RecruitingHere are some ideas to help find new players for this game, and once found, how to involve them...
For most players of other fantasy RPGs, the transition is actually not too hard. Let them play the other system a bit in modern times, giving a hefty penalty to any "paranormal" abilities due to the disbelief of modern eyes. For those playing nonhumans, allow modern humans to actually cause them damage just from unconcious disbelief. Then offer a Changeling Wizard who can help them (one time only) into the "Changeling Way," and switch systems at that point.
Ooh. I guess I have to talk about converting other World of Darkness gamers. The best thing to do is get them to remember how it was like when they first started playing the game, before they racked up all that power, and before they owned all editions of every knowledge book in the White Wolf empire. Remember when the game was fun from adventure and not from watching others' downfalls? Remember when you used to go out and do things rather than manuevering others into pitfalls? Remember how your imagination was fired the first time you opened that Masquerade book? Well, that's how Changeling is all the time.
Changeling can be just as dark (if not more so) than Vampire. Play an Unseelie or Shadow Court Sidhe. Concentrate on Ravaging - orchestrating pain, revenge, etc. The thing you must do differently is to get your victim to feel their downfall. No, many Changelings don't go around strutting about how powerful they are to the outside world. It's when you've manuevered to the last stand, the final play, and then you reveal your majesty, the feeling is so sweet. Even Vampires are often awed by this, and because of their seemingly inherent paranoia, they make perfect Ravaging targets. After all, even Vampires have dreams...
Changeling can even be more imaginative than Mage. After all, you're not just a human working magick, you are magic. You are the combination of dream and flesh, and only disbelief stands in your way - no Paradox spirits coming to hunt you down. You can get to the Dreaming, and you don't have to know Spirit Lvl 3 to do so. Your own dreams can create glamorous effects for which no rulebook can even give guidelines! In truth, in this game, the only limit is your imagination (and what the Storyteller will allow).
An engaging idea: remember that this is a character driven game. As a Storyteller, spend a good amount of time creating NPCs as detailed as any PC. Give these characters relationships with each other and with PCs, then let the story develop from there. Be sure to read and reread your sourcebooks not for rules, but for inspirations and storylines. Many times, your players will be only as inspired as you are.
Suppose you meet someone who hasn't played an RPG before. Oh, happy day! Such glamour, such lack of preconceived notions! Play some short sessions without worrying about Arts, Glamour or Banality rules. Maybe play an adventure in the Near Dreaming - a quest on a Silver Path! They already know the "real" world, let them first see the other side. Then, bring them back and help them learn to balance both. Glamour and Banality are the trickiest (and truest) concepts of Changeling.
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