Recruiting for a play-by-post Changeling: the Lost chronicle!

[HobbitGuy1420]

So, I haven't gotten any good Lost - or any good STing - in my life in a long time. I figured, now's the time to change that! I've run other games in play-by-post and I've run Lost live, but I've never combined the two, so I figured, what the hey!

As a storyteller, I enjoy building a world that's effected not only by what the players do, but by what they've done in the past. Backgrounds are a requirement, and backgrounds with plenty of good hooks are a strong plus. Themes can change depending on the story, but I often include difficult choices and unforeseen consequences for the players' actions.

Now. Game recruitment seems to be a seller's market these days, so I'm going to be picky. I'm aiming to choose people with strong roleplaying, writing, and story-telling skills, because I want to tell an awesome story together. I'm more than a little bit of a grammar fascist, so if you're not 100% sure of your skills, spellcheck Is Your Friend. An ideal intro post will include your preferred playstyle, an example of character-based writing, and (just for fun) why you think you will triumph over your fellows.

Final game roster will be posted Friday, 10/3.

Edit: Recruitment is closed! Thanks to everyone!

[crapcarp]

Cool, but I have a couple of questions: Is this gonna use GMC, and are there any particular house rules(mostly pertaining to character creation)?

[Evilmarmelade]

Damn. I would have been interested, but I don't have time to read the two books before next friday.

[HobbitGuy1420]

This will not be using GMC - I haven't had an opportunity to internalize the changes from base WoD and the game hasn't been transitioned over anyway. I haven't decided on any houserules, though any choices (such as dual-kithing with a Shadowsoul) might be subject to ST veto if I think they'll be bad for the game.

[wander]

I'd have been in for this, but the thought of 'triumphing over your fellows' isn't something I am interested in doing for a Changeling game. Still, I wish this luck, because I love Changeling, being one of my top nWoD splats to play and be a part of. Perhaps I may be interested to join later down the road if a gap forms, I'll be reading this anyway

[HobbitGuy1420]

I didn't mean "triumphing over your fellows" in game, I meant triumphing over the other applicants for spots *in* the game.


...I may have overestimated the degree to which this is a seller's market...

[Leaper]

I think your fatal mistake, HobbitGuy, was the content of your OP. Too much of it explained your pet peeve and not enough of it explained the kind of game you would like to play with others. The idiom 'seller's market' lends an adversarial tone to your pitch, which some may find ugly. I must also wonder — when somebody says 'just for fun' in reference to a competitive selection process — if our conception of 'fun' will align in the game proper (should I stand on enough throats to win myself a place within the chronicle).

[ATwannabe]

Hello,

I would love to play changeling. I always seem to be the storyteller, and never a player. Any setting details?

[crapcarp]

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Those words echoed in Dale's mind as he came up to the cliff. He gazed at how the waves below smashed against the rocks, the foam shooting up as if in protest to what he was about to do next. Looking back up at the sunset, he took a deep breath and swallowed his pride.

It was ridiculous. There was no way this would work. Stuff like this only happens in fairy tales. But the trail was already cold, and it only grew colder as time went on. He spent months looking for his missing child and found no leads, except for this. He had to try everything he could, leave no stone unturned.

"Eiron, Eiron, Erion!" he shouted to the wind. A sudden gust smacked him as if responding to his words, forcing him to turn around. And there it was.

A path of briar rustled in the wind, breathing an unearthly life. The landscape changed into something completely different than the one he came from, as if he entered another world. "So this must be the so-called Hedge," he deduced as he walked among the thorns. To think of the several months he spent searching, the most nonsensical lead was the only one that gave him results, as strange as they were.

Then he heard his child's cries behind the briar. He wasted no time as he raced through the thorns, disregarding the pain as they cut through his flesh. It simply didn't matter to him, nothing else mattered. All that mattered right now was saving his child from whatever ungodly horrors were here. But no matter how far he ran, he didn't seem to get any closer. The cries weren't getting any louder or quieter, nor was there any response when he called his child's name over and over. He stumbled upon a clearing through the briar, and that's when things got even stranger. The cries echoed all around him now. They reverberated in and out of each other, mocking him. Tearing him at his soul as the thorns did to his body. Panic, confusion, and despair tugged at him like strings on a puppet, making him constantly swing around. Nothing made sense anymore. The cries seemed to coalesce behind him, making him turn one last time before falling to his knees.

"Ah there you are, Dale," the creature greeted in his child's giggling voice.

---

Hope that was to your liking, because I've been itching to play me some Changeling. I'm not really picky on how I play it, whether it'd be PBP, live, or a combination of the two like you were suggesting. While I have no idea how a combination of PBP and live could work, I'm eager to see what you've come up with, as it sounds pretty interesting. No matter how it's played, I too wanna tell an awesome story with others. My character, as you might have already guessed, is Dale, a Darkling detective who takes cases from both mortals and changelings alike.

Here's his sheet

His background's got plenty of hooks to work with and ways to get him into various situations. Also, I'm willing to change pretty much anything around if it doesn't fit with the chronicle you have in mind(like if it doesn't take place in America, for example).

As for selling myself, well for starters the sample writing above speaks for itself. Did you notice that a lot of words and phrases seem to come up exactly three times throughout the prose? Matches the same number of times Dale yelled Eiron. Coincidence? Well, I'll let you decide on that one. Also, I came up with Dale, backstory and all, in a couple days tops. Speaking of his backstory, there's also the fact that I've purposely made several things ambiguous, and not just because they're unimportant. For example, what happened to Dale's child(did you also notice the fact I completely avoided referring to them by a pronoun until now)? What of his fetch and wife? Are they still kicking? How do the authorities see this private detective, especially since he has no records whatsoever? Thing is, I know which aspects of my character to determine myself, and which to leave up to you, allowing you to organically integrate my character into your chronicle.

I hope to have impressed you enough to get into this chronicle. But either way, thank you for reading this block of text.

[HobbitGuy1420]

Leaper,
You might be right, and I apologize if the tone threw anyone off. Reading over things, I did make a couple mistakes - I meant most of the "siccing everyone at another's throats" stuff as pure tongue-in-cheek humor, but that tone had no way to transmit through the medium. I actually meant "just for fun" to mean that folks could be humorous with the "I shall prevail! I am eenweencible!" stuff, since it's for fun, rather than for brownie points or anything like that.

Man. I'm starting to think I might need to work on this forum posting thing.

As for the sort of game I like to play, well...

I like to build a world filled with things and people for the players to meet and explore, and to let the players' choices determine the direction of the action - if there's a troll blocking the bridge, the characters *can* fight him, or they can sneak around, pay the toll, or seduce the guy if they prefer. I actually tend not to prefer player-versus-player conflict as a matter of course, though when it happens I tend to monitor or moderate rather than out-and-out vetoing. The tone of the game can vary depend on the players' interests, but for Lost I generally enjoy dark adventure tinged with a mad whimsy. That said, if the majority of the players prefer Machiavellian politicking or bloody-speared conquest I try to be flexible.

A'T, I haven't decided upon a final setting yet (I intend to let the group have some input) but it'll probably be set in the United States, likely in a city like Chicago or New York. I expect it'll be a fairly traditional Seasonal freehold, I traditionally enjoy starting the game in Autumn, if only for the tone of things.

Carp, thanks for the post! The character looks like he could be fun. :-)

[wander]

Good to know, but I feel I won't be a proactive enough person and someone with the right amount of writing and plot-hooks you're after... I srill will love reading this as it goes along though. Hopefully I might also get the inspiration to pitch a character background once I see what more people end up doing with this

[crapcarp]

Well, it looks like I'm the only one willing at this point. However, I have found a thread where there's a few players itching for a Changeling game over at the rpg.net forums, and they just so happen to need a GM. So yeah, if you're willing to wait just a little longer for players, these guys might be interested. Here's a link to their thread: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?...ost-or-Eberron

[HobbitGuy1420]

Carp,
I'll take a look, thanks! :-)

[squidheadjax]

I am interested! But I only heard about this game from the RPG.net thread minutes ago, so I don't have my stuff together.

I did have the character fully in mind - dusting off a Darkling Mirrorskin/Nightsinger of Autumn whose game never fully manifested. Snagged on prom night after misusing a cursed tome/fae beacon, and then used for lots of identity experimentation (she is, naggingly, not 100% sure she's the original Alicia). She'd wanted to become a music teacher, and is pissed that her Fetch got to (and also became a nun). The original background details assume midtown Manhattan, New York, but I can transplant her to the affluent part of wherever.

She ended up in the Autumn court, and uses her performing abilities to set the 'proper' fears back into people while trying to claw back some shards of her former life from her Fetch. She's probably headed toward The Scarecrow Ministry.

Buuut that has a lot of overlap with the darkling mirrorskin of autumn detective, even though their backgrounds are very different. So I'm thinking I should probably go with something else.

[squidheadjax]

Also, does anyone know how to subscribe to a thread on this forum?