Changeling the Podcast

Behold the minisode! Today we're diving into the Library of What Could Have Been, as we talk about two books that we never actually got for Changeling: Book of Glamour and Keys to the Kingdom. Long-promised, partly written, and much desired, the complete guide to fae magic and the globetrotting metaplot adventures lingered in the dreams of 2e players even after the old World of Darkness had been detonated. Presumably some of the material made it into the 20th anniversary edition; the signs remain unclear. Nevertheless, we managed to scrape together some tidbits and information to talk about, so for those of you who didn't live through the slowly suffocated hopes of these books, we're here to give you the story. (And yes, Kithbook: Boggans was the third of the cancelled triad, but at least we got an unofficial, and much later an official, version of it. To be addressed in future episodes!) As always, share your own thoughts via: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) dreams bittersweetly about the lost Art of Érablesse, the maple-themed magic of Canadian changelings. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) found a piece of the Triumph Casque's Key in a Dumpster behind the local Denny's. "It’s the hope that’s important. Big part of belief, hope. Give people jam today and they’ll just sit and eat it. Jam tomorrow, now—that’ll keep them going forever." —Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Another week, another theme episode...! This time around, we're considering the role of morality in Changeling: the Dreaming, and the World of Darkness at large. Folklorically, the fae have always tended to dance to their own tune (and often drag hapless mortals along with them) when it comes to questions of right and wrong, good and evil, awesome and dastardly. And yet the changelings are half-human, caught between the memories of their inner nature and the modern values with which they were raised. We talk about this tension and how it is explored—or not explored—within the setting and mechanics, as well as some options for Storytellers and players to do so. It's just kind of a wide-ranging discussion this episode, which easily spawns all kinds of follow-ups that we didn't have recording time to fully pursue. So if you have Thoughts and Feelings about this aspect of the game, reach out and tell us about it, whydontcha: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) received a Title for wiping the floor with the competition during the Spelling Bee of Honor. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) went into hiding for nine counts of disorderly knowledge at the Geography Bee of Sleaze. "Everything's got a moral if only you can find it." —The Duchess in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

We're baaaack...! It's the start of Season Three here at the Podcast, and we're excited to once again be bringing you some weekly-ish discourse on Changeling: the Dreaming. As we proceed chronologically through the game's history, we're now in that wilderness between the end of 2nd edition and the launch of the 20th Anniversary edition. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to say about Changeling and it's place in the World of Darkness. We're talking today about Hunter: the Reckoning, Mummy: the Resurrection, and Demon: the Fallen, three WoD games that were concurrent with the sunset and slumber of the Dreaming. There's limited information with which to suss out how these three splats view and interact with the fae, but we never said we didn't like a challenge. If you're interested in purchasing any of the corebooks for those lines: Hunter: https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/639?affiliate_id=3063731 Mummy: https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/1251?affiliate_id=3063731 Demon: https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/636?affiliate_id=3063731 In the realm of shameless promotion, there's also the Bog Bodies book for Mummy "20th" that Pooka created here: https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/395251?affiliate_id=3063731, and if you'd like to hear Mage: the Podcast's dive into the 1st and 2nd edition Mummy books, check out https://magethepodcast.com/tomes-of-magick-a-world-of-darkness-mummy/ and https://magethepodcast.com/tomes-of-magick-mummy-second-edition/ respectively and respectfully. And of course, you can contact us through the following channels for all of your questions and musings on dank monstrosities and those who pursue them: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) suggests that sysops are prime candidates for Imbuing. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) swoons for the linguistically superb Hekau of Nomenclature. "If the apocalypse comes— beep me." —Buffy Summers

...and that's a wrap! For this year, at least; we intend to be back in a couple of months, after taking our usual winter constitutional. A happy solstice be upon you, and thanks again to everyone for sticking with us through the second half of the Season. We hope you'll help us make Season 3 one to remember as well. As reminded in the episode, we are putting together a passel of homebrew books over the course of 2024, for release on a monthly basis in 2025, in celebration of Changeling's 30th Anniversary. To that end, we are still open to knowledgeable people joining the crew for this project! Please see our public Patreon post at https://www.patreon.com/posts/changeling-30th-92652480 for more information. You're welcome to toss your name into the hat to help with any of the books listed, or to send us a pitch for another of your own. If you've been curious about getting involved in independently-created content for Changeling (or other TTRPGs), maybe this is the time? For more news and updates, click your way to any of our usual haunts, where we'd be happy to welcome you in: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) is waiting out the Winterregnum in a fort made of marshmallows. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) will sacrifice whatever to whomever for a proper snow day this year. "Never say goodbye, because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting." —J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

It's strange to go back to the end of an era, but that's the feel of things this week as we pick up Time of Judgment, finale to the old World of Darkness. After the "Big Three" each got their own book of the end times, the remaining (lower-selling) games got one chapter each in this catchall supplement. And those were the last pages of Changeling for over a decade—so it's seems fitting to cover this as our last full episode of the season. There's some Storytelling guidance and five scenarios (about which we have thoughts), and a note of bittersweetness about it all. How else could it have (for then) ended? The book is available to add to your collection at https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/699?affiliate_id=3063731, and you'll get the chapters on Demon, Hunter, Kindred of the East, and Mummy to boot! We pointed to Harbingers of Winter as well, for incorporating the Tithed Ones but also other big baddies of Changeling. That one is at https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/388455?affiliate_id=3063731, and you can listen to our interview with Charlie here: https://changelingthepodcast.com/podcast/episode-12-harbingers-of-winter-with-charlie-cantrell/. Finally, if you're into Mage and want to hear about that game's finale book Ascension, Mage: the Podcast has an informative episode on just that very topic: https://magethepodcast.com/tomes-of-magick-ascension/. Ask ye and the digisphere shall provide. As for ourselves...! Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) favors the apocalypse scenario where the nockers just try turning the Dreaming off and then on again. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) immanentized the eschaton and all they got was this lousy T-shirt. That's how it goes, you think you're on top of the world, and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you. —Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

Dive into a whimsical exploration of the German supplement 'Trolle, Träumer, Tiefe Wälder.' Discover how German folklore influences changelings and their kiths, with historical context stretching from post-World War I to modernity. Unpack the dynamic interactions between supernatural beings and humans. Experience a darkly comedic changeling adventure at a garden party filled with mythic challenges. Plus, enjoy contrasts between German and British folklore that enrich this enchanting narrative.

And now for something rather different... we're stepping out of the Changeling canon and into the wonderful world of late 90s/early 00s homebrew with Changeling: the Celtic Cycle. Written by three World of Darkness authors, CtCC radically re-imagines the world of Changeling: no Glamour and Banality, no Dreamers to cultivate, no Dreaming separate from the Umbra. Instead, the fae in this version of the game are directly inspired by Celtic mythology and epic. The supplement was released in three installments as part of a zine, in all its early-days-of-desktop-publishing glory, and is as much an interesting historical artifact for that context as for its contents. But the authors also went on to be involved in Book of Lost of Houses, Dark Ages: Fae, and Changeling: the Lost, with all of which we see a few subtle connections... The text is findable online, but we'll also have it available in our Discord (link below!). Some other links include: A few homebrew books by Pooka that poke at a couple of these themes are mentioned in this episode, which you can snag at https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/381967?affiliate_id=3063731, https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/418295?affiliate_id=3063731, or https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/412055?affiliate_id=3063731. While the links provided in the notes at the end of the supplement are mostly defunct or broken, a couple of them have stood the test of time... we would point you in particular to https://pantheon.org/, the Encyclopedia Mythica (a one-stop source for many a folkloric tidbit before Wikipedia was a thing), and https://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/, a hefty collection of Irish myth in particular. Need some Irish curses on the spot? Take your pick from https://www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/donncha/focal/features/mallacht (the modern one) or https://www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk/sengoidelc/donncha/maldacht (Old Irish). As always, our own passel of social media links: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) went looking for Changeling: the Danish Cycle, but only found a kith that could shapechange into flaky pastries. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) favors the Branch of Rhiannon, for which one sympathy is to wear a full-on Stevie Nicks ensemble. High on the mountain stands a boat But are they gods or real folk? We can't see the fire but we smell the smoke Who'll take the plough? Who'll be the yoke? –Horslips, "Trouble with a Capital T"

Wanderers and storytellers, tricksters and rapscallions... we're diving this week into Kithbook: Eshu and all that it has to teach about this most wonderfully wayward of Kithain. This was the last full-length Changeling: the Dreaming supplement for something like fifteen years, and as presumed final entries go, it was an intriguing one. (The last page of the original print edition, though, with the ad for a book that would never materialize... that was kind of heartbreaking.) We discuss levels of appropriateness for incorporating Yorùbá religion as this book does, get into the weeds about Birthrights, and ask important questions, such as "Talecraft: why?" It's a bittersweet sunset to 2nd Edition, all things told. And what could be more Changeling than that? Wend your way over to https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/174?affiliate_id=3063731 if you'd like to purchase the PDF. And why stop there? Let your path continue to any of the following places to find out more about the show and connect with us: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) travels by a compass that points in nonexistent directions, like "south–north-up" and "otherwards". Pooka G (any pronoun/they) will put a girdle round about the Earth in forty minutes. 千里之行始於足下。 Qiān lǐ zhī xíng shǐ yú zú xià. [A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.] —Laozi, loosely translated

It's the weekend of PAX Unplugged, a three-day convention for all forms of non-digital gaming in Philadelphia, and Pooka got themself a media badge. So, in an effort to justify that, they went around doing on-the-spot quick interviews with a number of RPG creators whose work is Changeling-adjacent (mostly fairytale and mythology themed). Please forgive the sound quality; the interviews were conducted using a tiny microphone in a crowded and busy expo hall, and voices don't always travel well through N95 masks. Nevertheless, here's hoping these broaden your horizons, and if you're at PAX today, here are four booths you might want to check out... The interviews are presented in the order in which they were conducted, as are the information about the creators below: Andrew Valkauskas (Pendelhaven Games): https://www.fateofthenorns.com Fate of the Norns: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/112998?affiliate_id=3063731 Charles Ryan (Monte Cook Games): https://www.montecookgames.com/author/charles-ryan/ Old Gods of Appalachia: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/447290?affiliate_id=3063731 We Are All Mad Here: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/327782?affiliate_id=3063731 Charles Ferguson-Avery: https://www.instagram.com/charlie_fergusonavery/ Feral Indie Studio: https://feral-indie-studios.itch.io/ Into the Wyrd and Wild: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/264022?affiliate_id=3063731 Stephen Dewey (Cavalry Games): https://cavalrygames.com/ We Serve Her Wintry Hunger: https://cavalrygames.com/to-serve And as usual, for CtP's own points of contact: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your host Pooka G (any pronoun/they) never met a fae-themed TTRPG they didn't like. Except for THAT one!

We're returning to the world of Live-Action RolePlaying this week, as we flip through the second and final of the Mind's Eye Theatre books produced for Changeling. Author and developer Peter Woodworth returns to talk about the creation of the Shining Host Player's Guide. Even if you prefer throwing dice around the table to dressing up and cantripping through the woods, there's plenty in this volume that enriches the setting. Mannikins with stories, Shadow Court slice of life, secret society emblems, elaborate court politics... as we draw ever closer to the end of the 2nd edition line, it's nice to be reminded that there was quality content even in the jaws of Judgment. (It's also nice to be reminded of the community's passion for keeping the game alive.) The book is available for purchase at https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/1490?affiliate_id=3063731, and you can find/contact Pete at his website, Positively Woodworthian: https://peterwoodworth.com/! For our part, behold a mishmash of social media: Discord: https://discord.me/ctp Email: podcast@changelingthepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699 Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast your hosts Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) leads a secret society of Canadian nockers whose emblem is a maple leaf soaked in engine grease. Pooka G (any pronoun/they) hasn't tried to wear prosthetic ears since the Spirit Gum Incident of 2008. The thing about performance, even if it’s only an illusion, is that it is a celebration of the fact that we do contain within ourselves infinite possibilities. —Daniel Day-Lewis