Changeling: the Lost - Dark Publications

Location: Home » vampire: masquerade » General AAS » Changeling: the Lost

Similar Items:

•	The World of Darkness
•	Winter Masques (Changeling: the Lost)
•	Autumn Nightmares (Changeling the Lost)
•	Mage the Awakening (Mage)
•	Promethean: The Created (Promethean)

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
"The latest addition to the World of Darkness. Taken from your home, transformed by the power of Faerie, kept as the Others' slave or pet - but you never forgot where you came from. Now you have found your way back through the Thorns, to a home that is no longer yours. You are Lost. Find yourself."

Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

finally, someone does fae right October 26, 2007
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

Probably the most striking difference between the old Changeling and the new Changeling is the shift away from the Shakespearian concepts of faeries. There is no banality, chimeral reality and glorification of child-like behavior. In striping away those overly romanticized notions we get Changelings that are rooted in folklore with all it's twisted darkness. Infact, from a philosophical perspective, this game is exactly the opposite of Dreaming: The "villains" (True Fae) appear very much like Dreaming Changelings in that they are selfish, self-absorbed monsters lacking in empathy and having no ability to see things from anyone's perspective but their own. Talk about a gutsy change.

This game is not about recapturing an unattainable childhood that never was; it's about growing up and realizing that life without empathy and self-sacrifice is empty and horrifying. It's about overcoming things forced on you in life, and choosing not to repeat those mistakes when you have power. It's about real forgiveness and growth as a person.

You are actually playing a Changeling this time around, not a fairy in a human body. You are former human who now has half a fae soul and half a human soul, and you probably look radically different from your former self. Because time between the Fae dimension (Arcadia) and Earth isn't stable, you could have emerged years, or mere seconds after you were abducted. You might even have arrived *before* you were abducted (oh, the headaches).

Building your character is incredibly flexible. You pick a Seeming based on six fairy tale archetypes: Beasts (animal creatures), Darklings (Spooky, slithery dark things), Elementals (aspects of natural forces), Wizened (crones, little old men and such), Fairest (fairy tales princes/princess, beautiful witches), and Ogres (powerful and violent monsters). From here you select one of the many kiths that focus your characters traits and abilities. This allows you to play almost any type of fairy tale creature regardless of culture. Winter Masques (Changeling: the Lost) offers even more choices.

Changeling "magic" is very Faustian in nature. Changelings make contracts and pledges to gain power, complete with obligations, loop holes and catches. This is an interesting and different take on fairy magic that reflects folklore far more than any system I have seen. As you can imagine, it creates a lot of social politicking that should please Vampire fans.

As a whole this module is a very focused with lots of potential hooks for the GM. If you're sick of D&D's elves/fae and want a system that really captures the essence of all things fae, Changeling is what you want.

2 out of 5 stars

New World of Darkness TOO dark for my tastes March 11, 2008
18 out of 28 found this review helpful

DISCLAIMER: First off, this is MY PERSONAL OPINION and I know many people will not agree. It's important to remember however that we're all entitled to our opinions and we all have different preferences. My negative review doesn't mean I think the book should be pulled from the shelf or that people should not be permitted to play it, but rather that *I* personally did not find it enjoyable or pleasant. If you do, fantastic! It's just not MY cup of tea.

Onto the review. I'm a long time fan of this book's predecessor, Changeling: The Dreaming. (Henceforth "C:tD") I collected all the books and I greatly enjoyed the theme, setting and style of the books. I never read any of the other lines (Vampire, Mage, etc.) but I did really enjoy what was created with C:tD. There was a brightness to C:tD; a sense of hope and promise. That despite things being bleak, Spring would always still return. Set in a darker version of our real, modern world, it was ultimately a game about hope, promise and Beauty. I appreciated that since far too often we only celebrate ugliness in our society.

So when White Wolf ended the original World of Darkness for their New World of Darkness ("nWod"), I wasn't originally terribly interested. As I said, I never read any of the other lines so it didn't matter to me that they'd relaunched them in different forms. Until, that is, when I heard there was going to be a new Changeling edition.

When I finally got it and started to read, I realized it was VASTLY different from the old C:tD. Gone was the sense of lightness, whimsy and beauty and in it's place was something MUCH darker, ugly and sinister. Changeling: The Lost ("C:tL") isn't so much a revised version of C:tD as it is an entirely different concept all together. Which is perhaps part of why I disliked it so much. I expected more of the same C:tD. What I found wasn't the same at all.

In C:tL you play a human who was abused by the True Fae that has now escaped back into the mortal world. The book makes it VERY clear that every single person was tortured, abused, raped, hurt, beaten and/or any other combination of unimaginably cruel events. That the True Fae are utterly without hearts, morals or understanding and that they put your character through Hell - physically, emotionally, mentally, sexually and more. That you had to fight to get back, tearing yourself further into shreds only to find that when you returned, you were changed. You're now more like they are. Worse, your human life is utterly unreachable to you. You fought through all of it to find either you're now believed dead, too much time has past, or you've been replaced by an impostor who now IS you. All that and there's nothing waiting for you upon your return. Your family is lost to you. Your life is lost to you. Your spouse/partner is lost to you. Your job/career is lost to you. Everything you were before is gone.

Pretty bleak, hu?

Changeling: The Dreaming was, at it's core, about hope. That though things now weren't great, they were going to get better. Changeling: The Lost has no hope. All hope was ripped away from you prior to the game's beginning. You're now left broken utterly to fend for yourself. Oh yeah, and to live life looking over your shoulder to ensure you're not recaptured by the True Fae you escaped from who may or may not be actively hunting for you.

This just isn't my cup of tea. You're forced to play a victim. And, you're constantly reminded how awful things were and how terrible your past was. I feel that the world is already too dark and too bleak and I rather not spend my free time encouraging MORE of that attitude.

Now, I want to be clear that if you like it, more power to you. I make NO judgment calls on anyone who plays the game in ANY way. I'm just saying it's not for me. And I think for many people who may have been the victim of abuse, it may not be for you either. I can greatly see this book and this concept being triggering to people.

So in summary...

If you do not like horror situations, or dark settings, or concepts of abuse, kidnapping, torture and related are troubling to you, do yourself a favor and avoid this line. C:tL is NOT like C:tD at all. If you're expecting something airy and light like the original, you'll be sorely disappointed. When they say it has mature themes, they mean it for these reasons.

5 out of 5 stars

World of Darkness.... This game lives up to the banner title August 21, 2007
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I have been playing Werewolf: The Forsaken for about a year now. Werewolf has been an awesome ride, but after reading the first 50 pages of Changeling: The Lost, I am stunned on how cool this read is. I have a notebook next to me jotting ideas down for my next chronicle. This book is becoming my new muse. I see my gamers getting into this.

When I heard there was going to be another Changeling game. I wasn't pleased. The first one, Changeling the Dreaming, was not a horror game, it was a fantasy game wrapped in a modern era. Changeling: The Lost has some fantasy elements, but its a horror and suspense game living up to the banner of "A World of Darkness".

BTW the primer story in the beginning really freaked my wife out. That's always a good sign. She's a bigtime horror nut and it takes alot to get her creeped out.

Good Job White Wolf. Keep it coming.

5 out of 5 stars

An outstanding game August 25, 2007
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

I can't say enough good things about this book. It is wistful and moody, lovely and brooding. I held some reservations about Changeling belonging in the new World of Darkness. My favorite line to date has been Werewolf:The Forsaken, an all around outstanding game, but Changeling kills anything I've ever read from White Wolf before, including their critically acclaimed, poorly selling Promethean, a stellar setting in it's own right.

This book is tremendous. That said, while it IS a dark game, do not invest if you want splatter. While horror can and should factor in we are looking at a lot less Clive Barker and a lot more M. Night Shayamalan.You play a person taken to Faerie, an indescribaly idyllic looking place, and tortured and abused relentlessly. Upon your escape you find that your life has been stolen. The Others (the ones that took you) have replaced you with some THING that is living your life. And killing it and taking your life back isn't usually a reasonable option, for many good reasons.

It's a twisted and thorny journey through the old fairy tales that makes one examine the things they value in their lives, and what would happen if you were remade into something alien and bizarre, forever denied what was rightfully yours.

5 out of 5 stars

Better than Dreaming ever was October 8, 2007
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

This game is a gem. I picked it up with much consternation only to discover what an incredible game this is. The setting is not one of modern fairy tale stories, it is a game of horror tinged with the incredible beauty of the world of Faerie. In this you play changelings abducted to serve and be enslaved by the Fae. You've escaped only to discover that either you were never missed (something that looks like you is living your life) or years/decades have transpired and those you loved have moved on without you. It is an incredibly detailed setting in the modern World of Darkness and really brings to home the urban/contemporary fantasy genre of Gaiman, Del Torro and Barker.
This game will be a limited run series of books. Only this book plus 5 others will be published for the entire Changeling the Lost line. I plan on picking up each and every single book.

Another incredible hit from White Wolf Game Studios.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic

T-shirts, Posters

Pentagram T-shirts, bags, etc...

Gothic Posters