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

[Azahul]

I wouldn't. I think the "These are the only powers you get, as precisely worded in our agreement" perfectly suits a set of powers labelled "Contracts". Dreams have only agreed to grant Changelings a certain set of powers. If you want to have every facet of Dreams at your beck and call, you need to go behind its back with the Goblin Contracts.

That said, the current Contract of Dreams is just terribly designed. There are, what, two Contracts you can actually use in Dreams? And one of them is really weird, like a replacement for all the copious and finicky Oneiromancy rules with just one Contract activation. I'd much rather a set of powers that actually interact with the dream mechanics, rather than supplanting them.

[Tatterdemalion King]

It's specifically mentioned (and I feel a bit of a cop-out) that the Contracts give broader access than those 5 select powers, it's just that the Lost themselves have a limited opt-in being that they're only part Fae. As is, I'm in the camp where I really feel that the linear 1-5 progression is very unsuitable. A lot of these Contracts would be better off as broader groups; some start to fall prey to Forsaken-esque redundancy or overspecialization to fill a level after a bit.

Look at Court Contracts like for the Summer when it comes to Eternal and Vengeful (?), and then Contract of Elements. Or Contract of Smoke and Darkness, among many others. It's scattered and fairly messy, and introducing individual 1-5 Contract sets to diversify them further (which has been done a lot) doesn't really help here.

If they're that diverse, why not group pick-and-choose powers? If so many are Affinity regardless, why is a single linear 1-5 necessity even relevant? Why the -hell- are they scaled on potency that neatly to begin with? Between later material ideas like the whole Wyrd sorcery, Contract renegotiation that the Fae have, the Goblin vow merit (likely misremember the name, the temporary Contract one with your environment) and other ideas, I think the old Contract model is one of the areas that really should be rejiggered from the ground up. If anything, I'd see them condensed into broader conceptual groups; lets be honest here, when you get a Contract like Darkness and -that- is the series of powers you're saddled with, it's pretty damn disappointing. I can call upon Darkness itself and... er... huh. I do better conceptually playing it up with Smoke. Or any of the Autumn Contracts. Or Elements (Shadow), or...

There's synergy, and then there's redundancy. Hell, I'd rather see the court contracts grouped together on a conceptual basis, but as I find the Seasonal Courts to basically take all the good or potent powers that other Courts should/could have access to in there examples. Once again you hit redundancy land when conceptually another Contract is more suited to say, a Night Court contract, but then you've got multiple 1-5 sets sharing powers, and are effectively stuck with bad W:tF gift-land all over again, making clauses -somewhat- different from a pre-existing one with some minor tweaks or wonky mechanics to differentiate it. Right now, that's what you get if you start trying to do the Directional Court contracts some justice, or the Dirunal Courts for that matter.

I think this is one area where the broader power groupings of old DA: Fae, Mage, even to an extent Transmutations actually make more sense (not as broad as the 4 sets there mind you, but along those lines).

Right now, there isn't even an interesting way to discover "lost clauses and loopholes" in the Contracts themselves (though sometimes hinted at regardless), something which I feel could be a big thing regarding their powers. To be blunt, arbitrarily porting over anything like that into a Goblin Contract stinks of BS to me regardless; it's the same issue W:tF had with Rites and non-linear Gifts; shunt them off into grab bag land and saddle them with some other mechanic because... well... because. I want Goblin Contracts as is; individual powers with a dead-set price to use. I do not, however, want individual clause discoveries to default as those "because, er, we don't have a cleaner way of doing this". I'd rather the base powers themselves to be more diverse and unpredictable and to reward discovery and creativity more than it does right now.

There's trying to keep the power potency (in relation to other supernaturals no less) down artificially but keep them diverse and creative, and then there's what it is currently. Functional, but still messy in places, and worrying way too much about power scale and scope in regards to others.

As is, I take some issue with a stand-alone game that compares its powers off the bat to other splats to figure out a baseline of capability; that should be dropped like a bad habit, every other gameline has done that from Mummy on. I see no reasion C:tL needs to stubbornly cling to that old baggage. Changelings do what Changelings do. Not, Changelings do but not so much as Critter X which has been a consistent undercurrent. Giving powers their own style and "identity" has been via Catches, the costs of Goblin Contracts and the like and I sure wouldn't want to see those go; the rest of their structure? I have no real attachment towards.

[Morty]

There's plenty of unique design space to be had in Contracts, I think. They're deals the Fae make with reality, and that Changeling get limited access to. Therefore, there will be loopholes, creative application of what you're allowed to do, and the bizarre legalese of the Fairest of Lands. The question is, how do you make rules for it.

[Epimetheus]

There's plenty of unique design space to be had in Contracts, I think. They're deals the Fae make with reality, and that Changeling get limited access to. Therefore, there will be loopholes, creative application of what you're allowed to do, and the bizarre legalese of the Fairest of Lands. The question is, how do you make rules for it.

You use Demon or Mummy models for power. Which are these weird one-off tricks. They would honestly be better representations than what we have now.

[JackalopeVegas]

Since this is a probable talk about a possible God-Machine book for Changeling, I would like to know what are the Touchstones of the Changelings, since the thing is also part of Vampire, Werewolf, and if the tradition continues, Mage.

[Lost_in_the_Hedge777]

a few more merits and style merits unique to changelings, like Hedge Dueling, perhaps a magical style merit unique to the courts in the vein of carinthian law or Invictus Oaths. Something to really drive home why its awesome to be a member of the courts.

[nofather]

We are getting a Chronicle book next year called the Huntsmen Chronicle.

[atamajakki]

Fingers crossed for it to clean up Contracts, focus more on the paranoia/hunted theme, and give us a boatload of new and more balanced kiths.

[Dataweaver]

What I want to know it what itstag line will be (“The Wolf Must Hunt”, “Addicted to Mystery”, etc.)

[MachineIV]

Fingers crossed for it to clean up Contracts, focus more on the paranoia/hunted theme, and give us a boatload of new and more balanced kiths.

Kiths are getting an overhaul, and forced forward in Huntsmen Chronicle. They all have teeth. Along with a system for designing your own.

Paranoia/Hunted theme is... well, it's called The Hunstmen Chronicle.

Contracts are getting a whole new look as well.

I saw the announced the fiction anthology. Has the whole title been announced yet?

[ArcaneArts]

Kiths are getting an overhaul, and forced forward in Huntsmen Chronicle. They all have teeth. Along with a system for designing your own.

Paranoia/Hunted theme is... well, it's called The Hunstmen Chronicle.

Contracts are getting a whole new look as well.

I saw the announced the fiction anthology. Has the whole title been announced yet?

Not yet. So it's following B&S's naming style?

[MachineIV]

Not yet. So it's following B&S's naming style?

Yes. It has a full title. I don't want to spoil it until it's officially announced, or at least until I can leverage a bunch of tears in its teasing.

[ArcaneArts]

Yes. It has a full title. I don't want to spoil it until it's officially announced, or at least until I can leverage a bunch of tears in its teasing.

Fair enough.

[Shock]

Kiths are getting an overhaul, and forced forward in Huntsmen Chronicle. They all have teeth. Along with a system for designing your own.

Paranoia/Hunted theme is... well, it's called The Hunstmen Chronicle.

You heard it here folks. Changeling is not getting one but two books! The Huntsmen Chronicle and the Hunstmen Chronicle!

[The Kings Raven]

Paranoia/Hunted theme is... well, it's called The Hunstmen Chronicle.

So my biggest question is how do you plan to make Changing's paranoia distinct from Demon's Paranoia?