TEXT: Conﬁdential
  A single player roleplaying game 
                by Nick Wedig
  
  “It was a fairyland case. I hate fairyland cases. 
  Once magic gets involved in a case, you never 
  know what is real and what is illusion. Who is 
  acting on their own free will? Who’s been 
  enchanted? It’s always a mess to sort out. But no 
  matter how much I swear off the faerie cases, I 
  always get drawn back in to another one.”
  In the early 20th century, magical portals 
  opened between the human world and the 
  land of faeries. On one side was the human 
  world, a place of crime and corruption, 
  hardboiled detectives and shady dealings. On 
  the other side was the supernatural realm told 
  of in stories and legends, where immortal 
  beings wield strange magic and mythical 
  beasts roam.
  No one is sure why this happened, but 
  everyone has theories. The portals have 
  remained open and stable, though. Since the 
  opening the two worlds have begun to 
  interact and intermingle. Humans travel 
  across into the fae realm to seek magic and 
  wonder. Fairies travel into human realms to 
  seek gainful employment or vices unknown 
  to fairykind.
  The portal appeared in a major human city. 
  Like any border town, the gateway to the 
  faerie kingdoms quickly attracted a variety of 
  criminal enterprises. Some people wanted to 
  cross without official clearance. Some wanted 
  to smuggle illicit goods across. Some oppose 
  the border crossings, some seek to benefit. 
  Some want to offer services to visitors from 
  the other side.
  These small crimes inevitably lead to 
  organized crime, corruption, and, eventually, 
  murder. That’s when you get involved. You’re 
  a private investigator, trying to solve the 
  murder and sort out the complex web of 
  betrayal and magic surrounding it. Someone 
  has died, and if you don’t act fast, their 
  murderer will get away with the crime.
  Fairyland Confidential is a game that mashes 
  up the genre conventions of ilm noir with the 
  legends and stories of fairy folklore. It’s a 
  roleplaying game for one player. You’ll need a 
  deck of regular playing cards (with jokers), two 
  dice of diferent colors, a set of these rules, a victim 
  sheet, a crime sheet, and some way to take notes. It 
  should take you 30 minutes to an hour to play.
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  Jokers are a surprise twist to the story, that 
  cause you to lower Danger or Tribulation by 
  1 and to reshuffle the tableau cards into the 
  draw deck.
  Each scene you will roll two tone dice, which 
  are tied to two tones: Faerie and Noir. If you 
  roll a matched pair, then the suspect tied to 
  that number is proven innocent. If not, you 
  will choose one die to determine which 
  suspect you have learned about, and which 
  die tells you what you have learned. On the 
  tableau of playing cards, you count up from 
  the lowest ranked card to the highest rank, 
  equal to the number on the question die to 
  select a question. You then imagine a scene 
  where you character learns the answer to that 
  question, where the answer must match the 
  tone of the die used to select the question.
  If the die you chose for a question shows a 
  value too high, though, your detective may be 
  in trouble. You have two ratings: Danger and 
  Tribulation. If you use the Noir die to answer 
  a question and it shows a number higher than 
  your current Danger score, then your answer 
  must include an act of betrayal or violence, 
  and your Danger score increases by 1. If 
  Danger ever reaches 6, then your character is 
  gunned down and the criminal escapes. 
  Overview
  You will be both the author and the 
  protagonist of a story that combines faerie 
  legends with the film noir genre. You will 
  imagine the story through the perspective of 
  your detective protagonist, but you will also 
  be creating the story as you play.
  You will be taking on the fictional persona of 
  a detective, hired to investigate a murder. 
  There are six potential suspects. If you can 
  narrow the list of potential culprits down to 
  one name, then you’ll have identified the 
  killer.
  A tableau of playing cards represents potential 
  questions that you might learn the answer to 
  as you play. Each playing card has a question 
  tied to it, based on rank and suit. The face 
  cards (Jack, Queen and King) are tied to the 
  crime and victim you chose. The other cards 
  are the same for all scenarios. If you answer a 
  King or Queen ranked question about a 
  suspect, then that suspect is proven innocent. 
  If you draw an Ace from the deck, you can 
  save that card for later, rather than putting it 
  in the tableau. You can discard that Ace to 
  reroll one or both your tone dice, by 
  answering a question tied to the Ace. 
  Similarly, if you use the Faerie die to answer a 
  question and it shows a number higher than 
  your current Tribulation score, then you 
  suffer a magic or fairy related trouble, and 
  your Tribulation score increases by 1. If your 
  Tribulation score reaches 6, then you are 
  permanently lost in the fey realm, or 
  permanently transformed, or otherwise out of 
  commission, and once again the criminal 
  escapes.
  If you roll your tone dice and one die shows is 
  a suspect that has been proven innocent, ten 
  you must use the other die to investigate the 
  other suspect. If both dice results are suspects 
  already cleared, then you suffer a very serious 
  problem, discard both cards and increase 
  either Danger or Tribulation, your choice. 
  At the end of the scene, you discard any cards 
  used in the scene, then draw new cards to 
  refill the tableau as needed. If you haven’t 
  won or lost the game yet, you begin a new 
  scene by rolling your tone dice once again.
  If you can prove 5 of the suspects are 
  innocent, then the last suspect must be guilty. 
  Then you create an epilogue to explain the 
  remaining loose ends of the story and to 
  imagine the criminal facing justice.
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  folktales and epic poems about fairies and 
  their kingdoms under the hollow hills. The 
  Faerie tone covers topics like magic, 
  enchantment, beauty, brightness, oaths, 
  ancient wonders, honor, love without lust, 
  strange promises, transformation, illusion, 
  elegance, swiftness, beauty, cruelty, spells, 
  rituals, ancient pacts, curses, enchanted 
  objects, potions, inhuman creatures, strong 
  and honest emotions, tragedy, folklore, the 
  magical power of names, noble ideals, and 
  risking one's life for your ideals.
  Noir
  “The realist in murder writes of a world in which 
  gangsters can rule nations and almost rule cities, in 
  which 12 hotels and apartment houses and celebrated 
  restaurants are owned by men who made their money 
  out of brothels, in which a screen star can be the 
  ingerman for a mob, and the nice man down the hall 
  is a boss of the numbers racket; a world where a judge 
  with a cellar full of bootleg liquor can send a man to 
  jail for having a pint in his pocket, where the mayor of 
  your town may have condoned murder as an 
  instrument of moneymaking, where no man can walk 
  down a dark street in safety because law and order are 
  things we talk about but refrain from practising; [...] It 
  is not a very fragrant world, but it is the world you live 
  in…”
  — Raymond Chandler, “The Simple Art 
  of Murder”
  When you choose the Noir die to answer a 
  question, your answer must reflect the 
  themes, style and tone of hardboiled detective 
  fiction. The Noir tone deals with things such 
  as corruption, crime, hypocrisy, petty 
  motivations, the failure of societal systems, 
  ambiguity, moral dilemmas, good people 
  doing bad things for good reasons, bad people 
  doing good things for bad reasons, secrets, 
  lies, betrayal, violence that is messy and 
  brutal, plans that go wrong, dirty money, 
  corruption pervading all levels of society, 
  stool pigeons, crooked cops, financial 
  malfeasance, drugs, vice and depravity, lust 
  without love, the rain-slick streets at night, 
  echoing footsteps, paranoia, suspicion, 
  pettiness,revenge, spite, pure simple greed, 
  hiding your feelings, ambiguous emotions, 
  grime, noble ideals revealed to be empty 
  charades, promises easily broken, everyone is 
  working an angle, and danger lurking around 
  every corner.
  Tones
  Choose two six-sided dice to represent the 
  two opposing worlds influencing you: the 
  bright and magical world of the fairy realm, 
  and the dirty, mean streets of the earthly 
  realm. Your brightest, most sparkly, most 
  ethereal die will be your Faerie die. Your 
  darkest, moodiest, least trustworthy die will 
  be your Noir die.
  Faerie
  “Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the 
  unwary and dungeons for the overbold... The realm of 
  fairy-story is wide and deep and high and illed with 
  many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found 
  there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is 
  an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy 
  and sorrow as sharp as swords. In that realm a man 
  may, perhaps, count himself fortunate to have 
  wandered, but its very richness and strangeness tie the 
  tongue of a traveller who would report them. And 
  while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too 
  many questions, lest the gates should be shut and the 
  keys be lost.”
  — J. R. R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories"
  When you choose the Faerie die to answer a 
  question, your answer must reflect the 
  themes, style and tone of ancient myths, 
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  your very soul, or that could throw the world 
  into chaos and madness.
  When you choose a die to answer a question, 
  if the die shows a number higher than your 
  associated rating, then you suffer a 
  misfortune and you increase your rating by 1.
  So if you use the Noir die to answer a 
  question, and the Noir die is showing a 
  number higher than your current Danger 
  rating, then your detective gets into some 
  Noir themed trouble: betrayals, gunshots, 
  falsely accused of a crime, beaten and left for 
  dead by a biker gang, etc. 
  If you use the Faerie die to answer a question, 
  and the die’s value is higher than your current 
  Tribulation score, then you have some Faerie 
  themed trouble: curses, omens of doom, 
  leprechaun pranks, ancient spells, haunted by 
  spirits, etc.
  Ratings
  You have two ratings, tied to your two tones. 
  Your Danger rating is tied to the Noir tone, 
  and your Tribulation rating  is tied to the 
  Faerie tone. At the start of the game, Danger 
  and Tribulation are both is set to 1. Over the 
  course of the game, each will rise. If either 
  reaches 6, then the criminal escapes and your 
  detective protagonist suffers a terrible fate.
  When narrating a Noir answer and your 
  Danger rating is low, you might only narrate 
  uncertainty, distrust and threats. When the 
  Danger level is 3 or 4, though, NPCs might 
  have guns drawn and be accusing you of 
  crimes, working to have you arrested or 
  killed. At Danger 5, then someone definitely 
  is firing weapons at you. At Danger 5, you 
  might clear a suspect of suspicion by finding 
  them dead, or by killing them yourself.
  When narrating a Faerie answer with a low 
  Tribulation value, then the faerie world 
  seems wondrous and beautiful. As the 
  Tribulation rating reaches 3 or 4, then the 
  magic of the Faerie tone should become more 
  threatening. The costs and consequences of 
  interacting with the magical realm begin to be 
  seen. By Tribulation 5, then powerful magic 
  is being used, the sort that could doom
  
  the cards by suit. For this game, Clubs is 
  lower rank than Hearts, which is lower than 
  Spades, and Diamonds is the highest ranked 
  of the 4 suits. You can remember this by 
  remembering the word “CHaSeD”, the same 
  mnemonic device used by stage magicians and 
  small time con men. Each capitalized letter in 
  CHaSeD is the initial letter of one of the suits 
  of cards.
  Speciﬁc cards
  If you answer a King or Queen ranked 
  question about a suspect, then that suspect is 
  proven innocent. 
  If you draw an Ace from the deck, you can 
  save that card for later, rather than putting it 
  in the tableau. Place the card to the side and 
  draw a new card from the deck to replace it. 
  Later on, you can discard that Ace after you 
  roll to reroll one or both your tone dice. 
  Answer the question tied to the Ace when 
  you do so. 
  Jokers are a lucky break. When they are 
  drawn, you immediately deal with their 
  surprise break. If you drew the Red Joker, 
  then the lucky break is based off the Faerie 
  tone. Maybe an animal turns out to be a 
  helpful ally who has been transformed. Maybe 
  you discover a magical ability inherent to one 
  of your possessions. Maybe an enemy is 
  driven away by the sudden appearance of a 
  supernatural creature. Describe how 
  something from Fairyland helps you progress 
  in the case. Lower your Tribulation value by 
  1.
  If you draw the Black Joker, then you 
  describe a lucky break that happens to you, 
  based on the Noir tone. Maybe a crooked 
  bookie slips you some valuable information. 
  Maybe the macguffin everyone wants falls 
  into your hands. Maybe the local crime boss 
  owes you a favor for some reason. Describe 
  how something from the criminal 
  underworld helps you progress in the case. 
  Lower your Danger value by 1.
  Whichever Joker you drew is immediately 
  discarded. Then reshuffle the tableau into the 
  draw deck. Draw a new 6 cards for a new 
  tableau.
  The Tableau
  The playing cards represent different 
  questions you could learn the answer to in the 
  course of your investigations. Each playing 
  card has a question tied to it, based on rank 
  and suit. The face cards (Jack, Queen and 
  King) are based off the crime and victim you 
  chose. The other cards are the same for all 
  scenarios. Clubs card relate to the Means to 
  commit the crime. Diamonds cards are about 
  the Motive a suspect might have. Spades 
  question deal with the Opportunity to 
  commit the crime. And Hearts cards are 
  about the relationships between the suspect, 
  the victim and your detective.
  When you answer a question from one of the 
  cards in the tableau, you discard the card. 
  When you’re done imagining a scene to 
  answer that question, you draw a new card to 
  replace it in the tableau. There should always 
  be 6 cards face up in the tableau.
  Cards in the tableau are always arranged by 
  rank and suit. The lowest ranked card is 
  placed furthest from the draw deck, in the 
  first space. If the tone die you use to answer a
  If there is a tie for rank of card, then you sort 
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  So if you have the 7 of Hearts and the 7 of 
  Spades, Spades ranks higher than Hearts, so 
  you place it closer to the deck. Then reshuffle 
  into the draw deck any Aces, Jokers or face 
  cards you drew during setup.
  Choose two scenarios: one Victim and one 
  Crime. Read the introductory text for each, 
  and try to imagine how they fit together. At 
  the end of the introduction is a question. For 
  each question, roll your tone dice. Answer the 
  question using the tone of the die that rolled 
  higher. (If your dice both roll the same 
  number, then use either or both tones as you 
  please.) 
  Your Detective
  Describe your detective. Who are they? 
  Explain one way your detective is entangled 
  in the world of Noir. Are they morally 
  compromised? Do they have a history with 
  the local crime syndicate? Are they hiding 
  some past misdeed they committed? At least 
  one detail of their lives reflects the Noir tone.
  Also explain one detail that ties your detective 
  to the Faerie tone. How are they tied to the 
  world of Faerie? Are they touched by magic, 
  or the still subject to some ancient pact? Are 
  they partially or completely faerie in nature? 
  Some detail about the detective reflects the 
  Faerie tone. Have some place to keep track of 
  your Danger and Tribulation scores. Both 
  start at 1.
  Determine which suspect that got you 
  involved in the case.  Roll both tone dice and 
  take the lower die. That is the number of the 
  suspect that hired you to find the killer. If the 
  dice match, then that suspect is cleared of 
  suspicion from the start. Decide how they 
  were able to convince you to take the case, 
  using the tone of the die that rolled their 
  number.
  Setup
  To play, get an ordinary deck of playing cards 
  (with red and black jokers). Also get two dice 
  of different colors to be your tone dice. The 
  brighter, sparklier die should be the Faerie 
  die, while the darker, murkier die should be 
  the Noir die.
  Shuffle the cards together and deal out 6 cards 
  face up. Remove any Aces, Jokers or face 
  cards and draw again until you have 6 cards. 
  Arrange those cards into order, with the 
  highest ranked cards closest to the draw deck, 
  and the lowest further away. For this game, 
  the suits go in CHaSeD order: Clubs are 
  lower than Hearts, which are lower than 
  Spades which are lower than Diamonds.
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  attempting to do harm to your detective, or to 
  doublecross them, betray, murder, blackmail 
  or frame them for the crime. Increase your 
  Danger rating by 1. If your Danger rating is 
  now 6, then you have died and the criminal 
  has escaped.
  If you select the Faerie die and it shows a 
  number higher than your current Tribulation 
  score, then the Tribulation level increases. 
  Describe a magical problem arising for your 
  detective, as some force tries to enchant them, 
  curse them, sway them from the path, force 
  them into a magical bargain, transform them 
  into a different form, or magically sway their 
  mind. Increase your Tribulation score by 1. If 
  it is now 6, then your detective disappears 
  into the Faerie realm forever, and the 
  criminal escapes any punishment.
  Matches
  If you roll a match and the suspect is still 
  potentially guilty, then the suspect for that 
  number proves their innocence. Do not 
  answer any questions from the tableau. 
  Instead, just think about the current fictional 
  position and what would convince your 
  detective that the suspect was innocent. You 
  can use either tone, or both tones together, to 
  determine this answer.
  Rolling an Innocent
  If you roll a result with one innocent suspect 
  and one still potentially guilty suspect, then 
  you must answer the question about the 
  potentially guilty one. You have no choice, 
  even if you don’t want it to be so (e.g. because 
  it would require you to increase a rating you 
  don’t want to increase).
  If both dice roll innocents, then a new twist 
  arises in the case. The answer to the last 
  question you answered is revealed to be false. 
  In addition, you increase the rating of either 
  Danger or Tribulation, your choice. Describe 
  how you get into trouble as the rating 
  increases, and how that reveals the deception 
  of the suspects involved in the situation. 
  Discard both cards from the tableau that 
  match the number(s) you rolled and draw 
  new card(s) to replace them until the tableau 
  has 6 cards again. 
  If the last fact you learned cleared a suspect of 
  suspicion, then that suspect is no longer 
  cleared of suspicion. Their alibi falls apart, 
  and you may still discover they are the 
  murderer.
  Rolling
  Each scene, you roll your tone dice. One of 
  the dice will determine which suspect you are 
  investigating. The other die will determine 
  which question from the tableau you answer, 
  and the tone in which you answer it. After 
  you roll the dice, look at your results and 
  choose one for each role. So if you rolled a 2 
  on the Faerie die and a 5 on the Noir die, you 
  could answer the second question on the 
  tableau about suspect number 5, using a 
  Faerie tone. Or you could answer the fifth 
  question using a Noir tone, about suspect 
  number 2.
  Whenever you select a die to answer a 
  question, you count from the card furthest 
  from the deck. So a 1 is the card absolute 
  farthest from the deck, while 6 is the card 
  nearest to the deck.
  When you choose a die to answer a question, 
  you should also compare that die’s value to 
  the rating associated with its tone. 
  If you select the Noir die and the Noir die 
  rolled higher than your current Danger, then 
  the Danger level increases. Describe someone 
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  Endings
  There are two ways the game can end. Either 
  you find the criminal, or you fail.
  Finding the Criminal
  If you ever have cleared five of the six 
  suspects, then the last remaining suspect is 
  your culprit. Roll your tone dice one last time. 
  Use the tone of whichever die rolls higher to 
  resolve the mystery. If you have some 
  confusion how or why the criminal 
  committed the deed, or any other lingering 
  questions, then you can roll the tone dice and 
  invent an answer in accordance with the die 
  that rolled higher. The criminal reveals how 
  and why they did the deed, and you describe 
  the justice they receive, in accordance with 
  the tone you rolled.  Describe whatever 
  epilogues you wish for your detective or the 
  other characters. Congratulations. Justice has 
  been served.
  Failure
  If you reach 6 in either Tribulation or 
  Danger, then your character has failed. 
  Describe a final catastrophe that befalls your 
  detective. If your Danger rating reaches 6, 
  then someone probably betrays you, shoots 
  you and dumps your body in a reservoir or 
  something. If Tribulation reaches 6, then you 
  are permanently lost in Fairyland, turned into 
  a statue, turned permanently into a toad, or 
  otherwise no longer able to act as a detective. 
  Either way, the criminal escapes without 
  being punished for their crime. Imagine an 
  epilogue for your character, and for the 
  victims of the crime. You will never know 
  who it was that did the crime.
  Suspects
  Each Crime file has three suspects on it, and 
  each Victim has three suspects as well. One of 
  these six people committed the crime. Your 
  job as detective is to figure out which one did 
  it, by proving the other 5 innocent.
  Each suspect has a name, a brief description 
  and a number. When you roll your tone dice, 
  one die will determine which suspect you are 
  investigating, and one die will determine 
  which question you answer (and in what 
  tone). Whatever number the suspect die 
  rolled, you will be investigating that suspect.
  Clearing a Suspect
  If you answer a King or Queen card for that 
  suspect, then you have proven that suspect 
  innocent. Answer the question in a way that 
  guarantees the suspect did not commit the 
  crime.
  In addition, if you roll doubles of a suspect's 
  number, the suspect is innocent. Narrate for 
  yourself a revelation that proves the suspect is 
  innocent, using either tone (or both) as you 
  please.
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  
  little corner you get to peek into. Perhaps you 
  could play again some time, and learn 
  something more of it?
  While playing the game, you will sometimes 
  have questions that don’t seem to make sense, 
  given the fiction provided already. Do your 
  best to make the questions and answers make 
  sense. Keep in mind this is a game about lies 
  and deception on one hand and illusion and 
  magic on the other. What you knew to be 
  true may turn out to be misdirection or the 
  operation of magic in reality. Don’t be afraid 
  to abandon previous known facts if it makes 
  sense for them to just be a cover story. 
  If necessary, you can tweak the question 
  slightly, rewording it to get a similar idea 
  across, but that fits the established fiction 
  better. You can easily change a scene’s 
  location, or the verb tenses, pronouns, etc. 
  Just find a way to make it work.
  Difficulty Changes 
  For an easier or faster game: before you roll 
  the dice each time, take the lowest ranked 
  card in the tableau and remove it from the 
  game. Then draw a new card to replace it, and 
  place that card in proper order on the tableau. 
  This will push you faster toward the final, 
  conclusive cards. If you’re interested in 
  creating an interesting narrative, but not in a 
  significant chance of failure, then this is the 
  way to play.
  For a more difficult game: before each die 
  roll, take the highest ranked card in the 
  tableau and place it on the bottom of the deck. 
  Then draw a new card to replace it, and place 
  that card in proper order on the tableau. This 
  will keep the final, conclusive cards from 
  being easily accessible. The game will much 
  more likely end in failure, which is already 
  pretty likely to begin with. Making this 
  change might make the game unwinnable. If 
  you want messy, unresolved plots where 
  justice is never served, then this is the way for 
  you to play.
  The Untidy Plot
  There is a well known story about when 
  Howard Hawks was filming an adaptation of 
  The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. The plot 
  was so complex and confusing that Hawks 
  and the screenwriters could not figure out 
  what had happened. No one knew who had 
  murdered the chauffeur. According to 
  Chandler, they contacted him to clarify the 
  issue: "They sent me a wire… asking me, and 
  dammit I didn’t know either!”
  Your game's plot will likely be even messier 
  than that of The Big Sleep. You will have 
  unresolved questions and confusing 
  contradictions in the story. There's no way 
  around that. Just find ways to make things 
  make sense, and accept that, like Chandler's 
  chauffeur, there are some questions you will 
  never be answered. The world of Fairyland 
  Confidential is larger and stranger than this 
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  ☙ Fairyland Conﬁdential by Nick Wedig
  Fairyland Confidential by Nick Wedig is licensed under the Creative Commons 
  Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit 
  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
  Inspiration: Touch of Evil, The Maltese Falcon, Most things written by Raymond 
  Chandler and the movies based off of them, The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord 
  Dunsany, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Jonathan 
  Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, many traditional stories, folktales and legends 
  of fairies in various different forms, Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley, For the Queen 
  by Alex Roberts, Power Grid by Friedemann Friese, Swords Without Master by 
  Epidiah Ravachol
  
  Hearts ♡
  A - Who unexpectedly comes to your aid?
  2 - Where have you dealt with this suspect before?
  3 - Why does this suspect feel fierce loyalty to you, even if it isn’t 
  reciprocated?
  4 - How does this suspect convince you, against your better judgment, to trust 
  them?
  5 - What warning about this suspect did the victim fail to heed?
  6 - What secret relationship did they have with the victim? What evidence 
  do you discover of it?
  7 - Why was the victim afraid of this suspect?
  8 - How does this suspect suddenly betray you?
  9 - What secret was the victim keeping from this suspect, and why do they 
  tell you about it?
  10 - What secret have they been trying to hide?
  Diamonds ♢
  Clubs ♣
  Spades  ♠
  A - What magical talent have you been hiding that saves your bacon?
  2 - What clue suggests this suspect might be the culprit?
  3 - Where could this suspect have gotten the means to commit the crime?
  4 - What uncommon skills or abilities does the suspect possess that might aid 
  them in committing the crime?
  5 - What did the suspect once possess that would have been crucial in 
  committing the crime, that they now claim to have lost or given away?
  6 - What criminal associates do they have that could have helped commit the 
  crime?
  7 - How do you trick the suspect into revealing criminal capabilities they kept 
  hidden?
  8 - What suspicious item did a witness see this suspect disposing of?
  9 - How does new evidence make you reconsider what you know about this 
  suspect?
  10 - What tiny mistake did the criminal make when committing the crime, 
  and why does it point you toward this suspect?
  A - What do you have in that the suspect wants? What will they give you to get it?
  2 - How might this suspect benefit from the crime being committed?
  3 - Why would they want to harm the victim?
  4 - What debt did the victim owe this suspect?
  5 - What previous harm did they blame on the victim?
  6 - How were the victim and this suspect rivals or enemies?
  7 - How did this suspect previously sacrifice their own happiness to harm the 
  victim?
  8 - Why do they claim they would never want to commit the crime?
  9 - What makes you most suspicious about their story?
  10 - What other crime or nefarious deed are they involved in?
  A - How do your detective skills help you in a time of need?
  2 - Where do they claim they were at the time of the crime?
  3 - How could this suspect have gotten access to the scene of the crime?
  4 - What criminal enterprise or nefarious plot is this suspect involved in?
  5 - When and where did this suspect last see the victim alive?
  6 - What clue was left that suggests this suspect was at the scene of the crime?
  7 - What similar crime did the suspect commit before?
  8 - Where do you tail the suspect that suggests they are hiding something?
  9 - Who does this suspect claim they saw fleeing the crime scene?
  10 - Which part of their alibi is revealed to be a lie? How do you prove that?
  
  Catalexis
  The only rightful Faerie queen, 
  if you ask her. If she can’t find a 
  sacrifice by All Souls Day 
  (November 2nd, two days from 
  now), she will lose her magical 
  power.
  The Victim
  Tamburlaine
  A mortal knight, who had been 
  unwillingly in Catalexis’s 
  service for centuries. When he 
  was selected to be the sacrifice 
  Catalexis paid to Hell once 
  every 7 years, Janet helped him 
  escape to mortal lands.
  The victim was one Janet Burd.  17 years 
  old, and dead in the Halloween night. She 
  had been in my office two weeks ago, asking 
  for assistance obtaining a poison rose. Poison 
  roses are fairy herbs, typically used as an 
  abortifacient. Illegal to bring into human 
  land, because of their reputation.
  Janet said that she had fallen for a man, but 
  that he couldn’t be with her. He had sworn 
  an oath to Catalexis, a fairy queen, centuries 
  ago. An affair with a mortal girl could doom 
  him. Catalexis had a pact with Hell. Every 7 
  years on Halloween, she’d send a servant to 
  die to maintain her immortality and magical 
  power. This year, she selected Tamburlaine. 
  Janet managed to rescue him and get him 
  into mortal lands where Catalexis can’t 
  touch him. Janet, though, didn’t make it out 
  as safely.
  What did Janet fear would happen if she gave birth 
  to Tamburlaine’s baby?
  The Suspects
  Hearts ♡
  Diamonds ♢
  5
  3
  1
  How did this suspect find out about 
  Janet’s pregnancy?
  Why was this suspect willing to be 
  the tithe to Hell to protect Janet?
  What does this suspect hope to get 
  from a pact with Hell? How does this 
  murder ruin their plan?
  How do you discover that this suspect 
  provided Janet with the poison rose 
  she sought?
  How did this suspect help Janet 
  free Tamburlaine from his oath?
  How was this suspect working to 
  help Janet?
  ose
  oison
  The
  Olivia Burd
  Janet’s mother, and leader of an 
  anti-faerie political movement. 
  Olivia doesn’t believe any 
  humans should interact with 
  the faerie realm. She’s not going 
  to like what her daughter was 
  up to.
  PR
  J
  Q
  K
  J
  Q
  K
  
  Vivian Calder
  Victim’s estranged wife, a 
  member of a notorious crime 
  family who was trying to build 
  herself a life in legitimate 
  business. But when she found 
  Calder was stepping out on her, 
  she went right back to the mob.
  Millie Hoback
  Human, former overseer of the 
  mines, now unemployed and 
  angry drunk. She’s pissed off 
  that kobolds are taking jobs 
  from her human crew. Is she 
  angry enough to do something 
  about it?
  The Victim
  How did Calder swindle this suspect 
  out of something that was rightfully 
  theirs? What was it?
  What would this suspect have 
  accomplished or gained if Calder had 
  lived, that now is lost to them?
  What illegal activity were Calder and 
  this suspect up to, using the  mines as 
  cover? How is that scheme now 
  imperiled by his death?
  Monte Calder, human mining magnate. He 
  built up his mining company through shady 
  business dealings and lucrative government 
  contracts and a lot of underpaid faerie labor. 
  Kobolds are mine spirits. They lived 
  underground, and were notorious for 
  scaring away miners and causing mine 
  collapses. Calder had the bright idea to hire 
  the kobolds as miners instead of humans. 
  The mine spirits could sniff out veins of 
  precious metal, and were immune to mine 
  collapse. And they didn’t ask for much, just 
  some cobalt ore.  Eventually, the kobolds 
  realized they were being duped, though. 
  Now the mine is shut down by a strike. The 
  kobolds won’t work until they’re paid 
  human level wages. Anger and 
  recrimination on both sides of the picket 
  line. Maybe enough to lead to murder.
  Besides the kobold labor, how else was Calder’s 
  mining company cutting corners to increase his 
  personal profit?
  The Suspects
  Hearts ♡
  Diamonds ♢
  5
  3
  1
  When the suspect and Calder last 
  met, what did they have a big 
  argument about?
  What secret of Calder’s has this 
  suspect been trying to keep hidden, 
  even after he is dead? Why?
  What secret was this suspect hiding, 
  in the mines, that has been causing 
  them to act suspiciously?
  Fribble
  Kobold labor union organizer 
  and true believer in his cause. 
  Through hard work, he’s gotten 
  all the mine spirits to stop all 
  work until they get the same 
  pay and respect that human 
  workers would get. 
  J
  Q
  K
  J
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  Too 
  Greedily 
  Deep
  And Too 
  
  Truncherface
  Bannafeet’s cousin, the hill-trow 
  that was supposed to be hiding 
  Cleveland. Like all trows, he 
  enjoys playing pranks, has had a 
  few run-ins with the law, and 
  never answers a question 
  straight.
  Leonora Kwan
  A very rich, very famous art 
  collector. Some say she made her 
  fortune smuggling art into and 
  out of Faerie. Did she locate the 
  thief and take her artifact back 
  personally?
  Big Mama Morgan
  She runs the Morgan crime 
  family. Cleveland reportedly 
  owed her a lot of money. The 
  Kwan heist was supposed to pay 
  off the debt. But maybe Mama 
  Morgan got too impatient.
  What makes you think this suspect 
  knows where the artifact is now?
  The suspect gives you the artifact 
  for safe keeping. Why were they 
  hiding it?
  Why did this suspect pay Cleveland 
  and Bannafeet to steal the artifact?
  Why did Cleveland owe this 
  suspect a massive debt?
  Why did this suspect help 
  Cleveland hide with the hill-trows 
  after the robbery went south?
  Why is this suspect’s life in danger 
  after Cleveland’s death?
  ‘‘Cleveland’’ Sykes was a small-time burglar 
  and a big-time drug addict. Cleveland was 
  part of a pair, in crime and love, with a 
  hill-trow named Bannafeet. Two weeks ago, 
  the pair robbed the Kwan family mansion. 
  They were discovered by a security guard, 
  and Bannafeet died. I guess their plans didn’t 
  include the security detail having cold iron 
  weapons on them. Since then, the police 
  have been scouring the city looking for 
  Cleveland. Cleveland managed to escape the 
  mansion with a priceless artifact in hand. 
  Police assumed that they were hiding out 
  under the hollow hills with Bannafeet’s 
  family of hill-trows. Trows are goblin-like 
  tricksters that live in warrens of lavishly 
  decorated tunnels. They’re always causing 
  problems for the police, but there isn’t much 
  human authorities can do to them. Now 
  Cleveland turns up dead, and the artifact has 
  vanished. But somebody must know where 
  it went.
  What was the artifact that Cleveland stole? What 
  makes it so valuable?
  The Suspects
  Hearts ♡
  Diamonds ♢
  5
  3
  1
  The Victim
  J
  Q
  K
  J
  Q
  K
  Hollow Hills &
  Hollow Hearts
  
  6
  Eglantine
  A rose elf, a spirit of flowers, 
  only two inches tall but can 
  magically control plant life. 
  Lived in the victim’s flower 
  garden until the victim kicked 
  them out last month. 
  4
  Moe Darlington 
  The victim’s illicit lover, asleep 
  in the bed beside them. 
  Untouched by the vines. Was 
  Moe  spared for some reason, or 
  did he engineer this himself?
  Also a gambling addict deep in 
  debt.
  Della Graves  
  The victim’s half-sister. 
  Recently returned to live with 
  the victim after her husband 
  fled town, leaving her with 
  nothing. She does not approve 
  of the victim and Moe’s affair.2
  The day before they died, the victim received 
  a potted jasmine plant as an anonymous gift. 
  No one knew who sent it, but the flowers 
  were pleasant enough to keep. During the 
  night, the jasmine plant’s tendrils grew out 
  from the pot. Vines crept across the building, 
  filling the entire the room where the victim 
  slept. By morning, the vines had enveloped 
  the victim and strangled them to death.
  When the plant grew so unnaturally 
  quickly, it burst the pot. Inside the potting 
  soil is the skull of a human or humanlike 
  being. No one knows who the skull belongs 
  to—or at least, if they do know then they 
  aren’t saying.
  What previous case does this remind you of? Which 
  suspect was involved in that, though you never could 
  prove anything?
  The Suspects
  Clubs ♣
  Spades  ♠
  The Crime
  Flowers
  Vengeance 
  The
  of
  J
  Q
  K
  J
  Q
  K
  How was thing suspect previously 
  tied to a different crime involving 
  plant magic?
  What proves that this suspect was 
  magically forced into a deep sleep at 
  the time the crime was committed?
  Why do the spirits of the flowers 
  hate this suspect and refuse to do 
  anything to help them?
  Who does the suspect tell you the 
  skull belonged to? Why did they hide 
  this knowledge from you?
  The suspect believes they were being 
  targeted by the killer as well. What 
  makes you think that is true?
  You discover the flower magic spell 
  used to kill the victim. What specific 
  requirement does it have that this 
  suspect could never fulfill?
  
  6
  Hollyhock
  A brownie, known for crafting 
  impossibly perfect porcelain 
  dolls that look like anyone the 
  client asks for. The dolls could 
  come to life and sing and 
  dance… maybe do more than 
  that.
  4
  Minnie Hargrave 
  A human smuggler, who had 
  previously used similar magic to 
  smuggle drugs across the Faerie 
  border. Hide some adder’s fork 
  inside your mule’s hollow 
  interior, and the authorities 
  will never find it.
  Edith Montague 
  The famous movie star, also the 
  victim’s sister. Recently 
  returned from Hollywood, she 
  refuses to say why. According to 
  the tabloids, she’s rumored to be 
  embroiled in a scandal of an 
  unclear, but juicy, nature. 2
  The victim was arguing with their sister, the 
  famous movie star Edith Montague, when 
  they tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. 
  And when they hit the landing, they 
  shattered into a thousand pieces.
  Somehow, the victim had been replaced with 
  a porcelain doll. An exact duplicate, 
  animated by faerie magic and made to look 
  identical to the victim.
  The real victim had disappeared. Maybe they 
  ran away voluntarily. Maybe somebody had 
  them taken out. The crockery doppelganger 
  meant that no one suspected a thing for some 
  time. Lets everyone clean up their stories, 
  hide the evidence, establish alibis. That will 
  make ferreting out the truth all he more 
  difficult. The victim might really have been 
  gone for hours, days, weeks. Hard to tell 
  now.
  What were Montague and the victim arguing about 
  when the fall occurred?
  The Suspects
  Clubs ♣
  Spades  ♠
  The Crime
  What task did this suspect use a 
  porcelain duplicate to be seen doing, 
  to create an alibi, when they were 
  secretly somewhere else? 
  Where do you find the body of this 
  suspect? How long had they been 
  dead when the victim went missing?
  Why was this suspect also searching 
  for the victim? 
  How do you discover that the suspect 
  you’re investigating is themselves a 
  hollow porcelain statue?
  How did this suspect try to kill the 
  victim, but fail because it was the 
  victim was a porcelain duplicate?
  Where and when did the murder 
  actually happen, according to what 
  this suspect shows you?
  J
  Q
  K
  J
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  Vitrified
  
  Jenny Haniver
  A undine (a water spirit) who 
  works for the local criminal 
  syndicate and claims the 
  territory surrounding Faruk’s 
  shop.  Haniver was implicated, 
  but never convicted, of 
  drowning several men in the 
  river nearby. 4
  Fish Eye 
  An ogre, exiled from the faerie 
  kingdoms. Ogres are violent 
  and stupid and kill on a whim. 
  But even an ogre is smart 
  enough to dispose of a body far 
  from their home, aren’t they? 
  Faruk Al-Ghamdi
  A human seafood merchant, 
  caught up in a world of crime 
  beyond his control. He’s nervous 
  that he’ll be arrested for the 
  casino in his back room. But he’s 
  more afraid of angering the ogre 
  that runs it. So he keeps his 
  mouth shut. 2
  6
  When Faruk Al-Ghamdi opened his 
  fishmonger’s shop, he found the victim’s 
  dead body, floating in a large tank that he 
  used to store live lobsters and crabs. The 
  victim had drowned in the tank, which was 
  locked from the outside.
  An ogre named Fish Eye had recently set up 
  an illegal gambling joint in Faruk’s storage 
  room. Faruk never agreed to this. He tried to 
  protest, but Fish Eye threatened to break his 
  every limb. Faruk hopes that if he doesn’t 
  anger the ogre, he won’t get beaten into a 
  pulp. So he keeps his mouth shut and lets 
  Fish Eye use the back room.
  Faruk isn’t the only one who’s unhappy with 
  Fish Eye. The local crime syndicate had 
  granted that neighborhood to a murderous 
  water spirit named Jenny Haniver. And she 
  doesn’t like anyone earning a profit in the 
  area without her getting a cut of it. She’s 
  threatened Fish Eye before, but not acted yet.
  What form did Jenny’s threats to Fish Eye take? 
  What does she demand from him?
  The Suspects
  Clubs ♣
  Spades  ♠
  J
  Q
  K
  J
  Q
  K
  The Crime
  ith the Fishes
  W
  What had this suspect gambled and 
  lost to the victim?
  Where is this victim’s drowned body 
  found, in a similar death to the 
  original victim’s?
  What prevented this suspect from 
  doing any harm to the victim, even if 
  they had wanted to?
  Why was no one at Fish Eye’s 
  backroom casino that night, who 
  might have witnessed the murder?
  Where had this suspect been at the 
  time of the murder? Why did they 
  keep their whereabouts a secret?
  How did this suspect try to help the 
  victim escape their murder? Why did 
  they fail?
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Detectives & Crime/Fairyland Confidential.pdf