Changeling
Note
This section is under review and might massively change in the future.
Brief Overview
By the time Houston was settled by people of European descent, the gateways to Arcadia were long closed and those who traveled with the colonisers were mostly commoner Kiths and the occasional Autumn Sidhe. Relations between the newcomers and the indigenous Nunnehi were, if not as strained as those between their human kin, certainly tense as each learned that there were creatures like them but very different. Perhaps, in time, they might have come to settle in peace but those of the Autumn Realm had other ideas and the Changelings were swept up in the story of their mortal kin.
In modern nights Houston itself is populated by Fae of all kinds, Kith, Hsien, Nunnehi and stranger beings who still call the Dreaming their birthplace, all following their mortal kin in search of new Dreams. Of course there are Prodigals as well, the Mages, the Vampires, the Shifters...Some are friends to the children of Arcadia, some are foes, still more are enemies of the enemies of the Fae.
When the gates began to reopen they were centred on events inextricably tied to the city. The immortal words "Houston, we have a problem." linked the city to the dream of space travel, to the first human footsteps on the moon, and to the dream of something more. The ripples were felt throughout the Autumn world and Arcadia alike as the world's attention shifted and mortals found a new Dream. It is no haven for Dreamers though, the oil industry has had its talons in the State as a whole and Endron exudes Banality far beyond the "normal" for an industrial scale pillaging of the earth dragging mortals into an endless cycle of grinding mundanity.
Lights in the Darkness
There are two major Freeholds in the city, the central public Library and Julia Ideson Building have housed the Seelie fae of the city for more than a hundred years now, drawing on the dreams of authors and those escaping into a fictional world as well as the heritage built into the foundations of the area and the memories held dear in Sam Houston Park just across the way. It's a place of learning, remembering, and freeing the mind, guarded by the Sluagh librarian Gertrude Simms who has protected this Freehold since before the Resurgence.
The other is newer although still just about lays claim to predating the Resurgence. The library, while a revered Hold, lacks space for grand meetings or holdings of a larger court. The Houston Astrodome (formerly known as the Harris County Domed Stadium) was declared the eighth wonder of the world when it was finished. While the city celebrated the construction of a grand sporting arena, the Changelings knew different - the Courts had come together to feed the dreams of baseball players and the city that supported them. The source of Glamour was crucial for those still trying to make their way in a world that had mostly forgotten them and no one quite recalls who made the initial suggestion. What the older Changelings of the city do know is that all other quarrels were put aside for a while, the project's foremen and women were Autumn Sidhe, a joint effort between members of House Dougal and House Ailil. The workers were drawn from all Kiths across both courts and anyone else who wanted to be involved was welcomed with open arms. The Astrodome was to be a refuge for all and the dream of something bigger for both Changelings and mortals. These days it primarily serves as the Unseelie Freehold under the auspice of Jarl Eirik Borgersen ap Aesin - an up-and-coming star player who traces his lineage to the Kingdom of Dalarna.
While both Courts technically owe fealty to the Duchy of the Lone Star and High King David beyond that, the Changelings of Texas did quite well before the Resurgence and have resisited the newly arrived Arcadian Sidhe trying to shake up their system too much.
Tensions
There are other sparks of Dream, the kindling of Balefires elsewhere in the city of course; things that the Mages call Nodes and the Wolves call Caerns. Many of them are firmly and fiercely held by those factions and much as the Changelings may be drawn to the welling of Glamour around them, they are held at a distance by those who already claim them for other purposes. With the city hovering on the edge between rebellious Dream and stultifying Banality, perhaps these Prodigal fires might be the thing that make the difference. Alliances may need to be forged if the local Changelings do not wish to declare a war on multiple fronts, but surely many people have an interest in not seeing the world return to darkness and nightmare? Don't they?
Other things lurk around the edges of Changeling society, things that returned with the Arcadians or have been emboldened by the creeping darkness. Lost Ones and their strange Sanctuaries reappeared with everything else, Thallain and Denizens creep through the cracks to spread their nightmares in the Autumn world, seeking to create a wholly different Dream. Some even hint that the twisting wrongness that pervades certain areas of Houston has begun producing Dauntain...
If the city is not to fall back into Banality and become anathema to all Fae, something must be done. Will you tip the balance towards Dream or Darkness? Or simply invite Bedlam and let the Autumn world look to itself.
This was taken from the first Changeling Town Hall under Inky.
Setup
One of the things I personally love about Changeling is how complex Kithain society is. There is a full political spectrum including pro and anti-Nobility factions, commoner rights groups, anarcho-terrorists, Ultra Traditionalists, and everything in between. The political compass for this can basically be viewed as Seelie <-> Unseelie and Pro-Noble <-> Pro-Commoner. There is a lot more additional nuance than that, but using those two axis you get essentially the four quadrants of Changeling society:
| Seelie Nobility | Unseelie Nobility |
| Seelie Commoners | Unseelie Commoners |
In the past, many games have focused the city into one of these four quadrants, to the exclusion of the others. My hope is to foster an environment where characters of any type can feel like they have a place in the sphere. The core conflicts of Changeling are essentially a multitude of Cold Wars all playing out in tandem with each other. Seelie Sidhe and Unseelie Sidhe might not like each other, but they are frequently required to -pretend- like they do and share a meal. The Commoner freehold might not like it when the Sidhe Baron walks in and looks down his nose at the common people, but they also can't throw him out on his ass without risking swift retribution. And even the most pro-Democracy Seelie motley might think twice about letting the Redcap biker gang use their freehold for the night... though the Escheat demand they do.
To give every one of these broad factions room on the game, we are going to create 4 public freeholds... one corresponding to each of these factions. When we run our weekly "court", which in reality will only be an official court every 2 weeks out of 5, the location will change to a different factions freehold. All Kithain will be welcome at all meetings; but the etiquette and who holds the reigns will change accordingly. If you tell the Duchess to go fuck herself at the Unseelie Noble court, you will likely end up under an immediate Geas. If you tell the ringleader of the Unseelie Commoner freehold the same thing, the Geas will probably be less of a magical nature, and more of a physical prohibition against ever walking right again. In this way, the PCs of each faction will feel like they have their weeks when they are more in the drivers seat at "court."
"But Inky, there are four factions, and you said every 5 weeks." Glad you noticed. But before I cover that, I want to talk about the tone of the game..
Tone
Changeling is a lot of things crammed into one game. What it is not is a cheery, bubbly, Disney cartoon high fantasy setting. I know the concepts involved can fool people. And sometimes you look at the full color nature of the books and it can seem very cheery compared to the Vampire artwork. But if you look at that art more carefully, you will find very few smiles on anyone's faces. That's because Changelings live one of the most horrific existences out of any of the splats. First, they still exist in the same World of Darkness as everyone else. They must contend with the same host of monsters, murderers, and madmen that any other character does. Then, additionally, at the same time they have to deal with an entirely different set of Chimerical creatures, their fellow Kithain, etc. that all pose a potential threat to them which more "Autumnal" WoD characters don't face. And as if that weren't bad enough... their very souls could be destroyed by one bad random encounter with a particularly dull DMV employee. On the other side of things, they can escape to the Dreaming to avoid the violence and soul crushing banality of the Autumn Realm... where they face greater madness, more nightmare creatures, and a landscape that is never the same twice. The challenge of every Kithain is to find balance between these two realms, and too much time in either will surely destroy them.
With this in mind, I want players to fully contemplate both of their character's existences: That as a fae creature who escapes periodically to The Dreaming to have palace intrigue and grand adventures... and as a person living in the Autumn Realm, who needs to find a way to feed themselves, help out their friends and family, survive walking down that dark alley, etc. Changeling is not a game about Shining Knights and Pretty Princesses. It is a game about the Princess having to rescue herself. Its about the blood on that shining knight's hands... both Chimerical and Real. It is an urban fantasy game, with a solid core of full spectrum horror. The fae themselves are terrifying creatures... capable of cutting trained soldiers in half with nothing more than a willow switch; or enslaving a mortal mind with nothing more than a carelessly constructed phrase. They have no innate humanity, but are beholden only to their own nature and whatever loose sense of morality has been instilled in them in their formative years. And those are your -allies-. Your shared enemies are even more inhuman. I want players to approach the game, and character creation, with this mindset.
Adventure
All that being said, Adventure is a big part of a Changeling chronicle. Whether simple monster hunts, epic quests, or journeys to mysterious far flung places; Kithain, particularly Wilders, crave adventure. Every 5th week, instead of the weekly court, we will do an Adventure session. These will start off as small, brief affairs along the lines of: "Monster X is attacking the Freehold" as a way to get people comfortable with their characters abilities, help less experienced players learn the game, and just force all these opposing factions onto the same side where they have to work together against one of their many, many, common enemies. As time goes on, and the Sphere starts to fill up more, we will look at longer adventures that will play out over more extended time frames. But to start, I just want to get everyone in a room and RPing every week; and rolling dice close to every month.
Character Creation Rules
- Minimum Age: 18+
- Restricted:
Incentive XP
| Sidhe | 0 xp |
| Pooka & Aquatic Fae | 25 xp |
| All other Kiths | 50 xp |
| Nobles | 0 XP |
| Commoners | 50 xp |
Inanimae, Hsien, or anything else outside the traditional Kithain/Gallain archetypes will be determined entirely based on concept/supporting notes.
So for example, a Pooka Commoner would get 75 xp to start. A troll commoner would get 100. A Sidhe squire will get 0. A redcap knight would get 50, etc. etc.
Treasures and Chimerical Items
- Chimerical Items are just objects that may or may not have a physical form. They do not convey any bonus effect or power on their owner. The benefit is purely whatever benefit might exist from owning a sword, set of armor, or airship that mortals can't see or search you for.
- Treasures are items that always have a mundane counterpart (often less impressive than the chimerical nature), and convey a specific effect of a specific level of an Art. For example, a Ring of Metamorphosis might let you turn into a cat. Alternatively, it might let you turn someone whose hand you shake into a mouse. It will never allow you to turn anyone into any animal. -Magic Items from the Players Guide will not be used, except possibly as inspiration or a starting off point in designing an item, as these items fail to adhere to the rules established in the main Changeling 20th edition book. If you already have such an item, we will work on retrofitting it to work within the rules we will be using. -Treasures from C20... many of the example treasures also don't actually follow the rules set forth in the book. Mostly, many of them work limitlessly, not requiring an activation roll or expenditure of glamour to get X number of successes. We will be reworking these to include either a roll or to give a set number of successes. -Treasures enchant mortals who hold them.
- Rules for Treasures can be found on page 325, in the upper left hand corner of the page. It is a worded a bit confusingly, but the gist is that Treasures always require either a point of glamour spent, or an activation roll. If a treasure is activated by using it in its normal fashion, the roll will be with an attribute+ability combo associated with that act. If not, it is either intelligence+gremayre vs 6 or permanent glamour vs 6 (decided during creation.)
- A Treasure pen that writes Contracts might use intelligence+law vs 6; while one that shoots lightning would use either intelligence+gremayre or permanent glamour vs 6.
- The "just spend glamour" option gives a fixed number of successes, and is chosen, again, at item creation. -The usual mode for deciding which is which will be: If it is an effect that requires a certain number of successes to work at all then the treasure will require a glamour (such as the aforementioned ring that turns you into a cat). If it is an effect that can have variable successes (such as a ring that heals whoever you touch with it) then that is going to be a roll.
- The cost for a given Chimerical Item can be essentially found on page 317... with each of those 5 categories corresponding to that many Dots invested into the Chimera background. Slightly different Descriptors are on page 169.
Pooka and other skinchangers
- Pooka are not Shifters. They are not ferocious warriors of nature. They are tricksters, ne'er-do-wells, and layabouts. This is not to say that they aren't capable of ferocious violence (think of the Joker as an example of a violent trickster). Just that one shouldn't approach making a Wolf Pooka like they are making a fae version of a Garou.
- Pooka animal forms give the following benefits: The physical stat blocks of that animal as found in V20 or any other book where you might find them. The movement types of those animals (birds fly, fish swim, cats climb). Natural weaponry as appropriate, which will always be strength+1 lethal if your animal is appropriately large. Mice are out of luck, sorry. The ability to breathe underwater if aquatic.
- If you want additional benefits: Bee pooka pheromones, Bat pooka echolocation, Turtle pooka armor, snake pooka venom etc. there are a ton of great merits you can take in order to represent this.
- This will also apply to Selkies. It will not apply to Tunghat, whose animal forms are illusory.
- Some animal stat blocks may be found in the Vampire books and in Mage: Gods and Monsters
Nockers
- The Nocker Frailty will work as written with the included interpretations:
- When the device is used in a stressful situation (up to the ST, but generally this will be in dynamic situations where the person using the item is not fully in control of the outcome) then the ST may call for a d10 roll. On a 1, the device fails or breaks in a particularly spectacular fashion.
- Objects like swords, armor, or hammers really only have one way they can fail or break, and that is to literally break apart. These items will need taken to a workshop to be repaired, if such repairs are possible.
- More complex devices like crossbows, siege engines, steam powered armor, etc. can fail or break spectacularly in one scene, and be back up and running with a few quick adjustments or swapping out parts.
- This means that the more complex the item is, ironically, the less likely it is to be rendered unrepairable by a Nocker's frailty. This interpretation is being used in hopes that people will actually use the purpose made inventor kith for their craftsman characters, rather than simply making a Sidhe or Troll in House Dougal.
Freeholds on Hangouts
- Any Freehold on +hangouts is available for all Lings to... hangout at. Just respect that Freeholder's wishes, as they are the lord of their domain.