Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

216
Chapter IV: Storytelling and Antagonists
PACK
The pack is the most important element of werewolf
society. Tribes inform a werewolf’s approach to tending his
territory and provide him some spiritual guidance, but when
the blood hits the walls, his pack is all he can rely on. A
pack is closer than blood ties, closer than friends or lovers.
The pack members likely live together or in close proximity
to one another. They spend much of their time with one
another and owe loyalty to the other members that exceeds
their loyalty to their families. It’s worth playing up the pack
aspect of the game, as it’s one of the key thematic elements
of Werewolf: The Forsaken. People notice the fact that
the werewolves hang out in this “gang,” and they comment
and react accordingly. If the local people are familiar
with the pack, and they see one member of it, they’ll be on
the lookout for the rest. Lovers and friends might secretly
resent the closeness that the pack members share, without
understanding what it’s all about. Ironically, this distrust or
jealousy only drives the pack members closer together. Still,
that’s exactly what you’re trying to do.
Things don’t always go according to plan, however,
and you might find yourself in a position where the pack
starts to fall apart through the course of natural roleplaying.
What should you do then?
PACK DISUNIT Y
It’s often said that the worst thing that members of a
pack of werewolves can do is turn bloodily on each another.
Protecting a territory from intrusions from the spirit world
is grueling work even for unified packmates. Packmates who
are constantly at each others’ throats are in for a very hard
time indeed. Don’t hesitate to inflict the consequences of
pack disunity on the characters. Their neighbors will quickly
scent trouble brewing and start making incursions into
the characters’ territory, checking to see if those incursions
could become permanent. The murderous soldiers of the
Pure Tribes will seize the opportunity to divide and conquer
the pack in final fashion. Even more spirits might take the
opportunity to cross the Gauntlet and ride a host while the
werewolves are distracted with their internal problems. The
results of a split in a pack become evident in the declining
health of the territory. If the pack gets its act together, it
has some major challenges ahead of it. More to the point, if
the characters can no longer work together, it’s likely they’ll
bring down the whole edifice of the story with them. Of
course, some internal conflict is virtually necessary — a
pack that gets along perfectly is boring — but if the conflict
has gone beyond roleplaying spice into a real threat to the
continued chronicle, it’s time to take action.
So, what can you do to help bring the pack members
back into alignment with one another? The quick answer
is to give them an immediate threat to deal with. Nothing
focuses the minds of players toward working together faster
than a very real threat to the survival of their characters.
If there’s a fight in the offing, it’s surprising how quickly
quarrels disappear in favor of combat. If the combat hints
at a greater problem, so much the better. With a meatier
problem to chew on, the players should quickly set aside
the worst parts of the divisive internal conflict.
If worse comes to worst, though, take the players in
question aside and talk to them about the issues out of
character. Werewolf focuses on the idea of a pack working
together to protect a mutual territory, at least to the extent
that the players agree on what they mean by “protect.” If
that doesn’t prove attractive to some (or all) of the players,
it’s possible that they’ve misunderstood the game entirely
and would actually be happier playing something else.
It’s better to find that out quickly, rather than letting the
chronicle die a slow, lingering death.
PACK HIERARCHY
The one exception to the rule of pack unity is struggling
to establish the pack’s hierarchy. Each pack needs a leader,
even if leadership rotates in an established pattern. Often
the leader just emerges through the course of play, and that’s
a perfectly acceptable route to take. Some players, however,
want to act out more wolf-like games of dominance and
submission between members of the pack, which is equally
acceptable. You need to be sure, though, that all the players
are comfortable with this sort of struggle happening between
their characters and that they’re able to leave the antagonism
at the table when the game session’s over.
AUSPICES
One crucial element of pack life is the auspices of
the characters. When it’s working well, a pack should
naturally defer to the werewolf who’s most skilled in the
particular field at hand. For example, if it’s trying a peaceful
negotiation with spirits, the pack defers to the Elodoth.
If it needs to infiltrate an organization or sabotage an
establishment, the Irraka is the natural choice. You should
encourage this sort of behavior by creating situations that
favor one auspice or another and spreading these opportunities
equally among the players.
Werewolf is a game with a heavy element of combat.
If you let the balance slip too far in favor of combat, however,
you also tilt the fun toward the players with Rahu
characters. All werewolves are creatures of battle, but the
Rahu are the elite forces, the Uratha whose whole life is
dedicated to becoming the best warriors and tacticians
they can possibly be. Your chronicle will be more enjoyable
for all the players involved if you build in a range of
challenges that suit the different roles the auspices play.
There’s no guarantee that the players will take you up on
all of the possibilities you offer them, but as long as you
keep presenting them throughout the chronicle, every
character can have his turn in the spotlight.
Naturally, this advice assumes that you have enough
players to create at least one character per auspice in a pack.
While building a five-werewolf pack in which each auspice
is represented is ideal, though, doing so isn’t strictly necessary
— especially if you don’t have at least five players in
your game. If you have too few werewolves on hand, you can