Swords of Iron - Changeling: The Lost Interest/Sign-Up

Hello all. Foolamancer here, polling interest in a Changeling The Lost game. If you haven't played the game before, but are interested in learning, please feel free to post in this thread and ask (though I would encourage you to read over the above article to get an overview).

Before I get to the nitty-gritty, some basic information: I am an experienced Storyteller, and play Changeling rather often, though this is my first game here on T Vtropes.

This game will require dice rolls and so on, and uses the New World Of Darkness system. If you've never played nWoD before, though, I'd be more than happy to help you create your character and explain the rules. It's fairly simple once you know the basics.

My games always place an emphasis on role-play and good writing rather than hack-and-slash combat. There will be dice-rolling involved, but the primary goal is to write an interesting story.

Aside from the obvious core books, this game will use all books in the Changeling line. This includes mechanics like Talecrafting, Fatebinding, extra Kiths and Entitlements, and the expanded rules on oneiromancy and Fetches, but if you don't have these books, don't worry about it. I'll explain anything from those books that you need to know.

Basically, this game is open to experienced and new nWoD gamers alike. The ability to write and play an interesting character is more important than the ability to twink your guy for combat.

I reserve the right to add or alter house rules at any point. I don't expect to, but in case it needs to be done, there ya go.

The Setting

Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, present day. Each of the two cities has a changeling freehold of its own, operating on radically-different systems of governance and often at odds with one another. Boston is controlled by a traditional seasonal Court system, with Winter being the most powerful of its Courts and Summer being the weakest. Cambridge, on the other hand, is most easily likened to a democratic republic, with Courts often consisting of little more than two or three changelings who have simply declared themselves groups.

Following a brutal civil war several years ago, wherein the Boston Summer Court attempted a takeover of both freeholds, the relationships between the Boston and Cambridge Courts are even more strained. And now a string of murders, break-ins, and robberies have things running even more on edge than usual. If something isn't done soon, the two freeholds might descend into yet another war, and the Lost population of New England will fracture itself to the point where no true defense can be mounted against the Fae.

Player characters will be allowed to join either freehold, as long as their characters are willing to work together. Details of the different Courts will be laid out when interest has picked up.

If you're interested, please post in this thread to let me know. It isn't necessary to have a character ready to go just yet, since I haven't listed the Courts yet. Just let me know if you think this is a neat idea.

Hmmm, I'm interested... Just one question for now: Is this going to be forum based, or run on IRC / Skype / Some other IM thing?

Forum. I don't have the time to dedicate to an IRC game on a regular basis, I'm afraid.

Just stating my interest, trying to get in on RPs with actual rules, and no better way to start than with someone I know and who knows my incompetence well.

As such, I shall sign up pending the ability to read the helpsheet PM I got from Fool.

Awesome. I'll aim for four or five people who are interested and willing to give it a shot.

Interested. Very, very interested.

I'm interested, but I'll need to see how the system works before I'm truly certain.

GIG, if you want, I can send you the same cheat-sheet message I sent to Plum. It may seem a little complicated at first, but I'm available to answer any questions you might have.

Oh, um, right, if it's not too much of a problem, could you send me the cheat sheet too? I've been meaning to get into Wo D for a long time now, ahah, and Changeling is probably my second favourite line from what I've heard about them*

Thanks in advance~ ^_^

Can do. And the same thing goes for you asking for help, Moe. I may not be available all the time, but I will make an effort to answer any questions you guys might have.

Yeah, it's not actually that much of a Wall of Text now I can actually read it.

But the cheat-sheet is very very useful. I get it considering I have no experience prior to exactly now.

Well, that's four people, and since no one else has expressed interest, I suppose this'll be the group. There's still room for a fifth, I think, if someone else wants to jump on at the last minute, but in the meantime, I'll start working up a character creation cheat sheet for you guys to use to build your characters.

While waiting for the actual rules, I'd encourage you to start thinking about what kind of character you might want to play. Not just your Seeming and Kith, but your Court, and your personality, and so on.

For those who are not familiar with the Courts, the traditional four changeling Courts are Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, each characterized by one emotion and one practice. Spring is desire (not love, not lust, just desire, in all its various forms), and focuses on healing, growth, and surrounding themselves with the good things in life. Summer is wrath, and focuses on martial ability, opposing the True Fae through force of arms. Autumn is fear, and consists of occultists, mages, and those who work to keep mortals away from the dangerous places of the world. Winter is sorrow, guilt, regret, and the like, and focuses on stealth and brutal efficiency.

Each Court consists of people largely dominated by its controlling emotion, and works to spread that emotion among mortals. Autumn courtiers, for example, are extremely fearful (though this also means that they are very brave, because they don't let their fears control them), and work to manipulate the fear of mortals so that they stay away from the various gates into Arcadia. Summer courtiers are often very angry people, and might go out and start bar fights as a way of working off some steam.

I've mentioned to Fool, I'm going to take Spring court and I'm going to build around taking the healing and tanking roles.

Anyone else wants to take either of those roles from me, I'm probably going to roll over and let you take it. But I want to keep one of them.

YES! A White Wolf rp!

Help out this noob.

Can do. Glad to have you with us. I'll PM you the cheat sheet in a moment. Character creation basics should be up later tonight.

My pleasure. I've also wanted to participate in a White Wolf game.

An angry Summer person sound like fun.

Hmmm... At the moment I'm trying to decide whether to go Spring or Winter... Hopefully I'll figure it out soon, ahah.

I hope to be in the South Court myself.

The South Court, as in the directional Court based on Ecstasy and artistic discovery, doesn't exist in this setting. Or, more precisely, it does, but it doesn't have a presence in either of the two freeholds. There is a Court quite similar to it, though, in Cambridge, called Geppetto's Court (all of the Cambridge Courts are homebrew in terms of flavor, but for all intents and purposes they're the Directional, Dusk, Dawn, Sun, Moon, etc.).

I'll be including info on the Cambridge Courts in the chargen cheatsheets.

Ah, much obliged for telling me this.

One little caveat on my activity is MERP 3's launch tomorrow.

But I spend a lot of time waiting for updates, even on the MMF, so I shouldn't be too badly hit in time.

edited 21st Oct '11 1:47:27 PM by Plumbum

This looks sweet. Very sweet. I'm definitely interested, and I've gone over the material for a while (though I'll re-read, of course). I'm liking summer court, really. Summer court ogre...mmmmmmmhh....

Will the ogre be traditional or a Subverted Trope?