Changeling: the Dreaming Redux! Project

[Weatherlight]

This is the archive for the Changeling: the Dreaming Redux! Project.

I am posting it here because MD doesn't use his bandwidth for anything, I'm always here anyway and I hate having to retype this shit everytime I talk to someone about it. So fuckers, catfuckers and mooks of all types I welcome you to what will inevitably be another unfinished project that nobody will care about.

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To begin with an Introduction: I hate Changeling the Dreaming. The writing behind it is a disgrace to the concepts that the books were meant to portray. Noble Hierarchy in an age where few people dream of being a knight? Multiple weapon Difficulty Classes in a game where combat is traditionally set at a DC 6? I have to have a have a Realm just to affect myself with my own Magic?

The hell is this shit and who do I need to kill for writing it?

I want a world where anything is possible. I want to wander into the darkness of a Nightmare and all the twisted facets of what scare us. I want to see the grandeur of a child's imagination as he dreams of saving the world as a Comic Book Superhero. Know what? Fuck it. I want to see Luke Skywalker fighting a Werewolf right before Darth Vader riding a T-Rex busts in shooting lasers from his eyes.

Because that would be "Fuck Yeah!" awesome.

Unfortunately Changeling: the Dreaming does not call for such... open-mindedness in a world where anything should be possible. We are restricted by a predetermined set of powers, conflicting fluff and mechanics, and a general lack of options (the settings are Medieval Fantasy... and Medieval Fantasy. Which ones do you guys want to play?).

So now that I'm done bashing away at all the hard work, elegant art and creative storytelling by the writers... yes you fucking mook. I'm contradicting myself by praising the creators of Changeling: the Dreaming. I was harsh to make a point. God, I swear you guys are idiots. This Work in Progress is how I propose to modify the mechanics and fluff behind Changeling: the Dreaming for a fuller, more imaginative gaming experience.

Behold! Changeling: the Dreaming Redux!

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The thing I've always hated about Changeling were the Arts and Realms. A limited, set number of powers that have only a vaguely connected purpose. Or perhaps I've hated the people who talked about them. The first things I inevitably hear about was Eldritch Prime and how "broken" it was. I think this was the starting point where I first started thinking about how to 'fix' Changeling.

So I turned to the staple of freedom in the World of Darkness. Mage: the Ascension. Looking upon the mechanics of Spheres I began to see where I wanted to start. However, instead of having a number of Spheres which told the player what he was capable of I decided to have a series of Actions that could be preformed.

Creation - the forming of raw glamour
Destruction - the destruction of material through the focus of glamour
Manipulation - changing abstract facets of glamour
Alteration - changing the concrete facets of glamour 
Subjugation - to force control of glamour away from another fae
Sense - the supernatural ability to detect glamour, or changes in glamour

Simple and straightforward while having the ability to have endless possibilities. Anything you want to do can be accomplished by that list of powers.

- Want to have a sword appear in your hand? Bam! Creation.
- Throwing fireballs to kill your enemies? Destruction.
- Come across some Guardians that you don't want to fight? Make them think its okay for you to be here. Manipulation.
- Come across a wall that has no door? Does now! Alteration.
- Want that dragon to be your pet and mount forever more? Subjugate it!
- Pretty sure there's some glamour hanky-panky happening that you don't know about? Sense it.

Realms were the other half of the equation that I considered "wrong" and wanted to fix. The Fae Realm seemed... a bit silly. Holding a Title makes it harder for me to use Cantrips on you? Why? What is the reasoning behind it? I also questioned the need for having Realms when you step into the Dreaming. If I am in the Realm of Dreams then why am I limited by my Realms? Nothing here is real, it is all glamour and should act as such.

To rectify these problems I completely did away with the Fae realm. The explanation behind this is simple. Fae are a part of the Dreaming as much as the other way around. To shape one is to shape the basis of the other. The other "correction" is that Realms only apply when the Changeling is in Reality. To solidify the difference between the Dreaming and Reality I also thought of having a differentiation in the mechanics of the two worlds.

        dreaming  |  reality
       ----------------------
     10's explode | 10's count only as a success
 1's don't cancel | 1's cancel
    set DC of six | DC is set at level of Banality
                  | -- Cantrips require a focus

There are other changes that I would make to Changeling: the Dreaming but I seem to have lost my notecards and will continue this when I find them.

[DisPilotSoMe1]

You were right to go with Mage, but that's where you should have stopped. Mage owns all.

[Weatherlight]

Well, I've found a few of my notecards but unfortunately I've switched gears and started work on the Starsiege RPG again.

There will be more to follow, and since tJY isn't going anywhere anytime soon I can take my sweet fucking time.