Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG, published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, is an Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game, a ‘Princes and Level’ roleplaying game in which the players take on the roles of princesses, have adventures, save the day, and do all of the sorts of things that princesses in general avoid doing in fairy tales. It states that Princesses need not necessarily be female—and gives a few examples—but still presents its Princesses as being very traditional in their origins. It comes with the means to create eight types of Princesses, their talents, the things in their purse, the perils they will face and the means how they will face them—including magic, the wondrous items and relics they might find, some curses, and a starting adventure as well as a mini-realm that the Princesses can explore beyond the adventure.
A Princess is defined by her Fairy Godmother, Gift, stats including her Virtue scores and Heart Points, personality and talents, and stuff. Each Gift grants unique items, Talents, and abilities that she can use at any time, and Special Abilities which require the expenditure of Gift Dice. For example, the ‘Wild Heart’ Gift grants the Talents of Hunting, Fishing, and Wayfinding, and the innate abilities of ‘Whisperer’, which lets her speak to animals and ‘Natural Climber’, and as she acquires Levels, the abilities of ‘Give a Little Whistle’ to summon friendly, local animals; ‘Roar’ to let out a bestial cry and scare everyone nearby; and so on. Every Gift includes a list of possible Mishaps, which occur when a Princess rolls doubles on her Gift Dice. Besides ‘Wild Heart’, the other Gifts are ‘Enchanting Voice’, ‘Spritely Agility’, ‘Elemental Connection’, ‘Kitchen Magic’, ‘Healing Touch’, ‘Powerful Friendship’, and ‘Sage Intellect’. The Virtues are Resolve, Grace, and Wits, and are the equivalent of attributes in other roleplaying games. Resolve is courage in the face of terror and other physical actions; Grace is poise under pressure and all maters agile; and Wits is mental fortitude as well as intelligence. Talents are the equivalent of skills, and either allow a Princess to undertake an action or do so with Advantage.
The process of creating a Princess is straightforward. A player can either choose all of the options or roll for them.
Princess Sage of Whispering Orchard
Level 1
Fairy Godmother: A beloved ANCESTOR, appearing to you through visions in your dreams.
Gift: Powerful Friendship
Innate Abilities: Fast Friends, Burden
Special Abilities: Sidekick
Hidden Talents: Healing, Carousing, Gardening, Cartography
Items: Oak shield (2), set of dice, 10 silver pieces, four torches, six meals of trail food, bedroll for sleeping, tinderbox for starting fires, big purse, hooded cloak, leather boots
What’s in my Purse: Hammer and chisel, box of chalk, a pungent mushroom, leather-bound diary
PERSONALITY:
At first glance people notice my... Unconventional beauty
Those close to me think I'm... Savvy and diplomatic
Secretly, Deep Down I... Am painfully shy
What really motivates me is... Instilling peace
I’m dressed like… A PILGRIM
Armour: None
You better watch out for my… sling
STATS
Resolve 13 Grace 10 Wits 12
Heart Points: 9
Mechanically, Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG takes its inspiration from roleplaying games such as Into the Odd and Knave. To have his Princess undertake an action, a player rolls a twenty-sided die, the aiming being to roll equal to, or less than, an appropriate Virtue. Depending upon the situation, this can be rolled with Advantage or Disadvantage. A Princess also has a number of Gift Dice and Heart Dice, which increases by Level. Gift Dice are rolled when a Princess wants to use her Gift. For example, Princess Sage of Whispering Orchard can use her Sidekick Special Ability from her Gift give ‘Aid’ to one of her companions when she tests one of her Virtues. When Gift Dice are rolled, the total is used, but any roll of four, five, or six on a Gift Die means that it cannot be used again until the following day, whilst a roll of one, two, or three means that it can be rolled again that day. However, if doubles are rolled, whatever the number, a mishap will occur. There is a mishap table for each of the eight Gifts that a Princess might have.
Heart Dice are used either at a picnic to restore a Princess’ Heart points or modify another Princess’ Virtue test. They are used up for day in whatever way they are used.
Combat is just as straightforward. Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is player-facing, meaning that only the players roll, never the Game Master. Thus, in combat, a player rolls for his Princess to attack, but when a monster attacks, the player rolls for his Princess to avoid the attack. Resolve is used for mêlée attacks, Grace for ranged attacks. Armour worn reduces damage. Rolls of one indicate a critical hit and double damage, but a roll of twenty when defending, meanings that the damage suffered by the Princess ignores armour. If a Princess suffers her Heart Points falling to zero, she is wounded, the treatment of which requires first aid at least, rather than a simple picnic and a rest. Some wounds effectively strengthen a Princess, increasing her total Heart Points. However, if a Princess suffers more than double her Heart Points in damage, she is not wounded, but gains a point of Trauma. She can also be traumatised due deadly or horrifying experiences. A Princess’ first Trauma Point means she is frightened and cannot use any Gift Dice temporarily; her second that she cannot use any Gift Dice temporarily and suffers a temporary phobia due to the cause of the trauma; and with her third, a Princess has had enough and her story ends. Trauma Points can be removed only by magical or other extraordinary means.
Since Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is a fairy tale roleplaying game, wrinkles can occur. This is when a Princess or Princesses ‘Spend Time’ doing something, such as have a Picnic or Rest whilst in in uncertain territory, riding across uncharted wilderness, or thoroughly searching a dungeon room, or it can be due to a Mishap or a Special Ability from a Gift. When this happens, the Game Master can roll a die, a result of one indicating a Wrinkle occurs. The more dangerous the situation, the smaller the die type the Game Master rolls. For example, in a dungeon, a wandering monster might appear, but in town, the shop might be out of stock of that very thing a Princess needs to further a quest.
A Princess, whether because of a Gift or a relic or a grimoire, can also cast spells, as can certain creatures and monsters, as well as wizards and witches. When a Princess wants to cast a spell, her player rolls one or more Gift Dice and as with her actual Gift, magic has its own Mishap table. In general, magic is meant to be special, even humble, hence the inclusion of herbs and mushrooms that a Princess can forage. In addition, a Princess can find wondrous items like a Climbing Rope, Cursed Mirror, or Magic Beans, and Relics such as a Ring of Fire or Wand of Bubbles. There are potions and weapons too, and overall, there is a lovely mix of the traditional fantasy roleplaying and the fairy tale in the magical items described.
Similarly, there is a mix of the traditional fantasy roleplaying and the fairy tale in bestiary of monsters. So, Ghouls, Rot Goblins, Black Oozes, and Trolls, but also the Big Bad Wolf, Unicorn, Pixies, Dragons, and an Evil Queen. There are curses too—of course—and delightfully, utterly in keeping with the genre, a ‘What's for Supper?’ table as well as its converse, ‘ew. what's that?’ table with such entries as ‘Fish Heads’, ‘ An Old Sock’, and ‘A jar of smelly yellow stuff (snot?)’!
There is a handy example of play and also advice for the Game Master that can also be used to pitch the tone of the game to her players. This is that the world of Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is both grim and pretty; that it mixes magic with the mundane, with the Princesses having to rely more on the latter than the former; common sense, teamwork, and creativity will drive the story with the Game Master making rulings since there is not a rule for every situation; that there should be multiple solutions to any one problem or situation and the Game Master should reward creativity; that failures should fail forward and advance the story in interesting ways; and so on. Some of the advice is drawn from the Old School Renaissance, such as ‘Rulings not Rules’, but some such as ‘Playing the role’, suggesting that since each Player Character is a Princess and thus should act like one, including asking, “…[W]hy not sing a lovely tune?”, are more specific to Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG. The advice is short and direct, so better suited to the Game Master who has run a roleplaying game before or at least played before, rather than one new to the role. Whereas Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is accessible to both experienced players and those new to the hobby.
Rounding out Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is a short adventure, ‘The Rosewood Crown’. It is a single-session dungeon adventure in which the Princesses drawn to the legend of Princess Elysia, her betrayal, and the lost Rosewood Crown, and so investigate a small dungeon. It is short and sweet and gives room for Princesses to be inventive and come up with solutions other than combat, though some is to be involved. There is also ‘An Enchanted Realm’, a mini-hexcrawl that the Princesses can explore after ‘The Rosewood Crown’.
At this point, it is traditional to point out issues or problems with the title being reviewed. In the case of Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG, they are minor, more nitpicks than problems. For example, ‘Game Master’ seems a wholly inappropriate title for the Referee in a roleplaying game about Princesses. Perhaps more of an issue is that as written, Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is not as good an introductory roleplaying game as it could have been. It is not written to be that, but its subject matter, that of roleplaying Princesses beyond their fairy tales very much suggests that it could be. However, this does not mean that an experienced Game Master could not run Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG as an introduction to roleplaying as for certain audiences it would work very well.
Lastly, it should be pointed out that Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is not designed for long term play. Each Gift has only four special abilities and short of mixing and matching special abilities from other Gifts, which the roleplaying game does suggest, play beyond this is limited.
Physically, Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG takes its design cues from Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game renowned for its Artpunk style. Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is not done in the Artpunk style. Its aesthetic is softer and more accessible, done in swathes and swirls of soft pink that cast a different colour upon the darkness in the dungeons below and in the woods beyond. Otherwise, the book is well written and presented.
Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG asks players to roleplay characters that they would not normally roleplay, to place those characters in situations that would not normally expect them to be, and to seek out solutions that foster creativity and co-operation. To some extent this makes it not very much like the Old School Renaissance, but at the same time shows that there is space for such non-traditional roleplaying in the Old School Renaissance. Perils & Princess: A Fairy Tale RPG is utterly charming, infusing the Old School Renaissance with a softness and a feistiness, as well as colouring it a definite pink.
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