Changeling-Earth 2: Freehold Earth - Character Creation Guidelines

[Dawn OOC]

For the last three hundred years, mankind has been expanding into their system. Mars, Luna and the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn all have colonies. It is a cold life, a hard life, a frigid life. The planets themselves reject these colonists, while life aboard the space stations is sterile at best. On the re-terraformed Earth, the rich live amongst verdent life, getting richer from the colonies their anscestors founded.

But Isabel Hilton has another idea. This billionarie hotel heiress wants to reap the benefits of worlds outside the Solar system. In order to gain manpower to realize her dream, she is granting stakes to any colonist willing to dare these dangerous endeavor. Not since the history Lunar stakes has land been offered to intreped colonists. This is the oppurtunity of a lifetime for those brave enough to make the leap: the chance to become a land owner on a thriving, green world!

This proposed game is a mixture of Earth 2 and Changeling the Lost. The players will eventually become Changelings, after abducted by the residents of the planet, who will be, in effect, the True Fae. There will be no separations between the humans and the Changelings, due to the enclosed nature of the game, where "blending" unnoticed will be nigh impossible. This means that there is no Mask, and that Meins are visible to all. Due to the varied nature of the "True Fae," all Kiths and Seemings are available; feel free to let your imagination run wild. There will be no fetches; the Courts will exist because the Changelings feel the instinctive need for their own internal structures to manage the affairs that humans can't understand.

IC information

The new planet to be settled, notated as T-998 on the Astrologic Chart, is a terriestial planet, green and fertile by all indications. An unmanned deep space mission has confirmed that the planet can support life and shows no sign of higher technology, and Hilton Enterprises wants a piece of that untouched pie.

Character Creation

The PCs should be "Average Joes" from sensible walks of life; while PC staples like security will be needed, players should also consider occupations like cook, horticulturalist and scientist. Other good choices will be engineer, pilot and doctor. A character that can do more than one task pretty well would also be advisable. If you can imagine a wagon train out west needing your PC's services, then you probably have a good choice. Families are not discouraged, but children smaller than five are given a low chance of surviving. Feel free to drag whatever NPCs you need for your character's history with you. Got a little sister? I can use that!

Because of the advance in time, reasonable technology will be allowed, though an emphasis on simple and easily repaired goods should be considered. Technology will never be allowed to let PCs push an "I Win" button, so keep that in mind when asking for goods. Weapons are still projectile-based, though the accelerant and the slugs are more varied, more efficient and generally better. Resources will indicate how much stuff you are able to bring with you or collect when you get there. Someone with a five Resources will have access to just about anything, while someone with a Resources zero will have a blanket, a gun, some ammo, some rations and a canteen.

When submitting a character, I need two sheets: a "pre-Changeling sheet" and "Changeling sheet." Also, I need to know the normal information about what kind of experience you'd like to have with your "Keeper", the details of your Durance. Your Keeper will be as kind or as awful as you like, though the memory of what happened in their care will likey be fuzzy. I'll give you hints as appropriate through the game.

PCs will start as human; the change to Changeling will occur in-game. The story will start as the PCs land on the planet, after which tension will be built. The PCs will be snatched at roughly the same time and returned at the same time (simply for convenience). Characters will get starting points as well as 30 xp to spend. 20 of that xp can be banked to spend after being changed. All of the Changeling books are available, but just because they are available doesn't mean you'll get them.

You can:

-burn Clarity for xp; you will take a derangement for each point of Clarity lost. You can trade one dot of Clarity for 5 xp.

-voluntarily lower your Clarity; in this case you'll roll for the possibly of derangement.

-you can play a straight human, though aspects of the game will be unavailable to you.

-take Parkour from the Strange Alchemies book, if you have a good reason for knowing this or

-take Staff from the ghoul book, if you're a bigwig with the company founding this mess.

-play a Loyalist or Privateer, if you must. I expect an excellent story behind this choice.

Game Organization

The forum will be organized into threads which will each represent a place of importance in the game. Characters may shift from thread to thread at will, and time will be moved forward as appropriate, with the threads staying at approximately the same pace. Players may feel free link from one post to the next so that their story is complete from start to finish.

The game will end should the PCs leave the planet. At that point, there's not much point. Whether this happens is in the player's hands.

Abandonment and Rolls

Should a PC stop posting, they will fade into the background; if a direct fade is impossible, I'll write them out in a brief post that shows that they simply stepped back from the action. Should a character die, the player may remake another at 90% of earned xp or 30 xp, whichever is higher. This is to encourage "smart play." Not metagaming, but the character who checks doors before opening them, and knows when to keep his mouth shut when an arrogant Fae is talking to him is engaging in smart play. Should someone decide that they want to reitre their character and remake it, they can remake it at 80% or 30 xp, whichever is higher. This may not be an issue, but I've had players that get bored and want to remake new characters every few months.

Rolling often gets in the way of role-playing, but there will be times it is necessary. I emphasize story over mechanics, but occassionally, dice will roll. Die rolling will be done when necessary through Invisible Castle Die roller; players may enter their own rolls, but the links should be in an OOC quote tag. Please make notes about what the roll is for in the "Note" box. If a player is caught re-rolling until they get a favorable roll, my Boot of Dire Wrath will connect with their Cheating Ass, and propel them right out of my game.

Start

Once approved by me, you can pick a ship from the available threads and start to post. The game starts just as the crew begins to make world-fall. Because you didn't think you'd just get to land, did you?