Review of Kithbook: Stregga

Written by: Jeremy Jagosz & Cassie Carnage Edited by: Cassie Carnage Layout by: Jeremy Jagosz Cover Art: Mike Tenebrae Art by: Mike Tenebrae, White Wolf Art Packs

Full Disclosures: I received a copy of this for review. I will probably review anything if you give me a copy of it. Kithbook Strega is available at storytellersvault.com currently at 5 bucks. Don't have a latte this week and buy it.

Changeling: the Dreaming is built on magical races known as kiths,and they have a LOT of kiths. There's 13 "main" ones, and in C20 you have over 20 other options in the back of the book. The best kiths, in my opinion, have an ability to be more than just a stereotype—there needs to be some wiggle room in the concept so you can make them your own. This can be a conundrum for fan creations—one one hand, you need to create something that hasn't already been covered, but on the other hand needs to be freeform enough that you can personalize the representative of that kith to your liking.

So I admit, as I opened the Strega kithbook I wasn't really expecting much. The Strega are based on the Strix, an old Italian/European myth about evil blood-drinking witch owls? Well, I mean I guess it's not a bad start but—is this enough for a single kith? Plus, there's already a few kith that are in that Venn diagram—couldn't I just do an owl pooka or a sluagh or even a redcap with a feather in his hat?

I am proud to say, though, that I was really impressed and surprised. Jagoz and Carnage have done a fantastic job of creating something that really fits into Changeling, creating a kith that feels both familiar but unique, and a worthy addition to the already-full ranks of kith.

PRESENTATION Kithbook Strega is just that—an actual book. I was expecting maybe three or four pages, so when I got 40 I was impressed. The layout is professional, with the stained-glass borders and all the little things that make Changeling: the Dreaming look so good. There's a lot of art inside, and while most of it is black-and-white, that fits for the Strega, being dark and swooky curse-smiths (I'm going to steal that. That's a good title). Most of the art appears to be World of Darkness stock photos, but it mostly fits in with the feel they're going for, and there is some original art as well, including an awesome cover that let's you know you've visited the wrong graveyard on the wrong night.

Other than a brief hiccup where the chapter title page also has the normal border design creating ALL THE CELTIC KNOTWORK!, (a forgivable sin that I saw in professionally published works for C:tD), the layout is clean, easy to read, and looks good doing it.

CONTENT The book has two quick stories—the introduction does a solid job of giving us the "normal" feel of a Strega—a witch...owl...thing living deep in the woods and dishing out her own brand of fae justice. The second piece is a shorter bit of absurd nihilism, but shows us how Strega work more socially.

This is where the book shines. The Strega come from the dreams of owls in dark woods, in those dark and creepy glens at night, at the strange witches at the edge of town and the powers they hold. The creation myth given ties them directly to Lilith, which is a pretty key figure in OWoD mythology, so there's an easy in with any Mage or Vampire crossovers you need.

Next we get the splash page, which gives us the overall feel of the Strega. These "sneaks and curse-smiths" are owlish fae, with wide eyes and an unnerving twist their necks all the way around. It also claims them as mysterious loners, which gets me worried (keep reading). Everything you need for the kith is here, including Seemings and revelries, and we find out they're supernaturally good at sneaking and have a really cool ability to just sick a curse on somebody, with decent mechanics to back it up and also to make it so that the Strega isn't just running around cursing everybody. Their problem (as all changelings have a problem) is that if you ask them to curse somebody, they can't just say no—but they can demand a hell of a price to make sure you're serious.

After that we get a solid chapter on the Strega—their place and view in history (both mundane and chimerical) that ties them into the setting, how they organize themselves and deal with others, what they think of other fae and prodigals. As I was reading how they loved being isolationist and moody loners on the edge of civilization, I was worried—that can be a hard character to include in a game, but this section does a great job of showing how you can integrate them into a story, both as players and as npcs.

After that, we get some merits and flaws, and I really appreciate this for the Stregga. At the "base" level, they're not as owlish as I thought they would be, but I can spend some points to MAKE them that way, including a horrible/delicious merit where your character can swallow a creature to spit them out as a Gorge-spawn, a nightmare owl-pellet chimera that Henson Studios would probably make squeemishly adorable. This chapter also gives some ideas for Chimera and Freeholds, and helps make the Strega feel more like a culture and less like "six people who have owl-eyes".

Next are some character templates which really show me how these "loners" can hang out in a group. With all seemings covered, from a little girl witch to an old spinster spymaster to a professional Freehold Cursesmith, they show us that all-important "wiggle room" in a concept. You don't HAVE to just be a witch with a cauldron and a pointy hat. Finally we close up with a few sample important NPC Stregas—always good to have and a great way to quickly get a named NPC into your group. Oh, and a kith-specific character sheet! Bonus!!

IN DEPTH I can already make an owl-person in changeling. I can make a spooky person in changeling (seriously, so many spookies). I can already make a witch in changeling. But the Stregga do an excellent job of grabbing those concepts and really making it their own, carving out a niche and making sure that you can be as boiler-plate or independant with it as you'd like. The Stregga felt like they could easily be one of the Core Kiths, and that's a hard thing to do—that this book has made look easy.

Their cursing ability is well done. It's thematic and really solidifies the kith's concept. It's powerful but not completely unbalanced, there's solid limitations and costs, and it's all explained (with examples!) in about a paragraph. Just reading that will instantly let you understand why you would play a Strega, and it really sets them apart from the sluagh and pooka and redcaps. It even lets them step a bit outside some of the Arts that you would normally need to play a "witch" changeling, which is a plus.

PROBLEMS Really, nothing too serious. Like I said, there's a non-important border hiccup that I KNOW was in at least one professionally crafted book that impacts nothing. The art isn't directly tied to the subject matter for the most part, but it fits thematically (and it's a fan published supplement! With art!! Like at all!! That's enough). My big concern was that the Strega were going to be a race of moody loner Wolverines that didn't hang out with anybody—and they twist that on it's head by giving you clear cut examples of how to make that work anyway. Technically that's now a good thing.

GOOD BITS As I said before, the Strega feel like they could have been in the core game as a main character option from the beginning. That's hard to do, and this team did it. I strongly recommend that you get this book if you're at all interested in Changeling, but especially if you want to look at making your own Kiths or kithbooks. It shows you how to take a concept and flesh it out, how to make it work within the game and the story, and how to integrate them into the game world. Strega work for players, they work for npc's, they work for villains and allies and that one weird guy who's running that store for some flavor.

It's good. Get it.