Seraphim Guard -- the game is FAR from up!

Dulahan · Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

I've always been fascinated with urban fantasy. Partly its the dichotomy between the trappings of our modern society and the stuff of legend and faerie tale, and partly its the simple fact that I never entirely grew out of the phase where I'm fascinated by the magical and mysterious.

The beautiful and the horrifying.

Thus the new Changeling game really took off for me, and when my gaming group decided to take a little break from Exalted and try out the new version of Changeling, everything just clicked. We've been having a great time and really getting into it. Thus I'm given my first real chance to start up a Actual Play thread since my introduction to DaveB's excellent "Broken Diamond" thread turned me on to the idea. Thus for the benefit of myself, my players and anyone else who happens to come along for the ride... welcome to Perchance to Dream.

The game itself is based in Boston, without actually being hugely about the city or integral to it. Like most of the games I run, I could probably pick up the essential storyline and move it somewhere else without much work. None the less, I try to do a lil' research to get the feel for the place and provide some color.

I've worked out a pretty detailed history for the campaign, but first, a look at some of the aspects and themes of Changeling that I'm most interested in.

Returning Home - the end of one journey
Maybe you were abducted, seduced, or tricked. They came and took you away, and you were trapped in Faerie for who knows how long. But now you've escaped, you've made it back through the Thorns, you've returned home. Where you've been will always be a part of you, but now you have to discover what you're going to do now.

Changeling is a game about transitions, leaving one stage of your life behind and starting another.

There are fears, worries, of course. Will the gentry come and take you again, back to the place of beauty and terror? Could you even stop them... Are you even better off now; what if you can't make it, if you founder and fade away? Do you even belong here now? Is there a place for you anywhere?

So Very Very Broken
You are different now. There's no getting around it. Changelings believe that they lose their soul, the essence of what makes them human, when they're taken by their Keepers through the Hedge into Faerie. They also believe that they get their soul back when they escape ... but they're not quite as certain about that.

All of them know that they don't quite fit in their old lives now. Their old lives might not even properly exist any longer! The fetch has been here, set in their place, and its left its mark. Maybe you died, moved away, or are wanted by the FBI. Maybe your family just likes the "new" you better...

Can you even fill its place now, and do you really want to?

Then there's other Changeling's. They understand, you don't have to lie to them and they provide friendship and even a sense of community. But, they're just as broken as you. They've been changed by their time in Arcadia -- they're fae. They're nice and accepting. They welcome you and let you in. But, inevitably, you get bitten by a thorn.

Betrayal. Lies. Cruelty. Spite. Callousness.

The Keeper - Awe and Terror
There's nothing more horrific to the average Changeling than being taken by their Keeper and dragged back to Arcadia. Their experiences there affected them profoundly and the few memories they retain reinforce their firm resolve to die before being taken again.

Yet...

There was wonder and beauty and magic in Arcadia as well. Even the Winter Court has a little bit saying, "There's no way to face the sorrow of losing Faerie's wonders when one never intends to go back." The sorrow. The Autumn Court is said to, one and all, secretly wish they could return. The Spring Court "surrounds themselves in the beauty their time in Arcadia showed them".

That's probably the one bit of Changeling that I see overlooked most often in others discussion of the game. The sense that, "I wish I could go back..." Yes, it was horrible. I can never never go back, definitely. Yet for all that you're free, there's still a part of you that yearns for Faerie. If only things had been different.

Windows to the Soul
Is there anything more personal than a dream? They play out hidden fantasies and unacknowledged fears. They show us parts of ourselves.

One of the conditions I made for the game was that the characters Motley had to have a Dreaming task as part of their Motley pledge. This means that they can share each others dreams. It's hard to imagine that kind of intimacy; it goes so far beyond simply telling someone details you might remember. They're watching when you face your inner demons, they're in the bed with you when you score the hot secretary from the front desk at work, they're standing next to you as all your dreams come true and the world sings your accolades.

That's an almost scary amount of closeness, one could even call it an invasion if it was given without consent, and yet its common among Motleys. They learn more about you than your parents, are closer than a lover... It goes so far beyond the typical bond of a Coterie or a Cabal; even Werewolf Packs don't quite go to the level of routinely sharing dreams.

Anyway, that's the overview. Next up, a shortened History of Boston's Freehold, then a look at our characters followed by my transcription of the first story.
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