Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

THE PACK
Like wolves, werewolves run in packs. Like their
human and wolf kin, werewolves are social creatures, and
all feel some desire to run with a group of peers who accept
them for what they are. It is expected of the Uratha.
Luna’s gift of auspices reaches its full potential only when
werewolves gather in packs. But most of all, werewolves
are strongest when they’re together. A pack can do things
that no single werewolf could accomplish on his own.
The strength of the pack bond can be difficult to
roleplay at first, but as the characters undergo more trials
and hardships, they come to rely on one another more
heavily than they do on their own flesh and blood. Not all
pack members might actually like each other, or agree on
everything, but it’s important that they share a common
bond of respect. Otherwise, they won’t be able to tackle
their common goals, motivations and obstacles efficiently.
The pack is the heart of your chronicle. Characters
can join or die, but the pack remains. Because of its
nature, it’s extremely important that the players agree on
the sort of pack they want to play, as it directly impacts
the kind of stories they play. If a player decides she doesn’t
like her character two stories into a chronicle, it’s easy
enough to let her bring in a new one. If the players don’t
like the pack’s nature, it might be necessary to completely
overhaul the chronicle. The Storyteller and players should
discuss the pack’s general role and what goals it might try
to accomplish during the chronicle. Once the players decide
that, they can decide who fills which roles, and what
kinds of characters they want to bring together.
When creating a pack, players should attempt to answer
several questions ahead of time. It’s optimal to answer
these questions before creating characters or playing the
prelude, but pack specifics can be revised afterward. The
important thing is to establish a firm pack concept to give
each character context.
• Where is the pack based? — What territory does
the pack claim? Where does it range? Does it even claim
territory? Do members patrol their territory, or do they
even acknowledge such responsibilities? Do members have
their own homes, or do they live together? Is the pack
urban, rural or wilderness-based?
• How did the pack come together? — Were
members gathered by elders who wanted to see them
united? Did one member recruit the others? Did some pack
members know one another before the First Change? How
long have they been working together? Are some members
newer than others?
• Who, if anyone, is the pack alpha? — Who makes
decisions? Does leadership rotate according to the situation?
How was the alpha chosen?
• What is the pack’s totem? — Why do they follow
this totem? Did it choose them, or did they choose it?
• Does the pack have friends and allies? — What
people consider the pack as a whole, rather than just a few
members, friends? Are they wolf-blooded? Other werewolves?
Spirits? Other supernatural beings? Does the pack protect
them?
• What about enemies? — Does the pack have any
enemies? Who are they, and why do they hate the pack?
What are their motivations? Are they werewolves? If not,
what are they? Why does the pack have reason to fear
them?
EXAMPLE OF CHARACTER
CREATION
Michelle has just invited Jack and four other friends to
participate in her Werewolf chronicle. Michelle tells them
the chronicle will be set in the World of Darkness version
of their own hometown, centering on the college campus
from which they all just graduated. She tells them that recent
deaths and the resulting shifting of local pack territories
has opened up an unclaimed territory in the middle of the
campus community. As part of an arrangement between
the local established packs, a pack of werewolves who have
only recently gone through the First Change and completed
their Rites of Initiation are going to be put in charge of the
unclaimed territory. Jack and the other players are going to be
taking on the roles of that new pack.
The only limitations Michelle puts on character
creation at this stage is that she wants one werewolf of
each auspice present in the pack and she wants relatively
inexperienced starting characters. Other than that, questions
of tribe, age, race, gender and whatnot are at the
players’ discretion. Jack uses Michelle’s copy of the World
of Darkness Rulebook and his own copy of Werewolf:
The Forsaken to get started.
STEP ONE: CONCEPT
The first thing Jack does is come up with a general
concept of who his character is. He brainstorms some
ideas and jots them down as they occur to him. His preliminary
ideas include “campus cop,” “disgraced athlete,”
“know-it-all townie,” “cool professor” and “harried grad
student.” He talks them over with the other players and
with Michelle, and between them, they all agree on “campus
cop” as a good starting point for the character. The
other concepts are either ones that the other players are
considering or ones that Michelle had already intended to
represent with Storyteller characters.
From there, Jack decides that his character is a recent
graduate from the university who graduated with no clear idea
what he wanted to do with his life. Nearing desperation as
various credit card and student-loan bills started to come due,
he applied with the campus police station and was eventually
hired. He’d begun to lose contact with his college friends
who’ve graduated and moved away, though, and he’s beginning
to wonder if he’s going to be stuck in this town forever.
STEP TWO: AT TRIBUTES
The next step is to start fleshing that character out
with game traits — the most important of which are At-
Character Creation
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