Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

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Chapter IV: Storytelling and Antagonists
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
If you’re lucky enough that your chronicle becomes so
popular with your players that it lasts for more than a few
stories, it needs to change and develop over time. So far
we’ve mainly looked at running a chronicle in its early stages.
What other aspects come into play as the chronicle progresses?
How can you inject variety into your Storytelling without
losing sight of what made the game so enjoyable in the first
place? In short, how can you make sure that your story and
your Storytelling skills progress as the chronicle develops?
GAINING TERRITORY
The most obvious change in a Werewolf chronicle as
time passes is the slow expansion of the pack’s
territory. As the characters grow in strength and
ability, they should be able to claim and protect
more land, and possibly begin to take territory
from other werewolves around them. This is
great news. It gives the players a profound sense
of accomplishment and creates a whole world
of possibilities for you. New territory means
new locations, new plots and new characters
with whom to interact. The physical and spirit
worlds of the new territory offer you the chance
to develop your story and add more menacing
antagonists and unfamiliar, exciting locations.
Unlike the pack’s initial territory, you alone
should create any new territory. It should feel alien
and unfamiliar to both players and characters, which
is best achieved by creating it yourself. That way, you
can surprise them. They might have an idea of what
they’re taking on before they claim the territory, but
if they’ve been foolish enough to claim their new turf
without scouting it out first, you can throw a few unpleasant
surprises into the local populace or spirit world.
Each new street they walk down, every new valley they
explore, is a place full of strange and unfamiliar scents,
sounds, inhabitants and threats. That’s a lot for the
characters to explore and tame, and they should never
feel that it’s straightforward. Make sure that the spiritual
and mundane threats are very different from the ones they
faced in their original territory.
You can also inject variety by including whole new types
of landscape into your chronicle. Has the pack’s territory
been mainly rural up until now? Well, now include the outskirts
of a city as part of the new territory. Suddenly the pack
has to deal with city-dwelling people and spirits. The latter in
particular are very different from their rural cousins, presenting
a whole new challenge for the werewolves. The city also
brings the chance of encounters with a whole other group
of supernaturals: vampires. The blood-drinkers are also territorial
creatures, dependent upon the people of their turf
for their nightly sustenance. Vampires have supernatural
powers of their own, they often travel in groups, and they
can be a significant threat in combat. While it’s possible
for werewolves and vampires to negotiate and co-exist,