nWoD! interest check for a changeling game

[isabasil]

Ok, I'm a huge sucker for Changeling: the Lost. Who else is? Raise your hand! I'd love to run a game.


I have a Victorian setting, focusing on the small but successful market town of Eastoly. The year is 1885. There are two roads into Eastoly, only one in good repair. The other? Riddled with debris and potholes. Ancient. Leads through a thicket that looks like it hasn't been cleared since the Romans. And look, here's a sign at the fork: beware. fairie road ahead. Well. Isn't that silly?


I imagine this to be all gothic horror, upstairs/downstairs, and mystery, like Downton Abbey meets Pan's Labyrinth. I take somewhat of a player oriented approach to STing, so if you want something, speak up. I'm a huge history nerd, so the research you'd have to do is pretty minimal (unless that's what you're into, of course.)


I also have no idea what Victorian Lost will be like, but I'm pretty confident in my ability to take a stab at it. If you're interested, post here or hit me up for more detail. I am amenable to all sorts of things!

 

[Chaka]

MEMEMEMOHHHHME *falls over, proceeds to scramble for stack of dusty changeling books*

 

[Hyrune]

I second Chaka's enthusiasm

 

[Deviltigerr]

I do enjoy changeling, they are very fun. I'll probably do a beast, gentlemen beast with top hat during the victorian age...

 

[Hyrune]

I'm thinking about playing a Wizened, Spring aligned (though that's mutable) Artist I've had knocking about the place for a while now. I really want to look into a character who specialises in Hedgespinning, if that's an option?

 

[Madmal]

Changeling: Only my Ptolus book is dustier than this ones (Cthulhutech doesn't count), so it's a possibility.


Victorian setting: I may need pointers, and the blog i usually clicked through when i needed references is closed due to Black March; never really got a general idea of this. Wasn't there going to be a supplement akin to Mage Noir about this? ("Victorian Lost", according to Tvtropes)

 

[Deviltigerr]

well victorian era, for references since I enjoy movies, I would say a Christmas carol, gangs of new york, The league of Extraordinary gentlemen and Sweeney Todd that's a start.

 

[isabasil]

A little research (re: wikipedia) will not hurt at all, but I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have. The era is specifically 1885, somewhere in the generic fictional countryside of England. The geography can be what you need it to be, and I am pretty lax about accuracy; but you would be surprised by what they did have! Most of my knowledge comes out of books, not the internet, but some helpful texts for people that are already interested are Inside the Victorian Home and What Jane Austen Ate and What Charles Dickens Knew. (Only linking to amazon so you can find authors, too).


Some tumblrs for idea creation:


http://thevictorianist.tumblr.com/


http://vicfangirlguide.tumblr.com/


http://thedailyvictorian.tumblr.com/


There is supposedly a Victorian Lost book coming out this month, but I can't find anything about it ;-; Suck it, White Wolf, I'm impatient.


Hedgespinning ought to be ok! Could you elaborate further on what kind of concept you're thinking of, Hyrune?

 

[Chaka]

http://www.tlucretius.net/Sophie/Castle/victorian_slang.html

 

[Hyrune]

Tortured scoundrel-turned honest craftsman with a tongue of silver and the thoughts of innocent blind infant serpents made to to work in Keeper's workshop building... things... Keeper frequently made a number of adjustments to his tools in order to better their efficiency. May have been making fetches, did not see the finished...product. Keeping up the crafts-trade following his escape as the only thing he knows how to do; ideally spending a lot of time in the Hedge looking for ingredients and snooping around Goblin Markets.

 

[Chaka]

Simon "Razor Raff" Rafferty


"Alright now, alright I said! Stop yer strugglin'. You're not 'elpin' your cirumstances, lad. You know 'oo I am, dontcha? Razor Raff, they call me. Simon to my friends, so you can call me Raff. And you can stop cryin' an' all. No-one can 'ear us, an' you shouldn't 'ave blagged Mr. Arrow's blag if you didn't want to end up 'ere.


I see Mr. Arrow's moniker got yer attention. Funny 'ow that'll 'appen. Now, as it 'appens you've caught me in a pensive mood, so I'm gonna talk, an' you're gonna listen. You want me to be 'appy, don't you? Good lad. You never was a bad lad, Errol, just a bit fick. Now, I know the stories you and the boys tell about me and Mr. Arrow. Too good, they says. No man could pull those jobs, I 'ear 'em say. Shall I tell you a little secret, Errol? A little summink just between you an' old Raff? I shall? Good lad, Errol. Very obligin' of you.


'Em tales is all true, Errol, sure as you're breathin'.


Mr. Arrow an' me, we ain't just regular folks, and I ain't talking about 'ow Mr. Arrow is a man of quality neither. We've been places, Errol. Seen fings. Fings you can't imagine. You're scared of me, Errol, an' that's a reasonable reaction to my reputation an' your current circumstances. But I'm not a frightening man, not really. Mr. Arrow's scarier'n me, this is true, but I'm not scared of 'im. Brought me up from the gutter and worse'n the gutter, 'ee did, gave me a whole new life, when I got back from... where I'd been. The truth is, Mr. Arrow's terrified of where I've been, cause 'ee was there before, wasn'ee? You don't come all the way back, Errol, not from where we've been. None of us do. So 'ere we are, Mr. Arrow and me and the Marys and all the rest of 'em. We've got our rules an' our fancy tricks. Some of 'em even fink they're mighty warriors, 'em summer boys, all full o' piss an' vinegar, they are. Talk about standing strong. I used to be like 'em Errol, or I fink I did. Some street rat with some chivs in me pockets an' a head full o' spite and vicious thoughts, spittin' the world in the eye. I ain't that way no more. I'll fight who I need to, but I don't bang my tin pots together lettin' 'em know I'm comin'. That's a boy's way to fight, Errol. I grew up. You know I've a quarrel with you when you feel my razor 'cross your throat, and not before. I fight to win. And I've got a bad feelin', Errol. Tell you the truth, I'm scared so bad I could die. Summink's in the air, my lad. An' we'll all be in the cack before it gets better, mark my words.


*long period of silence, interspersed with muffled sobbing*


Whazzat, lad? Let you go? Well you see Errol, you're an alright sort, but there's rules, my lad. I broke 'em by tellin' you even as much as I did, but that's alright, you see? 'Cause you broke a rule too, Errol. You blagged Mr. Arrow's blag, an' when that 'appens Mr. Arrow gets me to fix 'is problem. Sorry Errol, but business an' that."


*The pitch of the muffled whimpering heightens to a rabbit-like squeal, cut off suddenly by a liquid gurgle. A flash of light on a straight razor, its edge tainted crimson. The sound of liquid pattering onto a dirt floor... and then silence.*

 

[Hyrune]

Tempered Tom


Tom was not a good man before his Durance; he was a scoundrel, a criminal; a lying cheat who'd never worked an honest day's work in his life.


It took barely any time at all for his Keeper, the Nexus of Order, to cure him of all his most undesirable traits, expediting the process considerably by burning the lying tongue from his mouth with glittering, white hot fingers of brass and bone and putting him to work on the Orerry: a twisted, baffling construction of mahogany and gears to match the complexity of the Nexus itself, forever changing and turning, grinding many of the exhausted workers to paste between polished cogs and then consuming the remains for parts...


After what seemed like years of silence, the Nexus of Order decided to "gift" Tom with several improvements; thick, lacquered struts of curving blackwood to reinforce his arms, his fingers beaten and re-shaped and beaten again over a forge (never quite reaching satisfactory "perfection"), polished mahogany eyes and, finally, a new tongue craved from silver and the innocent thoughts of blind serpents.


When Tom finally escaped (leaving one fateful night after months of his master's growing fascination with the mechanical monstrosity gave Tom the courage to flee in utmost secrecy) he was a changed man, with skin the colour of varnished beech and the utter inability to lie.


Tom has joined the Spring Court but has not ingratiated himself with his fellow members terribly much yet (he has started his life afresh, abandoning his old home as soon as he escaped) though he plans on working on that. In the meantime he busies himself with his work (he maintains a meagre living working in a local carpenter’s shop, working on joinery or very occasionally carving custom pieces) and maintaining his Hollow in the local Hedge, which he hopes to expand into a workshop, maybe even a small garden for goblin fruits.


Tom’s Mantle is very weak, and accordingly does not affect his Mien much: his work and past has lent him the fragrance of wood shavings that follows him wherever he goes. Now, this is coupled with the faintest scent of freshly cut grass as a result of his affiliation with the Court of Desire.


Tom’s Hollow is a simple affair: a small cabin with one room devoted to living space, and another significantly smaller room containing a small wooden cot for rest, if he wishes to sleep in the Hedge. The rest of the furniture is Spartan, made by Tom in his spare time, though he has taken the time to carve some rudimentary scrollwork here and there. It is surrounded by an uncommon variety of Hedge flora, some sort of climbing vine with large, purple trumpet blossoms with golden stamens. Their fragrance induces nausea and extreme vertigo if inhaled, but Tom himself has developed an immunity to them, with effort. Their large blooms also screen the cabin from view. It has two doors, one of which lies in the Hedge (a carved, wooden affair hidden behind the blossoms mentioned earlier) whilst the second can only be opened in a back alley behind the local launderette by knocking on the back wall with a fist wrapped in red string.


____________________


I have quite a few ideas on what I would like Tom to achieve in this game, I'll message you with them when I have more time.