Tales and Tails
by Icywhenhot
With Tales and Tails, a player can write a backstory for a named mob, and the story stays attached to that mob for as long as it lives.
What it does
A mob that carries a name tag can be given a Tale, a written story the player composes in a writer screen opened with the K key. The writer accepts colour and formatting codes and shows a live preview as text is typed. Once a Tale is saved, a sneak-and-look action on the mob reads the story back as a card that fades below the crosshair.
When a Tale is written, the mod records the biome, coordinates, dimension and in-game day in which the mob was first named, so the story keeps its place in the world. When the mob dies while carrying a Tale, it leaves behind an Epitaph item that holds the whole story and the final record, which can be stored in a chest, carried into another world, or read by right-clicking. Epitaphs can be crafted only once they have been earned.
Tales and Tails is a Fabric mod for 26.2 only, with the 1.0.0 file published on 2026-07-24. It is a client-required mod: players need it installed, while the server can run it as an optional addition. It is released under the MIT License and is not open source.
Key features
Written mob backstories
A named mob can be given a Tale that the player writes, turning a name tag into a short story about that mob.
Colour and formatting codes
The writer screen accepts colour and formatting codes and previews the text live while it is typed.
Automatic record of origin
Biome, coordinates, dimension and in-game day are captured once, when the mob is first named.
Epitaph items
A mob carrying a Tale that dies drops an Epitaph item holding the story and its final record, which survives as a real item.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Keeping a pet's history
A player can name a tamed or tagged mob, write what happened to it, and read the card later to recall where the story began.
Carrying stories between worlds
An Epitaph can be stored in a chest or carried into another world, so a mob's story is not tied to the save where it was written.
Who it’s for: Players who want to record the history of individual mobs, and who keep long-running survival worlds where named animals and creatures are part of the story.
Questions
Does Tales and Tails have to be installed on the server?
How is a Tale written?
What happens to a Tale when its mob dies?
In the catalog
Tales and Tails is one of 5,392 Social mods on ModsFinder, and one of 4,084 Social mods for Fabric. 13,894 mods support Minecraft 26.2.
More from Icywhenhot
Similar mods
What the author says
Name tags make a mob yours. Tales & Tails makes it someone. Give any named mob a Tale — a story you write yourself. Maybe it likes carrots. Maybe it followed you home from the Nether. Maybe you're still not over what its family did. Whatever the story is, it's now part of your world.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/tales-and-tails
- Owner
- Icywhenhot
- Published
- 2026-07-24
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-07-24
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15