Hi, folks! As mentioned on the forums, I’m picking up development on Changeling: The Lost, Second Edition. I’ll be joined by frequent Chronicles of Darkness writer Meghan Fitzgerald.
Today, I’d like to preview Goblin Contracts and the Goblin Debt they encourage you to rack up. As the team was discussing how to implement them in the new edition, we decided that we wanted to do something that relates the costs of these Contracts directly to the roles hobgoblins play in the Hedge, and that plays with the boundaries between different types of faerie creatures.
In addition to these systems and powers for player characters, Chapter 5 will feature guidelines on building hobgoblins, as well as several examples. For now, I’ll just say that reading the draft had me cackling with both glee and fear.
(Update: Check out the comments for an example goblin queen.)
Comments
24 responses to “Goblin Contracts [Changeling: The Lost]”
I glad to see you’re both picking this up. And ooh, Goblin Contracts!
This is really cool, but I’m especially happy to see “Catch” is becoming “Loophole”. Catch never quite made sense…
Think in terms of “That’s a good deal, but what’s the catch?” The catch in a Contract clause, of course, is what the changeling can do to weasel out of paying the cost. Loophole’s just a slightly more direct, obvious word for it.
Happy to see Rose now in charge. I am now looking forward to adding CtL: 2nd Edition to my library.
Congrats, Rose!
Thanks! I’m happy to be on the project. 🙂
Super excited to have Rose taking the reigns of Lost! 😀
This, this is what has finally sold me on Changleing 2.0.
Amazing. Thank you.
I call this all good news! Nothing against David A. Hill, Jr. – his work to date is quite stellar, esp. V20 Dark Ages – but it felt like I didn’t recognize the game that was being called Changeling: The Lost Second Edition so far. Now, if you want to skip the rant, feel free to stop reading right here, but also please know that I offer the below fully knowing that I’m a bit of a prat. Sorry in advance if it upsets anyone…
I saw a LOT of the development process happening in the forum boards, but it sounded like an echo chamber to me. I have t felt welcome or comfortable there in years, actually, and while the ideas weren’t bad or wrong, there was a lot that didn’t come close to fitting the themes of Changeling as I know it. Maybe worse was a HUGE amount of changes (most notable being the mind-boggling 120+ “x axis” of the kiths) for a game that the developer said “doesn’t need a lot of work” without reasons given for the shifts.
I didn’t feel like my concerns were taken seriously in that forum, indeed if they were even heard. This is on ME more than anyone else, but while you take it with a grain (or many, many grains) of salt, know that I do still love the game.
Rose’s work on Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition and Demon: The Fallen give me hope that Changeling: The Lost is in great hands. I’ve looked forward to this game for a long time, and I still do!
^^^^ This 100%
I personally am in Love with the 100 different kiths X-Axis, the concept is grandiose and there’s seemingly a different kith for anything you might need (as is the case for the true fae who mold people into them). I fell in love with 1E and so far I’ve been Greatly looking forward to what David had planned for 2E. Please don’t change the kiths….
Has there been any word on what will be kept or removed from the past dev blogs?
I really liked the changes to Kith and Seeming, it and the new court system was what I liked best about changeling.
The Goblin contracts are cool, but you guys have me worried that we might lose out on the awesome stuff David and his team did.
When all that is offered was “I don’t like this, change it back”, no one was going to take that seriously.
There is no pure state to maintain-there is always a better way to seek. The game changed, as good games should, and if the majority of the involved fanbase seemed like an echo chamber, perhaps a close examination of that fanbase might lead to the conclusion that instead they were simply good changes.
Sorry you felt like no one was taking you seriously, but it’s worth considering maybe that the fault lays not with the persons, but with the arguments(or lack thereof) being made.
Thanks for illustrating the “echo chamber” mentality. For a second, I wasn’t sure it existed. Seriously, it should just be called a message board because it stopped being a forum when the people that like discussion were bullied away, a long time ago.
@all Since David Hill basically released everything he developed, I don’t think anyone has to worry about drastic changes. I suppose it is possible in some last ditch “stick it to the man” effort the work could have been released violating NDA’s and ending any future working relationships, but Onyx sure didn’t seem to mind, so not likely. Onyx Path is not Westeros. Reality tends to be boring.
Or maybe, you are a distinct minority opinion, and the writers know that from both this board and others they frequent.
“Echo chamber” is as about a useful a criticism as “progressive for the sake of it”-not at all.
Even with so many kiths, I don’t see it as a “Kith z-axis.” It’s still Seeming and Kith working together, you simply have the ability to choose any Kith with any Seeming instead of being shoehorned into a Seeming or forced to take dual Kith to get the concept you want done properly. The Y-axis is still court, it’s just not restricted to the Anglocentric Seasonal Courts. Those courts still exist but now there is the possibility for a much richer variety of Courts supported by the game.
1ed had really cool alternate court ideas like the Directionals, but they never developed then beyond a few pages, had virtually no court contracts, and zero information on titles or court culture. Compared to all the information published for the Seasonals, no one ever wanted to run them. I love the Seasonals and will probably play them again sometime but I’m happy to be experimenting with the Paris and Toronto Freeholds as well as making a few of my own…
Sooo… are Goblins and Goblin Queens PCs? I know plenty of players that’d see this as a great thing, just like I know tons of characters that lives 24/7 in the Hedge despite the 1e restrictions.
Yep, they’re absolutely PCs. And, I mean, if players want to be goblins, I’m not gonna stop them….
So that’s why Jareth wanted Toby.
I never thought of that, I mean I connected Goblin Queen = Jareth Goblin Queen, but the Resolution = Toby I didn’t connect, that is cool.
SO AWESOME! 🙂 really gave an amazing look into the perils and opportunities of goblin contracts. looking forward to stories of debt-made goblins and queens and court-mates dealing with the fallout of goblin debt. any hints at what the next dev blog may cover?
Jareth, the Goblin Queen. Oh lord.
This is a vast departure/reworking of the Goblin Contract concept, but I really love it. It’s evocative, catches my interest both from a gameplay-as-rules stance and from a storytelling stance.
Oh the David Bowie references that will come of that condition…
Here’s an example goblin queen, by the way:
Liza Cantwell, Age 9
“Kneel before the queen!” [dissolves into giggles]
Background: Liza’s been in the Hedge about a year now, left here by someone who took so many Goblin Contracts and gathered so much Debt she became a Goblin Queen herself. In order to shed that Debt, she had to find a little girl to take her place. The woman tricked Liza into following her into the Hedge, then left her there to become the new Goblin Queen. Liza missed her parents at first, but when she gets sad, the pixies entertain her and make her laugh again. Sometimes they lead her on a chase, and the Thorns cut her. It probably should hurt, but it doesn’t, really, and she doesn’t feel so sad afterwards.
Description: Liza is a nine-year-old little girl, wearing a finely made but very dirty dress. Changelings who have met Madam Thimblestitch might recognize her handiwork. She also wears a woven crown of flowers that is held in place by her tangled hair. Liza still carries her backpack, which contains her last few school assignments, a library book, and a handout about Stranger Danger.
Storytelling Hints: For a kid who’s spent a year as Goblin Queen, being fawned over by her faerie retainers, Liza is pretty even-keeled. She gives orders and expects them to be carried out, but she doesn’t fly into rages or demand impossible things of her subjects. She can come across as a little cold, but she’s lost a lot of herself to the Thorns.