Just because we're having a chaotic summer doesn't mean we can't occasionally find time to generate some scraps of content. While we search for time to catch up on chonkier recordings, herewith is a short minisode of something that nobody asked for: a set of poems that are (arguably) Changeling-y in themes. Pooka threw this episode together solo, and recorded it very late at night, so please forgive them for the quality. And if you think you hate poetry, well, hopefully this will at least not ma...
Sep 05, 2022•17 min•Ep. 19
Sooner or later, the most sinister of the Unseelie were bound to rear their greasy and/or misshapen heads, no? While Banality is an ever-present threat that changelings must struggle against, and nobles-versus-commoners is an important piece of the metaplot, it's important to remember that the balance of light and darkness is another critical conflict for the Kithain. The Shadow Court is the first supplement in the canon to really go in-depth into the Unseelie ethos, the structure and motivation...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 19
So, we took an extra week off due to individual life stuff that needed sorting out. But now we're back to talk about the first of the splatbooks for Changeling, Kithbook: Trolls , in all of its blue-tinted glory. Takeaways from the book include: oaths matter; legend is more important than history; and if it's anything kind of large and fae-ish, it's probably a troll. Something to remember is that the kithbooks spanned a much larger period of time for their complete set (1996 to 2018), cutting no...
Aug 09, 2022•57 min•Ep. 18
Greetings, all! We've been taking a bit more of a break than we anticipated due to life getting in the way of podcasting, which slowed down our production process more than usual this week. But we're getting back on track, beginning with this episode, a conversation with the cast of Toronto by Day: Tales from the Rookery , a Changeling game that streams regularly on Twitch. They've just wrapped up Season 2 (though it was still nearing its finale at the time of this recording), with Season 3 on t...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 17
No, not the C20 one that came out in 2019; we're taking a look at the 1st edition Player's Guide from... year unclear. (We think it's 1997? But there's an ad for Hunter: the Reckoning in the back, so who knows.) As WoD Player's Guides go, the Changeling one has a lot of your standard fare: Merits and Flaws before those became standard in the corebook, additional Traits, new kewl powers. But this book also stands out for its full introduction of the Nunnehi after their brief appearance in Rage Ac...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 16
Thanks for joining us! This week is a bit of a breather: we're talking about ten books that inspire us for Changeling: the Dreaming. The show notes are therefore pretty straightforward, as we'll just have the list below with a few notes. (You are encouraged to find, borrow, or purchase these books at a library or bookstore, for we will not be linking to a certain bookselling megacorp on this post.) In a more general sense, we're opening a conversation here about media as inspiration; we anticipa...
Jul 04, 2022•59 min•Ep. 15
Hi, Mage fans! And/or Changeling fans! On this week's episode, we're having a conversation with Terry Robinson, host of Mage: the Podcast, to talk about crossover between Mage and Changeling . If you aren't well versed in Mage: the Ascension, don't worry—we'll give you some of the key terms and concepts to get you going with incorporating mages into your Changeling game. Not only that, but we hash out every crossover issue you could possibly want to deal with! (Well, okay, that was an outright l...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 14
Lucky thirteen! In this installment, we move forward in the Immortal Eyes chronicle, Shadows on the Hill , following the protagonist oathmates to their next adventure in Hawaiʻi. Like the previous book, The Toybox, the storyline (and included adventures) of the Immortal Eyes is kind of ancillary to the setting details laid out here. We found this one somewhat richer overall, with a lot of material that could be used for games set in the islands, with the caveat that one should always use discret...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 13
As in certain fantasy series of some repute, Winter has been coming for a very long time in the mythos of Changeling: the Dreaming, but never quite fully arriving. With the release of Harbingers of Winter , we get one take on what it might look like in the 20th Anniversary Edition, in the shape of the various antagonists who populate the world of the game: Autumn People, Thallain, Dauntain, and more. In this episode, we have a conversation with C20 writer, STV contributor, and longtime community...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 12
Settle in, because this is a long one... the raw audio for this recording was the longest we've had by far. But that's because Nobles: the Shining Host , the first Changeling book to delve into Kithain nobility, covers a lot of bases. It's not quite "Kithbook: Sidhe," but there's enough about them in there to satisfy most players and STs who want to know more about the kith; on top of that, you have plenty about the social structure and cultural dynamics of nobles from any background. We get bit...
Jun 01, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 11
Finally, we enter the double digits of episodes (well, unless you count our introductory one) as we discuss Rage Across Appalachia . Despite the cover art, the font and border styles, and the overwhelming majority of the content all suggesting this is a supplement for Werewolf: the Apocalypse, there is in fact the note that says it's also intended for Changeling: the Dreaming. Ergo, we're including it in our Lost in the Library series of book dives—however, this ended up being kind of a mini-sod...
May 23, 2022•32 min•Ep. 10
This episode we'll be talking about The Autumn People , which gave extensive information and options about Banal antagonists for Changeling as part of White Wolf's first annual event, 1995's "Year of the Hunter." It's a short book, but densely packed with information, as well as some curious layout choices. Overall, it did its job of pushing out the boundaries of the game world, even if some of the text was left out by accident (and errata'd later), and other parts are a bit difficult to parse. ...
May 17, 2022•57 min•Ep. 9
Another special guest joins us this week! Josh Heath from Werewolf: the Podcast is here to talk about Werewolf: the Apocalypse and its synergies with Changeling: the Dreaming. What are some of the similar themes? Do the Garou and Kithain have shared history to call out? How should one set up a crossover between the two? We tackle these questions and more, and natter for a bit about the Auspice we'd all be (because WtA astrology is a thing ). mirror images One of the interesting bits of connectiv...
May 09, 2022•58 min•Ep. 8
As we enter the Seelie half of the year, it's time to talk about Freeholds and Hidden Glens , which gave us seven thorough descriptions of the spaces where changelings get together for the doing of all manner of sundry things. Each of the freeholds is rather different, offering a range of ideas and story setting possibilities for a game. Each of us were rather partial to one or two of them, but we'll let you be the judge of which ones sound the most interesting... uncanny places Something that c...
May 03, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 7
This week, we're taking a look at the (debatable) "first chronicle book for the World of Darkness", Immortal Eyes: The Toybox (not to be confused with its tie-in novel, The Toybox ) (things gets complicated sometimes). The first in a trilogy of game supplements that follows the oathmates of the Immortal Eyes storyline, this is primarily a Kithain's guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area, with a few stories baked in that STs can run for their group. Although a lot of the setting information has ...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 6
Herein we talk about the first proper supplement for Changeling: the Dreaming, 1995's Book of Storyteller Secrets (not to be confused with the identically-named supplement for Vampire: Dark Ages the following year). Following hard on the heels of the corebook, Changeling's BSS clocks in at 64 pages, most of which are taken up by a jump-start adventure that's largely separate from both the overall metaplot of the world and the Immortal Eyes chronicle that shaped a lot of the early supplements. Th...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 5
Our first interview episode! This time around, we are chatting with noted White Wolf figure Ian Lemke . After helping to develop the Mind's Eye Theatre LARP system, he was tapped as an author and the first developer of Changeling: the Dreaming, which he steered through its formative years—note that the cantrip cards were not his idea. In this conversation, Josh and Pooka talk with Ian about his early involvement with White Wolf, some of the inspirations and conversations around the creation of C...
Apr 11, 2022•48 min•Ep. 4
This is the first of our deep dives into the individual books for Changeling, so naturally, we're starting at the beginning, with the First Edition corebook. Released in July 1995, it was the last of the original lineup of five games for the World of Darkness. We go through each section of the book in detail, discuss it both in the context of its original release and the more recent editions, and talk about various themes and ideas that the text summons up. (Because the book is just short of 300...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 3
In this episode, we discuss some of the conceptions of the fae in the World of Darkness before Changeling came out (and indeed, before it was even certain that it would). Behold some snippets of faerie lore from eons past, by which we mean the early 90s: ... From the 1st Edition Vampire Storyteller Handbook (1992) : Older Cainites remember a time when Faeries ran free on this planet, going where they liked, doing whatever they would. Now Faeries are as rare as honest politicians (well, maybe not...
Mar 28, 2022•53 min•Ep. 2
If you haven't played Changeling before, we welcome you to listen through our little primer here. We give an overview of the game's history, what we see as the moods and themes, a summary of changelings' in-game origins, and a glossary of useful terms. And just for shiggles, here are those same terms, alphabetized, for your eyeballs' pleasure: Arcadia: mythical homeland paradise of the changelings deep in the Dreaming, from which many of those on Earth were banished or kept away Arts and Realms:...
Mar 22, 2022•28 min•Ep. 1
Greets and welcomes! So, if you're here, you were either looking for Changeling: the Podcast, or you weren't. If it's the former, success! If it's the latter, we hope you'll stick around and peruse for a bit, at least! This is our first podcast and first attempt at show notes (eek); let's see how this goes. But anyway, this is a podcast about Changeling: the Dreaming , a TTRPG (tabletop roleplaying game) first produced by White Wolf in the 1990s/early 2000s, then Onyx Path in the late 2010s, and...
Mar 21, 2022•24 min
