The Thousand Courts: Kismet's Court Tools
"Yin Yang" by nell-fallcard (unmodified) is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0
In Changeling: the Lost, a Court is a larger gathering of changelings than a motley but smaller than a freehold. They share a similar philosophy of life after escaping the True Fae and swear a pledge as an added layer of protection against the Others. Each Court has a favored emotion that its members are particularly good at harvesting for Glamour. Courts also grant minor magical boons due to the Mantle each member receives; this Mantle also adds aspects of the Court to the changeling's fae appearance. Members often work together and protect one another. On the larger scale, each freehold has several Courts that take turns holding power and governing freehold members, locations, activities, and so on. By sharing power - something Keepers will never understand - the Courts help to stave off the attentions of the Gentry.
In both editions of Changeling: the Lost, the four seasonal Courts - Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn - are the most common gatherings of changelings in North America and Europe. Quite a few other Courts exist, however, especially if you consider all of the ones presented in first and second edition books. On top of that, Storytellers are encouraged to create their own Courts and unique freeholds so players get a custom-tailored experience of the fae world. And why not? Coming up with a Court concept can be easy: Start with a philosophy of living, tie it to an emotion changelings can inspire and feed on, and root it in an aspect of the material world. But keeping track of everything that goes into a Court can become difficult, especially when you’re using 3 or 4 of them and they have all the bells and whistles.
That’s why I've made three resources for Court creation: a Google workbook and Google Doc to record as many details as you'd like, and a generator file you can use at RPGChartMaker to whip up freeholds with the press of a button. If you use either of these tools, I'd love to hear how they worked for you or any problems you encountered; I'm always open to constructive feedback and happy to fix any errors.
Random Generator File
I've chosen key aspects from the Google worksheets and made one random generator .json file that you can load and use at the RPGChartMaker website. It will randomly roll in each category you choose to include and whip up the basics for a Court. This can be a great tool to use when you have to come up with a Court in the middle of a game session. You can use the worksheets to record and organize the info, and fill in other aspects later.
Directions
Download the .json file above. Then, visit the RPGChartMaker site and use the Load button to load it. If you just want to generate results quickly and figure it out from there, hit the Roll! button. It's set to make 10 rolls by default, but you can put in another number, if you'd like. If you let the site make multiple rolls at a time, then if you don't like a particular result, you can look at those further down the list. You can learn more tips and tricks here.
Here's an example of what the generator looks like:
The Google Versions
The entire workbook can be downloaded in Google Sheets (save a copy to your Google Drive or download it from the File menu). This is also a handy way to record the results you get from my RPG ChartMaker generators.
Below is a preview of the worksheets. If you find errors, want to suggest additions, or have other feedback to help me make the worksheets even better, please feel free to contact me.
There are two full blank Court sheets and one simplified sheet that only includes the bare basics. The Google Sheets version has an added benefit: it provides a sheet with suggestions you can choose if you get stuck or need to decide on something fast. In fact, the workbook layout is great for quick details. If you want to get more in-depth, check out the Google Docs version. In either case, you can fill in as much or as little as you'd like. You can also use these documents to record the results you get from the random generator!
I hope these tools help some other busy Storyteller to save time and stay organized!
Resources are free for personal use; please do not offer them for sale or claim them as your own work.
Please do not repost material elsewhere; link to this site instead. Thank you, and happy gaming!