This is the information players in our Saturday game will need to create a character.
Untitled Werewolf Game
Here in this message is hopefully enough information to get you started on creating your Werewolf character for Saturday's game. There should be downtime while each player gets a run-though prelude, so if you don't have the book or you need help, there should be a little time to work in. Even so, please have an idea of what kind of character you want to play.
If you have questions feel free to forward them to Dave or me. Dave may have something to add here that I forgot, or I may have left something on here that should have been removed, like the restrictions/bonuses section.
As Larry mentioned during the last game: Generally speaking, if you have to ask if something is "alright", then it's probably not and assume so. Just follow the basic rules and don't cheese. Rank 3 is badass enough for this campaign.
Character Construction
Characters should be constructed as normal for beginning characters with the following restrictions:
- No player may take the Totem background.
- No player may take the Fetish background.
- No Ability may be higher than 3 (as per standard rules).
After the initial characters are created, 112 experience points should be allotted to each character to bring their abilities on par with that of a more experienced Garou.
Set the character's rank at 3, but allot enough permanent renown to yourself to be considered rank 4. The promotion to rank 4 will occur in the first game session. Note: You may not buy rank 4 gifts at character creation!
Attributes automatically granted to players after character construction (after additional xp allotment):
- Every player gets Totem 4.
- Every player gets Cosmology +1.
- Every player gets the Sense Wyrm gift.
- All Lupus players get Etiquette 3.
Additional Restrictions:
- Resources may not be above 3.
- Tribe may not be Silver Fang
Keep these things in mind for your character:
- What is the worst thing your character has ever done?
- To whom of the sept do you most owe respect, if anyone?
- Do you keep a permanent kinfolk family? Where do they reside?
- Have a reasonable idea of who in the sept your character knows (see below).
Be prepared to discuss your ideas for the following with the pack:
- Pack name
- Origin of pack - How did you come together?
- Pack totem - The pack will maintain a shrine to this totem, which will be the place where the pack gathers for important events.
A clarification on how Sense Wyrm will work for this game:
Sense Wyrm works in a general sense. Characters will get a sense of depth and duration, but not explicit direction. For example, if standing alone in a room with a single person, then that person is likely the origin of a strong-smelling Wyrm taint, unless the taint has a lingering scent to it, in which case the taint may simply be a part of the room or a remnant of past visitors to the room.
Story Background
The beginning of this story takes place at a cairn. The Sept of the Wolf Daughter keeps this cairn free from the Wyrm that encroaches from Denver to the north and Colorado Springs to the East.
The Sept of the Wolf Daughter
The cairn of the Sept of the Wolf Daughter ("Honi Natane" in Arapaho) is located on 1100 acres of land about 40 miles southwest of Denver, Colorado sharing an edge with Cheesman Lake. At its widest, the bawn stretches 1.3 miles across, and contains approximately 1.5 square miles of mountainous wilderness.
The cairn takes its name from the Garou-born daughter of two wolves whose birth was attended by a member of the Arapaho nation in the dead of winter. These wolves did not realize their Garou lineage, and when the Arapaho kinfolk noted this, he informed the local Garou of the nature of the birth. Those who investigated found this particular part of the wilderness to be very close to the spirit world, and so they invested the resources necessary to enact a Rite of Cairn Building.
Fortunately for the Talons enacting the rite, Simurgh took the position as the cairn’s totem, and the cairn has since become known as a cairn of Primal-Urge (Wisdom). Red Talons initially settled the cairn, although the sept has expanded to include many other tribes, simply due to the need of new recruits to guard the bawn from urban development or Wyrm invasion.
Through the years, the size of the bawn and the sept grew as the wolves made names for themselves defending the cairn from attack and taking down infestations of the Wyrm wherever they were found. The cairn is noted for its steadfastness against the encroachment of man and civilization, even in the heights of the mountainous forest where it lies. Also of note is the tenacity of spirit of those within the cairn, and their willingness to work together in spite of their Tribal differences.
Elder, "Ancient-Ways"
Lupus, Philodox, Red Talon, Rank 6
In spite of his age, Ancient-Ways is one of the most virile members of the sept. His intent is for the sept to cooperate to back the forces of the Wyrm out of the Rockies’ wilderness. Unlike most Red Talons, he realizes that trying to rid the world of humans would be an outright waste of energy when so many more potent sources of the Wyrm need to be fought back. And not every human is a Wyrm host; on the contrary, the wolf population is growing thin, and without the embellishment of the human kinfolk for breeding stock, the Garou could themselves be a dying breed.
He will always act in the best interests of the cairn and its sept first, since they are his charge. His word is taken as law, and is the only member of the sept whose word might be more potent than that of Many-Shadows, the cairn Warder.
Appearance:
The red of his coat and lack of any sign of mange or tatter speak excellently of his breeding. He does not show any of the signs of age as does his fellow elder Wisest-Of-Cedars, though he does show the wisdom.
Elder, Ella "Sky Wanderer" Roland
Homid, Galliard, Shadowlord, Rank 5
Ella is a well renowned elder amongst the sept of the Wolf’s Daughter, although there was some turmoil when she first took office, having been chosen over all Red Talon candidates and being a homid. None of the available Red Talons were of high enough rank, so there really was no option.
Elder, "Wisest-of-Cedars"
Lupus, Theurge, Red Talon, Rank 5
Wisest-of-Cedars is getting on in years, and he has come to the decision that he must put himself out of the sept for its own good and the upkeep of the litany. The withering of age has set in, and he is no longer able to fight like he used to, or recall all the names of the spirits he knew in his youth. When he steps down from the elder position in the sept, a vacancy will open allowing, most likely, a non-Red Talon Garou to take his place, thus upsetting the dominance of Red Talon elders for the first time in the Cairn’s history.
Appearance:
The old wolf still has some red in his fur, but is dull amongst the grey that now dominates his coat. He shows a limp in his right-front paw, and he has an enormous scar down his left side.
Cairn Warder, Stephen "Many Shadows" Cox
Homid, Ahroun, Wendigo, Rank 5
It is unusual for a Wendigo to find itself this far south, however, early during Cox’s travels with his pack in aid of his tribe’s cause, he found himself at the mercy of the Wyrm. His pack mates were killed, but before the life-rending blow could be struck upon him, three wolves darted out from the wilderness and attacked. Passed out from exhaustion, he awoke in the Wolf Daughter’s Cairn the next morning. He was nurtured back to health, although not before vowing his loyalty to his rescuers and to their sept. Since that day, he has served with the Sept of the Wolf Daughter, and has eventually come to think of it not just as his home, but where he belongs.
The Red Talon elders see his position as Cairn Warder a boon, since most of those in the Red Talon tribe who are worthy of the post would sooner kill every hiker that passed near the bawn rather than maintain the secrecy of the cairn and the veil. Even so, Cox would not allow trespassers on the bawn and at the word of the Elders, humans who stray erringly onto sept land will be dealt with in the fashion for which the Talons are well known. Many Shadows’ word is beyond reproach. Most of the Red Talons overlook their prejudices toward homids when recalling this honorable Garou.
Appearance:
A tall, white-haired, white-bearded man, Many Shadows body looks as though it had been chiseled from rocks by the hands of stone giants. The skin of his exposed face and hands shows signs of weathering typical to exposure to sand, wind, and sun, but one look from his steely grey eyes confirms any suspicion that he tamed and swallowed all three. He is typically seen carrying a large fetish hammer, which he has used on occasion to slay three men with a single blow. In Crinos form, his white hair covers his entire body in as brilliant a coat as a newly fallen snow.
Rite Master, Helen "Bear-Charmer" Jameson
Homid, Theurge, Shadowlord, Rank 4
Master of the Challenge, Andrew "Snuffs-the-Wyrm" Hart
Homid, Ragabash, Shadowlord, Rank 4
Jared "Walks-In-Mist" Beckett
Homid, Theurge, Shadowlord, Rank 2, Rolling Bolder Pack
Appearance:
Jared is short and spindly, and if you didn’t know he was a werewolf, you’d think he didn’t have the strength to lift 50lbs. His hair has been left to grow, and his deep, dark brown eyes complete a picture of a man who has spent most of his life laboring over mountainous country.
Grins-in-Moonlight
Lupus, Philodox, Red Talon, Rank 1, Rolling Boulder Pack
Grins is a recently accomplished rank 1 Philodox that is always ready to serve his new pack. So much so that he allows himself to be walked on easily. Although he cares a lot for his fellow pack mates, he sometimes lets that love get in the way of his moon-granted Philodox judgment.
Appearance:
Grins-in-Moonlight doesn’t just grin in the moonlight; he seems to grin all the time. The left side of his lips was injured in a fight with a wild animal before his first change, leaving him with a scar that curls his lip into a grin. He seems more jovial than a Philodox, and is sometimes mistaken by nose-inhibited homids as a Ragabash. His fur is a dark brown with red highlights. The size of his frame makes him look almost like a small bear.
Blades-of-Fire
Lupus, Ahroun, Red Talon, Rank 1, Rolling Boulder Pack
Blades-of-Fire is an able fighter, but only Gaia knows why she was accepted into the tribe of Red Talons, with her tendency toward hanging around with homids.
William "Oaken-Might" Trapper
Homid, Galliard, Shadowlord, Rank 2, Rolling Boulder Pack
Oaken-Might is a strong storyteller, and a lively singer of boisterous voice. He enjoys the hunt and regales the tales of both the successes and the ones that got away to the sept’s delight. He has a tendency to babble both when he has a focused purpose and in casual conversation.
Oaken-Might and his kinfolk wife, Sarah, work at the nearby fossil yard during the day to pay for his off-cairn home.
Cairn Guardian, James "Storms-Of-War" Campbell
Homid, Ahroun, Shadowlord, Rank 3
Appearance:
Storms-of-War gets his name from the rain-like streaks of white that appear in his dark black fur when he is in Crinos form.
