History VideoGame / Fable

In 2018, ''Fable Fortune'', a card collecting game in the likes of VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft, was unceremoniously dumped into the world. It would have remained obscure if [[VideoGame/PCBuildingSimulator a certain other game]] hadn't mentioned it.

* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_Fortune Fable Fortune]]'' (2018), a CollectibleCardGame that was allegedly secretly in development before Lionhead Studios was shut down, and then licensed out to a third party for polishing before finally being unceremoniously dumped into the world in 2018.

In 2018, ''Fable Fortune'', a card collecting game in the likes of VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft, was unceremoniously dumped into the world. It would have remained obscure if [[VideoGame/PCBuildingSimulator a certain other game]] hadn't mention it.

* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_Fortune Fable: Fortune]]'' (2018), a CollectibleCardGame that was allegedly secretly in development before Lionhead Studios was shut down, and then licensed out to a third party for polishing before finally being unceremoniously dumped into the world in 2018.

The three games are mainly set in Albion ([[IThoughtItMeant not]] [[NamesTheSame that]] [[VideoGame/{{Albion}} one]]), a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture land based on England]] during the Dark Ages, Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution respectively. In the first two games, the player takes on the role of an orphan who grows up to become an archetypal action hero determined to exact vengeance upon those who killed his loved ones when he was a child. The third game has you control a prince or princess, who quests to overthrow his or her brother, the corrupt king of Albion. In each game, depending on your playstyle, TheQuest may take the backseat to WideOpenSandbox gameplay and {{Irrelevant Side Quest}}s.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: One of the game's most distinctive features is its morality system, whereby any issue the player decides the outcome of involves either [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation mawkish virtue or extravagant malevolence with no middle ground]]. This is especially {{egregious}} around more complicated issues such as ones involving [[EternalProhibition prohibition]]. Will you spend money your kingdom doesn't have renovating an orphanage... or destroy it and turn it into a brothel?

*** Technically it IS possible for a same-sex couple to have children in Fable 2, but it requires another XBox Live player of the opposite sex to your character to join your game in co-op multiplayer, follow you and your spouse to your bedroom, and be present when you initiate the fade-to-black-with-naughty-sound-effects sex scene. Given that Fable 2 is 9 years old the odds of actually finding vsomeone else to join your game to do this now are next to nil, but it IS still technically possible for a same sex Fable 2 couple to become parents via this method. The creepy part of it is that it implies you and your spouse invited some stranger off the street for a threesome to get knocked up, which is a rather creepy YMMV moment.

** In the Brightwall quest where you round up the chickens, after getting the chickens to follow you they cluck the ending credits tune from ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''.

->''For every choice, a consequence.''

** If you wear the Mercenary Beard in ''Fable III'', Jasper will sometimes remark, "[[VideoGame/{{Half-Life}} That beard should be a real boon if you're seeking a job in the technology sector]]."

* ''VideoGame/FableTheJourney'' (2012), a {{Kinect}} game that takes place after ''VideoGame/FableIII''.

''Fable: The Journey'' was released in October 2012. A companion XboxLiveArcade game, ''Fable Heroes'' is a ''VideoGame/CastleCrashers''-styled party game that will work in concert with ''The Journey'' and [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/16897/fable-heroes-appears-on-xbox-live-marketplace was released]] on May 2, 2012.

* FollowTheLeader: Sometimes described as the lovechild of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' and ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}''.

** Listen to the children as they play in ''Fable II'' and if you know your video games you'll be able to pick out shout outs to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', ''VideoGame/BioShock'', ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' and many others. There's even a ''PlanescapeTorment'' joke in there.

* AltarTheSpeed: Romancing someone enough to want to marry you takes about 5 minutes of flirting, and presenting a gift or 3.

*** TruthInTelevision: Screaming [[ElvisPresley Elvis]][=/=][[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]][=/=]etc. fans show the same tendencies.
*** TruthInTelevision: And once they find out you're a regular person, they start getting upset when you neglect them while saving the world.

* {{Badass}}: Many people throughout Albion's history, but those who bear the blood of the Archons are pretty much born to badassery.

[[redirect:Franchise/{{Fable}}]]

[[redirect:Franchise/{{Fable}}]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fablelogo_2418.png]]

->''For every choice, a consequence.''

A video game series created by Creator/PeterMolyneux. The first game released by Creator/LionheadStudios in 2004. It spent four years in production, and was thought to be {{Vaporware}} for a while, before it was released to extremely polarizing reviews. The video game itself is an Action-RPG, with the player's decisions affecting the gameplay. Unfortunately, the differences in gameplay boiled down to people either flocking to you or running in fear depending on whether you were good or evil, and the KarmaMeter ended up being purely aesthetic.

The game still received praise for being rather open-ended with both questing and character creation, and is regarded by some as a genuinely good game, just not [[WhatCouldHaveBeen what it could have been]].

Despite the flaws and mixed reception, the game went on to be one of the top selling games on the original Xbox.

A sequel was released in 2008, and was met with [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel surprisingly positive reviews]]. It improved the KarmaMeter, adding Purity and Corruption alongside good and evil, and increased the role the character's actions played in the game's world. While one can still attack a town and kill everyone in it, doing so hurts the town's economy and make the villagers hate you, increasing prices at shops and lessening the quality of the items sold.

''Fable III'' was released in 2010, set 50 years after the events of the last game. It heavily simplifies gameplay elements established in the first and second games, but introduces some new ones, such as weapons that morph in appearance, and to the ability to rule a kingdom half-way through the game.

The three games are mainly set in Albion ([[IThoughtItMeant not]] [[NamesTheSame that]] [[VideoGame/{{Albion}} one]]), a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture land based on England]] during the Dark Ages, Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution respectively. In the first two games, the player takes on the role of an orphan who grows up to become an archetypal action hero determined to exact vengeance upon those who killed his loved ones when he was a child. The third game has you control a prince or princess, who quests to overthrow his or her brother, the corrupt king of Albion. In each game, depending on your playstyle, TheQuest may take the backseat to WideOpenSandbox gameplay and {{Irrelevant Side Quest}}s.

Peter Molyneux has stated a desire to continue the series even as far as a ''Fable 5'', but only time will tell. If it does, he won't be a part of it, as he left Microsoft in Late 2012, leaving after finishing work on ''The Journey''.

''Fable: The Journey'' was released in October 2012. A companion XboxLiveArcade game, ''Fable Heroes'' is a ''VideoGame/CastleCrashers''-styled party game that will work in concert with ''The Journey'' and [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/16897/fable-heroes-appears-on-xbox-live-marketplace was released]] on May 2, 2012.

In February 2014, ten years after the original, a [[UpdatedRerelease HD remake]] of the first ''{{Fable|I}}'' was released on the Xbox 360, titled ''Fable Anniversary.'' It is largely graphical update of the ''The Lost Chapters'' version of the game with achievements added into the mix.

Another game titled ''Fable Legends'' will be released on the Xbox One. Unlike the other games in the series, ''Legends'' plays like similar to dungeon crawler [=RPGs=] such as ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'', and features five-person multiplayer, with four controlling heroes and one controlling a villain. The villain player essentially functions as a GameMaster, and is able to control the nature of the quest the players are on. This includes setting where enemies spawn, positioning traps, summoning a boss to the field, and other things. It takes place 400 years before ''Fable I''. The Heroes Guild hasn't been founded yet and the world of Albion has only begun to experience what it means to have heroes around. The plot revolves around an artifact referred to as "the moon on the stick", which is said to have granted the wishes of children.
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'''Note:''' If you are putting down tropes that only pertain to a single game, please put them on the game's page.
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[[AC: The ''Fable'' series includes:]]
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/FableI'' (2004)[[/index]]
** ''Fable: The Lost Chapters'', an UpdatedRerelease of the original (2005)
** ''Fable Anniversary'', another UpdatedRerelease made to make the ten year MilestoneCelebration (2014)
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/FableII'' (2008)
* ''VideoGame/FableIII'' (2010)
** ''Fable: The Balverine Order'',[[/index]] a novel by Creator/PeterDavid which comes with a bonus item in ''VideoGame/FableIII'' (2010)[[index]]
** ''Fable: Blood Ties'',[[/index]] a novel by Creator/PeterDavid which follows the character of Ben Finn after the events of ''VideoGame/FableIII'' (2011)[[index]]
** ''Fable: Edge of the World'', a novel by Christie Golden which takes place seven years after ''VideoGame/FableIII'' and follows the Hero of Brightwall as he fights the Darkness in Samarkand (2012)
* ''VideoGame/FableHeroes'' (2012)
* ''VideoGame/FableTheJourney'' (2012), a {{Kinect}} game that takes place after ''VideoGame/FableIII''.
[[/index]]
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!! Series-wide tropes include:
* HundredPercentCompletion: There's an achievement for this.
* AlmostLethalWeapons: Even some of the better weapons deal <100 damage. Without augments and skillranks, killing enemies will take quite awhile. In Fable 2, almost all legendary weapons are Badass. Get a master weapon (doesn't even matter which) with 4 augment slots and put different damaging augments on. You will slay thousands with 1-3 attacks each, MAXIMUM.
* AltarTheSpeed: Romancing someone enough to want to marry you takes about 5 minutes of flirting, and presenting a gift or 3.
** Once you get your appearance and renown up, you can actually get people to [[LoveAtFirstSight fall in love with you by]] ''[[LoveAtFirstSight walking past them]]''
*** TruthInTelevision: Screaming [[ElvisPresley Elvis]][=/=][[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]][=/=]etc. fans show the same tendencies.
*** TruthInTelevision: And once they find out you're a regular person, they start getting upset when you neglect them while saving the world.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Hobbes, children that have had their souls devoured by an evil nymphs--Hobbes can do this to other children, and apparently suggestible males. Also Chesty, makes no real sense and apparently has been killing people for some time and has ultimate control over his insane dimension. "Do you like doggies? I love doggies! Let's play with doggies!"
* AnachronismStew: Not so much in the original ''Fable'', but very apparent in ''Fable II'' and ''III''.
* AntiHero: The player character can be anywhere on there, and you encounter several of these over the course of the series, such as Garth, who is a snarky but goodhearted fellow, and Reaver, who would be a half step away from full-on villainy if he had a functioning moral sense.
* ArrowsOnFire: Played straight.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In all three games, after you commit crimes in a town, a guard will run up to you and charge you with a list of all of them, offering you options of how to respond to the charges (pay a fine, run away, etc). In many cases, you've just finished rampaging through a town destroying everything and every one in your path, and then a guard charges you with 30+ counts of murder and one count of vandalism from that door you kicked down.
* {{Badass}}: Many people throughout Albion's history, but those who bear the blood of the Archons are pretty much born to badassery.
* BattleTrophy: You get a trophy for each boss you kill. [[AndYourRewardIsInteriorDecorating You can hang them on the walls in your house]].
* BettingMiniGame: Several in fact.
* BiggerBad: According to ''Fable: The Journey'', the BiggerBad of the series is [[spoiler: the Corruption, the force behind the Crawler. In order to prepare Albion for its coming, Theresa manipulated Lucien into constructing the Spire and Logan into becoming a tyrant. The Corruption was itself created from a wound inflicted on William Black by the Court of Blades.]]
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: One of the game's most distinctive features is its morality system, whereby any issue the player decides the outcome of involves either [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation mawkish virtue or extravagant malevolence with no middle ground]]. This is especially {{egregious}} around more complicated issues such as ones involving [[EternalProhibition prohibition]]. Will you spend money your kingdom doesn't have renovating an orphanage... or destroy it and turn it into a brothel?
* BlessedAreTheCheesemakers: "Do you like cheese? Me, I love a bit of cheese. Cheesy, cheesy cheese." "The Badgers are stealing the cheese."
* ButchLesbian: One of the many many ways to shape your female character.
* CameraScrew: The camera tends to whip around to look at whatever the game thinks you should be looking at.
* CampGay: You can make your character this in ''Fable II'' and ''III'' if you so desire.
* CampStraight: Your character can be created to be this.
* ChargedAttack: Ranged attacks in the first game and melee flourishes in the second game can be held indefinitely, allowing the player to theoretically charge for minutes and then release a massively powerful attack. Ranged attacks in the second game, some spells in the first game, and all spells in the second game can be held for a finitely more powerful attack. Also, to a lesser extent, flourishes in the second game. All magic and flourishes with both weapons in the third game.
** In ''Fable III'', you can kill any creature quickly if you manage a charged melee attack, then quickly [[FinishingMove finish it]] by stabbing it (or crushing its head) while knocked to the ground.
* CityGuards: And then some. Arguably one of the most famous examples.
* ClowncarGrave:
** Lychfield Cemetery.
** Bowerstone Cemetery.
** The Tomb of Heroes.
** Shelly Crypt.
** Basically anywhere that in anyway some people could conceivably have died in, in ''Fable III''.
*** Justified with wisps in the second game. A wisp takes up far less space than an actual Hollow Man.
* CollectionSidequest: Silver Keys, Hero Dolls...Saving islands from blizzards...Killing 50 odd hobbes...bandit slaughtering in its various forms....
* CrystalDragonJesus[=/=]{{Satan}}: Avo and Skorm. Subverted in that according to the Oracle, both were made up by a trader who happened to find the locations rich with light and dark [[{{Mana}} Will]]. [[DoubleSubversion However, what are those deep voices you hear?]]
* DatingSim:
** More present in the second game than the first. In the first all you can do is perform expressions, give gifts, and be generally attractive to make a person fall for you, and once you're married your wife will stay with you unless you go out of your way to abuse her regularly. In the second, one trait an [=NPC=] can have is a favorite place, and taking them there will make them more receptive to romance. There's even an achievement for taking someone on the perfect date. Also, in the second game wives have various demands that must be met or else their happiness goes down and you might come home to news that your family's leaving you. As mentioned above under AltarTheSpeed, in both games if you're very famous and/or very good looking, you can (somewhat realistically) walk through town and find yourself surrounded by women you haven't met begging to marry you.
** Done much more realistically by comparison in ''III'', you actually have to be friends first, and do some nice things, as well as hug them, tickle them, etc.
*** More realistically in terms of orders of magnitude: even in ''III'', with your dog on your side boosting your social efforts at level 5, you can get someone who lives their lives in nothing less than abject fear of you (or abject fear of the rent you charge,) of you to want to wed you by tickling them for about 15 seconds, running a fetch quest for them, dancing with them for 15 seconds, giving them a present, dancing with them again for 15 seconds, running another fetch quest for them, hugging them for 15 seconds, taking them to a secluded spot, kissing them, and then proposing on the spot. More effort than in ''II'', but still ridiculously easy.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: In the first game you could carry several resurrection phials, but if you ran out you were sent back to your most recent save. In ''Fable II'', the developers consciously removed "death" from the game, both because they decided there was no good way to implement it (simply going back to a checkpoint isn't fun, and any significant negative consequences caused testers to turn off their X-boxes before the autosave to avoid them) and because they realized the game was supposed to be the epic tale of a famous hero, and in any other medium you'd never expect him to be killed by some random bandit. So in the second game, when your health drops to zero you simply fall to the ground momentarily, receive a scar, and lose any experience still on the ground. Ditto with ''III'', but if you're even mildly proficient with any kind of combat ability, you will be fine.
* DegradedBoss:
** The Commandant. You meet Commandants whilst protecting Garth as he's doing his ritual, and a fair few more show up in ''Fable III''.
** After Saker is defeated in ''Fable III'', a few hours later clones of him with enhanced Will Powers start showing up with his mercenary goons, with no explanation whatsoever. This after he personally pledges that they won't meddle in your affairs again, and since you've ruined his base of operations.
* DemBones: Hollow Men.
* DepravedBisexual: Reaver is a straight up (ha) one. The player character can be one too, if they want.
* DevelopersRoom: The headstones in the graveyard are mostly developer injokes.
* DontTryThisAtHome: In RealLife unprotected sex is ''much'' safer than using a condom your dog dug up in the woods or a back alley.
* TheDreaded: Any sufficiently famous and evil hero will have this effect on townsfolk, except for those with the [[FearlessFool "brave"]] trait in ''II''. Some may even run on sight. Enemies remain unaffected though. Which sucks, you'd think they would have learned.
* EscortMission:
** The first game has some awful examples. Significantly easier in the sequel, as the escorts are now either affected by GameplayAllyImmortality or their survival isn't actually required. One quest even gives you the option of looting your escort's NiceHat off his body and wearing it to trick the quest giver into thinking you're him.
** It's bad again in the third game. Important [=NPCs=] are invincible, but to go on a date with a regular [=NPC=] you have to take them somewhere they choose. Date locations can include places on the other side of Albion that you need to go through two caves to reach. And the regular [=NPCs=] are not invincible and defensless.
* EvilPaysBetter:
** Several missions in the first two games have good and evil variants, and generally the evil ones pay more, though sometimes the evil option is [[ForTheEvulz just to have an evil option]].
** In the first game, you can only buy property once the owner is dead, meaning you can massacre a town and then get rich buying and renting out the empty houses.
*** The second game subverts this in that while killing someone will drop the price of their property, getting the owner to like you will have the same if not a greater effect. The second and third play it straight, though, with the option to be bad and hike up rent prices or be good and lower them.
** This becomes the plot of ''Fable III'' after [[spoiler: you become monarch and discover you need to raise an army to fight the Crawler]]. You can either screw your allies over and make loads of gold, or give everyone what they want and plunge the kingdom's treasury into negative numbers.
* FacialMarkings: Toned down from the blue veins in the first two ''Fable'' games, using magic in ''Fable III'' will eventually cause you to get the equivalent of ornate tattoos around your eyes.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
** Samarkand obviously has Asian characteristics, since it is the source of katanas in the game world. However, it's also Garth's homeland -- and he's black.
** Aurora in ''Fable III'' is a distinctly Arab city.
** Albion in the original ''Fable'' seems to very typically parallel Great Britain during the High Middle Ages. Five centuries later in ''Fable II'' and ''III'', it is heavily based on Europe during the Industrial Revolution, with a lot of SteamPunk tossed in.
* FantasyGunControl: Averted as guns are one of the new invention that appeared in the time between the first game and second game. Albion has a lot of dedicated alchemists who are always busy making new discoveries. The use of Will seems to have dramatically declined since the first game as guns have made magic much less impressive as a weapon and were crucial in the destruction of the Guild. In ''Fable II'' few practice magic with the exception of the Hero, a few key [=NPCs=] and hobbes (who seem to have their own kind of nature driven magic).
* FastForwardMechanic: Eating the Golden Carrot and the Moonfish will move the game time forward to morning and evening respectively.
* FertileFeet
* {{AFGNCAAP}}: That it averts this is one of the original's main criticisms. ''Fable'' (the first one) was supposed to have the option to play as a female character, but the feature was removed before the game was released. Actions the player chooses to make in the game (any of the games) affect the main character's physical appearance, including height, skin color, and body type.
* FighterMageThief: Known in the game as Strength, Will and Skill respectively. Or you can just combine all three into you. The Thief also doubles as an Archer in the first game, and Gunner in the second and third.
* FireIceLightning: Averted in the first two games, which had Fire and Lightning spells, but no Ice. The third game finally adds an Ice spell.
* FollowTheLeader: Sometimes described as the lovechild of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' and ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}''.
* GarnishingTheStory: There's chickens all over the place in the games. The later games also include a "chicken" action and a chicken costume. [[spoiler: In the Quest 'The Game' you'll come across firebreathing demon chickens. It makes sense in context, of course.]]
* GayOption:
** All three games allow the main character to marry people of the same sex, though the first game doesn't provide the same benefits for a gay marriage as it does for a straight one.
** Also true of the second game. You can't have any children (or, in a lesbian marriage, protected sex) in a gay marriage. Unless you find a certain potion...see below.
** The simplified communication system in ''Fable III'' makes this almost mandatory when trying to haggle with a shopkeeper or convincing someone to like you. Friendly gestures? No, you either passionately dance together or you fart on their head.
*** ''Fable III'' has the ability to adopt a child, so it is possible for gay couples to finally have kids.
* GenderBender: The Potion of Highly Surprising Transformation.
** And in the ''VideoGame/{{Fable III}}'' downloadable content, if you are playing as a woman then [[spoiler: Commander Milton transforms into the Queen.]]
* GentleGiant: Possibly a Hero from ''Fable II'' and ''III''. In 3 you are always larger than 95% of the populace. In fact, people of the same height as the player actually ''shrink'' when interacting with them including other heroes (players) visiting your world!
* HammerSpace:
** Ranged weapons tend to disappear when sheathed (Fable 1 & pistols in 2). More of a glitch really, in Fable 2 sometimes you can see the pistol strapped to your chest, but VERY rarely.
** ''Fable III'' averts this. You either strap the rifle to your back or put your pistol in a side holster. You can also see your melee weapon being sheathed.
*** What about the shovel? Where does that go/come from?
* HeroicMime: In the second game the player character has no dialogue but interacts with others using gestures. The first game has a few words, although it more or less follows this trope as well. In the third game, the hero finally speaks, but still lets most of the other characters do all the talking 95% of the time.
* HeroicWillpower: This is literally the explanation for how DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist for you in ''Fable II'' -- after you run out of health, you are knocked out, then you get up again with health replenished and enemies knocked back. Ditto with ''Fable III'', but it probably helps that you're the strongest living conduit for magic remaining in the world.
* {{Homage}}:
** Possibly...let's see there's an ArtifactOfDoom ([[spoiler:Jack's mask]]), and it can only be destroyed for good by [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings throwing it into a volcano]].
* AHomeownerIsYou: Houses are available for sale, and can generate income when rented out.
* IAmAHumanitarian:
** Hobbes.
** [[spoiler: Lesley.]]
--->'''[[spoiler: Lesley:]]''' Come back later and I'll have a peasant on the barbie for you!
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Shows up at least once in each game.
* {{Immortality}}: The descendants of Black and the lineage of the Archons are TheAgeless bolstered by exceptional strength, ability and cunning. [[spoiler: Reaver is a LifeDrinker who trades the youths of innocent victims to malignant spirits in return for his own eternal vigor.]] Scythe has ResurrectiveImmortality, implied to have lost his soul and thus is incapable of true death.
* InfantImmortality: While children can die in terms of the plot, sometimes even on-screen, the player character in both ''Fable'' and ''Fable II'' can't kill children. This is likely due to it being developed in Great Britain, where it's illegal to sell a game that allows killing children. Lampshaded in the first game, where if you have a certain title, children will occasionally ask an evil hero "Do you kill children, Mr. Necromancer?"
* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Another of the game's major criticisms. You can, however, hop over them in ''Fable II'' and ''III''.
* InterfaceScrew:
** It is possible to get quite inebriated in ''Fable'''s pubs, causing temporary visual distortion and sluggish control, vomiting makes it better though.
** You know you're in ''serious'' trouble when this occurs in ''Fable III.'' Even your Sanctuary, (essentially, the pause screen you can walk around inside of) is not immune to the forces of TheCorruption! Ewwww....
* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou
* KarmaMeter: Fairly bizarrely ranked, too.
** ''Fable II'' also has Purity and Corruption, which represent how well you take care of your body and how people perceive you. These change depending on things such as whether you drink alcohol, give money to the poor or how much you charge people for renting your houses.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Averted. Katanas are decent weapons, but there are better ones. They are, however, better than their Longsword equivalents. The most powerful legendary melee weapon is a katana. If you want to blaze through combat, katanas can end fight in less than a minute.
* KickTheDog:
** The Hero can do a few of these. But there's also a literal example of this, too. And Reaver does it all the time.
** This trope was nearly quoted every time the developers discussed the dog in interviews. One of his main purposes is as an easy way to introduce a character - if someone shows up and [[KickTheDog kicks your dog]] you know they're a bastard, if they [[PetTheDog pet your dog]] you know they're friendly.
* LipstickLesbian: You can create your female character to be like this in ''Fable II'' and ''III''.
* LivingLegend: The Hero of each game will become this by the end of his/her story.
* MasterOfAll: The player is almost certain to be this. While you CAN choose to specialize, the way the cost of upgrades scales means there's no reason to: the cost of going outside your specialty quickly becomes negligible meaning that there's no down side to ultimately becoming equally proficient in Strength, Skill, and Will.
* MatchMakerQuest
* MedievalStasis: Averted. As time passes (between games, anyway), Albion transforms from Stock European Fantasy to an Industrial nation on the cusp of revolution.
* TheMinionMaster: With the Raise Dead spell.
* MoreCriminalsThanTargets: There seems to be an endless supply of bandits and other troublemakers to deal with.
* TheMusketeer: The second and third games' main characters.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: There's a story that tells of a Hobbe living in a town and becoming the Village Idiot. Once he spoke, everyone knew what he was and killed him. Ouch.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** ''You'', if you choose certain titles.
--> "Crap it's Nobhead! Ahhh!!!"
** ''Sybil [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Malificent]]''?
* NoNameGiven: Though {{Fanon}} uses the name Sparrow (a childhood name used by Rose and Theresa) for the Fable II protagonist. In Fable III even in subtitles you are simply named by your title, and you only have three: Prince/Princess, Hero, and King/Queen. The previous Hero is referred to as the Hero King or Hero Queen or simply a variant of "the last Hero".
* NonLethalKO: The second and third games. ''You can't die''. If you run out of health and don't have any resurrection phials, you get a scar and lose any uncollected experience, or in the case of the third game, you just lose any experience to the next guild seal, be you five or ninety-five percent of the way there. This was also planned for the first game, but wasn't in the final product.
* OnlySixFaces
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Balverines ''totally'' count. They're smack dab in "CallARabbitASmeerp" territory.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called "[[NotUsingTheZWord Hollow Men]]"; they're corpses that have been possessed by restless, angry spirits called "Wisps" (which basically look like little blue balls of light), and all of the ones we see are just skeletons.
** We later see ''one'' that really is "zombie like" in ''Fable III'' -- during "The Hollow Legion" quest, we are briefly told that a soldier named Lieutenant Simmons was killed the night before the player arrived. During the battle with the legion of Hollow Men, a rogue wisp flies into Simmons' grave and possesses his partially rotten corpse. {{Squick}}.
* PetInterface: Your dog in ''Fable II'' and ''III''.
* PlayableEpilogue
* {{Precursors}}: The Old Kingdom, which left behind a variety of ruins and [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifacts Of Doom]], most notably the Sword of Aeons and the Spire.
* QueerRomance: An option throughout the series.
* ReligionOfEvil: The Temple of Skorm in the first game, the Temple of Shadows in the second, and the Dark Sanctum in the third.
* RewardingVandalism: Zigzagged across the series, with barrels in ''Fable'' revealing humble loot upon smashing, but their descendants in ''Fable II'' and ''III'' exuding no such treasures (Except catharsis, maybe).
* RuleOfFun: Despite all of their flaws, the games can be genuinely entertaining.
* SaintlyChurch:
** The Cult of Avo in ''Fable''.
** The Temple of Light in ''Fable II''.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Guards will force you to either pay a fine or do community service as punishment for your crimes. A player who has acquired a significant amount of the businesses in the game will have so much income that these fines become very trivial.
* SelfImposedChallenge: All three games change the character's appearance in part based on their combat style (using their stats in the first two, and their actions in the third); this causes people who are going for a certain look to deliberately avoid using their character's full power, such as ignoring melee to avoid building muscle.
* SeriesMascot: Chickens.
* ShopKeeper: They are everywhere in the series, they can even be killed if you wish.
* ShopliftAndDie:
** In the original ''Fable'' you can get away with various crimes if you're not seen, but if you're caught in the act you'll be attacked by the guards. Once your guile level is high enough, you can attempt to steal items from shops. Getting caught sets the guards on you. This almost counts as a [[UselessUsefulSpell Useless Useful Skill]]: by the time you're leveled high enough, the stuff you can steal usually isn't worth the effort.
** ''Fable II'' revamped the stealing skill: now, anyone can steal from anything at any time. All you have to do is hold A, which causes an "eye" meter to appear. If the eye is closed, no one can see you and you're safe from reprisal. If the eye meter is open, you can stop stealing and no one seems to care that you had your hand in the cash register but didn't take anything. Of course, there's a rare (but significant) bug where, if you steal something when no one can see you, then hang around that area long enough for the house owner or shopkeeper to notice that the item is missing, then ''everyone'' knows it was you.
** Stealing in the original ''Fable'' was a great way to make a ton of cash early in the game. Head over to the weapon smiths, get him to follow you, get him drunk, leave him alone, go back and steal all the augments laying around, sell them back to him or to someone else and make tens of thousands of gold for a few minutes of work.
** Let's not forget that if you got caught stealing(or trespassing, etc.) then when the guards come to attack you, you could simply say "Sorry." If you were generally a nice guy, they'd simply let you go.
* ShoutOut:
** ''Fable II'' endings are [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan "The Needs of the Many", "The Needs of the Few", and "The Needs of the One".]]
** Listen to the children as they play in ''Fable II'' and if you know your video games you'll be able to pick out shout outs to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', ''Franchise/BioShock'', ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' and many others. There's even a ''PlanescapeTorment'' joke in there.
** Speaking of ''Franchise/BioShock'' shout-outs, Lucien at one point asks of the player, "Would you kindly step into the circle?" May also be a LampshadeHanging to the fact that there's no way to continue in the plot without doing this, even when you the player know what's going to happen because of it.
** An Achievement in ''Fable II'' is called "The Black Knight," where you kill a hollow man in a specific and brutal way, where you shoot out their weapon, shoot off his head, and then finish him off. Without the right knowledge, this still makes sense since a black knight is usually brutal and not known for chivalry. But others may notice that the achievement description after you get it ends with: "Turns out it wasn't a [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail flesh wound]]."
** There's also the guards in the first Fable, who will shout out "Its just a flesh wound!" when they're running low on HP.
** In ''Fable II'', a minor NPC who gives several quests is named Giles. He has a son named [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Rupert.]] The first quest he gives you has you killing a bandit named Ripper. And his wife was named Jenny.
*** Added to that sometimes you'll see kids playing hero where they fight the UltimateEvil. One of the lines they shout? ''From Beneath You It Devours.'' You don't think one of them will grow up to be...[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer well...]]
** The Tombstones in Bowerstone Cemetery make references to ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''.
** A store in Bloodstone and a house in Old Town both are called the "Dark Mark", a likely reference to the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series.
** Also [[Franchise/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Max and Sam]] Spade, who get into a scrape in the cemetery in ''Fable II''. In ''Fable III'' you have to get Sam and Max home in time for tea. There's even an Achievement for it.
** [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Really? Hal's sword? Hal's rifle? Hal's armor? REALLY?]]
** The archaeologist who offers you some quests in Fable 2 is named Belle Rennock; shift some syllables around and this could easily be a reference to Rene Belloq, the evil archaeologist from ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''.
** [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog "You're too slow!"]]
** In ''Fable III'', one of the quests inside a pen-and-paper RPG, you are told to get [[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick "Skymetal"]] to make a +5, er, +3 sword. (It's too early in the session for that high level a sword.)
*** The [=RPGers=] are named [[Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids Ben and Jim.]]
** From Reaver's challenge:
--->'''Hatch:''' [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus That hobbe is dead. He is deceased. He has shuffled off this mortal coil!]]
** ''Fable III'': One Achievement is "[[Film/{{Predator}} If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It]]"
*** And another one- "[[Film/TheMatrix We need guns, lots of guns]]"
** One of the clothing options in ''Fable III'' is a rather... [[IncrediblyLamePun "Sharp-looking"]] [[Literature/{{Sharpe}} green military uniform]].
** Several shout outs to ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' can be found when you meet Major Swift and Ben Finn. One obvious one is that they are defending themselves from waves of undead hollow men when you get there. Ben Finn is even voiced by Creator/SimonPegg.
** A tombstone in the Mercenary camp contains the inscription.: [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Tried to hold his breath for ten minutes.]]
*** Another tombstone in Mourningwood reads "[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda It's dangerous to go alone, take this.]]" Digging up the grave reveals a toy sword.
** Tons of Shout Outs to Bullfrog/Lionhead employees on cemetery graves, usually with an IncrediblyLamePun (Sam Van Tilburgh died of "diary-ea" - he also worked on ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite''.)
** Speaking of Shout Outs and the Mourningwood Cemetary: "In loving memory of Arnold. [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} He won't be back.]]"
** In ''Fable III'', there's a man whose life's work is [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy to insult everyone in Albion. It's implied that he does it in alphabetical order too.]]
** Creator/HPLovecraft: [[TomeOfEldritchLore The Normanomicon]].
*** And a subtle one: Miska's Tonics.
** [[GuitarHero Lute Hero, one of the minigames in 3.]]
** In the Brightwall quest where you round up the chickens, after getting the chickens to follow you they cluck the ending credits tune from ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''.
** [[Film/{{Arthur}} Hobson]], a ServileSnarker for a rich guy in ''Fable III''.
** If you wear the Mercenary Beard in ''Fable III'', Jasper will sometimes remark, "[[VideoGame/{{Half-Life}} That beard should be a real boon if you're seeking a job in the technology sector]]."
** In ''Fable III'', one of the cells in Ferret's Bowerstone Market hideout contains a hobb worshiping a [[CompanionCube box]] with a [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} pink heart]] on each side.
*** There's also [[TheCakeIsALie a white cake]] in a table near the cell.
* StealthPun:
** Hobbes are nasty, brutish, and short. [[note]] [[DontExplainTheJoke In case you missed it]], this is probably a reference to the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who famously described life in a state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."[[/note]]
*** In a GeniusBonus vein, about Thomas Hobbes, [[spoiler: Logan is acting in accordance with his ideas as set forth in "Leviathan"]].
** Mourningwood.
* SteamPunk: Very prevalent in the second and third games.
* StraightGay: Another possible way to play your character.
* SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom
* SwordAndGun: Essentially mandatory in the third game, even more-so that it's predecessor.
* TimeSkip:
** 500 years pass between ''Fable'' and ''Fable II''. ''III'' is set only fifty years after ''II''.
** To a lesser extent, there's one at the beginning of both games, both about 10 years or so, plus a ''second'' 10 year skip in ''Fable II'', when you go to the Tattered Spire to rescue Garth.
* TrainingDummy: The tutorial dummies.
* {{Transvestite}}: Some of the prostitutes in ''Fable II'' and ''III'', and you can get an achievement for doing it too. Prepare for some amused remarks from the populace.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** ''Chicken Kickin'''!
** The game makes you care about your family, but there is absolutely nothing stopping a player from starting a vicious cycle of domestic violence.
** There is even less stopping you from sacrificing your wife in ''Fable II''. You gain 100 good points and some renown for marrying her, 50 good points for having a child and only 100 evil points for sacrificing her. A net gain of 50 good points and some renown for marrying and killing random women (in ''Fable I'' though it can be a very efficient source of money and renown).
** Play some mind games with multiple wive/husbands,mostly to be a JerkAss. Just gather them together for some time alone and watch what goes down from. Always a laugh for an evil character.
** Those are all only scratching the ''surface'' of what's possible. You can walk into a town and massacre everyone with your powers, ruin the economy by jacking up everyone's rent, sell people into slavery, curse a young girl to be turned into an old crone...there are some sick possibilities in ''Fable''.
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Averted. You getting stronger invariably means random {{Mooks}} will too, although you still get stronger at a far quicker rate than they do.
* VolcanicVeins
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Or on your underpants.
* WriterOnBoard:
** Killing your wife gets you 60 evil points. Divorcing her gets you ''600.'' Of course, usually if your wife asks for a divorce, you've been a real physically abusive JerkAss up to that point. Or if you don't regularly visit him/her.
*** The game glitches with this, where you have to visit your spouse every 20 MINUTES or else she divorces you (unless you own the entire town and put the rent down by 25%, making the ENTIRE TOWN absolutely go apeshit over you)
** And a vegetarian diet lets you max out Purity points...
*** The loading screens mention that you gain purity from eating vegetables, because unlike meat, no animals were harmed to make your dinner.
* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: You must find expression manuals in the world if you want to learn to do seemingly basic things like laughing, raising your middle finger, or plenty of other basics.
----

* InfantImmortality: While children can die in terms of the plot, sometimes even on-screen, the player character in both ''Fable'' and ''Fable II'' can't kill children. This is likely due to it being developed in Great Britain, where it's illegal to sell a game that allows killing children.

*** Unless you eat Crunchy Chicks, which are ''live baby chickens''.
*** And ''delicious.''
*** It's also a bit of a ''Series/SesameStreet'' food lesson, as healthier food tends to give you positive purity (and in the case of tofu, morality) to reflect your self-discipline. Meat, as in many real philosophies, is considered an indulgence.
**** There's also anthropological evidence that eating meat was a luxury provided by our already increased cognitive function.

** [[spoiler: 'The Game' is pure awesome on so many levels.]]

A HD remake of the first ''{{Fable|I}}'' will be released on the Xbox 360, titled ''Fable Anniversary'' based on ''The Lost Chapters'' version of the game.

An HD remake of the first ''{{Fable|I}}'' will be released on the Xbox 360, titled ''Fable Anniversary'' based on ''The Lost Chapters'' version of the game.

* [[spoiler:GenderBender]]: The Potion of Highly Surprising Transformation.