Talking about Changeling: the Dreaming
Mar. 24th, 2010 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holly_evolvingThere's a LOT to cover here. The game I played in ran for a few years. First, what Changeling is to me:
The game: you play a changeling...a human body inhabited (usually) by its human soul plus a faerie soul who's hitched a ride. It's a survival tactic on the faerie's part, and you play the faerie. Day-to-day, you try to survive in the human world while not succumbing to its crushing banality, which will squash your faerie self into oblivion. This gets harder as you age. At gametime, you're with a bunch of other changelings and you can let it all hang out.
What I played: an UnSeelie Eshu Grump.
UnSeelie: the faeries are divided into two courts. Seelie (summer) fae are courtly dreamboats of the type that seduced wanderers to live under hills for a hundred years, or helpful household sprites that clean your kitchen and frighten your kids into behaving in exchange for a little food. UnSeelie (winter) fae are nigh-on anarchists, with no time for bullshit games. They are here to LIVE dammit, and fair play be damned. Each faerie soul has both within them, but only shows one side at a time.
Eshu: wandering spirits, based on the Orisha Eshu who can be found in Palo, Santeria, Voodoo, and other similar hybrid faiths. The game's Eshu are travellers, unwilling or unable to stay in one place too long. They are storytellers and entertainers, drifters, gypsies, and bikers, with enormous charisma. Their ethnic backgrounds are often African, Indian, Rom, or Irish, but as travellers by nature, are unlimited.
Grump: this last classification denotes age. Children are Childlings, teenagers and young adults are Wilders, and those above 27 or so are Grumps. Childlings have the most magic, and are the safest from losing their faerie souls to oblivion, but they are easily distracted or hurt. Wilders are a somewhat stable balance of magic and willpower; they are the big do-ers. Grumps have the least magic left, and are at the greatest risk of fading away...but they are also the living definition of grim determination.
My character, Siobhan O'Seaghnassey, was a first-generation American of Irish descent, a biker, a fan of Vonnegut, and a child of the last days of Haight-Ashbury.
Questions? Comments?
I should point out that "my" game was run by Peter Woodworth, the guy who wrote the live-action sourcebook for Changeling: the Dreaming, and either wrote or worked on a lot of other materials for the game. A few of his other players also provided material for White Wolf. Gaming with such a deeply creative group was a pretty amazing experience. We may not have always agreed in the real world...about anything, depending on who...but the dreamlike quality that this game should have was definitely there.
The game: you play a changeling...a human body inhabited (usually) by its human soul plus a faerie soul who's hitched a ride. It's a survival tactic on the faerie's part, and you play the faerie. Day-to-day, you try to survive in the human world while not succumbing to its crushing banality, which will squash your faerie self into oblivion. This gets harder as you age. At gametime, you're with a bunch of other changelings and you can let it all hang out.
What I played: an UnSeelie Eshu Grump.
UnSeelie: the faeries are divided into two courts. Seelie (summer) fae are courtly dreamboats of the type that seduced wanderers to live under hills for a hundred years, or helpful household sprites that clean your kitchen and frighten your kids into behaving in exchange for a little food. UnSeelie (winter) fae are nigh-on anarchists, with no time for bullshit games. They are here to LIVE dammit, and fair play be damned. Each faerie soul has both within them, but only shows one side at a time.
Eshu: wandering spirits, based on the Orisha Eshu who can be found in Palo, Santeria, Voodoo, and other similar hybrid faiths. The game's Eshu are travellers, unwilling or unable to stay in one place too long. They are storytellers and entertainers, drifters, gypsies, and bikers, with enormous charisma. Their ethnic backgrounds are often African, Indian, Rom, or Irish, but as travellers by nature, are unlimited.
Grump: this last classification denotes age. Children are Childlings, teenagers and young adults are Wilders, and those above 27 or so are Grumps. Childlings have the most magic, and are the safest from losing their faerie souls to oblivion, but they are easily distracted or hurt. Wilders are a somewhat stable balance of magic and willpower; they are the big do-ers. Grumps have the least magic left, and are at the greatest risk of fading away...but they are also the living definition of grim determination.
My character, Siobhan O'Seaghnassey, was a first-generation American of Irish descent, a biker, a fan of Vonnegut, and a child of the last days of Haight-Ashbury.
Questions? Comments?
I should point out that "my" game was run by Peter Woodworth, the guy who wrote the live-action sourcebook for Changeling: the Dreaming, and either wrote or worked on a lot of other materials for the game. A few of his other players also provided material for White Wolf. Gaming with such a deeply creative group was a pretty amazing experience. We may not have always agreed in the real world...about anything, depending on who...but the dreamlike quality that this game should have was definitely there.