Changeling-esque Fate Game

[Butchern]

After the first of the year and after my Call of Cthulhu game comes to an end, I'm thinking about running a Changeling-esque game using Fate Core. I've run Changeling with Fate a few times in person and would love to give it a run in PbP.

 

Right now I am most interested in hearing from potential players as to what kinds of characters they'd like to play. I have no real desire to stick to published Changeling material (I know very little of it), but here are a few categories of 'criters' that came up in my other Changeling games:

 

- Changelings - mortals who were captured by the Gentry, enslaved in Arcadia, and replaced by a Fetch, who then escaped back through the Hedge to the mortal world and landed in the town in which our story takes place.

- Fetch - a supernatural creature created to replace a captured mortal. A player would take the role of a Fetch who has discovered his or her true identity and has retreated to the town in which our story takes place to try to figure out who they are, who they really are.

- Fae-Touched - Occasionally the Gentry, in some incarnation, break into the mortal world and make a baby with a mortal. Fey-touched are the result. Fae-touched players in this game would come to our town upon discovering their true identity to find out more about their supernatural parentage.

- Hedge Goblins - There are creatures of the Dreaming that live in the Hedge, the supernatural, liminal space between Arcadia and the mortal world. Occasionally, these creatures abandon the Hedge and Arcadia for a life in the mortal world.

 

Does any of that interest you? Are there other Changling-esque people/creatures you'd like to see as playable characters in the game?

[GreysonWulffe]

Certainly interested. I'm considering playing a Fetch or a Changeling, in that order of preference. Given the range of possible Fey, I think being a Fetch or a Fae-Touched should already offer quite a range of potential powers/abilities. 😊

[Butchern]

The game is also being discussed on OGMW. Here is some of the discussion so far:

 

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Are you thinking of a heavy politics type of game?

Definitely not for three reasons: 1) It doesn't work in PbP at all in my opinion—posting rates are far too slow and players are far too unengaged, 2) I don't know one single thing about Changeling politics, and 3) from what I do know about politics in WoD games, I don't find any of that interesting, so I would probably be a very bad at GMing it. 😄

 

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I've been curious about Changeling for a long time, and I picked up a Bundle of Holding of the books (1e?) a little while ago, but I've never actually played.

I am pretty sure that I have played Changeling the Lost with the nWoD rules, maybe once or twice. I too have a collection of books that I have read but never played. 😄

In whatever game I run, the players would be brand new "hatchlings" (goblins entering the mortal world for the very first time, Fetches and Fae-Touched who just discovered their true identity and the supernatural world, Changelings who just returned to the mortal world with very little knowledge of Arcadia or the current mortal world). The game would be a "fish out of water" kind of game, as supernatural creatures try to come to grips with the insanity of the mortal world and the mortal characters come to grips with the insanity of Faerie. We will begin with only a handful of assumptions about the world of Faerie, and we will collectively make it up as we go.

 

As far as rules go . . . We will probably use three additional refresh for "Fae powers," a self-determined "Wyrd" score (that provided a bonus to Fae powers and a penalty to interactions with the mundane world), and aspect permission to regain Fate Points by harvesting "glamour" from spending time inspiring or being around inspired mortals. We may use the streamlined stunt system from Good Neighbors. I like that system a lot. We'll also probably use a check box system that requires characters to make a significant connection to a person, a place, and a thing in order to Advance.

In our pick-up game, here was how we laid out Aspects:

 

High Concept - Standard High Concept from Fate Core, and it should include a word or two that describes what sort of character/creature you are (Fetch, Changeling, etc.). Make your High Concept primarily about who the character is as a person and their character niche in the story.
Durance - Your Durance describes the impact that the world of Faerie has had on you as a person. This will often function as your Trouble. It should be the thing that you are continually trying to escape or come to grips with in the mortal world. It should be the opposite pole of your Longing.
Longing - Your Longing describes what you miss either from the Other Place or from your lost mortal life. It should be the opposite pole of your Durance.
Aspect 4 - One of these Aspects should describe your relationship to a mortal NPC in the story. Fill this in as we play.
Aspect 5 - One of these Aspects should describe your relationship to a PC in the story. Fill this in as we play.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Butchern (see edit history)

[Butchern]

Questions!

 

What rules systems from your favorite Faerie/Changeling games do you think are worth having in this game? Obviously, you will want some weird Faerie powers. Fate can handle that easily enough. I also typically use a custom (but very simple) Wyrd score, which is kind of like a combination of Wyrd, Banality, and Clarity. It usually works like this:

 

Wyrd

Your Wyrd score represents that amount of impact the world of Faerie has had on you as a person. You may begin play with your Wyrd at +0, +1, or +2. At each Milestone, we will collectively determine if your Wyrd goes up, down or stays the same. Increasing your Wyrd means that you have given in to the Hedge and are becoming more and more like the Gentry. Decreasing your Wyrd means that you are embracing your mortal life and are becoming more and more like a mortal.

Bonus: For each rank of Wyrd you have, you gain +1 to any roll when you are dealing with Changelings, using your Faerie Powers, or acting out your Changeling nature.

Penalty: Each rank of Wyrd you have serves as a penalty to your interpersonal interactions with mortals or any attempts by you to understand the mortal world or act as a mortal.

I also like to use a very "lite" version of Glamour from C:tL. We have done it two ways:
 

1. Aspect permission to regain a Fate Point when you inspire a mortal to do something good, feel something powerful, or create something beautiful or are around an inspired mortal at the moment of inspiration. In one game we made this the only way to refresh Fate Points (other than invokes and compels). That really gives the game a certain feel.

 

2. You begin the game with two stunts, three Faeire powers and no additional refresh. You also begin with a five-box Glamour track and two of those boxes checked. You can spend Glamour boxes just like Fate Points, but they can only be used on rolls in which using your Faerie Powers, or acting out your Changeling nature. When you spend a point of Glamour, clear a check box. Glamour is regained as per #1 above. You can gain non-Glamour Fate Points by invokes and compels as normal.

 

Do y'all have a preference on any of this?

[Roughtrade]

Has this launched yet?  I was following it over on the old site.

[Butchern]

No, and I don't think it is going to. We'll see.