Baduy Pride: The Magic of Changeling

In this episode of Baduy Pride, we talk about Changeling: The Dreaming and Changeling: The Lost and how much we love both game worlds and their corresponding systems and ideas. 

ONGOING : This Block of Ours - Changeling the Dreaming 20th edition

In our desire to have a street level Changeling the Dreaming game, we ended up having a game where each player is still a student trying to balance the Dreaming and its mysteries with the need to finish school and graduate.  Sort of a mix between Buffy the Vampire slayer and Steven Universe.

Admittedly, I really miss the Changeling the Dreaming of the World of Darkness. Most thought it was out of place and too colorful. In truth, it was one of the darkest as you played characters who might need to literally disbelieve in their own existence to save their lives.

Currently closed. No new available seats.

Inspiration: Beauty is Perfection

I can so see this as a story point for Changeling: The Dreaming or Changeling: The Lost.  Maybe even for something like Little Fears.

Vampire 30-Day Challenge : Favorite Other Entity (Changeling)

Vampire 30-Day Challenge : Favorite Other Entity (Changeling)

Now this is a challenge.   While in the other entries it was more of "who do I remember?" for Changeling it more a matter of who do I choose?  I loved the Changeling line so much for the characters and personalities they offered and I have to admit this question is hard for me to decide upon.   Given the need to give an answer, I will cheat and name the ones I loved in no-particular order.

Queen Mab
Oh you glamour-filled bitch.  I loved how you were such a force to be reckoned with in Changeling the Dreaming.  I loved how you watched over the Kingdom of Apples, even with Goblin Town there in its shadow.  And I love how you cared for David, regardless of how things were, and more so even after he chose an Eiluned wife and vanished.

David Ardry
A true tragic hero, with a sword that sought him out like a loyal dog.  David was wonderfully written to have just enough dimension for a Storyteller to develop into a great character.  His love for his wife, Faerylith, was commendable, and his tragic destiny under King Meilge's plan was just... such an experience to uncover as a player.

King Meilge
A fantastic villain worthy to spar with the Oathcircle.  The power of his Mask and the depth of his deception was a delicious threat to throw at the players.  His ambition was wonderfully matched with his pride and in the end, I love how his care for faerylith could lead to his undoing.

And finally, Duke Dray.
Love him.
So much.
Once I had him always quoting songs for multiple sessions.  The players thought it was some in-joke that I was doing.

Then on the following session, I sprung the reason:  the songs were an extended bunk to affect another character in the game who was the singer of the songs.  Yeah, I loved portraying his over-the-top villain antics as silly yet purposeful.

Duke Dray.

Sophie : Changeling the Dreaming

12/02/2012
Sophie
Changeling the Dreaming

It isn't often that I get to be the player lately.  Although I've been anxious to try games like Fiasco and Mythic, which supposedly allow games that don't have a Storyteller/Game Master handling things, I haven't really had the chance to be the player in a game for a number of years.  This was a Sunday which had me home alone and two friends came over to try playing Lacuna.  Half an hour later, after aborting the mission due to intense heart palpitations and overwhelming levels of stress, the game closed with a not so happy ending.  Of the two players present, one had to head on home, leaving me and my good friend Mahar left wondering what to do next.  Lo and behold, Mahar offered to run me a game, and I was definitely excited to take a stab at it again.

The game was to be set in the modern day.  I decided to go for a concept I had peculating for some time in my head ever since I saw Skyfall and Notes on a Scandal:  I wanted to play a Boggan grump based on Dame Judi Dench.

Sophie Lessway was born.  Newly Chrysalised, Sophie was still deeply engaged by her mortal retirement that Kithain politics was boring and frustrating to her.  While she understood the importance of the Houses and the need for politics, she felt that she had devoted so much of her life to being of service to others that she wanted to embrace her old age as a chance to just be herself and do what she wanted to do.  From being a house helper during her younger years to pay for her medical studies (her parents had left her a large but not overwhelming inheritance), she eventually became a care giver, and from the kindness and devotion she showed one old woman, she ended up inheriting the woman's millions when she died.  Now wealthy and retired, Sophie purchased the Home that she moved into once she realized she needed assistance with some activities of daily living, and spent most of her days taking picnics, visiting libraries, or chatting up with strangers at her favorite cafe.

Little did she know her Chysalis from human to one of the changelings would affect her so deeply.  She adorned the gifts of the Arts, but greatly resented her innate ability to read the social dynamics of a gathering.  Knowing who hated whom and who lied to whom was a terrible ordeal she could not even close her eyes from seeing.  The frailty of needing to be of assistance to anyone who asked for help even made matters worse, making her feel once more trapped into the service of others.

Sophie finds herself having a visitor; a spunky young girl who annoys her and insults her, and ends the conversation by identifying herself as a messenger of the reigning nobleman in charge and that she was being requested to come "as you are."  Annoyed, Sophie searches through her old dresses and the staff hand her other old gowns and dresses that they have had through the years.  Uncertain which one to wear, she decides to head to the cafe to find her Dreamer, a young writer named Elmo, to get his opinion on the matter.

She finds him speaking with the messenger, who once more pushes the right buttons to rile her up.  The two verbally spar for a while, and once the young Satyr leaves, Sophie rants to Elmo about it, only to be rebuffed by Elmo's belief in the young lady's words that Sophie was her grand mother and that Sophie would naturally want to disassociate herself with her.  Hurt that Elmo would trust the young beautiful girl over her, Sophie walked out and decided to come up with her own dress to wear.  She visited a number of shops to buy the cloth and articles she needed, then spent the next few nights doing months worth of work to create a dress which she felt captured her identity.  The dress she crafted was like an onion, with various layers which depicted different instances in her life - from her time as a house helper, to the time she was a nurse, and eventually a final outfit which she felt was a good way to end any political or service-related discussion.  She then made arrangements at the home and with other friends, handling them post-dated checks if not envelops of cash to "handle affairs while I'm gone.  I have no clear idea when I am returning after all."

The night of the party came.  Sophie headed to the location listed in the invitation, which showed an old church in the center of their community.   She hands the church a huge donation, then slides into the confessional to take the necessary trod.  The trod leads her into the near dreaming, and there she finds the annoying young wilder waiting for her again.  Their banter is different how, as it seems many are making it clear how important a guest she is among the others present.  She eventually finds herself asked to step into a room that is populated mostly by the Sidhe, save for a single troll who laughs along with them.  When she tries to slip back out, she leans that the troll is the Baron of the location who had invited her over, and that he wanted to offer her a job.  Knowing most of the Sidhe were too preoccupied with their own trivial affairs, the Baron needed someone who had the keen mind to handle any changeling affairs that tip-toed towards mortal issues.  Sophie questioned if she is really suited for the job, and the Troll noble-man mused how among all the guests, she alone understood what was expected of their outfits.  "Show me the dresses then, that they do not go to waste."

Sophie presented each dress, telling him about her lives through the years as a servant, or as a care giver, and in the end, stripped away the final dress to reveal a pure white business suit underneath.  She pulled her collar closed tighter, then agreed to do the job even as the Troll threw some clearly seductive remarks her way.  Of course, she realized eventually, the Troll was of House Fiona.  And if she were lucky, Sophie would get through all these things with her sanity intact.

*

Not bad for a one shot.
I had hoped to have some fun with my Arts, or even just throw around some "This is the power of a massive collection force" but clearly, the two were not going to be in the game.   But man, that was fun.  I tried recording the audio of the game but afterwards, listening to it, I realized I could barely hear Mahar, the storyteller, 2) I had NO intentions of resharing what sounded like me doing a VERY VERY BAD JUDI DENCHI, 3) And lastly, I will need a proper microphone to do this better.

Anyway, keep the dice rolling folks!

The Long Forsaken Kingdom : cWOD : Changeling the Dreaming

The Long Forsaken Kingdom

June 2011 to May 2012

cWOD : Changeling the Dreaming

Once Upon a Time...

there lived a city that never slept.
There lived a statue that never moved.
There lived an enchantment that was never broken.

Once.
Upon a time when things were young.
There lived a servant.
A sword.
And a secret sleeping.


Once.

But that time is over.
This is now.

The game began with Rocky playing a pooka knight named Sir Felix Southpaw, Urim playing an Eshu wandering storyteller named Flynn Wordweaver, Mahar playing a Fiona Sidhe Baroness named Lady Songbird and Victor playing an amnesiac Redcap named Rendsever the Steel Gnasher.   All the players, save for Urim, were new to Changeling the Dreaming but they had played Changeling the Lost, so it wasn't too hard to get their minds around the concepts of Chimerical versus Real, Glamour and the haunting beauty and dangers of the Dreaming.

While I have most of the story (yes, still haven't finished updating the game blog) the game concluded a few days ago with a surprising twist.  While most of the game was inspired by the tales of Asterlan, the Kingdom of Willows book (which includes the treachery of King Meilge), the War in Concordia book, and lastly, the Time of Judgment stories, I had the following key plots as major threads in the story:

The fall of High King David, and the search for a successor.

The relationship of Caliburn to the Gray Sword of the Dauntain.

The hidden past of Joseph van Noceti III.

The disappearance of the Crystal Circle.

The Fomorians and the Triumph Casque of Sorrows.

And the truth behind Arcadia's exile of the Changelings.

I created a myth of three swords: Caliburn, the Gray Sword, and the Silver Dancer - as three swords whose fates are locked to the Kithain kingdoms.  With the Silver Dancer as the mediator, the two other swords were to represent the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.    Little did Sir Felix know, the Silver Dancer in his hands was so important in determining the fate of the Courts.  From an adventurous lynx pooka, the young knight eventually uncovered lost memories of his membership to the Scathach House, a membership which entrusted the blade to his care.  And in that past, Joseph van Noceti III was both his fellow murid, and his loving partner.

Lady Songbird's tale danced around the political arenas, more so when she befriended Faerylith, the Eiluned beauty who was to be the Queen to High King David.  When Meilge's treachery placed Faerylith in opposing camps against both Princess Lenore and the Dame Morwen, Songbird delicately played the courts to maintain a place of security.  She helped uncover the presence of the Shadow Court, and despised the unveiling that her true court was that of House Lheanan.  But the biggest twist was when she learned she was not truly Sidhe.  Instead, she was a Fomorian "changeling" that the White Court sought to manipulate for their kin to enter the Autumn World.  But the Red Court opposed this, knowing her truest nature:  She was the living Triumph Casque of Sorrows, and hers was the role to give birth to the Fomorians in the world.  When her audience with the Green Court opened their eyes to the Arcadian's treachery of the oaths, the Green Court rose up from the Silver Sea and retook the Dreaming, understanding the Dreaming must have a sense of intelligence... a Wyrd to guide it.

Flynn Wordweaver's tales explored the finer levels of how the political machinations affected the rest of the Kingdoms.  With David's fall, Caliburn fell into his hands and from that day, his misadventures became unexpected steps towards finding the missing King.  Eventually, it would be his capacity for stories empowered by the Art of Talecraft in the Deep Dreaming that would turn the tide in the battle against the fomorian hordes.  And when his destined steps lead him to the entrance of Arcadia, it would be this knowledge that has him bring the Oathcircle to the finale as they faced the True Fae lords.

Sadly, Rendsever barely had story time as his player was overwhelmed with real world responsibilities.  His was to be tales of the Crystal Circle's experiments with Banality, the whereabouts of the legendary Asterlan, and a more direct confrontation with the Red Courts as they unleashed the Adhene to the world, ushering the purge that the Arcadians wrongly decided to unleash.

The game ended with Arcadia's walls being breached.  The Kithain escaping into the Autumn lands, believing safety has come for them.  And the True Fae being driven mad by their losses that they hid away in far corners of the Dreaming, reinventing themselves into Gentry that now seek to abduct those they can.

The Changelings of the Dreaming have ended.

All that remains are those who the Gentry feel are Lost.

The game's chronicle blog is found here.

A Second To Try : cWOD

A Second To Try
cWOD
A group of Changelings learn the truth behind the Great Engine that exists deep in the Dreaming and learn that they have been given the chance to make amends and try again.  Best used with the the Scenarios "Pick Your Poison", "The Great Purge" or "A Crown of Shadows" especially if your players fail to bring a more cheerful ending to the scenario.

Originally published in Ex Libris Nocturnis.  This was my entry that won in a small contest for the best Time of Judgment supplement.  Hope you enjoy this Changeling: The Dreaming mini-module that you can add to your Time of Judgment game session.

Download the PDF. 

Changeling The Time of Judgment : cWOD

Before 2009
Changeling : The Time of Judgment
cWOD

After thirteen years of wondering gaming and memorable stories, White Wolf's World of Darkness comes to an end with the Time of Judgment campaign.

Just like the Gehenna game, this is my attempt to capture those 13 long years of beautiful stories, epic legends, heroic deeds and disturbing nightmares into one chornicle worth remembering.

Let me use this opportunity to say Thank you! to White Wolf for the chance to explore their ideas and nightmares.

"People think dreams aren't real

just because they aren't made of matter,

of particles.

Dreams are real.

But they are made

of viewpoints, of images,

of memories

and puns and lost hopes."

John Dee,

in Preludes & Nocturnes.

This was one of the most emotionally draining games for me to run.  It contained so much of what I love about Changeling the Dreaming and explored the many ways the fae would deal with the coming of the end.  The game had a shifting number of active players, with a range of stories to explore.  The recovered Geocities site shows both the Chronicle record and my storyteller notes for each and every session.  Sorta like an "Absolute edition" of a Tobie game.

It was sad though, how the game ended with more of a whisper than a bang.

But that's how it is sometimes.

Dreams just abruptly end.

And you have no choice but to remember what you can.