We Play Too Much – Part 1 (Games I Play)

Last week, I’ve talked about how the both of us got into tabletop role-playing games, essentially our origin story into the hobby.

I also mentioned last time that I will talk about the games that we are currently playing. I lied–sort of–and instead of discussing all of our games((I think we’re playing too much XD)) in one giant post, it will instead become a series of posts, which will be divided into three parts: Part 1 – Games I Play, Part 2 – Games We Play, and Part 3 – Games I Run. The next two parts will be posted in the following weeks.

So without much further ado, let me talk about the Games I Play:

Lost But Not Forgotten

System: Changeling the Lost, Second Edition
Storyteller: Chester

Being a fan of the World of Darkness setting, Vertigo’s Fables and Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, it was quite easy for my friends to persuade me into joining a Changeling the Lost campaign.

Changeling the Lost is a personal horror RPG, which is part of the Chronicles of Darkness (CoD) line, published by White Wolf Entertainment. The game’s tagline is “A Storytelling Game of Beautiful Madness”…and what beautiful madness we have experienced indeed.

In this game, we play as Changelings, humans abducted by the enigmatic Gentry (or True Fae) and are taken to Arcadia, the fairy realm, where the Gentry reign. The abductees are changed into faerie creatures with particular roles for the amusement of the True Fae. These roles correspond to certain fairy-tale archetypes, such as Fairest (Ice Queen), Beast (big, bad wolf), and others. These Changelings eventually, through whatever means, were able to escape their captors and leave Arcadia, and get back into the real world. However, once back into the human realm, they are now Lost–and each Changeling, no longer truly human, try to reintegrate themselves into society, either by reclaiming back the lives they have lost, or try to build new ones by forming their own communities.

I have been playing my Fairest character, aptly named The Tyrant Queen, on a monthly basis since August 2018. Other members of our troupe include Lark Neverdance, a Fairest, and Dolus Strokes, a Darkling. Together, we have encountered and experienced many bizarre things: from surviving the assault of shadowy vampires stalking the night, brokering a peace with warring factions of werewolves, busting a changeling trafficking group, to conducting a heist of a celestial vault owned by mythical dragons–and many more weird adventures. To top it all off, we are on our way to becoming the champions of a “capture the flag”-type tournament.

Overall, I am enjoying my time playing the campaign and exploring the game’s various themes, from going off into bizarre adventures and to figuring out the personal journey my character will take, whenever she encounters the people in her past life.

I recommend the game for mature gamers, since the game tackles various sensitive themes and topics. I also recommend it to anyone who would like to try playing a fairy-tale type character, set in the modern world but with a darker and sinister twist.

If you want to follow our troupe’s past and future adventures, do check out the blog maintained by our Storyteller.

“Let’s Play: Adventurer’s League”

System: Dungeons and Dragons, Fifth Edition
Dungeon Master: Paul

Every Sunday night, I am a part of a livestreamed campaign where we play various community created modules for Dungeons and Dragons. Specifically, we play the organized play variant known as Adventurer’s League, where certain rules are set up in such a way that anyone can easily jump from one table/campaign to another.

Here, I play Vladimira Clay, an elderly human and shadow sorcerer. Since she was young, she always wanted to go off and explore the world, but has started a family before she was able. However, since her husband had died and her children now each have their own families, she has decided to finally go and become an adventurer.

Previously, we have played the Heir of Orcus Verse 1 and Verse 2 by Anthony Joyce ((for fans of the old 16-bit video games of the 90’s, you will definitely enjoy this series)), where we were hired to search for the hidden temple of Orcus, a demon lord. The modules were fun to play through, and at certain points quite stressful–let’s just say, we survived the final encounter due to sheer luck (but I say this in a good way).

Currently, we are still a fledgling party trying to figure out how to best work together, and getting to know one another. I cannot wait to see where our adventures bring us, but from what I hear where we’re going, devils and angels are involved, so that’s gonna be fun.

That wraps up the games that I play. Tune in next week, for Part 2 – Games We Play. In the meantime, tell us about the games/campaigns you are a part of by leaving a comment below!