Once upon a time, in a magical kingdom, there was a peaceful village which lay hidden in the trees. The villagers were a simple folk, but they were terrorised by the evil sorceress who lived in the nearby mountains who threatened to summon a dragon to destroy them should they not send her one chest of gold every new moon. Times were hard on the village, and eventually they could not bring enough gold together to pay, and sure enough the sorceress sent a dragon to burn the houses down. From the ashes of the village, though, rose a young heroine who swore to have revenge on the sorceress, and so picked up her sword and headed into the woods…
Tales Untold is a fantasy game with a strong emphasis on narrative. The world and game is one where the stories that make up fairytales and folklore of today come about. Expect magic; expect monsters; expect heroes in shining armour; expect villains shrouded in darkness. Above all, expect your story to matter.
Since Realms are player-created, we encourage imagination and creativity with creating your world. The style of folklore story we're generally expecting to tell is European - the tales collected by the Brothers Grimm being our prime example - but inspiration drawn from any folklore is welcome and encouraged! We only ask that you refrain from referencing specific tales from real world folklore (a Norse-inspired Realm is fine, but literally playing Thor is not!) except where we've made it part of the world on the Wiki.
The themes of Tales Untold revolve around some simple questions:
The breadth and variety of Realms in the Hundred Realms are a crucial centrepoint as the game explores the different cultures and folklores of these places and how they interact with one another. Similarly, we aim to support every type of character – villainous stories are just as important as heroic ones.
Fairytales maintain that everything has a cost, and Tales Untold holds strongly to that theme. Magic extracts a literal cost, but some spellwork will require a more metaphorical or emotional cost. Quests will vary in difficulty, but the reward for the risk will always be proportional.
We also follow the theme that “being good is hard”. Where temptation to what your characters might consider “evil” is afoot, the exploration of what it takes to resist that pull is just as interesting as the resistance itself, and we will always support letting your character sink into their darker side.
Tales Untold is a game where we want humour to have a place, but we want to avoid farce. Though amusement will certainly be present, it will never be simply surface level or “for the sake of a joke” – always look between the lines.
The mechanics of Tales Untold are presented by NPCs that have their own character and opinions on what you might be doing. This is both to provide a richer IC world, giving reason IC why you might be doing things; to keep discussion moving around mechanics; and so that our Crew don't get bored! While all our mechanics – such as Magic, Conquest, Quests, etc – will be presented with an IC face, they can be relied on to work for the players, regardless of what their motives or opinions may be.
The first four events of Tales Untold centred quite a lot on Camelot and the legend of King Arthur, though canonically the story of Tales Untold begins where the Legend ends. We're rewriting a lot, but also taking a lot of pre-existing material as written. Where Tales Untold and Wikipedia diverge in opinion, Tales Untold is always correct. If it's not written or contradicted on the Wiki then events, places and artefacts from Arthurian myth may well have happened or exist, though characters will not be aware of these as existing. If you wish, you can write part of an Arthurian myth into your Realm or backstory, but if you do then please make it clear to us in your submission that you have done this since it may be part of the myth we are changing for our own purposes. If what you've added is fine, we'll put it on the Wiki with all other material and it will be canon enough for characters to be aware of it.
Since Chapter 4 of Tales Untold, Camelot will be playing a lesser role as its story reaches an end: we will be focussing instead on other myths, legends, folklore, and the mysteries of the Hundred Realms.