Beautiful Madness (OOC Thread):

Just a thread for OOC chatter of all kinds!

So, I got a .pdf through totally legal means and I'm curious about something. Is it possible that the .pdf itself is kinda laggy?

By the way, what everyone is planning on making?

Ok character submitted

Oh my character is a semi famous Cosplayer thats good with animals.

No clue about the Changeling side of things.

Can I suggest that you take a look at the changeling book before coming up with a character? Changeling isn't just about bolting on a bunch of stats and powers to a human character and then calling it finished. Your character was abducted and dragged kicking and screaming into a realm of wild magic, immortal Fae and wonders and horror beyond imagination. They then decided, probably at great cost, to make the journey back through the mortal realm which may have been nothing more than a faded memory for them but were spurred on by some unshakable connection to the real world. They then exist in a community that is bound together by their shared traumas and how they cope with the fact that any day, their former masters could emerge from the Hedge to drag them back home.

All of that is before you add on things like the fact that time between Arcadia and the real world move at different paces, so you might have been there for decades and come back to find no one ever knew you were gone or you could be gone for minutes, only to find decades have passed. You might also emerge to find something has taken your place, a fetch left by your former master when you were taken that has taken your life, is wearing your face and doing everything you used to do and to make matters worse, it is utterly convinced that it is you and you are the intruder on it's life. None of that is to say that your concept of a cosplayer with a social media following couldn't work, it seems like great fodder for a Spring courtier and the mechanics you have submitted are sound, it's just about remembering changeling is more bound up in every aspect of your character more than any of the other NWoD splats.

I have never really had any issues with the pdf and as far as I am aware, because I am not distributing the book in a manner that means it can be copied and because I can take away the rights to view it as I need to, I am not in violation of any civil laws or anything like that and I see it as the modern version of sharing a book with your game group at a table. Of course, if any official rep asked me to stop, I naturally would but until that day comes, the offer is there.

Ok reading my book possibly for the first time other then when I first got it and it certainly lends to the feeling of being mentally traumatic. If I ever want to play a Malkavian Ill have to read this.

Im so confused

Dealing with trauma and how you go about it is certainly a main theme. Is there anything is particular that is confusing you?

i have to find my notes. i had made a Weisse Frau i never got to play.

If there's a Fairest already, I will probably play as a Darkling. Though which kith is yet to be decided. And its Court, and everything else. x)

I am thinking of playing a beast even if fairest might fit.

After reading Spring court sounds nice

Whistler, should we use a Custom Sheet or try to make it work with the WoD sheet?

I can add customer sheets for you guys if that is easier. Also what the heck is a Weisse Frau? I haven't come across that one before.

It's whatever, really. I feel like stuff exclusive to Changeling can be shoved into the notes.

By the way! Soo, should we choose a Court at the beginning, considering that we'll start the game with our characters just escaping?

Let's go with the note shoving then. Please pick your court now, since you will tumble out of the Hedge already a member of your chosen court. I know that is super weird but that is going to be one of the more interesting aspects of the campaign.

I've been skimming the book and I feel there's a good bunch of stuff missing. Is it possible that the book is supposed to be used in conjunction with the Chronicles of the Darkness book?

Another question: How much background should we come up with? Up until we are abducted? Should we detail our times in Arcadia?

For the 1e version you need the World of Darkness core book as well but thats about it. And yes, deal with everything right up to you coming back through the Hedge on your return from Arcadia.

Okay, people! Just as a heads-up, my character is going to be called Claire Kominski Redmound, although her Keeper liked to call her Jane the Ripper, because of her descendency - Aaron Kominski, main suspect of being Jack the Ripper, is somewhere in her family tree.

She's going to be a Darkling Razorhand, and her main skills are going to be Weaponry(Knives, especially), Computer, Larceny, Stealth, and Subterfuge. Her Persuasion and Streetwise should also be good enough.

I'm still thinking about the character itself. I feel like her whole deal will be about refusing what she's good at: Assassination. She may or may not feel aversion to knives because of it, and or may have not developed homicidal tendencies, tendencies she will either not accept that exist at all or that she will desperately want to get rid off. I was initially going to go with an angle like "I'll use what I learned against the Fey, raaawgh" and pick the Summer Court, but I feel that the sorrow she feels for the person she has become and much greater than any potential wish for vengeance she may have, so I'll be picking the Winter Court. Anyway, the concept may change but that's the core idea.

Just submitted my character. =)

Those that have requested it, have been sent a copy of the book. Once again this is a read-only file that you won't be able to download or copy just view. I just feel the need to repeat that for anyone that might be lurking :)

Wow Lux that sounds interesting and a little scary.

I need tp double check which book it's from. It's a fairest and they are known for healing, but specifically children. Her story was that she was one of the "Sarah"s lured in to the labyrinth that failed to save her sibling. Because let's be honest...Jareth is totally a fae lord and the labyrinth is a great example of the edge of Arcadia

Thought I hade made her a Wiesse Frau, but apparently she was a shadow soul fairest.
Submitting now.

Ok since we have a fairest I will certainly go with Beast then, though I am not very physical.
I will go with Spring Court.
I will do my best to be a team player

Awn, we're all gals! That's cute.

By the way, Whistler, for some reason some fields are not accepting the values I input, so I tucked Health, Speed and Initiative Mod into Flaws. Hope that's okay.

Alright, I think I have a decent Idea for a character.

He (sorry, going to break an all girl team) is a Fireheart Elemental of the Autumn Court. Before the abduction, he was a young upstart of the criminal world, who formed a gang of his own. While not being very physically strong he was able to intimidate people, usually because he could find their secrets and use it against them. The Fae that took him utilised similar tactics, it used fear as a means to control its subjects, and decided to use him to reinforce/instill fear in those who would try to escape or rebel against it.

Edit: Forgot to add probably the most important bit.

His deal will be living with fear of becoming the thing he hates the most. He resembles his Keeper not only appearence-wise but also in his ability to make people too afraid to act against him.

Oh man, I didn't see your post! Thank you!
Awn, dude. :/ Oh well, I guess it's ok. x)

People, question. I'm familiarizing myself with terms and whatnot, but one thing that's not very clear to me is how different we look. I remember reading somewhere that the higher a Changeling's wyrd, the alien-er he or she looks. But I also remember reading that most humans don't see their real appearance? And for some reason, I also recall that they have a real form? That I think it shows when they're in the Hedge or something? Can someone correct me, please? Thanks.

Also, Whistler, any date for when we're going to start the game? As in, tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, etc.

Thats about right, ww can see eachother in all our weirdness. It's part od what being in faery did to us. So Phoebe, my character, has owl like eyes and her hair is owl feathers. Yet she is beautiful beneath that, because Fairest. She was home from med school and watching a relative for extra cash when she was taken.

Right, fantastic! Well, then pardon my lack of terminology, but essentially, this is Claire's weirder version on all her mightAnd this, I guess, is how she normally look to people? It's the picture set as her avatar 😁

I allocated new id dots, do you want me to adjust those?

Are any of the courts available? Or are we sticking to the four seasonal ones?

bloody directionals making a mess in Providence....(sorry, played in a MES game)

So out of curiosity, what are everyone’s Contracts?

I'm still putting dots on the sheet, but here's the character pitch so far:

Siobhan Murphy was born in the Dublin Magdalen Asylum in 1890. She never knew her mother or her father - though she caught hushed whispers from the other girls that told her enough. Her mother was a prostitute, and died birthing her. Her father some callous soul who spent his seed in a fallen woman and thought nothing more of it - or the misery he was condemning mother and child to by his act.

Siobhan, or "Shiv" to her few friends was an earnest girl. She loved God - or she tried to. But she was not a disciplined girl, and she frequently earned the ire of the Sisters for her careless mistakes. Such ire was always physically expressed. For burned sheets, a hot iron across her toes. For frayed hems, a whipping. And on it went.

Life was a horror in the Laundry, and as Shiv grew into her teenage years she fell very much out of love with God. If he existed, he was a bastard. He was cruel beyond measure to consign her to a hell such as the Laundry for, as far as she could tell, the sin of the man who fathered her. Rage festered within her, and she found herself unable to play nice with the Sisters - even though she knew that for every sharp word she would surely be made to suffer.

One fine Sunday, Shiv found herself overcome by the hideous hypocrisy of it all. The father was preaching the Beatitudes in mass, and only a few short hours before the Headmistress had whipped her bloody for tearing some rich lady's silk petticoats. Blessed are the meek indeed. Shiv boiled over at it all, and threw her hymnal, striking the father full in the face.

The Holy Mother beat her nearly to death shortly after.

Whilst Shiv lay bleeding and delirious in the penitent's cell, she had a vision. A glorious angel wearing a white robe appeared before her. His hair was spun gold, his eyes luminous sapphire orbs that glowed with an inner flame. His wings were white as snow, and tipped with scarlet. His hands, though, his hands were eagles talons, and they were covered in gore.

"Child" he intoned in a choral voice. "I have seen your rage, and it pleases me. Your blood and bloody mind both delight. Come away with me, and be free of this prison. I will show you most excellent things. Together, we shall flense the haughty."

Shiv grasped his offered talon, hardly believing what she saw.

She came to know him as her Keeper., the Angel of Bloody Hands. His realm was a great cathedral of white marble and gold. His sacrament, the torment of hypocrites and the proud. Within the cathedral was every manner of horror known to man, and more than one unknown. Shiv... changed... there. Her keeper bathed her in his holy acids, stripping away all that was not rage and vengeance. He tempered her in his holy brazier, burning away compassion. With his talons he scored her flesh and with his choral voice he reknit it.

Shiv became like him. Beautiful and terrifying. She was sent into the world from time to time to lure men and women to their doom. Anyone who might use their office to abuse another might catch the Angel's eye. Pedophile priests, crooked cops, abusive partners. Shiv would appear to them in their dreams, and eventually in the flesh. Tempting them with the weakness they most liked to prey on; luring them on into the Hedge before she revealed her true self. How she loved that moment - when the abusers were faced with prey turned hunter. The comical confusion on their petty little faces, and then the sweet, sweet terror.

For countless year Shiv reveled in her role. But over time, the Angel... changed as well. He grew bored; he required ever more extravagant torments from Shiv. If she failed to please, she was tormented in turn. And the victims. Abusers became... passe. The Angel looked for ever lesser infractions of his "moral" code. A jaywalker. Anyone who stepped on a crack.

One horrible day, Shiv was sent to collect a little girl who had dared to talk back to a priest the Angel thought was rather charming. Shiv snapped. Somehow she had come full circle. The great cathedral was just another Laundry; the Angel just another hypocrite. Rather than collect the little girl, Shiv fled.

She found herself in Newcastle. She's still making sense of her journey; of how she's changed; of how the world has changed. And she's hiding. Carefully. Because she knows her Keeper. He will not suffer such disobedience. He will be coming.

Mechanically, I'm thinking a Draconic Fairest with a virtue of justice and a vice of wrath. I'm torn between Summer and Autumn courts. Summer really resonates with the *rage* that lives in Shiv's heart. But her role as a terrifying avenging angel seems to also resonate with Autumn.

I imagine that Shiv has taken up with the local fight scene - possibly an MMA club or something similar. She'd find something like sanity in the discipline and order of training , and a steady source of both fear and anger to harvest glamour in matches.

I imagine her Mein as a beautiful angel with a flaming nimbus. I'm still working out contracts but think vainglory, elements (fire), Stone (at one dot) /or dream could work, plus the appropriate court contract.

She'd be a firebrand, and delight in both physically and psychologically taking apart/tormenting "bigger" people. But she'd also hate that about herself, and be struggling to reconcile the anger at her abuse with her loathing *with* abuse. She needs to be careful not to become an abuser, but fuck its tempting.

Sarah Silverlake used to be my name. At least as far as my memory recalls. I responded to Sarah for so long in the hell I was in, that the name had to change.
I was home from Med SChool, taking care of my nephew for a few extra dollars. He was a handful at 18 months. Toddling around and screaming; always screaming. I was watching a movie and only half paying attention when it happened. When I saw the words. Don't ask what they were, I don't clearly remember. But I did read them out loud. And found myself in an icy courtyard surrounded by vines.

He was painfully attractive in ways that still haunt me now. Taunting me that if I did not complete the maze, I would lose my nephew. I wonder sometimes if my nephew was even taken at all....
(Her version of the labyrinth was different than the one in the film, icy, dark, dangerous. The creatures she encountered were either hobs, or others driven mad by failing. As a fairest she definitely had some...sexual tension involved in her durance. I have her being taken sometime between 1960 and 1980 depending on what timeline you are using. Things can be adjusted a bit if you need me to)

I thought I'd share my idea a little bit more in depth too.

Whistler! Quick question: how do you feel about fighting style merits from Armory: Reloaded? Qinna in particular?

Im not a huge fan of fighting styles in general but if you have a really solid in character reason for it, I might be persuaded. I expect to kick this off in the next 24 hours.

Hey, y'all! Am I the only one that can't post as their characters?

Edit: For this particular game, that is.

Character submitted, not sure if yet approved.

I submitted mine, but habe not gotten an approval, so I can not post as her

Own man, I think mine's somehow bugged. How do you know if you have been approved, Librarian? Because I can see your character on the character list below the page, on the red bar.

I'm assuming it's something on my end, so I withdrew my character hoping that if he approves her again It'll let me post as her. Otherwise, I'll have to report this as a bug. :/

im not seeing her as an option to post as, which usually means you're approved. so strange

HEY I FIGURED IT OUT GUYS hold on give me a sec

Turns out that the WoD sheet has trouble saving some values, the name included. If you don't type the name your character in the sheet, apparently, you can't post as them. Make sure that the sheet has saved your name, everyone.

Ugh, horrible rolls to start. Oh well, we're escaping the Hedge anyways.

When it decided to erase my name it erased my picture. I don't currently have the saved file. (did some data shuffling on computer/phone) will hunt it down later

Hi all, the GM suggested talking with everyone.
I am still working on my character and I am of the Spring court, and Beast seeming. With the SteepScrambler archtype.
Though I am not really a physical fighter.

First question I get an extra physical dot which I am really thinking about placing in dex. Though it says their hands can be abnormally strong. (Her beast type is spider) Your advice here would be appreciated. (I want her to look healthy and athletic in her human form if that helps)

I am also brand new to this version of Changeling so help with just making this basic character for my first time would be great.

I already have her stats done, and her merits (could move her merits about a little though want to keep the Striking Looks since she will be a Cosplay model)

it doesn't wanr to allow me to upload my pic, and keeps erasing my health

Librarian, some pictures are too heavy. I'm not sure it mentions it anywhere that but I think anything kinda over 1mb is a no no. I might be wrong, though! I also could never upload a .png, just .jpg

As for the health: Yeah, that also happens to me. That, speed and initiative mod are bugged like that for some reason, I just shoved them on Flaws. My sheet is on the library, so if anyone wanna check it out just in case, just go to the game room, click on Characters on the red bar below and take a look.

Cosmic, I am by no means a specialist on this but I feel like specialization is almost always key. If you spread yourself too much, then you get the risk of not being good enough on anything. What do you want your character to do?

My character is kind of a face so I think dex would be good for graceful movements. As I said not much of a fighter.

I am sorry I have been a bit MIA lately, aside from work being full on I have been unwell physically and mentally but I am turning a corner. Everyone can take a beat for a bunch of excellent round of first posts. It will take me a bit to work my way through them all and come up with an appropriate post in response but this is a great start guys!

i thought we were doing 1e? beats are only a 2e thing.....

You are completely correct, my apologies! Knee jerk reaction from having been DMing Werewolf recently. In that case, I shall make a note when I am dishing out XP at the end of the chapter!

No worries, i was all set to record it because Ive been playing 2e requiem and then said "hey..wait a tick..."

I am also still a bit under the weather, so my brain is still a bit funny....well more so than usual than anyway ;)

Sorry guys, was going to post tonight but someone has dropped over unexpectedly! Tomorrow, I promise!

Hey guys just a heads up that I might be a bit spotty for the next little while. My girlfriend gets back after three weeks away and we'll want to spend some time together to catch up. We will then be going away from Thursday until Sunday for my birthday as well. Basically, we are heading into a cabin in the middle of nowhere that is self-sustaining and completely off the grid. So with no internet and no phone reception, I won't be able to post. I am sorry that it means delays in my games but I am sure you can all appreciate why. I will post when I can before Thursday though.

Seconded. Have a fun and happy birthday

Hope you having an amazing week, Whisperer!

Aaaand I am back and have just posted.

Welcome back !

If you want it to, sure!

So... Question!

I'm sorry if I missed this, but did we talk about when our characters were abducted or is that for us to decide?

i waa taken in the late 1970s or early 80s at STs choosing

So I just wanted to provide a quick update to everyone as to why I departed so suddenly and with no warning. Long story short real life has not been kind recently. I have had a number of incidents within my family, I won’t go into exact details there though. On top of that, I have also recently been made redundant. While I do expect to return at some stage, I doubt it will be before I find a new job and get settled in. Sorry for any inconvenience, hurt feelings etc.

I understand, and thank you for the update. My sympathies and Good luck