Playing the fae

[ChewyGranola]

So obviously the Summer and Winter Courts are pretty darn cool. The current setting my group and I have come up with has a fairly large contingent of Summer Fae hanging out (protecting a gate from the mortal world to parts of the Nevernever) and of course some Winter keeping an eye on them. I'm in the embryonic stages of a story involving this, but I'm curious on one point.
How the heck does one RP these guys? I mean, they speak in riddles, never lie (technically), and are always plotting like 6 steps ahead. I want to not sound like a derp, so any advice is appreciated.

[argetlampuppeh]

For starters: Have a strong sense of plot. Know the events of your story.

After that? The fae like making deals, and they love information (and by extension, power) more than even humans. They gossip on a scale that gives them access to almost anything they want to know badly enough. Because of this, it's probably safe to assume they know the story almost as well as you do. This is a shortcut/aid in helping them plot further ahead, and risks making them seem omniscient, but with practice and a careful hand, can be done to great success.

As to speaking in riddles and not lying, remember that even more than Fae like knowing secrets, they -love- selling them. That's what makes that information powerful, the fact that others know it. They -want- the people they're talking to be wowed and enticed. Being cryptic to the point of obfuscating information or being frustrating to the players isn't the goal. As "Your Story" puts it, the Dark Powers are always willing to help. Make the first taste free, then hook them with the promise of making the cryptic comment clear.

In short, prep ahead of time. Not inherently to the point of rehearsing every line, but spend three or four hours really getting into what these creatures in specific know, and what it means to them. Maeve is going to speak cryptically in a very different way than say, Mother Summer.

[Haru]

It's actually easier than it looks. First rule of Fae club: Never give a straight answer. Always leave some wriggle room. The more the better. Prepare some non-conforming sentences you can use. "Perhaps." "If you say so, wizard." "You make a solid argument." And so on. Things that sound like you are giving out clues but actually aren't.

You don't even have to have everything planned out for this. If things turn out wrong, you never said it was that way, you just didn't correct them. If it turns out to be right, you can demand a favor for the information you gave them. Sneaky sneaky.

And that's really one of the great things about Fate. You don't have to have everything figured out in advance. Especially in cases like this, it is near impossible. BUT you can make it look like you did. Everything that happened between the 2 times the players meet a specific Fae? Everything went according to her plan, no matter what. In fact, she had multiple plans, depending on what would happen, contingencies upon contingencies. You don't have to tell the players the details, just make them feel like the Fae are a step ahead of them, even if it's mostly retconned.

I wouldn't even consider that cheating. She's a Fae. She's always a few steps ahead. But you as a GM can't do that, you aren't Fae. So this is the way you model that. And it works pretty well, I think.

[dragoonbuster]

It's actually easier than it looks. First rule of Fae club: Never give a straight answer. Always leave some wriggle room. The more the better. Prepare some non-conforming sentences you can use. "Perhaps." "If you say so, wizard." "You make a solid argument." And so on. Things that sound like you are giving out clues but actually aren't.

You don't even have to have everything planned out for this. If things turn out wrong, you never said it was that way, you just didn't correct them. If it turns out to be right, you can demand a favor for the information you gave them. Sneaky sneaky.

And that's really one of the great things about Fate. You don't have to have everything figured out in advance. Especially in cases like this, it is near impossible. BUT you can make it look like you did. Everything that happened between the 2 times the players meet a specific Fae? Everything went according to her plan, no matter what. In fact, she had multiple plans, depending on what would happen, contingencies upon contingencies. You don't have to tell the players the details, just make them feel like the Fae are a step ahead of them, even if it's mostly retconned.

I wouldn't even consider that cheating. She's a Fae. She's always a few steps ahead. But you as a GM can't do that, you aren't Fae. So this is the way you model that. And it works pretty well, I think.

As often happens, Haru wrote up everything I would've said except more concisely.

[Taran]

yeah, sneaky answers that sound like affirmation are great.

Did you hide my amulet?

Oh, you are a smart one!

Which sounds like a confirmation to the first statement.  Followed up with

If I were you,  I'd look for it here.

Which sounds like that's where they hid it, when in reality, they're just telling the PC's a random fact.  Which also is the place where the Fae wants the PC's to go anyways but it has nothing to do with the amulet.

Remember that humans use lots of turns of phrase that, if taken literally, don't actually mean what we assume they mean.

Remember skill rolls too.  Do a test, figure out the result and then be as straight forward or vague as the roll dictates.