Changeling the Podcast

Even when you're equipped with quickstart materials (as we discussed a few episode ago...!), it can be daunting to prepare your/your players' first Changeling game. Many of the potential speed bumps can be smoothed over with a solid Session Zero, where everyone gets together, talks about the characters they want to play, the particular game and story they expect to craft, and the questions they need answered before diving into the roleplaying "proper". In this episode, we draw on our experiences both great and abysmal, to inform our takes on some important things to think about in general and for Changeling in particular. This is by no means a tutorial on "how to Storytell," but we hope that it will helpfully enrich your own playing style.

Our social media links, if you'd care to leave some feedback, show your appreciation, or just scream like an opossum in the night:

• 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

In this episode, we make reference to these documents, which some Storytellers like to circulate before starting to supplement the "lines" and "veils" deployed in-game. They're usually checklists of topics which might be triggering for players, giving them the opportunity to highlight specific items they don't want in a game. There are a variety of these out in the world, but here are three (free) examples:

• Monte Cook's "Consent in Gaming" booklet: https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/consent-in-gaming/
• Gehenna Gaming's WoD/horror-centered checklist/safety document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g5c2GhmnJYaGIDFKlxgXLL_GruGPNncv/view?usp=sharing
• Another WoD-centered example, from DTRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/314220/World-of-Darkness-RPG-Consent-Checklist-A4

Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) requires players to handwrite their sheets with calligraphy on parchment if they take Title greater than 2.

"Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again."

Another dive into the library...! This week, we're taking a closer look at the ill-tempered genius of the nockers as we flip through the pages of their Kithbook, the third in the lineup. There are certainly some interesting tidbits in this one: the origins of nockers' foul mouths, some fast-and-loose chimerical "science", a panoply of devices and vehicles from their workshops. And then there are... choices that were made about their heritage and presentation that we examine with more critical eyes. Friend of the show Charles Siegel joins us on this episode to help hash out who the nockers are, who they could be, and how to (better) fold them into your Changeling chronicle.

Some places you can find us around the intersphere:

• 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

And some places where you can find Charles and his work:

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/charlessiegel
• One of Charles' many offerings on the Storytellers' Vault, Paradigm Explored: Number and Shape, for all your mathemagician needs: https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/367375?affiliate_id=3063731

Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) is one step closer to discovering the elusive Higgs monad.

"Everything was normal and then suddenly, it's like the laws of physics went right out the window."

There are a few different ways to summarize Changeling: the Dreaming and its themes. "You're a faerie in a human body" and its variations are a common starting point; "it's about the struggle to keep imagination alive" might be another. The conflict (or is it, really?) between Glamour and Banality is our topic for this week, as we try to take a holistic view of them as metaphysical forces, game systems, descriptive elements, and things in need of complication for a more nuanced game. We're trying to be pretty broad in our strokes here, but remember that this is our own take on the subject. Use as much or as little of it as like—su mesa es su mesa.

And of course, if you have a different take on Glamour and Banality, you're welcome to share your thoughts with us via the following media:

• 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

None of what we say is gospel, after all. Maybe Changeling doesn't get quite the same level of philosophical debate as Mage, but there's still plenty to chew over, as the fan community has done for the last few decades. For our part, we're throwing ideas out there like spaghetti, to see what sticks to the wall of discourse. (Because that's what podcasting is all about!)

Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) carries a never-ending hip-flask Treasure that continually refills with maple syrup dross.

The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a tabletop RPG with a rich setting is in want of an overflow book for all the material unceremoniously cut from the corebook. Changeling's 2nd edition was no exception, and so we have the Book of Lost Dreams, a slim volume that touches on crossover rules with other WoD games, resources for Storytellers, Unseelie Houses, an introductory adventure... all of it packaged with a seemly Storytellers' Screen, behind which you can roll dice with secrecy and aplomb. In this episode, we riffle through its pages, as well as two of the associated products from the early days: the Introductory Kit and the updated Toys will be Toys adventure. These are echoes of the earliest internet days for White Wolf and Changeling as well, so naturally, we wax nostalgic more than we probably need to.

If you're into buying the BoLD, here's a link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/43?affiliate_id=3063731. It's kind of intriguing how this was apparently the 43rd product ever added to DriveThruRPG; it seems that many of the early ones consisted of the White Wolf back catalog, uploaded in alphabetical order. (Aberrant is #3, Adventure! is #5, Alien Hunger is #8...) And then, the Intro Kit is free!-ly available at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89894?affiliate_id=3063731 for your perusal. As for the Storyteller's screen illustrated by Rebecca Guay, well, check it out:

A lovely pastoral scene behind which to decide the fate of your players, no? Note how it moves through the seasons as you proceed from left to right, because that's the kind of cool stuff one should do with art. Lastly, as always, here are our social media links:

• 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

We hope you'll get in touch! And stay tuned for our next installment... heck, follow our show on whatever platform you're reading this, why don'tcha?

Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) ran the "Capture the Flag" adventure as a freeform LARP. The government of Ontario has yet to set a court date.

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

Greetings, Dreamers! After a couple months' hibernation, we have returned to start bringing you content once again, as we enter the enchanted realm of 2nd edition... so of course, we must begin with the corebook, a tome near and dear to both our hearts. We really tried to rein it in, and this still ended up being our longest episode yet (by the merest of hairs). This is still a legacy edition, but nearer to the most recent incarnation of the game, and still chock-full of useful material for any player or Storyteller. And frankly, the book is just beautiful, in an era when beautiful TTRPG books were by no means a given like they (kind of) are today.

First, let us dust off our social media profiles so that you can reach out to us if you desire...

• Discord (with a shiny new link! that hopefully works!): 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

...and then, if you're inclined to purchase the PDF online, behold the link to do so: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1624?affiliate_id=3063731

We have most of this shiny new Season 2 planned out, with book dives and interviews and inspirational tidbits and more, so if you haven't subscribed, we hope that you'll consider doing so! Stay tuned for (mostly) weekly episodes and see what dreams they muster...

Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) once invoked the Dragon's Ire at a coffeeshop when the barista accidentally used hemp milk.

"Dreaming is...a game of the imagination, a game that is a value in itself."

Hey all! This is just our quick wrap-up for the end of our first season (which we've sort of stumbled into properly calling a season now). It's a handful of thoughts on what we've accomplished, and what we'd like to do in the coming year. Thanks again for listening and supporting our podcast so far, and we hope you'll stick with us when we come back after our hiatus. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to us via our usual passel of social media spots:

• Discord: https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699
• Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

See you in 2023!

For our last long-form episode of 2022, we're diving into the library again, but this time we're headed to the fiction section, and the Immortal Eyes novel trilogy. These books tie in to the three Immortal Eyes setting/chronicle books from 1st edition, fleshing out the story and giving some more options for incorporating the plot (and metaplot) into one's own chronicle. It was a grand experiment that, while not unsuccessful, is difficult to define in terms of its actual impact on the game line. Nevertheless, they weren't a chore to read, and we wanted to take some time to discuss them—as well as the overall role of RPG-associated fiction in the game space.

If you want to get in touch with us to comment, inquire, or just croon wordlessly about this (or another) episode:

• Discord: https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699
• Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

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You can pick up the novels on DriveThruRPG for $0.99 each. As Josh points out, they're PDFs rather than EPUBs, which makes them tough for some e-readers, but the price is actually significantly lower than what Pooka said on the show (bad research!), so there's that. Follow the links below:

• The Toybox: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/82356?affiliate_id=3063731
• Shadows on the Hill: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/82357?affiliate_id=3063731
• Court of All Kings: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/82358?affiliate_id=3063731

Additionally, if you want to hear our episodes where we give deep dives into the setting/chronicle books proper and their usefulness for a chronicle, behold even more links...!:

• Immortal Eyes: The Toybox: https://changelingthepodcast.com/podcast/episode-6-immortal-eyes-the-toybox/
• Immortal Eyes: Shadows on the Hill: https://changelingthepodcast.com/podcast/episode-13-shadows-on-the-hill/
• Immortal Eyes: Court of All Kings: https://changelingthepodcast.com/podcast/episode-20-court-of-all-kings/

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Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) is building a chimerical monstrosity from stripped book covers as retribution for 90s publishers' excess.

"It's not that pookas never tell the truth. It's just that our version of the truth does not always correspond with majority opinion."

Changelings are part fae, part human. But what about their fellows who are even humaner, or humans who are entirely so, with nothing inherently fae about them? This episode, we return to the library to talk about The Enchanted, Changeling's supplement for "Year of the Ally" and the final(!) book of the 1st edition. While we've seen mortal antagonists throughout the line, here we get a look at the enchanted and the fae-blooded-but-otherwise-ordinary Kinain. They've changed dramatically in the latest edition of the game, so it's a bit of nostalgia to flip through the pages of this book and see how they were presented before.

If you'd like to ally with us yourself, you can do so via the social media connection point of your choosing:

• Discord: https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699
• Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

It also occurs to us that we haven't been including the actual links to the books in the show notes, in case people want to get PDFs of their own, which is... an oversight, to say the least. So here you go! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/288?affiliate_id=3063731. (We might have to go back and edit some of the older Lost in the Library posts...)

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Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) possesses the Fae Gift of always finding a discount on candy beans at the local shops.

"Faeries lead us astray to show us the way."

Greetings, all! This episode is dropping a bit later than anticipated, because it's our longest yet, but also one of our most important. Today we're talking about Changeling's version of the Nunnehi, the Indigenous fae of Concordia whose presentation has been a mixed bag over the editions. We're not focused on a particular book, since they appear throughout the line, but the 1st edition Player's Guide, the Werewolf supplement Rage Across Appalachia, and the 20th Anniversary Edition corebook all get some attention. We have three guest hosts for this installment, and technology was as much a bugbear as ever, so we ask that you bear with us through the remaining unresolved audio issues for an excellent discussion.

Our usual candy-box of social media links:

• Discord: https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699
• Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

The intermission track used in this episode is "Please Calm My Mind", by Oleksii Kaplunskyi.

Wahde ᏩᏕ Galiswegi is an Indigenous gamer, Cherokee Language revitalizationist and traditionalist, with a background in Cherokee ceremonial Ian and spirituality.

• Wahde's website: https://sites.google.com/view/master-ct-898-mackey-wahde/home?pli=1

Liam ᎬᎮ McAlpin and Ia ᎪᎳᏄ Bull are both Cherokee language revitalizationists from the Cherokee Nation in Eastern Oklahoma. Liam is going for a BA in Cherokee Language Education and Creative Writing while Ia just started a PhD in Information Studies, with a background in archives. They are from Tahlequah, their family is from Adair County, and they are members of ᏌᎶᎵ ᎤᎾᏓᏢ ᏂᎦᏘᏲ, ᎦᏚᏩᎩ/Cherokee ceremonial community.

• Ia's Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@IaKholanBull
• Liam's Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/liam.mcalpin/

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Some works that might be inspirational and/or educational for you:

• Fiction and poetry: This Wound is a World (Billy-Ray Belcourt); Love Medicine, The Round House, and Tracks (Louise Erdrich); all of the work of Joy Harjo; The Way to Rainy Mountain (N. Scott Momaday); Almanac of the Dead and Ceremony (Leslie Marmon Silko), Winter in the Blood (James Welch)
• Non-fiction: Portrait of the Whiteman (Keith Basso); Custer Died for Your Sins (Vine Deloria Jr.); Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer); The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee and Myths of the Cherokee (James Mooney); Reclaiming Two-Spirits (Gregory D. Smithers)
• TV and film: Dance Me Outside, Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, Smoke Signals, This May Be the Last Time, Winter in the Blood
• Music: Anvdvnelisisgi (Performers), DJ Shub, The Halluci Nation, Maniac: the Siouxpernatural, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tanya Tagaq
• RPG Podcasts: Nunnehi episode from Walking Away from Arcadia, Creating Indigenous Stories episode from Werewolf: the Podcast
• Visual arts: Roy Boney Jr., Keli Gonzales

This is just a quick handful of sources that came up in our discussions, both on-mic and off. But there is a wealth of media out there by Native American and First Nations creators to explore, and we strongly encourage you to go out looking for more (with the caveat to always be mindful about what you find, the context in which it was created, and how you engage with it).

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Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) was recording this episode from unceded territory in Anishinaabewaki.

That first cry opens the earth door.

Croeso! We are wrapping up our trilogy of episodes on Isle of the Mighty with an exploration into Wales/Cymru and the fae/Tylwyth Teg that dwell there. The unfortunate news is that Book 3 of this weighty tome has a lot of the same issues we called out previously: clunky choices for the history section, uneven distribution of information in the geography section, several NPCs whose defining adjective is "meh". But the better news is that we are taking the opportunity to do a more thorough chat about the elements of crossover with Mage: the Ascension in this section, and from there, the book as a whole. Joining us for that discussion is Terry Robinson, host of Mage: the Podcast, and a genuinely wonderful person to talk to about such things. Lend us your ears, and we'll do our best to dazzle and enlighten you. (And stick around to the end for some *super secret* Mage 5th Edition-related stuff...)

Most of our social media links are the same as ever...

• Discord: https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

...buuut we have elected to put our Twitter on ice for the time being, given a lot of the drama circulating around it these days. Instead, you can find us at our shiny new Mastodon account: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod. Check it out for the latest updates!

And in the meantime, some places to find Terry include:

• Mage: the Podcast: https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j
• Mage: the Podcast Discord page: [email protected]
• Pain in the Dice podcast (with Chazz Kellner): https://www.paininthedice.com/
• Systematic Understanding of Everything, an Exalted podcast: https://www.exaltcast.com
• Storyteller's Vault material: https://www.storytellersvault.com/browse.php?author=Terry%20Robinson
• Twitters include @magethepodcast and @terryrobinson

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Once again, some media items that might help you with getting in a Cymric mood for your Welsh-set game:

• Films: How Green Was My Valley, Just Jim, Patagonia, Pride, The Black Cauldron, The Corn is Green, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain...
• TV: David Macaulay's Castle (available on YouTube!), The Crown (season 3, "Aberfan" and "Tywysog Cymru"), Dr. Who (post-2005), Pobol y Cwm, Torchwood...
• Literature: the Mabinogion, y Gododdin, and then a bunch of other stuff: the more esoteric corners of Arthuriana, the poems of Mab Jones and Dylan Thomas (as well as his play Under Milkwood), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (partially), Chronicles of Prydain, the Excalibur comics series by Marvel...
• Music: Ffynnon, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals, Tom Jones...

There are plenty of Welsh language-learning resources out there as well! Besides the usual suspects like Duolingo, the BBC has also run Welsh lessons through a variety of programs for decades. (Pooka used to listen to Catchphrase and its affiliated programs, which you can still find at https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/, but they're no longer updated.)

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Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) added three castles to their Timecube this week.

                                   Though absent long,