MASKED DRAMATICS
I posted my FATE reframe of Changeling the Lost, but I’ve
been considering other approaches to the setting. CtL hits the kinds of stories
I enjoy- mixing of sympathetic character stories and discovery of the
strangeness of the world. The personal drama of the setting and the suggestion
of PTSD click for me. DramaSystem offers a set of rules
to emulate dramas, with HBO series like Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, and The
Sopranos as the model. You can use DS to reframe and refocus existing games,
especially those with more rp than combat, more interactions than procedural
notes- like Changeling the Lost. We’ve seen a number of Changeling-like
shows in the last few years- Once, Grimm, and Lost Girl. While I wouldn't use this as the basis of my current campaign switch-over, I can easily see running a DS/CtL campaign. You have a group of people put together by circumstances,
“political” interactions with other groups, secrets, built-in personal
dichotomies, and a looming threat (the Keepers). Here’s how I would structure a
pitch for that.
NUTSHELL
Stolen away from the real world, the characters have
survived years of magick, manipulation and torture at the hands of the Keepers.
A mysterious figure rescues them from the Hedge, dropping them in the city of
Wayward. There these strangers discover the hidden Hollow and a pledge
requiring them to restore it. They discover it once belonged to the Court of
_______ which mysteriously vanished years before. The players must find a way
to work together and recreate the Court to bring balance to the city. To do so
they must contend with the agendas of the remaining three Courts, the weirdness
of the city, the machinations of the Keepers, and their own nightmares.
GM BRIEF (AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS)
Obviously this campaign frame works best with a group which
knows the Changeling the Lost
backstory and set up. It might make a useful second campaign. This structure hand
waves a good deal of the magic, such as the Contracts and Kith abilities. It
assumes the players can negotiate the extent of those abilities (with the GM as
judge). Interestingly, petitions can become concrete in the form of pledges.
Players may struggle with those choices- especially when they have not only
personal but magical consequences. I love the idea of a secret pledge creating
an extra dimension of pressure in a scene. An obvious dramatic pole arises from
the tension between a character’s instincts from their Seeming and their
humanity. An Ogre’s gullibility and their drive to use physical force balanced
against stubbornness and desire for peace. More generally desire for acceptance
in changeling society vs. human society can motivate the characters.
You can have the players develop the city through play (as
happens in Hillfolk and similar DramaSystem pitches). Alternately, you may wish
to have the players build the city before or after character creation. You
could use the urban-variation on Microscope, with factions representing power
groups in the city. Alternately, The Dresden Files gives a great framework for
collaboratively creating a city and deciding what stories interest the players.
Choosing the Court’s also important. Each has its own tenor and feel. If the
players will be rebuilding the Winter Court, that makes for a quite different
game than if they must found a new Summer Court. That also affects their primary
rivals. I especially like the idea of the players collectively coming up with a
new spin on the themes of a Court. (My earlier post on Courtly Campaigns may be useful).
A good deal of the starting work will focus on the internal
life of the Court as players test out those relationships. I think generally
the other Courts should be a more distant and looming threat. They’re wary of
the upstarts, but can’t really critique the concept of returning balance to the
Freehold. Eventually one or more of these Courts may become important,
especially based on player interests and choices (villains or allies). So what
kinds of NPCs might the PCs play around with early on? Most obviously people
from their past lives, depending on when each character vanished. I’d encourage
each player to have at least one friend, relative, lover, or enemy from their
past life as a possible source of interactions. Fetches offer another flip side
to that. As a GM you should decide if the players will choose their Fetch’s
nature or if you will. I prefer the latter as it introduces some interesting
tension and mystery. “Free” changelings offer the other major early bloc of
characters. These aren’t affiliated with any of the Courts for various reasons:
enemies made, see as unworthy, actually a spy, etc. Some might seek out the new
Court looking for aid, some for someone to ally with, others with more
nefarious reasons. Eventually the PCs will assemble a community out of these changelings.
The starting point's a tougher question. I think you have two
basic choices. On the one hand, you could suggest that all of the characters
had the same Keeper, but ended up with different Seemings. Perhaps they were
all traded to or stolen by another Keeper. That would allow the players to
build some relationships before their escape from the Hedge. Perhaps they
forged those bonds in the process of escaping? On the other hand you could
start the game with the Changelings in the real world, with those ties
established. They arrived a little while ago (perhaps a few weeks) and have
made those connections. Early scenes could be called to explore the players
past- i.e. a focus on flashbacks and revelations.
Sources
As I mentioned above, we have several recent TV series which
offer inspiration. Lost Girl’s probably the one which feels like someone
actually played Changeling. Grimm and Once both lift from Bill Willingham’s Fables series. That’s another great resource. The 4400, at least early on, deals with the question of people out
of time and returning to a world which has passed them by. Most modern urban
fantasy has something to offer, including books like Grossman’s The Magicians. Serial novels usually
have more procedural elements to them, but they can easily be borrowed from. In
the end the best possible resource is the Changeling
the Lost material itself. There’s a pleasure to reading those books and
ignoring all of the mechanical stuff.
CHARACTERS
Obviously any kind of kith and seeming could work in this
setting. Having a diversity of types will make the game stronger. They also
offer some archetypes which everyone can work with and play against. I don’t
think I need to offer a list, just flip through the CtL core book- and the Lord of Summer supplement which focuses
on the Courts.
SETTING
Having the group build or even just sketch what they want in
the city setting gives the richest approach. The city should be big enough to
have lots of interesting places, but not so huge that we don’t have a sense of
place. Notice how these shows with a static city usually end up returning to
key places. The city feels small and we usually cut out travelling times unless
they’re used to showcase a conversation.
More importantly consider what the players Hollow looks
like. How big is it? Does it have secrets? Perhaps it is in an abandoned
museum, hospital, or university. Why did it close down? A mysterious mansion
works as well, perhaps with a parallel and reversed mansion in the Hedge. It
should be spacious enough that NPCs can arrive and stay. You want to be able to
call multiple scenes in different locations over time.
THEME
The starting theme of the game is "Who Am I?" and "Building a
Shelter." It depends on how where and when you decide to begin the story (as
mentioned above). Other classic stories include:
Not Without My Family
Am I Human?
The High Cost of Living
Avoiding Authorities
The Changeling Seeking Sanctuary
Hints of a Keeper
Rumors of Slavers
The Hedge Goes Weird
Hob Equality
A Fetch Crosses the Line
Who will be the Prince?
Maintaining Sanity
Bargaining for Contracts
Searching for Glamour
Protecting the Innocent
Why Was I Taken?
Dark Secrets
Instincts Take Over
Building a Refuge
Taking on the Courts
TIGHTENING THE SCREWS
Oddball magical incidents and strange events can easily be
used to prompt incidents. GMs have access to a variety of magical McGuffins.
Episode Crisis:
- One of the Other Courts Takes Umbrage at the PC’s Efforts.
- A dangerous mortal learns their secrets.
- Another kind of supernatural threatens them.
- Their physical sanctuary comes under threat (redevelopment or the like)
- A comrade turns out to the an agent of the Keepers
Season Threat:
- One of their Keepers returns for them
- A rival Court declares war
- They must venture into the Hedge to save someone dear
NAMES
Abyssinian Max
Always
There
Ashwine Klocke
Barnswept
Carpenter
Husk
Darling
Pitch
Doc Porcelain
Easting Eon Rat
Gloriana
TwoFold
Haberdash Quinn
Igiomatic
Katarina Skin
King
Falling
The
Larker
Many-Lost-Quills
Maven
Fellows
Mr. Q
Neversung Knots
Noisy
Old
Grummy
Oglethumb
Phantom
Tom
Queen Jitters
Roil
Simon
Maggots
Sister Coin
Squintborne
TenPenny Down
Threadbare
Unbecoming Tim
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