Issue: i Welcome to the premier issue of Switching to Guns.

This is a new ’zine

about role–playing games and a re–imaging of my old ’zine One Thousand
and One Nights and One Night Campaign Design ’zine.

Each issue, I’m going to write about games that I’d like to run or games that
I have run or games that I’ve been in, all the notes that I can fit in just two
pages.

A changeling: the dreaming Chronicle

I’ve been thinking about a game I want to run using the Changeling: The
Dreaming setting, probably with a variant of the FATE system.

the salle d' rosa freehold

In 1960, a Troll Grump moved to the Pacific Northwest to escape some
“trouble” back east. Ending up in Portland five years later, he took in three
Pooka Childlings for fosterage after their Chrysalis. Since he was a skilled
fencer, he bought an old brick two–story in Old Town and opened a fencing
school, training the Pooka in the sword (if only to give them some way to
protect themselves and give them something to do with their boundless
energy). Over the years, more Kithain from the area joined the school,
forming a new Freehold (or maybe just “awakening” a Freehold that was
already there). When the Resurgence began in 1969, the Troll Grump
counseled caution and the Kithain of Salle d’Rosa took his wise advice,
watching to see what side they would take in the coming conflict. Both sides
courted them, as they were a large, well–trained and armed force.

For nearly a year, the Salle stayed neutral, hoping for a peaceful resolution
to the pointless bloodshed. But assassins killed the Troll Grump on the
Night of the Iron Knives and his Pooka charges went mad with grief and
revenge. Over the next five years, they fielded over a dozen successful
campaigns against the Sidhe forces in Washington, Oregon and California,
using their weapon skills as well as their other, less “honorable” abilities, to
roundly defeat any force sent against them. In the process, they gathered
many commoner Kithain to their banner, training them as the Grump Troll
trained them.

So successful were their activities, that at the end of the War, High King
David himself came to Portland to parley with them. The Pooka of the Salle
d’Rosa Freehold agreed to the Accords, but only if the High King himself
was their liege–lord. David knighted each Pooka and granted their Freehold
Royal Domain status. When the High King visits Portland, he stays with
them.

In the three decades since the Signing of the Accords, the Pooka Knights of Salle d’Rosa have
remained fanatically loyal subjects of the High King (which sometimes becomes a thorn in the
side of the local Lord as the Pooka “interpret” their Royal brief). They are very popular among
the Kithain in Portland, both Seelie and Unseelie, but have their share of detractors and
outright enemies who would not mind seeing their might fail, and the city fail as well.
The Salle Freehold is ruled by the three Pooka Knights and a council of
other Kithain. As each Pooka “passes on,” either by Bedlam or Banality, the
Issue: i
Salle seeks out another Pooka, sometimes a Childing, to continue the
tradition of Pooka Knights. After a period of training as a Squire, the Pooka
is elevated to Knighthood by the High King (or by the Senior Pooka Knight
if the High King is unavailable).

The Player Characters are some of the Pooka Knights and Kithain council
members. And this Chronicle is their stories as great changes come to the
City of Portland. Duchess Miriam of House Gwydion is the local lord and
there are many Kithain in the City of Roses, each with their own plans,
hopes and aspirations.

FOUR major freeholds of downtown Portland

1. The Ducal Palace (Mill Ends Park, Front and Taylor): The entrance to the
Duchess’ Palace is located in the Mill Ends Park, the world’s smallest city
park–only 24 inches in diameter. To gain entrance, simply step on the park
and entreat the Duchess to grant you entrance. The “doorway” then takes (or
doesn’t) the applicant into the Freehold Proper. This single–occupant
entrance is the best defense for the Duchess and her Court, as there are
plenty of guards waiting for any trouble just inside the door. Once in, a maze
of passages lead to the Central Promenade, with many offices branching off
of it as well as residencies, and the Grand Hall at the end where the Duchess
holds Court.

2. Salle d’Rosa (Old Town, 2nd and Couch): The Salle takes up a two–story
brick building. The main fencing Salle is on the first floor (open from
9:00AM to 9:30PM most days, classes available at reasonable prices at
various times with plenty of open space for free–exercise) with two business
offices (general manager and accounting) and changing rooms with
bathrooms. The second floor houses a half–dozen apartments for the leaders
of the Salle. The Freehold itself is in the basement, appearing to be a single
bare storeroom but to the fae it’s a beautiful and lush grotto.

3. Howl’s Moving Castle (Powell’s City of Books, 10th and Burnside):

Powell’s Books has so many Kithain working there, it was obvious that a
Freehold would form (or re–awaken, perhaps). Some Sluagh work in
Antiquities and Romance, a bunch of Satyrs are in Film and Erotica, and
the thirteen Nockers in the motley are in Science and Engineering (or at the
Technical Bookstore), while four Eshu man the Travel Bookstore downtown
(just to name a few). Howl, himself, is the general night manager and an
unusual Grump Redcap, at ease breaking bones or reading books.

4. GoblinTown (Lownsdale Square, 3rd and Salmon): The small stone

building on Lownsdale Square leads into Goblin Town, a thriving Nocker enclave. Most other
Kithain are welcome to visit for business and pleasure but very few have residences inside
(The Duchess is just one of a handful that maintain a house there). A maze of passages
confuse invaders while clockwork machines guard their owners loyally.