Changeling - Players Guide.pdf

them. We know the truth — that the fierce tigers might
devour us, even if all our parents see are alley cats.
Roleplaying is the act of returning to the lost golden land
of imagination. With whatever traumas lay hidden within
our lives, there is always the time where we, alone or with
friends, went off into the landscape of the mind to rescue the
prince or princess, or stop the foul whomever from enacting
his or her plans.
Changeling is even more fun. You don't have to hide!
You can play a kid again; you don't have to pretend to be a
vampire, or paladin or Immortal God from Beyond Time. You
can be a kid, being a kid, but also being a paladin! If that isn't
the best of both worlds, don't ask me what is.
So strap on your chimerical sword, sharpen your ears and
hop on your bike. I hear the duke is calling for warriors to help
slay the hordes of monsters outside Leary's candy shop, and
when we get tired of fighting, Aoibhell's promised to buy us
all some chocolate!
Why We Need
Changelings
by Richard Dansky
— For Angela Bourke, who Showed Me How the Magic
Worked
There's always something real behind a legend, particularly
a faerie legend. "Don't take every berry on the bush;
leave some for the faeries," warns one tale collected by the
Irish folklore expert Sean 6 hEochaidh. "Don't harvest too
much of the wrack (seaweed), lest the faeries make you pay for
it," demands another. "Don't stay out on the faerie fort after
dark," instructs a third.
Of course, the first story really instructs its listeners to
leave some berries from which new bushes can grow. Take all
of the berries this year, and there'll be none the next. The
second is a simple lesson in ecological economics: don't take
more than your fair share, or there won't be enough for
anyone. The third is commonsensical: faerie forts were wild
places where the worst could — and often did — happen, and
at the hands of men or beasts, not sidhe lords.
The changeling legend has always been a way of taking
something wild, something that doesn't quite fit within the
boundaries of society and making it, in some way, palatable.
By putting the label "changeling" on even the oddest of
behaviors, we make them excusable in their own way. After
all, it's not the fault of the people involved; it's the fault of the
changelings. It's magic, and there's very little us mortals can
do about that.
In the strictest sense, a changeling is a faerie (or a faerieensorcelled
object) put in the place of a loved one. Common
targets for faerie thefts were defenseless babies, whom faeries
supposedly took back under their hills to bring vital new