Beyond The Borders Of Fae Lands
A downloadable game
Beyond The Borders Of Fae Lands is a one page roleplaying game in which the players take on the role of lost backpackers. Their ill prepared journey has led them over the threshold into a mysterious faerie forest; now they must find a way out before they themselves become fae.
The game is meant to evoke feelings inspired in me by a number of sources including: The work of Lord Dunsany, Brian Froud's art, Alan Lee's art, Over The Garden Wall, the Dolmenwood setting from Necrotic Gnome, and Veins Of The Earth by Patrick Stuart and Scrap Princess.
The feeling of being trapped in a mysterious location that is slowly changing you is inspired primarily by the mechanics of Veins Of The Earth.
The game is barely tested and I really can't say if it even works. I'll be doing some playtesting soon and will correct things if I find issues.
This was developed for the One-Page RPG Jam 2021 here on itch.io (https://itch.io/jam/one-page-rpg-jam-2021). The feeling of crossing over a threshold into a strange land you can't escape I hope fits the theme of "Borders".
The rules are 2 pages which you should print double sided on thick US Letter paper. The third page is character sheets.
All art is Public Domain.
Typeset in Vinque, KingsCross, and Crimson Text.
Download
Install instructions
US Letter sized. If you want an A4 size just ask in the comments and I'll try and make one!
I recommend printing on thick paper. The first two pages are double sided to fit on one piece of paper. The third page is just character sheets.
Development log
- Updated versionOct 26, 2021
Comments
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Hey there, I just took a look at the pdf and intend to test your game in the following days, but first I would like to say that I loved the aesthetics of it! Specially the aesthetics of this page, it is wonderful!
Would love to hear about the playtesting of this game and am tempted to do some myself.
Though I liked the concept of this game, I found some of the mechanics weren't really working for me. I've been working through ideas for a newer version that I think might work better!
Tell me more!
Sure! Basically I decided to take more inspiration from FKR games. I've removed all dice rolling and success mechanics. Instead the whole focus is on interactions with fairies. I've been working on random generators for fairies that include what they want, how they reward the players for helping them, what they hate, and how they retaliate when the players do the thing they hate. The fairy score is now more of a timer. It increases when eating fairy food. So the player's goal will be to navigate bizarre interactions with fairies so they can find the exit from fairyland before they run out of human food.
Long story short: there are still mechanics, they're just conversation based instead of dice based.
I've still got to work out the kinks and do more playtesting.
Love it.
Sounds laser-focused on the bits that actually matter for your premise.
That's the idea! I really should make a blog or something to talk about game development like this. It might be fun.
Thanks for the comments! It's nice to know people are interested.
Hey, just wanted to let you know that this would be a great submission to the Fae Jam 2021 (Old content allowed)
I'm finally submitting it! Thanks for the comment :)