Beauty in Madness: what do you want in Changeling's Chronicle book?

[The Yann Waters]

As for the Sidhe Chronicle, it was some unsourced rumor that the chronicle book for Changeling was "the Sidhe Chronicle," but that it got pulled from development just before this last Gen Con due to the lead writer backing out. The story goes that something (there were going to be a number of options; one might be the intervention of the God-Machine, while another was a brutalw ar between the Gentry) that had the True Fae fearful for their own existences. It was supposed to introduce the Sidhe, who were essentially a Title that belonged to a True Fae, given human form and ejected into reality. The Sidhe were ignorant of what they were and generally terrified, but most Changelings were hesitant to accept what amounted to a piece of one of the Gentry. They were supposed to be playable alongside Changelings. It came up in one thread on /tg/, given by an anonymous poster, so it's hardly proof that such a thing ever existed. I still thought the idea sounded neat.

That does sound rather unlikely to me, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, all the other chronicle titles that have been mentioned were named after some piece of lexicon which has been part of the line from early on, and the Sidhe as such were never a thing in CtL, only in CtD. On the other hand, Fae like that were already introduced early on, and we have a common name for them: Charlatans. Perhaps most significantly, though, tampering with the order of things in Faerie and driving the Fae out en masse, especially by some outside party, could impose massive changes on the nature of the game, potentially requiring a different explanation altogether for how changelings come to be.

The Gentry could no doubt use more mechanical diversity and heft in the chronicle book, admittedly.

[Dave Brookshaw]

As for the Sidhe Chronicle, it was some unsourced rumor that the chronicle book for Changeling was "the Sidhe Chronicle," but that it got pulled from development just before this last Gen Con due to the lead writer backing out. The story goes that something (there were going to be a number of options; one might be the intervention of the God-Machine, while another was a brutalw ar between the Gentry) that had the True Fae fearful for their own existences. It was supposed to introduce the Sidhe, who were essentially a Title that belonged to a True Fae, given human form and ejected into reality. The Sidhe were ignorant of what they were and generally terrified, but most Changelings were hesitant to accept what amounted to a piece of one of the Gentry. They were supposed to be playable alongside Changelings. It came up in one thread on /tg/, given by an anonymous poster, so it's hardly proof that such a thing ever existed. I still thought the idea sounded neat.

This is not true. The scheduled Chronicle Books cut off with Mage - which itself is so far ahead it's off the end of the publically scheduled books.

[The Yann Waters]

This is not true. The scheduled Chronicle Books cut off with Mage - which itself is so far ahead it's off the end of the publically scheduled books.

When the topic came up on RPGnet earlier this year, Rose Bailey commented that if the chronicle books continue to come out for other lines, then Changeling might get a pitch in 2014.

[Dataweaver]

It’s certainly the most popular of the formerly limited lines.

[Dave Brookshaw]

Sure, and more Chronicle books may or may not have been pitched over the last few weeks, in the planning for 2015. But they haven't been scheduled, and the rumor quoted is definitely not true.

[atamajakki]

I sincerely hope the limited lines get Chronicle books; Changeling and Hunter especially, but I'd love for Geist to get some much-needed love.

I didn't much like the rumored Sidhe Chronicle, but thought it was an interesting enough curiosity to be worth posting. I just want a larger focus on Freehold politics (and organized Lost in general; Entitlements always seemed under-utilized), and more information on the True Fae.

And more implications of alien abductions; I loved that tidbit.

[NightTrace]

The politics of CtL are something I feel can be deeply engrossing, more so than what is offered out of Requiem or Masquerade even, however the barrier of entry to make it work "well" is ultimately player count, and CtL's needed count is higher than other similar scenarios.

[MugaSofer]

I'd like to see a lot more about changeling having problems and managing them. Take the courts, there should be things like pledges saying that Summer has to get paranoid about spies and root them out for one, and only one, week a year during summer. Basically lots of pressure release valves that prevent real problems from forming. Everyone knows that Summer will get paranoid about spies, so there are rules about it to make it safe and not cause Arcadian flashbacks in Changelings who's durance involved being really careful not to say the wrong thing. Everyone knows winter will spy, so there are rules about it to prevent flashbacks in Changeling who were spied on or blackmailed in Arcadia. Spring romances have rules, because there were a lot of sexual abuse in Arcadia: If someone's not wearing the available-pin no flirting, and no wearing the available-pin unless you mean it (because the flirts have traumas too, and it helps them if they know exactly what the pin means).

For Virtue and Vice; I'd quite like something like: New Life and Never Again. New Life is about how you move on from Arcadia, do you reconnect with your family? Join a Hobgoblin village? Find fufillment as Spring Queen with a cute summer boyfriend? Never Again rewards you with willpower when you do something to avoid the risk of going back to Arcadia. Everything from turning down a great oppotunity because of a bad omen to killing your keeper.

I think dreams could use work. For starters no meditation, that's not very faerie. Instead why not dream into your own Dreamscape and Skeinwalk to others, dreaming pledges just makes a direct path. More importantly, I want the realm of Dreams to tie into more things. With the right powers, Changeling can enter dreams bodily. Even build their homes there instead of in the hedge (which leads to some guy having constant dreams about a faerie doing domestic things). Travel between the Hedge and Dreams directly. Travel between Dreams and Earth (hopping into and out of people's heads / floating thought bubbles)

Better powers for Entitlements. Powers are the least important part of a Z-splat, but lets be serious. Most Entitlement powers suck.

Perception rolls. Every one should potentially trigger a very short halcuination.

Diplomacy with the elements. AKA something for Spring to actually do. A Freehold should be build by striking bargains; this bridge promises not to transport the Gentry from Arcadia (or the other side of the river). That tall tower promises to flash warnings if it sees any gentry. The Seasons (or their equivalents for other courts) give quite a bit for free since the founders paid upfront but you can never have enough. This also gives something for Spring to do other than have fun (Spring are the diplomats, but on a Freehold scale without crossover there's no one to be diplomats too. Freehold to Freehold diplomacy is rare, hobs normally keep to themselves and the Gentry is out of the question).

Wyrd Sorcery. Make it cannon; right now Autumn is full of sorcerers, give them some rules for it. Something that really makes them sorcerers rather than just spending more exp on Contracts.

Goblin Vows. A duration of Instant for one time use that has no cost. You should be able to do something with Lesser Tasks. Also, put them in the core book, they're too awesome to be left for supplements.

This. This This This This This.

[Xenorath]

Goblin Vows in the book is a huge plus on my side. If included, since I can see it not being important enough to mention; seeing through the Mask with magic should be harder to do against low Wyrd Changelings, not easier. Fluff-wise, the Mask becomes less effective the higher your Wyrd is.

[The Kings Raven]

Looks like my ideas got a good reception. Thanks everyone


One more thing, back in the days of yore I once had real trouble choosing which Court my Changeling characters should go into. I asked one of the writers and I got some of the best nWoD advice ever. I think that it should be placed into a prominent sidebar for everyone, sadly I can't find the old thread so here's it after several years of refinement inside my brain.


Each court has one core goal.
Spring: Wants to reconnect with the mortal world.
Summer: Wants fight back against the True Fae.
Autumn: Wants to find a home in the faerie world.
Winter: Just doesn't want to be hurt ever again.
(I particularly like the way Spring/Autumn and Summer/Winter form a duality; with the former being about "new lives" and the latter being about "never again")


Pick the Court based on that goal ignoring everything else about the Court. Then afterwords start assigning Court Goodwill based on all the other aspects of the court. If your primary goal is to get a mortal life, but you're a bookish scholar and only make friends with people you trust: Spring with some autumn and winter good will.

I like two things about this: Firstly it makes it easy to pick a court despite the courts all having several different aspects that your PC might agree or disagree with. Secondly it makes nearly every Changeling allied to multiple courts. IMO that fits very well; the courts are allies, their conflicts are in many ways internal conflicts (Spring/Winter, dare I risk opening my heart and getting hurt again?). Having them blend into each other like this just feels right.

[Epimetheus]

I want Contracts to not suffer the awful, Five powers for contract effects. There are a number of Goblin Contracts that flat out should be in Dream, with a few minor changes because they aren't Goblin Contracts. And a few others which warrant the same for other Contracts. I've hate the 5 power paradigm in a game where you get powers which could very well have a hundred powers to its name. I get that you are limited in space that doesn't mean you move abilities to this nebulous miscellaneous area. That's BS.

[Dataweaver]

FWIW, there isn’t a single gameline (not even Vampire) for which I think that organizing powers into a set of rigid sequences of five each is an appropriate model. There’s always an argument that “X’s power choices should be more flexible than that.”

[Epimetheus]

FWIW, there isn’t a single gameline (not even Vampire) for which I think that organizing powers into a set of rigid sequences of five each is an appropriate model. There’s always an argument that “X’s power choices should be more flexible than that.”

To a large extent I do agree to smaller one. Vampire powers tend to do what you want them to in Five. Geist does even with it's mechanical issues. Changeling is especially gimped because they just put stuff into Goblin Contracts which have extremely steep costs. Unless Privateer using Mad Glimpse or Call the Hunt in which it's a none issue (Seriously though now that I think about it why doesn't every Privateer have call the hunt for an emergency situation...)

[That Other Guy]

I want to be able to curse people properly from the get-go

[Eremite]

(Seriously though now that I think about it why doesn't every Privateer have call the hunt for an emergency situation...)

Because while Privateers make deals with True Fae,these deals are with specific True Fae, not every single one. And whatever shape the Wild Hunt takes, it's a mass of True Fae and their servants in full-on attack mode. Not likely to make deals.