CW: Animal abuse, body horror
In the first part of this four part series, I looked at the origins of the Skinchanger character Template introduced in White Wolf’s Chronicles of Darkness First Edition sourcebook, World of Darkness: Skinchangers. I talked about the differences in the World of Darkness and the Chronicles of Darkness and delved into the Skinchangers as horror characters. In the second part, I looked at the first two books that converted the character to CoD2e, Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras and the Storytellers Vault community content option, Borrowed Power. In this part, I’ll look at another Storytellers Vault option, Chronicles of Darkness: Beneath Shifting Skin, as well as its creators.
CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS: BENEATH THE SKIN
In 2021, fifteen years after the original sourcebook and five years after the official update to 2e, comes a well pedigreed community content 2e version via the Storytellers Vault, Chronicles of Darkness: Beneath Shifting Skin. Written by Travis Legge, TJ Wilson, and Sam Young, this sourcebook comes in at 38 pages with cover, this is gaming crunch with a light amount of narrative.
Where Beneath Shifting Skin breaks new ground is the return to the character Template. Dark Eras and Borrowed Power both used a Merit to recreate the Skinchanger, while BSS specifically references eight steps to make a Skinthief Template. Using the steps to create a Horror from the Chronicles of Darkness core rulebook, the Storyteller can create a Skinchanger villain. Alternately, the book offers a short “Skin Thief Template” to guide non-Horror character creation.
The variance from standard character Templates can be seen in the amount of Potency and Integrity their character starts with as well as what Dread Powers and Merits the Skinchanger is allowed. In addition to the Dread Powers from the core rulebook like Beastmaster, Skin-Taker, Toxic (bite or claw only), and several others, Beneath Shifting Skin adds four new options.
In addition to character and Horror instructions, the book includes six Shadow Shifters, stated Claimed Horrors. They include the fox, human, and spirit kitsunes as well as the hyena spirits, leopard shifters and Leopard Men, raven shifters, serpent sages and the Serpent Society, and more. There are “generic” monsters and specific NPCs with story hooks.
In a nice homage to the original book, the “Freak Gallery” chapter is an update of the same section from the original book. This section takes those Horrors and story hooks from fifteen years before and gives them modern stats and new interpretations.
Much like Borrowed Powers, this book lacks a setting for the Skinchangers. The story hooks offer some options, but it’s not cut and dry like a larger CoD character option might be.
THE AUTHORS
Despite that, the amount of crunch is worthwhile. In fact, this project is what inspired this article series with its loose Skinchanger history and reviews. I’ve liked the Skinchangers since I picked up a copy of the original sourcebook at The Great Escape in Bowling Green, Kentucky on the way to Gen Con. But seeing known RPG freelancers taking the time from their work to craft this book inspired me to write this piece.
Two of the three authors – Travis Legge and Sam Young – are Onyx Path Publishing freelancers. Travis Legge is the Scarred Lands Line Developer and Twitch coordinator for OPP. Over the years, I’ve talked to Travis several times (here, here, here, and here) and talked about Glimpse the Beyond 2e, a project he published through his company, Aegis Studios. He’s a regular contributor to books from Onyx Path Publishing and a regular creator of Storyteller Vault material and everywhere else. He’s from the same mold as Owen K.C. Stephen; that’s to say, he never stops creating. Sam Young is an author on Onyx Path Publishing’s Beast: The Primordial, Beast Player’s Guide, Night Horrors: Spilled Blood, Night Horrors: The Tormented, and The Pack. Sam’s resume includes CoD titles, including the Beast core rulebook. Their “day jobs” give this community content project a sense of pedigree. Not to take away anything from Chris Falco’s Borrowed Power, as it is an excellent offering in its own right, but to call out the resume of the creators on this book as a sign of its quality.
The third author, TJ Wilson, has several Storytellers Vault credits to their name, as do the other creators. While not an Onyx Path Publishing freelancer like the other two (at least, as far as I can tell), TJ’s presence alongside Travis and Sam imparts a level of quality to his work. The fact that Travis and Sam, who are credited CoD authors, feel strongly enough about TJ’s work to include it within this books speaks volumes.
HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO BORROWED POWER?
How do the Storytellers Vault offerings – Beneath Shifting Skin and Borrowed Power – compare? Both are excellent offerings crafted by creators with a love of the core concept. I would not recommend one over the other as being “better,” but they are different books so I want to celebrate those differences. If you’re looking for a variety of concepts, Chris Falco’s Borrowed Power delivers more gaming concepts with three supernatural merits Templates. Skinchangers are one of several concepts explored in this book. On the other hand, Travis Legge, TJ Wilson, and Sam Young’s Chronicles of Darkness: Beneath Shifting Skin is pure focus on the Skinchanger. This gives the concept more room to be explored and updated to CoD2e.
“Borrowed Power contains three new and updated Supernatural Merit Templates for use by Players and Storytellers:
- Channelers, those who tap into the ephemeral currents of the world to mimic the powers of twilight beings.
- Sanguiomancers, who rely on the power of blood or Vitae to fuel their magic.
- Skinthieves, who steal their power more directly from the flesh and blood of the animals (or stranger things) they kill.”
“Beneath Shifting Skin is a rules toolkit to bring the systems presented in Skinchangers in line with the Chronicles of Darkness core rules. This book cuts straight to the systems with only the barest narrative elements included. This book has been designed for complete compatibility with Chronicles of Darkness and requires only the core rulebook to function. Use the resources herein as antagonists for your chronicle, as player characters in a shapeshifter-centric chronicle, or in tandem with any of the Chronicles of Darkness settings.
Beneath Shifting Skin contains:
- New rules for skin thieves as player characters or antagonists.
- Six types of spirit-based shapeshifters with multiple variations on each.
- Ready-to use antagonists, new Dread Powers, Merits and more!”
IN THE END
With both official and fan generated Skinchanger products reviewed, in the final part of this series I’ll look at the strengths of the concepts and what, after 15 years, still needs to be developed. Where can this Template go as the Chronicles of Darkness continues to expand? We’ll explore that and more in the final part of this series.
Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.
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