Changeling: The Lost

Changeling: The Lost (White Wolf) is the new World of Darkness' take on Changeling.  If you're familiar with Changeling: The Dreaming this is quite a different feel although if you're at all familiar with the tone of the new World of Darkness this should not be terribly surprising.  The book itself is very attractive with one of the better covers of the new core books.  Binding is good (something that can be iffy on White Wolf books at times) and art is a good representative of the feel that the book itself invokes.

Changelings represent people who've been abducted by the True Fae at some point in the past and have spent time in Faerie (referred to also as Arcadia).  Eventually they manage to escape their abductors and find their way back through the Hedge (the barrier between our world and Arcadia).  However rarely do they find happiness when they return.  In their place a simulacrum called a Fetch has replaced them so no one is even aware they are gone.  Worse they have been changed by Arcadia becoming half-Fae taking on aspects of whatever their masters had them represent or do in that realm.  Having fought their way home they now find that it is not really home anymore.  This is the lot of The Lost.

This fairly evocative set-up lays out the theme and feel of the whole book.  Sort of a sad, behind the scenes despair of a non-homecoming and a struggle to keep going from there.  This theme is very strongly reinforced throughout the book that happiness is a struggle for the changelings.  Between battling the loss of their old homes, the mental and spiritual damage caused by the True Fae, and the changes to their very beings Changelings face a myriad of challenges to coping with everyday life.  This bleakness saturates the writing almost overmuch as in some cases it's hard to see why most changelings haven't outright committed suicide in face of such negative circumstances.  There is little to no hope presented.  While this holds to the outlook of the World of Darkness as a bleak and depressing place this felt a bit overdone.  Hunter: The Vigil gave a better hope at least winning some small battles even if the larger war might never be won.  It felt like Changeling lacked even that small hope.

Changelings aren't left entirely defenseless.  They do have a system of courts that provide varying levels of structure and support to local freeholds (freeholds being the name given to a local society of Changelings).  Their true form is also hidden from mortal eyes by the Mask hiding their true mien allowing them to walk amongst the regular human throng.  Changelings also have access to powers called Contracts giving them an edge over the normal mortal.  These power stems from their Fae roots.  Where their former Fae masters or powerful Changelings have negotiated certain responses from a concept in Arcadia allowing them to manipulate that concept in our world.  They also have the ability to create exacting Pledges which are binding promises with consequences, durations, etc all determinable allowing for interesting roleplay especially for devious players or storytellers.

Characters themselves have a Seeming which represents what they did in Arcadia.  So a Changeling who acted as his master's hunting hound might have a Beast Seeming.  Narrowly defining the Seemings can be done by selecting a Kith which indicates a more specific aptitude.  Most characters will also select a Court.  These Courts represent the political/idealogical outlook of character.  In the core book the four courts represent the seasons.  It is entirely possible to have a courtless Changeling but they tend to be mistrusted by those who are aligned and also limits their access to some Contracts.

Changeling caters well to a variety of play types although for once it feels that players who enjoying politicking, negotiations, and more socially aspected games may find more to enjoy in this then other World of Darkness games.  Given the ever-shifting nature of the freehold courts and the general paranoia of Changelings and the overpowering scary of the True Fae direct combat seems less likely an option in many cases.  Interestingly the True Fae could be used a big bad for nearly any World of Darkness campaign (especially cross-overs) as they represent a threat to all creatures that reside on Earth.  The True Fae would surely be interested as much in a vampire or werewolf (at least for curiosity's sake) as a regular human.  Some broad campaign ideas could be developed there!

Final thoughts: if you're looking for a dynamic but bleak game with a touch of madness thrown in this may be your game.  If you want to expand your World of Darkness collection you definitely want to pick this up.  If you are looking to play Fae-touched superheroes you're going to be disappointed or spending a lot of time rejiggering the system to your tastes.

Available in print* and pdf.

Links: DriveThruRPG, Amazon, Noble Knight

Next Up: Panopticon (Eclipse Phase)