and I walk myself picking at a chip on my shoulder I'm another day late and one year older

[enthusiastick]

These strange little trips down memory lane I've been writing lately seem to be well-received. king_biscuit has asked that I post a little something about the first Changeling: the Dreaming game I ever played, way back in high school. I'm only too happy to do so, as it was one of those Games That Changed My Life (or at least my perspective on roleplaying as a hobby). If anyone else has any requests please don't hesitate to make them. In addition to flattering me they're a good way to remind me of things I ought to post about but have never gotten around to.

Incidentally White Wolf has announced that their second attempt at a "limited run" game for the new World of Darkness (following up on the disastrously ridiculous Promethean: the Created) will be a re-imagined version of Changeling, theoretically due out later this year. They made this announcement in August of 2006 and claimed that Ethan Skemp, a designer of no small repute, would be heading up the project. Subsequently they've been disappointingly quiet about it, but I remain hopelessly optimistic.

Alright. So we're setting the Wayback Machine even further back today, all the way back to the mid nineties when I was just a lowly freshman in high school. Middle school had chewed me up and spit me out pretty badly. In high school I was lucky enough to be taken under the wings of some well-meaning but ultimately delinquent upper classmen, whose cavalier ne'er-do-well attitudes go a long way towards explaining the way I am now.

As a note to all the dear friends I have made in the past five or six years, who think of me as a spaz and a dork (and proud of it!), please understand that during this period in time I was at least thousand times worse. I was a whiny, self-obsessed and above all geeky little fat kid, and many of the positive qualities I theoretically now possess were much less noticable back then, muted behind a wall of spastic hysteria and noise. I was loud(er) and (more) annoying, and I'm sure often obnoxious, and its often miraculous to me, looking back, that I had as many friends as I did. And to those friends who knew me back then, a heartfelt thank you, and please let us never speak of it.

At some point my good friend theshanakee introduced me to Dave A, an older chap who would serve as our Storyteller for the game. Dave was a former mentee of theshanakee's father, who was the head of my school's theater department, and an uber-geek on levels I suspect I shall never ascend to. He was also a devoted White Wolf guy, and he rounded up a pack of us and set about crafting a Changeling chronicle which rocked the very foundations of my young world. A quick dramatis personae, in no particular order:

• Gallus Moorland (sp?), an Eshu Wilder, played by theshanakee, was a proud and badass capoeirista with a mysterious past and an occasionally dark outlook.
• Mystic Nightwing (aka Misty), a Sidhe Wilder of House Eiluned(?), played by Kate P, was a beautiful poet with a host of issues bordering on agoraphobia, watched over by an NPC Troll Grump named Ager who became a sort of grandfather figure for the entire group.
• the Nazz, a bunny Pooka Childling, played by yours truly, was a ridiculously-named rascal and budding jongleur with a talent for attracting big trouble.

There was also a Nocker Wilder whose name escapes me at the moment, played by Oliver M. His character was very important in the game's formative stages but his player soon proved too busy for the group and he was left behind, which is why I don't feel so bad about leaving him off the list.

I wish I could provide you with some single amusing in-game anecdote that would sum up the game neatly, but the fact of the matter is I can't. Its too big a thing in my memory; it started simple and just kept adding depth until it was an epic story that seemed larger-than-life in my teenage mind, the details and events of which were as meaningful and important to me as my actual life at the time. I had never had that happen to me before, not by a long shot. I was enough of a geek that I had roleplayed in a structured way before (sleetfall had seen to that) but for some reason none of my fumbling D&D games had ever developed in this way. I think perhaps because the emphasis was on story over system, on the fantastical details of this otherworldly adventure rather than the hack 'n slash, it resonated differently. I was able to put bits of myself into that character, and then say things in his voice that I alone could never say.

Not that it was always a serious game. We had our share of mis-adventures involving slingshots designed to fire frozen chickens, and other assorted bits of wackiness. And we chewed up the landscape with the best of them. I recall at one point realizing that there was a skating rink at the Seelie Court we were visiting, and my character promptly took over, hopped onto the rink and began shushing around without skates on his big, stability-providing rabbit feet, in such a way that amused me no end and de-railed the game rather massively. But we muddled through and just kept playing, and the game took on a life of its own, as such things often do. And eventually it fell apart without truly ending, which is a pity, but it means that in a way those characters are still out there, still poised for their final conflict with a long-running antagonist called Hollyboy, still rollicking along on their madcap adventures...

That game meant a lot to me, at the end of the day. And it spawned a whole host of other games, as each of the players took their hand at running White Wolf games of their own. Without it I would never have discovered my deep and abiding love of Mage. And I would never have made the fateful decision to run a Vampire game set in Chicago, long before I had ever visited that city or decided to go to college there, a game that sleetfall and I are still talking about years after the fact. And I would never have ended up with this nickname, never ended up being thanked as "Random Pooka" in the Special Thanks of one of the later Changeling supplements, never have named this journal pooka_madness. And I wouldn't be able, even today, to break into Pook-ese at the drop of a hat. Its not a skill that's often called upon, not outside of my deluded head anyway, but its a part of who I am and it still makes me smile.

Comments

Wayback machine indeed...

[theshanakee.livejournal.com]

It's funny that you mention that game. I had been thinking about it quite a bit on my recent commutes to work. Not really sure why...

Probably more or less because I really wish I had it to do over, and better. "If we had known what we know now" kinda thing.

[sleetfall.livejournal.com]

Well you opened it up by talking mentioning Chicago Chron. You might as well talk about that next... you can leave out the fucked up part if you like :)

[oberndorf.livejournal.com]

Aw hell. I'm interested enough to ask about the original Chicago game, as well as your impressions and initial intentions for both the short Changeling game you ran at NU and that ill-starred first Exalted run.

[lady-eleret.livejournal.com]

You're a huge dork, but I <3 you. :)