I love werewolves.  They've been my favorite monster since I was a wee Gothling, and I have used some variation of them as villains at some stage of almost every RPG I've ever run.  Needless to say, I was excited about White Wolf's Werewolf: The Apocalypse when I first heard about it.  A game where you get to play the werewolf?  Sign me up!

Then, I read it.  Meh.  It wasn't bad, exactly; and I did actually play it a bit, and had a good time.  It just wasn't what I wanted in a werewolf-as-PCs RPG.

Werewolf: The Forsaken wasn't an improvement, in my opinion.  I never gave it a second look.

Ever since being exposed to W:tA, I'd been percolating ideas about what I did want in a werewolf-as-PC RPG.  But I never really did anything with those ideas, because I had no real incentive (to my mind, anyway).

Well, now the topic has come up, rather whimsically, in this thread about why White Wolf never had any real competition.  And suddenly, my nascent werewolf ideas won't leave me alone about it.

So, I've been compiling notes over the last few days, and am considering making a small project out of it.  And I figured I'd share some of the ideas, to get some feedback and gauge potential interest.

Right now, I'm just titling this game idea "Wolf Men."  I'm sure something better will come along as I think about it further.

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Everything you think you know about werewolves is wrong.

Silver weapons.  The full moon.  The wolfsbane's bloom.

That's all wrong. It was made up in Hollywood when Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay for The Wolf Man in 1941.

It's all bullshit.

No one becomes a wolf-folk who doesn't want to be one, or who wasn't chosen for it, or who wasn't born that way.

Well, almost no one...

That little movie from 1941 created a whole new mythology about werewolves, one that almost completely changed the way humanity sees us.  It was so effective, most people today have no idea that these "ancient myths" are a modern fabrication, and that the real stories have almost completely faded from human memory.

Of course, that's exactly how we wanted it.

And I'm not telling you this so you can get rich, kiddo.  There ain't gonna be no Interview With The Werewolf.  At least, not coming from you.

I'm letting you in on our little secret because someone pegged you as deserving of the honor.  Or as being useful to us in some way.  Or both.  Heck, maybe you're a long-lost scion of one of the great families.  I don't really care.  I'm just here to finish what that wolf who bit you the other night started.

Welcome to the pack.  And don't worry your head so much.  I can tell you from experience, sometimes the best gift is the one you never wanted.

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WOLF-MEN: An RPG about lycanthropy and its discontents

Like the fellow said, almost no one becomes a wolf man who doesn't want to be one, or who wasn't chosen for the honor, or who wasn't born that way.

There are four basic ways to become a werewolf.

1) The ancient Úlfhednar ritual, which requires a mortal human to don the pelt of a wolf.  Given the precarious status of wolves in the modern world, this type is exceedingly rare.  It is widely believed that most of the great families were founded in this way during prehistoric times, even though they actively punish the practice now.  Most men who carry out this ritual (and they are almost always men) actually know little of werewolf existence before performing it on themselves, and they are the most likely to become the classic rampaging werewolf of legend.

2) Selection and conversion by one of the great werewolf families.  A human who does something to distinguish him or herself in their eyes will often be "marked" by the bite of a werewolf.  They then become a mundane "lycanthrope," a human possessed by a wolf-spirit and whom most others will think is simply mentally ill.  The marked one is closely watched, and if they have the will to master the spirit within them and retain their sanity, they will be brought into the family, often against their wishes.  The conversion is completed by drinking an alchemical mixture prepared by a practitioner of wolfssegen, the witchcraft of werewolves.  Those who refuse the offer are either killed or, more frequently in these modern times, released back into the world as a mad-person, their reputation destroyed by the machinations of the great families.  Many such rejects eventually succumb wholly to madness, and become cannibalistic serial murderers.  But a few maintain their hold on their minds, and become something else entirely.

3) Birthright.  When two werewolves mate, their child will become a werewolf at puberty.  Needless to say, this is often a traumatic experience for the child, especially if their true nature has been kept from them for some reason.  This, today, is the most common werewolf origin, and even though the great families try to keep breeding under tight control, there are more than a few parents who birth a child in secret and then drop her off at an orphanage.  They plan to watch her from afar and initiate her when the time is right, but werewolves lead violent lives, and their plans don't always work out.

4) Curse.  On rare occasions, a powerful witch will lay a curse upon a particularly depraved human, or one who has committed some grave offense.  This spell instantly turns the target into the classic ravenous werewolf of legend, who will then have to be hunted and destroyed by the great families... along with the witch who cursed them.  But the great families, for all their influence and power, cannot be everywhere at once, and some of the cursed slip through the cracks.

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The origins of werewolfism are lost to the mists of prehistory, but the great families promulgate the idea that the first of their kind were created to shepherd and protect humanity, to keep them strong by culling the sick, weak, and depraved.  Each of the great families has a different idea about what sorts of obligations this imposes upon them, and about what sort of social structure this requires.  But there are two broad camps.

The first school of thought, held by the majority of families, teaches that humans were tamed by wolves, who taught them the ways of pastoralism, consensus-building, and nuclear families led by a mated pair, much the way normal wolves behave in the wild.  These werewolves are highly social creatures who value individual humans for their own sake, and feel an obligation to protect and nurture them wherever possible.  This does not mean, of course, that undeserving humans are free from the werewolves' wrath; but in general, families from this school of thought try to work within human communities as much as possible.  Packs from within these families are often led by a mated pair, or a pair who are "intended" for each other.

The second broad school of thought holds that ancient humans tamed wolves by forcing them into the primate system of "alphas" and ruthless, powerful single leaders.  They insist that the first werewolves claimed the power of the greatest wolf "alphas" as their own, leaving the rest of the species to make do with mated pair leaders and a more egalitarian social structure that ultimately led them to their current precarious state.  Werewolf families who follow this philosophy are almost uniformly patriarchal and controlled by a single powerful male, as are the packs that come from these families.  They place a high value on feats of strength and daring, contests of violence, and other "tough guy" displays as methods of settling a dispute.

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All werewolves crave raw meat, human flesh most of all. The less they resist this urge, the more monstrous they become, descending towards the lone monster of legend.  But they must also have raw meat regularly if they are to avoid madness.  During fights, it is extremely difficult for them to resist eating their enemies.

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When working groups, wolf-folk often come under the sway of a pack consciousness greater than the sum of its parts.  Disturbingly, this gestalt mind feels like a separate entity to them, with its own desires, motives, etc.  Often, it amplifies their craving for human flesh.  They have to roll dice to resist it, especially during times of great stress.

This is one of the main reasons werewolves avoid working in packs whenever they can, as they feel it's giving up too much of their free will.  Still, it is necessary quite often.

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There is a strong historical connection between werewolves and witchcraft. Wolf-folk have their own witchcraft traditions, called wolfssegen, and rarely "cross-over" with traditional witchery.  Nonetheless, they tend feel a great affinity for witches, as both were persecuted during the Middle Ages and Inquisition times.

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Werewolves who die with too much corruption marking their souls will rise from the dead as vampires!  Indeed, this is the origin of vampirism in this setting.

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Character options:
-- full werewolves, the default PC type; living under a "masquerade" (ahem) and operating secretly among humans.  They struggle to guide humanity to whatever higher purpose their family promotes, while trying to keep their cannibalistic tendencies in check.  To be able to access or improve their werewolf abilities, however, they must regularly consume raw flesh, and human flesh gives them the biggest boost.
-- "lycanthropes"; humans possessed by a wolf-spirit whom they have mastered; they can channel its abilities (enhanced sense of smell, night vision, the language of howls, etc.) for their own ends.
-- foundlings; orphaned humans initiated into werewolf society as servants, kept in line with the offer of potential werewolf status. Foundlings are often placed in positions of influence among humans, to better enable the werewolf families to promote their agendas.

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THREATS:
Werewolf hunters & rogue werewolves
Witches
Vampires
Rival werewolf families
Demons & evil spirits
Disembodied Pack Minds, looking to usurp established packs

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SYSTEM:  ?
-- -- The game should emphasize solo play, with one player and a GM, to emulate the classic wolf man of legend. -- --

Would be fun to design a new one based on d6 pools: roll Xd6 and count only the single highest die.  The harder the challenge, the more dice subtracted from the pool, while bonuses can add dice to it.  Character abilities rated on a scale that determines default number of dice they roll -- poor = 0d6, below average = 1d6, average = 2d6, above average = 3d6, excellent = 4d6.

On the highest die itself, the face value has a meaning like so: 1 = abject failure, with consequences for the character; 2-3 = simple failure, with few if any further complications; 4 = partial success, with annoying complications; 5 = full success, no complications or bonuses; 6 = dramatic success, with chance for player to simply dictate the outcome of their action.

I like the premise. I really do.

But what is it that the PCs actually do?

I like the idea of a werewolf game that isn't too balanced. Not just different werewolf tribes who are roughly balanced, but different werewolf breeds or races who all bring something different to the table. That part I like. But what do they do? I presume you don't want it that focused on pack-based hunting, because that's what WW is doing. Maybe go for the broad approach?

One idea I liked is in the upcoming game Fae Nightmares; it will probably have random encounter generators, not only for combat, but also for social interaction and investigation. I like that idea, because my urban fantasy games are usually a mix between intrigue, combat and investigation. And I love random generators. They really help me as a GM with making quests. Much more so than the WW approach of writing a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. And themes ...

Well, just have to wait and see how that game turns out.

Well, I'm trying to work out an angle that focuses on solo play, or at least a GM and one player.  Most werewolf tales, ancient and modern, feature the werewolf as a lone character, and I think doing something with that would be lots of fun.

What do they do?

Protect humanity by hunting down threats to it, or from within it, however they define that.  The families would be provided as context, to give players some ideas for different approaches and philosophies to "protection."  This could be anything from demon-hunting, vigilantism, super-heroism, espionage, whatever the player and GM find interesting.

They'd also protect the werewolf "masquerade" (ahem) by eliminating or discrediting those who threaten to expose it, be they human hunters or other werewolves, or whatever.

And of course, there's the classic CYA or on-the-run scenario, where you're being hunted by an angry mob and its savvy leaders. It might be fun to whip a community up into werewolf fever while trying to throw suspicion onto your targets instead of yourself.

Werewolf PCs would be expected to act alone, but ideally remain affiliated with one of the families for legitimacy.  Pack dynamics would be inherently risky, and used only in overwhelming emergencies.  It's included because most RPGs have more than one PC, so the background would be there for those who want it.

Anyway, this is all very nascent right now, as I am focusing on the project in my sig.

Quote from: jan paparazzi;848639One idea I liked is in the upcoming game Fae Nightmares; it will probably have random encounter generators, not only for combat, but also for social interaction and investigation. I like that idea, because my urban fantasy games are usually a mix between intrigue, combat and investigation. And I love random generators. They really help me as a GM with making quests. Much more so than the WW approach of writing a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. And themes ...

I like the idea of random generators, too.  I think it would suit a solo PC game very well.

Thinking about it more, I've decided that when/if I go on to develop this further, I would definitely make it an RPG that emphasizes a single PC and a GM, with multi-player groups being only an option.

I'd call it something like "I, Werewolf" or "I, Wolf Man," and peg it as an "investigative action-horror" game.

A RPG focused on 1-on-1 play! Intriguing. Looking forward to more information.

Quote from: The Butcher;848959A RPG focused on 1-on-1 play! Intriguing. Looking forward to more information.

It really suits the genre, I think.  Most classic werewolf tales feature a lone monster against a community or a set of hunters.  Telling that story from the other side in a 1-on-1 format fits like a glove.

It wasn't really until the 80s that werewolf packs became a popular part of the story tradition.  I wouldn't ignore pack dynamics, of course, but also wouldn't make them the focus of the game.  If nothing else, a 1-on-1 style would set mine apart from the White Wolf yardstick.