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View Full Version : New Changeling to old Mage help.



Shinizak
2010-03-25, 01:34 AM
In the dark horror game that we'll be playing in, the characters (a wierd combo of call of cthulhu, New World of Darkness, and old World of Darkness systems (don't ask, and yes the character sheet was difficult to make)) are going to be starting out in a small but rapidly growing former ghost town (due to the discovery of oil) in Scotland. As the game goes on, the players will begin to figure out that the town was originally abandoned because of an old witch (using the mage the ascension system) who terrorized the town. The witch is dead and gone (but may return) and a new group has taken over, the Primodi. The Primordi is a cult made up of people who have been twisted and driven mad by magical forces (Changeling the Lost system) and have begun to have a strange and horrifying affect on the town.

The problem is that I'm not as familiar with the changeling background as I am with others (I know the system well enough though), I'm looking for ideas and tips on how to use changelings as mysterious and terrifying enemies in a (mostly but not completely) Mage the Ascension game.

TricksyAndFalse
2010-03-25, 07:44 AM
The problem is that I'm not as familiar with the changeling background as I am with others (I know the system well enough though), I'm looking for ideas and tips on how to use changelings as mysterious and terrifying enemies in a (mostly but not completely) Mage the Ascension game.

I would play up the bargains (I forget the exact name. Pacts? Covenants?) that they can make. These weird individuals are offering fame, beauty, wealth, power, etc, in exchange for being able to eat your dreams. Their bargains really work too, "I agreed that I'd dream about her every night. We shook hands, and the next day grandpa died, leaving me this inheritance. I'm sad about grandpa, and these dreams are really creepy, but I have the money she promised."

If the players are mages, though, this probably isn't as creepy. "Oh, that's just a Spirit 2/Entropy 3 effect".

Shinizak
2010-03-25, 11:00 AM
Hmm, sounds good, but I really want something that can better tie in with the fact that they've been twisted by magical means.

TricksyAndFalse
2010-03-25, 11:28 AM
Hmm, sounds good, but I really want something that can better tie in with the fact that they've been twisted by magical means.

What flavor of horror are you trying to achieve? You could waive the normal rules about their human masks, and have the players/NPCs catch glimpses of their true seeming out of the corners of their eyes, in reflections, on film, etc. They're usually indistinguishable from normal people, but every so often, one looks alien.

Shinizak
2010-03-25, 11:53 AM
Hmm, the genre is mostly supernatural horror/mindscrew mystery with elements of Cthulhu mythos.

yeah, it's weird...

Shinizak
2010-03-25, 06:57 PM
bump for help

comicshorse
2010-03-25, 10:36 PM
You have to remember every Changeling has been abducted and put through a nightmarish, magical hell that could have gone on for centuries. They are all going to be pretty damn disturbed indivuduals


Though power wise I'm not sure they'll stand a chance against an OWoD mage

Shinizak
2010-03-26, 12:20 AM
the players aren't going to have many spheres to begin with (as in none at all) and are going to gain them at a slow pace (it's going to be more call of cthulhu style then anything). So power won't be an issue.

Also, I'm buffing up the changelings with werewolf goodies, so that's a plus.:smallamused:

comicshorse
2010-03-26, 11:38 AM
I would play up the bargains (I forget the exact name. Pacts? Covenants?)

Pledges. And yes the Changelings playing Lucifer with bargains is nice.

Also there is a Changeling power that enables them to enter people's dreams and alter them to their will. This is a great way to torment the players without ever laying a finger on them

erikun
2010-03-26, 11:49 AM
Are you familiar with the Silent Hill line of video games? It seems like you are trying a theme very similar, where things begin to twist into unrealness whenever the paranormal (Changling) activity is high. The biggest problem I see with that is keeping the players around, though. Unless they are specifically there to get rid of the Changlings, most people won't stick around when the houses grow eyes and start spitting hungry ghouls at you.

Shinizak
2010-03-26, 12:36 PM
in a sense I am, with a few exceptions:

The players are going to be the warped ones, not the town.

The scary parts will be much more psychological (since I can't scare them with horrific visuals).

And the monsters will be less in number, but make up for it in terror.

erikun
2010-03-26, 12:48 PM
I was thinking the same, although perhaps with an exactly opposite description. In Silent Hill, the surroundings warp based on the personality of the main character, while in your game, the surroundings would warp based on the personality of the Changling.

I was more talking about the visuals. For example, when things start getting "wierd", then all the NPCs take on a ghost-like form, vines start growing on the walls sprouting hand-like leaves, the floors bleed and the characters begin hearing calls of "Help me, help me!" Running through town or passing through doors doesn't necessarily lead to the "correct" places they do in the real world. NPC memories are changed so that even if they "disappear" right in front of a character, they don't consider anything unusual happened.

And, of course, it would be neat if different "visuals" accompanied different Changlings. One might have the above blood-and-vines, while another turns the world into a creeky swampland and another into the rusty aftermath of a battlefield.

Shinizak
2010-03-26, 01:02 PM
From what I'm hearing, the changeling are going to behave a lot like marauders (since the marauders also have a nice little reality bubble) but having more of a kidnapping field then a "NO MAGIC IS TOTALLY LEGIT!" field. They'll also have the look of changelings with the powers of a were(wolf/spider/crow/cat/etc.) directly relating to their forms in addition to their "let's make a deal with the devil" powers.

Awesome.:smallamused:

erikun
2010-03-26, 01:09 PM
I'm not familiar with the new Changeling/old Mage systems, but when I am storyteller, I focus more on what makes a good challange and less on the point values for creating them. If you need to use more points and/or break the rules to include the reality bubble effect, do so. Just make sure it isn't overpowering on the resulting Changeling - I would tend less towards mechanical benefit and more towards a "flavor" aspect if you are unsure.

Having some of the Changelings with a more mechanically strong reality warp could make sense, too. It just means some are more in tune with the environmental changes they make, while others are more doing it unconciously.

Shinizak
2010-03-26, 04:28 PM
So now I've got a bit of an idea:

Those that have been twisted by the fey and other magical forces have always congregated together in safe patches of the Hedge. Unfortunately the hedge has suddenly weakened and has began allowing the twisted folk to travel through to a nearby town. As the wall weakens more and more alien changeling begin to travel through. As they do they begin making pacts with the towns people (who really don't understand whats happening) and soon even begin to spirit them away to the hedge. What was once a changeling garbage dump is now a twisted mansion made up of people who were ensnared by the other worldly forces.

comicshorse
2010-03-26, 07:37 PM
Hmm, perhaps the Changelings have a master plan. The granting of Pledges serves the purpose of increasing the weird magic in the area. The town is not the sight where the Hedge is weakening, the town is slowly slippin into the Hedge !
If enough greedy people take unwise pledges and the right rituals are performed then the town will slip into the Hedge ( along with the P.Cs). Once it is in the Hedge the Changelings will call for their Lord (one of the Gentry) who will seize th e town and drag it into his realm in Arcardia. Where the townspeople and the P.Cs will suffer for untold years until they to are corrupted into loyalist Changelings

Shinizak
2010-03-26, 10:40 PM
Hmm, perhaps the Changelings have a master plan. The granting of Pledges serves the purpose of increasing the weird magic in the area. The town is not the sight where the Hedge is weakening, the town is slowly slippin into the Hedge !
If enough greedy people take unwise pledges and the right rituals are performed then the town will slip into the Hedge ( along with the P.Cs). Once it is in the Hedge the Changelings will call for their Lord (one of the Gentry) who will seize th e town and drag it into his realm in Arcardia. Where the townspeople and the P.Cs will suffer for untold years until they to are corrupted into loyalist Changelings

Hmm, I may just use oWoD changeling after all.

How about the changelings take a little humanity with each pact they make believing that they hold no harm, the humans gain something (money, power, love, etc.) and the Changelings gain something (a bit of humanity (otherwise known as banality in oWoD changeling) to keep up the mask).

The problem is that a changeling's banality rots away and turns into magical corruption (glamor). So by trying to stave off the corruption, the changelings get a quick reprieve only to have it come back worse then before. But for humans, the second that they lose a piece of their humanity they begin to suffer from the same curse, driving them to make similar pacts to stave of the corruption that they brought upon themselves.