Werewolf

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Werewolf: the Forsaken

 The path that the Forsaken walk is dripped in blood and steeped in hardship; bearing Father Wolf's obligations and Mother Luna's blessings means they are neither human nor spirit, neither monster nor hero. Tasked to carry on the Greatest Hunt in the stead of their slaughtered forebear, the Forsaken guard the mortal realm from the disruptions and machinations of the Shadow.

 And the gifts, the burdens, they come with a heavy cost, one whose only tender is blood. It is a cost the Uratha of Delaware Valley have paid handsomely, many times over, since before even the founding of Philadelphia when they raged through the countryside during the Beaver Wars, repelling foreign invaders from a key supply line chokepoint on the Schuylkill River so viciously that the disruption extended the war by years, and the enemy incursion was forced to give up and find another route. In those body-littered woods, and fields, and streams, the Uratha sewed the first seeds of Resonance that would birth the potent Revolutionary Court.

 But war is not the end of warring, and Philadelphia only grew larger, and with its increased population also came more wolves. After years of an uneasy truce between colonial settlers and native inhabitants, and far too many grievous dust-ups, the Delaware Valley Protectorate was chartered by an Elodoth named Talking-Blood. The hope was, it's said, that if the wolves of their respective Tribes hunted together, howled the songs of rites together, ate meals together, felled prey together, that they might learn to live together, too. And though it took many years, it was a gamble that paid off, a bond that was calcified when a fully unified Five Tribes of Philadelphia called a Siskur-Dah and put down a pack of Anshega who were exacerbating the city's struggle with yellow fever with Disease Gifts and infestation rites.

 At the turn of the 19th century, a young and reckless and ambitious pack of Iron Masters called the Burning Forge influenced and expedited the mechanical developments of one Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, setting off a local spirit war between the River Court and the burgeoning Industry Court that neither side has ever quite forgotten nor formally agreed to end, much to the chagrin of the Bone Shadows. Incidentally, this also sparked the First Industrial Revolution. Those who still grumble about this often refer to it as the Ignominy of the Forgers.

 But in present-day Philadelphia, the times could hardly be darker. A Wound festers just south of the city's borders, more than half the Blood Talon Tribe was lost in the battle that burnt the lesion through the Shadow and into the land, and the long-standing Delaware Valley Protectorate is at its weakest, riddled with internal turmoil. The Anshega are out there, peering in at Philadelphia from the far reaches and dark corners, and they are not alone in creatures of the night who sense an opportunity. The Forsaken of the city must walk the razor's edge of survival, with potential annihilation on all sides.

 They are outnumbered by their prey. They are outnumbered by their enemies.

 And this story is true.

Staff

Disclaimer

The Werewolf Sphere on From Dusk Till Jawn was very hastily thrown together. It is very likely that we missed some things and will need to come back to the drawing board in some areas to update house rules, maybe some thematic elements, and other minutae as we all grow more familiar with Werewolf: the Forsaken 2.0. By playing in this sphere you accept that some items may receive retroactive continuity (retcon), rules may change overnight, and merits and other abilities may appear or disappear from play. We are trying to cover as many bases as we can up front, while in a crunch to complete the work. If this is a problem for you, wait until you don't see this message any longer to apply.

Rules and System

Character Creation

  • You get free dots in Moon Gifts according to your Auspice Renown, a two Facets of Shadow Gifts from your Tribe and Auspice, and one (essentially free) facet of a Wolf Gift.
  • In addition to what's in the book, you may choose a Blood and Bone from the Blood and Bone list, or submit your own using the rules listed on that page.
  • Upon character creation, you are limited to one Renown at 5, and a second Renown at 4, and the rest may be at 3 or below.
  • Wolf-Blooded may take the merits: Supernatural Resistance, Aura Reading, Mind of a Madman, Cursed, Unseen Sense, Clairvoyance, Laying on Hands, and Medium.

Custom Abilities and Items

Dedicated Locus

  • When taking this merit, you must fill out and submit a Safe Place sheet, and indicate which of the setting Loci you are claiming. If you're originating a new Locus, please indicate its location and resonance.

Fetishes and Talens

  • When crafted, Fetishes and Talens must be supported by dots in Resources or Esoteric Armory equal to their rating.

Gifts

  • The Pure Gift trees from Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon are permitted: Agony, Blood, Disease, Fervor, and Hunger. These are all considered non-affinity.
  • The Gift of City (non-affinity) and the Gift of Essence are permitted: read them here.

Hunting Natures

  • Hunting Natures are not in use; no drawbacks or benefits of Hunting Nature Conditions are granted.

Packs

Renown

  • Raising Renown in-play beyond 3 must be justified.
  • You are limited to one Renown at 5 upon character creation, and a second at 4.

Rites

  • The Merits Good Time Management and Patient apply to Rites.
  • When you learn a Rite from someone else, you do not have to inherit their dice pool. You may select your own, representing your own spin on the Rite.

Territories

  • Werewolves do not take quarrel with other supernaturals dwelling inside their territory, provided there has been no conflict or action to provoke such.

House Rule Merits

Once-Wolf (•)
Prerequisites: Non-Forsaken Supernatural Major Template
Effect: Your character was a Wolf-Blooded, prior to whatever supernatural events caused her to become a Mage, Vampire, Changeling, or other Major Template. This grants her no specific mechanical advantages: she is not able to purchase Totem as a result of this merit (though may be able to for other reasons). She knows about Werewolves, and Werewolf Society, and may be generally on good terms with them as a whole, though her own actions or the actions of others may of course change this. Werewolves detect Once Wolves the same way they would Wolf-Blooded, but require a successful Wits + Occult roll to tell the difference.

Pack Affinity (• or •••)
Prerequisites: Membership in a pack
Whether from a great deal of time spent in each other's company, a strong totem bond, or other events, the bond between packmates with this merit has an undeniable and tangible strength. Packmates pick up on each other's moods, finish one another's sentences, and anticipate the needs of their pack and individual packmates. This sort of uncanny awareness of one another may unsettle those unaware of the intensity of their bond.
At the one-dot level, the Uratha gains +1 to Social rolls with her packmates, due to her ability to read their body language and a subconscious awareness of her pack's moods. This bonus extends to the entire pack as long as one member has the Merit.
At the three-dot level, the pack's bond becomes truly intense. Regardless of distance, she knows the general mood of each of her packmates, and becomes instantly aware of any massive shifts in mood--including any form of Kuruth. She may utilize this awareness to send messages of up to three words to her packmates upon which no one can eavesdrop by any means--the messages are encoded in the understanding the pack has of one another's moods, body language, and mindset. In combat, this does not require an action, similarly to a character's ability to speak while also taking an instant action, but in combat the Uratha must choose between speaking and utilizing this private communication.
Drawback: Regardless of distance, packmates with the three-dot version suffer the highest wound penalty of any packmate, even those without the merit. Merits or powers which ameliorate wound penalties only do so for the Uratha who actually has the merit. (If Bob and Alice have the three-dot version, and Bob is injured but Alice has a merit that allows her to ignore wound penalties, only Alice benefits from it.) 'Feeling one another's pain' becomes frightfully literal when your ties get this strong.

Current Plots

n/a

Joining the Sphere

THE SPHERE IS CURRENTLY CLOSED.

Please do not submit any new characters for approval. Instructions are left here just in case we reopen at some point in the future.

We try to make life easy. Here are some basic guidelines. You can find the full Approval Guidelines here.

Formatting Your Approval Ticket

  • Use the formatting here -- it is required and we will return your ticket to you if you don't use it. This makes sure we don't forget anything.

Sheet

  • Use the Werewolf template here or the Wolf-Blooded template here.
  • Werewolf: the Forsaken 2.0 core rules + 275 xp
  • You will receive two Shadow Gift Facets for your starting Tribe and/or Auspice, plus a free Wolf Gift.
  • Werewolves get Language (First Tongue) and the first point of Totem for free, along with a Skill dot that corresponds with their Auspice.
  • Any custom ability or item arising from character creation must either be book standard or submitted and approved for play before your character will be approved.

Backgrounds

  • Forbidden Concepts: Antagonist concepts such as the Pure and Bale Hounds are not permitted.
  • Bullet points are fine; please just give staff enough to work with on crafting stories
  • Please include these questions and their answers in your background:
    • If your character was in Philadelphia during the Wounding of Bancroft, what was their role, what was their experience?
    • If your character has arrived since the Wounding, what brought them to Philadelphia? Did they come to help, or by some random happenstance?
    • How old was you character when they went through the First Change?
    • What positive aspect of the First Change stood out to your character?
    • What negative aspect of the Change stood out the most?
  • What do you do for your Tribe, or why don't you currently belong to one?
  • Want ties to NPCs? Talk to staff! This is encouraged.

Wiki

  • Please make one, they are mandatory for final approval!
  • The page name should be either your character's actual name or their birth name. Your Deedname should appear in the infobox.
  • If you need help, please ask on Discord! We can set up a very basic wiki for you to fill out if you need help.

Theme and Society