The Chameleon Home Page

"The party was no less disgusting when seen from within than it had been from without. It was, truly, a battlefield, armies of brightly bedecked soldiers holding forth against each other, power and prestige clashing in great sparks seen only by the combatants. Blood would be spilt tonight, and men would die, though it might take them years to notice. How many lives abandoned, how many talents drained, to support this great engine? I didn't know then, and I don't know now..."

What is Chameleon?

Flashy, gaudy, ostentatious. Decadent. The art world; full of posturing, illusion, and realities that are as ephemeral as a summer breeze. The floating world. Take a society of collectors, traders, and artists, and politicians all in a vast game which is more serious to them than reality itself...then add the Enchantment. The result? The games just get more interesting....

Chameleon is a reality guide of modern fantasy, set in the glittering world of the hyper-elite. Amidst the grandeur and corruption of the Spectacle, artists and collectors, traders and dilettentes struggle to find meaning, build power, or just stay solvent. Torn by the fickle winds of fashion and the endless mindgames of a self-absorbed society, characters must hold fast to their identities as they search for veiled meaning and hidden truth. In Chameleon, art is power. But discovering that is only the beginning....

Getting Chameleon

Currently, version 0.1 (beta) is the most recent release available. Chameleon is distributed in Acrobat (PDF) and zipped postscript formats, and in two release types: ng, or "no graphics"; and the standard release. The difference between the two is fairly self-explanatory: the ng release omits most of the non-essential graphics contained in the standard release, and is therefore somewhat smaller.

(If you don't have an Acrobat or PostScript viewer (or access to a PostScript printer) check out our page of links to viewing utilities.)

Standard Releases

Chameleon, v0.1b, in PostScript format

Chameleon, v0.1b, in Acrobat format

"No Graphics" (NG) Releases

Chameleon, v0.1bng, in PostScript format

Chameleon, v0.1bng, in Acrobat format

Some Advice on Printing

To use the Chameleon reality guide in a typical play context, hardcopies of some sort or other are usually desirable. To facilitate this, the above Chameleon files are designed to be printed out and used in paper form (not that you can't read the files with a viewer, mind you, but we find that this is a relatively inconvenient way to use RPG material). For those who haven't tried working with non-commercial documents of this sort before, the following advice may also be of interest:

Duplex printing (or copying) of the Chameleon reality guide is strongly recommended. Not only does this save paper (and money), but the guide itself is designed to look best when duplexed (this is why the margins are mirrored).
For long-term use, we've found that printing out guides on high-quality paper (see your local office supply store) and having them bound at a local copy center (e.g., Kinko's) is an extremely effective solution. Generally, this can be done for under $5 per book, and the resulting product is often (ironically) sturdier than commercially available RPG products (which can cost upwards of $30).
While many options for printing and binding are available, we've had good luck with spiral binding (allows books to be folded backwards without damaging them), and cardboard/heavy plastic covers. A slightly tinted paper (with cotton fiber, for added strength) helps reduce strain in reading, and looks better as well.
Try experimenting with different document combinations in one "book." One key advantage of non-commercial RPG material is the freedom to easily rearrange and recopy it to your own advantage; so why not combine relevant sections of the PRG or the Player Pack (or house rules, character sheets, etc.) with the reality guide itself? GMs who want to make "player's handbooks" for Chameleon may want to take out much of the GM-related material from the Chameleon reality guide and substitute notes on basic mechanics (or How-Tos) from the PRG, for instance. The possibilities are nearly endless....

Carter Butts, ctb@andrew.cmu.edu