Changeling: The Lost, Play By Post?

[darkfire]

Hello Juju,

You've asked some good questions and I'll be glad to answer them. Most of the time the Mask is a perfect illusion. Your shadow will look normal to those who can't see through the mask. Now your shadow could very well stretch into other shadows and be pretty freaky but the mask will fool most people into not noticing this happening. However as a changeling gains more Wyrd, the mask becomes less perfect and at times can bleed out subtle hints of the changeling's true nature. As you're only a starting changeling though, this won't be a problem for you. Still, while the mask may hide your true form, contracts with visual effects can be very visible to onlookers. The mask does not cloak the effects of contracts.

Now as for having a character with a similar look to that of the picture, there is a kith called a Palewraith that will probably fit the bill. They generally look in their natural form colourless, indistinct and translucent. But as there is infinite variations, I can definitely see some as appearing black and shadow-like with shadows that overlap those around them. Their kith power is Light Aversion. They can spend 1 glamor to add +1 to their defense for a scene (1 hour) so long as they are in a location with sufficient shadows. This also applies against attacks using firearms so is quite useful (In the WOD, your Defense trait does not apply against Firearms attacks unless the attack is at point blank range).

As for contracts, I can see your character probably concentrating on contracts of Smoke (that gives abilities of stealth) and Contracts of Darkness (That have power over fear and darkness). Now if you want the power to literally control darkness and wield it as a weapon, you'll need Contracts of Elements and take Shadow as your element. Anyway hope that helps answer your questions.

[Juju-Monster-Man]

I was actually considering those exact kith and contracts when I read the books. I'll upload a google doc in the next few days for you to check to see if everything is okay.

[Juju-Monster-Man]

Okay here is the doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q74i7yfe0pLGizGcRt5_Jw9Dwe9Mt3R90BQvRQ5Qncc/edit

I think I followed the directions correctly but if not tell me. I will change it ASAP.

[darkfire]

Anyhow it seems we got two players thus far interested in playing. I would be willing to start out the game soon, probably in July sometime as I want to give new players more of a chance to join. Changeling can work with a small group but a motley works better when there is diversity as changelings often have few they can count on but each other. For info, a Motley is basically a group of Changeling who work together (And sometimes live together under one roof and share Hollows but it is not necessarily a requirement). Its just a term really as pretty much every WOD game has some kind of term for a player group. Examples are listed below:

Vampires: Coterie
Werewolf: Pack
Mage: Cabal
Promethean: Throng
Hunter: Cell
Changeling: Motley
Geist: Krewe

Here is a good joke for the road. What do you get when Changelings and Geists form a group?

[luffy316]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFucking great joke


always heard Geist was neat, though probably good for me to get away from the "you're a semi supernatural person with a powerful familiar" genre

[Juju-Monster-Man]

Darkfire I was wondering if you read the Horror Recognition Guide, the Hunter the Vigil book? It makes for a interesting, if possibly convoluted, backstory for someone who might want to play, or for a future nWoD game/campaign/thing. I won't spoil the book but essentially it is a collection of 15 short stories about a Philadelphia Cell of hunters as they deal with the various Supernaturals in the WoD world. Nothing is spelled out exactly what the supernaturals are but you can gathered from the investigations what they are (Mages, Vampires, Prometheus, Geists, Goblins, Changelings, Aliens, Old Ones, Cultists, Gentry).

But the first and foremost thing is the introduction to the book is a back and forth between the Cell's Project: Valkyrie handler and the government group investigating their disappearance. Essentially what is said is that during a group meeting they disappeared and the only evidence left at the scene was a message written in fingerprints on the tile in the center of the room that read "The Sower Creeps and Holds the Wheel with Effort."

If someone is hesitant to play or you want a means to connect all the people in this Changeling game make them/us in a similar situation. Make it somehow connected to a Cell (informants, contacts, researchers, compilers) that has gone dark. Make it so that a Gentry has dragged the cell and its "allies" through the Hedge for some reason. Only the people playing have been able to almost leave the Fae.

Just something I though about reading the book today.

[darkfire]

Greetings Juju and luffy. Glad to hear you're still into this. Anyway, I have not read the horror recognition guide, but I am a good fan of Hunter: The Vigil. It is my favorite World of Darkness game for a number of reasons. First of all, your characters are the Underdogs, most of the time you're playing normal humans who have decided to go out and hunt monsters to protect humanity. Of course your characters are no match for fighting monsters in a toe to toe fight and against most supernaturals they will be at a disadvantage if not outclassed completely. It is also the fact that as a hunter, you're forced into a life that alienates you from normal society. You're going to have to do some pretty illegal stuff and immoral stuff in order to succeed which can take a toll on your Morality. Stealing, breaking and entering, stalking, vandalism, murder, arson and numerous other crimes will be done in the process of the Vigil in order to defeat your foes. Much of the time, your so called good deeds will not be rewarded and to society as a whole you will be seen as just another violent criminal. To survive as a hunter you need to work outside the system and use what advantages you can get. Keep your identity hidden for if the monsters know who you are, your life and the lives of those you love are in danger. Do not jump the gun and act impulsively, a direct assault can quickly leave your cell in a bad situation. Investigate your target, get an idea of what they're capable of and plan an attack where you can defeat your foe with tactical precision and intelligent use of equipment. But don't get married to the plan, for many plans do not survive the first encounter with the enemy. You must grow and adapt to every situation if you are to survive at all.

Perhaps if you live long enough, you may find aid in the Vigil. There are numerous secret societies of hunters throughout the world that can provide you support although many of them have clandestine agendas of their own in the hunt. Then again, you may just remain as a lone sheep with a shotgun fighting against a jungle of predators. But in the end, the life of a hunter is one with a low life expectancy. You may have a heroic death against the creatures of darkness if you're lucky. But there are fates worse than death for those who take up the Vigil. A vengeful werewolf could break into your ex-wife's home and murder your family after discovering that you killed his pack-mate. A vampire power-broker clean out your bank account leaving you without the resources to protect yourself from a hit-squad sent to rub you out. But most of all, the worst enemy can be yourself, for hunters see things that normal men are not meant to know and do things that are sometimes worse that the monsters they hunt. This leads them down a trail of madness. You may just end up in a happy home for the rest of your life. Or worse, you may become a Slasher, a "Human" monster who kills not just monsters but regular people as well. In time Slashers can evolve gaining supernatural powers from their madness and by then you're no different that the monsters you once hunted.

This is what I like about Hunter: The Vigil. It IS the horror game of the World of Darkness. As for the Horror Recognition Guide idea, I don't think it works very well for a changeling game. The thing about changelings is their diversity of backgrounds and how they mesh together due to mutual protection and acceptance. Yes, hunters CAN be captured by the Gentry. In fact, because they actively seek out the supernatural, they have a greater chance of crossing the path of a Gentry than a normal person. But when a Hunter becomes a Changeling, their life priorities change and the prospect of hunting down monsters for humanity's sake is put on the back-burner to the various complexities of changeling existence. Not to mention you're no longer human and to fuel your powers you have to feed on people's emotions, something a hunter might find revolting. Although feeding on Glamour does not cause any physical harm to a mortal (Well usually, the process of invoking such emotions could cause some harm to a human) a hunter would not see things that way. Of course Changelings are often hard to hunt considering the mask is such a powerful illusion. Most hunters do not have means of piercing the mask. Still as contracts still have visible effects, changelings can still be discovered and killed by hunters who discover them. Anyway there is my 0.02 cents on the idea.

[luffy316]

with what limited knowledge I have of WoD (one RPPR podcast, playing the Gamecube Hunters game, and scattered stories and snippets of rulebooks), it sounds like generally a band of Hunters who know what Changelings are wouldn't have any real beef with them until they start going insane. mostly they're just panicky kids (to some degree) trying to lay low, as is the nature of their powers

I HAVE heard of the occasional "Justice League" games, where the party has basically one of every race from WoD in it (werewolf meets vampire meets changeling meets hunter meets promethean, or some such). mention of how it can be fun, but you have to realize there will be, by their very nature, internal conflicts, hatred, and major fucking power balance issues. could work, but only with just the right players (not recommending here, just random factoiding)

[Juju-Monster-Man]

Yea, I've been calling that the "Team Avatar Paradox." Like the main group in the Avatar the Last Airbender, the power levels would be all over the map in a combined WoD game (if what I've researched is true) and it could possibly render a character useless unless written (played) correctly.

(SPOILER KINDA) To those who haven't seen Avatar here are the main characters: (1) We have a blind girl who can see using the vibrations of the earth and control metal; (2) a person who can control water and form of water, capable of magic healing, and can puppet master people; (3) we have a kid who is a prince, capable of beating benders (magicians) in physical combat alone, control fire (possibly lighting), and knows one of the few means to redirect/nullify lightning bending in the series; (4) you have a person who can control air currents and EVERY OTHER ELEMENT known to man at the same time; and finally (5) you have the "meat and sarcasm guy" whose major defining characteristic is his is smart, has no magic powers, and has a boomerang.

The funny thing is (in my opinion) the "meat and sarcasm guy" is the strongest character in the group solely cause he doesn't rely on magic powers and usually (when he isn't tripping balls on cactus juice) out-thinks his opponents and the enemies.

[darkfire]

The World of Darkness is not completely balanced with supernatural templates. While the systems mesh together as all the splats use the Core Rules with the additions of "Power Stats" and supernatural powers, certain supernatural creatures are stronger than others although strength cannot always be gauged just by just the ability to deal and take damage. Changelings for instance are a fairly weak template compared to others. They have no innate supernatural healing and have generally small dice pools for their powers (Usually a Stat+Wyrd roll), compared something like a vampire who has a (Stat+Skill+Discipline) dice pool for their abilities. They get a lot of external benefits though such as access to Goblin Fruits that can do wondrous things, pledges that can give them potent advantages and tale-crafting that can alter fate itself. In the end, the games often depends on how you play to your strengths and use the abilities you're given to your best advantage.

[luffy316]

then you have the "being human and mild magic guy." a hunter as i understand them won't have nearly the firepower of his teammates, especially in early levels, but if you need somebody to say... go cash a check? send the hunter

[luffy316]

http://sheetgen.dalines.net/sheet/print/18747

should be good if i remember it right

[darkfire]

Hello Juju and Luffy. Well its about time to get started with the game. Hopefully when the game gets momentum we'll have more people sign up and join. I'll be putting the game thread up on the "Forum Role-playing". Only issue is that Luffy still haven't chosen his 5th dot of contracts. The sheet he has is still a bit short in that department. Anyway glad to get the game started and looking forward to getting things on their way!

[Clockwurke Bear]

See, I would join this, but I'm not nearly as good at forum roleplaying than voice. I post only a paragraph or two normally. If that's fine though, I'm interested, as I have extensive WoD knowledge.

[darkfire]

Hello Clockwurke Bear, glad you're interested in joining. Yea I did want to run Changeling the Lost as a Voice Chat game. The problem is that the player's schedules don't quite work with mine. The thing is, in my house I have people who are light sleepers and thus late-night Chat Gaming tends to disrupt people's sleep thus I can't do the 12 Midnight to 4 AM style gaming schedule. I also work during the week, thus during weekdays my availability time is limited from a 6-11 eastern schedule which most players have trouble meeting as we got overseas players. Only the weekend I am usually available and even then this can be spotty as 1 in 4 Saturdays I'm usually busy with RPGA events or other one-off games and on Sundays I play Warhammer on most days. Anyhow, you're free to make a character. I'ed be glad to have another player in the group. Rules for character creation are posted on this thread. Looking forward to having you join.