Houses of the Moon

You asked for it, you got it. Tribes won out by 44 to 12. A stronger showing for Wolf-Blooded, which is good — don’t worry about what the majority wants, vote with your heart. A reminder: something that loses a vote will still come up in the blog. It’s just going to take a while.

Tribe is a big part of being a werewolf. Through the lens of The Wolf Must Hunt, they’re slightly awkward; both tribe and Auspice answer the question of “how you hunt”. Tribe speaks to the werewolf’s character while her Auspice is a duty passed down from the moon, but though they approach the question from different angles, they answer the same question.

We’re shifting the focus of tribes towards answering a related question: “What do you hunt?” Auspice answers “how”, and tribe answers “what.” Each tribe has chosen their own prey, the prey that they consider the most dangerous threat in the world. When a werewolf marshals her pack against her chosen prey, it’s Siskur-Dah, not just a hunt but a duty, a sacred thing.

  • Blood Talons know that the most dangerous prey is other werewolves. They believe that the true hunt is the challenge of matching wits and teeth and claws against another of their kind. Often, they hunt the Pure — often, but not always.
  • Bone Shadows know that the most dangerous prey comes from the Shadow. They believe that the true hunt is continuing the duty left by urfarah, hunting spirits that do not remain where Father Wolf decreed they should.
  • Hunters in Darkness know that the most dangerous prey is the Shartha. They believe that the true hunt is tracking down these mockeries of flesh and spirit — and possibly doing what urfarah could not.
  • Iron Masters know that the most dangerous prey is humanity. They believe that the true hunt is as much against institutions and groups as it is people — though they’re happy to tear out throats when the time comes.
  • Storm Lords know that the most dangerous prey is the Urged and Claimed. They believe that the true hunt is to harry these unholy blends of flesh and spirit. it’s not always easy to see who is Urged, but the Iminir always seem to know. 

A werewolf’s tribe doesn’t have a formal organization; like all of uratha society a tribe is secondary to the pack. Tribe members take brief breaks from their packs to meet with one another. While the power of the tribe comes from the firstborn who blesses it, the organization among werewolves is bottom-up, decentralized cells that come together to trade information and share secrets.

As I intimated in the comments last week: Ghost Wolves aren’t a tribe, not really. Each tribe has their own prey and their own sacred hunt, their Siskur-Dah. To paraphrase Trainspotting, Ghost Wolves chose not to choose a tribe. They chose something else. What? Well, that’s a question for a different blog post…

This weeks’ music is The Jam’s Eton Rifles. Banding together against a superior foe — that’s the whole point of the tribes.

Let’s have a change of pace. Both of the questions so far have had one “big” thing, something that most people latch on to. This week, I’m going with an even playing-field. Lodges or Wolf-Blooded?


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122 responses to “Houses of the Moon”

  1. Arcane Avatar
    Arcane

    1) I like the greater distinction and breakdown of the Tribes. They now feel much more wholly their own rather than an extension of Auspices.
    2)I don’t how you could make the Iron Masters any cooler, but you did it. That is freaking awesome!
    3)Wolf-Blooded!

    1. Two-Bears-High-Fiving Avatar
      Two-Bears-High-Fiving

      I love focusing and differentiating the tribes SO MUCH, but I don’t think “what you hunt” is the way to do it (not that I expect/hope someone reads this and then tears the setting bible in half). It’s so… tunnel-vision. The tribes disagree on which one of murderous threats arranged against them is the MOST dangerous? When a group of Claimed has a pack cornered in a farmhouse does the Blood Talon say to each others, “Hey. They’ve killed Alice and Jim and they’ve started throwing Molotovs in here, but at least they aren’t other werewolves, am I right?”

      It also says so little about a werewolf. If you got 100 people and asked them if humans, werewolves, spirits, urged or hosts were the biggest threat, I wouldn’t join a tribe with everyone else that chose spirits. I’d join a tribe with the people that shares my values, outlooks and beliefs about how we should live. Picking the same “favoured enemy” isn’t going to help me figure out who those people are. MAYBE we’ll have similar reasoning behind our choices, but that’s it.

      Could someone please show me the potential here? I bet getting on the idigam chronicles bandwagon is more fun than being an edition grump.

      1. Stew Avatar
        Stew

        Who the tribe hunts, and what their beliefs are about the most dangerous prey is not all that a tribe is. It’s a way of differentiating the tribes, and of informing their character, not all that a tribe is. We’re not making the tribes two-dimensional, we’re adding a new dimension.

      2. Kelly Avatar
        Kelly

        I agree. I think the “what you hunt” is far less important than “why you hunt”. Maybe a better fusion of the two? The later can easily lead into the former.
        “We police the world of humans; which is why we tend to be the best at hunting them.”
        Etc. A subtle focus shift.

  2. amaterasu Avatar
    amaterasu

    Storm Lords seems almost a let-down, and I could see swapping it with Blood Talons, but probably because I like Storm Lords way more than Blood Talons and see them taking the “most dangerous” prey as their own.

    Vote: Wolf-Blooded

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      I buggered up the Storm Lords description — I’ve got three or four full setting bibles in my head. I’ve gone back and fixed it up, hopefully it gives them some more punch.

      1. amaterasu Avatar
        amaterasu

        Yes, much. 🙂

        So the spirit-possessed. I can see them working in tandem with Bone Shadows and Iron Masters in that.

        I like it.

        1. Stew Avatar
          Stew

          Exactly. 🙂

  3. batro Avatar
    batro

    Lodges !

    Can you explain more the goal of the Storm Lords ? Why Urged and Ridden ?

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      As mentioned above, I buggered up the description. I’ve updated it. Hope that helps.

  4. Ramiro Avatar
    Ramiro

    I really like that the concepts are more “focused”… good stuff! I personally would like to read about Lodges sir!! Saludos

  5. darkfool Avatar
    darkfool

    Really enjoying the updates. Thank you. My vote is for wolf blooded please

  6. Ravious Avatar

    Wow! Great re-imagining. I can’t wait to see thoughts on how multi-tribal packs operate.

    I also want to know how Idigam tie in to each tribe’s Siskur-Dah…. since it is the Idigam Chronicle.

    Finally, Lodges!

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      Are you familiar with Iain M. Banks’ work? He has a line near the start of Excession that’s applicable here. 😉

      1. gil.e.deer@gmail.com Avatar
        gil.e.deer@gmail.com

        Oooooh I love the Culture novels. Are the Idigam an Out of Context Problem, then?

  7. Atavist Avatar
    Atavist

    I never wanted to play anything other than a Bone Shadow before, now I can’t decide what I’d like more! Great change.

    One vote for lodges.

  8. shkspr1048 Avatar
    shkspr1048

    Wolf-blooded, all the way!

    Also, if each tribe is at least partially defined by a specific “Most Dangerous Prey”, does that mean new tribes can be created around new types of prey?

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      What makes a tribe is an interesting question, and we do look at some possible answers.

  9. Satchel Avatar
    Satchel

    Lodges.

    Is what makes a magath likely to be given some attention in the book’s explanation of spirits? That’s seemed to be a bit of a tricky border to understand non-holistically.

  10. christian a Avatar
    christian a

    Uh. Can I vote for wolf-blooded lodges?

    Oh, ok then. Wolf-blooded, please.

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      That’s the kinda hard decision I was hoping for. 🙂

  11. AnaMizuki Avatar
    AnaMizuki

    Me like, a lot. Much easier to see how in a society based mostly on induvidual packs, the tribes would be based on an unifying factor like that. It also gives each of Uratha’s foes equal focus.

    Wolf-blooded is my vote.

  12. Belial Avatar
    Belial

    Wolf-blooded, please.

    Also, the prey allocation for the Storm Lords still seems a bit awkward. So when a spirit crosses over, it’s prey for the Bone Shadows, but once it crawls into a human the Bone Shadows lose interest and the Storm Lords perk up?

    1. Arcane Avatar
      Arcane

      Considering that the game is packfocused, it probably actually means that the Bone Shadow was taking the lead on this scenario, but once it became a Spirit-possessed the lead passes to the Lord. You let the expert lead, but the Bone Shadow would still be there helping.

    2. Arcane Avatar
      Arcane

      Considering that the game is pack focused, it probably actually means that the Bone Shadow was taking the lead on this scenario, but once it became a Spirit-possessed the lead passes to the Lord. You let the expert lead, but the Bone Shadow would still be there helping.

    3. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      Not really. Which tribe takes the lead in a given Siskur-Dah is one thing, but a tribe’s chosen prey is a longer-term prospect. Don’t think of the Storm Lords as being the ones who take charge midway through a hunt lead by the Iron Masters or Bone Shadows.

      Think of them as a tribe of George Smileys of the Forsaken, sniffing out spirit cults and those humans who are long-term prospects for spirits, rooting out those spirits that a Bone Shadow would miss and the individual humans that an Iron Master would overlook.

      1. Raymer Avatar
        Raymer

        Sold!

  13. Scarbringer Avatar
    Scarbringer

    I really like it!

    But let me say something about the storm lords:
    each tribe have something to hunt and every prey have something in common with the related tribe, the blood talons fight the pure tribes (they are warrior ok)
    bone shadows take care about the spiritual land (I freaking love the description)
    Hunter in darkness tear apart the sharta (perfect with their tribal ban) and Iron master stalks dangerous human and other ( sounds REALLY awesome).
    And the storm lords… well, they are the ”alphas among the alphas” the warleaders, they are the ”Allow no one to witness or tend your weakness”.. so..
    It will be a more specific correlation between the ridden and the iminir?
    I can understand the other but, for the iminir, WHY they believe that the true hunt is to harry these unholy blends of flesh and spirit ?

    Just a question for my favorite tribe 🙂 . Thanks for your amazing work.

    Wolf blooded next!

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      See my reply above. The Iminir hunt creatures of secrets and lies, shining the truth on conspiracy and warped hybrids.

  14. Growls Avatar
    Growls

    I’ll rather take a look at Lodges

  15. reseru Avatar
    reseru

    Who hunts the Idigam?

    🙂

    1. Arcane Avatar
      Arcane

      You know, it’s funny? I was just asking that.

      1. DaveB Avatar
        DaveB

        The Idigam are an outside context problem.

        1. Ravious Avatar

          Full stop. 🙂

    2. Belial Avatar
      Belial

      The tribe that spent most of recorded history very, very bored.

    3. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      What DaveB said.

  16. Saibot Avatar
    Saibot

    Nice one again! Although I am with some other users here and cannot quite see how it all fits together for the Storm Lords, but I guess this also is because we do not see the whole picture yet.

    Anyway, my vote is for Lodges!

  17. Afro Luigi Avatar
    Afro Luigi

    I’m not a big fan of werewolves myself, but I am enjoying what you guys have been doing with it!

    My vote goes to wolf-blooded!

  18. Octavo Avatar
    Octavo

    I’m very much liking where the Tribes are going. The Iron Masters and Storm Lords are my favorite. 🙂
    Question though: Are the tribes retaining their distinctive oaths?

    I vote for the Wolf-Blooded.

  19. Scarbringer Avatar
    Scarbringer

    What about the pure tribes?

    wolf blooded !

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      The pure tribes are… a different matter

      1. Christian A Avatar
        Christian A

        I would assume that they all hunt werewolves (the Forsaken, to be specific) just as the Blood Talons, with them taking the thematic role of providing the other side of the Werewolf experience and all – but hey, I’m sure you’ve come up with something cool. 🙂

  20. Yossarian Avatar
    Yossarian

    Wolf Blooded!

  21. Charlaquin Avatar
    Charlaquin

    Beautiful! Loving what I’m seeing. Wolf blooded would be great to see next!

  22. Ephsy Avatar
    Ephsy

    Yeah, looks like Storm Lords got the “Hmm, what’s the antagonist we got left? Oh, yes, Ridden” end of the stick.

    For the ones who wanted to give some more focus to straight up human antagonists seems like with the focus of the Iron Masters there it should help.

    Screw Wolfbloods, I wanna see Lodges.

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      I cover some more about the Storm Lords in my reply above.

  23. Dessembrae Avatar
    Dessembrae

    Stew, is there any chance you can throw us rabid (pun intended) werewolf fans a bone and perhaps contribute a bit to our now weekly discussions about these topics in the Werewolf section of the forum? Honestly, we can’t get enough of this stuff 🙂 I blame this all on the developers for throwing us such juicy tidbits.

    Also, I vote for Wolf-Blooded

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      I read the forum when I can, but I’ll try to make a contribution more often than ‘never’.

  24. Phersus Avatar
    Phersus

    I suppose the answer to the question of who hunts the Idigam is all of them, together. As a pack. Your posts are seducing me back into werewolf, Stew. Nice work, great insight, fresh and cool ideas all around.

    My congratulations.

    Also: bring forth those Lodges!

  25. FrancoisCourroux Avatar
    FrancoisCourroux

    And another vote for the Wolf Blooded.

    After all, the wolf is in the blood. So it’s very important to me.

  26. DarkerDaysMike Avatar

    Wolf-Blooded #extraguitarriff

  27. Neall Avatar
    Neall

    Wolf-blooded, absolutely.

  28. Shadowrender Avatar
    Shadowrender

    Sounds really interesting, I’m casting my vote for Lodges.

  29. Seidmadr Avatar
    Seidmadr

    Wolf-Blooded

    Lodges are fun and all, but not really all that important.

  30. Blaque Avatar

    Good update. I like this take on Tribe. It helps make them something besides what felt to some extent a consolidation of Apocalypse Tribes like what Requiem did with Masquerade Clans. The issue is that Tribes were way more culturally based on some level, and the “distilled” nature didn’t help. This plus purposeful avoiding of something like moot made it so that Tribe felt superfluous compared to Auspice or Lodge to me. This helps a bit by adding similar philosophy that Requiem did with Clan. Not making tribes what old Tribes they replaced, but a big part of how you go about being a werewolf (in this case, your prey).

    I do think that Storm Lords feel like they got a bit shorted for some reason. I kind of have this idea that they will be leaders still, and with Hosts, Claimed, and other Uratha being kind of mockeries of flesh with man, I would think on trying to focus on the fact that the Claimed and Touched focus comes from an overall threshold thing. They coordinate others since what they specialize in is a source of two worlds a bit. Keep that leader and pack hunter vibe, but also helping making them not feel like Bone Shadow leftovers.

    As for vote, Lodge.

    And stuff.

    1. Dataweaver Avatar
      Dataweaver

      Could you maybe call them something other than “Tribes”? Because while I like what they do feel like, they don’t feel like tribes.

      Anyway, Lodges.

      1. Stew Avatar
        Stew

        We’re not in a position to change core vocabulary at this point, I’m afraid.

  31. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    I wonder what this means for the Pure… Fire-Touched hunt the heretic, Ivory Claws hunt the impure, Predator Kings hunt…. Everything?

    Lodges were my least favorite part before, so they get my vote now.

    1. Roads Avatar
      Roads

      They hunt the Weak, obviously.

  32. Darksider Avatar
    Darksider

    I’m throwing in a vote for Wolf-blooded also, I’m more interested in updates to that template than seeing how Lodges have been reworked.

  33. Joe B. Avatar
    Joe B.

    Why, oh why, must the majority rule?

    I vote Wolf Blooded.

  34. Exploding Frogs Avatar
    Exploding Frogs

    I like the way that tribes are now not so much like competitive, fractious, territorial…well, tribes, as they are groups of like-minded specialists all basically working on the same team. Like, I get the impression that there’s going to be a lot less “this is our business and our territory. Don’t interfere. You wouldn’t know how to deal with this anyway” and a lot more “Bob, you’re the expert on this. What do? And do your buddies know anything we can use?” Lends itself a lot more readily to mixed-tribe games.

    Also raises the question of whether the Pure Tribes also focus their hunts like this, and if so, what their favored prey are…

    Oh, and my vote goes to Lodges.

  35. hoodedclaw Avatar
    hoodedclaw

    This is great – it really gives a strong focus. But it does seem a touch like a few enemies/threats/prey were left out of the loop. We have

    a)werewolves
    b) shartha
    c) spirits
    d) man
    e) claimed/ridden (but is this not a derivation of threats from the shadow)?

    I see a few threats left out – just to think this through:
    f) other ephemeral beings
    g) other supernatural beings (probably avoided as too focused on crossoer)
    h) the idigam (probably saved as the external big baddy that unites the rest.

    Now – I am sure these were looked at at some early stage – but that the boneshadows have no focus on the (ever expanding) list of ephemeral threats seems slightly at odds with their earlier broad capabilities. And to me – the claimed/ridden seem a factor of spirits – but of course, I haven’t seen how you approach this. From what I have seen so far, it blows me away.

    I do wonder slightly at the choice for the Storm lords. If ridden/claimed were the Bone Shadows purview – & all ephemeral threats – that might free up the Storm Lords to hunt threats amongst both other supernaturals and the idigam? Thus reclaiming the theme of dominance – these being the ultimate threat to werewolf dominance as predators/lords of the hunt?

    I am just working through ideas – this is another book I will buy now. Oh – wolf-blooded.

    hoodedclaw

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      The Idigam are deliberately positioned as an outside context problem. Most other supernatural creatures aren’t prey for werewolves — they do their own thing, and only when they interfere with the Siskur-Dah are they a matter for werewolves.

      I expanded on the Storm Lords a bit in a response to a comment higher up, hopefully that clarifies things.

      1. hoodedclaw Avatar
        hoodedclaw

        Yes – this makes a lot of sense – we have not seen how you rejig the antagonists after all (and it sounds like this odd faction of conspiracies/claimed could be exactly another dimension of human threat the series implies) – it sounds intriguing.

        hoodedclaw

  36. Aiden Avatar
    Aiden

    Wolf-blooded.

    Well, I’m actually interested a lot now.

  37. Michael Murray Avatar
    Michael Murray

    Storm Lords entry makes little to no sense. Still, nice to see a blow by blow of each aspect of the Oath and how the tribes differ on them.

    I would like to see the Wolf-Blooded next.

  38. Leliel Avatar
    Leliel

    Wolf-blooded, please!

    And actually, it makes sense leaders get the Claimed. Who else is more emblematic of the wall between spirit and flesh breaking down than those born from the FUSION of spirit and flesh? Besides, the Claimed are unpredictable above all else, and that usually is countered with coordination.

  39. Nick W Avatar
    Nick W

    Very interesting take, thanks for the teaser!

    My vote for next week is wolf-blooded, please.

  40. Two-Bears-High-Fiving Avatar
    Two-Bears-High-Fiving

    Oh, got caught up in my nerd-annoyance rant.

    Wolf-blooded, please!

  41. Roads Avatar
    Roads

    I always _wanted_ to like the Tribes, but I was never able to honestly figure out what to do with them, which was always really sad. It always felt like I was missing something, sense the Tribes alone suffered like this, even just this little bit here has made so much more clear, and for that I thank you.

    Also, Bone Shadow forever, but, the Hunters on Darkness are gaining ground again. This is pleasing to me.

    More importantly, once again my vote is to the Wolf-Blooded!

  42. Antares Avatar
    Antares

    My vote again: Wolf-blooded

    I am kind of sad that Tribes are not as well organized as Covenants or Orders. If a Pack of werewolf caught the eye of a Covenant or and Order they are more like to end up dead with no enough back up from other werewolfs. At least that is how I see it.

    My opinion on the new “what we will hunt” is kind of different from everyone. Storm Lords seams to be at top of everyone elses. While a Riden or Climed involves Spirtis and Humans they are covering Bone Shadows and Iron Masters at the same time, if we consider that shartha are kind of different but also at early stages function a little bit like Claimed it also covers Hunter in Darkness. I am curious about the rules for Spirtis claiming other things that aren’t humans… for example… werewolfs. So far there is no place in any books that says it can not be done, tho head canon says it CAN NOT but maybe they will change it.

    A few questions arise from this posts
    1.- Will the hunt of Iron Masters also include Vampires and Mages? (since if we see it clearly they are still “human” and more prone to be a bad ass hunt)
    2.- What will the Pure hunt?
    3.- Is there going to be a change in the spirit rules or the First Born? It seams to me that they avoided talking about the totems and the relationship with the werewolfs.
    4.- Will they first born be wolfs again or will the change? (Maybe fitting a little better the cosmology of God Machine)

    1. Atavist Avatar
      Atavist

      Just two cents.

      I think a lot of them are meant to overlap. To help packs work together. Particularly considering they tend to overlap with each other (werewolves with both humans and spirits, arguably shartha, humans with claimed, spirits with claimed, and so forth).

      I could see vampires fitting for a couple different guys. Remember werewolves don’t get the Vampire the Requiem corebook after their First Change, so believing they’re a form of leech shartha or blood/gluttony spirit claimed or even just magic humans is entirely reasonable.

    2. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      The tribes aren’t a werewolf’s main source of backup, we’ve just not covered what else fills that niche yet.

      1: When a vampire or mage puts themselves at cross-purposes with a werewolf pack. Otherwise, it’s a live-and-let-live situation. Vampires and werewolves are both predators, just with different prey and methodology. Werewolves and mages may move in some of the same spheres, but mages breaking urfarah’s law only matter if something isn’t more important.

      2, 3, 4: We’ll get to that.

  43. Wolfgar Avatar
    Wolfgar

    Well, it’s a step. I find it a little weak though.

    My vote is for Wolf-Blooded.

  44. Lyrics-of-war Avatar
    Lyrics-of-war

    I have a concern, (Still loving the blood talons though!) Does this new update make our Tribes of the Moon books obsolete entirely? Or are the mentalities of the tribes still similar?

    I.E. are Blood Talons still amazing warriors? Are the Bone Shadows still deeply curious uratha? Or is that all nullified by the hunt?

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      The hunt is part of an explanation for why the tribes are the way they are, not a complete replacement. It’s an addition and a refocus, not a complete rewrite.

      1. Lyrics-of-war Avatar
        Lyrics-of-war

        Ah ok thanks! That was my main concern, given how much money I’ve spent on Forsaken over the years. Tribes is one of my favorite books.

  45. ForsakenInterest Avatar
    ForsakenInterest

    Just a thought from its reading; it feels like the Hunters in Darkness & Storm Lords “prey” should be switched.

    Understanding that there’s probably a very good reason for these choices as they are that I won’t know till we see full tribe write-ups, it just honestly seems to read better this way when reversed:

    “Hunters in Darkness know that the most dangerous prey is the Urged and Claimed. They believe that the true hunt is to harry these unholy blends of flesh and spirit. it’s not always easy to see who is Urged, but the Meninna always seem to know.”

    “Storm Lords know that the most dangerous prey is the Shartha. They believe that the true hunt is tracking down these mockeries of flesh and spirit — and possibly doing what urfarah could not.”

    1. Ephsy Avatar
      Ephsy

      Yeah, that does sounds better.

  46. ForsakenInterest Avatar
    ForsakenInterest

    Just a thought from its reading; it feels like the Hunters in Darkness & Storm Lords “prey” should be switched.

    Understanding that there’s probably a very good reason for these choices as they are that I won’t know till we see full tribe write-ups, it just honestly seems to read better this way when reversed:

    “Hunters in Darkness know that the most dangerous prey is the Urged and Claimed. They believe that the true hunt is to harry these unholy blends of flesh and spirit. it’s not always easy to see who is Urged, but the Meninna always seem to know.”

    “Storm Lords know that the most dangerous prey is the Shartha. They believe that the true hunt is tracking down these mockeries of flesh and spirit — and possibly doing what urfarah could not.”

  47. wyrdhamster Avatar
    wyrdhamster

    I maybe a bit heretic here, but maybe Storm Lords should hunt… Oaths? Or rather Oath Brakers? Storm Lords want’s to sustain Forsaken’s tradtions and customs and so they hunt on those that break them. Where Blood Talons mostly hunt Pure, Storm Lords look on they own, or things that break them – like ill-fitting spouses or addictions that “destroy” they bretheren. This is my answer to Strom Lords dillema “we got what ha been last to choose” thing.

  48. Storm76 Avatar
    Storm76

    My vote go wolf blooded.

    I like the idea on the Storm Lord hunting oath breaker. My idea was that Storm Lord (The alpha among the alpha) hunt wolf blooded not to kill them but to find them prior the pure and make more forsaken to fight against the idigam or other horror in the nwod…

    Just my two cents…

  49. Fred Avatar
    Fred

    One vote to wolf blooded

  50. Thorbes Avatar
    Thorbes

    Nice!

    In one shot you gave focus to the Tribes away from Auspices and took advantage of Forsaken’s antagonist bloat, well done!

    I for one have no problem with the asociation of the Shadow Lords with Claimed and Urged as prey. For one they seem like a mockery of what werewolves are (a flesh-spirit hybrid) and allowing such walking insults going around should be a big no no for the alphas among alphas. Consider too that claiming takes quite a time to build up to. Isn’t it an (unnaceptable) show of weakness to not having stoped the threat before it went so far? Better make an example of those bastards.

    Regarding this week’s choice I’m gonna vote for Wolf-Blooded. I had my itch for werewolf organizations already scratched by Tribes, so Lodges could wait.

  51. Hyglak Avatar
    Hyglak

    The Storm Lord is more about they are alpha among alpha i.e. they are leaders and leaders and not just fighters. My thought is that the Storm Lords hunt is wolf blooded, to find them before the pure to make more forsaken to ensure the future of the race and continue the fight against the others nwod dangers.

    My vote go to wolf blooded

  52. Christian A Avatar
    Christian A

    If the main antagonists of my game are, say, the Pure, does that mean characters who aren’t Blood Talons will be substantially less effective?

    (And the same applies to other tribe/prey combinations).

    1. Stew Avatar
      Stew

      It doesn’t mean they’ll be less effective, but the Blood Talons will likely take the lead on the hunt. We’re not front-loading “this tribe only hunts this prey”, but “this tribe knows the best way to use her pack to hunt this prey”. Make sense?

      1. Christian A Avatar
        Christian A

        Makes sense, yes. Thanks for your reply!

        So your, say, Iron Master character will not be entirely useless while hunting spirits?

        1. Stew Avatar
          Stew

          Definitely not! All werewolves are useful on all hunts.

  53. Starglyte Avatar
    Starglyte

    Vote: Wolf-Blooded, though its mean to make us have to choose between them and the lodges.

  54. Francois Courroux Avatar
    Francois Courroux

    What ForsakenInterest said sounds clearly better.

    With the Shartha for the Storm Lords and the Urged and Claimed for the Hunters in darkness.

    But let’s see the justifications of the authors before. They have surely think it a long before they make the choices.

  55. Warhol Avatar
    Warhol

    This is fun, love the Storm Lords even more now. I had hoped for. More explicit purpose for the tribes and greater separation of the Bone Shadows and the Ithaeur, and this is it! Lodges.

  56. the_duck Avatar
    the_duck

    One question about these new focuses (which I like, the Tribes now have something definate to do, rather than just exist).

    Will these re-imaginings of the Tribes be compatible with the previous incarnations of the Tribes (I’m thinking specifically Tribes of the Moon). I’ve always liked the elemental theme that the Storm Lords had, for example. Will these spirit type “themes” of the Firstborn courts (for want of a better term) still exist?

    I vote for Lodges, I’d like to see what you’ve done with them!

  57. Nathan Henderson Avatar
    Nathan Henderson

    Can you tell us to what extent the previously existent cultures/themes of the Tribes also still exist? Like, are the Storm Lords still the self-assumed rightful leaders of the Uratha? Are the Hunters in Darkness still especially concerned with connecting with their wolf side and protecting natural places? Do the Bone Gnawers still have their special connection to death and the underworld?

    1. Ephsy Avatar
      Ephsy

      Bone Shadows*

  58. Patrick Regan Avatar
    Patrick Regan

    Brilliant — I can totally wrap my head around how these still apply to the old tribe ideas while making it clear how Blood Talens and Rahu are very different things.

    I vote Wolf-Blooded

  59. Nathan Henderson Avatar
    Nathan Henderson

    I vote Lodges

  60. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    Love this new aspect of tribes, it’ll very much help give players a detailed idea of what their tribe means ‘to them’. Again, loving all of this.

    I rarely use Lodges so lets hear about Wolf Bloods. 🙂

  61. Cathara Avatar
    Cathara

    Storm Lords and Hunters in Darkness are basically hunting the same thing while Blood Talons are the only Tribe who seem to have gone “screw Father Wolf’s laws and our purpose, we have better things to focus on”.

    Was an interesting premise with potential but so far hasn’t sold me.

    Vote: Lodges

  62. Nicias Avatar
    Nicias

    I would like to see the wolf-blooded discussed next!

  63. Jonathan Avatar
    Jonathan

    In Lore of the Forsaken, there was some talk about how the different Firstborn interacted with each other. Do these relationships filter down to the different tribes as well? Also, Nathan’s question above about the different themes/cultures present in the tribes has me curious, too.

    I’m voting for Lodges next.

    The breakdown I’m seeing is that Tribe determines what you hunt, Auspice is what role you play in the Hunt, and I’m going to guess that Lodges will specialize in either a specific subset of the chosen prey (for example, a Mennina lodge that focuses on Azlu) or method of hunting (the Irraka will always be the scouts/assassins but a Suthar Anzuth with use different methods than the Farsil Luhal)

  64. Raymer Avatar
    Raymer

    Wolf-Blooded, please. I’m so very excited about this book!

  65. ale Avatar
    ale

    are the other were creatures also targets for the Blood Talons ??

    also what does it mean “While the power of the tribe comes from the firstborn who blesses it”?? if it was in some other book i totally forgot it

    also, wolf-blooded

  66. Daydreamer Avatar
    Daydreamer

    I’m relieved to see that “chosen prey” is a jumping-off point for re-focusing the Tribes rather than a central, all-consuming theme; my biggest complaint about the Tribes was how three of them could be summed up in a single word. For a moment, I was worried that my beloved Hunters-in-Darkness were going to go the same way.

    Vote Wolf-Blooded.

  67. Will Avatar
    Will

    Very cool stuff indeed!

    And, to continue my vote from last week), WOLF-BLOODED!

  68. Brian Goubeaux Avatar
    Brian Goubeaux

    Given that the Iron Masters hunt Humanity in general as their preferred prey, I would like to vote Wolf-Blooded to get their response to this peculiar prey choice. Are the Wolf-Blooded of the Iron Masters worried that if they aren’t able to become Uratha that they would become part of the Iron Masters’ hit-list? Would the Iron Masters hunt Wolf-Blooded of other tribes that are incapable of the Change?

    I understand the duty of the Uratha to police the spirits and all, but with the Blood Talons itching to hunt themselves and the Iron Masters hunting the Uratha’s more human offspring, they are basically the douchebags of the world of Werewolf the Forsaken.

    So yeah, Wolf-Blooded.

  69. Ideganshaman Avatar
    Ideganshaman

    the Wolf-Blooded is a “way” of acting and auspicious to understand and tribes
    could be a great substitute.

    moreover, there is a lodge in a place for generations because
    are taught certain truths and ways of living.
    an element enters the logs because he knows someone, a family member would be even easier as a link.

    at this point it is a question.
    As these Wolf-Blooded families would be organized?

  70. Brian Goubeaux Avatar
    Brian Goubeaux

    Now that I think of it, the Blood Talons hunt for other werewolves might mean the Pure, so that’s a load off my mind. But still I want to know what the Wolf-Blooded think on the Iron Masters hunting their fellow humans. I need clarification.

    1. Ephsy Avatar
      Ephsy

      Hunting doesn’t always means killing. Keeping tabs on Nuzusul (first changees to be), minimizing the damage of their eventual rampage, mapping family trees…

  71. Geroto Avatar
    Geroto

    Vote: wolf-blooded.

  72. Eric Christian Berg Avatar
    Eric Christian Berg

    I’ll throw a vote in for lodges. Wolf-blooded I’ve always liked, but lodges never really clicked for me. Interested to see how they’ve been improved.

  73. Cahlash Avatar
    Cahlash

    Very cool! Lodges!

  74. Aspel Avatar
    Aspel

    I still want to know more about Wolfblooded. Ghouls were awesome, so I’m hoping Wolfblooded will be too.

    (Plus I never got into Forsaken, so I don’t know what half these fancy Spirit Tongue words mean)

  75. Zathron Avatar
    Zathron

    Lodge

  76. Zooroos Avatar
    Zooroos

    Vote: Wolf-blooded!!!!!!

    Also, I like this new dimension added to tribes. Now Tribes are really “the leading experts” in particular types of prey. I could imagine an annual meeting of Hunters in Darkness in a mountain peak to discuss and pass lore about the Shartha gathered during last year. Or a loud, chaotic “Iron Masters Con” in some hotel, every wolf with its nametag or something. Cool!

  77. indarkestknight Avatar
    indarkestknight

    I did read in the comments that the idigam are going an “outside context” problem but it does lead to the thought of a nascent tribe beginning to coalesce around dealing with them.

    I like going with the underdog. So Lodges, unless my numbers are grossly off.

  78. Oran Solus Avatar
    Oran Solus

    Wolf Blooded please! I always enjoy the issues that the more normal people have when thrown deep into the worlds of supernatural creatures.

  79. Phobos Avatar
    Phobos

    I can see why the Storm Lords have the Claimed. The claimed represent the failure of the Iron Masters to police the human population and the Bone Shadows to police the spirit world. So it falls to the Storm Lords to handle it.

    In addition, ideologically the Storm Lords might be especially appalled by the subservience of the independent self to possession.

  80. […] know that back when we talked about tribes, a few people were interested in how we were tying the Spirit-Ridden in with the Storm Lords. […]

  81. Ashen Avatar
    Ashen

    I have to agree with the people who feel that the Urged and Claimed being the Iminir’s “chosen prey” is sort of weak… I feel somewhat the same. I mean, it is a niche that gives them focus and sets them apart as hunters and all, but… I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that I’ve never used the Urged and Claimed in my games as much as I use Pure, spirits, Shartha, humans, and heck, vampires. I mean, how OFTEN should I have them come up, in comparison to the other enemy types?

    If it’s a matter of quality over quantity, well, I don’t deny that the Urged and Claimed can be quite threatening to a pack of werewolves, but… at least in my headspace, I might actually prefer the Storm Lords’ “chosen prey” being creatures akin to the Horrors of an Ancient Age as presented in Predators, focusing the Tribe’s Siskur-Dah around playing leviathan hunters of the Forsaken, the ones to “cancel the apocalypse,” as it were, when it comes knocking on the door.