Nobles: The Shining Host

Nobles: The Shining Host is a tabletop role-playing game supplement released by White Wolf Publishing in March 1996 for their game Changeling: The Dreaming, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. It was well received by critics.

Nobles: The Shining Host
Cover art by Tony DiTerlizzi
Designer(s)Ian Lemke
Illustrator(s)Tony DiTerlizzi, David Fooden, Rebecca Guay, Andrew Mitchell Kudelka, Brian LeBlanc, Brian O'Connell, Richard Thomas, and Drew Tucker
Writer(s)Christian Howard
Publisher(s)White Wolf Publishing
Publication dateMarch 1996
Genre(s)Tabletop role-playing game supplement
System(s)Storyteller System
Parent gameChangeling: The Dreaming
SeriesWorld of Darkness
ISBN1-56504-711-7

Contents

Nobles: The Shining Host is about the fae nobility, or sidhe, and covers changeling politics, the ranks and privileges of power, and romance – both in official proceedings and behind-the-scenes plots, skullduggery and machinations.[1]

Production

Come with me
for I will take ye
Dancing now
with all my brothers
I am real,
and like the others!

Meg Davis, "The Elf Glade". This quote inspired the cover art, and was printed as part of it.[2]

Nobles: The Shining Host was developed by Ian Lemke,[3] and was written by Christian Howard.[4] The art directors for the book were Aileen Miles and Lawrence Snelly;[3] the art team also included interior artists David Fooden, Rebecca Guay, Andrew Mitchell Kudelka, Brian LeBlanc, Brian O'Connell, Richard Thomas, and Drew Tucker, and the cover artist Tony DiTerlizzi.[4]

DiTerlizzi drew the cover art in 1995, depicting a sidhe noble, using pen, ink, and watercolor, and it was first printed within the Changeling: The Dreaming core rulebook. White Wolf Publishing's request for the art was not specific, resulting in what DiTerlizzi described as work that felt playful and free; the song lyrics printed on the cover, quoted from Meg Davis's "The Elf Glade", were provided to DiTerlizzi by the Changeling: The Dreaming game design team to serve as inspiration for the piece.[2]

The book was released by White Wolf Publishing in March 1996,[5] after a delay from November 1995,[6] as a 120-page softcover book. It has since then also been published as an ebook.[4]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
SourceRating
Arcane8/10[1]

Nobles: The Shining Host was well received by critics.[1][7] Lucya Szachnowski of Arcane comments that "Nobles: The Shining Host is an example of White Wolf at its best. It is evocatively written, full of useful material that inspires scenario ideas, has lovely, full-colour artwork and is reasonably priced. Despite its excellence, though, it's not without fault."[1]

Casus Belli considered it the by far best and most interesting of the Changeling: The Dreaming books as of 1996, and an excellent sourcebook on the sidhes for its coverage of their past and present, and for its hints at the future of the setting.[7] Retrospectively, Bleeding Cool described DiTerlizzi's cover art as "incredible fantasy art".[8]

References
  1. Szachnowski, Lucya (April 1996). "Games Reviews". Arcane. No. 5. Future plc. p. 73.
  2. Lind, John, ed. (2015). "Section Three: The Changelings Bring a Gift". Realms: The Roleplaying Art of Tony DiTerlizzi. Dark Horse Books. pp. 76–91. ISBN 978-1616557324.
  3. Lemke, Ian (1996). Nobles: The Shining Host. White Wolf Publishing. p. 2. ISBN 1-56504-711-7.
  4. "Nobles : the Shining Host". Guide du Rôliste Galactique (in French). Association du Guide du Rôliste Galactique. 2009-05-08. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  5. "White Wolf". Casus Belli (in French). No. 91. Excelsior Publications. February 1996. p. 14.
  6. "White Wolf". Casus Belli (in French). No. 89. Excelsior Publications. October–November 1995. p. 15.
  7. Colin, Fabrice; Lhomme, Tristan (May 1996). "Loup-garou, Mage, Wraith & Changeling : Les petits frères de Vampire" [Werewolf, Mage, Wraith & Changeling: Vampire's little brothers]. Casus Belli (in French). No. 94. Excelsior Publications. pp. 26–29.
  8. Helton, Cristopher (2015-07-24). "Explore The Realms Of Tony DiTerlizzi's Roleplaying Game Art". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press. Archived from the original on 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
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