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The Rose Dragon
2009-05-11, 06:16 PM
Is it any good? Is it similar to the core World of Darkness book? What are its presumptions about the setting? Can it be used in other settings without changes? Which supplements are about what?

Also, is the .pdf easy to read (some reports state that it takes about ten seconds for each page to load)?

grautry
2009-05-11, 06:43 PM
Is it any good?

Yes. It's a fantastic game.


Is it similar to the core World of Darkness book?

The game plays way, way, way differently than your average mortal WoD chronicle.


What are its presumptions about the setting?

You were kidnapped by beings known as True Fae to the most hauntingly heart-stoppingly beautiful and awe-inspiring place called Arcadia. The bitch is that the True Fae are complete monsters, totally alien and completely incapable - or unwilling - of understanding humanity.

So besides the beauty you experienced the most gut-wrenching nightmarish horrors at their hands. Because of that, you have found the reason to escape from that place, back to the real world.

Here lies the problem. Time is fickle within the Arcadia.Maybe you spent twenty years there, only to find that a week passed outside. Maybe 20 years passed outside while you spent a week there and now, nobody recognises you and you emerge into a completely alien world.

What complicates the matter is that there's a good chance that nobody missed you. The True Fae are incredible bastards and they may have replaced you with a clone/copy of yourself called a Fetch. That bastard lived your life while you were in Arcadia, slaving away as some Fae's bitch. What are you going to do about it?

Your time in that place has changed you. You are infused with a power called the Wyrd, allowing you to strike powerful bargains with other beings(Deal With The Devil style, though they're generally good for both sides). To survive within Arcadia you had to strike such bargains with various aspects of reality itself, now allowing you to reshape reality to your will.

So it's a bittersweet thing for you. On one hand, you gained superhuman powers, on the other hand you suffered horrific abuse. Not too mention that the Wyrd also tends to unhinge your mind. Your physical form itself has changed to that resembling a more mythical creature - but it's hidden behind an illusion called the Mask, that only supernatural creatures can pierce through.

And don't think that the creature that imprisoned you has forgotten that you escaped, oh no, that would be too convenient.

So the game is pretty much about picking up the pieces after events like those.


Can it be used in other settings without changes?

Yup. If you play Mage you need to decide whether Changeling Arcadia is the same as Mage Arcadia. It also introduces a new supernatural realm called the Hedge which is pretty much a border realm between the real world and Arcadia.


Which supplements are about what?

The wikipedia description accurate, if brief.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling_the_Lost#Books

To elaborate on what needs to be elaborated upon:
# Winter Masques. Seemings and kith book.
Seemings are like Vampire Clans or Mage Paths, while Kiths are further customizations of those.

# Rites of Spring. Contracts and magic book.

Contracts are the supernatural powers of the Changelings like Werewolf Gifts or Vampire Disciplines.

# Lords of Summer. Courts and entitlements book.

Courts are the Vampire Covenants or Mage Orders while Entitlements are sort of like Bloodlines or Legacies.


Also, is the .pdf easy to read (some reports state that it takes about ten seconds for each page to load)?

I suspect that a certain file-sharing program was involved in that one, as my pdf has no problems like that.

The Rose Dragon
2009-05-11, 06:47 PM
Well, clarifications.

What I meant when I said other settings is that if I remove it from World of Darkness altogether. Would the ruleset work with other settings that include the Fair Folk?

Are the True Fae playable? In a supplement or otherwise?

Mr.Bookworm
2009-05-11, 10:37 PM
Well, clarifications.

What I meant when I said other settings is that if I remove it from World of Darkness altogether. Would the ruleset work with other settings that include the Fair Folk?

Not really. It's highly specific to it's own (awesome) setting, and uses the WoD rules.


Are the True Fae playable? In a supplement or otherwise?

I only have the core book, but I am almost certain that that's a no. The True Fae are near god-like beings in their own realms, and are pretty much completely alien to everything we know.

You could possibly work out a homebrew, as the stats for the True Fae show they sort of work along similar lines as Changelings in the mortal realm, but I wouldn't really advise it.

Ovaltine Patrol
2009-05-11, 11:05 PM
I have heard this game can be fantastic. The only instance in which I ever observed people playing Changeling was on a website called Charleston by Night which supported most of the Old World of Darkness games by way of chatrooms and forums. On that site, most of the people with Changeling characters had nubile prepubescent boy characters who did terrible things and all got banned. What little I saw disinclined me towards the game, but I'm sure there's people out there who have a lot of non-grotesque fun with it.

grautry
2009-05-12, 03:32 AM
Would the ruleset work with other settings that include the Fair Folk?

Ummm, no. Not really.

Well, maybe if a setting portrays Fae as incredibly evil. Then you can say that every Fae is an Actor(pretty much an Avatar of a True Fae) and get away with that.


Are the True Fae playable? In a supplement or otherwise?

Yes, but you don't use the WoD system to play it. There's a mini-game, which looks kind of like Lords of Creation or something along those lines, described at the end of Equinox Road.

The Rose Dragon
2009-05-12, 07:54 AM
Not evil, per se. Just as you are not evil for stepping on ants or squishing mosquitoes, they are not evil for casually ruining mortal lives. Something like this:


Most of you remember the faerie tales of your childhood. They are enchanted tales of magic, wonder and triumph of good. They are tales about the playful, kind and gentle small folk of a world now lost which is innately desirable.

They are not the true faerie tales, however, written by man to warn itself of the truth.

The Fair Folk are far from innately good, kind and playful. Certainly there are those who fit that description, but the Fair Folk are inhuman. They are terrifying, awesome lords and ladies in a world of power and potential far beyond our own. Their minds are rarely for us to know, and they wear the forms we see only to spare our minds.

What if the Fair Folk needed your help, however, for a great quest in the Mortal Realm? They are not used to assuming forms, after all, and they require mortal anchors to act within our world. What would you do if one of the most magnificent beings of Creation granted you powers and purpose in exchange for a short time together on a journey? After all, how terrible can a journey be with the powers of the Fair Folk?

Beware the gifts of the lords of the Faerie...

grautry
2009-05-12, 08:13 AM
Not evil, per se. Just as you are not evil for stepping on ants or squishing mosquitoes, they are not evil for casually ruining mortal lives.

Well, maybe not evil but completely amoral and totally inhuman. This really amounts to pretty much the same thing.


Something like this:

Are you asking here whether True Fae of Changeling Lost can work with an idea like that? Sure.

For further reference, here's how True Fae of Changeling work: Fae are pretty much omnipotent in Arcadia. They are so omnipotent in fact, that they have to limit themselves in order to meaningfully interact with reality and other Fae.

Fae have their Name and their Titles. Fae can invest those Titles(and their Name) to create four types of entities: Actors, Props, Realms and Wisps.

Actors are pretty much avatars of the Fae. They're very powerful, almost-mythical creatures. Just how powerful an Actor is depends on the number of Titles that the Fae creating him has. An Actor is about as powerful as a pimped-out Changeling at the peak of its power(multiple high-dot Contracts, very high attributes, some unique Fae advantages, very high Wyrd). When a Fae enters the mortal world, it's pretty much always in the form of an Actor.
Wisps are also sort-of avatars of the Fae but far less powerful. A Fae can create multiple Wisps by investing a single Title. If the Actors are the PC's and the heroes of the story then the Wisps are the background characters and NPC's.
Realms are just that. They're entire worlds, crafted in specification of the Fae.
Props are pretty much Artifacts. They're incredibly powerful items of certain qualities. Say, if a Fae invests a Title to create a Gun then it works like the perfect Gun. If it hits, it kills, always. That's just what it does. If the Fae uses a Title to create a Forge then anyone setting to work on that Forge will create the most wonderful, perfect works of metalworking ever devised.

Fae battle and fight with each other by creating stories and narratives using those elements(called Legends). They wager their Titles when battling other Fae - with obvious consequences of winning or losing a Title. If the Fae is out of Titles then they can invest their very Names into Legends. If a Fae loses their Name while battling another, it's devoured by the winning Fae.

Objects created using this way always have some sort of a tell. For example, if you use a Title of "Burning Rose" to create an Actor, it will always have some association with flowers and fire. If you use a "Prince of Thieves" Title then an Actor created that way will always be some sort of a shady character associated with royalty.