Tall Tales of the Wee Folk is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Contents
Tall Tales of the Wee Folk is a supplement that describes magical woodland creatures such as brownies, sprites, dryads, leprechauns, centaurs, pixies, fauns, hsiao, pookas, sidhe, treants, wood imps, and woodrakes, and outlines rules for playing them as player characters (PCs).
Tall Tales of the Wee Folk describes the woodland realm of the Dreamland, which is ruled by the fairy king, Oberon. The Dreamland is home to many creatures drawn from diverse mythological sources, from Celtic sidhe to ancient Greek centaurs and fauns. Other creatures covered include the hsiao (large, intelligent owls) and pookas (shape-changing pranksters). Each of the races is introduced and described by game characters who detail how the races live, what they look like, how they dress, and their cultural outlooks and aspirations; this is followed by game-orientated information that lists experience levels and relevant special abilities. Creatures in PC1 start the game with negative experience points, with balanced relative experience-level costs such that no race is more powerful than another. The adventure book features six short one or two page adventures covering levels 1–26, and a longer fifteen page adventure titled "The Lost Seneschal," which is for 1st-3rd level characters.
Publication history
PC1 Tall Tales of the Wee Folk was written by John Nephew and published by TSR in 1989 as a sixty-four page book with an outer folder. The package also includes a thirty-two page adventure booklet, and features editing by Gary L. Thomas, a cover illustration by Keith Parkinson, and interior illustrations by Valerie Valusek.
Reception
Dave Hughes reviewed Creature Crucible: Tall Tales of the Wee Folk for Games International magazine, and gave it 4 stars out of 5, and stated that "Some of its reference material is fascinating, drawing on Welsh, Irish and Shakespearian legend for inspiration (it has a comprehensive glossary and bibliography). All in all it is a valuable, if a little specialised, supplement."
Ken Rolston briefly reviewed Tall Tales of the Wee Folk for Dragon magazine No. 154 (February 1990). Rolston called the book a "well-written and imaginative D&D supplement" and concludes that "The treatments of these beings as PCs are remarkably faithful to the tone and dignity of their fairy sources, and the adventures featuring these character types are original and satisfying. This supplement is highly recommended for D&D and AD&D game players and may be a pleasant surprise for any sophisticated role-players interested in the traditions and legends of fairie."