1KM1KT Free RPG Community

Hi everyone,

I'm new to all of this. I'm stumbled upon The Free RPG Blog and after realizing many of my favorite systems weren't putting out new stuff fast enough I thought (after many demands and blood offerings) from my RPG group to give it a shot. (Rob Lang, I blame you ) Here's a pitch I've been working on and I'm interested to see what eveyone thinks. It's still rough and in the works. I'm using the Savage Worlds Deluxe system for now to get my feet wet and once I'm more comfortable I'll be adding in my own mechanics. Thanks in advance.

Fae Nightmares

Fae Nightmares is a roleplaying game set in a dark urban landscape where the Fey wage an unseen war against each other. The players begin the game playing every day people and soon find themselves taking the role of Nightmare: humans granted the twisted unique gifts and powers of the Fae. They awake one morning to discover the world they live in hides a dark insidious truth under its surface: it is a place of twisted fairy tales and unimaginable horrors.

The Nightmare’s mission is simple: win the war at whatever cost and keep the truth about the Fae hidden.
This a dark world where dark fairy tale monsters break into the real world and prey on innocent people leaving trails of madness and corpses in their wake.

Behind closed doors political games mark treachery, hidden agendas and ruthless bids for power. All the while the human race poses a special threat of their own.

The core system uses the Savage Worlds game engine which adds versatility to characters and covers every tale from dungeon crawls to high-speed chases and mass battles. Combat is fast, furious and fun guaranteed to keep the game moving while each adventure is a unique experience.

Good start. Killing the Changeling-influence won't be easy (that's what everybody will think about seeing this preview), but it's possible and a truly interesting game may lay underneath. So, I have a few questions about the setting.

How are Nightmares born? - Are they connected to a certain Fay or group of Fae, are they simply a random side-effect of Fae-world pushing into the real world?

What is the Nightmares' role? - Are they but pawns in the Fae game or can they get powerful enough to have their own agenda?

Where's the war waged? - I see you are drawing a pretty straight border between the "real" world and Fae world. Or am I mistaken? Can the Fae directly affect the real world? Or only via Nightmares?


Keeping this thing pretty much action-based would be fun - don't turn it into a WoD-esque angst-packed drama thing.

Hey Evil Scientist,

Thanks for the questions. To be honest, I'm trying to get as far away from CtL as much as possible and then: even some more.

Question: What is the Nightmares' role? - Are they but pawns in the Fae game or can they get powerful enough to have their own agenda?

Answer: The Nightmares aren't the pawns they are more akin to the Knights, Bishops and Rooks. Depending on the Nightmare you play there are differing degrees of investment by the Fae. The Nightmares are powerful enough to have their own agenda but they have to be very careful: a Nightmare doesn't have the same raw physical or mystical power the Fae do nor do they mesh as seamlessly into human society as they once did. There are still benefits to be gained from each and with a little cleverness, teamwork and luck a Nightmare can certianly have their own agenda.

Where's the war waged? - I see you are drawing a pretty straight border between the "real" world and Fae world. Or am I mistaken? Can the Fae directly affect the real world? Or only via Nightmares?

The war is waged in real world with the Fae world lieing over top or underneath it (depending on your perspective). For example: a simple subway platform to humans many be the only access point to the Undermarket in the region and therefore a highly valuable and much contested piece of territory. The Fae can directly affect the real world but when it comes to the war they choose to stay as hands off as possible. The Fae don't actually have souls so though they are 'immortal' they can still 'die'. There is no life after death for the Fae so they readily to turn to Nightmares fight on their behalf.

How are Nightmares born? - Are they connected to a certain Fay or group of Fae, are they simply a random side-effect of Fae-world pushing into the real world? (The Nightmares are still being developed but here's an example of what I have so far.)

Acutally, both.

1) Changelings and Mandrakes: have a Fae heritage though they are completely unaware of it. The Changelings were desgined to be more-human-than-human and the Mandrakes are offspring several generational lines down of the first Mandrake (a Fae plant that dreamt of becoming human and succeeded). For all intents and purposes despite their background they are far more human than Fae in both cases.

2) The Patroned, Gifted, Precious and Fae Touched: are specifically chosen, given, conscripted or recruited based on their talents, behaviors and abilities as humans. The Fae feel these attributes (with a little grooming) could make these particular humans into worthy Nightmares. This is not done lightly. Think of it as investment banking, except you have to pour all your money into one stock.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to grill me on anything else or pose questions. I'm still working on the different templates, locations and settings.

Since Fae Nightmares is set in the real world I'm making certain Fae locations universally accesible. The idea being that no watter where you are key locations are always accessbile and certain doors, areas and entrances may lead to more then one location. E.G. The passages to the undermarket are always located underground so if you have the right key or know where a door is it doesn't matter in you are NYC, London or Sydney you should have access to the Undermarket regardless if it's in a cave, sewer, subway or even a root cellear

Is this idea do you think it would be like. My hope is that it doesn't where the human setting in but characters will have access to important locations and plots universally.

Currently, I'm working ona series of universal locations which can place on any map giving it a Fairy Tale / War Zone feel. Certain safezones while Fae and magical in nature should have a cassablanca feel with a quiet underlying tension. So far this aspect is the most time consuming but has been the most rewarding.

As a , this title means "From Nightmares"

Just thought I'd add that nugget of useful information. Also excuse to post a link to a Python sketch.

That is very cool! It's a wonderful nugget. I'd actually, keep the title knowing what the Scottish translation/saying is. My mother's side of the family is Scottish and we grew up with a lot of superstitions. Thanks for the input!

Nuts! Forgot to write up the Wyld Court! Just got it finished. Whew!