Introduction “One Day, Eluding Her Keepers, the Princess Escaped
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Introduction “One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased every trace of the past from her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died. However, her father, the King, always knew that the Princess' soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning...” – Pan’s Labyrinth Welcome to being lost. That’s a strange concept, introducing you to Changeling: The Lost is a game of beautiful lies, and bittersweet truths. Changelings were taken from their past lives, and replaced with nothingness, with trash. They served monstrous, alien fae creatures, creatures who rebuilt them for a sole, selfish purpose. Changelings then escaped, warping that changed visage, taking ownership of what they were forced into. Now, changelings walk in the same world as the rest of us, but they have to balance living lies, and dealing with truths. When they look around, they see two worlds. They see the fantastical at the same time as the mundane. Embracing either side means eschewing and being eschewed by the other. Most walk the line, and make hard choices on what to accept, and what to reject. What do you tell your loved ones? Can you ever truly love someone who can never see you for who you are, and what’s happened to you? Do you seek out others who have been through what you have? Do you reject them because they’re a constant reminder of a time you’d rather forget? Every time you feel you’ve found the answers, you’re lost again. Diving Back In Arcadia is a realm of wonder and dreams, a land of fairy tales and magic. It’s also the most terrifying place you can imagine. Even the beautiful things hurt, because they simply are not compatible with the way your world is supposed to work. Arcadia can be nightmare beyond description, sure. But Arcadia can also be like a beautiful corset, but one that’s just a little too tight, so it cuts into your skin and makes it hard to breathe. Once you’ve escaped, why would you ever wade back into that hell? First off, in the world of flesh and blood, your perceptions betray you. You see things for the magic, for the wonder, for the strange. You also see them for the “honest” reality. That car is simultaneously made of steel and fur. Its headlights are both a face and an electrical system. Which is real? Does it really matter, if the car can both crash into you, and eat you? Changelings deal with this dichotomy constantly, and have to balance these perceptions. Rejecting reality and rejecting the fae both carry immense danger, but both also come with great temptation. Wouldn’t it be nice to shut off all the strangeness? But then again, wouldn’t it also be nice to live in a land of pure imagination and adventure? The thing is, no rational person should delve into the fae. In a vacuum, any reasonable person should avoid everything fae when possible. Changeling: The Lost happens when that becomes impossible. In Changeling, we’re telling stories about people who have technically escaped the pain, but never fully get away. They have to explore the things that hurt, lest they hurt forever again. Changelings are on the run, they’re hiding. Changelings band together against the outside forces of the fae. They also run headlong back into the Hedge, the barrier between Arcadia and the flesh. The Hedge offers great rewards, but great risk. The Hedge offers opportunities to avoid future captivity, while risking death and dismemberment. Getting On Yes, changelings will explore that darkness time and again. But mostly, Changeling: The Lost is about what you do now that you’re free. Arcadia is about tales from times past, it’s about folklore and legends and the strange. But you’re not in Arcadia anymore. Changeling stories are about the present, and the future. They’re about learning from the past, sure, but they’re really stories about rebuilding. Changelings build majestic courts on the grand scale, and new lives, loves, friendships, jobs, hobbies, and finding yourself in a whole new experience on the small scale. There are of course hurdles. When taken to the fae realms, the dark powers leave dopplegangers in your place. When you return, you might find a weird clone who has inhabited your life for the past twenty years. What do you do? Do you try to solve that? Do you walk away again? Now that you’re returned, you wield unimaginable fairy magic. It makes you powerful, sure, but it also guarantees you’ll never truly be human. Do you eschew that or embrace it? Darkness and Light Changeling isn’t a game of darkness, nor is it a game of light. It’s a game of reality, and facing things right here and now, because judgment calls eat up what precious time you have. The Chronicles of Darkness feature dark concepts, conceits, and themes. Arcadia, the Hedge, and other supernatural forces can be deadly, frightening, and utterly overwhelming. But life is a beautiful thing, and changelings have the ultimate second chance to find grace, and to find joy in even the smallest indulgences. Can you ever be normal again? Maybe not. But does normal really matter? Sure, being able to forge a contract with the elemental essence of fire means you’ll never be human again. That can be depressing. But being able to craft a fireworks display in your bare hands? That’s beautiful. That’s pure fucking magic, and nobody’s ever going to take that away from you. Character Creation Step Zero: Court Creation The first thing that needs done is determining what the Changeling Courts of your chronicle's setting are. What are their themes, their guises, and their means of beating back the Fae and their Huntsmen? Determine with your group and Storyteller which Courts are available for your character to join. You don't need to know which one you want your character to join just yet, but it's best to figure out your options early. The rules for creating Courts, as well as several example Courts, can be found on pg. XX. This is not technically part of character creation, but players and the Storyteller should agree on a setting before putting anyone into it, so it's the first thing on the list for your Changeling’s story. Step One: Character Concept Sum your character up in a simple, short statement. Don't worry about traits just yet — think about what or who you want to play. Examples could include "Exasperated Therapist" for a character who tries to help others work through their issues to his own detriment, or "Uninhibited Machinist" for someone who forges Tokens like nobody's business, with a hedonistic streak a mile wide. Think about what you want your character to play like at her most basic level. If you don't have an idea yet, that's no problem. Look through the rest of the book and let your mind wander. Look at Merits you might want, cool Kiths and Seemings, interesting Contracts, or just think about events you want to happen in your character's story. Then break down those flags — figure out what kind of character would be forced into that Kith, what kind of escape would grant the Seeming you want, and why she’d learned that interesting contract. When you have enough cool ideas, fit them together. That's your character. Reduce that character to a short statement, and there's your concept. From there? Continue to build on that framework. Step Two: Attributes What are your character's innate talents? These are her Attributes: physical talent, intellectual prowess, or social graces. Each of the three categories (Physical, Mental, and Social) contains three Attributes. Every Attribute gets the first dot for free, indicating the most basic capability. Prioritize which of these categories is most important to your character, then second most, and then least important. These are your primary, secondary, and tertiary Attributes. In addition to the single dot you begin with in each Attribute, you can distribute five dots among your primary Attributes, four dots among your secondary Attributes, and three among your tertiary Attributes. Think about what your character's life was like before she was taken, and how her durance has affected her. Would she need to be smart to escape her Keeper? Strong? Tricky? What mattered? What didn't? Build your Attributes based on the story you want to tell with your character, not the other way around. One dot represents basic competency, but below average. Two dots is the human baseline. Three is above-average, four is world-class, and five is the absolute maximum for humans. Step Three: Skills Next, choose your character’s Skills — things the character has learned to do, rather than raw potential. They have the same categories as Attributes: Mental, Physical, and Social. Each has eight Skills. Similar to Attributes, you prioritize these three categories. Unlike Attributes, Skills don't begin with any dots. You have eleven dots to spend on your primary Skills, seven dots for secondary Skills, and four dots for tertiary Skills. You can find more detailed descriptions of each Skill and what the dot ratings mean starting on p.