Changeling-The Lost

[Egiam]

Hello all!

I am an experienced DND 3.5 DM. I have dabbled in 4.0 and starwars RPG. Most recently, I have participated in a NWOD mortals game. My group has decided that we want to try some NWOD supernatural gaming.

I now own the Changeling-The Lost core book, which I have read for the most part. I will likely be the ST for this game. My question is:

How does the game flow? I understand what works in DND (Barons hires PC's to slay goblin bandits, etc...), but am not sure how the game flows, with airplane travel, organized law enforcement, and cell phones.

What I would like even better than an explanation, is an example. Tell me what happened in your game.

Thanks!
Egiam

[comicshorse]

How does the game flow? I understand what works in DND (Barons hires PC's to slay goblin bandits, etc...), but am not sure how the game flows, with airplane travel, organized law enforcement, and cell phones.

But all those things only work in the world, once you're in the Hedge they are all useless. Especially the organized law enforcemnt

[Semidi]

At least in my expierence, Lost is generally the most traditional of the nwod roleplaying experiences (traditional being standard D&D fair like you said "Baron hires you to kill X"). But it has some Lovecraftian cthulhu-esque things about it.

For instance, the monarch of your domain can ask the Motley that the players are in to investigate something in the real world. This could lead to a mystery forcing them to go into the hedge and then go on a dungeon crawl or into the goblin market.

The "real world" aspects with cellphones and airplane travel can make time a little more plastic. For instance, you could have a period of a week where all your players would do in game is travel to some city, go to the library, and do research.

To give an example of a game I was in:

People started disappearing and with fetches replacing them. My group had to stop the kidnappers and prevent the summoning of a true fey into the hedge. This involved fighting cultists, fighting fetches, fighting loyalists, going to the goblin markets for information, doing research in libraries, interrogation of cultists, crime scene investigation of places where people were kidnapped, adventures into the deep hedge, and a dungeon crawl.

This took, in game time, about 6 months to complete. All the while, each character had to deal with real life problems, and problems that came with being supernatural, such as dealing with the police.

Hope that helps.

[Egiam]

Thanks Semidi! You made the whole deal much less intimidating.

Anyone else?

[oxinabox]

Ok, to start off, I love CtL, it's currently my all time faverate rpg.

You want a game example?
Ok,
Things about my setting:

Spoiler

Show

The PC's freehold is rather well organsied.
it's called the "Court of the Fallen Rose" (at first the players had trouble with the fact that it wasn't a Great Court, in this casecort was just a name) and it has seasonal monarchs,
There is the Main Holding, wich is underneith the central train station>
this is where the Monarchs live, and ~100 people from each court.
there are 200 other members of the court spead across the city (in the lesser Holdings, changelings houses mostly, maybe the odd warehouse, basement of a business.)
there were 5 levals under ground: summer, autumn, General, spring, winter
Each of the levals housed one of the Great courts (except general).
The General layer contains: the court room (where the leaders meet to make discissions), bedrooms for guests, and the Mess (a mess hall where any member of the freehold could come to eat)
Each Court offers services to there members: individual Messes (all but winter's isn't being used at the moment - most have a couple of tins of food), bedrooms for members, and Armoury (where member of the court (or those with goodwill) can purchase weapons, most of the weapons are few in number except summer)
They each also previde a service to the freehold, wich assuming your in the good graces of the court in question, anyone can use.
Eg Autumn has a great library, winter has torture cells, summer provides marksmes rangers and training ground... spring ... spring throws great parties.

There is another Freehold in the region, "Stars of Dusk", they occupy the port district.
Most Fallen Rose Courtiers think of them as loyalists, privateers. though in truth, the Fallen Rose actually sold one of the higher ranking members of "Stars of Dusk" to the Gentry (they were at war at the time).
THe Two freeholds are officailly at war.
It's a Gang War, the cops don't know anything about.
consists largely of avoidence when possible.

the mission:

Spoiler

Show

The PC's mission:
The Summer Armourer had a shipment of smuggled arms comming in.
He prommised them there pick of the incoming Arms if theyt collected it.
(*also a good change to get court good will, summer)
the PC's had to take an untraceable wire tranfer ($240,000) to the docks.
and at 4pm the smugglers would show up with 3 crates, 1 of hand guns, 1 of bullet proff vests, 1 of rifle/smgs/assult rifles.

So the PC's get in there car,
GO rent a truck (leaving a copy of there ID)
drive down to the docks, (along the way have an encounter with a memebr of the "Stars of Dusk", then visit a less hold, wich was owned by a old wizarnd womand, living in what appearwed to be a ginerbread house. as a scarcrow minister, she tried to cook them in her oven. and when they failed be be scared,, after compaining how young summer courted have no respect these days, she gave them the healling goblin fruit they needed)
SO they get to the
Docks.
these are commercail docks, and there is no entry without a pass.
They manage to convice the guards that they lest there pass home,
(he was overwelmed as one of them was a famous olympic marksman (he claimed that customs had him doing gun checks))
the Guard told them to go on in, they could collect there pass from admin
and show him on there way out.
So they go in (it's still an hour till the meeting is schedualled)
and head to admin,
the Olymic markmen distracts the resceptionist, who starts trying to convice the PC that he should be prision in china (His Fetch is inprision in china), the resceptionist trys to find the news paper article about it.
meanwhile another PC goes on the computer, and adds the party to the to log.
one the Olymic marksman PC fginished convincing the Receptionist that he got out on parolle. he asks the Receptionist to reprint his Pass.
(the resception is does, and is surpised to find him on the system)
They party goes to a area at the far end of the commercal Dock,
to prepare for the meeting.
they get out of view of the cameras (find a blind spot)
and start palnning.
they use cantracts of animation to workout if they can disbale the camera's.
ajnd they plan for all kinds of betrayal/ misevent. from port secrurity checking there truck as they leave, to an attack from the "Stars of Dusk" through to an attack by that arms smugglers.
the Armsugglers arrive on a dory (large dingy) from a containership that is achored outside the harbour.
they start unloading the Crates,
One of the crates gets broken, but one of the PC's used Brief Glamour of Repair on it.

then they hear, the sound of sirens and ... oh yes, a helicopter.
a red sedan and a black van speed alonge the quay, pulling up so as to block the exit of the van.
Megaphone: "This is the Australian Federal Police, take you hands away from your body and lay on the ground"
Guys start plling out of the van and hte sedan.
The one thing the PC's didn't plan for was a simple mortal arm smuggleing bust by the Feds.
The Smuggelrs get on there boats and scram at the first sign of trouble (but we're pretty sure they got captured by the circleing boats.
THe Party manages to escape, by opening the truck door as an entrance to the hedge.

Que journey trough the hedge back to the freehold. encounter with briar wolves. (after a bit of a puzzle trying to workout how thye could carry the the Crates wich they had trouble lifting)
Oncew back at the freehold.
they hand over the Guns, and take there pick.
there amourer is very happy.
Next day, 1 hacks the computer system to delete there images from the secutity camera, and also puts up a notice sayingthere is a fualt with the camera, do not touch till attended by electrititon (to hopefully stop anyone accessign the internal memory chip there camera were know to have)
He also implicated all the people theyspoke ot in the port as being in suspiction of taking halucinagenic drugs - to hopefully discredit there accounts.
the PCs then went back to the truck rental place, set it on fire.
thus destroying any paper trail. they killed the main guy they had delt with before, though they let the lady working out back escape (telling her there was a fire and she had to run).

[Egiam]

Anyone else?

[Totally Guy]

In our campaign I was a really rich gargoyle. We had a man who'd been gone for 40 years, and become a piano. And there was a dream girl, who was formerly a child prodigy.

I'd put a changeling in my backstory who was a thorny man who sent me off to the other world and he profited from my fetch. So we worked towards getting my millions back, and then we did somehow... But we all got hospitalised.

I thought we'd be out for months with the degree of injury two of us received but it only took an afternoon.. which confused me.

Then we all went on an adventure through the hedge to "rescue" dreamcatcher girl's fetch. But I killed her to stop the character making a really bad bargain with her old tormentor.

Then we convinced an ogre he was allergic to eating babies.

We thought we'd need to kill off Mr Piano's fetch, but he'd already died in 'Naam.

Then we organised a big meeting for all the changelings. And we killed a snowman. Then everyone held hands and it was a really happy ending.

I was trying to do a heroic sacrifice all session by putting myself into increasingly more dangerous situations but I managed to survive despite this.

It was definitely a lot happier than Vampire. That was a lot darker. All the changelings were really nice except the spiky guy and the snowman.