A RULES-LIGHT TTRPG OF FAERIE

HORROR

FAERIES ON THE RUN

BY HELENA REAL
You Are a Faerie on the Run
Up until tonight you thought you were a human being. You had parents, friends, a home…
Until they came. They are the Hunters, the ones who revealed you a most disturbing truth:
you are not human. You never were. You appear human because you wear a mask—a
Façade—but, deep within, you are a child from Faerie, a descendant of inhuman beings of
great power. Those powerful beings left you in place of a real human child, and they took
that child back to Faerie. You are a changeling. An auf.
A faerie on the run.
Thanks to their cruelty, cleverness, and bloodshed, the stolen humans have returned,
not as mundane creatures seeking refuge from Faerie, but as monstrous Hunters, twisted
by their need to survive, who hunger for revenge. For them it isn't enough to steal your
home, your parents, your friends, or your things. They want your words, your memories,
your eyes, your skin... your name. They want all the delicious things that you are.
They are the Hunters—and you are their prey.
They have skill and ingenuity (no one survives in Faerieland without an ample supply
of both). You have your newfound fellow faeries, some more-or-less-under-control powers,
and the experience of a lifetime on This Side. If you can avoid your pursuers from dusk to
dawn, you'll be able to keep your old life and your new abilities. If you fail, however, you'll
return to your place of origin, naked, empty, and alone.
It will be as if you had never ever lived.

Introduction
FAERIES ON THE RUN is a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) about escaping the humans
whose lives you unknowingly stole many years ago. Only now you’ve discovered your true
nature and origin. Luckily for you, you’re not alone. Other faeries are being hunted down
at the same time as you are and, though you may not know each other before tonight, you
are each other’s last hope of remaining in this world.
To play FAERIES ON THE RUN you will need pencils, paper, and some typical six-sided
dice, like the ones used in traditional board games. One player, called the Game Master (or
GM) presents the situations and the rest of the players interpret their characters, saying
what they want to do. The dice are used to determine whether the faeries’ actions are
successful or not when the result is in question.

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Character Creation
Write down your character’s name, pronouns, Identity, and Anchor.
Your Identity is the answer to the question: “Who are you?”
It can be your profession, occupation, belief, spirituality, hobby, sense of self, or some
quirk or characteristic, or anything else that is significant enough to define you as a
person.
Your Anchor is the dearest thing in the world for you, what immediately comes to
mind when asked the question, “Why do you want to remain in this world?”.
It can be a person, a goal, an object, a pet, or something else you can think of.

Choose your Faerie Domain.

Available options include:

◈ Command. Your words and presence humble, seduce, and intimidate human
beings, and human beings only. This does not include other Faerie Escapees or
Hunters.
◈ Creation. You can create objects out of thin air. The larger the object, the more
difficult it is to create it. These are solid, largely immutable objects.
◈ Destruction. You can destroy almost anything, both animate and inanimate.
◈ Illusion. You can conjure up things that aren’t there to distract and impress.
They disappear after a certain amount of time.
◈ Movement. You can move in inhuman ways, such as faster or slower, or through
unnatural media, such as shadows, air, etc.
◈ Nature. You can communicate and interact with all non-human life forms. You
know more about them than any human being.

Your Façade starts at 6.

The System
Anytime you want to do something, and the result of your action is not guaranteed and/or
there is risk involved, you roll a few dice and look for the highest result among them. Once
you find the result, compare it with the following table to know what happens. The final
decision of the outcome of any action must be a consensus between the player attempting
the action and the GM.

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 ◈ 6 — A critical success. You get what you wanted and then something more. If
you have no better ideas, you get a boon (see below) for your next action.
◈ 5 — A success. You get what you wanted. That’s it.
◈ 3-4 — A success with a minor cost or a failure without consequences. You can
get what you wanted, but either your opponent gets something, or you lose
something. If you have no better ideas, either your opponent gets a boon (see
below) to their next action, or you get a hindrance (see below) to your next
action. If you fail, you don’t get what you wanted. That’s it.
◈ 1-2 — A success with a major cost or a failure with consequences. You can get
what you wanted, but only if you pay a great price: reduce your Façade by 1
unless you get a better idea. If you choose to fail, either your opponent gets a
boon (see below) to their next action, or you get a hindrance (see below) to your
next action.

Number of Dice, Boons, and Hindrances

Regardless of any number of hindrances, you always roll at least 1 die.
Add 1 die if the attempted action falls within the purview of your Identity.
Add 1 die if the attempted action relates to your Anchor.
Add 1 die if a circumstance favors your action; this is called a boon.
Boosts from different sources stack, adding more dice.
Remove 1 die if a circumstance opposes your action; this is called a hindrance.
Hindrances from different sources stack, removing more dice.

Combat
If you are in combat, the GM and players decide who goes first based on the situation.
After this player takes their turn, they decide who goes next. The GM’s characters are
selected just like the player characters (PCs), with the GM deciding who goes next after
their characters have acted. After everyone has acted, the last player picks who goes next.
When in combat, the attacker and defender gather their dice and roll at the same time.
Then, they compare results. Whoever gets the best result harms the other character
depending on the difference between their results.

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 ◈ 1 step (6 vs. 5, 5 vs. 3-4, and 3-4 vs. 1-2) — A minor injury, which is considered as a
hindrance for whoever received it.
◈ 2 steps (6 vs. 3-4 and 5 vs. 1-2) — A major injury, which replaces the minor injury.
This is considered as a boon for whoever received it; call it survival instinct or
desperation.
◈ 3 steps (6 vs. 1-2) — A fatal injury, which replaces the major injury. Either reduce
your Façade by 1 and clear the fatal injury, explaining how the power of Faerie
restored you, or surrender. If you surrender, you can no longer act in this
combat. Others will decide your fate, for good or ill.

If you receive an injury which you already have, you receive the next worse one instead.

Façade and the Faerie Domains

Your Façade measures how well you can hide your true nature. Every time you manifest
the powers that dwell within you—what human beings usually refer to as “magic”—this
thin veneer dissolves a little.
When you use your Faerie Domain, add 1 die to your pool and reduce your Façade by 1.
If your Façade ever becomes 0, you can no longer hide your true nature and are
immediately transported back to Faerieland. Create a new character or watch the rest of
the game as a spectator.

Running the Game

If you’ve decided to run FAERIES ON THE RUN, congratulations! I hope you have a great time.
To help you do so, I’ll offer some advice and tools.
First: FAERIES ON THE RUN is a rules light TTRPG. That means that there can be some
situations when the rest of the players will look at you for advice on how to resolve a
situation. Trust your instincts! If you need to, take a moment to think about what would
make the most sense in the fiction and go with that.

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A Horror TTRPG
And speaking of fiction. Although it may not seem like it, FAERIES ON THE RUN is a horror
TTRPG. This is about being hunted and running for your life. The PCs will have some
powers, it’s true, but they are still new to the magic. Their everyday life is grounded on
reality as we know it. Plus, using their powers is dangerous. Every time they do so they are
lowering their Façade and risking discovery. Although it isn’t written in the rules, I
recommend that you use those Façade reductions as the basis for the Hunters appearing
out of nowhere, looking for trouble.

One Night Affair

Now, I envisioned FAERIES ON THE RUN as a “one night affair”. I hesitate to use the term
“one-shot”—which usually describes a TTRPG played in one session—because the idea is
that the characters are hunted from dusk until the next dawn, yes, but that may take longer
to play than 2-6 hours (the length of an average TTRPG session). Still, I think it’s best to
think about FAERIES ON THE RUN as something you play “one time” with the same
characters, either in one or several sessions.

The Setting
Here are some brief truths about the world. Share them with your players and/or show
them in the fiction.

◈ A contemporary, sprawling metropolis

◈ Mostly deserted streets, alleys filled with shadows
◈ Strangers in the night
◈ Technology vs. Magic
◈ Forgotten traditions
◈ Mysterious, weïrd, and deeply interesting people

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Antagonists
The antagonists of FAERIES ON THE RUN come in three forms: Mortals, Hunters, and The
Master of the Wild Hunt.

Mortals
Mortals are everybody that is mundane. They are usually easily defeated by the PCs, and
often appear at the start of the game so the hunted can practice their newfound powers.

Example Identities: An Exhausted Office Worker, A Rich Youngster Looking for

Trouble, A Gifted Who Sees the Truth
Example Anchors: Their Family, Their Mother’s Esteem, Their Occult Knowledge
Example Faerie Domains: N/A
Façade: None. They surrender after one fatal injury.

Hunters
Hunters are those that are after the PCs. They should probably try to convince the hunted
that they have nothing to be afraid of (a lie). Once their soft tactics fail, the hunters will not
hesitate to employ all resources they have available to destroy the PCs. This is not their
world; they may look human, but they have lived all their lives in Faerieland.
Example Identities: A Three-Piece Suit Piece of Shit, A Gadget-Obsessed Techie, A
Hulking Brute
Example Anchors: Their Impeccable Reputation, Their Magic-Infused Tablet, Their
Golden Gauntlet
Example Faerie Domains: One appropriate to their identity—or the opposite, if you
want to make their powers something unexpected.
Façade: 1. They are defeated after a second fatal injury. They never surrender.

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The Master of the Wild Hunt
The Master of the Wild Hunt will only appear if all Hunters have been defeated. They are a
true power from the Other Side, both impossibly attractive and indescribably terrifying.
Their only objective is to destroy the PCs as quickly and efficiently as possible. They hate
this world/dimension/reality, so they never adapt to it.

Example Identity: A Horned, Tall Humanoid with a Skin Like the Night Sky Atop a
Chariot Pulled by Two Fairy Beasts
Example Anchor: Their Spear Made from Otherworldly Materials
Example Faerie Domains: Nature and one other that you consider appropriate.
Façade: An equivalent equal to the number of PCs minus 1. The Master of the Wild
Hunt has no Façade, but they should receive a number of fatal injuries equal to the number
of PCs before being defeated. Once they do, they return to Faerieland, promising never to
cross to This Side again (they cannot really be destroyed).

Acknowledgments
This game would not exist without the amazing CTHULHU DARK by Graham Walmsley. It
was also inspired by FATE, especially FATE CONDENSED by PK Sullivan, Lara Turner, Leonard
Balsera, Fred Hicks, Richard Bellingham, Robert Hanz, and Sophie Lagacé.
Extra special thanks to my mentor Kate Bullock for her comments, recommendations,
warnings, and overall support.
Cover Art: Gustave Doré, “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (Public Domain).