How
to Run Werewolf: The Forsaken
by
Matthew McFarland
A roleplaying game in which the players take on the roles of werewolves might seem, at first blush, a rather strange idea. Most folklore and modern cinema (which is where the majority of gamers are going to see werewolves, of course) portray the werewolf as a brute, lacking in intelligence and control, seeking only to consume human flesh. White Wolf’s Werewolf: The Forsaken game, then, takes the legend of the werewolf, keeps the brutality, and adds societal and spiritual factors allowing for roleplaying. How well does it work? Let’s talk about it.
First off, it’s worth noting that Forsaken isn’t the first game out there that allows the players to make werewolf characters. The first one I know of was Nightlife from Stellar Games, but that game is long since out of print. Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Forsaken’s precursor, took the werewolf and added a great spiritual war to the savagery of this shapeshifter. I’m not going to compare the two games in this essay, because I think that they’re both excellent in their own right and because I think it’s necessary to judge Forsaken on its own merits.
The World of Darkness
Running Werewolf: The Forsaken requires two books: the actual Werewolf book and the World of Darkness Rulebook. The latter contains all of the basic rules for the game and a smidgen of setting (as well as the rules for ghosts, which are just handy all around), while the former contains all of the setting, rules and Storytelling advice for Werewolf in particular.
The World of Darkness is much like our world. The difference is that monsters are real, but cunningly hide themselves from our view. Why? It depends on the monster, really. Werewolves hide because they live apart from humanity; they began their lives among people, but after the First Change (see below) they find they are more comfortable among their own kind than with normal folks. That they can, at any time, lose control and slaughter everyone around them is likewise a reason to stay below the radar of humanity.
In a more general sense, the World of Darkness houses mystery. Urban legends are more often true than not, every bit of history contains some truly eldritch secrets, and throwing a pinch of salt over your shoulder might very well save your life. What makes the World of Darkness a horror and mystery setting rather than a modern fantasy setting is that you typically can’t prove any of this. By the time the supernatural becomes obvious, you’ve already become so far immersed that there’s no going back.
From a game system perspective, the World of Darkness uses 10-sided dice. Rolls require a dice pool, by combining one of nine Attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Presence, Composure, Manipulation, Intelligence, Wits or Resolve) with either another Attribute or a Skill. Every die that comes up 8 or higher is a success, and 10s are rerolled. One success is normally all that’s required, though in combat, multiple successes make a difference.
Characters also receive a number of points in Merits. Merits cover everything from being able to hold one’s breath for long periods of time to being well-read to speaking other languages to having extra money. Some Merits are only applicable to mortal characters, while others are only available to werewolves (these latter are listed in the Werewolf book, not the World of Darkness Rulebook).
All
characters have a Morality trait. When characters act in an immoral fashion,
they run the risk of losing dots from this trait (it ranges from 1 to 10) and
eventually going insane. Werewolves have a specific type of Morality called
Harmony. This measures, among other things, how in tune with the spirit world
they are — the higher the Harmony, the better they can interact with spirits,
which is of benefit when performing certain rituals. If a character’s Harmony
falls to zero, he becomes unplayable as a character, losing his sanity and
succumbing to rage and bizarre spiritual impulse.
The rules have further permutations, of course, but that’s the gist of it, at least for mortals. Werewolves, of course, add their own wrinkles.
Werewolves
Werewolves refer to themselves as “the People” or Uratha. They have a rich mythological tradition, tracing back to a godlike figure called Father Wolf. The story goes that Father Wolf policed the spirit world (called the Shadow or the Hisil in the language of spirits, which many werewolves understand and use among themselves), but that his own children rose up and slew him. The werewolves that the players portray are, according to legend, descendants of these murderers, cast out of the spirit world and shunned by these beings. Mother Luna, the spirit of the moon, looks after the werewolves and blesses them with auspices (see below) and the Gifts of the spirits.
The above legend, though, isn’t necessarily true within the context of the game. It is true that spirits dislike werewolves, but that has more to do with their nature as half-flesh, half-spirit beings (spirits are simple creatures and prefer everything to be understandable and unadulterated). There is no proof within Uratha society that the legend of Father Wolf is any more real than the story of Noah’s Ark. But, just like people, werewolves believe many un-provable tales. Ultimately, the true origins of the Uratha probably aren’t going to make much difference to a chronicle, but several sourcebooks for the game line discuss possibilities. I’ll talk more about sourcebooks later.
Werewolves all begin life as human beings, but at some point during their lives, they undergo the First Change. This event usually ends in blood, as the werewolf explodes into another form (more on the werewolf forms anon) and attacks anything around him. Which phase of the moon the werewolf Changes under is significant, because it marks the werewolf with an auspice. The five auspices are:
•
Irraka: Werewolves
who change under the new moon are stealthy and focused — assassins and spies.
•
Ithaeur: Werewolves
who change under the crescent moon are the spirit-masters of the Uratha. They
perform and learn rituals better than other werewolves.
•
Elodoth: Half-moon
werewolves are judges and diplomats, with spirits and other werewolves.
•
Cahalith: Gibbous-moon
werewolves are storytellers, historians and rabble-rousers.
•
Rahu: Finally,
the full-moon werewolves are spirit warriors. Often the leaders of packs, they
enforce the codes of morality under which werewolves live.
A werewolf’s auspice grants him a special ability (Rahu can immediately size up opponents, while Ithaeur pay less experience for learning rites), but also determines his role in his pack. It’s not enough to say, though, that a Rahu is a warrior or an Irraka is a thief. Each of the auspices can dovetail nicely with any of the tribes (see below) to create a unique and dynamic character. And, of course, player fiat makes a character more than any category — one player’s Bone Shadow Elodoth will be markedly different than another’s.
Note that a werewolf does not choose his auspice (though obviously the player does). The character Changes under a given moon phase, and so a werewolf might well feel that he was cheated out of his “true destiny.” A Rahu might wish to deal with spirits as does an Elodoth, and a Cahalith might find herself unsuited to sing the praises of her pack. This kind of conflict can be a major facet in a character’s development, should the player so choose.
Tribe
Werewolf society recognizes five tribes, social groupings that claim descent from one of the great wolves that murdered Father Wolf. They are:
•
Blood Talons: Descendants
of Fenris the Destroyer, these werewolves are all
warriors of some stripe.
• Bone
Shadows: These
mystics study the realms of death and spirits are claim descent from Death
Wolf.
•
Hunters in Darkness: These shadowy predators claim Black Wolf as their ancestor and work to
keep their territories pure.
• Iron
Masters: The
imaginative and adaptable Red Wolf is this tribe’s patron. Iron Masters favor
innovation and often live among humans.
•
Storm Lords: These
werewolves, descended from Winter Wolf, submit to no one and work to keep their
members powerful and dominant.
Players
can make characters belonging to any tribe, but the basic unit of a group of
characters is a pack, and this unit
is ultimately the most important one. Packs can be multi-tribal, and no
inter-tribal conflict is assumed by the setting. Ancestry is not a factor for
choosing a tribe; that is, because one’s father was an Iron Master doesn’t mean
that one couldn’t become a Bone Shadow.
The
choice of tribe is up to the player, and unlike auspice, werewolves do choose
their own tribes. That said, a Storyteller might well rule that the area in
which the chronicle is set has no presence from a certain tribe, and thus a
character belonging to that tribe is a traveler. That’s not a problem by itself
(again, pack is the most important unit), but if the character wants to learn
tribal Gifts (see below) or delve into the history of his tribe, he needs to go
traveling. Also, while no conflict between the tribes is assumed by the setting, local history takes precedence. A
Storyteller might stipulate that the Bone Shadows and the Hunters in Darkness
of a given area have been feuding for years, and while they two tribes aren’t
exactly at war, a pack containing members of both tribes would be unheard of.
In this instance, players would probably refrain from mixing those two tribes
(though suppose the players’ pack was from a different city where those two
tribes were not feuding and did
include both — this conflict would test the pack’s loyalty to tribe).
As
is probably becoming obvious, the Uratha do not have a global society. What it
means to be a Bone Shadow in, say,
The
Werewolf: The Forsaken book explains the Uratha
condition enough to run or play the game, though the tribal write-ups in
particular feel a bit sparse. Each of the tribes presents a host of concept
ideas, but you have to read the write-ups and let them simmer a bit; concepts
don’t just jump off the page. Again, the tribes are presented as generalities,
and the specifics are expressed better through the pack. As such, when creating
a Werewolf character, the player needs to consider how his auspice and
tribe intersect and what his role is in his pack.
For
instance, in the chronicle I’ve been running for more than a year, one of the
pack members is a Blood Talon (making him a warrior) who changed under the full
moon (making him a Rahu, or a spirit warrior). This warrior/warrior
intersection means that, by default, the character is going to be combat-capable.
His role in the pack, therefore, is to take command during battle. While it
doesn’t come up often, he is also occasionally a moral spokesman for the pack —
he decides what kind of compromise is acceptable to the pack. While that’s
never been his stated role, his morality is fairly inflexible, and that makes
him the pack’s moral center. Another character with the same tribe/auspice axis
might emphasize different aspects of this intersection, focusing on seeking out
glorious battle for the pack or making sure that the pack is well-equipped to
fight a particular kind of enemy (probably something prevalent in the pack’s
territory).
Powers of the Forsaken
All
werewolves can shapeshift — it’s kind of their defining trait, after all.
Uratha have access to five forms, not just the two of legend. They can become
humans or wolves, as well as a hulking humanoid brute, a giant dire wolf, and a
horrific merger of man and beast akin to the one seen in The Howling or the more recent Dog
Soldiers. Werewolves are frighteningly effective combatants because they
heal damage so quickly, but all werewolves run the risk of flying into Death
Rage if pushed too far. A werewolf in Death Rage recognizes no one, not even
packmates, and usually fights until incapacitated.
A
large part of Werewolf involves dealing with spirits, and doing so has
two major benefits: Gifts and rites. Gifts are exactly that, powers that
spirits bestow upon werewolves (Uratha cannot teach each other Gifts). When
werewolves grow in Renown — prestige among their own kind, as expressed in five
categories — they gain new Gifts. Low level Gifts include the ability to cause
machines to malfunction or change one part of the body rather than
shapeshifting into an entirely different form. Higher level Gifts allow a
werewolf to call down thunderbolts on enemies or rend apart iron.
Rites
are longer affairs, and gain their power from ancient pacts between Uratha and
the spirits. They allow a myriad of effects, such as dedicating clothing so
that it changes shape with a werewolf. Uratha can teach each other rites.
Uratha
use Essence to power Gifts and rites.
Essence can be obtained by eating human flesh, but this is a serious crime
among werewolves and a sure way to lose Harmony (not that it doesn’t happen). Werewolves
usually gain Essence by drawing it from loci,
places where the spirit world and the material world intersect.
Finally,
packs of werewolves often take on totem
spirits. Players purchase dots in the Totem Merit, which are then pooled and
used to build a spirit that gives its patronage to the pack. Totems can provide
anything from Gifts to dots in Skills or Attributes to pools of Essence to draw
from. A pack’s totem often, but not always, makes a distinct statement about
that pack’s purpose.
Running Werewolf
As
with the rest of the World of Darkness, there’s no “right” way to play or run Werewolf:
The Forsaken. Much of the focus of the game is on
individual packs claiming and protecting territory, but that doesn’t rule out,
say, a nomadic chronicle in which the characters roam the country searching for
something or a chronicle in which the characters have to deal with the savage
politics of the tribes. Again, the onus is on the Storyteller to figure out
what the werewolves in his or her chronicle are going to do (hopefully with
some input from the players). About the biggest default assumption, though, is
that werewolves hunt.
What
do they hunt? Well, that depends upon the pack. One pack might hunt rogue
spirits who cross into the material world and possess people. Another might
hunt ghosts, seeing them as unnatural. Another might hunt other werewolves (not
all werewolves are Forsaken; some call themselves the
Pure and feel that they are descended from the mighty wolf spirits who didn’t
attack and kill Father Wolf). The core book presents antagonists galore, and
many of the World of Darkness and Werewolf sourcebooks present others.
Again, though, it’s crucial to figure out what your pack is about and what the
members want to do.
That
uncertainty is unquestionably the biggest drawback to Werewolf. Running
the game isn’t as simple as dropping the pack into an area and giving them a
lead; they need context, the spirit world needs some attention, and the
characters need motivation. That means that a troupe can find itself
floundering if it doesn’t devote attention to the characters and their driving
goals (but I’d argue that’s true of most games). The Werewolf book
presents
I
mentioned sourcebooks earlier. While you can
run and play Werewolf: The Forsaken with
nothing more than the World of Darkness Rulebook and the Werewolf core
book, I think the game benefits greatly from the source material. In
particular, the Predators sourcebook goes a long way to showing how
spirits operate within their own “ecosystem” (and the book provides an
excellent “bestiary” of these beings), and Lore of the Forsaken provides
greater context for tribes, auspices and Gifts. Whether you feel that White
Wolf is producing good support for the game or squeezing fans for more money by
putting such crucial information in sourcebooks rather depends on your perspective
and your wallet; since I often wind up as a contributing author to Werewolf
books, my opinion is hardly subjective.
What
I think I like most about Werewolf is its customizability. Yes, this is
true of the World of Darkness in general, but in Werewolf, so much rides on the territory and the pack’s interaction with
it that after a few stories, the pack becomes ingrained in the setting and the
chronicle (hopefully) begins to write itself. As Storyteller, you need to
figure out what the spirit worlds of the chronicle’s setting looks like, but
you should do that with giddy anticipation — the players are going to see this
spiritual landscape and seek to interact with it. By making up the characters’
home, you are setting up the greatest challenge and conflict in the game — can
they alter it to their liking? When the Pure (or the Spider Hosts, or whatever)
come to take it, can they defend it?
Werewolf: The Silence of
Time
My Werewolf
chronicle began in May of 2005 and is still, as of this writing, in progress.
The pack is multi-tribal, and has undergone some changes over the course of the
chronicle; two pack members have died (both played by the same person — the
first time the character simply died in combat, and the second time the player
dropped out of the game), two new ones have joined, and the characters have
become probably the driving Uratha force in the city of Philadelphia.
The
chronicle began with a simple premise: Ten years ago, all of the werewolves in
The
characters didn’t challenge these spirits right off, but having been working to
build their power, attract other werewolves, and learn all they can in hopes of
finally storming the sewers and killing these beasts. Along the way they’ve
made powerful enemies and even a few friends, and the pack has become so
entrenched in
That,
perhaps, is the goal of a Werewolf game — the make the pack a fixture in
the area, willing, at least, to handle any challenge that comes to them. When
the final battle for the territory comes, this pack will be fighting for its
home.
Want to know more about Werewolf: The Forsaken? Click here! The complete
Silence of Time write-ups are available to read here.
Werewolf: The Forsaken and all associated terms are
property of White Wolf Game Studio and this article is not intended as a
challenge to these or any other copyrights.
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