Changeling the Podcast

Il était une fois... as we proceed through the historical dives in the first Dark Eras volume, we arrive at the next one for Changeling: the Lost—and the first one that is only for that game, though certainly no one could object if an enterprising Storyteller felt like squeezing in a random Promethean. In this installment, Lily, Sabre & Thorn, we're headed to 17th-century France and the court of Louis XIV, the "Sun King". Versailles drips with opulence as Paris swells with the unwashed masses; the Lost creep among both, leading lives as swashbuckling as they can manage. It's a time for musketeers and grand intrigues, highwaymen and masquerades, all through the thorn-edged lens of absolute monarchy and the beginnings of modernity. What's not to love? (Well, plenty, beginning with hygiene and inequality, but at least the write-up here is fairly decent.) Join us as we romp through the gardens, all for one and one for croissants.

The module is available for purchase as a stand-alone at https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/217111?affiliate_id=3063731, and our own points of contact are, as always:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) enjoyed visiting Versailles, but thought it could use a few band posters on the walls and maybe some ficus.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) occasionally plays a musketeer Lost character who specializes in the Contracts of Nougat.

Et c’est une folie, à nulle autre, seconde,
De vouloir se mêler de corriger le monde.
(Of all follies, there is none greater / than wanting to make the world a better place.)
—Molière, The Misanthrope

Time to hop in the ol' time machine as we open (at long last) the first Dark Eras book for the Chronicles of Darkness...! These smaller modules cover specific moments and places around the world through history, presented through the lens of one or more gamelines. The first collection, released in 2016, offers 16 of these chapter-length settings, with four containing material for Changeling: the Lost. We'll be proceeding through them in chronological order, so we start today with both of the crossover chapters: Three Kingdoms of Darkness, a Geist/Changeling romp through the war-torn horrors of 3rd-century China, and Requiem for Regina, a Vampire/Changeling presentation of London in the Elizabethan Age. Both of these are admittedly... light on the Lost-specific elements—which makes our job a bit easier this time, frankly. Nevertheless, we hope you'll find these settings engaging and the overall concept of the Dark Eras inspiring! Or else.

If you're interested in the collection as a whole, you can snag it at https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/178583?affiliate_id=3063731. The individual chapters are also for sale as individual modules:

Three Kingdoms of Darkness: https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/211949?affiliate_id=3063731

Requiem for Regina: https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/178595?affiliate_id=3063731

And after your buying spree, if you'd instead like to just drop us a friendly line or further episode fine structure concept:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) seeks the Wizened who could fashion a Hedge-pointing chariot and other mechanical curiosities.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) has met the Invictus' demands of "no bloodshed on stage" by replacing all blood, real and fake, with glitter.

O, call back yesterday, bid time return.
—William Shakespeare, Richard II, III.ii.69

Another week, another exploration of nWoD/CofD crossover. This time, with an eye to the upcoming Dark Eras, we're taking a look at Vampire: the Requiem and approaches to integrating it with Changeling: the Lost. There are some thematic similarities: both vampires and changelings are parasites in different ways, both have a tricksy relationship with time and memory, and both are deep into politics. (We'd also pay good money to see a Daeva/Fairest walk-off, just saying.) But how do the games align mechanically? Do Keepers take notices of leeches or might Kindred try to feed on fetches? Is there proper, actual crossover material out there? We dig into these questions and more as we trapeze between editions, so get your grip powder and your... neckguards? is that a thing? in place. On we go!

If you too have thoughts and opinions on bloodsuckers (the supernatural kind) or just, you know, whatever:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) prefers the Crone's other shapes, like the Trapezoid or the Hendecagram.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) snagged some deep discount Coils of the Dragon at the corner store, but they turned out to be just expired licorice.

I got the ways and means to New Orleans
I'm going down by the river where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about, oh yeah...
—Concrete Blonde, "Bloodletting"

The time has come to put aside the old new World of Darkness and move into the Chronicles of Darkness, as we read through the God-Machine rules update. This is the back half of the God-Machine Chronicle released in 2013, which revised and expanded the rules for nWoD's first edition and would later become the basis for the second edition ruleset in Chronicles of Darkness (which is also lightly being considered here). Some of the changes are small; some of them are large; and some of them are just downright baffling. But as we continue to advance through the wilderness between Changeling: the Lost's initial and subsequent conceptions, we're taking the opportunity to observe this museum of ludic experiments and delights along the way. So strap in, prepare yourself for the unholy abomination that is the God-Machine's brass-meat angels, and listen as we discuss the finer points of experience costs and Morality systems and whatnot.

The God-Machine Chronicle book is no longer available for purchase, having been supplanted by Chronicles of Darkness corebook (https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/168428?affiliate_id=3063731). You can still get the rules update as a standalone (https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/114078?affiliate_id=3063731), but why would you want to? As we discuss in this episode, although the one was based on the other, the material from the update was not copied over to CofD wholesale; further tweaks and occasionally annoying omissions were made. Depending on how completionist you feel, get one or both, or neither!

For non-book-buying purposes that are purely social in nature, some other links for reaching out to us include:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) "accidentally" made an angel out of glowsticks and VapoRub, for the God-Machine is a raver god.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) favors the Goddess-Contraption, which is like the God-Machine, but looks way better with those shoes and that hat.

And God created man; and man created machine; and machine—
machine created music.
And machine saw everything it had created and it said: behold.
—Apoptygma Berzerk, "Kathy's Song (VNV Nation mix)"

A wild CROSSOVER appears...! Soon enough, we'll be getting into the historical Dark Eras settings for Changeling: the Lost, some of which involve pairings with other games in the new World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness line. We'll be moving through this semi-chronologically, and the first one on our list involves Geist: the Sin-Eaters, our topic of discussion for today. This game of mediums brought back from the brink of death with a mysterious passenger is sort of oblique to the themes of Changeling, but we have some connections to pull out from the text. Where the Hedge and the Underworld meet, there you'll find the krewe and motley, ectoplasmic hand in thorn-shredded paw. What stories might ensue?

Of course, if you'd like to share your thoughts with us about either or both games and how they intersect, your best options are:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) runs with a krewe who's committed to adding more disco to funerals.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) dropped her ring of Keys behind the burger joint and now the whole place is just crawling with meat-specters.

Now it is the time of night,
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide.
—William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, V.i.386–389