In 1994, I bought a copy of Wraith: The Oblivion, and in the back was an ad for the next World of Darkness game, along with a passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
So. Same idea, different play.
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay’d: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
You excited, dreamers? I’m excited.
Comments
79 responses to “A Shakespeare Quote? That Can Only Mean…”
Nah, this is totally whatever. I could take or leave i- OH WHO AM I KIDDING?
you’re the guy from Massively, aren’tcha? I was just looking up your username change today, and here you are.
Very! Does this mean that you’re developer for Changeling 20, or am I reading too much into this? Either way, I’ve been waiting for this book since I found out about Onyx Path around the time of the Werewolf 20 KS. I’m hoping Rich will have an option to pledge for a complete collection of all the Dreaming PDFs like he did with Wraith, because I want to give this line as big of a boost as I can.
You are not reading too much in. 🙂
Does this also mean that Changeling 20 KS is soon?
It means we’re getting to work on it.
Also, please try to make the art move away from the mangaesque cartoons and more towards the postappocalyptic sorrow that is the core of the game <3
Will it be open-development, or closed-doors-development?
I love you people!
Will Changeling 20 include the planned but never published book Keys to the Kingdom, about the Middle East?
From what I’ve heard during the Wraith20 Kickstarter, Changeling20 will also be a so-called “Revised Edition”. Is that correct? Will the Changeling20 have changes made to the game itself?
Great quote from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. I hope new elements in the game reflect it.
AFAIK, all 20th Anniversary editions have changes made to the games themselves.
In V20 I would call them minor changes, but since Changeling nor Wraith got their Revised editions, I think the changes will be more profound. I think those two games needed a 20 edition more even than the others.
Yeah, I think that Changeling needs a significant overhaul. I think they need to be brought up to par with the power levels of the other Classic World of Darkness settings
Fine, I should have said “The Tempest” not “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
This is just AMAZING!! CtD are in such need for revision, to be playable, and there is SO much good stuff out there!
Give us a holler if you want some advice on Viking fae 😉
I’m so ready for this book…my wallet isn’t ready but bring it on anyways! Who needs food after all? lol
So, from Midsummer Night’s, to The Tempest? Does this say anything about C20 in relation to its previous editions? :3
Not necessarily. The Tempest is just my favorite Shakespeare play and I used to use this monologue for auditions. I thought it fit. 🙂
Also the two plays featured in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, appropriately enough all things considered.
Could be that Midsummer Night’s Dream being a very early play attributed to the Bard and the Tempest as counted amongst the last plays of his indicates a maturing of the Changeling game?
…Yeah, there’s a lot of reading going into this post! I’m excited, needless to say.
Keep talking, but take my money!
My money shall be taken!
I predict that this Kickstarter is going to be big, in the Mage 20 range.
This game intersected some important times in my life and it’s special to me. Looking forward to it.
Probably more like the Wraith 20 Kickstarter. Changeling just didn’t sell as well as Mage.
Will this include that never-produced-book Keys to the Kingdom?
Ooooh you should get Jackie Cassada on board. I loved the stuff she did..
Been so excited for this. Great news comes on the wind. Thank you. Perhaps now Winter’s ice can finally melt away. We’re well into Spring and the courts have already changed. Come Summer, fast! I seek the shortening of days and the Glamor-ous harvest of Autumn.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Can’t wait! 😀
I hope there’s Dark Ages Fae references or even rules how to run it in the modern era or maybe it’s possible for future DA: Fae books first? Since I always felt DA: Fae was superior to C:tD by comparison and I hope WW considers making a option to run DA: Fae in the modern era for those who don’t like Dreaming…
You guys are just demolishing my wallet…
I’m incredibly excited please lord take my money!
I have it on good authority that this guy also developed Dark Ages: Fae. Just saying.
And World of Darkness: Innocents. Got some experience with child-centred games is what I’m saying here.
Oooo yay! I can only hope the Adhene get some love. I do so love my Fir-bholg~
Yeah, strangely, no matter, how much I like kithain, I can’t deny, that Adhene were done much better and idea of three different Aria was perfectly executed…
Firbolgs – best!
Let me say that I am thrilled. Changeling was my favorite WoD game by far but sadly it’s also a tragically flawed game. I always felt the the wimsy and charm of the 1st edition was muddled badly when the second edition added many more rules and tried to bring the game in line with the other WoD core games. Something was definitely lost in the transition. My favorite aspect of Changeling in the first edition was that it was difficult to tell if the Changelings were in fact supernatural beings or just indulged in a kind of shared delusion. An idea that went by the wayside in the 2nd edition. What I would like to see for Changeling20 is a game that retains that certain magic that the first edition had but marry it to a solid ruleset or at least include some guidelines on how to capture that first edition feel. The Cantrip Cards can remain dead, that’s O.K. 🙂 Also, I think an issue with the game was that there were never enough Kiths for European Changelings. Changeling20 should contain all the Kiths from the core and the supplements but feel free to add more. If you are going to bring back the Land of Eight Million Dreams material, you should bring the rules in line with the Core book. That supplement pretty much had it’s own (broken) systems. That’s my 2 cents.
Drooling.
Lord, what fools these mortals be…
Start Kickstarter now please…*throws money* it’s 5am I haven’t been to bed yet, since finding out. Yes, I know…I need help!
Been waiting for this one for a long time. I’m looking forward to seeing all those bugs ironed out. Tell me Rebecca Guay will be involved with the art contributions?
This is the one i’ve been waiting for!!… not that i haven’t bought the others, just i’ll super buy this one!
Don’t suppose you’re on the hunt for some artists for this new edition?
Oooh… Now that’s ambition! I was gonna ask if I could be considered at a playtester, but someone has sights set higher. I admire that!
Sweet sweet Dreaming. 🙂
I can’t believe it’s been twenty years.
There’s something I’ve been wanting for Changeling since I read the Burning Empires RPG. It has a world burner where the players make some decisions
before play to shape the setting.
I really would like to see one for Changeling. I think there should be a canon answer for what banality is, but having it talked about before play would be awesome. How toxic is it? Does sitting in a boring lecture or doing your taxes really cause banality? Some questions about the dreaming as well. I don’t have as many ideas for that. Tie it to modified rules for Bedlam and becoming lost, so people can get the game they want. Dancing bears or not. 😉
To me, Banality has always been that which eats away at hope, dreams, faith and wonder. It is not a sentient force, but rather that which erodes or is a counter point to the inherent magic of Wonder, Dreams, Faith and the like. It is kind of like an aspect of stasis.
I like to run my games as Glamour is that which enables Dreams, hopes Faith, Wonder, Creativity and Banality is a result of impeding or destroying such thing (not what is mundane or boring, but what negatively effects one’s dreams)
a good example would be a kid who wants to create video games. Anything that helps that dream become reality has a chance to produce Glamour, and that which would prevent of hinder that dream would be a source of Banality. So learning math and spending a long time coding seems boring to most people, but in this case, it is helping that child reach that dream, and thus is not banal at all (and really good code could even produce glamour like any other art medium). Take away that kids computer (or worse, erase his HD so he loses his work) and suddenly you give the kid a bunch of Banality (and may even take some, if that code was a work of ‘art’).
I also tend to run my games that it is a bit easier to gain Glamour then the book rules, and also that Banality can be lost a little easier (I keep the tracks dynamic, and can allow 10 points to become one permanent point and visa verse if the situation allows. I have a few house rules to make the game a bit easier to play in the ‘real’ world. It helps with creating epic stories)
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You ave house rules gained through experience and play, but I think the authors could give us a recipe. The standard rules give us tone X. If you want tone Y or Z, tweak here.
Do you know when art submissions will be open for this project? Changeling has meant the world to me, and the art in the second edition book is one of the things that inspired me to become an illustrator. I’d love to put my name in the hat.
There’s this amazing new comic book series call “The Wicked + The Divine” by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie.
It has a lot of amazing ideas in it. I could see a Mage and even a Changeling20 chronicle using it as a jumping off (a cliff) point.
Please keep the Hisen out of it. They are not Fae, but spirits. Would really like to see something on Yuusei (Japanese fairies) and other Asian fairies, along with south american and African ones. Also would like more from the cultures already touched upon.
Super excited about this.
do you guys need anything from us fans? I am probably not the only one to have compiled all the arts and realms and kiths together in word documents, nor the only one to try to not only make changeling more in line with 3rd ed, but also tie in a bit DA:Fae.
just saying if you need anything, even if it’s only fan compiled, just let us know.
Hey folks- this is of course news we’re thrilled to share! Doing a 20th Anniversary Edition of any of the classic World of Darkness game lines is both an honor for us and a huge responsibility. Even moreso with Changeling because we have to both re-stir your feelings from when you first encountered and fell in love with CtD like all our 20th Anniversary Editions, but also, like Wraith, we will be looking at this as the revised edition it never got back in the day.
So for now, please give us all the ideas you can, but we’re not going to be able to respond to demands for _anything_ specific at this time. Matt has a lot of prep work still to do before things are that decided. Similarly, we’re approaching the art in Changeling 20th just like the other Anniversary Editions and intending to revisit the original Changeling artists first. Thanks!
Changeling20 (Revised) is going to be really interesting.
It’s a really good thing that Matt McFarland is the Developer. He was the Developer on Dark Ages Fae millennia ago. Dark Ages Fae is my favorite of the incarnations of the Changeling RPG.
One of my criticisms of Changeling the Dreaming was the lack of variety in powers of the Changelings and the lack of diversity of playing styles and character classes. The mechanics of magic in Dark Ages Fae should be the starting point for Changeling20.
The Inanimae should embody their respective elements more literally than figuratively.
Also, considering a certain, wildly popular fantasy series airing in a few weeks, maybe “DRAGONS” should find their way into the game?
Maybe the game mechanics of “The Mists” and “The Dreaming” can be merged?
Maybe some sort of game mechanic for creating nightmares that can break into the “real” world?
The power level of Changeling20 should be similar to the other World of Darkness games. (this point maybe controversial)
Maybe I never got Changeling right, but to me the glamour recovering is what made the game broken. The reverie was so time consuming and the Glamour wass expended so fast… You need to use it for nearly anything, and then it was hard to recover.
Some exta arts would be cool, also.
The book of lost houses has the revised Scathach mechanics. (pg 112-113). In the revision I’d take the clarification a step further. In the sidhe kith write up, include a side bar describing the autumn side birthright and frailties. Then in the scathach house write up say they are all autumn sidhe by default but include a side bar about how the Uathach part of the house still follow the normal sidhe rules.
Since, the book of lost houses I’ve run Autumn Sidhe with the modified birth right and a frailty that they can’t use sovereign. Where as the house boon, is the now provided in the book of lost houses and the ban, is actually the blood madness, listed as the frailty and the negative to social interactions with other sidhe. This makes it so the boon and ban are the same no matter what type of sidhe the member of house scathach is, and opens up the possibility for a rare autumn sidhe from another house existing.
Also can we get the boggan kith book some how.
Yes!! Thank you, finally Changeling get’s it’s turn.
“Oh! that my young life were a lasting dream!
My spirit not awakening, till the beam
Of an Eternity should bring the morrow.
Yes! though that long dream were of hopeless sorrow,
‘Twere better than the cold reality
Of waking life, to him whose heart must be,
And hath been still, upon the lovely earth,
a chaos of deep passion, from his birth”
– excerp from the Dream by Edgar Allan Poe.
Personally, I’d look forward to either new or updated lesser or lost houses. Maybe some more Arts and such for Unseelie. But overall I’m just looking forward to another addition to my collection of 20th Anniversary CWoD books! Great job on the last few, guys! I’m in for the whole lot of ’em!
The dreamers are pleased.
The pooka in me is waiting for the next epic story.
<3
Make it wonderful. Make us dream.
Make us remember the beauty of hope and the sorrow of despair.
Make us believe again in the Dream.
For we have to start to travel again and any city or place is good as any other to start… as long as we have the Story with us, and someone to listen to it all over again.
“Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places.”
? Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
I don’t know if it was the books or just me tending to just skim the history and setting chapters back in high school, but I had issues understanding how the politics worked and, reading the Knockers book, it felt like it assumed much more familiarity with changeling politics than I had. I still have no idea where the “evil versions” of the knockers came from or what that was about.
So, the main thing I want is just that the book be very clear and lay everything out about the current political climate and not assume anything. Maybe include some quick reference stuff, I dunno.
I loved Changeling. Still do. I love the idea of dreams no mortal has dared to dream before, and of oaths sworn to both friends and enemies that cannot be broken. Of urban fantasy done right.
The colorful art by Tony DiTerlizzi was stunning and perfectly fitting. The mechanics were clunky, but the fluff (at least in the Core) was some of the best White Wolf has ever produced. And in modern comics like Bill Willingham’s Fables, the source of inspiration isn’t exactly hidden.
I’d be happy to fund a kickstarter. But I just beg that the grimdark fans of black capes and silver katanas who always loudly complained that Changeling didn’t fit… well.. that they don’t get their way. Don’t take The Dreaming in the direction of Changeling The Lost. Don’t make the art black and white. Don’t ramp up the grimdark. Don’t turn it into Requiem with pointy ears. Don’t be inspired by the George RR Martins and Joe Abercrombies of fantasy that are so popular today.
Do fix the mechanics. And do help us Dream again.
This in response to Rich’s call for ideas. My apologies for any weird errors. I’m typing on my phone while on a bus.
The 20th anniversary edition should get to the heart of Changeling: The Dreaming. I keep seeing calls from non-fans to make Dreaming into Lost or DA:Fae. Changeling: The Lost and Dark Ages: Fae already exist and have devoted fan bases. DA: Fae is a fantastic game, and while I’m not personally a fan, there is no denying the quality of talet that went into Lost and how much it has inspired people. It feels like it often gets overlooked in online discussions, but Changeling: The Dreaming has inspired its own share of people. Back in the days of New Bremen, the Changeling player size was often second only to Vampire. Find the things that make Changeling: The Dreaming unique and embrace them – the struggle of the fantastic being slowly worn away in the face of mundanity, the dread of ancient horrors antithetical to fae and human alike waiting to reclaim the world that once was theirs, the complex faerie politics of noble vs commoner, seelie vs unseelie, modernist vs traditionalist, and house vs house, and the ability to go from absolute darkness to unmitigated whimsy and it not feel jarring or tone breaking.
Changeling: The Dreaming should stand on its own. There are times during the game’s original run where it felt like the game bent over backwards to not contradict the other World of Darkness game lines. Reading through Dreams and Nightmares at times felt more like it was a Mage sourcebook on the Dreaming instead of being intended for Changeling. I would argue that the contradictions between the various game lines actually make each of them feel stronger. It’s important to acknowledge the existence of other supernaturals, but Changeling can’t be worried about how banality and glamour relate to Werewolf’s triat or how Mage views the Dreaming. By standing on their own, each game line feels like the star of its own show instead of a supporting player in someone else’s.
Clean up the rules, but don’t throw out what makes then interesting. The arts + realms system is great. It is second only to Mage’s sphere magic in terms of flexibility when used by a creative player. It’s not without its flaws, Actor almost requires all five dots and Nature is a hot mess. If those could be addressed and arts could be more universally applicable to all realms, the magic system would be just about perfect. Right now, the glamour economy does its job of showing magic as a scarce resource a little too well. By the rules as written, if a player doesn’t take certain backgrounds at character creation, they could easily use up all their glamour in the first game session and be unable to regain any for the rest of the chronicle.
The elephant in the room is, of course, banality. Banality is central to the game and should definitely remain there. It’s biggest problem is consistency. A true definition of banality should be decided on early and strictly adhered to. My preference would be be one that doesn’t rule any particular institution as inherently banal. Science, religion, and even accounting can all be creative, inspiring endeavors. There should be opportunities for glamour and the danger of falling to banality in any pursuit. Even something artistic like painting can be banal. Just look at what Thomas Kinkade accomplished. Banality could also use a bit more mechanical rigor. I understand that it’s intended to be flexible and situation specific, but in practice it comes off as capricious and a consequence of GM fiat in play instead of a natural consequence of players’ actions.
Finally, banality should be an interesting conflict. It should be immediate and relevant. In a world where dogmatic belief is leading people to change laws to make it difficult to ask questions about the natural world or marry their loved ones, where corporations are spending untold millions to convince people to unquestionably go about their routine and not see that their products are destroying the natural beauty around them, where those same corporate interests are trying to lock down the internet so the only information people receive is that being sold by those companies, where the economy is rigged so that people have to spend their entire waking hours working multiple jobs just to make ends meet leaving no time for personal pursuits, where books are being banned from schools because they are dangerous or offensive, librarians just don’t seem like a compelling agent of banality. The autumn people and dauntain should be expanded and made into bigger, more consequential villains. The fight to save glamour and the Dreaming should be a fight for the very soul of humanity.
So…
Exactly how much of my money are you willing to take for this KS?
How much ya got? 🙂
There were a concern and a regret that I had when I read the second edition of Dreaming.
The Concern was about the mechanics with Changeling magic. They were confusing to me and the fact that the results had the consistency of tissue paper, unlike the more potent Thaumaturgy of the Tremere and the Awakened magic of Mages. It makes me ask, “Why play a Changeling at all when the race can’t cantrip their way out of a paper bag?” Please give their magic more oomph and more understandable mechanics.
The regret is how Dragons are portrayed in Dreaming. I loved dragons and seeing that they are nothing more than mechanical villains bummed me out. I REALLY wanted to play a dragon in Dreaming. Please make a Draconic Kith for Dreaming with the same love as you had when you created the kith for Lost.
Thank you.
Part of that was that the way the magic works wasn’t well-explained.
The power of Changelings became apparent when you started looking at Realms, and realized that if you had a specific realm, any power you had could affect that realm.
Being attacked by BSDs? That rock is now a dragon. Their theurge? Teleported a thousand feet… straight up.
I disagree with this comment.
Changeling had some very powerful cantrips. Some level 3 powers are akin to Vampire 5 level discipline. The only thing that made Changeling less powerful was that they were quite vulnerable to damage, and that they needed Actor 5 to affect mortals and other supernatural beings.
I won’t also be a fan of draconic kithain. Seems like unnatural to the setting, which was more focused on real legends. Dragons were chimeras, and I think they worked quite well that way.
I almost forgot. Does this mean that we’ll also get Kith and House shirts for Dreaming as well? I loved the Satyr kith symbol.
Firstly, I should say thank you for doing this. Changeling always play tunes inside me very, very deep.
Secondly PookaKnight and others had raising good points and I agree with most, while not all of them.
Some of my thoughts:
I think Changeling and Mage (my other favourite) have much in common. Both tells stories about magic, about creativity and about the fight against the pale, grey, rigid thing what reality becames.
I think, also both speaks about hope.
The viewpoints are, however, different. Mages are humans, with a spark in their souls and they can do magick thanks to that spark. They are, somewhat the peak of what humanity can become.
Changelings are, on the contrary, ARE magic and dreams, in a human body. They are ancient. They are everything that inspired and dread humanity along the ages.
I think, while it’s great that every game line has it’s own world within the WoD and everyone have their own stories, enemies and heroes, they still living on the same world. According to that, changelings and the dreaming should take into count in the bigger picture. Yes, they hiding, yes they living in strange realms, yes they are distinct in the eyes of the others, but still, they should be able to take a stand against a blood-sucking undead or a god-playing mortal when needed. I’m not speak about powergaming, I speak about make them, what they are: the living, breathing magic in a world that did everything to erase their existence, yet still they are here and don’t plan to fade away or play door mat below anyone’s feet.
Also, I like the ideas of how they can adapt to modern ages. Somewhat among the lines of what anarchs did with the internet in vampire. Changelings are nothing but dreams, creativity and hope, I’m sure they can find the same things in the modern world. Maybee there are lots of them, whose stick to the old ways and that’s fine, the world needs the old tales, knights, dragons, errands, and such. The world needs memoirs and stories that give us inspiration, but also needs new stories, new wonders and new monsters.
About dragons and other monsters: I agree with those who says they should be more than mechanical villains.
I wish a wonderfull journey to Matt and everyone who would play a role in creating the new edition! I can’t wait for the first news and hints about it! 🙂
I played changeling with a 6 player troupe for over 6 years. I also possess over 15 sourcebooks for the gameline and all i can say is I am gonna back this project with at least 100 bucks. But please take my and my player observations into consideration:
1: The art, its horrible. Make it more Lord of the Ring or like the illustrations in inanimae, or Commoners book.
2: Primal is problematic as an art on the level 5 . It is an art of shape , so many of my players interpreted that with the nature realm level 5 they could turn to fire. Primal specifies in the examples given that it is a power to influence shape , but the realms rules contradict this and arts like pyretics and metamorphosis loose relevance if primal can achieve their same effect.
3: Please do cover who the monarchs are in the kingdoms of Concordia and what their realms are like. Kingdom of Willows is already covered , as is Pacifica through the book of the immortal eyes chronicles. But Queen Laurels Realm in upper US , Queen Morgana in Florida, those territories should be given written material to better direct changeling politics .
4: What the hell is up with chimera, the book was never too clear as to how one could create chimera . Is it through Legerdemain, is it through the Knocker Art of Infusion? The rules are not clear . If knockers are the only ones who make chimeras through infusion then how did rasputin create his chimera in the novel?
5: You guys need to write about the Siochain , how does one become a siochain ( Mentioned in the second edition core book), what must happen and what are the benefits and disadvantages. Dedicate a page or two on this .
6: Do include information on the mermaid kingdoms by expanding on Blood dimmed tides , and do include selkie strongholds aside from Pacifica, Hawaii and Ireland. Also be more specific as to a selkie skin, Its never clear as to how they work.
7: Wyrd or chimerical. Is it better to decribe chimerical as having a subtle or camouflaged effect ? I feel the authors were afraid to be this explicit for fear of it being similar to a mage’s coincidential effects. Please cover this and review it.
8: Please discuss how to make treasures / wonders. No clear rules for this yet many treasures in sourcebooks and kithbooks. Infusion? Legerdemaine? Doubt it.
9:Please finish book of Glamour. We need more arts for the game line. Changelings can certainly do more than what they were allowed to perform and do. Also , they could have more interction with the creatures of the world of darkness.
10: I wasnt a big fan of the Nunnehi but guys, their territories and conflicts should be better assessed for better chronicle integration.
Wished I submitted my historical timeline and Netweavers write up sooner.
May I just say…. Eeeeeeee!
-This- is the oWoD 20th edition I have been waiting for.
I’ll be interested in following a Changeling: The Dreaming kickstarter, although I’m undecided yet about backing.
Changeling’s tone always set it apart from the other WoD games somewhat, and I think that issue does need to be addressed. I’d like the feel of the the game to be a bit less twee, I guess – without meaning to offend anyone.
Other things I found uncomfortable was that it was a bit more US-centric than the other games – with a US-based fantasy setting. WW knew it’s main market, but I also recall a few digs at the UK in some supplements as lacking creativity, etc. A bit more of a cosmopolitan outlook would be appreciated this time.
Otherwise I wait and see what TOP has to offer.
Changeling has several tones though many of them are not quite that apparent in the old core. There are themes of insanity, fear, Nightmares and slow death of hope and magic against the inevitable tide of Banality but it also has a tone of hope, Dreams, chivalry and yes child like glee as well. It all depends on what the group and the ST wants to emphasize.
In other words little needs to be done with the actual tones and themes of CtD except perhaps making the whole range of them a bit more apparent to even a casual reader.
Meanwhile I do agree completely on CtD being a bit overtly US centric. Considering most, pretty much all of them actually, of the Changeling Kiths originate elsewhere it would benefit immensely from a more cosmopolitan approach.
Still like I said earlier this is one of my most waited 20th versions, right after Wraith, so I am extremely happy that it is here.
And as a side note while I would love to see more about Chimerae, Dragons included, we really do not need a Dragonic Kith we already have a wast selection of Kithain Kiths, Adhene, Thallain, Inanimae and more. While all of these deserve C20 treatment there are so many options here already that some may not make it into the core, unfortunately, unless C20 core is about to beat M20 on page count and even then it would be a stretch. So no new Kiths are really needed just updates on all we already have. Especially the Thallain and the Kiths are in need of a small touch up. Likely loosing many of the Glamour cost would be good as well as giving some rules for their birthrights in the first place, Beasties I´m looking at you.
And like said we need a new look at the Realms, especially Actor and Nature. As well as whole Glamour economy needs a complete re-haul. Easy things would be bringing up the Glamour pool, stripping Glamour costs from Birthrights, making Glamour recovery a bit easier and faster and perhaps taking a look at how costly, or not, Cantrips should be.
I’m deliriously happy that a Changeling 20th edition may come to pass! I absolutely love the gorgeous color artwork in the V20 and W20 editions and a Changeling revamp is long overdue. Please, take my money… I can’t wait to back a Kickstarter project!
That’ll teach you not to say ‘never ever coming back’! I always knew you were lying. 😉
The one and central issue for me was (and I am a fan of C:tD) that the Kiths were to narrow defined.
Every Troll is blue, large and wears a Kilt ?
Every Pooka lies all the time ?
The larger possibilities of character customization is a central pillar that was better in Lost than in Dreaming. (I repeat, I mean this one thing, don’t start a Lost vs. Dreaming rant please).
So if it were possible to fit the Kiths a bit more to the hundreds of folk tales and stories around the world please give us players this choice !
My thoughts exactly. This is a game that exalts creativity, but the PCs are restricted to seven rigid, narrowly defined Kiths. There isn’t even a “none of the above” option like Caitiffs in V:tM. This led to an unfortunate Kith bloat in subsequent books. If you wanted to play a leprechaun type, you needed the Chlurican Kith in the Immortal Eyes trilogy. I calculated that including all the Kiths, Nunnehi, Inanime, Adhenes, etc. would be more than the variety of mages in the massive M20. And you still can’t play a Draconic type. That’s why people are asking for something along the lines of DA:Fae, which allows for more customization. Give us rules that a character recreate the original Kiths, plus more.
*sigh* do you guys just want my bank account number? that might make this whole thing a lot easier in the long run.
I just wanted to say, it’s good news, Mr. McFarland. Excellent news, indeed.
Most of the good advice, I’ve might give, was already given. About magic, banality, kiths and other stuff. I don’t add to it much, because at this point I settled with idea, that I can use CtD, as cookbook for my own campaign settings each time, when I want to run Changeling game. Would it be story about living gummy bear and awakened toys with souls of ancient warriors, who struggle against Pentex and Nightmares to protect little children or story about emotional teenagers, who struggle against horrors of the adult life and “soulless system”, I can turn to CtD books for inspiration and advice.
I want you to make this game whole. Consistent. It should make sense instead of breaking reader’s head to billion tiny pieces. So, essentially, I want you to make your own “Changeling: the Dreaming” game. Not mine. Not everyone’s else. For us, for every fan to buy, of course. But, from game about true passion and unimpeded creativity (among other things), opposing the clutches of mass market tentacles and deals with Economy Devil I wish you to make it as great, as you want it to be.
P.S. Yet, I still find myself sometimes effortlessly tring to solve puzzles like – how could we play Sidhe in 1999+, when most of them is probably Greybeards, or older Wilders? There are newborn Sidhe children? It is old faerie souls from Dreaming or new, reincarnated? There are new faerie souls born, who never witnessed Spring? Do Sidhe, that inhabited bodies of infants sinse 69 have Chrysalis like other changelings or they were awakened, like those, who possessed grown ups? How exactly Sidhe’s rules of birthright works for such children works? Can someone just cast Ritual of Changeling Way? That, and countless other questions swarmed through my head for five years, that I know about this setting, while I’ve tried to make sense Changeling the Dreaming books.
Good luck. You’ll need a lot of it!
But I believe in you. *CLAP* *CLAP*