Read First: Setting & Rules: Dreamspoke

 

Contents

- Setting
- Character writing
- Sheets & Dice


Setting

We'll start our adventure in Branboro, a 15.000-people town in New Hampshire, USA. There's a bit of industry there, mainly textile and a bit of mining, a small college without any too special foci and a decent downtown area with several clubs, cafés, a few streets and places to avoid, you know, the usual.
But don't think this is all there is to the world, (yet) unbeknowst to your characters they'll be on the road and about everywhere quite a bit.

Character Writing

We'll start before your chrysalis (that's the point where the fae soul awakens), so for your character at first think of a rather normal human being. If you have preferences about the Kith (the fae species) or a choice of multiple ones you'd like to play, please tell me (see below for a short questionaire for your character)! Otherwise your Kith will be just as much of a surprise for you as it will be for your character (and I'd be honoured by you putting this kind of trust in me as your Storyteller for sure).

I'd like to build your character with you individually, especially if you don't have any experience with Changeling yet (but also if you do!). We can do this via chat (facebook, whatsapp, telegram, here on the forum you name it), Hangout or Skype and even via PM if there is no other way. Don't mind the time gaps, I'll make time for you one way or the other.

Here are a few Dos & Don'ts you might like to follow - you'll have more fun that way and it will be easier for me to incorporate your character into the adventures and to make your experience a more magic one!

DO
- have flaws, not only, of course, but think about a decent balance
- think about the details (looks, friends & family, connections, favourite books and colours and food, things like these)
- have one thing your character is passionate about or really good at, be it looks, smarts, a certain skill or just being painfully average
- write a character that could be an actual person, someone you'd meet in more-or-less everyday life. A bit of a stereotype is okay, though (this is, after all, a story).
- have the potential for endless wonder.

DON'T
- try to be edgy or "evil". Depressed, pessimistic, grumpy are perfectly okay, just don't aspire to be the Evil Queen or a Bond villain or the local crime lord.
- have everything - looks, smarts, money, your dreams fulfilled, a successful martial arts career, knowledge of basically everything... for one it will be hard to achieve all this with the character building system, and it's also rather boring. No hero ever started their journey perfectly accomplished, except maybe Batman, and he's not really a character I'd like in my chronicle.


Sheets & Dice; or: The Crunch Section

Character Sheets

For your character creation you'll need a character sheet. You can find printable ones here, and I'd recommend the general 4-Pages Sheet. Alternatively you can make your own sheet with the same categories as the original ones.

Additional Abilities & Backgrounds

Through the years new Abilities for Changeling were introduced. Here's a list to inspire you what your character might be able to do or whereto they might develop (and of what isn't on the Character sheet):

Talents

Acting (specialised Performance)
Artistic Expres​sion(specialised Crafts)
Carousing (aka. "Party Hard")
Diplomacy
Fortune Telling
Instruction
Interrogation
Intrigue
Mimicry
Oratory & Written Expression
Scan (as in "the thing that Sherlock Holmes does")
Scrounge (or as I like to call it "Thrifting and Dumpster Diving; or: How to get everything")
Search
Seduction
Sense Deception
Style
Ventriloquism

Skills

Acrobatics (specialised Athletics)
Animal Ken
Archery
Blacksmith (specialised Crafts)
Blind Fighting
Brewing (specialised Crafts)
Camouflage
Carpentry (specialised Crafts)
Climbing (specialised Athletics)
Dancing
Escapology
Falconry
Fast-Draw (allows you to shoot or fight without delay from drawing your weapon)
Fast-Talk
First Aid (Medicine's little brother)
Gambling
Game Playing (especially those with tactics)
Gunsmithing
Hunting
Hypnotism
Jeweler (specialised Crafts)
Leatherworking (specialised Crafts)
Lockpicking (specialised Security)
Mechanic
Pickpocket
Pilot
Psychoanalysis
Ride
Singing (specialised Performance)
Sleight-Of-Hand
Storytelling (specialised Performance)
Swimming (specialised Athletics)
Throwing (specialised Athletics)
Torture
Tracking
Traps

Knowledges

Alchemy
Area Knowledge (must be specified)
Astrology
Computer Hacking
Cryptography
Heraldry
Herbalism
History
Literature
Lore
Poisons
Psychology
Science Specialties
Sign Language
Taxidermy
Theology


Rolling

The White Wolf Storyteller Systems (which Changeling is one of) uses d10, that's dice with 10 sides.
It's up to you if you want to use physical dice or a roll simulator (I like this animated one here)

A roll usually consists of two factors: An Attribute and an Ability. Rolls to cast cantrips (fae magic) are made up from the Arts and Realms on your sheet. These two respectively make up your dice pool. Sometimes Willpower or Glamour will play a role, too, but your Storyteller (in this case that's me) will usually tell you which stats to roll on.

Example: Patti the Eshu wants to climb a tree to rescue a kitten, which would be a check of Dexterity + Athletics. Patti's stats are Dex 3 and Athletics 1, so her dice pool is 4. The threshold (number rolled for a success) is 6, and she would need 3 successes to climb the tree without any problems. Patti's player rolls and ends up with 3-6-7-5. Those are two successes, so after a bit of struggling she actually manages to climb onto the lowest branch (and gets a bit bruised in the progress, but without any consequences). She rolls again to make it further up the tree and this time she gets her three successes, so she reaches the kitten trapped up there without further problems (now let's just hope that kitten isn't too hostile...).

If your character interacts with an NPC they might roll against you, and the higher result wins.

Example:

Patti tries to convince a guard at the local court to let her through a certain gate. Her roll is on Persuasion (3) and Charisma (3). The threshold is 5. The player casts 6 dice and gets through with six successes! Now the guard has to roll agains that (good luck, mate) with Willpower (4) and Intimidation (3). Even though there's one more die to count on he ends up with only four successes so Patti gets through the door. Yay!

Be honest in your rolls, I can't check on them (lest I manage to activate the dice module here on the forum). Remember that struggling is part of an adventure and it would be utterly boring if everything went smoothly all the time!