Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''We Are All Mad Here'' is a supplement for the MediaNotes/CypherSystem published by Monte Cook Games. Designed as a companion to the ''Cypher System Rulebook'', it focuses specifically on using fairy tale elements and settings, including fables, parables, folklore, legends, myths, urban legends, and so on. It provides creatures, rules and advice to build your own horror campaign, plus a mini-campaign setting: Lost in the Heartwood.
to:
''We Are All Mad Here'' is a supplement for the MediaNotes/CypherSystem published by Monte Cook Games. Designed as a companion to the ''Cypher System Rulebook'', it focuses specifically on using fairy tale elements and settings, including fables, parables, folklore, legends, myths, urban legends, and so on. It provides creatures, rules and advice to build your own horror fairy tale campaign, plus a mini-campaign setting: Lost in the Heartwood.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''We Are All Mad Here'' is a supplement for the TabletopGame/CypherSystem published by Monte Cook Games. Designed as a companion to the ''Cypher System Rulebook'', it focuses specifically on using fairy tale elements and settings, including fables, parables, folklore, legends, myths, urban legends, and so on. It provides creatures, rules and advice to build your own horror campaign, plus a mini-campaign setting: Lost in the Heartwood.
to:
''We Are All Mad Here'' is a supplement for the TabletopGame/CypherSystem MediaNotes/CypherSystem published by Monte Cook Games. Designed as a companion to the ''Cypher System Rulebook'', it focuses specifically on using fairy tale elements and settings, including fables, parables, folklore, legends, myths, urban legends, and so on. It provides creatures, rules and advice to build your own horror campaign, plus a mini-campaign setting: Lost in the Heartwood.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
** Some fairy godmothers may act out of their own interests and inadvertently (or purposefully) do harm to those they are supposed to protect. This is particularly true if they feel like they have not been given the respect they deserve, or have been offended in some way. And if you should harm someone they have pledged to protect? Beware, beware, for there is no wrath like that of a fairy godmother's.
to:
** Some fairy godmothers may act out of their own interests and inadvertently (or purposefully) do harm to those they are supposed to protect. This is particularly true protect--especially if they feel like they have not been given the respect they deserve, or have been offended in some way. And if you should harm someone they have pledged to protect? Beware, beware, for there is no wrath like that of a fairy godmother's.
Changed line(s) 18 (click to see context) from:
* CoolCrown: Gráinne wears the Tiara of Pailis, a griffin-shaped tiara that allows her to fly.
to:
* CoolCrown: Gráinne wears the griffin-shaped Tiara of Pailis, a griffin-shaped tiara that which allows her to fly.
Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The Tin Woodman has no heart and is singularly finxated on revenge: revenge upon the witch who cursed him, upon the tinsmith who did not replace his heart, upon the rain that rusts him.
to:
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The Tin Woodman has no heart and is singularly finxated fixated on revenge: revenge upon revenge--upon the witch who cursed him, upon the tinsmith who did not replace his heart, upon the rain that rusts him.
Changed line(s) 114 (click to see context) from:
** The Never Never Isles are places that at first exist only in the minds of those who dream them up. Eventually, most Never Never Isles become real, leaving their creator's mind and finding their rightful place in the Heartwood, but this process can take years. Nearly all of the Never Never Isles that have left the minds of their creators and become real live in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes.
to:
** The Never Never Isles are places that at first initially exist only in the minds of those who dream them up. Eventually, most Never Never Isles Most become real, real later on, leaving their creator's mind and finding their rightful place in the Heartwood, Heartwood (usually in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes), but this process can take years. Nearly all of the Never Never Isles that have left the minds of their creators and become real live in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes.years.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 7 (click to see context) from:
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The West Wind is a human woman dressed in a sparkling blue tuxedo, her short silver hair pushed back from her face, and the North Wind is a grumpy old man, stomping around the garden, shaking his fist at winter. Not all winds are living creatures. Sometimes the wind is just the wind. But you won't know which is which until you try to talk with it.
to:
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The West Wind is a human woman dressed in a sparkling blue tuxedo, her short silver hair pushed back from her face, and the North Wind is a grumpy old man, stomping around the garden, shaking his fist at winter. Not all winds are both living creatures. Sometimes the wind is just the wind. But you humans. You won't know which whether a wind is which a living creature or just the wind until you try to talk with it.
Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
* HopelessBossFight: Death cannot be hurt and cannot be killed. It's not considered wise to provoke or challenge Death to physical combat, for there is only one outcome: a single attack from Death kills the victim (except in the rare case where the victim has protection against death).
to:
* HopelessBossFight: Death (whose difficulty level and health are both ∞) cannot be hurt and cannot be killed. It's not considered wise to provoke or challenge Death to physical combat, for there is only one outcome: killed, and kills a victim with a single attack from Death kills the victim (except in the rare case where the victim has protection (protection against death).death is very rare).
Changed line(s) 65 (click to see context) from:
* ResurrectiveImmortality: If killed, the Minotaur's body is claimed by the labyrinth. Thirty-three days later, the Minotaur is resuscitated. Some demigods claim to have slain the Minotaur, but the Minotaur always returns.
to:
* ResurrectiveImmortality: If killed, the Minotaur's body is claimed by the labyrinth. Thirty-three days later, the Minotaur is resuscitated. Some demigods claim to have slain the Minotaur, but when this happens, it is merely claimed by the Minotaur always returns.labyrinth and returns after 33 days.
Changed line(s) 67 (click to see context) from:
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The Big Bad Wolf can track and hear his prey up to a mile away. Tracking ignores all cloaking abilities, including magical ones
to:
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The Big Bad Wolf can track and hear his prey up to a mile away. Tracking ignores away through all cloaking abilities, including magical onesor mundane.
Changed line(s) 69 (click to see context) from:
* TalkingAnimal: Common animals in fairy tales are often magical, which gives them unique abilities beyond those of typical animals. It's safe to assume that most magical animals can speak.
to:
* TalkingAnimal: Common animals in fairy tales are often magical, which gives them unique with abilities beyond those of typical animals. It's safe to assume that most magical animals can speak.(most commonly the capacity of speech).
Changed line(s) 74 (click to see context) from:
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Cailleach once lived on land. Now she is a recluse deep in the ocean in the realm known as the Expanse of Halirane. As part of her bargain with the sea, she can never return to dry land again, or she will lose all of her powers forever.
to:
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Cailleach once lived on land. Now she is a recluse Cailleach, who came from land, now lives deep in the ocean in the realm known as the Expanse of Halirane. As part of her bargain with the sea, she can never return to dry land again, or she will lose all of her powers forever.forever if she returns to land.
Changed line(s) 95,96 (click to see context) from:
* DeathSeeker: An immortal prince named Kozel wishes, after all these long years of life, to finally die. He stored his death away aeons ago and was planning to retrieve it so that he may be done with this life.
* DyingTown: Hamlets and villages in the Broken Crowndom are suffering deeply inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, but struggle on. Near-barren land is still plowed and planted. Life, as they say, goes on, even if it is frightening and monstrous.
* DyingTown: Hamlets and villages in the Broken Crowndom are suffering deeply inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, but struggle on. Near-barren land is still plowed and planted. Life, as they say, goes on, even if it is frightening and monstrous.
to:
* DeathSeeker: An Kozel, an immortal prince named Kozel wishes, after all these long years of life, to finally die. He who stored his death away aeons ago and was planning ago, now wishes to retrieve it so that he may finally be done with this life.
life after all these long years by retrieving his death.
* DyingTown:Hamlets and villages in the Broken Crowndom are suffering deeply inside Inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, but the suffering settlements in the Broken Crowndom struggle on. Near-barren land is still plowed and planted. Life, as they say, goes on, even if it is frightening and monstrous.
* DyingTown:
Changed line(s) 101 (click to see context) from:
* FoodChains: Somewhere, a trusting human takes a bite of the world's most beautiful pomegranate and is stuck forever in the Eaternitea Party.
to:
* FoodChains: Somewhere, a A trusting human takes a bite of who bites from the world's most beautiful pomegranate and is stuck forever in the Eaternitea Party.
Changed line(s) 104 (click to see context) from:
* GeniusLoci: Most Never Never Isles are alive, and they often keep a lookout for their creators. Sometimes they arrive in a character's life when the character needs them most. Other times, they disappear for long stretches, usually when the character is happy or content. Rarely, an isle grows distant from its creator, and may even become a danger to them. The reasons for this aren't always known, and bringing a lost isle back into a creator's fold is often a complicated and long-term endeavor.
to:
* GeniusLoci: Most Never Never Isles are alive, alive and they often keep a lookout for their creators. Sometimes they arrive in a character's their creator's life when needed. When the character needs them most. Other times, they disappear for long stretches, usually when the character creator is happy or content. content, the island usually disappears for a long time. Rarely, an isle grows distant from its creator, and may or even become becomes a danger to them. its creator. The reasons for this aren't always known, and bringing a lost isle back into a creator's fold is often a complicated difficult and long-term endeavor.time-consuming.
Changed line(s) 110 (click to see context) from:
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Every Wild Hunt is different, but the prey always includes at least a few humans, a fey being or two, and a god of some sort or, at the very least, a very powerful witch.
to:
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Every The prey of a Wild Hunt is different, but the prey always includes at least a few humans, a fey being or two, and a god of some sort or, at the very least, a very powerful witch.
Changed line(s) 115 (click to see context) from:
* LosingYourHead: Horses without heads trample through the streets of the Broken Crowndom, whinnying from the ragged edges of their necks.
to:
* LosingYourHead: Horses without heads heads, who whinny from the ragged edges of their necks, trample through the streets of the Broken Crowndom, whinnying from the ragged edges of their necks.Crowndom.
Changed line(s) 118 (click to see context) from:
* NiceMice: The Cursed Spindle is an organisation of mice that helps those who are addicted, cursed, living with mental illness, or otherwise struggling.
to:
* NiceMice: The Cursed Spindle is an organisation of mice that helps those who are addicted, cursed, living struggling with curses, addictions or mental illness, or otherwise struggling.illnesses.
Changed line(s) 123 (click to see context) from:
* SoulEating: A trio of large, ancient cat sidhes prowl the Enchanted Forest, hungry and hunting for souls. Those who enter their territory without protection from the cats' soul-stealing curses are likely to fall prey to their appetites—and what they love to feast upon most are memories.
to:
* SoulEating: A trio of large, ancient ancient, hungry cat sidhes prowl hunt for souls in the Enchanted Forest, hungry and hunting for souls. Those Forest. They prey upon those who enter their territory without protection from the cats' soul-stealing curses are likely to fall prey to their appetites—and what they protection, and especially love to feast upon most are eat memories.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* ExactWords: Fairy tales involve a number of ostensibly impossible tasks that can actually be solved by paying careful attention to language and by being tricky. The GM is instructed to pay attention to your wording when assigning impossible tasks to characters. One slip of the tongue and that task might not even be hard, much less impossible.
Deleted line(s) 80 (click to see context) :
* BalefulPolymorph: The Coachman takes great pride in tracking down and turning those who've just committed their third crime within the Catchfools city limits into donkeys.
Added DiffLines:
* ForcedTransformation: The Coachman takes great pride in tracking down and turning those who've just committed their third crime within the Catchfools city limits into donkeys.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* TheBigBadWolf: The Big Bad Wolf is a beast of near immortality, kept alive by the legends that swirl around him, the constant stream of terrorising tales. Once the stalker of the woods, now he stalks the streets and towns, no longer staying to the shadows, no longer merely hunting girls and grandmothers. As his reputation has grown, so has his appetite. He will not be contained.
Deleted line(s) 65 (click to see context) :
* SavageWolves: The Big Bad Wolf is a beast of near immortality, kept alive by the legends that swirl around him, the constant stream of terrorising tales. Once the stalker of the woods, now he stalks the streets and towns, no longer staying to the shadows, no longer merely hunting girls and grandmothers. As his reputation has grown, so has his appetite. He will not be contained.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 4 (click to see context) from:
to:
----
Deleted line(s) 33 (click to see context) :
* GloomyGray: The Cinereous Blight is an ashy grey residue that sifts down from the heavens and covers everything and everyone in the Welkin Barrier. This blight gives everything a grey hue and causes nearly everyone to experience the deep sadness commonly called underwolcen.
Deleted line(s) 49 (click to see context) :
* {{Lunacy}}: In the Heartwood, the moon does more than give light to the darkness—the power of her cold, unblinking stare keeps the worst of the monsters trembling and crouched. For the monsters know that if the moon so much as sees them harm another being under the care of her light, she has the power to turn them to stone, banish them from the land, or worse.
Changed line(s) 76 (click to see context) from:
to:
----
Added DiffLines:
* DeathSeeker: An immortal prince named Kozel wishes, after all these long years of life, to finally die. He stored his death away aeons ago and was planning to retrieve it so that he may be done with this life.
Added DiffLines:
* GloomyGray: The Cinereous Blight is an ashy grey residue that sifts down from the heavens and covers everything and everyone in the Welkin Barrier. This blight gives everything a grey hue and causes nearly everyone to experience the deep sadness commonly called underwolcen.
Added DiffLines:
* {{Lunacy}}: In the Heartwood, the moon does more than give light to the darkness—the power of her cold, unblinking stare keeps the worst of the monsters trembling and crouched. For the monsters know that if the moon so much as sees them harm another being under the care of her light, she has the power to turn them to stone, banish them from the land, or worse.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* GloomyGray: The Cinereous Blight is an ashy grey residue that sifts down from the heavens and covers everything and everyone in the Welkin Barrier. This blight gives everything a grey hue and causes nearly everyone to experience the deep sadness commonly called underwolcen.
* HealingFactor: If an erlking's remains are not destroyed, it will sprout and grow a new body from its corpse within a day.
* {{Lunacy}}: In the Heartwood, the moon does more than give light to the darkness—the power of her cold, unblinking stare keeps the worst of the monsters trembling and crouched. For the monsters know that if the moon so much as sees them harm another being under the care of her light, she has the power to turn them to stone, banish them from the land, or worse.
* EnchantedForest: The Enchanted Forest is a large, verdant forest that typically shows up on maps under a variety of names, but few seem to be able to remember its name and just refer to it as the lost wood or the forgotten forest. If you ask people if they have been there, most will take a long moment to try to remember, and then forget the very question. While a few do remember being there, most aren't able to recall much of anything about their experiences inside it. This is probably for the better, as most things that happen inside the Enchanted Forest are not, in fact, good things to recall. Designed to be the proverbial and ultimate deep, dark woods of every fairy tale that ever was and ever will be, characters can encounter their deepest fears and strongest foes, as well as magical allies, incredible treasures, big bad wolves, and anything and everything else they might expect along the path through the woods.
Deleted line(s) 111 (click to see context) :
* TheLostWoods: The Enchanted Forest is a large, verdant forest that typically shows up on maps under a variety of names, but few seem to be able to remember its name and just refer to it as the lost wood or the forgotten forest. If you ask people if they have been there, most will take a long moment to try to remember, and then forget the very question. While a few do remember being there, most aren't able to recall much of anything about their experiences inside it. This is probably for the better, as most things that happen inside the Enchanted Forest are not, in fact, good things to recall. Designed to be the proverbial and ultimate deep, dark woods of every fairy tale that ever was and ever will be, characters can encounter their deepest fears and strongest foes, as well as magical allies, incredible treasures, big bad wolves, and anything and everything else they might expect along the path through the woods.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 38 (click to see context) :
* HellishHorse: A sinister aquatic creature that takes the shape of a grey horse or white pony, the kelpie lures unsuspecting passersby and attempts to drown them in a nearby body of water.
Deleted line(s) 48 (click to see context) :
* ALoadOfBull: The Minotaur is the singular beast from which all lesser minotaur myths descend. The product of a god-cursed union between human and bull, the Minotaur is monstrous, and only the flesh of people can nourish it. It is usually lost in a labyrinth created to contain it. But it occasionally gets free to hunt the wider world before the labyrinth pulls it back.
* OurKelpiesAreDifferent: A sinister aquatic creature that takes the shape of a grey horse or white pony, the kelpie lures unsuspecting passersby and attempts to drown them in a nearby body of water.
* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: The Minotaur is the singular beast from which all lesser minotaur myths descend. The product of a god-cursed union between human and bull, the Minotaur is monstrous, and only the flesh of people can nourish it. It is usually lost in a labyrinth created to contain it. But it occasionally gets free to hunt the wider world before the labyrinth pulls it back.
Changed line(s) 85 (click to see context) from:
* ConsummateLiar: The horseless heads in the Broken Crowndown speak prophecies that never come true:
to:
* ConsummateLiar: The horseless heads in the Broken Crowndown Crowndom speak prophecies that never come true:
Changed line(s) 127 (click to see context) from:
* WorldTree: The beating heart of the Heartwood is a tree older than stories, older than words, older, even, than magic. It is so big around that it is truly impossible to circle. Some say as big around as the earth itself. It rises beyond the sky, into worlds that no longer exist, that have been forgotten and remembered and forgotten again.
to:
* WorldTree: The beating heart of the Heartwood is a tree older than stories, older than words, older, even, than magic. It is so big around that it is truly impossible to circle. Some say as big around as the earth itself. It rises beyond the sky, into worlds that no longer exist, that have been forgotten and remembered and forgotten again.again.
----
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 61 (click to see context) from:
* PublicDomainArtifact: Cyphers and artifacts in fairy tale games include [[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Jack's magic beans'', [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice's Eat Me cake]], seven-league boots, the poisoned comb and magic corset that the witch makes for Literature/SnowWhite, and so on.
to:
* PublicDomainArtifact: Cyphers and artifacts in fairy tale games include [[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Jack's magic beans'', beans]], [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice's Eat Me cake]], seven-league boots, the poisoned comb and magic corset that the witch makes for Literature/SnowWhite, and so on.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
''We Are All Mad Here'' is a supplement for the TabletopGame/CypherSystem published by Monte Cook Games. Designed as a companion to the ''Cypher System Rulebook'', it focuses specifically on using fairy tale elements and settings, including fables, parables, folklore, legends, myths, urban legends, and so on. It provides creatures, rules and advice to build your own horror campaign, plus a mini-campaign setting: Lost in the Heartwood.
Lost in the Heartwood invites characters whose lives have been touched by mental health issues and mental illness to explore those experiences with magic, pain, empathy, and power. Player characters are drawn out of the modern world into one that's very different from their own, a mystical fairy tale world filled with magic and wonder, and when characters enter it, they too are filled with magic and wonder. But there's one caveat to entering the Heartwood: one life must be touched (or have been touched) in some way by a mental health issue, disorder, or illness. This experience—however it may manifest or touch a character's life—is what creates their connection to the Heartwood and to the magic within it (and within themselves). It doesn't mean that the characters are superheroes with powers, because that isn't how mental illness works. Instead, they bring their own strengths and weaknesses, their complexities, their very humanity, and it is this combination that guides their magic.
!!The setting-neutral information provide examples of:
* AlternateSelf: Baba Yaga lives many lives and has many personalities. She is both one witch and many. She uses her magic to create a new version of herself each time her life takes a new branch, following all of them at once, becoming every version of herself that she might have been. It is almost impossible to know which Baba Yaga you have met until you look deep in her eyes. There, you might see a tiny flame, and in that flame, learn a bit about her life.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The West Wind is a human woman dressed in a sparkling blue tuxedo, her short silver hair pushed back from her face, and the North Wind is a grumpy old man, stomping around the garden, shaking his fist at winter. Not all winds are living creatures. Sometimes the wind is just the wind. But you won't know which is which until you try to talk with it.
* AnArmAndALeg: When the wielder of a carving knife of sharpness gets a special major effect when attacking, they can choose to lop off one of the target’s limbs.
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Some fairy godmothers may act out of their own interests and inadvertently (or purposefully) do harm to those they are supposed to protect. This is particularly true if they feel like they have not been given the respect they deserve, or have been offended in some way. And if you should harm someone they have pledged to protect? Beware, beware, for there is no wrath like that of a fairy godmother's.
** The West Wind is very warm hearted and is likely to help those in need, but she does not respond well to trickery, traps, or attempts to force her hand (unless they're terribly clever or smart, and then she admits grudging respect for the perpetrators).
* BigEater: The Big Bad Wolf feels a constant hunger and a gnawing need to swallow the world.
* BlowYouAway: The Big Bad Wolf can create a wind so strong it can knock over foes, trees, and even houses.
* CatsHaveNineLives: Each time a cat sidhe would be killed, it can choose to lose one of its nine tails instead. Once a cat sidhe has no more tails remaining, its death is final.
* ChangelingFantasy: Changelings are fairy children left in place of stolen human babies (and occasionally adults as well), typically raised among humans.
* ChildEater: Erlkings love to hunt and eat children, who are particularly susceptible to the promises and glamours that the creatures spin.
* CoolCrown: Gráinne wears the Tiara of Pailis, a griffin-shaped tiara that allows her to fly.
* {{Curse}}: In fairy tale games, curses are likely to be common. Most witches can cast curses of one form or another, as can many fey beings, queens, and sea creatures. Even objects and places can cause a character to become cursed. Curses work slightly differently from regular damage, and can have an impact on the game and the game mechanics, or they can have more of a roleplaying impact.
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** While some see Death as evil, it is not inherently so, no more than the cougar hunting the hare for dinner. In fact, it's the great equalizer, raising paupers to kings and kings to common people.
** Gráinne, the Fairy Queen of Hope and Despair, is not evil, but rather represents what is good and bad in the world that is hidden in shadows, buried beneath the ground, and revealed at night. She has her own moral code, one that can work in the favour of those who are cunning and willing to look at the darkness of their own hearts.
* DealWithTheDevil:
** Bargaining with Death is a potential way to achieve an impossible task or gain a very rare item, but of course it always comes with a price (usually an earlier death for the bargainer or someone else).
** The Sea Witch is best known for brewing up life options—for a price. If you want what she's got (and she's got everything), you bring her what she wants. It might be your voice, your hair, or your firstborn. Or all three. Surely you won't miss them...
* DeathIsCheap: In fairy tales, death isn't always permanent, Death is a living (?) figure, and magic allows even the long-dead to interact with the living. A Game Master should decide what death means in your setting, particularly as it pertains to the player characters. Will they be able to return? How? Does it take a long time? Are they changed in some way?
* DreamWeaver: Gráinne can infiltrate people's dreams to converse with them and implant an idea in their heads, on which they feel a strong need to act.
* EldritchAbomination: The snark is an impossible, improbable, unimaginable creature, found upon islands filled with chasms and crags, near bathing machines, and around those whose coats are too tight in the waist. Very little is known about the snark beyond hearsay and rumor; it is designed to be a confusing enigma, even to those who actively hunt it.
* ElementalEmbodiment: Wind children (dust devils, gales and zephyrs) are here and there and everywhere. They are not born, so much as borne, by weather patterns, wishes and wants.
* FairyGodmother: Fairy godmothers are nearly always beneficent beings, typically acting as mentors, parents or protectors, much like human godparents. The difference, of course, is that fairy godmothers have a great deal more magic at their disposal. Overall, fairy godmothers are kind, gentle and loving to almost everyone, not just their godchildren.
* {{Familiar}}: A witch relies on the aid of their familiar, which could be a large black cat, an owl, a big snake, or some other creature. Killing a witch's familiar is a way to ensure that the witch never forgives their foe or grants mercy.
* FaunsAndSatyrs: Satyrs are muscular humanoids with long curved horns and furry, hooved legs. They are self-centred, greedy, and sybaritic creatures, dedicated to food, drink, and other pleasures. They rob and steal from others as it pleases them, often relying on tricks and lies, or on alluring music they play on pipes.
* GingerbreadHouse: The Blind Witch is skinny and always hungry. She lives deep in the forest in a house made of confectionery, which allows her to catch, fatten, and eventually eat any children unlucky enough to get caught in her trap.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Evil and wicked queens abound in fairy tales, from those who have no names and are remembered only for their evil deeds, to those whose names will never be forgotten: [[Literature/SnowWhite Queen Grimhilde]], Maleficent, the [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Queen of Hearts]], and the White Witch. These queens seek power for power's sake, not caring what destruction lies in their wake. Of course, not all queens are evil—just the ones you hear about most often.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Just, true and kind, Áine makes a powerful ally, provided that she does not feel that she or her realm are threatened. Those who wish harm on others or who she sees as malevolent in action or thought are more likely to find themselves on the wrong end of the Bright One's anger.
* GreenThumb: Áine can manipulate plants and flowers within very long range, causing them to grow to enormous proportions. She can use them as weapons that grab and hold multiple victims, or do damage via strangulation or thorns.
* TheGrimReaper: Death goes by many names, takes many forms, and has only one purpose: to make all equal in the end. Death is often an unwanted visitor—taking the life of someone who is not ready to go—but just as often, it comes to those who are ready. To them, Death is a most welcome, the most welcome, guest of all.
* HellHound: Black dogs are usually large, shaggy, and as black as night, with long ears and tails. Typically they are spectral or demonic entities that show up at night. They are often sinister, malevolent, or purposefully harmful (such as the Barghest and Black Shuck). Occasionally, black dogs are helpful and benevolent, guarding people from danger, helping them find the correct path, or signifying the death of someone nearby.
* HellishHorse: A sinister aquatic creature that takes the shape of a grey horse or white pony, the kelpie lures unsuspecting passersby and attempts to drown them in a nearby body of water.
* TheHermit: Cailleach is a recluse and introvert whose deepest longing is to be left alone to increase her knowledge of magic.
* TheHighQueen: Áine, fairy queen of summer and the sun, is a kind, true and benevolent ruler, and is loved by nearly everyone. Known for making just and fair bargains with humans, she is often sought after for blessings and boons.
* HopelessBossFight: Death cannot be hurt and cannot be killed. It's not considered wise to provoke or challenge Death to physical combat, for there is only one outcome: a single attack from Death kills the victim (except in the rare case where the victim has protection against death).
* HypnoticEyes: The Big Bad Wolf can mesmerise his victims, convincing them that he is a friend and that they should do what he suggests.
* IKnowYourTrueName: If someone knows a kelpie's name and says it aloud, the kelpie loses all its power over that person and retreats to the depths of the water.
* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys: A bone key unlocks one lock of the cypher level or lower, or provides an asset to open a lock of higher level.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Curmudgeonly and a bit of a humbug, but rarely with evil intent, the Wizard of Oz is likely to help those who ask, although he often fumbles things just to make a point.
* KillItWithFire: If an erlking's remains are not burned or otherwise destroyed, it will sprout and grow a new body from its corpse within a day.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: A cat sidhe's Forget curse removes something from a creature's memory, such as all nouns (including their own name), a loved one's face, their current purpose, an ability, or a skill.
* ALoadOfBull: The Minotaur is the singular beast from which all lesser minotaur myths descend. The product of a god-cursed union between human and bull, the Minotaur is monstrous, and only the flesh of people can nourish it. It is usually lost in a labyrinth created to contain it. But it occasionally gets free to hunt the wider world before the labyrinth pulls it back.
* MagicMusic: Satyrs can create magical effects by playing their pipes as an action, which can either bolster allies or harm enemies.
* MakingASplash: As part of her agreement with the sea, Cailleach was given the power to control small parts of it at a time.
* MartialPacifist: Áine rarely engages in combat herself, as she prefers to leave that role to her son Geroid and his army. However, if she's attacked or feels the need to defend her realm or someone in it, she will not hesitate to step in.
* TheMaze: The Minotaur is trapped by the labyrinth, but also part of it. Whenever a character attacks the Minotaur, they risk being claimed by the labyrinth themselves until they can escape. Those claimed by the labyrinth seem to disappear and find themselves wandering a dark maze.
* ModestRoyalty: Áine wears a crown of glass, but it is not visible unless she chooses it to be (she rarely does) or she dies. She carries little else, for she is a person of deeds, not items.
* NatureSpirit: Fuathan are intangible spirits that dwell deep in the seas and oceans. They consider themselves protectors of these realms, particularly against those who would damage the environment or creatures there.
* NonIndicativeName: Despite their name, black dogs can be any colour. The real distinction is that they are definitely not regular, living dogs.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Dwarves are creatures of the earth whose beards provide magical abilities such as finding treasure, enabling flight, shapeshifting, and turning invisible. Cutting a dwarf's beard off or learning their name provides an asset on all interactions with that dwarf.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: In fairy tales, the word ''fey'' covers a huge category of creatures, from faeries, brownies, and imps to gremlins, boggarts and goblins. There are so many types of fey beings in the world that it's nearly impossible to categorise them as just one thing, or to list them all. They do have a few characteristics in common, however. They are typically sentient, humanoid in form, connected to nature in some way, and magical.
* OurNymphsAreDifferent: Nymphs are supernatural female beings associated with protecting a particular location or landform, such as a river, tree, or mountain.
* OurPixiesAreDifferent: Pixies are benign and mischievous creatures that live near stone circles, tombs, and other burial grounds.
* {{Protectorate}}: Most Beasts have a single thing that they love deeply and will do anything to protect: a garden, a human, their home, a book from their childhood.
* PublicDomainArtifact: Cyphers and artifacts in fairy tale games include [[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Jack's magic beans'', [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice's Eat Me cake]], seven-league boots, the poisoned comb and magic corset that the witch makes for Literature/SnowWhite, and so on.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: If killed, the Minotaur's body is claimed by the labyrinth. Thirty-three days later, the Minotaur is resuscitated. Some demigods claim to have slain the Minotaur, but the Minotaur always returns.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The Tin Woodman has no heart and is singularly finxated on revenge: revenge upon the witch who cursed him, upon the tinsmith who did not replace his heart, upon the rain that rusts him.
* SavageWolves: The Big Bad Wolf is a beast of near immortality, kept alive by the legends that swirl around him, the constant stream of terrorising tales. Once the stalker of the woods, now he stalks the streets and towns, no longer staying to the shadows, no longer merely hunting girls and grandmothers. As his reputation has grown, so has his appetite. He will not be contained.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The Big Bad Wolf can track and hear his prey up to a mile away. Tracking ignores all cloaking abilities, including magical ones
* SoulJar: When a character places their soul inside the needle and places the needle inside the egg, they are protected from their next death. When the character dies, they return to life on the next round, with all of their Pools full.
* TalkingAnimal: Common animals in fairy tales are often magical, which gives them unique abilities beyond those of typical animals. It's safe to assume that most magical animals can speak.
* UndeadChild: Angiks are reanimated spirits of babies who died, typically due to hard winters, who now haunt the living. At night, they turn into giant owls and prey on solitary travellers.
* WasOnceAMan: The Tin Woodman was once an ordinary woodman of flesh and blood named Nick Chopper, but nothing is left of the original human and he became the Tin Woodman.
* WickedWitch: Some witches are the stuff of nightmares, with tales of their exploits keeping children safe in their beds during the darkest hours.
* WinterRoyalLady: The Snow Queen rules over the snow bees—snowflakes that look like bees. She keeps an ornate palace surrounded by gardens in the lands of permafrost, but she can be seen elsewhere in the world where snowflakes cluster. Most say she is cold, and they would be right. She has been part of the snow for so long that it's possible she no longer remembers warmth or kindness or love.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Cailleach once lived on land. Now she is a recluse deep in the ocean in the realm known as the Expanse of Halirane. As part of her bargain with the sea, she can never return to dry land again, or she will lose all of her powers forever.
!!The Lost in the Heartwood setting provides examples of:
* AnimalMecha:
** Near the centre of Nightingale, giving it its name, a glass and crystal tower stretches taller than the tallest of trees. At the very top, a mechanical nightingale warbles until the end of time.
** The House That Jack Built is protected by a flock of mechanical goats and sheep, run by Bo Peep, which is far more dangerous than it sounds.
* BadLuckCharm: It is considered bad luck to even consider taking someone else's passage marker on the Path of Pins and Needles in the Enchanted Forest. Those who choose to do so find that bad luck quickly begins to befall them until they return the object to the exact place where they found it.
* BalefulPolymorph: The Coachman takes great pride in tracking down and turning those who've just committed their third crime within the Catchfools city limits into donkeys.
* BatOutOfHell: Flocks of territorial giant bats hang upside down from the bottom of the clouds beneath the Welkin Barrier.
* BazaarOfTheBizarre: A large open-air market along Nightingale's golden river, Knaves All Three features nearly every type of product and service imaginable.
* TheCasino: The best-known gambling den in all of Catchfools, and perhaps all of the Heartwood, Billy Goats Gruff features every type of game imaginable, and some that aren't.
* TheCavalry: The Seven Ravens Army runs a smuggling operation, designed to snatch young children from the jaws of danger and deliver them somewhere safe.
* ClockTower: The Croc Clock is a huge clock tower that looks like a crocodile standing upon the very end of its tail. The tower is so tall that the crocodile's upper body is lost among the clouds, but in its very middle, visible and audible to those who pass by, is a giant ticking clock. The clock chimes the hour—the one place in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes that actually keeps Heartwood time—but when you hear that chime is affected by distance and fog and memory and magic. The clock face changes constantly, showing something that has happened, is happening, or will happen.
* ConsummateLiar: The horseless heads in the Broken Crowndown speak prophecies that never come true:
-->''Beware, beware, the horseless heads''
-->''for all who see them fall down dead''
-->''the heads may promise many things''
-->''like wishes and fishes and silver rings''
-->''like dishes and kisses and woken kings''
-->''but all they want's to steal your bones''
-->''and have a body of their own''
* CreepyChild: During the day, changeling children seem unaffected by much of anything. But at night, they begin to grab on to whoever is nearby, seeking some semblance of love and affection. They squeeze too tight and bite too hard, and once they've latched on, it is difficult to make them let go.
* DyingTown: Hamlets and villages in the Broken Crowndom are suffering deeply inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, but struggle on. Near-barren land is still plowed and planted. Life, as they say, goes on, even if it is frightening and monstrous.
* EmptyShell: Sometimes, the Enchanted Forest might take all of a person's memories, turning them into a shell who wanders aimlessly through the woods, unable to recall who or where they are, or what they were once doing here.
* FeatheredFiend: Black as a tar-barrel and big enough to blot out the entirety of the sky, the monstrous crow keeps the curious and the devious (and truly, everyone else) from looking at, touching, or attempting to wake the Cardinal King. It is fiercely loyal, viciously dangerous, and dangerously smart.
* FloatingContinent: The Welkin Barrier rests high above the Heartwood—it's a cloudscape, as the land rests, seemingly impossibly, on the top of the clouds.
* FoodChains: Somewhere, a trusting human takes a bite of the world's most beautiful pomegranate and is stuck forever in the Eaternitea Party.
* GateGuardian: The enchanted moura is a supernatural being who guards the entryway to Direwood. No matter where one attempts to cross into Direwood, they likely encounter the enchanted moura waiting. If one encounters the moura once and refuses to help her, she will make it more difficult for them to enter or leave Direwood.
* GeniusLoci: Most Never Never Isles are alive, and they often keep a lookout for their creators. Sometimes they arrive in a character's life when the character needs them most. Other times, they disappear for long stretches, usually when the character is happy or content. Rarely, an isle grows distant from its creator, and may even become a danger to them. The reasons for this aren't always known, and bringing a lost isle back into a creator's fold is often a complicated and long-term endeavor.
* TheGoodKing: The Listening King, who holds open court for a few hours almost every day in Nightingale, listens to requests from those who live in town, as well as from those who are visiting, and does his best to give everyone what they ask for.
* HairRaisingHare: Undertaker rabbits walk the streets of Catchfools in pairs, wearing dark hoods, humming minor-chord mantras, and carrying small ornate coffins with people's names on them. Anyone who sees their name on one of the coffins must commit a sin or indulge in a vice as soon as possible to keep the undertaker rabbits and their death coffins at bay.
* HellishHorse: Headless horses are nearly always the colour of shadows. They whinny and scream from the opening at the top of their severed necks. The drum of their hooves sounds like coming doom.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: Snow White is one of Nightingale's most successful business owners, running the Laced Bodice, a high-end comfort house, along with an adjacent bar and eatery called The Poisoned Apple. Snow is beloved not just by those whom she employs, but by nearly everyone in Nightingale. Much of her earnings go back into the community, particularly to the Cursed Spindle, a rehab program and shelter for addicts, the cursed, and those who are just down on their luck.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Every Wild Hunt is different, but the prey always includes at least a few humans, a fey being or two, and a god of some sort or, at the very least, a very powerful witch.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Some enter the Enchanted Forest just to forget what happened long before doing so. Some part of their lives or existence brings them pain and suffering, and they wish not to carry those burdens of their former selves. This type of purposeful forgetting requires a bargain with the forest.
* LivingDream:
** When the Cardinal King fell deep asleep, the nightmares began in the Broken Crowndom. The nightmares ran rampant, destroying the peace of the land, toppling the other crowndoms until only the Cardinal King was left. That was aeons ago, and still the Cardinal King sleeps on, trapping everyone in his dark dreams of death and delusions.
** The Never Never Isles are places that at first exist only in the minds of those who dream them up. Eventually, most Never Never Isles become real, leaving their creator's mind and finding their rightful place in the Heartwood, but this process can take years. Nearly all of the Never Never Isles that have left the minds of their creators and become real live in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes.
* LosingYourHead: Horses without heads trample through the streets of the Broken Crowndom, whinnying from the ragged edges of their necks.
* TheLostWoods: The Enchanted Forest is a large, verdant forest that typically shows up on maps under a variety of names, but few seem to be able to remember its name and just refer to it as the lost wood or the forgotten forest. If you ask people if they have been there, most will take a long moment to try to remember, and then forget the very question. While a few do remember being there, most aren't able to recall much of anything about their experiences inside it. This is probably for the better, as most things that happen inside the Enchanted Forest are not, in fact, good things to recall. Designed to be the proverbial and ultimate deep, dark woods of every fairy tale that ever was and ever will be, characters can encounter their deepest fears and strongest foes, as well as magical allies, incredible treasures, big bad wolves, and anything and everything else they might expect along the path through the woods.
* {{Mordor}}: Once known as the most beautiful and thriving crowndom in all of the Heartwood, the Broken Crowndom is now shattered and dark. Hamlets and villages struggle on, castles and estates continue their slow fall to ruin. Most of these small villages are suffering deeply inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, and will take whatever help they can get, even if it's from strangers.
* NiceMice: The Cursed Spindle is an organisation of mice that helps those who are addicted, cursed, living with mental illness, or otherwise struggling.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: In the Grief Reef, the misery mermaids gather beneath the waterfalls to sing their ancient, sorrowful tales. They croon only for themselves, telling of loved ones lost to the ravages of time and seas. It is not possible to physically interact with a misery mermaid, for they are fleeting and fast, and have the ability to appear elsewhere just as you get close. In fact, it is rumoured that misery mermaids are not tangible at all, but mere apparitions, ghostly visages of mourners from other times and other places.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Maras are dark shadows of nightmares in human form. Most often appearing as gaunt young people with pale skin and long black hair and nails, maras can drain the energy from anyone they touch. Those who are visited by a mara while they sleep suffer nightmares and often believe that someone they love will soon die or already has.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The ''Angry Roger'' is a pirate ship that protects the nonexistent borders of the Sea of Innumerable Echoes from those who wish to steal things that do not belong to them, and hosts the annual But a Dream party, where everyone dresses as the person their child self thought they would become.
* ThePollyanna: One-Eyed Jacque is the Cardinal King's eternally optimistic stepdaughter. Loyal to the crowndom but not the king himself, she works ceaselessly to bring good things to her father's dark dreams, and to the inhabitants of the Broken Crowndom.
* SoulEating: A trio of large, ancient cat sidhes prowl the Enchanted Forest, hungry and hunting for souls. Those who enter their territory without protection from the cats' soul-stealing curses are likely to fall prey to their appetites—and what they love to feast upon most are memories.
* SpaceElevator: A few times a year, giant beanstalks sprout from the soil and grow upward, creating ladders to the Welkin Barrier (or, if someone is lucky enough to grab hold of the plant just as it sprouts, a sort of elevator).
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: In the setting, characters from the real world are pulled into the Heartwood, much as [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice falls into the rabbit hole]] or [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Dorothy is whisked away to Oz]]. So your character is, in fact, a character from the now. Maybe they have a day job they love or hate, maybe they have a family, maybe they're in school or the army or they volunteer for a nonprofit. Whoever your character is in the now, they can become anyone they want to be when they enter the Heartwood.
* ViceCity: Catchfools is a city where every vice is for sale, every sin is kept secret, and every living thing is one criminal act away from being turned into a donkey. Gambling, prostitution, drugs, horse and dog and chicken racing—if it's a sin or a vice, you can find it here. The hardest part about Catchfools is knowing what's a sin (and thus not just acceptable, but condoned and encouraged) and what's a crime (and punishable by being turned into a donkey).
* WasOnceAMan:
** White stag royals are humanoid white stags wearing the tattered robes of those who once ruled over the smaller crowndoms in the Broken Crowndom. Their antlers are woven into elegant and grotesque crowns, and their whispers contain hints of the monarchs they used to be. They are lost and bewildered, having forgotten so much of who they once were that they seem more animal than human.
** The members of the Seven Ravens Army are flying creatures that were once human children but were long ago cursed to take a winged form, and no one has been able to break their curse. For some, their siblings could not hold their tongue long enough. For others, the curse was impossible to undo. Still others wait, eternally hoping that someone out there still loves them enough to try to free them. Some choose to remain in this form, even though their curse was broken long ago, for they have found purpose and meaning in this life.
* WombLevel: Deep inside the belly of the Terrible Dogfish—a great and monstrous sea creature—is the city of Catchfools.
* WorldOfChaos: The land of Heartwood is wiggly, defined as much by dreams and stories and memory as it is by rivers, mountains, and walls. Borders and landmarks shift and move constantly within the land, depending on who walks its winding labyrinth, what beasts wing overhead, and what monsters rise from their semi-eternal slumber.
* WorldTree: The beating heart of the Heartwood is a tree older than stories, older than words, older, even, than magic. It is so big around that it is truly impossible to circle. Some say as big around as the earth itself. It rises beyond the sky, into worlds that no longer exist, that have been forgotten and remembered and forgotten again.
Lost in the Heartwood invites characters whose lives have been touched by mental health issues and mental illness to explore those experiences with magic, pain, empathy, and power. Player characters are drawn out of the modern world into one that's very different from their own, a mystical fairy tale world filled with magic and wonder, and when characters enter it, they too are filled with magic and wonder. But there's one caveat to entering the Heartwood: one life must be touched (or have been touched) in some way by a mental health issue, disorder, or illness. This experience—however it may manifest or touch a character's life—is what creates their connection to the Heartwood and to the magic within it (and within themselves). It doesn't mean that the characters are superheroes with powers, because that isn't how mental illness works. Instead, they bring their own strengths and weaknesses, their complexities, their very humanity, and it is this combination that guides their magic.
!!The setting-neutral information provide examples of:
* AlternateSelf: Baba Yaga lives many lives and has many personalities. She is both one witch and many. She uses her magic to create a new version of herself each time her life takes a new branch, following all of them at once, becoming every version of herself that she might have been. It is almost impossible to know which Baba Yaga you have met until you look deep in her eyes. There, you might see a tiny flame, and in that flame, learn a bit about her life.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The West Wind is a human woman dressed in a sparkling blue tuxedo, her short silver hair pushed back from her face, and the North Wind is a grumpy old man, stomping around the garden, shaking his fist at winter. Not all winds are living creatures. Sometimes the wind is just the wind. But you won't know which is which until you try to talk with it.
* AnArmAndALeg: When the wielder of a carving knife of sharpness gets a special major effect when attacking, they can choose to lop off one of the target’s limbs.
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Some fairy godmothers may act out of their own interests and inadvertently (or purposefully) do harm to those they are supposed to protect. This is particularly true if they feel like they have not been given the respect they deserve, or have been offended in some way. And if you should harm someone they have pledged to protect? Beware, beware, for there is no wrath like that of a fairy godmother's.
** The West Wind is very warm hearted and is likely to help those in need, but she does not respond well to trickery, traps, or attempts to force her hand (unless they're terribly clever or smart, and then she admits grudging respect for the perpetrators).
* BigEater: The Big Bad Wolf feels a constant hunger and a gnawing need to swallow the world.
* BlowYouAway: The Big Bad Wolf can create a wind so strong it can knock over foes, trees, and even houses.
* CatsHaveNineLives: Each time a cat sidhe would be killed, it can choose to lose one of its nine tails instead. Once a cat sidhe has no more tails remaining, its death is final.
* ChangelingFantasy: Changelings are fairy children left in place of stolen human babies (and occasionally adults as well), typically raised among humans.
* ChildEater: Erlkings love to hunt and eat children, who are particularly susceptible to the promises and glamours that the creatures spin.
* CoolCrown: Gráinne wears the Tiara of Pailis, a griffin-shaped tiara that allows her to fly.
* {{Curse}}: In fairy tale games, curses are likely to be common. Most witches can cast curses of one form or another, as can many fey beings, queens, and sea creatures. Even objects and places can cause a character to become cursed. Curses work slightly differently from regular damage, and can have an impact on the game and the game mechanics, or they can have more of a roleplaying impact.
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** While some see Death as evil, it is not inherently so, no more than the cougar hunting the hare for dinner. In fact, it's the great equalizer, raising paupers to kings and kings to common people.
** Gráinne, the Fairy Queen of Hope and Despair, is not evil, but rather represents what is good and bad in the world that is hidden in shadows, buried beneath the ground, and revealed at night. She has her own moral code, one that can work in the favour of those who are cunning and willing to look at the darkness of their own hearts.
* DealWithTheDevil:
** Bargaining with Death is a potential way to achieve an impossible task or gain a very rare item, but of course it always comes with a price (usually an earlier death for the bargainer or someone else).
** The Sea Witch is best known for brewing up life options—for a price. If you want what she's got (and she's got everything), you bring her what she wants. It might be your voice, your hair, or your firstborn. Or all three. Surely you won't miss them...
* DeathIsCheap: In fairy tales, death isn't always permanent, Death is a living (?) figure, and magic allows even the long-dead to interact with the living. A Game Master should decide what death means in your setting, particularly as it pertains to the player characters. Will they be able to return? How? Does it take a long time? Are they changed in some way?
* DreamWeaver: Gráinne can infiltrate people's dreams to converse with them and implant an idea in their heads, on which they feel a strong need to act.
* EldritchAbomination: The snark is an impossible, improbable, unimaginable creature, found upon islands filled with chasms and crags, near bathing machines, and around those whose coats are too tight in the waist. Very little is known about the snark beyond hearsay and rumor; it is designed to be a confusing enigma, even to those who actively hunt it.
* ElementalEmbodiment: Wind children (dust devils, gales and zephyrs) are here and there and everywhere. They are not born, so much as borne, by weather patterns, wishes and wants.
* FairyGodmother: Fairy godmothers are nearly always beneficent beings, typically acting as mentors, parents or protectors, much like human godparents. The difference, of course, is that fairy godmothers have a great deal more magic at their disposal. Overall, fairy godmothers are kind, gentle and loving to almost everyone, not just their godchildren.
* {{Familiar}}: A witch relies on the aid of their familiar, which could be a large black cat, an owl, a big snake, or some other creature. Killing a witch's familiar is a way to ensure that the witch never forgives their foe or grants mercy.
* FaunsAndSatyrs: Satyrs are muscular humanoids with long curved horns and furry, hooved legs. They are self-centred, greedy, and sybaritic creatures, dedicated to food, drink, and other pleasures. They rob and steal from others as it pleases them, often relying on tricks and lies, or on alluring music they play on pipes.
* GingerbreadHouse: The Blind Witch is skinny and always hungry. She lives deep in the forest in a house made of confectionery, which allows her to catch, fatten, and eventually eat any children unlucky enough to get caught in her trap.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Evil and wicked queens abound in fairy tales, from those who have no names and are remembered only for their evil deeds, to those whose names will never be forgotten: [[Literature/SnowWhite Queen Grimhilde]], Maleficent, the [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Queen of Hearts]], and the White Witch. These queens seek power for power's sake, not caring what destruction lies in their wake. Of course, not all queens are evil—just the ones you hear about most often.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Just, true and kind, Áine makes a powerful ally, provided that she does not feel that she or her realm are threatened. Those who wish harm on others or who she sees as malevolent in action or thought are more likely to find themselves on the wrong end of the Bright One's anger.
* GreenThumb: Áine can manipulate plants and flowers within very long range, causing them to grow to enormous proportions. She can use them as weapons that grab and hold multiple victims, or do damage via strangulation or thorns.
* TheGrimReaper: Death goes by many names, takes many forms, and has only one purpose: to make all equal in the end. Death is often an unwanted visitor—taking the life of someone who is not ready to go—but just as often, it comes to those who are ready. To them, Death is a most welcome, the most welcome, guest of all.
* HellHound: Black dogs are usually large, shaggy, and as black as night, with long ears and tails. Typically they are spectral or demonic entities that show up at night. They are often sinister, malevolent, or purposefully harmful (such as the Barghest and Black Shuck). Occasionally, black dogs are helpful and benevolent, guarding people from danger, helping them find the correct path, or signifying the death of someone nearby.
* HellishHorse: A sinister aquatic creature that takes the shape of a grey horse or white pony, the kelpie lures unsuspecting passersby and attempts to drown them in a nearby body of water.
* TheHermit: Cailleach is a recluse and introvert whose deepest longing is to be left alone to increase her knowledge of magic.
* TheHighQueen: Áine, fairy queen of summer and the sun, is a kind, true and benevolent ruler, and is loved by nearly everyone. Known for making just and fair bargains with humans, she is often sought after for blessings and boons.
* HopelessBossFight: Death cannot be hurt and cannot be killed. It's not considered wise to provoke or challenge Death to physical combat, for there is only one outcome: a single attack from Death kills the victim (except in the rare case where the victim has protection against death).
* HypnoticEyes: The Big Bad Wolf can mesmerise his victims, convincing them that he is a friend and that they should do what he suggests.
* IKnowYourTrueName: If someone knows a kelpie's name and says it aloud, the kelpie loses all its power over that person and retreats to the depths of the water.
* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys: A bone key unlocks one lock of the cypher level or lower, or provides an asset to open a lock of higher level.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Curmudgeonly and a bit of a humbug, but rarely with evil intent, the Wizard of Oz is likely to help those who ask, although he often fumbles things just to make a point.
* KillItWithFire: If an erlking's remains are not burned or otherwise destroyed, it will sprout and grow a new body from its corpse within a day.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: A cat sidhe's Forget curse removes something from a creature's memory, such as all nouns (including their own name), a loved one's face, their current purpose, an ability, or a skill.
* ALoadOfBull: The Minotaur is the singular beast from which all lesser minotaur myths descend. The product of a god-cursed union between human and bull, the Minotaur is monstrous, and only the flesh of people can nourish it. It is usually lost in a labyrinth created to contain it. But it occasionally gets free to hunt the wider world before the labyrinth pulls it back.
* MagicMusic: Satyrs can create magical effects by playing their pipes as an action, which can either bolster allies or harm enemies.
* MakingASplash: As part of her agreement with the sea, Cailleach was given the power to control small parts of it at a time.
* MartialPacifist: Áine rarely engages in combat herself, as she prefers to leave that role to her son Geroid and his army. However, if she's attacked or feels the need to defend her realm or someone in it, she will not hesitate to step in.
* TheMaze: The Minotaur is trapped by the labyrinth, but also part of it. Whenever a character attacks the Minotaur, they risk being claimed by the labyrinth themselves until they can escape. Those claimed by the labyrinth seem to disappear and find themselves wandering a dark maze.
* ModestRoyalty: Áine wears a crown of glass, but it is not visible unless she chooses it to be (she rarely does) or she dies. She carries little else, for she is a person of deeds, not items.
* NatureSpirit: Fuathan are intangible spirits that dwell deep in the seas and oceans. They consider themselves protectors of these realms, particularly against those who would damage the environment or creatures there.
* NonIndicativeName: Despite their name, black dogs can be any colour. The real distinction is that they are definitely not regular, living dogs.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Dwarves are creatures of the earth whose beards provide magical abilities such as finding treasure, enabling flight, shapeshifting, and turning invisible. Cutting a dwarf's beard off or learning their name provides an asset on all interactions with that dwarf.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: In fairy tales, the word ''fey'' covers a huge category of creatures, from faeries, brownies, and imps to gremlins, boggarts and goblins. There are so many types of fey beings in the world that it's nearly impossible to categorise them as just one thing, or to list them all. They do have a few characteristics in common, however. They are typically sentient, humanoid in form, connected to nature in some way, and magical.
* OurNymphsAreDifferent: Nymphs are supernatural female beings associated with protecting a particular location or landform, such as a river, tree, or mountain.
* OurPixiesAreDifferent: Pixies are benign and mischievous creatures that live near stone circles, tombs, and other burial grounds.
* {{Protectorate}}: Most Beasts have a single thing that they love deeply and will do anything to protect: a garden, a human, their home, a book from their childhood.
* PublicDomainArtifact: Cyphers and artifacts in fairy tale games include [[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Jack's magic beans'', [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice's Eat Me cake]], seven-league boots, the poisoned comb and magic corset that the witch makes for Literature/SnowWhite, and so on.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: If killed, the Minotaur's body is claimed by the labyrinth. Thirty-three days later, the Minotaur is resuscitated. Some demigods claim to have slain the Minotaur, but the Minotaur always returns.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The Tin Woodman has no heart and is singularly finxated on revenge: revenge upon the witch who cursed him, upon the tinsmith who did not replace his heart, upon the rain that rusts him.
* SavageWolves: The Big Bad Wolf is a beast of near immortality, kept alive by the legends that swirl around him, the constant stream of terrorising tales. Once the stalker of the woods, now he stalks the streets and towns, no longer staying to the shadows, no longer merely hunting girls and grandmothers. As his reputation has grown, so has his appetite. He will not be contained.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: The Big Bad Wolf can track and hear his prey up to a mile away. Tracking ignores all cloaking abilities, including magical ones
* SoulJar: When a character places their soul inside the needle and places the needle inside the egg, they are protected from their next death. When the character dies, they return to life on the next round, with all of their Pools full.
* TalkingAnimal: Common animals in fairy tales are often magical, which gives them unique abilities beyond those of typical animals. It's safe to assume that most magical animals can speak.
* UndeadChild: Angiks are reanimated spirits of babies who died, typically due to hard winters, who now haunt the living. At night, they turn into giant owls and prey on solitary travellers.
* WasOnceAMan: The Tin Woodman was once an ordinary woodman of flesh and blood named Nick Chopper, but nothing is left of the original human and he became the Tin Woodman.
* WickedWitch: Some witches are the stuff of nightmares, with tales of their exploits keeping children safe in their beds during the darkest hours.
* WinterRoyalLady: The Snow Queen rules over the snow bees—snowflakes that look like bees. She keeps an ornate palace surrounded by gardens in the lands of permafrost, but she can be seen elsewhere in the world where snowflakes cluster. Most say she is cold, and they would be right. She has been part of the snow for so long that it's possible she no longer remembers warmth or kindness or love.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Cailleach once lived on land. Now she is a recluse deep in the ocean in the realm known as the Expanse of Halirane. As part of her bargain with the sea, she can never return to dry land again, or she will lose all of her powers forever.
!!The Lost in the Heartwood setting provides examples of:
* AnimalMecha:
** Near the centre of Nightingale, giving it its name, a glass and crystal tower stretches taller than the tallest of trees. At the very top, a mechanical nightingale warbles until the end of time.
** The House That Jack Built is protected by a flock of mechanical goats and sheep, run by Bo Peep, which is far more dangerous than it sounds.
* BadLuckCharm: It is considered bad luck to even consider taking someone else's passage marker on the Path of Pins and Needles in the Enchanted Forest. Those who choose to do so find that bad luck quickly begins to befall them until they return the object to the exact place where they found it.
* BalefulPolymorph: The Coachman takes great pride in tracking down and turning those who've just committed their third crime within the Catchfools city limits into donkeys.
* BatOutOfHell: Flocks of territorial giant bats hang upside down from the bottom of the clouds beneath the Welkin Barrier.
* BazaarOfTheBizarre: A large open-air market along Nightingale's golden river, Knaves All Three features nearly every type of product and service imaginable.
* TheCasino: The best-known gambling den in all of Catchfools, and perhaps all of the Heartwood, Billy Goats Gruff features every type of game imaginable, and some that aren't.
* TheCavalry: The Seven Ravens Army runs a smuggling operation, designed to snatch young children from the jaws of danger and deliver them somewhere safe.
* ClockTower: The Croc Clock is a huge clock tower that looks like a crocodile standing upon the very end of its tail. The tower is so tall that the crocodile's upper body is lost among the clouds, but in its very middle, visible and audible to those who pass by, is a giant ticking clock. The clock chimes the hour—the one place in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes that actually keeps Heartwood time—but when you hear that chime is affected by distance and fog and memory and magic. The clock face changes constantly, showing something that has happened, is happening, or will happen.
* ConsummateLiar: The horseless heads in the Broken Crowndown speak prophecies that never come true:
-->''Beware, beware, the horseless heads''
-->''for all who see them fall down dead''
-->''the heads may promise many things''
-->''like wishes and fishes and silver rings''
-->''like dishes and kisses and woken kings''
-->''but all they want's to steal your bones''
-->''and have a body of their own''
* CreepyChild: During the day, changeling children seem unaffected by much of anything. But at night, they begin to grab on to whoever is nearby, seeking some semblance of love and affection. They squeeze too tight and bite too hard, and once they've latched on, it is difficult to make them let go.
* DyingTown: Hamlets and villages in the Broken Crowndom are suffering deeply inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, but struggle on. Near-barren land is still plowed and planted. Life, as they say, goes on, even if it is frightening and monstrous.
* EmptyShell: Sometimes, the Enchanted Forest might take all of a person's memories, turning them into a shell who wanders aimlessly through the woods, unable to recall who or where they are, or what they were once doing here.
* FeatheredFiend: Black as a tar-barrel and big enough to blot out the entirety of the sky, the monstrous crow keeps the curious and the devious (and truly, everyone else) from looking at, touching, or attempting to wake the Cardinal King. It is fiercely loyal, viciously dangerous, and dangerously smart.
* FloatingContinent: The Welkin Barrier rests high above the Heartwood—it's a cloudscape, as the land rests, seemingly impossibly, on the top of the clouds.
* FoodChains: Somewhere, a trusting human takes a bite of the world's most beautiful pomegranate and is stuck forever in the Eaternitea Party.
* GateGuardian: The enchanted moura is a supernatural being who guards the entryway to Direwood. No matter where one attempts to cross into Direwood, they likely encounter the enchanted moura waiting. If one encounters the moura once and refuses to help her, she will make it more difficult for them to enter or leave Direwood.
* GeniusLoci: Most Never Never Isles are alive, and they often keep a lookout for their creators. Sometimes they arrive in a character's life when the character needs them most. Other times, they disappear for long stretches, usually when the character is happy or content. Rarely, an isle grows distant from its creator, and may even become a danger to them. The reasons for this aren't always known, and bringing a lost isle back into a creator's fold is often a complicated and long-term endeavor.
* TheGoodKing: The Listening King, who holds open court for a few hours almost every day in Nightingale, listens to requests from those who live in town, as well as from those who are visiting, and does his best to give everyone what they ask for.
* HairRaisingHare: Undertaker rabbits walk the streets of Catchfools in pairs, wearing dark hoods, humming minor-chord mantras, and carrying small ornate coffins with people's names on them. Anyone who sees their name on one of the coffins must commit a sin or indulge in a vice as soon as possible to keep the undertaker rabbits and their death coffins at bay.
* HellishHorse: Headless horses are nearly always the colour of shadows. They whinny and scream from the opening at the top of their severed necks. The drum of their hooves sounds like coming doom.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: Snow White is one of Nightingale's most successful business owners, running the Laced Bodice, a high-end comfort house, along with an adjacent bar and eatery called The Poisoned Apple. Snow is beloved not just by those whom she employs, but by nearly everyone in Nightingale. Much of her earnings go back into the community, particularly to the Cursed Spindle, a rehab program and shelter for addicts, the cursed, and those who are just down on their luck.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Every Wild Hunt is different, but the prey always includes at least a few humans, a fey being or two, and a god of some sort or, at the very least, a very powerful witch.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Some enter the Enchanted Forest just to forget what happened long before doing so. Some part of their lives or existence brings them pain and suffering, and they wish not to carry those burdens of their former selves. This type of purposeful forgetting requires a bargain with the forest.
* LivingDream:
** When the Cardinal King fell deep asleep, the nightmares began in the Broken Crowndom. The nightmares ran rampant, destroying the peace of the land, toppling the other crowndoms until only the Cardinal King was left. That was aeons ago, and still the Cardinal King sleeps on, trapping everyone in his dark dreams of death and delusions.
** The Never Never Isles are places that at first exist only in the minds of those who dream them up. Eventually, most Never Never Isles become real, leaving their creator's mind and finding their rightful place in the Heartwood, but this process can take years. Nearly all of the Never Never Isles that have left the minds of their creators and become real live in the Sea of Innumerable Echoes.
* LosingYourHead: Horses without heads trample through the streets of the Broken Crowndom, whinnying from the ragged edges of their necks.
* TheLostWoods: The Enchanted Forest is a large, verdant forest that typically shows up on maps under a variety of names, but few seem to be able to remember its name and just refer to it as the lost wood or the forgotten forest. If you ask people if they have been there, most will take a long moment to try to remember, and then forget the very question. While a few do remember being there, most aren't able to recall much of anything about their experiences inside it. This is probably for the better, as most things that happen inside the Enchanted Forest are not, in fact, good things to recall. Designed to be the proverbial and ultimate deep, dark woods of every fairy tale that ever was and ever will be, characters can encounter their deepest fears and strongest foes, as well as magical allies, incredible treasures, big bad wolves, and anything and everything else they might expect along the path through the woods.
* {{Mordor}}: Once known as the most beautiful and thriving crowndom in all of the Heartwood, the Broken Crowndom is now shattered and dark. Hamlets and villages struggle on, castles and estates continue their slow fall to ruin. Most of these small villages are suffering deeply inside the Cardinal King's nightmares, and will take whatever help they can get, even if it's from strangers.
* NiceMice: The Cursed Spindle is an organisation of mice that helps those who are addicted, cursed, living with mental illness, or otherwise struggling.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: In the Grief Reef, the misery mermaids gather beneath the waterfalls to sing their ancient, sorrowful tales. They croon only for themselves, telling of loved ones lost to the ravages of time and seas. It is not possible to physically interact with a misery mermaid, for they are fleeting and fast, and have the ability to appear elsewhere just as you get close. In fact, it is rumoured that misery mermaids are not tangible at all, but mere apparitions, ghostly visages of mourners from other times and other places.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Maras are dark shadows of nightmares in human form. Most often appearing as gaunt young people with pale skin and long black hair and nails, maras can drain the energy from anyone they touch. Those who are visited by a mara while they sleep suffer nightmares and often believe that someone they love will soon die or already has.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The ''Angry Roger'' is a pirate ship that protects the nonexistent borders of the Sea of Innumerable Echoes from those who wish to steal things that do not belong to them, and hosts the annual But a Dream party, where everyone dresses as the person their child self thought they would become.
* ThePollyanna: One-Eyed Jacque is the Cardinal King's eternally optimistic stepdaughter. Loyal to the crowndom but not the king himself, she works ceaselessly to bring good things to her father's dark dreams, and to the inhabitants of the Broken Crowndom.
* SoulEating: A trio of large, ancient cat sidhes prowl the Enchanted Forest, hungry and hunting for souls. Those who enter their territory without protection from the cats' soul-stealing curses are likely to fall prey to their appetites—and what they love to feast upon most are memories.
* SpaceElevator: A few times a year, giant beanstalks sprout from the soil and grow upward, creating ladders to the Welkin Barrier (or, if someone is lucky enough to grab hold of the plant just as it sprouts, a sort of elevator).
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: In the setting, characters from the real world are pulled into the Heartwood, much as [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice falls into the rabbit hole]] or [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Dorothy is whisked away to Oz]]. So your character is, in fact, a character from the now. Maybe they have a day job they love or hate, maybe they have a family, maybe they're in school or the army or they volunteer for a nonprofit. Whoever your character is in the now, they can become anyone they want to be when they enter the Heartwood.
* ViceCity: Catchfools is a city where every vice is for sale, every sin is kept secret, and every living thing is one criminal act away from being turned into a donkey. Gambling, prostitution, drugs, horse and dog and chicken racing—if it's a sin or a vice, you can find it here. The hardest part about Catchfools is knowing what's a sin (and thus not just acceptable, but condoned and encouraged) and what's a crime (and punishable by being turned into a donkey).
* WasOnceAMan:
** White stag royals are humanoid white stags wearing the tattered robes of those who once ruled over the smaller crowndoms in the Broken Crowndom. Their antlers are woven into elegant and grotesque crowns, and their whispers contain hints of the monarchs they used to be. They are lost and bewildered, having forgotten so much of who they once were that they seem more animal than human.
** The members of the Seven Ravens Army are flying creatures that were once human children but were long ago cursed to take a winged form, and no one has been able to break their curse. For some, their siblings could not hold their tongue long enough. For others, the curse was impossible to undo. Still others wait, eternally hoping that someone out there still loves them enough to try to free them. Some choose to remain in this form, even though their curse was broken long ago, for they have found purpose and meaning in this life.
* WombLevel: Deep inside the belly of the Terrible Dogfish—a great and monstrous sea creature—is the city of Catchfools.
* WorldOfChaos: The land of Heartwood is wiggly, defined as much by dreams and stories and memory as it is by rivers, mountains, and walls. Borders and landmarks shift and move constantly within the land, depending on who walks its winding labyrinth, what beasts wing overhead, and what monsters rise from their semi-eternal slumber.
* WorldTree: The beating heart of the Heartwood is a tree older than stories, older than words, older, even, than magic. It is so big around that it is truly impossible to circle. Some say as big around as the earth itself. It rises beyond the sky, into worlds that no longer exist, that have been forgotten and remembered and forgotten again.
