Changeling the Lost, Second Edition Inspirations

Changeling: The Lost, Open Development

I’m knee-deep in redlines for Changeling: The Lost. I’m close to the point where I’ll start sharing things with the intent to playtest, and we even have one playtest group organising in the forums right now.

But, in the mean time, I figured I’d share the Inspirations section. This might give some insight to my headspace while working on Lost. It has some obvious choices, but also some less obvious choices. I wanted to balance the two, instead of just loading people full of stuff most gamers already have experience with. For example, I figured Neverwhere was maybe too obvious, so I didn’t include it.

So, here you go. And for a bonus, here’s a track one of my authors brought to the table as her inspiration.

Inspirational Material

As with much of Changeling: The Lost, know that this content may be highly vulnerable, brutal, and challenging. But this material shares some core themes, moods, or aesthetics with Changeling.

Art

Francis Bacon – Bacon captures a very similar, dissonant, raw evocative feeling that a good Changeling: The Lost game should. Bacon’s work embodies the theme of Beautiful Lies, Bittersweet Truths that we’re going for. It’s full of vulnerability and pain that you can’t look away from.

H.R. Giger – Giger’s best known for his concept work on the Aliens franchise, which could likewise serve as inspiration. Giger’s work, while often disturbing and abstract, hides complex, organic, human feeling deep within its tubes, its jaws, and its jaws within those jaws. It demonstrates beauty and fear, and how even frightening things can deliver gorgeous imagery.

Books

Needful Things (1991) – Stephen King’s Needful Things touches on the pursuit of beautiful lies, and shows how Glamour might work in action. It has a spiritual sequel in the short, “It Grows on You” in his anthology Nightmares and Dreamscapes. It gives a horrifying vision of the symbolism fae magic brings to the world.

The Stranger (1942) – Albert Camus’s work brings us a protagonist who sees trying things, but cannot muster the response a “normal person” would. As Camus puts it, “the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.” The Lost must play by the rules, join Courts, and otherwise follow a set path or face certain devastation.

Film

Jacob’s Ladder (1990) – This modern classic addresses trauma, and trying to deal with a world that isn’t on the same page as you. It puts the immediacy of that trauma right in your face, and shows that sometimes the only happy ending is a sad ending. It fucking hurts.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – A shortcut to film inspirations would simply list “every Guillermo del Toro film.” Pan’s Labyrinth is simply the most iconic. Fairy tales are often moral tales showing awful consequences for non-conformity. Pan’s Labyrinth is about a girl who bucks that, who refuses to be beholden to powers which would confine her.

Spellbound (1945) – This Hitchcock classic deals with psychoanalysis, phobias, amnesia, and other issues. It has a highly symbolic dream sequence designed by Salvador Dali which serves as excellent inspiration for Oneiromancy scenes. It’s based on The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding, which is similarly solid material but harder to find and slower to digest.

Roleplaying Games

Don’t Rest Your Head (2006) – Evil Hat’s super creepy game is about people who have been unable to sleep, and now see doors to a terrifying place where nightmares wander and lost things end up.

Unknown Armies (1998) – Atlas Games’s Unknown Armies is a modern urban fantasy game which spends a great deal of effort dealing with its protagonists’ responses to trauma, both within and without. It can give great insight into how the Lost might deal with their existences.

Video Games

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – Shattered Memories might or might not be the best in the series, but it deals with alienation and trying to reconcile your past life with your present. It also directly engages with a highly vulnerable protagonist who weathers a gauntlet of awfulness to face the truth. It could be a changeling’s escape from the Hedge, beat for beat. Other notable entries in the series for Changeling: The Lost inspiration include Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room.

Spec Ops: The Line – This one’s a military shooter, which doesn’t immediately seem like ideal World of Darkness inspiration. However, you quickly find that the game is more than it appears. The protagonist is dealing with deep trauma, and trying to respond to warped perceptions while fighting for his life. It’s brutal. It’s raw. It’s uncompromising.