Changeling: The Lost

Changeling: The Lost

Changeling: The Lost cover
Designers	Ethan Skemp
Publishers	White Wolf
Publication	August 2007
Genres	Personal Horror
Systems	Storytelling System

Changeling is the fifth supplementary game line by White Wolf, Inc; for the World of Darkness system. Much of what is officially known, up to this point, has been disseminated by members who attended the 2007 GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas. A "quickstart" version of Changeling: The Lost will be released for Free RPG Day, June 23, 2007.

On April 25th 2007, Justin Achilli posted an entry on White Wolf's LiveJournal community detailing the shenanigans of some clever interns while the other employees were away on a company retreat. He included pictures of the event, in which vigilant fans caught glimpse of the Changeling cover for the first time .

On April 30th 2007, the cover for Changeling: The Lost was officially revealed via White Wolf's news feed ; coupled with this description of the game line from the publisher:

Taken from your home, transformed by the power of Faerie, kept as the Others’ slave or pet — but you never forgot where you came from. Now you have found your way back through the Thorns, to a home that is no longer yours. You are Lost. Find yourself.

Game Overview

A Game of Beautiful Madness

The protagonists of this modern fairy tale are the changelings, or as they often call themselves, the Lost. Stolen away from their human lives as children or adults, they spent what seemed like years or even centuries in Faerie, chattel to beautiful but inhuman lords and ladies. Fed on faerie food and drink, they gradually became more fae themselves, their bodies shifting slightly to reflect their roles. Some, however, managed to escape. Holding on to their memories of home, they found their way through the winding thorns of the Hedge, the barrier between the mortal world and time-twisted Faerie.

Their return, however, was all too bittersweet. Some came back twenty years after they'd first vanished, even though it had never seemed that long to them in Faerie. Others who had reached adulthood in Arcadia found that they returned only a few hours after their abduction. And almost all found, horribly enough, that they weren't missed. The Fae had been thorough. Left in the stead of each abducted changeling was a replica, a simulacrum, a thing that looked like him or her — but wasn't. Now, with inhuman strangers living their lives and nowhere to go, the Lost must find their own way in the world that was stolen from them.

Changeling deals with the struggles and dreams of people who are no longer what they were, their mortal flesh interwoven with fae magic. An illusion called the Mask obscures their remade physical bodies, allowing them to pass for humans — a word that doesn't apply to them any more. The contrast between the reality of the mortal world and the unreality of Faerie colors their stories, in ways that often express as beauty, madness or both.

The beauty referred to almost goes without saying. Faerie is beautiful. It isn't kindly, or nurturing, or benevolent, but it is wondrously beautiful. The same is true for its children, both those that were born of its unreal matter and those mortals that were abducted and nursed on its magic. Even a hideous Ogre may have some strangely sketched artistry to its asymmetrical features, and even a Darkling of disturbing mien may have an elegantly hypnotic grace or cold, frank sexuality. But as the Lost move among the mortal world, trying to recover their old lives or draw enough Glamour to sustain themselves, they become aware of the beautiful things that mortals often take for granted. To a changeling, there is beauty in the grief hanging over the funeral of a good man, or in the awkward way a young girl twists her hands at a school dance. They see things nobody else does — not simply because they can, but because they try.

The madness inherent to a changeling's existence is also twofold. Part is external. Changelings too often cross paths with things of Faerie and the Hedge — strange, creeping things that should not be, that defy human rationality. The Others themselves can only be described as "mad," for surely they subscribe to no mortal definition of sanity. But an equally great threat comes from within. The threshold between dream and reality, between Faerie and mortality, is easily crossed… and a changeling doesn't always know which side of the threshold she stands on.

Changeling Theme

The prevailing theme of Changeling is the quest to find one's way home. For some, this may mean reclaiming the mortal life they were stolen away from as best they can. For others, it means finding a new home among the freeholds and Courts of the Lost. Some hope to be fortunate and determined enough to achieve both, finding one foothold in the mortal world and another among their fae kin. Even the tangled skeins of intrigue and ambition that grip many a freehold trace their roots back to changelings who are determined to find their way to a place they'd be willing to call "home." It's no simple journey, and the stories of each chronicle unfold around the challenges of this road. Who can you trust? What is your heart's desire, your ideal home? What is the price you will have to pay to achieve it?

The secondary theme of the game reflects the nature of the fae. A common hallmark to legends that feature things we think of as "fae," in fact the characteristic that may define a supernatural entity as "fae" or not, is a certain theme of deception or dishonesty. In some stories, the fae are the ones who trick mortals, appearing to be things they aren't, substituting their own young for human children or leading wanderers astray. In others, humans are the ones who break some form of social contract with the fae, although often while unaware that the contract is in place, and are punished severely by the fae for their "disloyalty." The themes of deception and mistrust run through many Changeling stories, as the Lost must hide themselves away from friends and family in order to keep from drawing their enemies' eyes. Promises and pledges are the mortar that holds fae changeling together, the only way the Lost can tell who to trust and who to avoid. Changelings are at their most powerful when they can finesse their way into some sort of advantageous position over their enemies, and most constrained when they must give their word. In that, they are very like the fae of legend, and the "faerie tales" of their lives have a hauntingly familiar refrain.

Changeling Mood

The mood of a Changeling chronicle can shift many times, reflecting the mercurial nature of the fae. The prevailing mood, however, is bittersweet. The Lost walk through an unseen world of wonder tinged with danger and deceit. The beauty of the fae is often sinister. The Hedge is alluring, and offers both succor and danger. The magic that changelings work is wondrous stuff, but has its strange catches and costs. And yet, for all the fear of the Others, the suspicion of betrayal and the hurt of necessary lies, the Lost still feel the glory of intense emotion and see the vivid colors of fae magic. Both bitterness and sweetness are essential to this world. Without bitterness, the fae are toothless things, as weak and watered-down as the Victorian fables meant to shelter children from anything that might hint that the world was less than perfect. Without sweetness, the setting is a withered and valueless place, more akin to a sulky nihilist's view of the universe than the place it actually is. For all the horror, there is also wonder. For all the beauty, there is also madness.

Setting

Changeling: The Lost is a role playing game where the characters are humans who were stolen away by the Fae to their home of Arcadia. While kept here, their existence is horribly twisted and kept in unusual forms of servitude, such that the desire to escape captivity is enough to brave escape through the thorns.

This is not a simple prospect, as the Thorns is the barrier that separates the mundane world from Arcadia. While it is not known what impediment the Thorns pose for Fae who wish to traverse the worlds, they provide a serious danger for any mortal who wishes to cross back. It has been suggested that changelings can and do escape in groups, often forming the basis of a player troupe, or as solitary escapees.

Upon returning, changelings may discover a sense of lack of synchronicity between their time spent in Arcadia and the time they have been absent from the mortal world. Changelings may have disappeared for only moments, only to return after several years of time in Arcadia, or that the few days in Arcadia translates to years, even centuries gone for the hapless mortal [There's an entry on each sample character for "apparent age," with the number of years Gone in parentheses.]. Furthermore, upon returning, changelings may find they have been replaced with a substitute called a Fetch.

In returning to the mortal world, changelings must attempt to recover, essentially, from the trauma and abuse of their time in Arcadia. Some seek to recapture their lost history, others may seek out to immerse themselves into the politics of the Fae within the world, but all of them are desperately attempting to avoid recapture by their Keeper, the Fae that held them in Arcadia.

The Fae themselves seem to have close affinity to the natural world and also things not normally considered cognizant. Throughout history, the Fae have established accordance with these phenomena, creating contracts and binding oaths with them. It is from these contracts it is thought that Fae can utilise power within the mortal world. Interestingly, the antagonism between Fae and Iron occurred from a major breach between Iron and the Fae and Iron is still hostile towards them [Iron that is at least 90% pure and unalloyed "ignores defenses contrived by the Fae or their magics." Cold Iron, that which is shaped without benefit of a forge, has the added power of doing Aggravated damage to the True Fae, also called The Others.]

Oaths, too, are important for changelings, as they can draw upon the contracts to access various supernatural powers of the Fae. Furthermore, if a changeling ever breaches an oath, it sounds a horn throughout Arcadia that informs their Keeper of their location and may cause them to come to reclaim them.

Lastly, pervasive to all things is the Mask, the illusion that makes all things fae appear as mundane versions of themselves, Changelings included. You can spend a point of Glamour to allow individuals to see through the mask, or to strengthen your Mask enough that other Fae things cannot see through it -- but your shadow will betray your true nature. (No caps; it may be your actual shadow.) You can empty your whole Glamour pool at once to allow everyone in the scene to see your fae form; this is an exception to the rule that your expenditure of Glamour per turn is capped by your Wyrd.

Characters

The following are the features of Changeling characters.

Seeming (X-Axis)

To survive is to carry scars. Traumas, both physical and psychological, can heal. The pain they cause can go away, but they'll always leave something behind. It's true of physical wounds, and it's true of psychological wounds, too. Sometimes the scars we carry disfigure us both literally and psychologically, but survival implies recovery. As someone once said, that which does not kill us makes us stranger as well as stronger, and the changes wrought upon us by the traumas we have suffered leave a mark that is both a reminder of pain and a badge of honor, the proof of survival, the ability to truly understand the sufferings of others.

This is the way that the Lost view their seemings. They faced a season of suffering as the toys of the Fae, and they survived. They escaped. They found their way back to the world of humans. They were changed by what they went through. They carry their seemings like scars. Seemings are the permanent mark of terrible trauma. At the same time, they're a badge of honor. The changeling carries his seeming as freedom's prize, as if to say: I got out alive. I tore my way through the Hedge and the marks have made me who I am.

A changeling's seeming is entirely her own. Although the seeming reflects in some ways the Fae who originally stole the changeling from the human world (or in some cases, the tasks the changeling was given by his Keeper), it's only part of the story. An abusive parent instills something of his own personality in his hapless child, and even if the child overcomes the trauma of the abuse, those marks remain. But every survivor reacts to his trauma in his own unique way.

It's like that with seemings. The changeling's time in Faerie changed her very essence. The seeming she bears, the faerie characteristics that make her who she now is, they reflect that. But it's still her. Even changed into something other than human, the changeling is still in some ways the same person. Older, wiser, her very essence changed, having made the first step towards growing up and healing, she becomes something that reflects what she has been through, but which is yet entirely separate.

Seemings (Part 2) June 15th Preview of Changeling: The Lost Posted: 2007-06-15

Seemings aren't really social groupings at all. A changeling might draw his fae mien from his Keeper, or from whatever tasks he was set to perform, so any similarity between two Others doesn't necessarily extend to their charges. The ever-changing Gentry can only be recognized on the grounds of what they do, rather than what they are, and a Fae who was a hundred years ago a mischievous little goblin could today be a mighty king of trees or a graceful and cruel prince. The changelings who they caught in their web resist categorization in a similar way. The difference lies in that changelings describe each other by what they escaped.

In the end, the different kinds of seemings and kiths that the Lost recognize are not so much social groupings as they are a vague, general descriptive shorthand for how different changelings have been changed by their experiences. The kiths which further subdivide the Lost who share a seeming are only slightly more specific sub-categories, and even they can't truly categorize the endless diversity of the fae.

It's no surprise that changelings who share similar seemings feel some affinity with each other. The seeming represents what a changeling has been through, but also what a changeling's strengths are. It represents what a changeling can become, both good and ill. A person can be destroyed by a traumatic experience... or can rise above it to become a person whose strengths are defined and proven by the refinement of suffering, through acceptance and growth. To accept a seeming is to accept the consequence of suffering and the prize of survival and escape, the final reward of having been strong enough to get out and make it back into the world of humans. To accept it as part of your self and to wear it well is to enter on the road to healing. To understand it and make it your own is to begin to truly grow up.

Beast: This seeming draws from the myths of animalistic and feral Fae.
Blessing: Gain 8-again rule on Animal Ken rolls, spend point of Glamour to add to Presence and Composure and triple defense for dodge.
Curse: Has a -4 (rather than -3) penalty to use mental skills untrained, and doesn't reroll 10s for rolls involving Intelligence.

Darkling: Possibly drawn from myths regarding shadowy and dark Fae.
Blessing: 9-Again on stealth and can spend Glamour to buy Wits and Stealth dice.
Curse: not detailed

Elemental: This seeming draws from the myths of naturalistic and wild Fae.
Blessing: You can spend a point of Glamour to add your Wyrd rating to your Health dots for the remainder of the scene.
Curse: You do not get 10-again on dice pools involving the Manipulation attribute, Empathy, Expression, or Socialize.

Fairest: This seeming draws from the myths of noble and beautiful Fae.
Blessing: You can spend Glamour to improve dice pools on Presence, Manipulation, and Persuasion rolls, one for one. You suffer no untrained penalty for Social skills in which you have no dots.
Curse: Your dice pools to resist loss of Clarity are at -1.

Ogre: This seeming draws from the myths of giant and brutish Fae.
Blessing: Spend Glamour to add to Strength, Brawl, and Intimidation.
Curse: Does not gain 10-Again for Composure (with the exception of Perception) and is at -1 to Composure when used as defense.

Wizened: This seeming draws from the myths of elderly and sagacious Fae.
Blessing: Spend 1 Glamour to gain 9-Again on Dexterity rolls for scene.
Curse: Does not benefit from 10-Again on Presence rolls and suffers a -2 penalty on untrained social rolls.

Kith (X-axis annex)

The Kith seems to be an extension of the X-axis, rather than a splat in its own right. They can be combined with different Seemings to tailor the various stories and Fae archetypes that the Changeling wishes to emulate. Kiths describe the physical form that the Changeling has as their faerie nature, each granting the Changeling with a single power. It was stated in the USCC(United State Camarilla Convention) that each Seeming has several associated Kiths. What follows is a list of detailed Kiths:

Cyclopean
Smell The Blood: You have 8-again on Wits-based perception rolls. You can smell things that cannot normally be smelled; even though you have monocular vision, your sense of smell makes up for it.

Dancer
?: 9-Again on Expression or Socialize rolls involving agility (juggling/dancing/etc). Also, adds 1 to dodge (not Defense).

Fireheart

Manikin
Artificer's Enchantment: Learn Artifice Contracts at new dots x 5. -1 on untrained Crafts rolls rather than -3.

Oracle
?: Spend Glamour to buy Wits dice.

Skitter Skulk
?: Character has an affiliation with rodents.

Smith
Steel Mastery: Spend 1 Glamour and make a Dex + Crafts roll to give a mostly metal object a +1 equipment bonus for a day. A given object can only be so improved three times; it is destroyed after the fourth.

Tunnelgrub
?: Spend 1G and make a Dexterity + Athletics roll to escape any binds.

Windwing
Gift of the Sky: Takes only 1 Bashing for every 15 yards fallen, and only takes lethal when falls 150+ yards.

Courts (Y-Axis)

Courts are the social models that a Changeling may participate or belong to. Each of them is tied to a seasonal theme. The seasonal courts each rule during their season. Furthermore, each Court has an emotion that is associated with it, that is significant in various situations, such as the harvest of Glamour.

Autumn
Emotional Association: Fear

Spring
Emotional Association: Desire

Summer
Emotional Association: Wrath

Winter
Emotional Association: Sorrow

Entitlements (Z-Axis)

Not much is known about the Z-Axis, but statements by Ethan Skemp have suggested that this splat will enhance the social nature of the game. They seem to be based around the idea of estates and benefits granted from that, though it may be possible that estates do not relate to physical territory. The example in the demo was the Duchy of the Icebound Heart. It appears, if they break a heart (through betrayal, for instance) they can control that particular individual more easily.

Mechanics

Powerstat

Wyrd

Wyrd is probably linked to the these of Fate linked to Arcadia and may partly be a measure of the character’s destiny. Having a Wyrd that's too high can gain you a Ban.

Energy

Glamour
Glamour is the unit of mystical energy identified in the demo. There are apparently many ways to gain Glamour, but the only one detailed in the Demo involves finding a human who's experiencing strong emotions and tapping that wellspring of energy. Attempting to harvest from someone feeling an emotion that's in accordance with their Court gets an additional die to roll to gain Glamour(see Courts for identified emotions).

Morality

Clarity
Clarity is said to be "a measure of how well [the characters] can distinguish the elements of Fairie [sic] from those of the mortal world." Characters with high Clarity can easily distinguish between the two worlds, and have some facility with detecting other supernatural things; characters with low Clarity often confuse dreams with reality. Clarity seems to be a permutation of the base human morality stat using a number of normal Morality sins with new additions. Some examples of Clarity sins are listed below:

Clarity 7: Taking psychotropic drugs, undergoing an "unexpected life change."
Clarity 6: Grand theft. Revealing one's fae mien to un-ensorcelled mortals. (Ensorcelled = enchanted, it seems.)
Clarity 5: Murder of another changeling. Intentional mass property damage.
Clarity 4: Manslaughter. Breaking of a formal Oath.

Merits

Court Goodwill: This is the status merit used in Changeling.
Where some characters have one dot of the merit - the character has made some friends in the [appropriate] Court. Though they can't ask for any favours or special treatment, their name has gotten around. They get a +1 bonus to all social rolls involving members of the [appropriate] Court.
Hollow: Appears to be the sanctuary equivalent merit (Haven/Sanctum etc).
Mantle: This endows the Fae with a Nimbus-like quality that grant bonuses according to the Court.
Characters who have higher amounts of Mantle, seem to be better regarded by their Court.
Token: Appears to be the equivalent of enchanted item merits.

Sample Tokens:
Driver's Little Helper: A pair of fuzzy dice you hang on the rearview mirror. By hanging it up and spending 1G, you don't need fuel, you gain +1 on drive rolls, and you can cut driving time to one third. This is done by maipulating probability (you just happen to get all the green lights, take the right shortcuts, etc). Also, when its active, the sound of a fae baby carriage bouncing along a rocky path can be heard. This noise can't be drowned out at all.

Antagonists

The True Fae

They are the ones that stolen the chagelings away from their home. Most of the time, they stay in Faerie, where they are the most powerful. They do not like being in the real world -- they are weaker there. They are alien in mindset, and are, to a human mind, crazy and almost impossible to understand.
Also called: The Others, The Keeper.

The Fetch

When the Changelings are stolen away, something is put in their place. Artificial beings, created objects, the True Fae made them with magic and whatever material they though of. If and when they are killed, there is no body to "clean up". Someone who was killing a lot of fetch might not generate a whole lot of attention from local authorities (esp. if the associated changeling stepped back into place so there would be nothing to suggest that anything had happened at all), but could generate attention from other changelings, the Fae, etc. The level of Clarity sin assigned to killing a Fetch is not as severe as the level assigned to killing a real person.

Supplements

Autumn Nightmares: First known supplement. Release Date TBA. Thought to be a book of Changeling Antagonists

Winter Masques: Second known supplement. Release Date TBA.

Artwork

All art and Ethan Quotes sources from RPG.net

[1]
Possibly a mortal being stolen away through the thorns by a Fae. Or escaping?
If this is true, there is a suggestion that the thorns have representations of stories in them, trapped somehow.

[2]
This is Miami.
Ethan: Note how the sneaky artist snuck in a reference to the art director. Last time this happened, it was also a Changeling book...

[3]
Promo art for the Autumn Court with a Wizened thrown in.

[4]
One of the Elementals or Beasts.

[5]
An Ogre with gaudy jewelry.
Ethan: Gaudy jewelry is totally in keeping with someone of his affiliation.

[6]
Possibly a Darkling, possibly the result of a Kith.
Ethan: You can play one.

[7]
Possibly contracts in action, a True Fae taking vengeance?
Ethan: I love that piece. Definitely a Changeling take on the willowy blonde.

Ad Blurbs

All approved text sources from Changeling Contest Approved text

“Taken from your home, transformed by the power of Faerie, kept as the Others’ slave or pet — but you never forgot where you came from. Now you have found your way back through the Thorns, to a home that is no longer yours. You are Lost. Find yourself.”

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The Core Rulebook for Changeling: The Lost™
• A rulebook for playing the changelings, those humans changed by durance in Faerie to something more than human
• A vivid imagining of the fae beings and places that hide unseen in the World of Darkness
• Provides new player types and antagonists for crossover chronicles as well as chronicles focusing on changelings alone

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Make your way through the brambles * August 2007

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We all grow up on fairy tales. Our first exposure to them these days is often in a somewhat light-hearted, “child-friendly” form. The good fairies bless the heroes so they can overcome their challenges, and the wicked fairies’ curses ultimately come to naught. Everyone lives happily ever after.
But as we start to find the older fairy tales in their original form, things turn out differently. Blood and sex creep into the tales. People come to bad ends. These stories were told to children not to comfort them as they fell asleep, but as cautionary tales. Warnings not to stray too far from home. Not to go into the dark woods. Not to wander down the road at night. Stay at home, be good, mind your manners… or something bad will happen to you. The Good Folk might come and take you away.
Changeling: The Lost is a game about what happens when these old stories prove true. The Others do come and take people away, keeping them as slaves in a fairyland that’s as much nightmare as dream. Severed from the mortal world, these abducted humans gradually become more and more like their captors, losing themselves in their new lives. But some of these captives remember who they are, and try to escape back to the place they were born. Changed in form and feature, scarred by their durance, some of them even make it back.

Welcome to the game of Beautiful Madness

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Faerie was the most beautiful place imaginable — and also the most terrible. Every joy was a hundred times sweeter, every terror a hundred times starker. But you never forgot your real home.

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Kidnapped into slavery by the True Fae, changelings escape back through the Hedge, the magical barrier between our world and Faerie, to find that they do not fit into the mortal world. No longer having a place in the world, but not wishing to return to Arcadia, they are caught between the two, forever balancing the dual nature of their existence.