In Changeling: the Lost, you play a once-human captive of the True Fae, after her escape from slavery and return to the human realm. Your character may have been abducted at any age from puberty onwards, and have been captive for up to 100 years. Most likely, a Fetch, (a construct designed to mimic human life,) will have been left in his place, so he cannot easily reclaim his former identity. Your “magic” comes from Contracts with aspects of reality; these elements agreed to serve the Gentry, and as their former servants, some measure of that agreement is yours to draw on as well.
If you have only played Vampire, this is a very different style of game. It has timed Scenes in an Act (each game is a very predictable length) and the expectation that all the PCs are working together. It is fairly high fantasy, taking place mostly in the Hedge.
In short, it’s a sharp contrast to the Requiem game that follows. Whereas Vampire is a open ended game of politics and supernatural predators, Changeling is a tight and action packed game of banding together to respond to outside threats. It’s the sampler appetizer with spicy sauces served before the steak and potatoes.
Due to the type of game, there is no downtime, just grab your character packet and go. There will be an intermission for those who wish to change costumes between games.
Resources for New Players
No experience is needed – we’re happy to help somebody who has never played learn how to participate, creating a character for them and giving them some starting direction.
Existing characters will also be avilable for people to play and even claim, so no character generation is even needed. We can always use creative people who want to play a multiple series of characters over the course of a single game.
White Wolf books are available at local bookstores. Multiple copies are also available before and during game. If you like reading PDFs, they are also all available at DriveThruRPG.
Character Creation
If you are familiar with World of Darkness games, simply create a character by the book, adding 35xp. Feel free to create custom kiths and contracts, although they will have to be approved before play.
As noted above, pre-generated characters will be provided as well.
New Athens
Nashville is known as New Athens to the Changeling of Music City. They live in a city that is significantly expanded from the one that most inhabitants know, as they travel into the Hedge.
Gateways in New Athens
Known gateways exist throughout the city. It is perpetually rumored that the Winter Court has a more extensive list, however most gates are shared and explored by groups for safety. All courts except for Winter Court also have a gate they call “their own”, although there is no real problem with members of other courts coming and going; the designations are merely for gathering purposes.
The Parthenon
The prize of New Athens is their stable gateway: any Changeling entering the Parthenon is in the hedge. If there is a key, it has been used and forgotten and the gate is now locked open. Along the walls there are stone archways, four to each side, leading to trods off into the Hedge. The right side trods have been stable for decades, only changing when a King or Queen dies. The left side trods change, usually each season, but they have been known to trap Changeling in the past.
Donelson Pike Gate
People arrive in the middle of a large hallow, a clear field with fifty stones in two circles. Randomly a goblin market can be found here, and random items can occasionally be found. Jack O’Lead’s famous iron coin was found in the dirt near the edge of the hallow. A slowly rotting mobile home is off to one side, and the other side of the clearing is a row of outhouses painted bright colors that move around.
Four trods head off into the hedge in different directions, mostly stable.
Key: Drive up onto I-40, close your eyes and take your hands off the wheel. Your car will be in the Long Term Parking of Nashville International, but the driver and all passengers will appear in the middle of the hallow. Returning, enter the yellow outhouse and you will come out at the arriving terminal, able to take the shuttle to the lot and claim your car.
Belcourt Gateway
A large crumbling concrete tunnel, about 60 feet in diameter, walls covered in white vines.
Key: Go into the bathroom, stand in the toilet and flush. Your feet will be wet, but you will drop into a large, cavernous tunnel mostly dry. An old ladder leads back up into the janitorial closet in the bathroom. The tunnel goes back and is blocked with debris, or opens up in the other direction, jutting out of a cliff-side. Trods come and go here, depending on the featured films. They are reliable so long as the schedule is held.
Spring Gate: The Ryman
The Ryman has a side door in the lobby, locked for most people. It opens into a cramped, tight trod that gets darker and darker as you pass through it that suddenly opens into a wide hallow, perpetually lit by beautiful sunshine and populated by brightly colored fishes swimming through the air. One other trod leads off into the Hedge, protected by a hobgoblin Satyr with a giant axe. An appropriate gift or Lust or a promise of Hope allows you passage.
Key: Sing a new song to the door based on whatever thought enters your head, and then knock the opening beat of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. (Note: the song must be composed on the spot, and another player or ST provides the topic).
Summer Gate: The Capitol Building
A hallow that resembles a circular Greek discussion area, with stone benches raising up around a small area where one or two people make speak at a time. Two doors exist, side by side. The left one returns you to the grounds of the Capitol Building, the right one opens to a earthen hallway supported by a tangle of roots. Inside the hallway, a Minotaur stands blocking passage through the trod. A single blow landed on him is needed to allow passage.
Key: Tap a weapon to the base of the Andrew Jackson statue, and then walk into the Capitol building. The weapon may be in the hands of multiple people, and it may be a weapon that looks like something else, but it must have been used by at least one of the Changeling holding it as a combat weapon that has been used to win a battle.
Alternate Key: Commit an act of Wrath under the Andrew Jackson statue. While still angry, enter the building. This allows non-Changeling to enter the Hedge, but it must be a notable act of Wrath that is still obsessing the person when they enter.
Autumn Gate: The Cavalry Cemetery Mausoleum
The mausoleum looks similar in the hedge, although it is covered in green moss and dark jewel toned mushrooms. The crypts are open, mostly choked with brambles with long thorns. Occasionally one opens up, and can be wiggled through by lying down on them like a corpse and wriggling through. All trods from the Mausoleum have unique keys to pass through.
Key: Hunt and bring scared or dead prey: it can be as simple as an insect, or it can be a fellow Changeling you are bringing to account for something. The Changeling opening the door must bring a fearful individual to the doorway.