Don't Kill Me...but Werewolves

[NiallNai]

Ok, I was thinking about Werewolves and came up with this as a start and I'm just looking for some criticism and suggestions. Definitely nowhere near finished.

My thoughts on how it fits in with lifepaths are as follows. Characters are burned as normal, up until they are bitten. Once bitten, they start on the werewolf lifepaths. They can no longer take "normal" lifepaths because the curse of the werewolf takes control of their lives. (Anyone remember the first Fox series, Werewolf, the rip off of The Incredible Hulk, neither Banner or the character in Werewolf were able to hold stable lives because of their curse).

As for some of the lifepaths, the Wolf Among Sheep setting is meant for the character that continues to try to live in society. My idea is that the Skin Changer is someone that would revels or at least is coming to terms with his curse and is trying to gain some control over his change. The Accursed is someone seeking to protect society from himself, hence the Cage-Wise.

Please let me know what you think.

Pack of the Full Moon
Name Time Trait Res Stat Leads Skills
Born to the Pack 1 yr --- +1P Outcast, Among Sheep 3 pts; Hunting, Tracking, Stealthy

Pack Runner 2 yrs 1 3 +1P Outcast 2 pts; Submissive, Brawling, Pack-Wise

Pack Leader 3 yrs 2 5 +1M/P Outcast, Among Sheep 3 pts; Dominant, Savage Attack, Howling, Astrology


Wolf Among Sheep
Skin Changer 2 yrs 2 5 +1M Outcast, Pack 2 pts; Will Over Form,

Accursed 1 yr 1 5 +1M Outcast 3 pts; Astrology, Cage-Wise, Falsehood



Outcast
Driven Out 3 yrs --- 3 +1P Pack, Among Sheep Stealthy

Hunted 1 yr 1 --- +1P Among Sheep, Pack

Feral 2 yrs 1 --- -1M Pack


Instinct Trait
When a character's Instinct Trait reaches 10, they have given themselves over to their senses and no longer transform back into a man.

Common Traits
Wolf's Bane: Werewolves are vulnerable to silver.

Aura of the Predator: Dogs bark and whine, horses shy away, and people feel uneasy. Others find the character's presence unsettling. +1D on Intimidation rolls.

Cycle of the Wolf: During the time of the full moon, the character changes into the form of a wolf.

Cursed Bite: The bite of a werewolf passes on the curse of lycanthropy to the victim, if the victim survives the attack.

Missing Memories: A character does not remember the time that he spends as a wolf. If there is a particular event that a character tries to remember, the player should roll their Perception against an Ob equal to 10 minus the Instinct Trait.

Unnatural Feature: Often the change to wolf form is never complete. Some feature of their original form remains. Such as their eyes, the lack of a tail, or the hands.

Skills
Will Over Form(2)(Will): A character with this skill may try to control their transformation, either forcing themselves to change before a full moon or to keep from changing during a full moon. To change before a full moon, the base Ob is 10 minus their Instinct Trait. To prevent a change, they must roll an ob equal to their Instincts. The phase of the moon can also modify the Obstacle

[luke]

um...

this rocks.

I vote YES!

tell me about obstacles for the Instinct Trait!!

tell me! tell me!

What's the Ob for infecting another victim?
For killing prey?
For resisting change?
For willingly changing (Forcing a change)


the only thing I would change is the WIll over Form skill. I'd just leave it as the Will stat and use the obstacle you described.

-abzu

[eruditus]

This is cool and just needs a little bearing out.

I have been avoiding this for the trite nature of werewolves. I have been looking for alternatives to traditional lyncanthopes. I thoughy WW perspective on werewolves was rather unique and interesting (they have since lost their freshness :) ) Another perspective would be a welcome sight.

What we have seen before:
were as a race (my mom was a werewolf)
were as a disease (transferred through bite, etc)
were as a curse (transferred via family or magic)

I think a new perspective on lyncanthropy and werewolf society would be a nice change of pace

[Durgil]

Since the races do such a good job following Middle-earth, I suggest looking to the Silmarillion on creating werewolves, vampires, and undead. Basically, they would be incorporeal spirits that through dark sorcery are used to give life to abominable creations that roughly look like over sized wolves or bats, but with a slightly human form thrown in.

Just my two cents worth of course.

[eruditus]

This is the perspective I like and something akin to how my own campaign runs. Deadlands did a pretty good job in this regard.

So, first off this would be an option in the summoning rules.
Secondly, where does the control lie? In the possessing spirit? In the person? Do they get instincts that emulate the spirit?

Don't know that I would lifepath this out. I would have to think about that.

You know, playing so much "Are You A Werewolf?" this weekend makes me wanna run a companion rpg version :)

[NiallNai]

Well, a question for both the Werewolf and Undead topic AND about the intent of Monster Burner in general, are they supposed to be rules for creating alternate PCs or rules for creating detailed NPCs.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Great Wolves especially and can easily see how one might fit into a group of adventurers, as well as, being it's own campaign with a pack of wolves. And I can see the potential of an "evil" campaign.

My intent for the werewolves was to make the classic werewolf, with a look at its folklore roots. Those were the ones that seemed to fit in best with a lifepath approach.

[Kublai]

So, first off this would be an option in the summoning rules.


Or perhaps in the planned Nigromancy Rules Chapter? :twisted:

Undead could be a Sub-Setting of Lifepaths, but it would be hard. I don't accept that a skeleton can swith paths to become a zombie or even a vampire. Some paths, however, would work very well, like a Liche.

Liche would require a Sorcerer/Summoner/Nigromancer Lifepath before he died. Then he would require a lesser Liche path (Demi-lich?) before taking the Liche path.

[Drozdal]

Liche would require a Sorcerer/Summoner/Nigromancer Lifepath before he died.

That's of course the way it should be.


Then he would require a lesser Liche path (Demi-lich?) before taking the Liche path.

Lesser Lich? Man are we ever gonna break fron those D$D chains? I do not like lesser or demi stuff at all. Maybe we should treat those "lesser" (GAH!) liches as liche apprentices (just like the mages do) - that would be a refreshin stuff after all those i'm uber lich you're no match for me style of liches. And will allow mages to become liche either by force (One who stole secrets of the dead (by killing him yes - undead killer :P), found way to become one in nigromatic book or whatever) or by hard work (apprenticeship in a service of liche).

And i like idea that also Sorcerer/Summoner can take liche dead-path, so that will also allow those "magic" users to extend their life in this practical way :P (and in the same way it will kick in the ass that nonsense that all liches are evil/bad/need to be killed ones - they might be targets for other power hungry wizards [to get appritenceship or to rob liches of thieir secret of life extension]. It's not bad to want to extend your life, but it might drive you mad/become your obsession (because we have to get also those bad ones :P)

And what about great-wolves, and great spiders (and whatever new race with magic-user will develop)? They also should get an access to undead magic-user DP right?

Dro

(Reincarnating this thread from the ashes - coz i have to know!)

[BOBDOTCOMMIE]

FIRST OFF DEMI-LICHS ARE END OF THE LINE FOR LICHS ..... MORE SPIRIT THAN PHYSICAL , and great job on the werewolf lps.as for PC/NPC i kinda prefer folklore myself and vampires and werewolfs are complex enough to work as characters if ya want .... the question is do you want that to occur... when you taste the forbidden fruit , and starts to lose its luster ( although gaian eco-terrorists was a fun spin ). i think the transform should be start will as well, otherwise a great first draft.