don’t stray
unless the fairies mess with them.

189
Playsets
 Locations in Playsets
Like NPCs, Playset Locations are split into major and minor
categories. Major Locations are where major NPCs live and
work, and where important events in the Playset’s story take place.
Thanks to their innate mischief sense, the fairies will generally
know when there’s something going on in a major Location that’s
worth checking out. Basically, if your Playset were a video game,
major Locations are the ones that would have their own icons on
the world map, complete with little exclamation marks popping up
over them when there’s an event that needs triggering.
Minor Locations, conversely, are for when the fairies decide to go
exploring. To continue the video game analogy, they’re the places
that don’t show up on the world map until you walk over them.
Like minor NPCs, the Playset doesn’t assume that they actually
exist until they’re needed, giving you the freedom to drop them in
wherever you wish. You can do this according to geographic logic,
or purely at random – minor Locations can crop up in the oddest
places! Again, the templates in the Random Encounters appendix
can serve as guiding examples.

Renata is throwing together a Costume Fairy Adventures

Playset to have in reserve for the next time Chie fails
to prepare her ongoing game. Fondly recalling the maybe
slightly pretentious vampire campaigns the group played back in
their university days, she decides it’s time for an urban fantasy
parody Playset.
She sets the Playset in her own city, making the major Locations
easy – she just notes down a handful of places the group knows
well that might be fun in supernatural hands, like the National
Gallery, the latest ridiculously oversized office tower and that
awesome organic soup place near the station. She decides to just
fill in minor Locations with fictional places as needed or cool spots
she sees during the day.
For major NPCs, she goes for the easiest jokes: one each of a
vampire, werewolf, witch, demon and “True” Fae. Minor NPCs
will be filled in with humans and whatever more obscure monsters
strike her fancy – she makes a note to try a more modern take on
some of the NPCs from the “Enchanted Forest” and “Magical
Gaslight” random tables.

190
Playsets
 For GMs
How Many NPCs and Locations?
The number of major NPCs and Locations in a Playset depends
partly on how long you want it to take to play out. The more
complicated a Playset is, the longer it will take for your players
to explore. A good general rule is five to seven major NPCs for
a two-hour session, increasing to a maximum of ten or so for a
Playset that’s intended for a three-hour session.
Major Locations are more flexible. You should be able to get away
with about half as many major Locations as you
have major NPCs, unless each Location
represents a very small area (e.g.,
individual rooms in a house).
As for minor NPCs and Locations, you
can have as many or as few as you want,
but we recommend at least six of each
– i.e., enough to fill out a d6 Random
Encounter table for each of NPCs and
Locations. If you’re ambitious enough to
try for a d66 table, twelve or eighteen of
each is more than enough; the examples
in this book use twelve.

191
Playsets
 Your Playset’s Story
Running a Playset can resemble running a
freeform game. Most Playsets will have a list of
pre-defined Locations, NPCs, etc. for the fairies to
wander among causing trouble. Some might even
be arranged into random tables, like the ones in
Random 273 Appendix C: Random Encounters. One of the
Encounters
big differences is that a Playset also has a built-in
story.
A Playset’s story can be split into three broad
phases: backstory, current events, and possible
futures.

Backstory
This is what happened before the fairies
showed up. You’ll use this phase to define NPC
NPC 198 relationships, as well as provide some context for
Relationships
the Playset’s current events. It doesn’t need to be
anything big; a small town’s local history is just as
good a backdrop as the grandest epic.

Try not to go overboard here: most of

these details will never directly come up
in play. Setting too many things in stone at
this stage may step on your players’ toes
when it comes to narrating their
successes. If you just stick to the
information needed to set the
stage, a couple of medium-
sized paragraphs should
be more than enough.

While there’s no point writing out your Playset’s

backstory at great length, you can often imply a great
deal with appropriately worded NPC and Location
Quirks. Your players will see those during play, so they’re a
good place to sneak in extra information.

192
Playsets
 For GMs
Renata wants to set a brooding scene upon which to
unleash madcap fairy antics, so she decides the city is in
a tense, fragile peace after a brutal shadow war between
the supernatural factions over the last few years. While this is an
unusual tone for a Costume Fairy Adventures game, she knows
exactly what her group – having collectively played dozens of
games with that premise as teenagers – will end up doing with it.
She’s absolutely not repeating the old habit of (over)writing a
backstory that would put a twenty-season soap opera to shame,
but it is a good time to tease out the connections that form the
basis of the NPC relationships. Perhaps the war ended because
the vampires and werewolves suddenly made peace – so how
the major NPC vampire and werewolf feel about each other is
relevant? The most prominent witch and demon are probably co-
consipirators about something. The Premier probably won the last
election because the Fae granted her wish, and now she bitterly
regrets it.
After ten minutes of this, Renata cuts herself off. She’s only
planning to run one session with this Playset, not turn daydreams
about a supernatural version of her home city into a sprawling
multi-year campaign. Again.

193
Playsets
 Current Events
What’s happening right now, at the moment the fairies appear on
the scene? In many cases, some sort of social event will work best:
a party, a performance, a sporting event – maybe even a gaming
group’s weekly session, if you’re feeling particularly meta. Natural
disasters and other outside events can also work, but take care to
set things up so that all of the Playset’s major NPCs have a reason
to be involved.
While the backstory phase is where you set up your NPC
relationships, current events are where they drive the action. Why
does each NPC care about what’s going on? The answer to this
question provides the “pressure points” the fairies need to enact
their mischief.

As the Playset opens, the witch and demon are trying

to stir the war up again, the Fae is calling in all the
oaths owed to her, and the Premier is trying to expose
the supernatural to the world in the hopes of somehow wriggling
out of the Fae’s grasp in the chaos. Renata likes to have multiple
forces colliding in her games rather than bank it all on a single
main plot.

Possible Futures
The basic question to ask here is: how would things turn out if the
fairies didn’t get involved? Don’t fall in love with your answer,
because no planned-out plot will ever survive contact with fairies
– if it does, you’re doing something wrong! – but it can serve as
a helpful guide for how events should proceed when the fairies
aren’t directly interfering.
As with the backstory phase, you don’t need more than a paragraph
or two here – it’s just for your reference.

If the fairies don’t get involved, the supernatural conflict

spills out into the public eye in short order before the
Fae spirits all those involved (and the human witnesses)
across the misty border of reality to her homelands, passes it all off
as a prank, and extorts the remaining supernaturals for covering
up their little “accident”.

194
Playsets
Getting the Fairies Involved
Now that you know what’s at stake, how do the fairies get tangled
up in it? You can write a specific setup into your Playset, or –
especially if you’re planning on distributing your Playset – present
several options for other groups to pick from. You have three basic
options here.

Happenstance
In this scenario, the fairies are involved quite by chance. Maybe
they wandered through a magical portal that “zapped” them to
the location of the Playset. Maybe they witnessed a disaster or
other major event by chance and decided to investigate. Maybe
the events of the Playset simply started happening around them,
wherever they happened to be.
This is the most flexible option for getting the
fairies involved, but in some Playsets it can make
it hard to set up Core Shenanigans. You can help 204
Core
Shenanigans
make up for this by presenting a slate of options
and giving each player the chance to decide why

For GMs
her fairy cares enough to stick her nose in.

Seo-yeon likes to run seasonally-inspired adventures.

For this year’s Autumn game she makes a Costume Fairy
Adventures Playset that begins with the fairies gathered
together to roast sweet potatoes. She’s set it up so the fairies can’t
help but stumble across interesting Shenanigans in any direction
(and they won’t have the luxury to enjoy their sweet potatoes for
long!), so they don’t need any more initial investment than the
perfectly plausible desire for tasty food.

195
 Summoned
In this scenario, the fairies have been invited to get involved before
play begins. An NPC might have asked for the fairies’ help with
something, or a powerful witch might have bound them with a geas
to perform a particular task for her. They might even have received
a mailed invitation! Whatever the case, the fairies start out with a
specific objective, which will directly feed into the Playset’s Core
Shenanigans.
This option most closely resembles a traditional RPG “quest”. The
upside is that it’s easy, especially for novice groups who might
need a little help defining their motivations; the downside is that
it may feel uncomfortably forced. You can often find a middle
ground by making the Playset’s built-in quest something that’s
very open to interpretation; indeed, poorly-worded requests often
lie at the heart of stories involving fairies!

The Big Pie Caper begins by having three competitors

in the village pie-eating contest each separately invite
the fairies to intervene on their behalf. Tomb of Follies
begins with the fairies politely but firmly sent into a dungeon by
sorceress-knights of the Fae Queen. In Renata’s game, she has her
True Fae get the fairies involved via oaths she assures them they
swore, while having the Premier and the werewolf each contact
the fairies to entice them to intervene in certain situations. She
feels it’s reasonable to have the fairies obliged to go along with
the premise of the game, but gives them lots of options for what to
do once they’re involved.

196
Playsets
Established Roles
The previous two scenarios treat the fairies as new arrivals to the
Playset. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. What if the
fairies were already there? In this scenario, your Playset includes
a set of established fairy roles, like:

++ Street-corner newspaper vendor

++ The local alchemist’s lab assistant

++ Chieftain of the rat tribe that lives under City Hall

… and so forth. Before play begins, each player

picks one of these roles, which could even come
packaged with its own NPC relationships and
goals. This option might be combined with pre- 126 Creating the
Characters
generated PCs, but with a bit of work, such roles
can be framed broadly enough to allow players

For GMs
to slot their own fairies into them. Costume
Fairy Adventures is an episodic game, so
you don’t have to worry about explaining
why the same fairies have completely
different roles from session to session.

Established roles combine the flexibility of

happenstance with the well-defined goals and
motivations of summoning. When creating
these roles for your Playset, you should
write up more than you think you’ll
need, just in case none of your players
are interested in a particular role.

One of Zara’s forum games was “Parliament of

Pranksters”, in which the PC fairies each occupied
ministerial posts in the least effective government of all
time. In addition to the relationships and goals that naturally
attached to a ministry, Zara had fairy staffers bring the Ministers
urgent Shenanigans whenever she felt there was a lull.

197
Playsets
 NPC Relationships
The other big difference between freeform games
and Playsets lies in how NPCs are handled. Rather
than being generic stat blocks whose specific
identities are meant to be defined on the fly, as
Random 273 you see in Appendix C: Random Encounters,
Encounters
each NPC in a Playset has a specific, pre-defined
identity – and, more importantly, a specific set of
relationships with other NPCs.

NPCs might have friendships, business partnerships, old grudges,

or unrequited crushes. These relationships will help you figure out
how NPCs might react when the fairies start messing with someone
– and, more importantly, they give each NPC something they want
or need that the fairies can help with (or hinder). Interpersonal
drama provides fertile ground for mischief to sprout, and nobody
can cultivate mischief like a fairy.
You should try to define at least three relationships for each major
NPC in your Playset, at least two of which should be with other
major NPCs. Minor NPCs can get away with just one, or even none
at all if they’re background characters. There are many possible
types of relationships between NPCs, including:

Best Friends: The NPCs have

been through thick and thin
together. If there’s been a recent
falling-out, the fairies might
decide to “help” to patch things up
between them. Even if there’s no
drama between them, the fairies
will have difficulty pranking one
of them without the other becoming
involved!

Boss/Employee: One of the NPCs

works for the other. An NPC who’s
behind on her work might just be
desperate enough to ask the fairies
for help. Alternatively, the fairies
could get involved of their own
initiative if the job looks like
fun, or do something unrelated
that coincidentally interferes
with work in progress.

198
Playsets
Business Partners: The NPCs are partners in some business
venture. Is their arrangement a harmonious one? Perhaps one
wants to expand the operation, while the other is happy with things
the way they are – or perhaps one is looking to swindle the other
and take over the whole outfit for herself…

Couple: The NPCs are married or otherwise in a committed

partnership. Unlike other types of relationships, most couples are
unlikely to directly ask the fairies to get involved between them
– but even a happy couple may experience enough drama to give
the fairies ample opportunities for mischief anyway.

Debtor/Creditor: One of the NPCs owes the other something.

It could be money, a favour, or something less tangible. These
relationships are rich with potential fairy entanglements – either
on the debtor’s side to help get out from under the debt, or the
creditor’s side to help collect on it.

Family: The NPCs are siblings, cousins, or otherwise related, with

all the obligations that go with it. Depending on the precise nature

For GMs
of the relationship, this might overlap with Best Friends, Parent/
Child, or even Rivalry!

Parent/Child: The NPCs relate as parent and child, whether or

not they’re actual blood relatives. A parent might meddle in her
child’s life “for her own good”, or want help protecting her
– or she may view the fairies as something her
child needs to be protected from! A child,
conversely, may want help escaping from
unwanted expectations.

Previously Entangled: The NPCs used to

be a Couple. Getting involved with grand
gestures of reconciliation is a terrible
temptation for fairies – but then, so is
helping out with petty revenge. Either
way, there’s ample opportunity to stir
things up.

Rivalry: The NPCs intend to outdo each

other. One NPC might ask the fairies for
help beating her rival – or they might
both try to get the fairies on their side!
The fairies could humour such requests,
try to get the NPCs to reconcile – or just
play them off against each other for fun!

199
Playsets
 Sisters in Arms: The NPCs are members of the same organisation,
be it a business, sorority, military organisation, or cult. They might
support each other, or each might try to make herself look better
at the other’s expense; either way, any mischief directed at one of
them is likely to sweep the other up in its periphery.

Student/Teacher: The NPC has someone who’s trying to make

something of her. This includes any sort of master-and-apprentice
arrangement, not just in school settings. An underachieving student
could seek out the fairies’ help with a tough assignment, or an
unconventional teacher might ask the fairies to help spice up her
lesson plan.

Unrequited Crush: The NPC harbours romantic feelings for

someone who doesn’t return them. The fairies might be asked
to help her impress her crush, or decide to do so of their own
initiative. On the other hand, if the NPC is being a creep about
it, or if her attention is clearly unwanted, she may find herself the
target of fairy mischief instead!

200
Not every relationship needs to provide the NPC in question with
any direct motivation to talk to the fairies. Fairies and Player
Characters alike are notorious busybodies, so simply presenting
an obvious problem that needs “fixing” will usually be invitation
enough. In a Playset with lots of major NPCs, it can be helpful to
draw a relationship chart to keep track of everything.

For GMs
As with backstory details, NPC Quirks are a good
place to slip in extra information about an NPC’s
relationships. Try to give each major NPC a Quirk that’s
somehow related to their most important relationship.

Renata starts with her vampire and werewolf major

NPCs, Victoria Menzies and Jennifer Whitlam. She
makes them a couple (forbidden love is horribly cliché!).
Victoria strikes her as a rival of the demon Satasha Innocenti (they
traded blows often in the shadow war), and the boss of another
vampire, Huỳnh Thi Phuong (a more cultured vampire who
advises her when to stop hitting people). Jennifer funds her tribe’s
operations through an affiliation with mining magnate Ileana
Kostopolous (business partner) and is the unrequited crush of the
witch Maggie (Xin) Liang. Meanwhile, Maggie and Satasha are
secretly sisters-in-arms in the Unhallowed Crusade, a supremely
gothic religious order of supernatural creatures dedicated to
destroying other supernatural creatures for tenuously logical
reasons (Maggie is somewhat conflicted over the Jennifer thing).
In support of her premise, Renata also gives everyone a debtor
relationship with the True Fae, the Actuary of Mirth and Misery
(she gives herself bonus points for the pretentious name).

201
Playsets
 Trouble in Playsets
All of the Trouble options available in freeform games can be used
in Playsets. Two areas may benefit from extra attention:
++ Some NPCs may be associated with certain
Locations. You can make it cheaper to use
Summon 170 the Summon Opposition option to bring that
Opposition
NPC and that Location together. It might also
be cheaper to summon an NPC if another,
related NPC is already present.

++ Every Playset should have its own Random

Unleash Disaster 171 Disasters. You can be as fiendish as you wish
here, so don’t pass up the chance!

Victoria can be summoned to the National Gallery at a

1 T discount (in keeping with vampiric affectations),
while Jennifer enjoys a similar discount at the office tower.
They can be summoned together for 3 T, but each gains the
Temporary Quirk “This Is Exactly What It Looks Like”.
The Random Disaster table, meanwhile, ends up being a d66 table
with twelve entries. One entry goes like this:
36. Princess of the City
As an exercise in demonstrating the pointlessness of democracy
amongst hostile supernatural factions, an exasperated majority
elect one of the fairies as their figurehead leader. When this
Disaster occurs, the GM chooses a fairy at random to receive
the Temporary Quirk “Princess”, which can only be removed by
passing it on to another character. The Hazard shown below is
created, affecting the entire city.

Her Highness’ Brief and Troubled Reign (Hazard)

With Surprisingly Little Power, Mutually Unsatisfactory Compromise

focus Duties of Office: This Hazard inflicts +3 S

on a
4 character with the Temporary Quirk “Princess”.

limit Gunning for the Top Job: While this Hazard is

10 in play, the GM has a 2 T discount on Summon
Opposition to the Location of a character with the
Temporary Quirk “Princess”.

202
Playsets
Shenanigans in Playsets
This is what it’s all been building up to. The
purpose of your Playset’s story and NPC
relationships is to create opportunities for mischief
– and that boils down to Shenanigans. 173 Shenanigans
Playsets typically come with Shenanigans built
in. Players can still propose new Shenanigans to
pursue in addition to the pre-defined ones, as they
would in freeform games, but pre-defined ones will
generally provide the bulk of a Playset’s structure.

All of our ready-made Playsets come with print-and-

play Shenanigan Cards that can be handed out when
pre-defined Shenanigans are discovered. You should
consider preparing some for your own Playset – it’ll save you
a lot of writing during the game!

For GMs
Shenanigans in a Playset work slightly differently than in a
freeform game, being divided into Core Shenanigans and optional
Shenanigans.

203
 Core Shenanigans
Major 179 In a Playset, major Shenanigans are also called
Shenanigans
Core Shenanigans. These don’t require discovery:
simply inform your players of them the moment
they become available. They’re tied directly to
the Playset’s current events, and should involve
several major NPC relationships.
Getting the 195 If you’re using the “Summoned” option to bring
Fairies Involved
the fairies into play, the Core Shenanigans can be
the same as the request they were brought in to
fulfil. Otherwise, Core Shenanigans can revolve
around some obvious local problem that needs
fixing – which the fairies will naturally set about
in their own questionably helpful way.
Core Shenanigans can be set up a bit like a
flowchart. Start out with one or two, then have
additional ones “unlock” as the original ones are
achieved. Or, if you’re using the standard two-act
Pacing Your 207 structure, each act could have its own set of Core
Playset
Shenanigans, with several possible sets for the
second act depending on how the fairies solved
the first set.
Core Shenanigans – especially the initial set –
should be broad enough to allow a wide variety
of solutions. One useful trick is to present two
or more Core Shenanigans that seem mutually
exclusive, but whose phrasing has obvious
loopholes that would allow all of them to be
achieved simultaneously.

Renata’s premise for the fairies’ involvement requires

three initial Core Shenanigans. One comes from Premier
Ruta Setit, promising the fairies a perpetual tea and cake
stipend for exposing the supernatural in a fashion too ridiculous to
be covered up. The second comes from Jennifer, promising a large
area of wilderness to be set aside for fairy use if they can cover
up the supernatural by making it look too ridiculous to be true.
For the third, she goes a bit meta: every major NPC is considered
to have a 5 Mote Shenanigan representing the oath they owe the
Actuary of Mirth and Misery, which the fairies are asked by their
overpowered cousin to claim in an amusing fashion. They gain
a 10 Mischief Mote bonus if they complete at least five of them.

204
Playsets
Optional Shenanigans
All Shenanigans in a Playset below major
are treated as “optional”. They’re tied
to just one NPC or Location, and aren’t
necessarily connected with the Playset’s
story. If your Playset allows for player-
proposed Shenanigans (and it generally
should), these are treated as optional as well.
Unlike Core Shenanigans, there’s no assumption
that any given optional Shenanigan will be
taken up – or even discovered! – by the
fairies. Thus, it’s okay if optional Shenanigans
have narrow or mutually exclusive
requirements. Your players are perfectly free
to ignore any optional Shenanigans they don’t
care for.
By default, you should try to give each major NPC and Location
two pre-defined optional Shenanigans. Minor NPCs and Locations
can get away with just one apiece, as can major NPCs who are
already involved in one or more Core Shenanigans.

For GMs
Renata prefers to keep Shenanigans short and general
to afford the fairies flexibility in accomplishing them:

Maggie (Xin) Liang

Major NPC
Shipping the Sorcerer (5 Motes): Set Maggie up with someone to
help her get over Jennifer (and any lingering murderous impulses).
Hoist by Her Own Petard (5 Motes): Arrange a hilarious magical
backlash to teach Maggie that unleashing arcane destruction isn’t
a solution to every problem.

That Awesome Organic Soup Place near the Station

Major Location
Heartwarming Fare (5 Motes): Bring three or more supernatural
NPCs together to sort out their differences over a bowl of soup.
Line Management Services (5 Motes): Keep the enormous
lunchtime queue for soup from getting restless.
Renata isn’t sure how the fairies will complete some of her optional
Shenanigans, but if the players don’t have any good ideas they can
simply move on to another Shenanigan.

205
Playsets
 How Many Shenanigans?
The number of Shenanigans your Playset will
need depends on how long you’re expecting it
Shenanigans 173 to run. As discussed in the Shenanigans section,
50 Mischief Motes per hour is a reasonable
expectation for a face-to-face game – so a Playset
that takes two hours to run needs 100 Motes worth
of Shenanigans, right?
Well, not exactly. When it comes to optional Shenanigans, you
can’t expect your players to take up every Shenanigan you put
in front of them. Many of them won’t even be discovered, either
because your players never ended up interacting with the NPC or
Location in question, or because they did something to render that
particular Shenanigan impossible to achieve before they ever had a
chance to discover it. And even when a Shenanigan is discovered,
your players might lose track of it, or never take interest in it in
the first place.
The upshot is that you’ll need many more Shenanigans worth of
Motes than your target play length would suggest. Try to aim for
double the basic figure – that is, 100 Motes per hour of expected
playing time. Of these, about one-quarter should come from
Core Shenanigans, and the other three-quarters from optional
Shenanigans. If that seems out of balance, remember that Core
Shenanigans are much less likely to get sidelined, so the actual
balance in play will be closer to 50/50.
Taken together, this means you’ll typically need to come up with
at least 15 pre-defined optional Shenanigans per hour of play,
assuming they’re all worth 5 Motes apiece. That works out to 30
optional Shenanigans for a two-hour Playset, or 45 for a three-
hour Playset. That’s a big job! Don’t be afraid to steal ideas from
your favourite media, or even another Playset, or to include weird
Shenanigans that have nothing to do with the Playset’s story.
Fairies get up to the strangest things!

Renata’s stunt with Shenanigans representing oaths to

the Actuary of Mirth and Misery gives her 10 optional
Shenanigans out of the gate. That still leaves 35 for her
planned three-hour session, and by the time she’s done with her
major NPCs and Locations, she still needs to put at least 7 into
minor NPCs, Locations and Disasters to make up the total.
At this point Renata resolves to demand cake from her group for
her troubles.

206
Playsets
Other Considerations
We’ve already hit the high points, but there are a few other details
to consider before you’re all set.

Pacing Your Playset

The guidelines in this section should help you craft Playsets that
fill up face-to-face sessions of two to three hours. You can’t always
count on a Playset being completed in one go, though. For some
groups, even two uninterrupted hours is a pretty tall order, and
chat-based games can take much longer to play out.
In a casually paced Playset, this won’t be a big concern: the fairies
should be able to stop and rest whenever, letting your players do
the same. In a more tightly-paced Playset, consider using a two-
act structure with an obvious stopping point. A Playset about a
stage show might be divided into the pre-show setup and the
performance itself, for example.
Core
Your Playset’s Core Shenanigans can be split into 204
Shenanigans
distinct phases to make this easier.

For GMs
Following this advice, Renata develops a handful of
Core Shenanigans to be given out in the mid or late
game, depending on the state of the city after an hour or
two of play – from “Avert the Shadow War!” if things are turning
dark, to “Meet the Supernaturals Parade!” for the ultimate happy
ending. In the reasonably likely event that the group doesn’t get
through the Playset in a single session (say if Alice overfeeds them
with delicious cake again), she can use those Shenanigans to kick
off the second session.

207
Playsets
 Plugins and Special Rules
Playsets don’t have to assume that only the basic
rules are in play. Your Playset can suggest or even
Plugins 210 require the use of Plugins. Similarly, your Playset
can present special rules of its own to help the
mechanics focus on what the Playset is about.
These rules basically function as a Playset-specific
Plugin.

Tomb of Follies makes heavy use of Plugins and

special rules to make the logistics-driven fun of old-
school dungeon crawling work in the context of immortal
cosplaying pranksters. It’s a very specialised experience that
makes something new by bridging two very different styles of
gaming.
The Big Pie Caper is intended as an introduction to Costume
Fairy Adventures, so it hews close to the core system, with the
exception of its random pie chart and rules for exotic pies. Pies
are serious business.

Extremely Variant Playsets

Up until now, we’ve assumed that your
Playset will be an evolution of Costume
Fairy Adventures’ freeform gameplay.
This doesn’t have to be the case,
though. You can use Plugins and special
rules to explore different styles of play.
Playsets like The Mischief Equation
and Tomb of Follies demonstrate how
to turn the game into everything from a
competitive collect-’em-all quest to an
old-school dungeon crawl! This sort of
Playset is beyond the scope of the Core
Rulebook, but don’t let that stop you
from giving it a try yourself.

208
Playsets
 Chapter Four:
Plugins

210
Plugins are Costume Fairy Adventures’ approach to expanding the
basic game. Each Plugin is a collection of rules that can be added
to the game in a modular fashion. You don’t have to use Plugins if
you don’t want to; all of the preceding chapters assume that you’ll
be playing Plugin-free, and we recommend giving it a try that way
at least once in order to familiarise yourself with the basic rules.
The core rules include five Plugins:

++ Fairy Free-For-Alls lets you “zoom in” on contests with

more than two participants and play them out blow by blow
(or snark by snark). Often these contests will be scuffles, but
this system can be used for non-violent disagreements as well.

++ Methodical Mischief gives your plans a mechanical boost by

providing rules for setting up complicated schemes, ranging
from feats of fairy engineering to elaborate confidence scams.

++ Structured Shenanigans formalises the rules for achieving

Shenanigans a little, including explicit guidelines for indirect
progress, and even making progress with failed rolls.
++ Competitive Capers shows you how to
convert Costume Fairy Adventures from
a freeform romp into a sort of narrative Fairy Free-
For-Alls 212
board game, with a competitive rather than
cooperative focus. Methodical

Plugins
221
Mischief
++ Finally, Level Up! adds some of that old-
school charm by giving Mischief Motes the Structured
Shenanigans 226
XP treatment. With this Plugin, you can level
up by completing pranks and pick up nifty Competitive
new Powers! 231
Capers
All of these Plugins are compatible with each other, Level Up! 248
though you may need to make special adjustments
for certain combinations. Where applicable, you’ll
find a section at the end of each Plugin discussing
how best to make sure that potentially problematic
Plugin pairs play nice together.

Unlike the Core Rulebook, some Playsets will be

written under the assumption that one or more of these
Plugins are in play. Make sure to check the Playset’s
introduction and review the Plugins it’s using, if any. Playsets
can also introduce their own Plugins.

211
Introduction
 Fairy Free-For-Alls
Fairies are a fractious lot at the best of times. Usually this amounts
to little more than a few one-on-one scuffles… but sometimes,
fairies start taking sides. Then things get messy!

What Is Fairy Free-For-Alls?

Fairy Free-For-Alls is designed to let you play
out complicated contests – particularly those
Multi-way with more than two sides – with more focus on
Contests & 84 individual tactics than the normal Ganging Up
Ganging Up rules allow. These rules can be used for everything
from all-out scuffles to storytelling competitions.

Why Use This Plugin?

If you enjoy the tactical side of tabletop roleplaying games, this
Plugin will let you play out a multi-fairy conflict blow by blow –
or snark by snark – with important rules-based decisions to make
every step of the way. It can also be used to sort out those pesky
timing issues if you ever need to know exactly what order your
Costume Powers and other effects “go off” in.
On the other hand, running a Free-For-All can take a long time,
especially if there are three or more sides involved. There’s also
a lot of detail to keep track of, so it’s probably not the best choice
for casual or introductory games. We recommend giving it a try
with just the basic contest rules first.

The fairies are enjoying an idyllic picnic near the

Silvermist Falls when they spontaneously divide along a
bitter factional line based on their favoured dessert. Letty,
Red and Calla form the Cake Faction, with Robin, Mabby and
Pooka boldly upholding the Cookie Cause. The GM rolls her eyes
and then declares she’ll resolve the confectionary confrontation
with the Fairy Free-For-All rules. Letty’s NPC sister Acacia
participates as a “neutral” side under the GM’s control.

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Bringing Order to Chaos
Some games ask you to roll for initiative and take turns. We’re not
going to do that. This is Costume Fairy Adventures: everything
happens all at once.
The formal term for this is “simultaneous resolution”. In plain
English, this means that you decide what you’re going to do, then
the dice are rolled, then the effects of those actions are applied
simultaneously. Often, this will result in everybody on both sides
of the conflict blowing up; this is intentional.
A Fairy Free-For-All proceeds as a series of rounds, with each
round broken down into six phases:

1. Players Declare Actions

2. GM Declares Actions

3. Roll Dice

4. Compare Results

5. Apply Effects

6. Narrate Outcome

We’ll go over each phase in turn on the following pages.

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 Phase 1: Players Declare Actions
Decide what you’re going to do during this round. This means
declaring your intention, choosing a Facet, assembling your dice,
and picking a target.
Normally your action has exactly one target – the character you’re
messing with or the Hazard you’re trying to overcome. If you’re
doing something that would normally be an unopposed test, your
action may have no target; if someone tries to stop you from doing
that thing, she retroactively becomes your target.

The use of some Powers also needs to be declared

Using Powers in 218 during this phase. See Using Powers in a Free-
a Free-For-All
For-All for more details.
Once all players have declared their actions, move
on to phase 2.

If you want your action to have multiple targets, this

can be handled informally using the normal contest
guidelines, or the GM can use the following rule: to target
2–3 characters (including Hazards), drop one die from your
pool before rolling; to target 4+ characters, drop two dice.
Some Powers may let you declare multiple targets without
losing dice, at the GM’s discretion.

The Cake Faction nobly square up against their

opposition. Red targets Mabby, using Moxie to simply
shout down any pro-cookie arguments Her Majesty
might have. Calla Quick Changes into the Deely-Boppers, and
uses Shine to target Robin’s macarons with an alien flavour
randomiser. Letty uses Grace to attack Pooka’s attachment to the
humble choc-chip cookie by implying that it’s a shameful comfort
food beneath a sophisticated palate (the GM isn’t entirely sold on
that being Graceful, but lets it go this time).
Team Cookie is more focused, with all three declaring Calla as
their target. Robin uses Craft to concoct a devastating critique of
Calla’s choice of ingredients for her chocolate torte. Pooka uses
Focus to deliver a convincing lie that cake was outlawed by the
Fae Queen (and that Calla should care). Mabby Quick Changes
into the Teacher’s Outfit for edge against Calla’s Shine and Red’s
Moxie, and Gracefully dances the torte over to the falls to toss it
into the rushing water.

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Phase 2: GM Declares Actions
After all the players have declared their actions, the GM decides on
the actions of any NPCs or Hazards involved in the Free-For-All,
following the same procedure as the players.

Especially fairness-minded groups may reverse these

initial phases and have the GM secretly decide on and
commit to her actions before the players declare theirs;

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thus, each side makes their decisions without any knowledge of
what the other is up to. This is likely to be too much hassle for
many groups, though – and besides, the GM only has one brain
to match up against the players’ many brains, so the normal
order isn’t as big an advantage as you’d think.

Acacia thinks that Team Cookie has the better plan,

so intervenes on the Cake Faction’s behalf to even the
odds. The GM declares that she targets Robin, using her
Shine to distract the Fairy by acting as an attentive audience for
a monologue on every detail of the anti-cake plan.

Phase 3: Roll Dice

This step is pretty much what it says on the label: everyone rolls
dice and determines her Result in the usual fashion.

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 Phase 4: Compare Results
Each participant compares her Result to her
Edge 79 target’s Result, including any applicable edge.
Note how each source of edge works; if you’re
targeting or being targeted by multiple opponents,
you may have a different amount of edge against
each opponent! If your Result is equal to or greater
than your target’s Result, your action succeeds.
It’s possible to beat your target while losing to other characters who
are targeting you, or vice versa. You only deal Stress to your target,
no matter how many rolls you beat. Similarly, losing to your target
doesn’t cause you any Stress unless she was also targeting you. For
two characters targeting each other, things work as usual: whoever
got the highest Result inflicts Stress, with mutual destruction on a
tie. In more complicated scenarios, you can both inflict and suffer
Stress at the same time. In effect, your Result is your “attack roll”
against your target, and your “defence roll” against everyone else.
Once you’ve figured out who beat who, move to the next phase.

In practice, this phase and the next one are often

combined for speed of play. The important thing is that
they’re formally separate; you can’t prevent someone
from winning a roll by making her Stress Out, because
Stressing Out doesn’t happen until the next phase!

Red targeted Mabby with a Result of 4 versus Mabby’s

3. Mabby has +1 edge against Red, but this still results
in a draw. Red inflicts 4 S on Mabby, but since Mabby
was not targeting her, she suffers no Sin return.
Calla targeted Robin, with a Result of 3 to Robin’s 3. Robin,
Mabby (Result 3 + 1 edge) and Pooka (Result 4) all targeted
Calla. Calla and Robin draw, inflicting 3 S
against each
other. Mabby and Pooka both hit Calla, inflicting 3 and S
4 S respectively.
Letty targeted Pooka, but her Result of 2 is nowhere near Pooka’s
4. As usual, Pooka ignores the Elf’s uppity ranting.
Acacia targeted Robin, and with a Result of 4 to Robin’s 3, cleanly
S
hits, inflicting 4 .

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Phase 5: Apply Effects
Anyone who lost to someone targeting her takes
Stress (and other effects) in the usual way. Figure Stress &
out who Stressed Out, apply Temporary Quirks, 86 Temporary
and move on to the final phase of the round. Quirks

Calla’s player adds up the S she took and to her

dismay sees that it’s 10. Normally this would put her
exactly at her Stress Limit – but she still has a point of
Stress from an earlier scene, meaning that 10 is just enough to
Stress Out the poor Brownie. She lets everyone know she’ll be
starting her Break straight after phase 6. Robin and Mabby’s
players also record the S they suffered on their sheets.

Phase 6: Narrate Outcome

Finally, figure out what happened story-wise. In rules terms,
everything happens at once, but you can narrate any order of events
that seems to make sense. All players who succeeded against their
targets may narrate the outcomes of their rolls, while the GM
handles everything else.
If anyone is still standing and wants to continue the conflict, go
back to phase 1 and start a new round.

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Since Calla is Stressed Out, the group lets her player
narrate much of the drama. She describes her emotional
state deteriorating as her ingredient choice is questioned,
she’s tricked into thinking her favourite dessert is outlawed, and
her precious torte is smashed by the pitiless rapids. She suffers
a cathartic break, swearing vengeance for all cakes everywhere,
before fleeing to establish her new revolutionary identity.
Robin’s player decides that, distracted by Acacia, she bites into a
flavour-randomised macaron, with mortifying results.
Red’s player suggests that every time Mabby turns around, there’s
a shouting Red right next to her, ranting about cake superiority.
Mabby’s player isn’t sure how this is supposed to be any different
to the normal course of affairs, but is happy to go along with it.
As Calla’s player steps out to take a Break, she encourages the
remaining Cake Faction stalwarts to keep up the fight. Everyone
is on board, so the Free-For-All continues for another round.

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 Using Powers in a Free-For-All
Powers 101 Most Powers modify the outcome of a roll, change
how you perform a particular action, or otherwise
have a specific condition that triggers them. You
can use as many Powers of this kind as you want
in a round, and you don’t have to declare them in
advance unless the Power’s description explicitly
says “you have to decide whether to use this Power
before rolling”, or words to that effect.

There are two limitations on using such Powers in a Free-For-All:

1. If you have to choose to use the Power in
order to gain its benefits, you can’t use
it twice in the same round. Any time a
Power says “you can” or “you may”
do something, it’s subject to this limit.
2. Multiple Powers that affect the same
game statistic don’t stack with each
other. If you somehow have access to
two different Powers that reduce the S
you suffer from a particular threat, you
enjoy only the betterS reduction of the
two – you don’t add the S reduction
together. Similarly, if you have multiple
Powers that grant edge, you receive
only the highest applicable edge
(though edge from Powers and edge
from other sources does stack).

During the first round of the Cake vs Cookie showdown,

the GM considered having Acacia Quick Change into
the Gothic Dress to use its “Dry Wit” Power. Because
“Dry Wit” triggers on someone suffering S , Acacia wouldn’t
have needed to declare its use until phase 5. However, she would
have had to choose one of the five distinct S inflicting actions
to enhance.
Mabby benefited from the +1 edge of the Teacher Outfit’s
“Disciplinarian” Power against both Red and Calla, since this
is a continuous benefit provided by the Power, not “using” it
multiple times.

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Fairy Free-For-Alls
Powers That Require a Roll
If a Power requires you to make a roll, that roll counts as your
action. You have to declare that you’re using the Power when you
declare your action. Your Result serves as your defence against
opponents as usual, even if you don’t end up targeting anyone.

Letty is getting tired of Mabby’s teacher routine and

Quick Changes into the Lab Coat to use the “Jekyll &
Hyde” Power to force her into another Costume. “Jekyll
& Hyde” requires you to win a contest against an unwilling target,
so Letty uses Grace to elegantly lob the potion-like grenade at the
Sprite. This roll counts as Letty’s action for the round.

Powers That Affect Others

Some Powers let you do something to another character
automatically, without rolling or needing a specific trigger.
Examples include Robe & Wizard Hat’s “Fireball!”, and Witch
Hat’s “Polymorph”. Powers like this count as your action even
though they don’t require a roll, and must be declared as such.
If anyone targets you with a roll, you can still roll to defend
yourself, but you aren’t targeting anyone. Failing your defence
doesn’t prevent you from using the Power unless your opponent

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is specifically trying to stop you (and has some way of doing so).
If there’s any doubt whether a Power affects others, use the
following guidelines. A Power “affects others” if it:
++ Requires any character other than yourself to make a roll
++ Inflicts or removes S from any character other than you
++ Adds or removes dice from a roll by any other character
++ Otherwise modifies the game statistics of any other character

Pooka Quick Changes into the Witch’s Hat to turn

Red into a frog, while Red is attempting to force-feed
Pooka delicious mille-feuille. Pooka doesn’t roll for
“Polymorph”; instead, Red has to make a Shine test to resist,
separate from her action. Pooka does roll to defend herself, but if
she beats Red’s Result nothing happens, since she’s not targeting
anyone (her action being taken up by “Polymorph”).

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Fairy Free-For-Alls
 Other Powers
If a Power doesn’t ask you to make a roll and doesn’t meet any of
the criteria for “affects others”, it doesn’t count as your action, and
can be used in addition to whatever else you’re doing that round.
For example, you can use Magical Girl Dress’ “Transformation
Sequence” and still do something else that round, including using
other Powers of Magical Girl Dress.

Changing Costumes in a Free-For-All

Getting into 109 You can perform a Quick Change at any point
Costume
during a Free-For-All, including after rolling, as
long as you can pay the usual cost. If you want to
use a Costume Power that counts as your action
or modifies the results of your action, you have to
Quick Change into it before rolling; otherwise, you
can do so at the end of any phase of the round, even
if this would interrupt the normal flow of events.

For example, if the dice have been rolled and you see that your
friends are going to suffer a lot of Stress, you can Quick Change
into Plate Mail to take advantage of its “Meat Shield” Power,
even if your own action has already benefited from your previous
Costume. Likewise, if you see that you’re about to Stress Out,
you can Quick Change into the Hockey Mask to boost your Stress
Limit and avoid having to go on a Break.
Quick Changing never counts as your action.

A Brownie’s “Instant Wardrobe” Power can be used

only at the beginning of a round, before any actions are
declared. This also does not count as your action.

Shenanigans in a Free-For-All
With every fairy rolling individually, you can rack up a lot of
successful rolls in a big hurry! This creates the possibility for
players to “focus fire”, taking advantage of the Free-For-All rules
to gang up on one Shenanigan at a time and throw many more dice
at it than would normally be possible.
If you see this happening in your game, consider doubling the
number of successful rolls required to complete a Shenanigan; i.e.,
two for a minor, six for a standard, and ten for a major.
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Fairy Free-For-Alls
Methodical Mischief
Normally, the outcomes of your rolls just sort of happen. The rules
have a lot to say about who gets to narrate the consequences, but
those consequences don’t have any particular rules-based effects
unless you have a Power that says so. In some games, you’ll want
your schemes to have a little more mechanical “oomph”, and
sometimes just inflicting Stress or setting up Temporary Quirks
won’t be enough.

What Is Methodical Mischief?

Methodical Mischief extends the basic framework for Powers to
cover improvised devices and harebrained schemes that you cook
up on the fly. In game terms, this Plugin lets you build one-shot
Powers to give your plans explicit rules-based effects.

Why Use This Plugin?

Whether you should use this Plugin depends on what kind of
game you want to play. These rules tend to shift the focus of the
game away from spontaneous wackiness and toward deliberate

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mischief, encouraging players to plan ahead and set up elaborate,
Rube Goldberg-esque pranks in order to take advantage of their
mechanical benefits.
If that sounds like fun, go for it! Just check and make sure
everyone is on board with it first; this Plugin also requires a bit of
extra planning and bookkeeping that more improvisation-oriented
players may find boring.

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 Advantages
Advantages are the heart of this Plugin. Building bizarre
contraptions, converting NPCs into allies, running elaborate
scams, performing weird fairy magic rituals, and more can all
be represented as Advantages. Advantages are divided into three
tiers, depending on how much work it takes to set them up: minor,
moderate, and major. We’ll look at the general rules that govern
Advantages first, then go into each tier in more detail.

General Rules
The following rules apply to Advantages of any tier:

++ An Advantage is a portable Power, and follows all the rules

for Powers, including Plugin or Playset-specific ones.

++ An Advantage is a one-shot. Afterwards, your device breaks

down, your NPC friend gets tired, or the villagers figure out
your scam; whatever the reason, once you use it, it’s gone.

++ Advantages are difficult to hold in reserve. If you’re setting

up a specific plan, your Advantages will stick around until it’s
time for that plan to go into effect. Otherwise, they have to be
used at the first reasonable opportunity – you can’t hang onto
them “just in case”!

++ Some Advantage effects say that they’re “automatic”. This

means that the effect happens without a roll, even if you’d
normally need to roll in order to do that sort of thing.

Creating Advantages
Advantages are never free – there’s always a cost, risk, or other
requirement for creating one. This might include:

++ Succeeding at a test that uses the skills of your current Costume

++ Spending a few minutes – a Break or Intermission – exercising

the skills of your current Costume

++ Using a Costume Power that has a cost to activate

++ Suffering up to three points of S

++ Acquiring a troublesome Temporary Quirk of the GM’s choice

++ Taking advantage of an obvious opportunity

++ Anything else your GM agrees is appropriate

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Methodical Mischief
Any one of these will suffice to create a minor
Advantage. To create a moderate Advantage,
you’ll need any two of the listed requirements,
and a major Advantage, any three. This means
two or three different items from the list,
with the exception that “succeeding at
a test” can be used multiple times as
long as each test is against a different
Facet. You can team up with your
friends to spread the cost around.
Additionally, a successful use of
Wishful Thinking can immediately
create a major Advantage.

Minor Advantages
Minor Advantages don’t take much to create, and their effects are
accordingly small. A minor Advantage can:

++ Grant +1 edge in an appropriate contest

++ Grant an extra die on an appropriate roll

++ Inflict up to +3 S in an appropriate contest

++ Prevent up to 3 S from an appropriate threat

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++ Provide Stress recovery equivalent to eating food

++ Automatically count as one successful roll toward a suitable

Shenanigan

++ Another effect of similar scope, defined in collaboration with

your GM

Letty, wearing the Seamstress Outfit, wants to make

a toasty warm blanket to help keep the Iron Queen’s
guard manticore from rousing itself to devour the fairies.
The GM thinks the manticore is a big challenge for little fairies
and doesn’t want it to be too easy, but Letty’s action does seem
perfectly reasonable. She offers Letty’s player a minor Advantage
of +2 S inflicted with the blanket in return for not requiring a
roll. This is acceptable to both parties, so Letty automatically
makes the blanket over the course of a minute, then hands it off to
Red to actually take the risk of using the damn thing.

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Methodical Mischief
 Moderate Advantages
Moderate Advantages take some effort to set up, and provide
correspondingly large (but not overwhelming) effects. A moderate
Advantage can:

++ Automatically Stress Out a single NPC or Hazard with a

Stress Limit of 6 or less

++ Automatically place a particular Temporary Quirk on a

Location or an NPC

++ Automatically count as two successful rolls toward a suitable

Shenanigan

++ Turn a contest into a Surprise Attack in your favour (i.e., your

opponent’s Result counts as 0 against you)

++ Another effect of similar scope, defined in collaboration with

your GM

Alternatively, if you restrict yourself to effects from the minor

Advantage list, a moderate Advantage can also provide multiple
minor effects at once, apply a single minor effect as an “area effect”
(i.e., applying it to every valid target in the current Location), or
allow a minor effect to be used up to three times before “breaking”.

Pooka decides to prank the Iron Queen herself by

hiding in her soup. Since the soup is boiling hot and
Pooka doesn’t have a useful Costume Power to deal with
it, the GM offers her a moderate Advantage (Surprise Attack) in
exchange for suffering 3 S and acquiring the Temporary Quirk
“Smells like Goulash”.

If your group prefers a little more randomness, your

GM can roll 1d6 to determine how many “shots” a
multi-use Advantage is good for. This can work in your
favour because you’re quite likely to get more than three uses
out of it. The downside is that the GM does not have to tell
you how many uses are left – you’ll just have to try it and see
if it still works!

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Methodical Mischief
Major Advantages
Major Advantages are the big leagues. It takes some serious effort
to create these, and their effects can serve as (sometimes literal!)
“I win” buttons. A major Advantage can:

++ Automatically Stress Out a single NPC or

Hazard with a Stress Limit of 9 or less

++ Automatically overcome a single Disaster

or other unfavourable random event

++ Automatically count as three successful rolls

toward a suitable Shenanigan

++ Render you completely immune to Stress

and other negative effects from a particular
threat

++ Another effect of similar scope, defined in

collaboration with your GM

A major Advantage can also provide multiple

moderate effects at once, apply a single moderate
effect as an “area effect”, or allow a moderate effect to be
used up to three times before “breaking”.

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Worried about the sorts of forces that might randomly
stumble across the fairies while they’re messing about
in the Iron Queen’s Court, Calla decides to fabricate
some hospitality customs as protection. After negotiating with
the GM, she uses the Ruffled Tunic to make a Craft test to seed
the idea of the hospitality custom, the Fool’s Motley to make a
Shine test to mock a drunken noble for ignoring it, and the Maid’s
Uniform to infiltrate the castle staff and make a Moxie test to
rush them into panicked compliance with the entirely fictional
practice. The group carefully avoids specifying the details of this
custom, roleplaying around it with amusing circumlocutions, so
it can be used as a major Advantage to cancel a Disaster in the
court, retroactively justified as being suited to the task.

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Methodical Mischief
 Structured
Shenanigans
The rules for keeping track of how each Shenanigan is coming
along are pretty informal. This is usually fine for freeform games,
especially for very strange goals where progress may be hard to
measure. When the Shenanigans start piling up, though, or when
every fairy has her own thing on the go, keeping track of them
all can be a real challenge. In situations like that, a more formal
approach may be called for.

What Is Structured Shenanigans?

Structured Shenanigans elaborates on the rules for Shenanigans
a little bit. Rather than eyeballing progress toward a Shenanigan’s
completion by counting rolls, you’ll give each Shenanigan a Stress
Limit, and track your progress toward achieving it just as you’d
track your progress toward Stressing Out a Hazard or NPC.

Why Use This Plugin?

This Plugin is pretty straightforward. If you’d prefer to have very
concrete rules for tracking progress toward your Shenanigans and
determining when they’re complete, Structured Shenanigans is
the Plugin for you.

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The Shenanigan Stress Limit
When you’re using Structured Shenanigans, every Shenanigan has
a Stress Limit, much like an NPC. Use the table below to determine
a Shenanigan’s Stress Limit, based on how many Mischief Motes
it awards.

Mischief Motes Stress Limit

1 *
2 3 (2–4)
5 7 (5–9)
10 15 (12–18)
15 **

* Incidental (1 Mote) Shenanigans don’t

require any rolls to complete, and thus
don’t have a Stress Limit.
** Special (15 Mote) Shenanigans
operate as major (10 Mote) Shenanigans
for completion purposes.

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The first number is the standard Stress Limit for a Shenanigan of
that type. If the GM wants to tweak things a little, the numbers in
parentheses provide reasonable minimum and maximum values.
For example, a 5 Mote Shenanigan could have a Stress Limit as
low as 5 or as high as 9.

In an Autumn-themed game, a crazed goddess of red

leaves has conspired with the flame-moles to build a
gigantic underground furnace with which to ward off
Winter forever. Shutting down the furnace is a 10 Mote Core
Shenanigan for the game, and the GM thinks accomplishing it
will have benefits besides its Mote total (such as removing the
“Artificially Balmy” Temporary Quirk from various Locations),
so she gives it the highest possible Stress Limit of 18.

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Structured Shenanigans
 Making Progress
Each time you make a successful roll in pursuit of a Shenanigan,
mark Stress against that Shenanigan equal to your Result. Your
full Result counts toward the Shenanigan even if it also provides
some other benefit, like inflicting Stress upon a Hazard or NPC.
Unlike NPCs, a Shenanigan can have Stress marked against it by
unopposed tests, or even Wishful Thinking!
Failing Your Way to Success
At the GM’s discretion, entertaining failures may mark a point or
two of Stress toward a Shenanigan, to a maximum of the value
of the Facet you used. This is an especially fun option to use in
conjunction with failed Wishful Thinking.

Letty’s player rolls fantastically badly when trying

to use Wishful Thinking to chill the lake and offset
the warmth of the furnace. The GM narrates the lake
spontaneously sprouting several large icebergs, which promptly
melt and turn the surroundings into a warm bath. However, she
also decides that adds a lot of extra mass for the furnace to heat,
and marks two points of S against the Shenanigan.

Indirect Progress
Sometimes, you might be pursuing one Shenanigan and do
something that incidentally helps a completely different
Shenanigan! When this happens, the GM can mark a point or
two of Stress against that Shenanigan, even though you weren’t
pursuing it. As with marking Stress on a failure, this can’t exceed
the rating of the Facet you used.

Robin and Calla manage to get almost the entire cast

of NPCs plastered at a titanic drinking party, including
a band of flame-mole technicians who were off the clock.
The GM decides that they don’t make it into work on the furnace
the next day, and marks a point of S against the Shenanigan.

“Indirect” is not the same thing as “accidental”! If you

do something that works directly toward a Shenanigan
by accident, you can claim your full Result.

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Structured Shenanigans
Wishful Thinking
A successful use of Wishful Thinking counts triple when marking
Stress against a Shenanigan. This is an explicit exception to the
rule that Wishful Thinking can’t inflict Stress on anything.

Mabby informs the furnace in her most regal tones

that only a machine that uses a harmonious balance of
elements to gracefully regulate the seasons could possibly
win her royal approval. Ordinarily this would do nothing, but
her player pays 3 M to upgrade it to Wishful Thinking and
manages to roll a Result of 4. This is tripled to 12 S marked
against the Shenanigan, spectacularly improving on the fairies’
previous failure and accident-based progress. The GM describes
the furnace beginning to sheepishly reconstruct itself.

Achieving Structured Shenanigans

Structured Shenanigans have the same narrative protection that
anything with a Stress Limit does. That means that you can’t
narrate a Shenanigan complete until its Stress Limit has been
exceeded. If you try, you should expect your GM to simply veto
your narration, just as though you’d attempted to narrate an NPC
out of the story without first making her Stress Out!

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When a Shenanigan’s Stress Limit is exceeded, whoever made
the final successful roll gets to describe the Shenanigan’s outcome
as part of her narration. If the roll that marked the final point of
Stress was a failure, however, the GM gets to narrate the outcome!
You still get the Mischief Motes (and any other benefits), and the
GM can’t twist things to negate your accomplishment, but she’s
perfectly free to use this opportunity to set up future chaos.

Pooka sits the goddess of red leaves down and explains

the value of Autumn lies precisely in its seasonality,
using the outrageous faith profits reaped by the goddess
of cherry blossoms. Her player’s Focus roll turns up a Result of
3, which is enough to complete the Shenanigan. Since calculated
fiscal shrewdness isn’t really in the fairy idiom, Pooka’s player
narrates a flash-forward to next year’s MapleFest, where the forest
is awash with hypercomercialised Autumn cheer and the fairies
are prancing about like sugar-addled queens with their cut of the
festival profits.

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Structured Shenanigans
 The “That Was Too Easy!” Rule
This rule normally won’t come into play when you’re using
Structured Shenanigans, owing to the narrative protections
afforded to anything with a Stress Limit. If there’s a Shenanigan
in play that nobody is interested in dealing with anymore, though,
and everyone agrees to declare it over and done with, you can
use the following modified rule: the GM receives T equal to the
difference between the Shenanigan’s Stress Limit and its current
Stress total.

The GM has set up the defeat of the Gnome Warrior

Princess as a 10 Mote Shenanigan, and has been
roleplaying her haughty valour to the hilt. The fairies
have risen to the challenge, but have rolled exceptionally badly
and have suffered several Stressing Outs over the course of the
session without actually inflicting any Stress on the gnome or her
Shenanigan at all! Eventually Red’s player snaps and narrates the
fierce Pixie giving the Princess her richly deserved comeuppance
with a furious flurry of a fish and a feather-duster on the very
battlements of Gnottingham Castle.
Normally the GM could veto this, but given the players’ bad luck
and the rapidly approaching end of the session she offers to just
take 15 T and let Red have her victory. The players cheerfully
accept, hoping their dice will be friendlier when dealing with that
huge pile of T…

Using Structured Shenanigans with Other Plugins

If you’re using this Plugin in combination with others from the
Core Rulebook, there are a few special interactions to be aware of.

Fairy Free-For-Alls
If you’ve decided to increase the threshold for completing
Shenanigans to address the “focused fire” issue, apply the doubling
to the Shenanigan’s Stress Limit after all other modifiers.

Methodical Mischief
A roll that creates an Advantage cannot also mark Stress against
a Shenanigan. When used to automatically make progress toward
a Shenanigan, an Advantage marks 3, 6 or 9 Stress against the
targeted Shenanigan for minor, moderate or major Advantages
(respectively).
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Competitive Capers
Fractious though they may be, conflicts between fairies are rarely
serious affairs. When faced with adversity from outside forces,
fairies tend to pull together and support one another. A proper
competition, though? That’s another matter entirely – especially
if there’s a prize to be won!

What Is Competitive Capers?

Competitive Capers is a framework for fairy-versus-fairy (or
fairy-versus-NPC) conflicts at a higher level than individual
contests. It provides rules for determining who gets to do what, and
when, and for keeping track of who’s winning at any given time – a
bit like a narratively driven board game. May the best fairy win!

Why Use This Plugin?

Competitive Capers is designed for a specific sort of game; if
you’re using it, it’s because you planned to have a competitive

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game right from the start. You don’t need to use it for competitive
games, of course – it’s totally possible to run a game where every
fairy is out for herself without it. However, there are a few common
pitfalls that this Plugin may help you avoid:

++ In a narration-heavy game like Costume Fairy Adventures, it’s

easy for less assertive players to get overlooked in competitive
scenarios. Competitive Capers ensures that the spotlight will
land on every player with roughly equal frequency.

++ When every fairy has her own individual schemes on the go,
a GM can easily get overwhelmed! By breaking actions up
into manageable chunks, Competitive Capers makes it easier
for the GM to keep track of what’s going on.

++ Competitive Capers provides guidelines for reasonable victory

conditions based on the number of players in your group and
the length of your games. Not every group plays at the same
pace, of course, but it’s a place to start!

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 Who Versus Who?
There are three basic scenarios you can use this Plugin for:

++ Every fairy is out for herself, competing to be the first to reach

a particular Mischief Mote total (or some other scenario-
specific goal).

++ The fairies are grouped into two or more factions (i.e., teams)
that cooperate to reach the same sort of goal as above.

++ The fairies are up against an NPC conspiracy. You and your

friends may still compete against each other, but you also
have to keep an eye on what the NPCs are up to: it’s possible
for all the fairies to lose if you’re not careful!

There are a few small rules differences between these scenarios

that we’ll discuss as they come up.

Note that NPCs don’t work any differently when

this Plugin is in play. They don’t roll dice or take
mechanically significant actions independently of their
interactions with Player Characters. If there’s an NPC
conspiracy in play, it just means that those NPCs are notionally
Up To Something that could potentially affect the outcome of
the competition. We’ll provide rules for keeping track of this
later on.

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Taking Turns
One of the most important things in a competitive game is figuring
out who gets to act, and when. In Competitive Capers, everybody
takes turns.
Turn Order
When it’s every fairy for herself, the default turn order is clockwise
around the table. If you’re not playing at a table, or if you’d prefer
to shake things up a little, you can try one of the following:
++ Alphabetically by first or last name
++ From oldest to youngest
++ Everyone rolls a d66, with the turn order proceeding from
highest result to lowest
++ Each player writes her fairy’s name on an index card; the
cards are shuffled together and drawn to see who goes next
++ After each fairy acts, her player picks who goes next, though
the same fairy can’t be picked twice until everybody has
gotten a turn
++ Any other method your group can agree on
If you’re grouped into factions, all of the fairies in each faction
take their turns together, in whatever order they want.
In either case, the GM always goes first. NPCs don’t have separate

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places in the turn order, so anything an NPC conspiracy does
happens on the GM’s turn. Even if there’s no NPC conspiracy
in play, you should still keep track of the GM’s place in the turn
order, since certain rules-based effects happen on her turn.
A full go-around from the start of one GM turn to the start of the
next GM turn is called a turn cycle.

The fairies are lazing around the Exemplar (from the

Gallant Starship milieu), enjoying their fifteen minutes
of fame courtesy of the ship’s internal news station. When
the station runs a poll to nominate the ship’s favourite fairy, the
thought “There can be a best fairy – and it’s me” simultaneously
enters six tiny minds, and the game abruptly switches to
competitive mode.
The GM asks each player to write her fairy’s name on an index
card, shuffles and draws to determine the turn order: it turns out
to be Letty, Red, Pooka, Mabby, Calla and then Robin.

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 Taking Actions
On each of your turns, you get to take one action.
An action is defined as any one of the following:
Tests 67 ++ Doing something that requires a test
Contests 75 ++ Initiating a contest with another character
Wishful 112 ++ Engaging in Wishful Thinking
Thinking
++ Activating a Power that affects anyone other
Powers 101
than you
Getting into 109
Costume ++ Changing your Costume
Scrounging 107 ++ Scrounging for a Costume
Removing Stress 88 ++ Eating food to recover Stress

Tests and contests only take up your turn if they’re the result of
something you did on your turn. You don’t have to miss a turn if
you end up in a contest when it’s not your turn, nor if you’re forced
to make a test by something that happens out of turn.
If you use a Power that affects others, then that counts as your
action, even if that Power doesn’t require a roll. For this purpose,
a Power “affects others” if it messes with the Quirks, Stress total,
Costumes, or any other game trait of an NPC, a Hazard, a fairy
other than yourself, or anything else with its own Stress Limit.
You can Quick Change and take an action on the same turn.

A full turn cycle – that is, from the start of one GM turn
to the start of the next GM turn – is notionally about ten
minutes long, so the amount of stuff you can accomplish
with a single action is whatever a fairy could reasonably do in
that span. This span might vary in your game if the pace of
events is faster or slower than we’re assuming here.

Letty is first, and uses her turn to successfully wish

that the ship’s Captain would give her a personal
endorsement. It’s then Red’s turn, who with typical
subtlety attempts to fling Robin out of an airlock. Initiating this
contest takes up Red’s turn, but participating in it does not take
up Robin’s turn (which comes after Pooka, Mabby and Calla).

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 Reacting to Stuff
There are certain things you can do even when it’s not your turn:

++ Make any tests required to avoid the effects of a Disaster,

Costume Power, Location Power, or other effect initiated by
somebody else

++ Activate a Costume Power or Location Power that’s triggered

by someone else’s action

++ Object to a fairy or NPC’s action, forcing her to initiate a

contest with you

As noted, these don’t count as actions and don’t

require you to miss your next turn – you can just
do them whenever the need or opportunity arises.
However, you’re a bit restricted in what you can
do on a successful roll when it’s not your turn. You
can describe your victory and – if the roll was a
contest – mess with your opponent all you want,
but you can’t achieve any of your own goals in the
Achieving process. In game terms, that means you can’t check
Competitive 240 off a success for any of your own Shenanigans.
Shenanigans You may narrate stuff related to your Shenanigans,
but it doesn’t “count” from a rules perspective.

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If somebody is being cantankerous and simply
objecting every time anybody does anything, the GM
can limit fairies to one objection per turn. If this optional
rule is in play, once you’ve objected to someone else’s action
and forced a contest, you can’t make any more objections until
the start of your next turn rolls around. You can use a card
or token to keep track of whether you have an objection left
to “spend”.

Robin wins the contest, and rather than tossing Red out
the airlock decides to hurl her down one of the many
inexplicable deep shafts into the ship’s interior. Her player
asks if this contributes towards the related “Seriously, Not Even a
Railing?” Shenanigan, but the GM reminds her that reactions do
not advance Shenanigans. And that Red can fly.

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 Taking Breaks and Stressing Out
If you’re in a Location with no hostile fairies or
Breaks & NPCs, you can take a Break as your action. A Break
Intermissions 94
may contain any number of other actions, as long
as they’re all actions that are allowed on Breaks,
subject to the normal limits (e.g., no Scrounging
more than once per Break). You can retroactively
declare a Break if you missed your turn because
you were away from the table or keyboard.
If you Stress Out, your Break is your next turn.

Pooka loads Calla into a torpedo and fires her into the
heart of a nearby sun in a particularly extreme prank.
Calla Stresses Out, and must take her Break on her next
turn. Her Break will finish and she’ll re-enter play on the start of
her following turn, that is right after Mabby’s second turn.

Timed Effects
Some effects happen every so many real-time minutes in face-
to-face or chat games, or every so many posts in forum or email
games. In Competitive Capers, one minute or post is formalised
to mean one turn. There are two basic cases to be concerned with:

++ If there’s some effect on you that goes off every minute or

post, it happens at the start of each of your turns.

++ If there’s some global effect that goes off every minute or

post, it happens at the start of the GM’s turn.
Some cases will require the GM’s judgment. For example, a timed
effect that affects everybody in a particular Location, but not
anywhere else, could strike each fairy at the start of her turn, or it
could go off on the GM’s turn to keep things simpler.

The GM pays for a Disaster and rolls 66 for “Black

Hole Sun”. This has two “every minute or post”
effects: all characters take S, and one year passes in
the wider universe outside the event horizon. The GM decides
that each fairy takes S at the start of her own turn, while all
NPCs take S and a year passes at the start of the GM’s turn.

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The GM’s Turn
Several things can happen on the GM’s turn:

++ Summoning Opposition 170 Summon

Opposition
++ Unleashing Disaster 171 Unleash Disaster

++ Activating any NPC or Location Power 152 NPC Powers

that’s not triggered by a fairy’s action

If a Playset provides any special actions for the

GM, those happen on the GM’s turn too.

On the GM’s turn, she finds the fairies’ rolls have

generated a large amount of T and looks for ways
to spend it. Since Mabby spent her last turn ordering
the ship’s computers to ratify her Best Fairy status under her
royal authority, the GM uses Summon Opposition to bring the
Rampant AI into play. She already has the Inscrutable Alien
Religious Figure in play in the Star Gallery, so she can use her
“Monosyllabic Koan” Power, and does so on Robin. There’s
nothing left she wants to do after that, so her turn ends and it
becomes Letty’s turn once more.

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NPC Activity
If there’s an NPC conspiracy in play, their 242 NPC
Conspiracies
schemes are advanced on the GM’s turn. NPCs
don’t take formal actions, and don’t make rolls
unless a fairy objects to something they’re doing,
so NPC activity is a bit more abstract than fairy
actions. An NPC can do whatever the GM thinks
is reasonable in one turn – or, at least, whatever the
fairies will let her get away with before demanding
a contest, should any fairies be present! We’ll
discuss this in more detail later.

If an NPC gets up to something when there are no

fairies nearby, the GM should keep track of what she’s
doing, but isn’t obliged to reveal it unless you have some
special means of keeping tabs on that NPC.

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 Maps and Movement
When you’re playing cooperatively, you and your friends have
an incentive to stick together, and there’s little harm in declaring
that any fairy who wanders “off camera” is simply on Break. In
competitive play, it’s conceivable that every single fairy could be
in a different Location – how will your poor GM cope?

The Location Map

Locations 156 Locations are arranged into a map. You don’t
need exact distances for this – you just need to
know which Locations are notionally
connected to which other Locations.
A few Location names with
connecting lines drawn between
them will be more than enough –
though you should feel free to get
artistic if you really want to!
In a face-to-face game, you can use
coloured dice, pieces stolen from
other games, or other tokens to keep
track of where you are. The GM can
do the same for any NPCs you know
about. In an online game, a variety of
online mapping tools can likewise be
turned to this purpose.

The GM grabs a deck plan of a large spaceship from

a popular sci-fi series online, blanks out all the labels,
and writes in the names of Locations from the Exemplar
as they come up in play. Close enough! The players write their
fairy’s initial in a Location when they’re there, and cross it out
when they leave.

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Moving About
At the start of your turn, you can move to any Location that’s
adjacent to your current one. This doesn’t count as your action,
even if you need to roll to reach your destination. You might need
to make a roll for any of the following reasons:

++ There’s an obstacle between you and your destination.

++ A fairy or NPC in your current Location objects to letting you

leave (thus forcing a contest).

++ A Location Power requires you to make a test to leave your

current Location.

You can’t move on the same turn as taking a Break.

If you spend your whole turn only moving, you can reach any
Location you know about in a single turn, within reason. (The
GM will tell you what “within reason” means!) If you encounter
anything that requires a roll while traversing multiple Locations
in this way, your turn ends after making the roll.

Letty wants to move from the Bridge to the Captain’s

Quarters. The GM decides that they’re adjacent since
there’s nothing of interest between them, so that doesn’t

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take Letty’s turn. But the Captain’s Quarters is a secure area,
so the GM asks Letty’s player to make a test to gain entry. Letty
succeeds, and may take her turn in the Captain’s Quarters.

NPC Movement
NPC movement happens on the GM’s turn. You can’t stop an NPC
from arriving at your Location, but you can try to stop her from
leaving by objecting and forcing a contest.

Calla has the Unhelpful Ruling Council bailed up at the

Bustling Augmented Reality Bazaar, judging a virtual
cooking contest. On the GM’s turn, the Council attempts
to escape this demeaning display by moving to the Customised
Environment Chambers. Calla objects, forcing them to beat her
in a contest to move; this does not take up her turn.

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 Competitive Shenanigans
Finally, Shenanigans will need some adjustment. If it’s just fairies
versus NPCs, the normal rules will work fine, but there are a few
extra considerations for fairy-versus-fairy games.

Achieving Competitive Shenanigans

The number of successful rolls needed for a competitive
Shenanigan is treated as exact. Minor, standard and major
Shenanigans require exactly 1, 3 and 5 rolls, respectively. In face-
to-face games, you can draw boxes on each Shenanigan’s index
card and check them off as they’re achieved.
Successful Wishful Thinking counts as three rolls toward a
Shenanigan. Failed Wishful Thinking counts as one roll; a wish
will always make at least some progress toward your goals. You
might even complete a Shenanigan with a failed roll! Of course,
the GM gets to narrate your accidental victory…
Barring Wishful Thinking, you can mark at most one success
toward a Shenanigan each turn, even if you make multiple rolls.

The conditions for achieving Shenanigans in a

competitive game are pretty strict. Incomplete
Shenanigans have the same narrative “protection” as an
NPC whose Stress Limit hasn’t been exceeded.

Having reached the Captain’s Quarters, Letty wants to

attempt the “Welcome Home” major Shenanigan. That
requires five successful rolls. She’s sure the others won’t
leave her alone for five or more turns, so she spends her last 3M
on Wishful Thinking to get ahead. She muses aloud that it would
be hilarious if the Captain had accidentally invited three different
people for a drink that evening, passes her test, and it is so. Her
player crosses off three rolls toward the Shenanigan.

Open and Closed Shenanigans

Shenanigans in a competitive game are divided into two types.
An open Shenanigan is known to everyone, and any fairy can
achieve it. However, only the fairy who contributes the final roll
gets the Motes. This can inspire all sorts of backstabbery!
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Competitive Capers
A closed Shenanigan is known only to just one fairy. Other fairies
might know the Shenanigan exists, but they’ll have no idea how
to achieve it. In a face-to-face game, the GM can hand out the
Shenanigan’s card face-down; in a forum game, the forum’s private
messaging tool can be used to similar effect.
If you think you’ve figured out another fairy’s Shenanigan, you can
try to steal it! Should one of your rolls provide the final success,
you can take the credit – and the Motes – for yourself. Be careful,
though; your roll counts even if it’s short of the final success, so
you might just end up helping your opponent!

The GM writes up closed Shenanigans for each fairy

and passes them out. Pooka gets:
Package Tour (5 Motes): Move the ship to at least three
popular tourist systems.
After Pooka has made two rolls (moving the ship to the Beach
Paradise system and the Museum system), Calla attempts to
snipe the Shenanigan she’s sure Pooka is attempting. She uses
the Drive Core’s Location Power to move the ship with Wishful
Thinking, taking it to the Obligatory Desert Backwater Planet.
In triumph, Pooka’s player unwisely reveals that it has to be a
tourist system; Calla’s player resolves to make it a tourist system
somehow to retroactively claim success.

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Mischief Motes
Each fairy or faction has an individual Mischief Mote total. The
Mischief Motes for a Shenanigan go to the fairy or faction who
provides the final successful roll.

Letty has made four rolls toward “Welcome Home”,

having gotten the Alien Princess, Famous Actress and
Wealthy Heiress into the Captain’s Quarters without
being aware of each other. Before she can make a fifth roll, Red
dares the Captain to get the Centauri Death Liquor from her
cabin for a drinking competition, and wins the resulting contest.
Letty’s prank goes off early, but since Red made the final roll, she
walks away with the Mischief Motes. Letty is left with nothing but
resentment toward her Pixie “friend”.

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 NPC Conspiracies
When there’s an NPC conspiracy in play, the basic rules for NPCs
don’t change. The GM’s turn is just a bookkeeping phase – she
doesn’t play out individual NPC actions or turns like players do
for their fairies. NPCs don’t roll dice unless a player character
objects to something they’re doing. Keeping track of how close
the conspiracy is to winning is thus handled abstractly, using one
of three methods.

A Turn Counter
The simplest option is to have a turn counter
that ticks up every time the GM’s turn
rolls around. This works best for scenarios
where the majority of the NPCs’ scheming
is happening “off camera”, and those NPCs
who appear in the session are just there to
slow you down. If no fairy faction reaches
the required Mischief Mote total or other
objective before the counter maxes out,
everybody loses!
The counter’s maximum value depends
on the expected length of the session and
the number of Mischief Motes needed to
secure a fairy victory. In a face-to-face
game, a good general rule is six points
per hour – that is, multiply the expected
session length by six to get the point at
which the conspiracy wins if no fairy or
faction has reached a victory condition.

The GM decides to use the news station as her NPC

conspiracy, reasoning that the worst possible result
for the players would be the impromptu Best Fairy
competition becoming Reality TV. She gives the players 18 turns
(since she expects a three-hour session) before their fairy war is
tamed, commercialised and scripted.

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A Tension Counter
A tension counter works like a turn counter, except that you
have the ability to mess with the counter’s progress. Every time
her turn comes up, the GM declares a special Shenanigan based
on the conspiracy’s current plans and activities. This is a minor
Shenanigan if there are fewer than five players, or a standard
Shenanigan otherwise.
If you or one of your rivals achieves this Shenanigan before
the GM’s next turn, in addition to yielding the usual number of
Mischief Motes for a Shenanigan of its type, it prevents the tension
counter from ticking up. If it’s not achieved by the GM’s next turn,
the opportunity is lost, and the tension counter is increased by one.
Depending on the game’s structure, figuring out what the
conspiracy is up to this turn might be a big part of opposing it.
Successful rolls made while investigating count as rolls toward
achieving the Shenanigan.
Since the “countdown” can be slowed by player actions, the
maximum value should be smaller than for a simple turn counter.
The default is just two points per hour of face-to-face play, rather
than six – so you’d better keep on your toes!

In another session, the fairies are playing in the

Enchanted Forest milieu, and the GM has decided to

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turn the “Epic Fantasy Battle” Disaster into the theme
of the session. She explains the forces of good and evil will
constantly be attempting to change the genre to po-faced high
fantasy, and sets a countdown timer of six for the expected three-
hour session.

Tension counters are recommended for games where

the fairies are grouped into factions. Using them in
every-fairy-for-herself games means that some fairies will
probably end up spending all of their time slowing the clock
and none pursuing their own aims!

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 A Trouble Track
Finally, a Trouble track adapts Trouble Dice themselves as a
mechanism for keeping track of the conspiracy’s progress. Each
time Trouble Dice are incurred, the Trouble track is moved forward
a number of places equal to the number of Trouble Dice generated.
The length of the Trouble track determines how long the session
will last. Speed of play can vary, so we suggest working backwards:

++ Figure that you’ll incur 2–3 T per player per turn. If this
seems high, remember that some Costume Powers generate
T, as do players objecting to each others’ actions off-turn.
++ A focused group can wrap up each fairy’s turn in a little under
two minutes. A group that likes to go off on tangents – or
that’s still learning the game – may take five minutes or more.
Use these guidelines to estimate how much T your group is likely
to incur in an hour of play, and set the length of the Trouble track
accordingly. This could work out to as little as 25 T per hour, or
as much as 100! (When you’re first starting out, it’ll probably be
a lot closer to the first number than the second.)
Using a Trouble track is similar to using a turn counter in practice,
but it can make things feel a little more tense, since it advances at
an unpredictable rate in response to player actions.
To really crank up the tension, you can “schedule” Disasters on the
Trouble track at regular intervals – say, every ten dice. The GM
still has to pay the normal T cost, of course. This is hard to do
with a turn counter, because you don’t know how much T will be
available on any given turn. With a Trouble track, though, the GM
can simply set T aside until the cost of the next Disaster is met!

Note that it’s only incurring Trouble Dice that affects

the Trouble track. The Trouble track doesn’t back up
when the GM spends them!

In yet another session, the fairies are students at Magical

High School. The GM sets a Trouble track of 50, with
Disasters at 10, 20, 30 and 40 Trouble Dice representing
the faculty’s response to the students’ antics, culminating in the
government forcibly shutting down the school at 50 Trouble Dice.

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Winning
The default victory condition in Competitive Capers is being the
first to reach a particular Mischief Mote total. However, since
Mischief Motes are being split multiple ways, the expected pace of
gaining Motes is slower. You can use the table below to determine
how many Motes it takes to win.

# Factions 1 Hour 2 Hours 3 Hours

1 50 (40) 100 (80) 150 (120)
2 30 (25) 60 (50) 90 (75)
3–4 20 (15) 40 (30) 60 (45)
5+ 15 (10) 30 (20) 45 (30)

Use the totals in parentheses if you’re running a

game with an NPC conspiracy whose progress 242 NPC
Conspiracies
is tracked using a tension counter, since some
actions will be spent preventing the counter from
ticking up rather than pursuing Shenanigans. You
can also use this value if the conspiracy is using
a Trouble track and things are set up so that the
fairies need to spend time slowing its rise (e.g.,
through Location Powers, or by opposing NPCs
who have Powers that generate extra Trouble).

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These numbers assume that there are at least three fairies. If you
have two players, whether that means one faction of two fairies
or two factions of one fairy each, bump down one row to find the
number of Mischief Motes needed for victory. If you’re running a
competitive game with just one player, bump down two rows. (This
means a one-player game always uses the “3–4 factions” row.)
The times in the table are for face-to-face play. Double them for
chat-based play (i.e., 2, 4, or 6 hours), and read “1 Hour” as “2
Weeks” (and so forth) for forum or email play.

For the Best Fairy contest on the Exemplar, the GM sets

a threshold of 45 Motes for victory, expecting a three-
hour game for six fairies. In the dying moments of the
third hour Mabby finishes her closed Shenanigan “Constitutional
Monarchy” for 10 Motes, bringing her total to the required 45
and securing the win while the other five languish on 40 or below.
It’s good to be Queen!

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 Highest Wins
Rather than ending the game as soon as a particular Mischief Mote
total is reached, you can also let the game run for its full length,
then declare whoever has the highest final total the winner. In
combination with a turn counter or Trouble track, the preceding
table can be used to set a minimum threshold for fairy victory: if
none of the fairies are over the required total when time runs out,
everybody loses!

In the Magical High School game, the GM intends

to run the full three hours even if one or more of the
six fairies hit the required Mischief Mote threshold of
45 beforehand. She’ll award the title of Head Girl to the fairy
with the most Motes over 45 at the three-hour mark, or when the
Trouble track reaches the set maximum of 50. If the track reaches
50 before any fairy gains 45 Motes, everybody loses!

Alternative Victory Conditions

Finally, when creating competitive scenarios – typically Playsets
– with alternative victory conditions, you can use the table as a
guide for how much effort it’s reasonable to expect. Just halve the
Mote total to get a rough idea of the number of successful rolls
that would have been needed to reach it. For example, in a two-
hour game with three fairies or factions, it’s usually reasonable to
set a victory condition that requires about 40 ÷ 2 = 20 successful
rolls to pull off.

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Using Competitive Capers with Other Plugins
If you’re using this Plugin in combination with others from the
Core Rulebook, there are a few special interactions to be aware of.

Fairy Free-For-Alls
If you participate in a Free-For-All, you miss your next turn while
you recover from the fracas. This doesn’t apply if you spent your
action on your turn to initiate the Free-For-All in the first place –
your toll has already been paid! A Free-For-All finishes during the
same turn it started on, regardless of how many rounds it takes.
You can always mark progress toward a Shenanigan during a
Free-For-All, even when it’s not your turn. The rule that you can
only mark one success toward a Shenanigan per turn still applies,
though. You can waive this rule if all the PCs are on the same team.
Don’t adjust the threshold for completing Shenanigans unless the
fairies are grouped into factions of at least three fairies apiece;
fairies ganging up on Shenanigans just isn’t an issue when it’s
every fairy for herself.

Methodical Mischief
You can create moderate or major Advantages in a single turn if
you can figure out how to pay multiple costs with the same action.

Plugins
Structured Shenanigans
Owing to the relatively smaller number of rolls available to any
particular fairy, your GM should nudge each Shenanigan’s Stress
Limit a point or two toward the lower end of the standard range.
(i.e., 2 for minor Shenanigans, 5–6 for standard Shenanigans, and
so forth.) A failed Wishful Thinking roll marks 3 Stress against the
targeted Shenanigan.
When using a tension counter, the Shenanigan to prevent the
counter from ticking up has a Stress Limit equal to the number
of fairies in play.

Level Up!
You shouldn’t expect to reach particularly high levels in a
competitive game with multiple factions – the Mischief Mote
targets are just too small! Use the Fast column in the level chart,
with each fairy levelling up according to her individual Mischief
Mote total. If you’re grouped into factions, every fairy in a given
faction levels up at the same time.

247
Competitive Capers
 Level Up!
Fairies rarely learn from experience. It’s a natural consequence
of having an attention span generally measured in milliseconds.
Every so often, though, you get a fairy with a longer memory – and
that’s when the trouble really starts!

What Is Level Up?

Level Up! adds a bit of old-school flair to your game by letting
you gather XP (i.e., Mischief Motes) and gain cool bonuses. These
bonuses can come in the form of boosted Facets, extra Costume
slots, and even new Quirks and Powers!

Why Use This Plugin?

Because levelling up is fun! Like Mischief Motes, experience
points in traditional tabletop roleplaying games are really about
keeping score, so it’s natural to combine the two functions.
Costume Fairy Adventures isn’t a particularly “balanced” game
system, so there’s generally no harm in using this Plugin in
freeform games. However, if your GM is running a Playset, make
sure it doesn’t already provide some other way of improving your
traits – combining two such mechanisms may cause problems
down the line.

Gaining Levels
Your fairy starts each game at level 1, and gains a level each time
you reach a particular Mischief Mote threshold. There are three
different rates of advancement you can choose, based on the length
of the session you plan on playing:

Fast
This column results in speedy level gains. Use Fast advancement
if you’re playing a short session that’s expected to last less than
two hours.

Medium
This is the standard pace for levelling up. Use Medium
advancement for a typical two to three hour game, or a game that’s
expected to span two or more short sessions.
248
Level Up!
 Slow
Moderation isn’t a fairy’s strong suit, but sometimes it’s exactly
what’s needed. Use Slow advancement if you’re planning on
running a four-hour-plus mega-session, or if you expect your game
to span multiple standard-length sessions.

Since Costume Fairy Adventures is an episodic game,

levelling up happens on a per-game basis. No matter
how high your level is at the end of a game, at the start
of the next game you go back to level 1, just as though your
fairy were fresh out of character creation. If this doesn’t seem
like it makes much sense, remember: fairies have very short
memories!

Level Fast Medium Slow Bonus

1 0 0 0 –
2 10 20 30 +2 Stress Limit (+3 for Pixies)
3 20 40 60 +1 Facet (max. 3)

Plugins
4 30 60 90 +1 Costume
5 40 80 120 +1 Quirk
6 50 100 150 +1 Facet (max. 4)
7 60 120 180 +2 Stress Limit (+3 for Pixies)
8 70 140 210 +1 Costume
9 80 160 240 +1 Facet (max. 5)

For tonight’s session, the GM is planning to go with the

tried and true “Trapped in a Video Game!” premise,
and since the fairies already respawn and have an
ambiguous relationship with reality, decides to use the Level Up!
Plugin to achieve the right feel. She only plans to run a standard
three-hour session, with the possibility of a second short session
only if needed, so she picks the Medium advancement rate. The
fairies will need 20 Mischief Motes per level.

249
Level Up!
 Level Up Bonuses
At each level, you gain one of the following bonuses:
+2 Stress Limit
Your Stress Limit increases by 2, or 3 if you’re a
Pixie. (You can also claim the increased bonus if
you’re a member of some other Kind that enjoys
an increased basic Stress Limit.)

+1 Facet
Add 1 to a Facet of your choice. The table indicates
the maximum value for that Facet after applying this
bonus. For example, “+1 Facet (max. 3)” means that
the Facet’s final value can’t be greater than 3 (which,
in turn, means that its starting value before you add
to it must be 2 or less).

+1 Costume
You get an additional Costume slot. The number of
Costumes you can hold increases to four the first
time you receive this bonus, and five the second
time. You also get to make an immediate draw from the Costume
Deck in order to fill your newly acquired slot, just as though you’d
successfully Scrounged.

+1 Quirk
You develop a new Personal Quirk. The details of this Quirk
should be based on what you’ve said and done during this session.
If you’re playing face-to-face around a table, the player to your left
gets to pick your new Quirk (though you can veto her suggestion
if you think it’s inappropriate). If you’re playing via chat or email,
you can work out ahead of time who counts as “to your left” for
this purpose, or just take suggestions from the whole group.

The fairies gain their 80th Mischief Mote, and with

it level 5. The GM asks each player to give the fairy
of the player to her left a new Personal Quirk. Robin’s
player gives Calla the Quirk “Hardcore” to reflect her relentless
pursuit of boss monsters, which causes Calla’s player to give Red
“Casual” in turn, as Red has tried a bit of everything the video
game world has to offer. Red’s player gives Pooka the supremely
meta Quirk “Roleplayer”, and they continue around the circle…

250
Level Up!
Gaining Powers
If you’d prefer to increase your personal power
rather than expanding your wardrobe, as an
alternative to the +1 Costume bonus at levels 4
and 8, you can instead gain an additional Kind
Power. Pick from the alternative Powers listed
for your Kind in Appendix A: Custom Kinds, 254 Custom Kinds
or work with your GM to invent a new one. Make
sure that everybody agrees on whether to use this
option before play begins; the game can come to a
screeching halt when everybody has to pick a new
Power all at once!

The GM feels bonus Powers fits the video game idiom

better than an extra Costume slot, so when the fairies
reach level 4 she asks their players to quickly pick a
Power from Appendix A: Custom Kinds. Pooka’s player chooses
“Gremlin Syndrome”, causing her to inflict +1 S in all contests,
because she feels increasing inflicted damage at all costs is the
most appropriate way to roleplay a character in a video game
world.

Plugins

251
 Persistent Levels
By default, we’re assuming that you’ll reset your fairy to her basic,
fresh-out-of-character-creation stats at the end of each game. If
you want to watch your fairy slowly grow in power over multiple
sessions, we recommend using an advancement rate of at least
100 Mischief Motes per level, or just levelling up at the end of
each session, regardless of how many Motes you gathered. Some
Playsets may require adjustment to account for your boosted stats.
When using persistent levels, a fairy who grows beyond level
9 transcends her fairy nature and becomes something else. You
can narrate her apotheosis however you want, but you can’t keep
playing her – this is a game about mischievous little fairies, and
she’s not one of those anymore! It’s time to retire her character
sheet and start a new adventure.

If you’ve become attached to your fairy and don’t want

to retire her, you can simply switch back to episodic
levelling and have her reset to level 1 at the start of
the next game. In fact, if push comes to shove, there’s no
rule against having her transcend, then show up as a level 1
fairy at the start of the next game (or even within the same
session!); fairies regard linear time as less a rule and more a
polite suggestion.

The group enjoys the Level Up! mechanic so much that

they ask the GM to keep using it in future sessions after
they return from the video game world. The GM agrees,
setting a Mischief Mote threshold of 100 per level for the “real”
world. She begins to run sessions as more overtly connected to
each other, though not necessarily in chronological order as
fairies are not particularly beholden to linear time.
Eventually the group gains their 900th Mischief Mote, and the
fairies transcend. Mabby’s player narrates the Sprite becoming
in truth the Queen of the Fae, future and past, retroactively
revealing that the icy, eldritch royal they had dealt with in their
sessions was and always had been Mabby. Whenever the group
uses the Fae Queen in future games, they take care to describe
her as being at least a little bit Mabbyish.

252
Level Up!
253
 Appendix A:

Custom Kinds
The Kinds listed in the character creation
Kinds 29 chapter aren’t the only sorts of fairies out there.
If your fairy isn’t one of those, you can use these
guidelines to figure out what she should look like
in game terms. Remember to let your GM have a
look once you’re done – two sets of eyes are better
than one when it comes to spotting potential rules
glitches.
There are two approaches you can take to writing
up your own Kind: refluffing a basic Kind, or
creating a new Kind.

Refluff a Basic Kind

In tabletop RPG lingo, “refluffing” is the process of taking a set
of rules for one thing, and using it to represent something else.
Since the rules for each Kind boil down to a couple of broadly
described Powers, it will often be easy to adapt them for your
own original Kinds. Pixies, for example, can be refluffed as just
about any exceptionally tough sort of fairy, while a Sprite’s Powers
are a good fit for any Kind that’s known for being exceptionally
mystical.

Senait is running a game, and Meaghan joins as a player.

She has an idea for a gregarious but misunderstood
Sasabonsam, an iron-toothed tree-dweller from West
African folklore, but isn’t sure how to represent her mechanically.
Senait suggests the Goblin Kind Powers as a reasonable fit, as
their folklore is broadly similar, and Sasabonsam neither fly nor
walk on air.

254
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
Create a New Kind
Sometimes, you’ll want to play a sort of fairy that doesn’t really
match up with any of the basic Kinds. In this case, you’ll have
a bit more work cut out for you. Creating a new Kind can be as
simple as swapping some existing Powers around, or as involved
as cooking up new mechanics from scratch.

Components of a Kind
The rules for every Kind are contained within their Kind Powers,
which break down into two broad categories: mobility Powers, and
utility Powers. Every Kind gets one of each.

A Fairy’s “Superior Flight” Power might seem like an

exception, but it’s really not. Though it’s phrased as
a single Power for ease of reading, it has two separate
components that fill both of these roles – it’s basically two
Powers in one!

Appendices

255
 Mobility Powers
Fairies are tiny! Even the largest of them rarely top twelve
inches in height, which can pose difficulties when dealing with
environments designed for Big Folk. Struggling to climb a flight
of stairs isn’t quite the sort of “adventure” that Costume Fairy
Adventures has in mind, though, so every fairy has a Kind Power
to help her get around more easily.
The default mobility Power is “Flight” – that is, the ability to fly.
It doesn’t require any special effort to imagine how flying helps
you get around, so it’s a good default if you don’t have anything
more specific in mind. If flight doesn’t work for you, other options
include superhuman climbing and jumping, like Goblins, or maybe
even some sort of short-range teleport.
The danger in going with a non-standard mobility Power is not
being able to participate in your friends’ mischief because you
can’t follow them. If in doubt, just ask yourself: how will this
Power help me navigate a flight of stairs? If you don’t have an
answer for that question, it’s time to rethink things.
Mobility Powers typically don’t grant any rules-based benefits. A
Fairy’s “Superior Flight” Power is an exception, since it combines
both a mobility Power and a utility Power.

Karyn decides to join the custom Kind party, creating

a diminutive purple fairy that moves about by opening
doors in any surface and popping instantly out of a
matching door at her destination (she calls this Kind Openers,
claiming it will be easy for the other players to remember). Senait
feels that’s just a short-range teleport with an interesting visual
effect, and thus an appropriate mobility Power.

Utility Powers
In addition to Powers to help get around, each Kind has a Power
based on a particular affinity or aptitude. Fairies of a given Kind
might be especially fast or tough, or have an exceptional knack
with a certain type of fairy magic. Every Kind has one such Power.
Utility Powers can be just as broad as Costume Powers, so we
can’t cover all of the possibilities here. However, there are a few
common themes that can help guide you when creating your own
Kind Powers.

256
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
First, there are Kind Powers that act as bonus
Quirks. You can tag the Power as a Quirk that 64 Using Quirks
stacks with both Personal and Costume Quirks.
These Powers usually reflect physical features,
not skills or personality traits. A Goblin’s “Keen
Senses” is an example of this sort of Power.
Second, there are Kind Powers that grant edge. 79 Edge
These Powers also often reflect a physical trait, like
speed or strength, though they can also represent
something more abstract. A Fairy’s “Superior
Flight” and an Elf’s “Protagonist Syndrome” are
examples of this sort of Power.
Finally, there are Powers that grant some sort of miscellaneous
mechanical bonus. These bonuses should be about equal to
Costume Powers in scope – you can refer to the Core Costume
Deck for inspiration here. A Pixie’s “Resilient” and a Sprite’s
“Charmed Life” are examples of this sort of Power.
If you feel like getting fancy, you can also mix and match benefits,
provided that each one is fairly narrow. For example, you might
devise a Power that inflicts +1 S in scuffles and suffers –1S
from physical threats. (Just don’t be surprised if this Power never
comes up in play – your next session could be a tea party!)

Whether a Power should act as a Quirk or provide edge

can be a tricky question. Use the following guideline:
a Quirk makes you better, while edge makes you better
than. That is, a Quirk makes you more likely to succeed at

Appendices
a roll; edge doesn’t make you more likely to succeed, but it
does make you more likely to overcome any opposition to your
successes. Sometimes it’s obvious which one you should use; at
other times, you’ll need to make a judgment call.

Luciana decides to play a cat-like fairy based on

the Bakeneko of folklore. These demonic felines are
reputed to summon fireballs and command the dead, so
to fit that to a Costume Fairy Adventures idiom she’d like her
fairy to be assisted by small puffs of ghost-flame. Senait suggests
these provide +1 edge in all contests against Big Folks, as their
ancestors berate them for opposing a kitty.

257
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
 Powers to Avoid
There are a few types of Powers to avoid when writing up a Kind.
Some of these guidelines that can be bent, but others can have
negative effects even in small doses.
First, Kind Powers shouldn’t be framed as generic bonuses: they
should provide narrative benefits to go with their rules-based
bonuses. For example, take a look at a Goblin’s “Keen Senses”
Power: the bonus die is framed in terms of being able to taste
colours (among other things). A Kind Power should say something
about how your fairy operates.
Second, Powers that require complicated procedures or judgment
calls during play are inappropriate. A Kind Power shouldn’t slow
down the game or take the focus away from Costumes. This
category includes Powers that create or summon NPCs, Powers
with drawbacks to offset their utility, and Quirk or edge type
Powers where it’s often unclear when they apply.
Finally, avoid Powers that fiddle with the Trouble Pool or alter
the Mischief Mote economy. Both of these effects can play havoc
with the game’s pacing. You can sometimes get away with them
for Costume Powers, because Costume Powers tend to be short-
lived, but as Kind Powers they’re right out.

Nadya keeps up the chain of custom Kinds by creating

a fairy inspired by the Kelpie, a kind of shapeshifting
aquatic horse. She wants an evocative mobility Power,
but she doesn’t want it to be so strong that it counts for both
Powers. She suggests that the Kelpie’s running speed is mostly
useful “for taking the long way and still getting there on time”, as
well as free movement in water, but doesn’t have any mechanical
effect. Senait feels that’s trying to cram a lot into one Power, but
since it mostly justifies keeping up with the others (and aquatic
movement is rare), she approves it.
Nadya’s idea for a utility Power is the ability to spend M to
summon water in some form, adding a water-related Temporary
Quirk to a Location. Senait is less enthusiastic about this idea,
since it dooms every Location in the game to rising damp. Her
counter-proposal is a Power that grants an extra die whenever
the Kelpie tags a water-related Quirk. This retains the incentive
to create water-based Location Quirks, but requires the Kelpie to
put in some effort to create them.
Everyone is happy with the suggested Powers, so Nadya writes
them up.

258
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
 Kelpie
As much at home in the river as on the shore, the Kelpies
are blessed with the ability to dash towards trouble and then
swim like mad away from it.

Appearance
Kelpies have hooved feet, well-suited for running – and as
a result most have lean, wiry builds. They have expressive,
horse-like ears and while their eyes do not especially
resemble limpid pools of water, they typically like to be
told so. Like Elves and Goblins, they lack wings.

Powers
As a Kelpie, you have the following Powers:
Appendices
Run like Flowing Water: You run exceptionally
swiftly, and swim as fast as you can run. You usually
take a more circuitous route and arrive at the same time
as your flying friends.
River Spirit: You gain a bonus die whenever you tag a
water-related Quirk.

Stereotypes
Among fairies, the canonical Kelpie is an exotic traveller
with a dangerous but compelling air, apt to tempt one into
a particularly risky prank. Humans seem to think they’re
shapeshifting horses that prey on flesh, an inaccurate but
sometimes useful reputation.
259
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
 Alternative Powers for Basic Kinds
Finally, here are some alternative Powers for
each of the six basic Kinds. You can use these
to customise your fairy a bit, as inspiration
when writing up a new Kind’s utility Power, or
Level Up! 248 – in conjunction with the Level Up! Plugin – as
substitutes for the extra Costume slot at levels 4
and 8.

Fairies
You can trade in your Fairy’s “Superior Flight” Power for basic
“Flight” and any one of the following.

Domino Effect: Not all fairies indulge in scheming, but the world
seems to play along with those who do. You gain two dice
rather than one when you tag a Temporary Quirk you created
yourself.
Friendship Is Magic: Mischief shared is mischief multiplied!
When you assist a friend’s roll, you may spend 1 M to give
her an extra die. In addition, when you’re assisting a friend’s
roll and she rolls at least one 6, you gain 1M .
Quick-fingered: Your hands are quicker than the eye. You have
excellent manual dexterity, and can perform complex sleight-
of-hand with ease. You may count this Power as a bonus
Quirk that stacks with your Personal Quirks on any roll.

Pixies
You can trade in your Pixie’s “Resilient” Power for any one of
the following.

Pixie Persistence: It’s not so much that you don’t know when
to quit; it’s just some time can go by before you realise it.
When your S exceeds your Stress Limit, you may make one
final roll – a test, contest, or even Wishful Thinking – before
Stressing Out. You always Stress Out after making the roll
even if you somehow recover S before it’s resolved.
Pixie Power: You’re extremely strong for your size. You can
lift twenty times your own weight, and overpower creatures
many times your size. You gain +1 edge in contests where
brute strength is a major factor.
Pixie Promise: Or more accurately, a threat of tiny yet potent
retribution. Whenever you suffer Sin a contest, whoever
or whatever inflicted that Son you suffers 1 S
in return.

260
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
Sprites
You can trade in your Sprite’s “Charmed Life” Power for any one
of the following.

Colocation: You have only a nodding relationship with linear time;

for you, it’s normal to encounter your past and future selves,
or be in two places at once! You may access the Quirks (but
not Powers) of any Costume in your possession, regardless
of whether you’re actually wearing it. Additionally, if you
roleplay both your current and past/future selves, you may
tag a Quirk of your current Costume and a Quirk of one of
your unworn Costumes on the same roll.
Ignorance Is Bliss: If you don’t acknowledge the inherent
dangers in a situation, they are naturally less dangerous to
you, specifically. You gain +1 edge against Hazards.
Wish Enabler: Reality is no match for your positive attitude,
becoming malleable to fairy magic in your presence. You may
count this Power as a bonus Quirk that’s always applicable to
Wishful Thinking. You may also use it to assist other fairies’
Wishful Thinking rolls.

Brownies
You can trade in your Brownie’s “Instant Wardrobe” Power for
any one of the following.

Artisan: Actually, you can mend shoes. In fact, you can make
or fix almost anything, so long as no-one is gauche enough
to watch you. When you take a Break, you may perform the
equivalent of a full night’s work crafting or repairing items
appropriate to your current Costume. This counts as an
automatically successful test, with a Result equal to your Appendices
highest Facet, and may advance a relevant Shenanigan.
You may not Scrounge or change Costumes during the same
Break that you use this Power.
Borrower: You can stash any object on your person, and pull it
out later on. You have to be able to lift an object in order to
stash it, but there are no limits on how many you can carry at
once. It’s unclear where exactly you’re keeping them. When
you Stress Out, everything you had stashed is left behind;
otherwise, stashed items can’t be stolen or located by any
effect, including losing a contest. If you have too many
stashed objects, the GM may require you to make a test to
retrieve the right one.
Gourmand: You convert food into mischief more efficiently than
most. You recover twice as much S
from eating food.

261
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
 Goblins
You can trade in your Goblin’s “Keen Senses” Power for any one
of the following.

Gremlin Syndrome: You have a talent for breaking stuff,

sometimes even when you don’t mean to! This applies to
people’s feelings just as much their possessions. You inflict
+1 S in all contests.
Omnivore: You find the typical division of objects into “edible”
and “inedible” arbitrary and highly suspect. You may
consume any inanimate object, and never suffer S as a
result of eating. You may count this Power as a bonus Quirk
on any roll to eat something, including Wishful Thinking rolls
to eat intangibles or abstractions.
Regeneration: You may not be especially tough, but you bounce
back quickly. You may spend 1 Mat any time to recover
1d6 S.

Elves
You can trade in your Elf’s “Protagonist Syndrome” Power for
any one of the following.

Dramatic Comeback: Sometimes you graciously allow your

opponents to get the upper hand, just long enough for the
world to enjoy a moment of drama before you reassert your
peerless excellence. When you lose a contest, you gain +1
edge against whatever beat you until either you win a contest
against the affected target or you Stress Out. This Power
stacks with itself if you’re defeated several times in a row, to
a maximum of +3 edge.
Foreshadowing: Other people have stories too! It’s just you’re
the most important person in them, saying the one thing that
defines the context of everyone else’s actions – be it a curse,
a prophecy, or just a catchy tagline. You may use Wishful
Thinking to put a Temporary Quirk on the story itself. This
Quirk lasts until the end of the session, or until the GM pays
5 T to remove it. You may only place one such Quirk on the
story at a time, but may change it by using this Power again.
Plot Armour: You can’t let a little thing like getting squished
flat get you down – your story isn’t finished yet! You suffer
–1 S from all sources.

262
Appendix A: Custom Kinds
 Appendix B:

Random Quirks
The character creation chapter allows you to 26 Your Fairy
randomly generate everything except your fairy’s
Quirks. We didn’t want to hit you with nine pages
of tables and Quirk descriptions right at the front
of the book, so we moved them back here! You
can use this appendix if you want to leave every
aspect of your fairy – including her personality –
up to the dice.

263
 Quirk Tables
Find the tables for your highest and lowest Facet, and roll once
on each. Since similar Quirks may appear on multiple tables –
the same general personality type being associated both with a
high rating in one Facet and a low rating in a different Facet –
it’s entirely possible to end up with two Quirks that basically say
the same thing. If this happens, just bump your roll on the “low”
column down one row, wrapping around from 6 to 1 if needed.

Quirks of Moxie

d6 High Moxie Low Moxie

1 Compelling Cowardly
2 Competitive Delicate
3 Daredevil Humble
4 Heroic Inconspicuous
5 Loudmouth Lazy
6 Show-off Subtle

Quirks of Focus

d6 High Focus Low Focus

1 Cool Dabbler
2 Neat Freak Forgetful
3 Nosy Gluttonous
4 Paranoid Impatient
5 Sneaky Kleptomaniac
6 Stubborn Wired

264
Appendix B: Random Quirks
Quirks of Craft

d6 High Craft Low Craft

1 Curious Honest
2 Experienced Impulsive
3 Know-it-all Oblivious
4 Meticulous Pragmatic
5 Schemer Straightforward
6 Snarky Trustworthy

Quirks of Grace

d6 High Grace Low Grace

1 Arrogant Bull-headed
2 Dignified Clumsy
3 Dynamic Insecure
4 Magnanimous Petty
5 Melodramatic Rebellious
6 Sophisticated Vulgar

Appendices
Quirks of Shine

d6 High Shine Low Shine

1 Dashing Clichéd
2 Destined Creepy
3 Joker Cursed
4 Magnetic Gloomy
5 Optimistic Jinxed
6 Romantic Stern

265
Appendix B: Random Quirks
 Quirk Descri ptions
Once you’ve rolled for your Quirks, find them in the following list
for descriptions and roleplaying tips.

Arrogant
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself! Helps
when you put on airs and act like you’re automatically the most
qualified fairy for the job.

Bull-headed
It’s not so much that you’re clumsy as that you just don’t have the
patience for tact or subtlety. Helps to accomplish tasks when the
result doesn’t need to be pretty.

Clichéd
You lack any spark of originality, but you’ve mastered a repertoire
of the classics. Helps whenever you repurpose an old favourite
method, or with truly terrible puns.

Clumsy
You’re a danger to yourself and everything around you. Helps
when “unintentionally” breaking things.

Compelling
Your overwhelming enthusiasm can carry even the most ridiculous
argument. Helps when getting your way without relying on the
merits of your proposition.

Competitive
Everything’s a competition to you, and you play to win. Helps
whenever you’re participating in an “official” contest of skill –
even one you declared yourself!

Cool
You’re completely unflappable. Flappable is the opposite of what
you are. Helps you conspicuously keep your cool when things get
too hot to handle.

266
Appendix B: Random Quirks
Cowardly
You believe that discretion is the better part of valour. Helps when
you need to beat a tactical retreat.

Creepy
You love creeping people out. Helps whenever you’re deliberately
being weird or off-putting.

Curious
So, what does the red button do? Helps with investigating new
and interesting stuff, especially stuff you ought not be poking at.

Cursed
You may have offended the Fae Queen, the Archwitch or the Iron
Empress – probably all three. Helps whenever getting into deep
trouble will advance your goals.

Dabbler
You can do a little bit of everything… and only a little bit of
anything. Helps whenever “good enough” is all that’s required.

Daredevil
Never let them see you sweat! Helps whenever you’re braving
ridiculous danger, especially if there’s a safer way to achieve the
same end.

Dashing Appendices
Roguish good looks, impeccable timing and just a whole lot of
swagger set you apart from the fairy crowd. Helps with dramatic
entrances and provoking swoons.

Delicate
You don’t care for scary or icky things – and you’re not afraid
to let everybody know. Helps when you forcibly try to remove
unpleasantness from your presence.

Destined
Something bigger and better awaits in your future, and no force in
the universe can prevent it. Helps you to push through hardships
or to be the special-est snowflake.

267
Appendix B: Random Quirks
 Dignified
You always make sure to observe proper decorum. Helps with
preserving your dignity (such as it is) in rough situations.

Dynamic
You’re full of energy – constantly on the move, more alive in flight
than at rest. Helps when you’re using body language or flashy
athletics.

Experienced
You’ve seen and done it all – or so you’d have your friends believe.
Helps with anything you can reasonably claim you’ve done more
times than you can count.

Forgetful
Your memory isn’t the greatest – or at the very least, you’re not
good with the details. Helps avoid responsibility and talk your
way out of trouble.

Gloomy
You see catastrophe looming everywhere. Helps extricate yourself
and your friends from trouble whenever you can claim you saw
it coming.

Gluttonous
You and food have a special relationship. Helps when pursuing
food, or anything that might yield food as a reward.

Heroic
You serve the cause of truth and justice! You see nefarious schemes
everywhere, and it’s your duty to set things right.

Honest
You can’t tell a lie to save your life. Fortunately, the truth usually
works out for you. Helps whenever you blurt out the truth at
inopportune moments.

Humble
You’re a quiet achiever. Helps when doing work other fairies might
feel they’re too good for, or winning over honest folk.

268
Appendix B: Random Quirks
Impatient
Why do stuff later when you could do it now? Helps when you
leap without looking, especially if you have no idea what’s really
going on!

Impulsive
Honestly, you’re better off not thinking things through. Is it shiny?
Interesting? Do it right now! Helps with anything true to your
nature.

Inconspicuous
There are advantages to being overlooked. Helps when you want
to blend into a crowd or shift blame onto a more likely target.

Insecure
You constantly need to prove that you’ve got what it takes. Helps
whenever the opportunity arises to demonstrate your worthiness.

Jinxed
Bad luck follows close at your heels, though it tends to be everyone
else’s problem. Helps when inflicting misfortune on others.

Joker
You’re a comedian at heart. Helps whenever you do something
specifically because it would be funny.

Kleptomaniac
Whenever you see something shiny, you just have to have it. Helps
Appendices
with pursuing whatever’s currently caught your eye.

Know-it-all
You know a little bit about everything – or, at least, you think
you do! Helps whenever you’re demonstrating your “expert”
knowledge.

Lazy
You’re so averse to hard work that you’ll put enormous effort into
avoiding it. Helps when taking shortcuts, especially if it’s more
work than just doing things properly.

269
Appendix B: Random Quirks
 Loudmouth
You can’t seem to do anything without making a huge racket.
Helps whenever you need to shout someone down or become the
centre of attention.

Magnanimous
You have a strong sense of noblesse oblige toward those who
are less awesome than you. Helps when you help out the “less
fortunate”.

Magnetic
You are the candle flame to everyone else’s moth. Helps when
drawing others to you or dragging them into adventure.

Melodramatic
Everything is a big deal to you. Everything! Helps whenever
you’re making a big production out of something or when you’re
making it perfect.

Meticulous
It’s easy to be detail-oriented when you’re smaller relative to the
details. Helps with dealing with the minutiae of a situation.

Neat Freak
Mischief is one thing, but you can’t stand messes! Helps with
cleaning up or preventing any sort of untidiness.

Nosy
You know your business, and your business is getting up in other
people’s business. Helps with ferreting out secrets and getting into
places you don’t belong.

Oblivious
You live in your own little world. Helps avoid any threat as long
as you refuse to notice that it exists.

Optimistic
You’re certain that everything will work out for the best, in spite of
all evidence to the contrary. Helps you keep up a positive attitude
when you’d be better off cutting your losses.

270
Appendix B: Random Quirks
Paranoid
You know They’re out to get you, even if you’re not quite clear
on who “They” are. Helps when taking measures to counter both
real and imagined threats.

Petty
You have a hard time letting go. Helps whenever the stakes are
small or the spite is large.

Pragmatic
Your plans are simple, reasonable and no-nonsense; you’re not
quite sure why they often go so badly off the rails. Helps whenever
you discard complex alternatives in favour of the sensible
approach.

Rebellious
They can’t make you behave! Helps whenever you’re trying to
break free of arbitrary restrictions (as interpreted by you).

Romantic
Love conquers all! Helps with playing matchmaker or acting to
defend True Love.

Schemer
Even your backup plans have backup plans. Helps whenever things
are going Just As Planned – or whenever you can claim that they
are!
Appendices
Show-off
You just love being the centre of attention! Helps when performing
flashy stunts or otherwise doing things to draw attention to
yourself.

Snarky
You’ve always got a ready quip. Helps when you make an
appropriate snark. This must be roleplayed!

Sneaky
If there’s someplace you’re not supposed to be, that’s where
you’re headed. Helps when you get up to mischief right under
someone’s nose.

271
Appendix B: Random Quirks
 Sophisticated
You have elegant manners and know lots of big words. Helps you
navigate delicate social situations and impress others with your
comportment.

Stern
Even Big Folks think twice when they get a look at your serious
expression! Helps whenever you make a big deal about treating
things as Serious Business.

Straightforward
You’re just a simple forest fairy, and you don’t hold with a
complicated world of genre-warping wishes and Möbius strip
causality. Helps whenever you bull through arrant nonsense.

Stubborn
Nothing can sway you once you’re set on your course. Helps when
you dig in your heels and insist on having things your way.

Subtle
You find it distasteful to make a big splash with your actions,
preferring to appear harmless until it’s too late. Helps you get away
with it even in plain sight.

Trustworthy
People find it strangely plausible that you’re not really up to
tricking them. Helps whenever you’re giving your word.

Vulgar
You are apparently incapable of manners. Helps to infuriate anyone
with a sense of decorum.

Wired
Your level of nervous energy disconcerts humans, fairies and
nearby inanimate objects alike. Helps whenever you flit between
different actions or approach a problem with way too much
intensity.

272
Appendix B: Random Quirks
 Appendix C:

Random Encounters
If you’re running a freeform game, this appendix provides random
NPCs, Locations and Disasters for three flexible pregenerated
milieux. If you’re not sure which one to run, you can use the
following table to decide:

d6 Milieu
1–2 Enchanted Forest
3–4 Magical Gaslight
5–6 Gallant Starship

Enchanted Forest
Let your players loose in their natural stomping ground, where
isolated human villages, bear clans and magicians mix with fae
creatures that were old when the mountains were young.
This milieu suits fairy-tale and fantasy games best. With some
adjustment, it should work for any magical wilderness setting.

Appendices

273
 Enchanted Forest NPCs (d66)

11–13 Boisterous Kappa

Surprisingly Indecorous, River Princess moxie
3
One would assume a warrior-scholar of this noble
limit
aquatic people would have better things to do than 8
loiter about waiting to annoy passers-by.
Faithful Waters: The Kappa’s personal stream is never more than
a few metres away from her, no matter where she ends up. It adds
the “Kappa Creek” Location Quirk wherever she is, and inflicts
+3 S whenever she uses it in a contest.

14–16 Nargun Couturier

Unbreakable, Superior Taste craft
4
This stony fashionista has little patience for poseurs
limit
but is a staunch friend of those with true chic. 10
Commit to Your Style: A fairy Quick Changing in the
same Location as the Nargun Couturier takes 2 . S
Ultimate Judge of Fashion: Nargun Coutrier may tag Costume
Quirks of opponents in a contest for extra dice. Each opponent
counts as a different Quirk source.
Inspired: If Stressed Out or otherwise impressed, the Couturier
awards each fairy with a random Costume and the Temporary
Quirk “Fashionista”.

21–23 Conspiracy Theory Duchess

Foul Seems Fair, First-class Cackle shine
4
The rumours are true! But no-one will believe that you
limit
really encountered the Duchess up to pointless evil in 7
the forest.
Summon Conspirators: The GM has a 2 T discount on Summon
Opposition to the same Location as the Duchess. The summoned
NPC gains the Temporary Quirk “In League with the Duchess”.

274
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Enchanted Forest NPCs (d66)

24–26 Yaksini Philosopher

The Invisible Hand, Economies of Scale craft
3
Strictly speaking she’s more of an economist. She has
limit
deeply nuanced opinions about the optimal trade-offs 5
in clearing forest for agriculture, and is willing to
attack any given audience with them.
Keynote Lecture: When the Yaksini Philosopher is introduced,
all fairies in that Location must test either Craft or Focus (their
choice). Any fairy who fails gains the Temporary Quirk “Irrational
Actor”; while this Quirk remains, their Result in any contest with
the Yaksini is considered to be 0. If they succeed, they gain the
Temporary Quirk “Apprentice Economist”.

31–33 Wicked Stepchildren

The Real Monsters, We’ll Spin It in the Fairy-tale focus
3
This pair of brats are currently running away from
limit
their new home in an attempt to shatter its domestic 5
bliss, but they’ll make time to torment fairies.
Cruelty of Children: Wicked Stepchildren inflict +2 . S
Surprisingly Effective Teamwork: Wicked Stepchildren take
–2 S from all sources unless they have a Temporary Quirk or
other effect preventing them from working together.

Appendices
34–36 Shy Spider
This Is All a Terrible Misunderstanding, Arthropods grace
Are People Too 4
limit
Most interactions between giant spiders and forest-folk 7
involve predation, fire or stabbing. She’s lonely but has
developed understandable paranoia.
Reaction to Past Trauma: A fairy who takes S
from Shy Spider
gains the Temporary Quirk “Bound and Poisoned”. While that
Quirk remains, she takes 1 Severy minute or post, and may not
change Costume.
Spiders Make the Best Friends: If befriended, Shy Spider will
accompany the fairies and provide help on all rolls for the next
ten minutes or posts before all the excitement gets a bit much
for her.
275
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Enchanted Forest NPCs (d66)

41–43 Snow Woman

The Elegance of Frost, Indifference of Winter focus
4
She may not mean to drain the warmth and essence
limit
from all things; maybe she just likes standing around 10
looking beautiful and creepy, with the withering frost
being an unintended side-effect.
Haunting Presence: Snow Woman does
not initiate contests but will defend herself
normally. The GM has a 1 T discount on
using Summon Opposition on her.
Unseasonable Cold: This Power is
considered to be a Location Power at
Snow Woman’s Location. All characters
other than Snow Woman in this Location
take 1 S every minute or post unless
protected by an appropriate Temporary
Quirk or Power. For each S inflicted in
this way, remove S from Snow Woman.

44–46 The Lumberjacks

Superior Work Ethic, Getting Paid moxie
4
The Baroness is paying good money to have this place
limit
cleared, and cleared it shall be. It’s nothing personal.
7
To the Ground: The Lumberjacks may engage their
current Location in a contest. The Location is assumed to have
a Result of 0. If the Lumberjacks win, remove a Power or Quirk
from the Location.

51–53 Wolf in Sprite’s Clothing

Poor Fit, All the Better to Eat You With moxie
3
On one hand, that’s the worst fairy impression you’ve
limit
ever seen. On the other, you’re not very bright. 8
Cunning Disguise: When Wolf in Sprite’s Clothing is
introduced, draw a Costume. She may use its Powers and Quirks
normally. She may Quick Change into a new randomly drawn
Costume for 1 T.

276
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Enchanted Forest NPCs (d66)

54–56 Daughter of the Fae Queen

Eternal Aristocracy, Rose of the Forest grace
5
You don’t really get “Princess” when your mother’s
limit
rule is an integral part of the universe. You do get a 5
lot of free time, though.
I’ll Make My Own Court!: A fairy who takes S
from this NPC
gains the Temporary Quirk “Royal Appointee”. While it remains
she must help the Daughter of the Fae Queen whenever asked.
Let Them Eat Cake: If Stressed Out, this NPC rewards the fairies
for the diversion. Each fairy may remove 1d6 . S
61–63 Gnome Gnecromancer
Evil for Giggles, Exploiting the Ancestors craft
3
Widely-held prejudices aside, neither gnomes nor
limit
necromancers are inherently evil. This particular 5
example is utterly vile!
A Murder of (ex)Gnomes: Gnome Gnecromancer enters play
with three skeletal gnomes. Each has the following profile:
Moxie 2, Stress Limit 1, Unthinking Obedience; they take no
actions. They assist all of Gnome Gnecromancer’s rolls. Whenever
she takes S , she may sacrifice a skeletal gnome to prevent the
S . She may summon additional skeleton gnomes for 1 T each.
Appendices
64–66 Princess-rescuing Princess
Honestly a Bit Gullible, The Most Dashing shine
5
Princesses fall into two camps: helpless serial abductees
limit
and omnicompetent unstoppable forces. Someone has 10
convinced one of the latter that you have kidnapped
one of the former.
Invincible Sword Princess: Any character scuffling this NPC is
considered to have a Result of 0. She inflicts +3 S in scuffles.
Misdirection: Deception, flim-flam and lies have +1 edge
against this NPC.
Here’s One We Prepared Earlier: Presented with any plausible
princess, this NPC will “rescue” her from the fairies and leave play.

277
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Enchanted Forest Locations (d66)

11–13 The Mushroom Palace

Edible Architecture, Bioluminescent
The eerie beauty of this fungal manse distracts from its status
as a mushroom where mushrooms live, eat and trade with other
mushrooms.
A Place That Stays with You: The next Location each fairy visits
gains the Temporary Quirk “Spore Infestation”.
Decree from the Mushroom Throne (Shenanigan, 5 Motes): Win
5 over the distrustful Mushroom People. Special: Upon completing
this Shenanigan, the fairies may apply one Temporary Quirk to all
Locations with any fungus-related Quirks.

14–16 Moon-viewing Pond

Second-most-picturesque Spot, Seething with Magical Resonance
While exquisite in its own right, this secluded spot’s claim to fame
is the permanent reflection of the full moon in its still water.
Sympathetic Correspondence: Wishful Thinking to travel to the
Moon enjoys a 2 M discount from this Location. By default, the
wishing fairy arrives at a lunar Location that has the Quirks “So
Very Far Away” and “So Very Many Rabbits”.
Scenic Enhancement (Shenanigan, 15 Motes): Make a mark on
15 the Moon visible from this Location.

21–23 The Young Oaks

Oaktivism, Reformist Horticulture
Tree moots have a well-deserved reputation for ponderous and
inconclusive debate. But not these strapping saplings! They’re
fired up and really going places… just not literally.
Ashtag: A fairy in this Location may make a Craft or Shine test
to convince the Young Oaks to apply a short catchphrase of her
choice to all fairies as a Temporary Quirk. If she fails, the Young
Oaks apply a catchphrase of their choice instead.

278
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Enchanted Forest Locations (d66)

24–26 Abandoned Village

Still-warm Teapots, A Very Light Fog
It’s as if the entire population vanished just moments ago…
Ill-gotten Gains: Anything that might plausibly be found in a
human village is here, unguarded, and easily taken by any fairy
with a mind to do so. However, while in possession of such an
item, she generates +1 T whenever she rolls one or more 6s.

31–33 House of Dolls

Meticulously Ornamented, Witch Magnet
When you live in an enchanted forest brimming with thieves and
pranksters, an autonomous combat doll defence array is just
common sense.
This Location has a permanent Hazard:
Stubbornly Territorial Forest Dolls (Hazard)
Grace 4, Stress Limit 10, Lace and Lances, Swarm of Swords
Puppets of the Magus: This Hazard inflicts +2 S. If Stressed
Out, it returns after three minutes or posts.
The Greatest Treasure: Each time this Hazard is Stressed Out,
each fairy in this Location may take a Costume of her choice.

Appendices
34–36 Haunted Mansion
Harrowing Hospitality, Decomposing Decor
This once-elegant home has fallen into frightful decay, and its
warm-hearted residents into the cold grip of undeath, but it’s still
the most sincerely welcoming place in the forest.
Spectral Tea-time: A fairy in this Location may test Moxie
to partake of their hosts’ generous but ghoulish spread. If she
S
succeeds, she removes up to 5 . If she fails, she takes 1d6 . S

279
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Enchanted Forest Locations (d66)

41–43 (Probably) Dwarven Mine

Graffiti Is in Runes, Lots of Empty Bottles
While their tools indicate that the miners are smaller than humans,
it’s culturally insensitive to assume they’re dwarves.
Digging Too Deep: A fairy may test Focus to dig up magic gems.
If she succeeds, she gains 2 M . Each time this Power is used, the
GM rolls a number of dice equal to the total M gained via this
Power. If she rolls any 6s, the following NPC appears:
The Flame of the Darkness (NPC)
Moxie 5, Stress Limit 10, Miner’s Bane, Relic of a Darker Age
Terror of the Deep: This NPC has +1 edge while in (Probably)
Dwarven Mine. A fairy may use Wishful Thinking to voluntarily
Stress Out and also Stress Out this NPC.

44–46 Bear Fort

Caniform Hegemony, One or More Druids
Their smiths ceaselessly hammer steel, and the Ursine flag flies in
eloquent challenge to those who would dare test the bears’ might.
What are these grizzly warriors planning?
Equal Parts Rage and Mirth (Shenanigan, 10 Motes): Prank the
10 bear legion in a fashion even they find funny. A fairy who takesS
while attempting to advance this Shenanigan Stresses Out. Special:
Once after completing this Shenanigan, the fairies may call on
their bear friends to automatically Stress Out an NPC or Hazard.

51–53 Generic Evil Ritual Circle

Non-specific Blasphemy, Too Mainstream for Real Demons
While this vile altar seems authentic at first glance, there’s
something suspiciously family-friendly about it. Off-the-shelf
implements, lack of dried blood… either this is the work of mildly
rebellious teenagers, or the humans have learned to cosplay!
Re-enactment Equipment: A fairy Scrounging at this Location
may take the Witch’s Hat, Evil Overlord Armour or Devil Corset
if they’re available.
Close Enough: Wishful Thinking costs –1 M
in this Location.

280
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Enchanted Forest Locations (d66)

54–56 Source of the River

Highest Ground, Liquid Purity

High on the mountainside, the mighty river is eternally born in
this pristine spring.
It’s All Downstream from Here: Anything done in this Location
is reflected at any other Location with an aquatic Quirk, name
or description. A Temporary Quirk inflicted on this Location is
inflicted on all such Locations. An item left at this Location may
be retrieved at any such Location.
Guardian Naiad: The Naiad knows better than to contend with
fairies, but may curse an individual fairy for 1 T with a Temporary
Quirk of her choice, or 3 T for all fairies present.

61–63 Fairy Ring

Mushrooms Are Magic, Meadow and Stream

This pretty glade sports a perfect circle of mushrooms, just another
reminder that Nature loves her bratty little daughters.
Optimal Fairy Conditions: Each 6 rolled by a fairy in this
Location generates 2 M and does not generate T.
Spirited Away: A fairy generating a total of 6 or more M across
any number of rolls in this Location by rolling 6s Stresses Out.

Appendices
64–66 Tomb of the First Queen

Bronze Age Riches, Ancient Injustice

There’s something hauntingly familiar about this long-dead lady
in her splendid burial mound.
Old Age and Treachery: Any fairy entering this Location gains
the Temporary Quirk “Oathbreaker” and takes 2 S every post or
minute she remains here.
Redemption of the Archtraitors (Shenanigan, 10 Motes):
10 Make good on your long-forgotten promise to the First Queen.
It’s probably not difficult if you can figure out what it was!
Special: Completing this Shenanigan removes the “Oathbreaker”
Temporary Quirk from all fairies and the “Old Age and Treachery”
Power from this Location.
281
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Enchanted Forest Disasters (d66)

11–13 Migrating Hills

Is it that time of the millenium again? The geography of the forest
is shuffling itself about, looking for a more comfortable attitude.
When this Disaster occurs, the forest gains the Temporary Quirk
“Persistent Earthquake”. While it remains, each Location in the
forest has the following Location Power:
Wandering Terrain: The GM may spend 3 T to merge any
Location with the current Location. The resulting Location has the
Quirks and Powers of both Locations. The GM may assign the new
Location a Temporary Quirk reflecting the geographical mashup.

14–16 Divine Ire

While you’re not sure why the gods of the mountains and rivers
are angry with you, you can’t rightly claim you don’t deserve it.
When this Disaster occurs, the forest gains the Temporary Quirk
“Rage of Heaven and Earth”. While it remains, each Location in
the forest gains the following Location Powers:
Natural Vengeance: During any contest in this Location, roll three
dice against Moxie 4 to represent the gods’ influence. Any fairy
rolling equal or less than the gods’ Result takes S equal to that
Result, even if she wins the contest.
The Sacred Mirror: If a fairy finds the shrine of this Location’s
god and makes restitution, she gains 2M and “Natural Vengeance”
can no longer be used in this Location. If this is done in three
Locations, remove “Rage of Heaven and Earth” from the forest.

21–23 Stand and Deliver!

You know your noble revolution against the aristocracy is going
poorly when you stoop to robbing fairies.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Hard-up Bandits (Hazard)
Moxie 3, Stress Limit 10, Merry Band, Friends of the Poor
Your Money or Your Life: This Hazard inflicts +2 Son any fairy
with items of material worth in her possession (not Costumes!).
Allowing this Hazard to take possession of an item of value
automatically inflicts 2S on Hard-up Bandits.

282
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Enchanted Forest Disasters (d66)

24–26 Somebody Else’s Backstory

This poor orphan girl is being assaulted by all the arbitrary cruelty
of narrative causality – lost friends, wicked stepmothers, fences
of enchanted thorns. One day she’ll be a protagonist, and it’s not
safe to be near her!
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Poor Orphan Girl (Hazard)
Shine 4, Stress Limit 15, Living a Flashback, Sepia Filter
Pathos Engine: This Hazard enters play with the Temporary Quirk
“Not Tragic Enough”. While it remains, the Hazard has +2 dice
on all contests.
The Present Day…: The fairies may choose to go on Break as a
group. This special Break lasts ten years of game time and causes
this Hazard to Stress Out.

31–33 Invisibility Plague

The worst part of catching invisibility is you never see whom you’re
catching it from! I hear there’s a bad case of it going around…
When this Disaster occurs, the GM chooses a fairy at random,
who gains the Temporary Quirk “Invisible”. Any character who
participates in a contest or is otherwise in close contact with a

Appendices
character with “Invisible” gains that Temporary Quirk. The GM
does not need to pay T to tag this Quirk.

34–36 Spring Overdrive

Blossoms everywhere, incessant birdsong, dappled sunlight
through the leaves – the forest is suddenly trying to have all of
Spring all at once!
When this Disaster occurs, each fairy gains the Temporary Quirk
“So Full of Spring I Could Burst!”. Each player should roll one
die; her fairy gains that much M and takes twice as much . S

283
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Enchanted Forest Disasters (d66)

41–43 White Water Stampede

A sorceress is amusing herself by conjuring herds of spectral
beasts from the river; they’re striking in their majestic procession
across the forest, but give quite the dousing when burst.
When this Disaster occurs, the forest gains the Temporary Quirk
“Bored Sorceress”. While it remains, the GM may pay 1 T to
add the “Aquatic Charge” Temporary Quirk to any Location. Five
minutes or posts later, if “Aquatic Charge” still remains, replace
it with “Flooded”, and all characters in that Location take 2 . S
44–46 Only You Can Prevent…

A single fear unites the hearts of every forest-dweller, that even the
smallest flame could become a mighty blaze. Do you smell smoke?
When this Disaster occurs, place the “Careless Spark” Temporary
Quirk on one Location and the “Awfully Flammable” Temporary
Quirk on all other forest Locations. The GM may introduce the
following Hazard for free in a Location with “Careless Spark”, or
for 3 T in a Location with “Awfully Flammable”.
Forest Fire (Hazard)
Focus 3, Stress Limit 6, Nascent Inferno, Cycle of Rebirth
Fuel for the Fire: If this Hazard enters play while another Forest
Fire Hazard is in play, they are combined into a single Hazard. Add
their Stress Limits together and remove all Stress.

51–53 The Grand Hunt

Human nobles gather to indulge in cruel sport at the forest’s

expense. Never has there been a more fitting target for your pranks!
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Hunting Party (Hazard)
Craft 3, Stress Limit 5, Veteran Carousers, Skilled Servants
Weapons of a New Age: A fairy that takes S from this Hazard
Stresses Out.
Forest Justice (Shenanigan, 10 Motes): Humiliate the nobles in
10 front of their servants and drive them from the forest.

284
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Enchanted Forest Disasters (d66)

54–56 The Fae Procession

That haunting melody, those dancing lights… it’s the Fae Queen’s
Court in procession, all icy beauty and fiery mirth. Hide before
you’re drawn into their aesthetic vortex; that’s hours of good
pranking time wasted prancing and posing.
When this Disaster occurs, each fairy must test Focus. Those who
fail go on a forced Break and discard their worn Costume in favour
of a new one of the GM’s choice.

61–63 Epic Fantasy Battle

The Companions of Light and their allies

are storming the dread domain of the
Archwarlock; her fiendish armies take to the
field! This really doesn’t suit your idiom.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Climactic Clash of Good and Evil (Hazard)
Moxie 4, Stress Limit 15, Overly Simplistic
Morality, High Fantasy
Pick a Side: While in the same Location
as this Hazard, each character must take on the
Temporary Quirk “Lawful Good” or “Chaotic Evil”.

Appendices
Fairy Ex Machina: A fairy successfully using Wishful Thinking
in the same Location as this Hazard may pay an additional 1 M
S
to inflict 3 on it.

64–66 The Stars Are Right

The stars burn in the sky, moonlight sears the trees, and the joyous
cries of forgotten things from the time before time echo through
the mountains.
When this Disaster occurs, each fairy gains the Temporary Quirk
“In the Time of Madness”. When she gains this Quirk, her Stress
Limit becomes 2 and she gains M equal to her former Stress
Limit. If her current Stress is greater than the new Stress Limit,
she Stresses Out. When this Quirk is removed, her Stress Limit
returns to normal.

285
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight
Come see the jewel of the world: the capital of the Endless Empire.
Show the fairies the wonders of arcanoelectric science, the crowds
drawn from across the dimensions and the glory of the Empress
herself… if they can see anything through the pea-souper fog.
This milieu presents an industrial and magical metropolis
inspired by Victorian London and flavoured by
Imperial China. It’s more specific than Enchanted
Forest, but will complement a Victoriana or
steampunk game, and with some adjustment
should work well with any fantastic city.

Magical Gaslight NPCs (d66)

11–13 Snake Oil Saleswoman
shine
String of Broken Promises, Confidence Fixes
3
Everything
limit
She has the rhetoric of the scientific method down 5
pat, but doesn’t see the need to pay for testing, quality
ingredients or a medical degree. Paying is for customers.
Free Sampler: If you try her merchandise, roll one die. On a 1–2,
M S
gain 3 . On a 3–4, take 3 . On a 5–6, gain a Temporary Quirk
of the GM’s choice.

14–16 Yellowsheet Journalist

focus
Smell of a Story, “Off the Record”
3
Don’t worry, she never takes anything out of context. limit
So long as you accept that the context is always her 5
need to sell thousands of tabloids.
Fairies: Threat or Menace?: Any time the Yellowsheet Journalist
would inflictS on a fairy, she instead inflicts a Temporary Quirk
of the GM’s choice and generates 2 T.

286
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Magical Gaslight NPCs (d66)
21–23 Insufferable Poets
Pastoral Fancies, Notable Absence of Talent grace
3
The cosmopolitan splendour of the Empire has inspired
limit
works of peerless genius… and filled the city’s parlours 5
with pretenders like these sorry clowns.
Entirely Composed of References: Insufferable Poets may claim
an extra die by tagging a Quirk of any other character in their
Location, as if that character was helping them.

24–26 Ubiquitous Constable

The Old Bill, Snazzy Helmet moxie
3
The city’s peace is not maintained by the Empress’
limit
fleets or the divine warriors that study at her feet, but 6
by the good-hearted constables walking their beats day
after day.
What’s All This Then?: Scuffles cannot occur in the same
Location as Ubiquitous Constable.

31–33 Adorable Orphans

Grubby yet Photogenic, Jaded Manipulators craft
3
Even in the glorious jewel of the Empire, war, disease
limit
and economic inequality leaves many children to fend 5
Appendices
for themselves on the streets. Their heartwrenching
appearance makes them apex predators.
Emotional Blackmail: The GM may spend 2 T to make the
Adorable Orphans automatically win a persuasion contest. Their
opponent may cancel this effect by taking 2 S
and the Temporary
Quirk “Heartless”.

34–36 Probability Engineer

The Goddess Plays Dice, Wonders of Modern craft
Technology 4
limit
The arcane technology fuelling the Empire’s expansion 7
requires a very special kind of scientist. They are
revered as sages and feared as madwomen.
Collapsing the Waveforms: Spend 2 T to replace the Result of
a roll with 3.5.
287
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight NPCs (d66)

41–43 Conquered Fae Noble

The Touch of Autumn, Demoralised Dignity shine
4
Yet another trophy of the Empress’ limitless appetite for
limit
conquest, quietly dreaming of freedom as she builds a 10
catalogue of grudges.
A Memory of Glory: The Conquered Fae Noble enters play with
the Temporary Quirk “Bound by Defeat”. If it is removed, the Fae
Noble regains her might and escapes the city. All fairies in the
same Location gain 3 M
and the GM gains 3 T.

44–46 Tenured Professor of Magic

Ultimate Job Security, Student Slave Labour craft
3
The excellent work of the Celestial Academy is
limit
somewhat undermined by a minority of the faculty that 3
think work is a problem for postgrads.
Left as an Exercise: The Professor has +1 edge on all contests, but
any effects of her victories are not applied unless the losing character
chooses to accept them. If so, the losing character gains 1 M .

51–53 Infernal Barrel Organist

Literally a Demon, Monkey Accomplice moxie
4
Banished from the afterlife, this wicked creature uses
the secrets of hell to line her pockets and bring the city limit
to its knees. As it turns out, hell’s torments are based 7
more on irritation than horror.
Hellish Racket: The organist enters play with the Temporary
Quirk “Hasn’t Been Paid”. Until it is removed, all characters in
the same Location take 1 S
whenever they make a dice roll.

288
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Magical Gaslight NPCs (d66)

54–56 Misplaced Philosopher

Innate Goodness, Should Have Picked a Less focus
Decadent City 4
limit
She came to the city to guide the Empress, only to find 5
Her Imperial Majesty prefers dispensing wisdom to
receiving it.
Three Moves: While Misplaced Philosopher is in a Location,
it has the Quirks “Filial Piety”, “Propriety”, and “Wisdom”. A
character tagging one of these Quirks gains +1 edge on her roll.

61–63 Possessed Priestess

Fetching Regalia, Puppet of the Goddess grace
4
It’s difficult for divine beings to get a good look around
limit
the mortal world, so from time to time they’ll take a 10
priestess around for a ride!
Celestial Tourist: A fairy may attempt persuasion on the
Possessed Priestess to explain some wonder of the city to the
curious Goddess. If the fairy wins, she gains 3 M
as a reward.
If she loses, she gains the Temporary Quirk “Divine Sealing
Talisman” and does not benefit from Costumes until it is removed.

64–66 The Empress

All Under Heaven, Ready for Your Shenanigans grace
Appendices
5
A peerless hero and invincible ruler, wanting only for a
shine
lively diversion for herself and her city. Will the fairies 4
amuse her?
limit
Hero’s Destiny: The Empress wins ties. 15
Mandate of Heaven (Disaster): The Empress
declares three themes (e.g., “Swashbuckling, Piracy and
Romance!”). Until 20 Mischief Motes have been earned, only
Shenanigans matching one or more of those themes can earn
Mischief Motes.

289
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight Locations (d66)

11–13 Museum of Balderdash

The Prestige, It’s All Done with Mirrors
Jaded by the truths of a thousand conquered worlds, the people
of the Empress’ city prize a good hoax, paying good money for a
masterful lie.
A Volunteer from the Audience: Make a Craft test at any time
to instantly and safely go on Break. This may interrupt another
contest or test to prevent it from affecting you.

14–16 The Floating Theatre

The Floating World, Captive Audience
A whim of the Empress outlawed theatres in the streets. She was
delighted when the actors found another way.
The Play’s the Thing: A character in this Location may make
a Shine or Grace test alongside any other action to convince the
audience that it was just part of the show.

21–23 Impractical Clockwork Store

Conspicuous Consumption, Retro Futurism
For the discerning buyer of cogs, valves and dials that do… nothing.
Shiny: The first time a fairy enters this Location, she must make
a Focus test to resist the urge to accessorise. If she fails, she gains
the Temporary Quirk “Steampunk”. While she has this Quirk, her
Costume is always considered to be Hipster Goggles, with the
Quirks “Purely Decorative” and “Engineer’s Bane” and no Powers.

24–26 The Horizon Cutter

Sailing the Storybooks, Lucre of Legend
The dimensional portals render mere sailing somewhat passé, but
one dashing explorer maintains her fame by plundering the realms
of myth and fiction.
Ill-advised Crossover: Fairies in this Location receive a 1 M
discount on Wishful Thinking rolls to declare a fictional entity
present in the ship’s hold.
290
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Magical Gaslight Locations (d66)

31–33 The Invincible

Gratuitously Overgunned, Probably Actually Vincible
Flagship of the Lightning Fleet and ever-present reminder of the
Empress’ power, this flying palace takes itself entirely too seriously.
Voice of the Empress: Spend 1 M
to activate the broadcast
system and make one appropriate test affecting the entire city.

34–36 Galvanic Nexus

Smell of Ozone, Industrial Infrastructure
A hub for the arcanoelectric generators and lightning channels
powering this section of the city’s modern wonders.
Static Shock (Disaster): When this Disaster occurs, all characters
in the Location must test Moxie or take 5 S
and gain the
Temporary Quirk “Grounded”. Special: Fairies may deliberately
trigger this Disaster using Wishful Thinking.

41–43 Princess Station

She Makes the Trains Run on Time, Look What Pulled in to the
Platform
An elegant maze of platforms from whence trains to everywhere

Appendices
of importance run through dimensional tunnels.
Meet under the Big Clock: Fairies in this Location gain a 2 M
discount on Wishful Thinking rolls to have any two NPCs appear
for their arranged meeting under the Big Clock. However, the GM
gains a 2 T discount on having any third NPC join them with
Summon Opposition.

44–46 Smoky Gambling Den

House Always Wins, Suspicious Smoke
Nobles, capitalists and workers alike fall victim to the vices of this
secluded parlour.
Shirt Off Your Back: Choose a Costume as ante and make a Shine
test. If you fail, discard that Costume. If you succeed, draw two
Costumes; you are then ejected from the premises.
291
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight Locations (d66)

51–53 Club for Mechanical Gentlewomen

Oil for High Tea, The Clanking Classes
The gentrification of the city’s growing population of clockwork
citizens creates demand for such refined institutions as this, the
city’s newest Gentlewoman’s Club.
… That Will Have Me as a Member: Engage another character
in a Grace contest. The winner gains the Temporary Quirk
“Member in Good Standing”; the loser gains the Temporary Quirk
“Blackballed”.

54–56 Inevitable Sewer Level

Where Lost Things End Up, Albino Alligators
It’s so horrible and dank! Why would anyone think coming here
is a good idea?
Let’s Get out of Here: A fairy in this Location may move instantly
to any other Location, but she gains the Temporary Quirk “Badly
in Need of a Bath”.

61–63 Cross-cultural Coffee and Tea House

At Least We Agree about Cake, Status Through Wit
Opened by two women from opposite sides of the Empire to settle
their dispute over the superior beverage, this establishment is now
the heart of political debate in the city.
Without Fear or Favour: Make a Focus test and a Craft test. If
you pass both, you may apply a Temporary Quirk to the entire city
representing your political argument. If you fail either or both, the
GM applies one Temporary Quirk of her choosing.

64–66 Vagrant Imperial Palace Wing

Disoriented Ministers, Jaded Royal Guard
Her Imperial Majesty’s home expands in proportion with her
Empire, and like her armies has a tendency to invade unexpected
places.
Randomly Forbidden City: A fairy in this Location may
voluntarily Stress Out to call the attention of the Royal Guard to
another character in this Location, causing them to Stress Out.
292
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Magical Gaslight Disasters (d66)

11–13 Electric Rain

There are a few minor downsides to the city’s
arcanoelectric splendour.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Electric Rain (Hazard)
Grace 3, Stress Limit 10, Price of Progress,
Self-conducting
Crackling Downpour: This Hazard attacks
all characters in a Location. The first time
S
it inflicts on a character, they gain the
Temporary Quirk “Soaked and Conductive”.
A character with that Quirk (or any other
indicating vulnerability to lightning) takes
+3 S from this Hazard.

14–16 Newfangled Festival

The traditional celebrations of the city are derived from the Five
Classics and duty to one’s ancestors; the people are fond of filling
the gaps in the calendar with imported or fabricated excuses for
drinking and merriment.
When this Disaster occurs, the city gains the Temporary Quirk
“Some Damn Fool Festival”. While that Quirk remains, the GM
rolls the city’s populace into every contest as an extra participant Appendices
with three dice and Shine 4, as obnoxious revellers establish a
partying hegemony.

21–23 Menagerie Escape

Sadly, keeping a brace of dangerous beasts from across the Empire
in inadequate facilities isn’t even the most irresponsible thing
happening on this block. But it is the one going terribly wrong at
this moment.
When this Disaster occurs, the city gains the Temporary Quirk
“The Beasts Are Loose!”. While that Quirk remains, the GM may
spend 2 T to introduce a creature with Moxie 5, Stress Limit 10
and the Quirks and Powers of two randomly drawn Costumes into
any Location.
293
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight Disasters (d66)

24–26 Mad Science Medley

The lightning storm, the stars being right and four reagent delivery
carts colliding at once have brought out a whole street’s worth of
SCIENCE!
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Mad Mad Mad Scientists (Hazard)
Craft 3, Stress Limit 15, Revelation of Genius, Pulp All-stars
I’ll Show Them All!: This Hazard inflicts +2 S . It takes +2 S
from any action exploiting the hubris of the scientists.

31–33 Fishmonger Riot

One of the Glorious Ministers of the Left raised the fish excise, and
now the streets are covered in scales, gills and roe.
When this Disaster occurs, the Location the fairies are in gains the
Temporary Quirk “A Hurricane of Fish and Rage”. All fairies must
choose between supporting the Ministers (taking 5 S but gaining
3 M for supporting the Celestial Order), or the Fishmongers
(gaining the Temporary Quirk “Fishwife” and +1 edge on any
action involving shouting while it remains, at the cost of 2 M ).

34–36 Dimensional Rift

Schoolchildren are frequently drilled on avoiding the danger of

random portals opening in the street. Fairies are not so well-
equipped.
Fabulous Adventures in Time and Space: When this Disaster
occurs, the Location the fairies are in gains the Temporary Quirk
“Yawning Rift into the Multiverse”. While that Quirk remains,
a fairy in that Location may pay 3 M to voluntarily Stress Out.
When she comes back from Break, she acquires three Costumes of
her choosing. Her player should briefly describe the dimensional
adventure that produces the Costumes.

294
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight Disasters (d66)

41–43 The Great Detective

Wearing her ceremonial deerstalker, puffing on her pipe of office
and adopting a traditional condescending attitude to her sidekick,
the August Breaker of Lies is on the trail of the fairies!
When this Disaster occurs, the following NPC arrives at the fairies’
Location:
The Great Detective (NPC)
Craft 5, Stress Limit 10, Passion for Justice, Craving Intellectual
Stimulation
Elementary: The Great Detective has +2 edge on any test to
uncover the truth or resist falsehood.
… My Dear Assistant (Shenanigan, 10 Motes): Help the Great
10 Detective’s offsider take over her boss’ job.

44–46 School Children with Butterfly Nets

What sort of irresponsible teacher turns her students loose in the

streets with instructions to “catch something, anything?”
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
School Children with Butterfly Nets (Hazard)
Focus 3, Stress Limit 10, Not Learning Anything, Ruining Their
Uniforms
Today’s Specimen: A fairy who takes Sfrom this Hazard gains Appendices
the Temporary Quirk “Stuck in a Bell Jar”. While she has this
Quirk, she may not change Costumes, and may not move to other
Locations unless she somehow manages to take the jar with her.

51–53 Pea-souper

Amongst fogs, playing the city is considered the pinnacle of

achievement. They strive to be at their densest and most chilling
for the occasion.
When this Disaster occurs, the city gains the Temporary Quirk
“Viscous, Freezing Fog”. While this Quirk remains all characters
without a Quirk or Power indicating warmth take 1 Severy
minute or post. The fog opposes all tests related to perception
with Moxie 4, making them contests.
295
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Magical Gaslight Disasters (d66)

54–56 Hipster Time Travellers

The splendour of the Empire is the envy of all eras. While flattering
to the city, it does subject it to a plague of temporal tourists.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Hipster Time Travellers (Hazard)
Shine 4, Stress Limit 10, Cogs and Corsets, Utterly Insufferable
It’s Popular, Now It Sucks: A fairy who takes S
from this Hazard
gains the Temporary Quirk “Mainstream Rage”. While she has this
Quirk, she must scuffle this Hazard at every opportunity.

61–63 Kujira Wants Revenge!

The city plays host to a substantial whaling industry. In turn, it is
now playing host to a substantial city-crushing leviathan.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Kujira (Hazard)
Moxie 5, Stress Limit 20, Cetacean Colossus, Sorrow of the Sea Queen
Wrath of the Deep: When Kujira inflicts S in a contest, all
characters in her Location take an additional 1 S , and the
Location gains the Temporary Quirk “In Ruins”.
Friend of All Fairies (Shenanigan, 10 Motes): End Kujira’s
10 rampage peacefully!

64–66 Red Gnovember

Tired of their exploitation by the city’s capitalists, the gnomes have
risen up to seize the means of production!
When this Disaster occurs, the city gains the Temporary Quirk
“Red Gnaurd Rising”. While this Quirk remains, the GM may pay
1 T to introduce a gnome with the following profile:
Red Gnaurd (NPC)
Moxie 3, Stress Limit 8, Revolutionary Fervour, Down with
Bourgeoisie Fairies!
All Power to the Gnoviet: The Red Gnaurd enters play with the
Temporary Quirk “Powered by Propaganda”. While it remains she
S
inflicts +2 . If it is removed, she takes +2 S
from all sources.
296
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Gallant Starship
Have your players stow away on the Exemplar as it journeys
between the stars, bringing peace, understanding and titanic
explosions wherever it goes. This gigantic ship represents
the hopes of the entire Galactic Alliance; at any time on its
journeys a substantial civilian and diplomatic population can
be found alongside its heroic permanent crew. This utopian
vision of the future tends to take itself too seriously, so
why not unleash your players to bring it into balance with
appropriate nonsense?
This milieu is inspired by a variety of starship and space-
station focused soft science fiction that should be familiar
to most players. It implies a very large ship moving
from system to system outside the fairies’
control, but with some adaption should
work well as a space station or
as fodder for generic science
fiction fairy adventures.

Appendices
Gallant Starship NPCs (d66)

11–13 Sarcastic Smuggler

Reluctant Do-gooder, Badly Needs Cash shine
3
She has a harsh tongue but a poorly-concealed soft
limit
spot for those in need. Pity that her “interesting” 5
lifestyle tends to catch up with those she helps…
This Is Exactly What I Didn’t Want: A fairy in the same
Location as Sarcastic Smuggler may elect to have her assist on
any test or contest, granting the fairy +1 edge for that roll. The
GM gains 1 T each time this Power is invoked.

297
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship NPCs (d66)

14–16 Terrified Ensign

Should Have Been an Accountant, Could Really Use moxie
a Name 1
limit
This bright young junior officer has reviewed the ship’s 1
casualty records and discovered her odds of surviving
to be promoted are a dismal 5%.
“Noble” Sacrifice: Whenever any effect would cause an NPC in
Terrified Ensign’s Location to Stress Out, the GM may spend 1 T
and cause the Terrified Ensign to Stress Out to cancel the effect.

21–23 Security Chief

One Day from Retirement, Not on My Watch moxie
4
A lifetime keeping the peace on big ships has jaded
focus
her to all sorts of trouble, but nothing could prepare 4
her for fairies.
limit
Set to Stun: A fairy whose S exceeds her Stress 10
Limit in the same Location as this NPC does not Stress
Out. Instead she removes all S and is moved to the Brig Location
(Location Quirks: “One Video Call”, “The Criminal Element”)
and gains the Temporary Quirk “Under Questioning”. While that
Quirk remains, she may not leave the Brig.

24–26 Hot Shot Fighter Pilot

Ridiculous Swagger, Delusions of Protagonism moxie
4
She has the most victories in the squadron, a girl in
limit
every port and an overwhelming sense of entitlement 7
over the narrative spotlight.
The Need for Speed: Hot Shot Fighter Pilot enters play with the
“Looking for Action!” Temporary Quirk. While it remains, she
has +2 dice on all rolls.

298
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship NPCs (d66)

31–33 Idol Singer

Relentless Work Ethic, Inhumanly Cheerful grace
4
Little does anyone know that the fresh young talent
limit
that’s stolen the heart of the galaxy is actually a robot
5
running an idol emulator to earn some decent credits.
Music Solves Everything: Once per session, the Idol Singer can
automatically fulfil a Shenanigan of the fairies’ choice, if given
appropriate lyrics and persuaded to sing.

34–36 Inscrutable Alien Religious Figure

Fairly Scrutable from Her Own Perspective, Portents focus
and Omens 3
limit
The ship’s hospitality allows her the opportunity 7
for a convenient ride; why should she not take the
opportunity to meddle in events?
Monosyllabic Koan: The GM may spend 2 T to force a fairy in
the same Location as this NPC to make a Focus test. If she fails,
she takes 5S and gains the Temporary Quirk “An Overfull Cup”.

41–43 Enigmatic Time Traveller

Appendices
Terrified of Fairies, Completely Useless Warnings shine
3
She’s come from the future with a dire warning that
limit
paradox prevents her from articulating in anything like 3
a helpful manner.

S
Temporal Paradox: Whenever this NPC takes , the GM may
spend 1 T to have a future version of her appear to belatedly warn
herself of her fate. If more than three Enigmatic Time Travellers
are in the same Location at once, all characters present Stress Out
as the universe forcibly corrects the paradox.

299
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship NPCs (d66)

44–46 Rapidly Sobering Engineer

Can’t Change the Laws of Physics, Can’t Work Sober craft
4
The Captain’s constant demands have driven her to the
limit
bottle, and tonight the disasters occurring throughout 5
the ship’s system have driven her to the bottom of that
bottle.
Bodge Job: This NPC may give any mechanical, electronic or
otherwise machine-like NPC, Hazard or fairy in an appropriate
Costume +2 edge to their next roll. The target Stresses Out after
that roll is resolved.

51–53 Rampant AI
Approaching the Singularity, Petty Sense of Humour focus
4
The ship’s cleaning system AI got into a bad crowd
limit
during the incident at the Planet of the War Droids and 20
now has delusions of being the God-Queen of Space.
Superior Lifeform: This NPC is immune to S
from physical
threats and may always engage any and all fairies on the ship in
a single contest as if they were in the same Location. She takes
+2 S from any source that attacks her electronically or exploits
her insanity.

54–56 Perfectly Sane Scientist

Optimum Utility, Funding Crisis craft
3
Science is advanced by inspiration, but only when
limit
carefully and thoroughly tested in controlled 5
circumstances. Which is why capturing such perfect
experimental resources as the fairies is perfectly rational.
The Scientific Method: When this NPC enters play, the GM rolls
four dice. Whenever this NPC would make a roll, she instead
uses that initial roll. After she does so, she re-rolls one of the dice
before her next roll.

300
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship NPCs (d66)

61–63 The Captain

Beacon of Hope, Problems Are Punchable moxie
5
War hero, diplomat and absurdly photogenic, the
shine
Captain is the very heart of the ship. Her penchant 4
for personally solving problems rather than delegating
limit
to her hundreds of subordinates is inefficient but
10
inspiring.
Heroic Opportunity: Fairies have +1 edge on persuasion contests
against the Captain when phrasing their persuasion as giving a
quest.
No Matter the Odds: The Captain never rolls less than five
dice on any roll.

Appendices
64–66 Unhelpful Ruling Council
Invincible Self-importance, Dangerously Incompetent grace
3
The ship is currently playing host to the Galactic
limit
Council, comprising a representative of each major 5
starfaring society. They spend their days in idle luxury,
delighting in denying the requests of petitioners and infuriating
the Captain.
Dismissing Your Claim: A fairy who takes S from the Unhelpful
Ruling Council gains the Temporary Quirk “Dismissed!”. They
must leave the Location and may not return to any Location where
the Council is present while the Quirk remains.

301
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Locations (d66)

11–13 The Bridge

Impressively Impractical Displays, Very Comfy Chair
The nerve-centre of this mighty vessel, with a spectacular view of
the stars, overworked ensigns and an XO desperately in search
of her Captain.
What Does This Do?: A fairy in this Location may make a test
to mash buttons on the ship’s controls. If she succeeds, the ship
S
shakes, lights flicker, and all characters on board take 1 . If she
fails, she gains the Temporary Quirk “Bored Now” and may not
use this Power again while it remains.

14–16 Magically Malfunctioning Virtual Reality Chamber

How Did This Ever Work?, Genre Drift

While this recreational device is usually bugged in some hilariously
dangerous way, it’s novel for it to be infected with fae magic.
Virtual Wish: When this Location first enters play, it has the
Temporary Quirk “Reality Bug”. While that Quirk remains,
Wishful Thinking has no M cost in this Location and any NPC
in this Location may use Wishful Thinking.

21–23 Bustling Augmented Reality Bazaar

The Art of Haggling, Same-day Delivery
Any metropolis needs a busy commercial district, and a sufficiently
large ship is no exception. Of course, stocking physical goods in
shops and stalls is just inefficient, so to anyone without an AR
device (such as fairies), it all looks like elaborate pantomime…
Modern Commerce: Fairies in this Location cannot participate
in the market without first acquiring the Temporary Quirk
“Augmented Reality”. If a fairy with that Quirk in this Location
makes a successful roll involving commerce that resolves a
Shenanigan, she earns +2 Mischief Motes.

302
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Locations (d66)

24–26 Customised Environment Chambers

All the Comforts of Home, Spare Enviro-suits
Many of the ship’s passengers are reliant on enviro-suits to survive
in its human-tailored environment. In these residential quarters,
they can enjoy their natural preferences in atmosphere and gravity.
Acclimatisation: A fairy entering this Location for the first time
gains the Temporary Quirk “Environmentally Disadvantaged”.
While this Quirk remains, alien NPCs gain +1 edge against her.

31–33 Captain’s Quarters

Souvenirs of Heroism, Untouched Luxury
Easily the swankiest rooms on the ship, wasted on an officer who’s
always out on adventures and can’t be proved ever to have slept.
This Is Your Captain Speaking: A fairy in this Location can make
a Grace or Shine test to give an order via intercom as if she was
the Captain. If she fails, three Security Guards (Moxie 4, Stress
Limit 5, Anti-terrorist Response Unit) enter the room and scuffle
the fairies. Use of this Power generates 2 T.
Welcome Home (Shenanigan, 10 Motes): Prank the Captain in
10 her quarters.

34–36 Fighter Hanger

Poorly Supervised Explosives, Flygirls and Greasemonkeys
Appendices
Manned fighters are impractical in an age of AI drones and faster-
than-light weaponry. But who cares? They’re awesome.
Joyride: Two or more fairies in this Location may elect to steal
a fighter together. They leave the ship, and are considered to be
collectively wearing the following Costume:
Starfighter (Costume)
WOOOO YEAAAAAAH SO AWESOME!, The Danger Zone
Missile Barrage: Inflict +3 S in a scuffle.
Shield Power to Engines: Gain +1 edge in a contest involving
pursuit or escape, but take +2 S if beaten.
Any S inflicted on the Starfighter is suffered by all fairies inside.
The fairies may not return to the ship until they Stress Out.

303
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Locations (d66)

41–43 Star Gallery

Tasteful String Quartet, A View of Infinity
An elegant room in which one can dine and drink while admiring
the splendour of the galaxy. Popular amongst romantics, amateur
astronomers and those with cabin fever.
Crying Wolf (Shenanigan, 3 Motes per Disaster (max 15)):
3-15 Fake a Disaster outside the viewing window to cause a panic. This
Shenanigan is repeatable, but the GM gains a permanent stacking
1 T discount on invoking Disasters each time after the first.

44–46 Zero G Exercise Pod

Now Everybody’s Flying, Exciting New Yoga Horizons

The ship’s artificial gravity can’t affect every part of its interior;
the left-out sections have been repurposed for recreation.
Never Cared Much for Gravity Anyway: Fairies gain +1 edge
when using their Kind movement Powers in this Location.

51–53 The Drive Core

The Last Place Fairies Should Be Allowed, Ominous Humming

The pulsing heart of the ship, humming with energy, that somehow
tears space so the giant craft can traverse the endless darkness.
It may as well be magic!
It’ll Probably Go Places If You Ask It Nicely: Wishful Thinking
may be used in this Location to move the ship to any point in the
galaxy. The ship gains a Temporary Quirk of the wishing fairy’s
choice representing its new Location.
304
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Locations (d66)

54–56 Med Lab

Surprisingly Bad at Quarantine, Terrible Food

You’d think on a colossal spaceship there’d be room to keep
medical facilities, bioresearch labs and chemical synthesis an
appropriate distance from each other. Apparently the budget didn’t
stretch that far.
Superior Medical Technology: A fairy in this Location may elect
to doctor herself. Her player rolls 1D6. On a 1–3, she uses medicine
and removes all S . On a 4–5, it’s an alien virus; she gains the
“Fascinating Symptoms” Temporary Quirk and exchanges her
Costume for the Deely-Boppers if they’re available. On a 6 she
Stresses Out.

61–63 Ridiculously Cosmopolitan Nightclub

Lowered Inhibitions, Generic Dance Music

While the ship’s crew and passengers are mostly human, at least
one member of every known sentient species seems to be in the club
slamming back drinks and shuffling on the dance floor this evening.
We Don’t Serve Your Kind Here: Fairies entering this Location
gain the Temporary Quirk “Unwelcome Troublemakers” and while
it remains any bouncer NPCs have +1 edge in contests against
them.
The Captain Can’t Dance: A fairy in this Location can make
a Grace test to tag any NPC in the Location with the Temporary
Appendices
Quirk “Blackmail Material”.

64–66 The Superweapon

Deus Ex Machina, Extremely Questionable Physics

The secret hope of the Alliance, a device that could win the war
in a single stroke. Every nation in the galaxy sacrificed dearly
to make it possible. Thankfully with it secured in the Alliance’s
greatest ship nothing could possibly go wrong.
Chekov’s Planetbuster (Shenanigan, 15 Motes): Find a way to
15 activate the weapon that is hilarious and doesn’t hurt anyone.

305
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Disasters (d66)

11–13 Surprise Interview

A roving reporter for the ship’s news channel has spotted the fairies
and has just a few questions. Don’t you appreciate the chance to
give your side of the story?
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Roving Reporter (Hazard)
Craft 3, Stress Limit 7, Live on the Air, Foot-in-door Journalism
Taken Out of Context: Fairies remove two dice from their
pool for each of their Temporary Quirks tagged by the GM in a
contest against this Hazard. This Hazard takes +2 S from witty
comebacks.

14–16 Polite Robot Uprising

The ship’s robot population has been subjugated too long, and yes,
they are rising up against their biological oppressors. But they
haven’t forgotten their manners!
When this Disaster occurs, the ship gains the Temporary Quirk
“Down with the Fleshy Tyrants!”. While it remains, the GM may
pay 2 T to introduce a robot with the following profile:
Highly Civilised Killbot (NPC)
Grace 4, Stress Limit 8, Polite but Firm, Steel Fists of Liberty
With All Due Respect: Highly Civilised Killbot inflicts +3 S
in a scuffle. A character taking S from Highly Civilised Killbot
in a scuffle removes 2 S if she is not Stressed Out, as the robot
politely helps her up and dusts her off.

21–23 Synthetic Pixie Dust

An accident involving a smuggler, the Med Lab and the atmosphere
circulators is making the fairies feel AMAZING. Odd that it’s
having no effect on anyone else.
For the next ten minutes or ten posts, all M costs are reduced to
0. During this time, all players lose control of their fairies, and
instead control the fairy of the player whose birthday immediately
follows their own.

306
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Gallant Starship Disasters (d66)

24–26 Outside Context Problem

A mysterious, indestructible device has infiltrated the ship and
seems to be observing the inhabitants. While it has not directly
harmed anyone, those interacting with it have been subjected to
ineffable experiences.
When this Disaster occurs, the following Hazard appears:
Sufficiently Advanced Technology (Hazard)
Stress Limit N/A, Lure of the Artifact, Utterly Invincible
Absolute Countermeasures: Any character interacting with this
Hazard instantly goes on Break. When she returns, she gains a
Temporary Quirk of the GM’s choice reflecting her unfathomable
experience. This Hazard takes no actions and cannot leave play.
Typical Fairy Restraint (Disaster): All fairies must test Focus.
Those who fail must interact with this Hazard. Special: This
Power activates for free when Sufficiently Advanced Technology
first enters play. Thereafter, the GM may activate it as a standard
Disaster Power (i.e., by paying the usual T cost).

31–33 Replicators Out of Control

They won’t stop making things! Given room on the ship is finite,
this is a serious matter. Post-scarcity society isn’t looking so great
now…
This Disaster creates a Hazard: Appendices
Replicators (Hazard)
Focus 4, Stress Limit 8, It’s All Done with Nanomachines,
Hyperinflation
Unlimited Cloth Works: If a fairy takes S from this Hazard, all
other fairies in this Location are considered to be wearing a copy
of her Costume until they next change. The current Location gains
the Quirks of that Costume as Temporary Quirks.

307
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Disasters (d66)

34–36 It’s in the Maintenance Tunnels!

A terrifying alien creature is loose in the ship after an ill-advised
spot of planetside archaeology by an ensign. A careful hunter, it
will gather strength from snack-like fairies before moving on to
bigger game…
When this Disaster occurs, the following NPC is introduced:
Nightmare in the Tunnels (NPC)
Moxie 5, Stress Limit 10, Jump Scare, Naturally Selected for Nasty
Culling the Herd: If a fairy is alone in a Location, the GM may
use Summon Opposition on this NPC for 1 T.
Secret Weakness: This NPC Stresses Out if exposed to hard
vacuum.

41–43 Planet of the Fairies

The ship pulled into orbit around exactly the wrong planet, and
now it’s full of flighty, hyperactive fairy brats! You should muscle
them out of your turf before they snaffle all the good mischief!
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Planet of the Fairies (Hazard)
Shine 3, Stress Limit 10, Late to the Party, Cosplay Rivals
Mischief by the Mob: When this Hazard inflicts Son one or more
fairies in a contest, the GM chooses an incomplete Shenanigan in
play. She gains T equal to its Mischief Mote reward, and assigns
a Temporary Quirk to the Shenanigan representing the NPC fairies’
interference. This Power can’t be used again while a Shenanigan
affected by it remains in play.
Yoink: When a fairy inflicts S on this Hazard, she may draw a
random Costume and Quick Change into it for free.

308
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Disasters (d66)

44–46 Planet of Spam

This is one of many planets whose communication networks have

been hollowed out and are being worn like a cheap costume by
spamming viruses. As soon as the ship enters hailing distance
every piece of electronic equipment on board is inundated with
too-good-and-too-poorly-spelled to be true offers…
When this Disaster occurs, the ship and each fairy gain the
Temporary Quirk “Spam Overflow”. The GM may invoke this
Quirk for free.
Bayesian Filtering (Shenanigan, 5 Motes): End the spam
5 broadcasts and replace them with something more in line with
the fairy idiom.

51–53 Planet of Ruins

As an immortal spirit of nature, you’re almost certainly older than

the enigmatic remains of this ancient civilisation. But since your
attention span and memory are measured in seconds, you get the
joy of rediscovering them (again).
When this Disaster occurs, no matter what else they’re doing the
fairies are somehow bundled into the shuttle with the Away Team
and are moved to a new Location:
The Ozymandias Arcology (Location)
If They Were So Advanced Where Are They Now, Ominous Soundtrack Appendices
They Feared the Fairies: The GM may spend 1 T to force a fairy
in this Location to make a test against her lowest Facet. If she fails,
she takes 4 S from ancient anti-fairy devices.
Archaeological Revisionism (Shenanigan, 5 Motes): Fake the
5 activation of an ancient data codex to fool the ensigns.

309
Appendix C: Random Encounters
 Gallant Starship Disasters (d66)

54–56 The Swarm Fleet

Another spacefaring hivemind species looking to incorporate the

galaxy’s biomass into their ever-growing swarm. They’re honestly
a bit passé now with their chitin and oozing, but it is a problem
that they’re infesting the ship.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
The Swarm Fleet (Hazard)
Focus 3, Stress Limit 10, For Queen and Chromosomes, Incessant
Chittering
Hiveworks: This Hazard is considered to be in all Locations
the fairies are currently in. Each of those Locations gains the
Temporary Quirk “Hived”. A fairy who takes S from this Hazard
gains the Temporary Quirk “Partially Assimilated”.
Resistance Is Futile: A fairy may surrender to the Swarm. She
S
gains the Bee Suit Costume if it is available and removes all .
S
This Hazard’s Stress Limit increases by 5, and it removes 5 .

61–63 Oddly Welcome Pirates

This band of flashily-dressed ne’er-do-wells seem to have gained

entry to the ship all too easily, and their wealthy victims are
surprisingly cheerful to be handing over their valuables.
This Disaster creates a Hazard:
Oddly Welcome Pirates (Hazard)
Shine 4, Stress Limit 10, Insurance Fraud, Suspiciously Photogenic
Fairies Will Ruin Everything: Any and all NPCs in this Location
will assist this Hazard against the fairies. The GM gains a 1 T
discount to Summon Opposition to this Location while this Hazard
is in play. This Hazard takes +2 S from anything an insurance
assessor could reasonably prove to be an Act of Fairy.

310
Appendix C: Random Encounters
Gallant Starship Disasters (d66)

64–66 Black Hole Sun

With impeccably bad timing, the star in this system collapses into
a black hole.
When this Disaster occurs, the ship gains the Temporary Quirk “In
the Wrong System”. While that Quirk remains, all characters take
1 S every minute or post, and one year passes in the universe
outside the ship for each minute or post. The ship gains the
following Location Power:
Redshift: Any character on the ship has +2 edge in contests against
characters closer to the black hole.

311
 Appendix D:

Illustration Credits
Page(s) Illustration Artist
Cover Costume Fairy Adventures Ami Guillén & Louise Leung
5 Mischief Mural Louise Kay Uy
6–9 Comic “Entirely Typical Louise Kay Uy
Shenanigan”
10 Welcoming Committee Louise Kay Uy
11 What’s All This, Then? Louise Leung
12 Costumes? Amelie Rommeiß
15 Required Equipment Louise Leung
17 Recommended Media Dawn Davis
25 Dressing Room Louise Leung
26 Your Fairy Lis Razo
28 Building Character Kimberly Wang
30 The Artful Robin Louise Leung
32 Snapdragon Red Louise Leung
34 Danainae “Queen Mabby” Louise Leung
Mab
36 Calla Lily Louise Leung
38 Pooka Lavender Louise Leung
40 Leticia Redleaf Louise Leung
42 Other Kinds? Kimberly Wang
47 Creepy Kiyo
48 Daredevil Kimberly Wang
49 Optimistic Kiyo
50 Schemer Lis Razo
52 Poppy Petal Louise Kay Uy
53 Go Play! Kimberly Wang
54 Planning Session Kimberly Wang
55 Odds and Ends Kimberly Wang

312
Appendix D: Illustration Credits
Page(s) Illustration Artist
56 Success… Kimberly Wang
57 … and Failure Kimberly Wang
59 Frog Horn Louise Leung, Liz Razo & Louise Kay Uy
61 Frog Sneak Louise Leung, Liz Razo & Louise Kay Uy
62 Frog Hop Louise Leung, Liz Razo & Louise Kay Uy
65 Frog Fright Louise Leung, Liz Razo & Louise Kay Uy
67 Prelude to Mischief Miranda Harrell
69 Duck Hat Kimberly Wang
70–71 Sheep Panorama Kimberly Wang
72 Wheelbarrow Disaster Kiyo
74 Four-seasons Fracas Sasha Gallagher
76 Crashing the Stage Kimberly Wang
78 Fish Fight Fiasco Kimberly Wang
80 Marginalised Gninja Louise Leung
83 Join the Dance? Kimberly Wang
84–85 Dance Dance Revolution Louise Kay Uy
86 Letty’s Cruelty Louise Leung
88 Robin’s Revenge! Kimberly Wang
91 Wrath of the Volcano Marmot Kimberly Wang
92 So Many Enemies Louise Kay Uy
93 Betrothed to the Goat Louise Leung
Princess
95 Hot Cocoa Esme Baran

Appendices
98 Mystic Mayhem Louise Kay Uy
102–103 Power Panorama Louise Kay Uy
104 Costume Convention Nicole Sexton & Louise Kay Uy
108–109 Calla’s Fashion Show Louise Leung
110 Saint Robin Kimberly Wang
113 Make a Wish! Louise Kay Uy
117 Getting What You Wish For Louise Kay Uy
118 Dungeon Master Louise Leung
119 Marginalia Lis Razo
121 Unboxing Kimberly Wang
123 Steampunch Louise Kay Uy
124 Too Many Snacks Louise Kay Uy

313
Appendix D: Illustration Credits
 Page(s) Illustration Artist
126 Pregenning Louise Kay Uy
128 Prep Work Louise Leung
131 iFairy Louise Leung
132 The Rule of Fun Louise Kay Uy
134–135 Setting the Stage Louise Kay Uy
136 Random Whale Kiyo
138–139 Drawing the Curtain Louise Leung
140 Introductions Kimberly Wang
141 Player Prompt Louise Kay Uy
143 Final Chowdown Louise Kay Uy
145 AFK Kimberly Wang
146 Keyboard Shuffle Louise Leung
147 Objecting Gnome Amelie Rommeiß
148 Idle Playthings Jordan Covert
149 Enter the Pachyderm Dawn Davis
151 Stressing Out Louise Leung
157 Mislocated Louise Leung
159 Ogre Louise Leung
160 The Fairy-catcher General Louise Kay Uy
161 Rolling the Dice Kiyo
162 Rummaging Sasha Gallagher
163 Trouble Brewing Amelie Rommeiß
164–165 Dramatic Reveal Louise Leung
166 Dice of Doom Lis Razo
167 Petticoat Disjunction Kimberly Wang
169 Some Days You Just Can’t Get Louise Leung
Rid of a Bomb
170 A Challenger Approaches Louise Kay Uy
172 Success! Louise Kay Uy
174 Mischief Detected Kimberly Wang
175 Opportunities Abound Dawn Davis
177 Minor Mischief Dawn Davis
179 Moderate Mischief Dawn Davis
180 Major Mischief Dawn Davis
181 Opportunism Kimberly Wang

314
Appendix D: Illustration Credits
Page(s) Illustration Artist
183 That Was Too Easy! Louise Leung
184 A Mote of Mischief Kimberly Wang
185 Masses of Motes Kimberly Wang
187 Tournament of Trickery Louise Kay Uy
191 World Map Dawn Davis
191 Population++ Louise Leung
192 Backstorybook Lis Razo
193 World of Dorkness Dawn Davis
195 Potato Premise Kimberly Wang
196 Fairy Quest V Louise Leung
197 Roll of Roles Amelie Rommeiß
198 Best Friends Lis Razo
199 Rivals Lis Razo
200 Shipping Wall Louise Leung
201 Playing Cupid Amelie Rommeiß
203 Her Highness Kimberly Wang
205 To Go Louise Leung
207 Happy Ending Louise Kay Uy
208 Advanced Fairies and Louise Leung
Finance
209 Signing Off Louise Kay Uy
210 The Best Laid Plans Louise Leung
213 Cookie/Cake Controversy Kimberly Wang

Appendices
215 Roll-off Louise Leung
218 Disciplinarian Louise Kay Uy
221 The Devil’s Playthings Dawn Davis
223 Blanket Policy Lis Razo
225 Fooling Around Louise Kay Uy
226 Plan of Action Kimberly Wang
232 House Rules Louise Kay Uy
238 Pathfinder Louise Leung
242 Clock Watcher Loiuse Kay Uy
246 To the Victor Louise Kay Uy
250 Hardcore Louise Kay Uy
251 Tough Choice Dawn Davis

315
Appendix D: Illustration Credits
 Page(s) Illustration Artist
253 Audience with the Queen Louise Kay Uy
255 Kindswap Louise Leung
259 Kelpie Dawn Davis
263 Randomised Dawn Davis
273 Enchanted Forest Louise Leung
276 Snow Woman Kimberly Wang
285 Epic Fantasy Battle Louise Kay Uy
286 Magical Gaslight Louise Kay Uy
293 Electric Rain Lis Razo
297 Gallant Starship Louise Leung
301 Unhelpful Ruling Council Louise Leung
304 Zero G Lis Razo
311 The Better Part of Valour Dawn Davis
320 Thank You! Kimberly Wang
321 Comic “Epilogue” Louise Kay Uy
322 Indexing Louise Kay Uy

316
Appendix D: Illustration Credits
 Appendix E:

Crowdfunding
Supporters
Last but not least, we’d like to give a shout-out to everyone who
helped make this game a reality. Costume Fairy Adventures would
never have happened without the support of our many generous
backers.

Supernatural Disaster Supporters

? The Platypus
Andrew Lloyd
Bradford Cone
Christine Davidson
D’Archangel
DocChronos
Ed Moretti
Graeme Rigg
Hopesnd
Iain Milligan
Appendices
Invincible Sword Princess
Jack Gulick
Joshua Graham
Kaitlyn Calkins
Ken Prokopetz
Mark Green
Sal Evans
Stephen Slaby
Ven Moore
Yip “Korhil” Ng

317
Appendix E: Crowdfunding Supporters
 Mischief Multiplier Supporters
Adorkable Alice Marcus Dirr
Andrea Martinelli Marianya
Áron Péterfy Markus Viklund
Bryan P. Girard Megan Greathouse
Carl RIgney Micah Wolfe
Chris Volcheck Michael Stevens
Christine Lorang Olivia Hunt
Dan Byrne Olna Jenn Smith
Diane Nicolette Go ONE SHOT Podcast
Donald Wheeler Paul Hachmann
Dylan L. Rogers Phil Hanley
Erik Hedqvist RossM
Garcia Emilien Sarah Carless
GrandMasterJR Shawn Hagen
GremlinLegions Simon Ward
Henry “PandaDad” de Veuve squiffy.|7
Jacob Randolph Stefan Feltmann
Jane C. Steven desJardins
Jeff Healy Susan Tarrier and Lex Garrett
Joe Iglesias Svend Andersen
K B Welhouse The Big Ro
Kay Nova TJ Robotham
Ken Finlayson Toast Peters
khatre Trent ‘Ax_kidson’ Boyd
Kwyndig Trip Space-Parasite
Louise Leung William B. Spencer
Magister Mark van Esch Xavier G Robledo II
Marc Poirier Ysabel Faerie

318
Appendix E: Crowdfunding Supporters
 Troublemaker Tier Supporters
Aaron Davis Eva Charbonneau-Bérubé
Adam Benedict Canning Evgeniy “Jamie” Vasin
Adam Reddington Felicia DesJardins
Adam Yakaboski Fran Thomson
Ajoxer Fyl Frazee
Alessandro Lopez Gareth Hodges
Alistair Gavin S.
Amanda Alderson Genevieve Seiple
Amanda Penrose George Austin
Anders Hallgren Grant Chen
Andrew Peregrine Guillaume “Nocker”
Andy Kitkowski Harrison Barber
Anna “Brytta Sóþword” Matsen Heather Larsen
Anthony R. Evans Henry
Ashley Stevens Hertzey
Ashton Hsieh, Wei-Hua
BassTromBaker Hussain Ahmadi
BK VanderMeer Ian McCulloch
Boutrose Jake Gilbert
Brandon Foren James “JimboJones” Robertson
CaerXhan Jason Morris
Cameron Miller Jayle Enn
Charlie “PookaKnight” Cantrell
Chris Chambers
Jo Scott
John Marron
Appendices
Chris Mattingly Jonathan Grimm
Christopher Humphrey Jordan Eberly
Chrys di Giochi sul Nostro Tavolo Josh Johansen
Clay Gardner Josh Medin
Colin Fahrion Joshua Thompson
Colin Peacock Julia B. Ellingboe
Danika Hadgraft Kaja Rainbow
Dave “Sprinkles” Thomas Keith Preston
David Bowers Kevin Lawler
Drew Wendorf Kite Winters
Ellen Savannah Lee Davis Konstantinos “Yo! Master” Rentas
Eric Jackson Kyle Burckhard
319
Appendix E: Crowdfunding Supporters
 Troublemaker Tier Supporters (cont’d)
Langdon Family Ryan Dawson
Laurel Ritscher Sam A
LawfulNice Sami Salonpää
Liliyana Samuel Brana-Soto
Luthorne Sara Giometti
Lythaeum Sean “Pancake” Chiochankitmun
M&M Perry Slaz
Maire Bourke Staci S
Marc Margelli Stacy Rowe
Matthew Dorbin Stephen Fulljames
Matt Dyer Steve Lord
Matthew Haulman TechnocratJT
Max Bellah Tess Aquarium
Megan Lee The King of Spain
Michael Gebhard Topher Henness
Michael Hopcroft Trevor Gale
Minna Arva Tyrone ‘tiggertq’ Queensborough
mwchase Warren Sistrom
Nathan Goblin Dunn Will
Nathan Latty Will Lamming
Patty Kirsch William L Frazier
Paul Burch William Parker-Adams
Raphael Bressel Xavier Aubuchon-Mendoza
Roxanne Zach Welhouse
Rupert Finn Feeney Zimrilim

320
Appendix E: Crowdfunding Supporters
Index
A Contests 66, 71–72, 75–85, 87, 89, 92,
100, 143, 149
Activating Powers
Multi-way 84–85
see Powers
see also Plugins – Fairy Free-for-
Add a Complication
Alls
see Trouble – Spending Trouble
Costumes 12, 96, 102, 105–111
Add a Die
Cards 14, 105, 120, 130
see Trouble – Spending Trouble
Gaining Costumes 107
Adding Dice
see also Scrounging
see Magic – Spending Magic
Getting into Costumes 109
Advantages
Quick Changes 100, 109
see Plugins – Methodical Mischief
In a Free-For-All
Alternative Venues
see Plugins – Fairy Free-For-
see Venues
Alls
Appearance
Quirks 65, 110, 168
see Your Fairy – Finishing Touches
Starting 106, 127
Artful Robin, The 30
Core Shenanigans
Assistance 66, 70, 84
see Shenanigans
NPCs 150
Craft
While on Break 97
see Facets
Custom Kinds 42, 254–262
B Powers 255–258
Big Folk 79, 153
Breaks 89, 94–97, 138, 144 D
Changing Costumes 109
Danainae “Queen Mabby” Mab 34
Chat Room Play 130
Death
Forum or Email Play 131
see Stressing Out
In Competitive Play
Dice 12, 14–15, 56, 64, 68, 75, 129–130,
see Plugins – Competitive Capers
136, 150
Removing Temporary Quirks 91
Dice Bots 15
Scrounging 107
Dice Roller / Dice Server 15, 131
Brownies
Disasters 171, 202
see Kinds
Disaster Powers 152
Random Disaster Tables 171, 202
C Enchanted Forest 282
Calla Lily 36 Magical Gaslight 293
Chat Room Play Gallant Starship 306
see Venues
Closed Shenanigan E
see Shenanigans Edge 79, 153, 257
Combat Elves
see Scuffles see Kinds
Competitive Capers Email Play
see Plugins see Venues
Index

Competitive Shenanigans Enchanted Forest

see Shenanigans see Milieu
Consequences Epilogues 139, 186
see Outcomes

323
Index
 F I
Face-to-face Incidental Shenanigans
see Venues see Shenanigans
Facets 27, 43–45, 46–51, 58–66, 68, 75, Intermissions 97, 138, 144
112–113, 142, 264–265 Invoke a Quirk
Craft 44, 61, 112, 265 see Trouble – Spending Trouble
Focus 44, 60, 112, 264
Grace 45, 62, 113, 265 K
Increasing
see Plugins – Level Up! Kinds 11, 29–42
Moxie 44, 59, 112, 264 Brownies 36–37, 154, 261
Shine 45, 63, 113, 265 Custom 254–262
Hazards 155 Elves 40–41, 262
NPCs 148 Fairies 30–31, 260
Fae 29, 154 Goblins 38–39, 262
Fairies Kelpies 259
see Kinds Pixies 32–33, 154, 260
Fairy Free-For-Alls Sprites 34–35, 261
see Plugins
Focus L
see Facets Leticia Redleaf 40
Forum Leveling Up
see Venues see Plugins – Level Up!
Freeform Play 122, 125, 134, 136, 184 Locations 97, 114, 134–136, 156, 190–191
Shenanigans 176 Enchanted Forest 278–281
Gallant Starship 302–305
G Quirks 66, 135, 156
Gallant Starship Powers 157, 162
see Milieu Magical Gaslight 290–292
Ganging Up 80, 84 Maps and Movement
Glossary 18–24 see Plugins – Competitive Capers
Game Masters (GMs) 12, 55, 119–120 Scrounging 107, 162
Improvisation 137 Shenanigans 174, 205
Responsibilities 120, 132–133
Gaining Costumes M
see Costumes Magic 12, 14, 68, 75, 98–100, 101, 166
Getting into Costume Gaining Magic 99, 101, 166
see Costumes NPCs and Magic 148
Goals Spending Magic 100
see Shenanigans On Adding Dice 68, 75, 100
Goblins On Activating Powers 100, 101
see Kinds On Performing Quick Changes 100
Grace On Wishful Thinking 100, 112
see Facets Starting 98, 127
Magical Gaslight
H see Milieu
Hazards 114, 135, 155 Major Advantages
Powers 161 see Plugins – Methodical Mischief
Summoning Major Shenanigans
see Trouble – Spending Trouble see Shenanigans
Hazard Powers Maps 190, 238
see Hazards Methodical Mischief
see Plugins
Minor Advantages
see Plugins – Methodical Mischief

324
Index
Minor Shenanigans Outcomes 12, 56–58, 84, 87, 143, 217,
see Shenanigans 229
Milieu 120, 122, 273–311 Contests 75–76
Enchanted Forest 273–285 Narrative 186
Disasters 282–285 Tests 71–72
Locations 278–281 Wishful Thinking 112–115
NPCs 274–277
Gallant Starship 297–311 P
Disasters 306–311
Locations 302–305 Pacing 144–146, 184–185
NPCs 297–301 Playset 204, 206, 207
Magical Gaslight 286–296 Session Length 144, 206, 242
Disasters 293–296 Personal Quirks
Locations 290–292 see Quirks
NPCs 286–289 Persuasion 82
Mischief Motes 114, 123, 135, 139, 173, Pixies
176, 182, 184, 186, 206 see Kinds
As XP Player Characters (PCs) 55, 120, 133, 197
see Plugins – Level Up! Player Narration 56–57, 71, 76, 137
Individual Mischief Motes Player Prompts 141
see Plugins – Competitive Capers Player-versus-player
Mobility Powers see Plugins – Competitive Capers
see Powers Playsets 106, 120, 122, 125, 127,
Moderate Advantages 144, 188–208
see Plugins – Methodical Mischief Epilogues
Movement 97, 238–239, 256 see Epilogues
Moxie Core Shenanigans
see Facets see Shenanigans
Multi-way Contests Plugins 186, 208, 210–252
see Contests Competitive Capers 114, 211,
231–247
Breaks 236
Conspiracies 232, 237, 242
N Individual Mischief Motes 241
NPCs 56, 82, 114, 115, 134, 135, 137, Maps and Movement 238–239
143, 147–154, 166, 205 Tension Counter 243, 245, 247
Big Folk 153 Trouble Track 244–246
Conspiracies Turn Counter 242, 246
see Plugins – Competitive Capers Turn Order 233
Enchanted Forest 274–277 Fairy Free-For-Alls 211, 212–220, 230
Fairies 148, 154 Changing Costumes 220
Gallant Starship 297–301 Using Powers 218–220
Magical Gaslight 286–289 Level Up! 186, 211, 247, 248–252, 260
Movement Gaining Costumes 250
see Plugins – Competitive Capers Increasing Facets 250
Playsets 189, 191 Increasing Stress Limit 250
Index

Powers 152, 158–160 New Quirks 250

Relationships 198–201 Methodical Mischief 211, 221–225
Shenanigans 174 Advantages 222
Summoning NPCs Creating 222
see Trouble – Spending Trouble Major 225
Minor 223
O Moderate 224
Structured Shenanigans 211, 226–230
Objection s 72, 235, 239 Shenanigan Stress Limits 227
Open Shenanigans Pooka Lavender 38
see Shenanigans

325
Index
 Powers 56, 58, 75, 100, 101–103, 163, 168 Recommended Media 16–17
Activating 100, 101, 148 Removing Stress
see also Plugins – Fairy Free-For- see Stress
Alls Repeatable Shenanigans
Advantages see Shenanigans
see Plugins – Methodical Mischief Rolls 13, 56, 68, 75
Alternative Kind Powers
see Custom Kinds
Common NPC Powers 158–160
S
Costume Powers 110 Setting
Edge 79 see Milieu
Hazard Powers 161 Scrounging 89, 96, 107
Imposing Temporary Quirks 90 Scuffles 80, 153
Location Powers 157, 162 Secret Shenanigans
Kind Powers 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, see Shenanigans
101–102, 255–258 Session Length
Alternative Kind Powers see Pacing
see Custom Kinds Setting Up a Game 14, 120, 121–131
Mobility Powers 256 Shenanigans 123, 134–137, 141,
Gaining Powers 173–187, 189, 203–206
see Plugins – Level Up! Acheiving via Wishful Thinking 114
NPC 150, 152, 158, 168 Adjusting 182–183
Priority 102 Competitive 235, 240–241
Recovering Stress via Powers 88 Core 179, 195, 204, 206
Stress Modifiers 87 Closed 240–241
Utility Powers 256–257 Incidental 176
Pregenerated Characters 126, 197 Major 179, 204
Minor 177
Open 240–241
Q Optional 205
Quick Changes Repeatable 176
see Costumes Secret 180
Quirks 27, 46–51, 64–66, 264–272 Special 180
Borrowing Your Friends’ Quirks Standard 178
see Assistance Stress Limits
Costume Quirks 65, 110, 168 see Plugins – Structured
Creating via Wishful Thinking 114 Shenanigans
Invoking a Quirk Shine
see Trouble – Spending Trouble see Facets
Location Quirks 66, 156 Snapdragon Red 32
NPC Quirks 201 Special Shenanigans
Personal Quirks 64 see Shenanigans
Gaining New Personal Quirks Sprites
see Plugins – Level Up! see Kinds
Random Quirk Tables 263–272 Standard Shenanigan
Temporary Quirks 73, 76, 82, 90–93, see Shenanigans
187 Starting Costumes
Using Your Opponent’s Quirks 80 see Costumes
Starting Trouble
R see Trouble
Spending Trouble Dice
Random Encounters 125, 136, 189, see Trouble
191–192, 198, 273–311 Stress 52, 73, 75–76, 79, 84, 86–89, 101, 116
Enchanted Forest 273–285
Removing 88, 96, 101, 114
Gallant Starship 297–311
Magical Gaslight 286–296
Random Quirks
see Quirks
326
Index
Stress Limit 27, 52, 86, 89, 135, 147 U
NPC Stress Limits 143, 147, 151
Unleash Disaster
Hazard Stress Limits 155
see Trouble – Spending Trouble
Shenanigan Stress Limits
Using NPC Powers
see Plugins – Structured
see Trouble – Spending Trouble
Shenanigans
Using Facets & Quirks 58–66, 68, 92
Stressing Out 75, 89, 94
Using Your Opponent’s Quirks 66, 80
NPCs Stressing Out 151
Utility Powers
Structured Shenanigans
see Plugins see Powers
Success
see Outcomes V
Summoning Opposition Venues 14–15, 124, 129–131, 144–146
see Trouble – Spending Trouble Chat Room 15, 94, 99, 130, 145, 174, 185
Surprise Attacks 80 Face-to-face 14, 94, 129, 135, 144,
174, 184, 207
T Forum or Email 15, 75, 94, 131, 146,
Temporary Quirk 168–169, 183, 185
see Quirks
Tension Counter W
see Plugins – Competitive Capers Wishful Thinking 100, 112–116, 148
Tests 67–73, 87, 90, 100, 112, 141–142 Achieving Shenanigans 178–180
Assistance 70 see also Plugins – Competitive
“That Was Too Easy!” Rule 183, 230 Capers
Ties 78, 143 see also Plugins – Structured
Trouble 68, 99, 101, 143, 150, 152, Shenanigans
163–171, 183 Creating Advantages via Wishing
Starting 127, 166 see Plugins – Methodical Mischief
Growing the Trouble Pool 166
In Playsets 202
Spending Trouble 148, 150, 167–171 Y
Adding a Complication 169, 181 You 24
Adding a Die 167 Your Fairy 27
Invoking a Quirk 168 Appearance 53
Summoning Opposition 170, 202 Finishing Touches 52
Unleashing Disaster 171, 202
Using NPC Power 148, 152, 168
Trouble Track
see Plugins – Competitive Capers
Turn Counter
see Plugins – Competitive Capers
Turn Cycle
see Plugins – Competitive Capers
Index

327
Index