Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Werewolf: The Forsaken

Long ago, when the Earth was Pangaea and the spirit real was much closer to the physical world, Father Wolf patrolled the border between the two, keeping vigilant for any spirit that caused too much trouble in the land of flesh. He mated with the moon spirit Luna, and had 9 children, who would become the first werewolves, and taught them the ways of his task. As time went on, Father Wolf grew old and slow, and spirits began to get away with much more, and so one fateful day, five of his children decided that, for the good of the world, they must kill their father and take up his task. They did, and hearing his death howl, Luna cursed them to be forever of two worlds, fitting in with neither. Three of Father Wolf's children, too cowardly to do what must be done, went and hid, and nursed a grudge against their siblings - a grudge added to by their new spirit advisors. The ninth child did nothing, and disappeared from history. And so now we are the children of those five, the Uratha, the Forsaken; cursed to be of two worlds, to walk between and police the boundaries, our songs unsung by the humans around us and our guard always up, for spirits, and our so-called 'Pure' brethren, are always seeking to destroy us and bring the spirit world into dominance over this world. So now you, too, must join the fight, take up a weapon, and guard your territory, for we are the only defense this world has.

Werewolf: The Forsaken is a game set in White Wolf's World of Darkness, and uses the same system; in fact, all that is added are a tribe (which of the 5 Forsaken children you feel the most in common with) and an auspice (the phase of the moon you are born under). You also get the Primal Urge merit, telling you how in touch with your animal side you are, and Gifts from your spirit heritage to help you in your task. So, let's start out; I think I'll make a musician. As before, we have 5/4/3 divided between Physical, Social, and Mental; I'll keep Social as primary, then have Physical as secondary and Mental as tertiary. So I'll have Presence 3, Manipulation 3, and Composure 2, then Strength 2, Dexterity 3, and Stamina 2, followed by Intelligence 2, Wits 2, and Resolve 2. Then I go on to skills, where I again have 11/7/4. For Social skills, I'll take Expression 3, Streetwise 2, Socialize 2, Intimidation 2, and Persuasion 2. For Physical, I'll take Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Survival 2, and Drive 1, leaving me with Computers 1, Crafts 1, Medicine 1, and Occult 1 in Mental skills. Then I get three Skill Specialties, so I'll take Expression (Musical Instrument), Brawl (Dirty Tricks), and Medicine (Pharmaceuticals). Now I choose auspice and tribe. For auspice, I will go with the gibbous moon, or Cahalith; it is the moon of storytellers and lorekeepers, priests and historians. I get a free specialty in a Cahalith skill (I'll choose Persuasion), and the Prophetic Dreams ability; once per story I can ask the Storyteller for a prophetic dream, though he is free to make it as full of symbolism as he likes. For tribe, I will go with the Iron Masters, the tribe most in tune with modern society, even if only in a kinda-sorta way. These two things determine the kinds of Gifts I can take, and the type of Renown (status in werewolf society) that is important to me. Then I move on to derived attributes; Defense is 2, Health is 7, Initiative is 5, Harmony (werewolf Morality) is 7 (this is also the size of my character's Essence pool), Size is 5, Speed is 10, Willpower is 4, and my Virtue will be Fortitude, while my Vice will be Lust. For Merits, I start with 1 dot in Primal Urge, and I'll spend 3 more Merit points to get a second dot, and the remaining four to get the Inspiring Merit. Now I choose Gifts; I get one each from my auspice and tribe, and one other. I'll take the 1-point Gibbous Moon gift, Pack Awareness, letting me know in general where my packmates are and what they are doing, as well as if they are badly hurt. then I'll take the 1-point Inspiration Gift The Right Words, letting me make a nice speech and gain a bonus to Social rolls made to encourage or mollify others. Finally, I'll take the 1-point Technology gift Left-Handed Spanner, which lets me cause a minor and temporary malfunction in any piece of technology with more than two moving parts. Then I have three points of Renown to distribute; I must put one in Glory for being a Cahalith, and one in Cunning for being an Iron Master, and will put the third point in Wisdom. So the final product looks like this:

Nate Simons
Concept: Alternative rocker
Auspice: Cahalith
Tribe: Iron Masters
Virtue: Fortitude
Vice: Lust

Attributes
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
Resolve 2
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Stamina 2
Presence 3
Manipulation 3
Composure 2

Skills
Computers 1
Crafts 1
Medicine 1 (Specialty: Pharmaceuticals)
Occult 1
Athletics 2
Brawl 2 (Specialty: Dirty Tricks)
Drive 1
Survival 2
Empathy 2
Expression 3 (Specialty: Guitar)
Intimidation 2
Persuasion 2 (Specialty: Motivational Speeches)
Streetwise 2

Gifts
Pack Awareness
The Right Words
Left-Handed Spanner

Merits
Primal Urge 2
Inspirational

Renown
Glory 1
Cunning 1
Wisdom 1

Health 7
Size 5
Speed 10
Defense 2
Initiative 5
Willpower 4
Essence 7
Harmony 7

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