Monday, September 7, 2015

Changeling: The Dreaming (an old obsession)

Changeling The Dreaming by the now-defunct White Wolf Publishing was one of those role-playing games that I loved from the beginning. It was all about Faerie Tales, Dreams and the Imagination, both the bight and the dark. It was designed to allow for all sorts of contemporary fantasy themes and moods, and left largely up to the Storyteller and players using it. Changeling, like the other game lines in the "classic" World of Darkness was set in a darker version of our own world. However unlike the other settings, Changeling was meant to be more modular and was in many way bigger and weirder than the others. It was about faerie beings and dreams after-all.
Most of the fans of the World of Darkness did not take to Changeling, as there was no huge metaplot to underline the setting. Though there were certainly factions and a world history in Changeling, it was meant to encourage creative chaos in setting up a chronicle (ie campaign). And so the setting never made the money that Vampire, Werewolf or Mage did. Too bad in my opinion.
One of the things that I loved about Changeling: The Dreaming was the creative people who cranked out new and fun material for the setting, long after White Wolf gave up on the setting. Some, like The Moonlit Trod,  The Dream Burrow, and The Right To Dream (and its wonderful Oz series) and others closed down or otherwise stopped updating years ago. But these and other sites were so wonderfully creative and energetic. And I have yet to see that kind of creative energy coming out of the new World of Darkness line of games.
As of now Changeling looks to be getting a facelift and an update in the form of a 20th anniversary edition from Onyx Path Publishing. So I thought I would show a little love for the old setting by posting some articles, art and rules tweaks from my own thoughts on Changeling The Dreaming.

For a print-on-demand or pdf version of the game check out DriveThroughRPG.

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