I was off visiting family over the last few days, so this is a late column. Since each one involves a vote, I don’t want to give people less than four full days to register their opinion. As a result, I’m pushing next week’s back to Sunday to give people time; after that, we’re back to Fridays. Thanks also to @PrimeWolfie for hounding me when I’m late or I’m sure I’d have missed a couple by now. 😉
Last week was Idigam or Kuruth. 33/40 split, with Kuruth coming out on top.
Before we get to that, I’d like to highlight some of the changes we’ve made based on feedback from the previous post
- Hishu not has no penalties to tracking by scent (this is already present in the other forms in addition to their Perception bumps).
- Tilts are going to be in the book (I was misremembering an earlier disucssion we had).
- As a result, Urhan don’t penalise Defense. Instead, they can inflict an appropriate Tilt (e.g. Arm Wrack, Leg Wrack, Knocked Down) on a damaging hit.
- In any form, a werewolf’s bite (not claws) counts as a supernatural attack for e.g. hurting vampires. This last will be explained in full in the book.
Hybrid forms keep Defense against firearms, with a Merit to make it higher of Dex or Wits. My rationale here is that doing it the other way around makes packing a gun the easiest way to take out a werewolf. Defense is higher in GMC combat, so using the higher Attribute makes melee combat harder for people to use and makes fights between two well-matched opponents take a lot longer. Applying Defense to firearms instead makes a revolver as useful as a machete against a werewolf. This way, a silver weapon is always useful; I’d rather a silver blade (e.g. a letter opener) be as useful as a silver bullet.
That said, I’d appreciate people using both in their games and getting back to us in the comments of one of these devblogs. Please don’t use so-called “white room” fights, they’re only really useful for analysing white room fights. Use them in play, where fights happen in a given place for a given reason.
Anyway. Death Rage. It’s one of those parts of Forsaken that attempts to model the loss of control inherent to being a werewolf, but in play it doesn’t quite have that effect. Too often, “Bob falls to kuruth” means “Sit on Bob until he calms down”. Partly, this is because the combat system incentivises many-on-one fights, and partly it’s because Death Rage means Bob can’t effectively contribute to the game. The loss of control only affects one character, who either gets part of the scene dedicated to him or becomes an inconvenience.
Each character has triggers dependent on Harmony. Close to balance, she has specific things that set her off — e.g. seeing violence against children, smelling freshly-spilled blood. In the mid-points, she reaches Kuruth when she encounters something that she might not be able to avoid — e.g. seeing her Auspice moon in the sky, smelling raw meat. At the extremes, she’s affected by passive triggers — she doesn’t have to see or smell anything. The typical example is a character who falls to Kuruth when the full moon rises. Not when she sees the full moon, not when she steps into it’s light, but as soon as the moon rises she enters Kuruth. She’s so far out of balance that she can’t control her Rage.
So let’s look at what’s actually going on with Kuruth. How do we make it dangerous, while still reflecting the period when you’re trying to keep hold before losing it and flipping out? Well, look at that sentence. We’re modelling two things. Thus, we’ve split Kuruth into two stages: Wasu-Im, the Soft Rage, and Basu-Im, the Death Rage.
Wasu-Im forces a character into Dalu or Urshul (she can switch between them, but cannot take Hishu or Urhan). If she takes Gauru, she goes straight to Basu-Im. She must attack something each turn, but she can choose her target — friends, enemies, or inanimate objects. She can act normally with a Resolve + Composure roll, each success giving her one turn of normal action.
She’s got a time limit determined by Harmony — 3 seconds (one turn) at the extremes, 15 minutes at Harmony 5. At the end of her time, she can roll Resolve + Composure. If she succeeds, she gets another time interval. If she fails — or at the end of that second period in Wasu-Im — she enters Basu-Im.
Basu-Im is the Death Rage. She takes Gauru, without the normal limit on the time she can spend in the form. The duration of Basu-Im is dependent on Primal Urge, from 10 minutes to start with, up to 12 hours at Primal Urge 10. Any attempts to mentally influence her suffer a penalty equal to Primal Urge, and she has boosted resistance to such attempts — controlling a Raging Uratha is a fool’s errand. She has to attack the closest living creature each turn (human-sized or larger; you can’t get away with killing a rat), with no ability to distinguish between friend or foe.
Each time she kills, packmates who are close enough (within about ten yards) who can smell the kill fall straight into Basu-Im. They’re the only exception to the “must try to kill everyone” — a group of werewolves in Basu-Im will work together to kill everything around them. This is especially dangerous around human and Wolf-Blooded packmates.
Once the Basu-Im is over, she collapses into Hishu with no memory of what she has done. If she learns of her actions in Basu-Im she may suffer breaking points, especially if she killed friends, loved ones, or packmates.
Lots of people go straight to heavy metal for songs to rage to, but for Forsaken’s focus on the pack and the infectious nature of Kuruth, N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton is far more representative.
Next week — and it’s going to be on Sunday, remember — I’m going for another mechanical spoiler. I know some folks would like Renown, but David Hill’s written some great Werewolf Merits that would make sense to show off. Would you like to see Renown or Merits?
Comments
83 responses to “The Red Mist Descends”
Having already learned something of renown previously, I’d like to vote for Merits. I also very much like the idea of Death Rage being ‘infectious’ in the sense that when one pack mate loses it to Basu-lm it spreads to other pack mates. It both reinforces the pack-as-family concept and adds an inducement to help pack members keep their cool.
Oooh, love it. I assume that some of the mechanics are kind of glossed over, but love the idea that a whole pack lost to Harmony might just flip out when the full moon rises. Awesome. All packs better invest in some serious cages and chains.
I vote for Reknown
Really like both type of Rage.
We already have something about renowns in the gifts preview so..
Merits!
Hmmm.
I like it. The new triggers make it feel a lot more like the fiction: constantly guarding their actions, lest they lose it and tear everything up. The forgetfulness is great too: the werewolf’s gorey hangover.
And I love the werewolf’s healing: there have been concerns – but my thought is, if you want to kill Gauru, be amazing or pack silver.
I foresee a risk with the whole pack raging out, unstoppable to any but Lesser gods or silver – leading to a grand massacre. I assume one Basu-im/wasu-im trigger is still damage, yes? That would make them extremely tough: it could also lead to great scenes as the pack try to run to hide their massacres in chains/the subway/the woods, or a lone irraka trying to save his daughter, thus abandoning his raging out pack in the next room.
I say: renown.
It isn’t the whole pack that Rages; it’s the hunting party. The rest of the pack is likely to be victims of the Death Rage, not perpetrators.
That all sounds quite cool, but are there any resistance rolls? For example, does a werewolf confronted with her trigger automatically enter Wasu-Im, and then automatically enter Basu-Im after Wasu-Im expires? And will they spend the whole Primal Urge-based duration in Basu-Im, or can you drop out earlier if no threats remain? The duration is quite long by combat standards even at Primal Urge 1, making death rage really scary, as a werewolf in Garau can do horrific things over the course of 10 minutes. It still sounds like the optimal thing for a pack to do if someone enters Basu-Im is to sit on them until it ends, though that will be rather tricky given the buff Garau form has got!
And how does Garau forms ‘not attacking things risks Kuruth’ interact with this system?
My vote is for renown.
My vote is for
I vote for Merits.
I also like how Kuruth is explicitly a Bad Thing here, unlike frenzy. Reinforces the theme that werewolves are primal, uncontrollable beings, even by themselves.
I assume there’s a chance to tame Wasu-Im before you go completely nuts and start turning everything around you to bloody rubble?
Can you give us the etymology of some of these First Tongue words? I need it for the new version of the unofficial First Tongue dictionary I’m working on. Any new terms you’ve come up with so far are also appreciated, if you can share them; that way I can add them to the list. 🙂
I absolutly love this new Death Rage rules! Now Uratha feel like hard to control beasts, finally. I would only hope that some ( or maybe all ) of this rules would go with new Wolf-Blooded Tells. I steal thse rules for my fan take on Wolf-Blooded on forum: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/werewolf-the-forsaken/122016-quasi-idigam-chronicles-wolf-blooded
Very important question – as I assume, classical triggers for Kuruth makes it goes to Basu-Im. What would be triggers for Wasu-Im for character?
And my vote goes for Renown. 😉
I like that its effects are mitigated but only by giving that awesome, source-material, very quick interval period. I also like how it’s not as bad because the whole present party gets to join in.
Kuruth! FUN FOR EVERYONE!
I vote merits. Also, I vote Idigam
I’m a little curious as to how long Wasu-Im lasts and/or if there’s any way of getting control of it short of trying to find a ‘safe’ place to let the Rage run its course. Also whether there’s still the same spiritual stigma for succumbing to Kuruth there was before.
Also, voting for Merits.
I wanna see Renown. I get Merits already, and unless I can see the whole list I’m not gonna care too much.
What happened to the fear-rage thing? Is that gone, or what?
I absolutly love this new Death Rage rules! Now Uratha feel like hard to control beasts, finally. I would only hope that some ( or maybe all ) of this rules would go with new Wolf-Blooded Tells. I steal these rules for my fan take on new Wolf-Blooded on forum: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/werewolf-the-forsaken/122016-quasi-idigam-chronicles-wolf-blooded 🙂
I assume that old Kuruth triggers now triggers the Basu-Im rage, But what would be triggers for Wasu-Im only?
My vote goes for Renown. 😉
I like everything but the “infection” bit. Don’t penalize my character because someone else in the group doesn’t care about his harmony. Sure, I can see real life working that way (Sometimes one asshole ruins it for everyone), but I don’t want to spend each game begging everyone to watch their harmony, or running a game with 5 packs because nobody wants to be in the pack with the guy who makes them murder everyone.
I really think that one persons’s inability to control himself shouldn’t make everyone lose their agency. What werewolf would allow another werewolf to live after he had made them murder everyone, quite possibly exposing the werewolves to the herd? Will there be rules for the constant trials that must happen when the herd is exposed to the truth? You mentioned before that Kin would have a larger role, being part of the pack even. What kin would be so foolish as to be any part of it, when he’d likely just be killed the first time anyone lost their cool?
Maybe have it send them into Wasu-Im? Going straight Murderdog just by smelling angry blood seems too much. Groups of more than a few werewolves would never survive long, it’s hard to imagine how the truth could be hidden from the normals with those rules in place.
Of course, this is the kind of rule that’s really easy to ignore, but still. It doesn’t feel right. Any rule that takes my character away from me, and invalidates the hard work I’ve done, isn’t fun. (IMHO)
I vote merits.
By your description, it seems that the soft rage inevitably evolves to Death Rage. For something that will have many common triggers, is that viable? This has the potential to turn PC killing very frequent.
I like that there is now a nuclear option for the whole pack.
I think an issue, in some sense, is that going nuclear on a spirit is still… like nuking cockroaches, incredibly powerful cockroaches who will just reform eventually.
My vote is for merits.
Vote for merits.
So wait so when a group of werewolves frenzy they’ll try to kill their own non werewolf pack mates?
So if I’m reading this right, once soft rage starts, there’s no stopping it’s inevitable turn to Death Rage, right? Was the thinking that, in Soft Rage, the person is desperately just trying to hold it together long enough that they can get out into the woods/away people? I’m thinking the scenes where the Werewolf/the Hulk is yelling for the person to Get Away.
I vote for Renown. Such an important part of the system and so wonderfully evocative, it mechanically, so troubled.
I think that should be some way of other packmates resist Basu-im in case of the Werewolf killing someone. Without that one death can and probably will a complete carnage.
Exclunding that I really like the changes, good job
Another question, that is anyway to stop the progression of Wasu-Im to Basu-Im?
And I vote for Renown
Voting for Renown.
Excellent stuff.
I vote for Merits!
Now there’s my werewolves. This is the nightmare that makes all shiver in the night. This is why I fell in love with werewolves. I approve.
Let’s go Renown. I’m just as curious as bout merits, but the sheer fact it’s on the list tells me you guys are up to something sneaky/cool with Renown.
Whoa! Some unexpected stuff there!
I’m loving that it’s truly uncontrollable – to the point that you can’t even remember what you may have done! – and the idea of a pack (or is that “hunting party”, now?) running wild together is pretty damn visceral.
I do wonder whether you’ve left some important details out, though? I would have thought that there’d be a way to pull back out of Wasu-Im before going “all the way”, or at least some kind of trigger (eg: killing something(s)) that would give you a chance to roll to end either of them early?
If not, it kind of sounds like one missed roll and the pack has *yet another* mass killing spree to cover up (which, granted, DOES bring us back to classic werewolf fic, but can kind of waylay a story, and might get a little old if it keeps happening, eh?)
Oh, also — Merits!
Also also: you meant Urshul for the Tilts, right? Not Urhan?
Renown, please.
This is incredible. I agree that the original Kuruth wasn’t as much a worry as it could have been and this pretty much fixes that problem. With the knowledge that someone suffering Wasu-Im will quickly have the potential to send the whole pack into an uncontrollable killing frenzy, the stakes are so much higher. It will actually be a constant concern to keep yourself and your packmates from falling to Kuruth, lest you fall with them. I love it.
A difficult vote this week as neither suddenly jumps at me as more interesting than the other. I guess I’ll vote for Renown.
I vote Merits!
Are there things that will trigger the Hard rage from the start, or do they all go through the Soft first?
Eh, if all Rages were uncontrollable it’s gonna get old fast after the 4th carnage.
Oh, and Merits. Please, spoil a sizable chunk of them. No teasing.
Good stuff. I’m not a werewolf fan by any means, but this looks like a good addition to the revised nWoD.
Merits, please.
Nice. I like there being two stages, and I really like the rage being infectious. I do think everyone in range going instantly Basu with no roll to resist when one member scores a kill in Basu seems a little bit harsh. I think if there’s not going to be a resistance roll, then they should at least get to go through Wasu first. Also, I actually love that once you’re in Wasu you know its only a matter if time before it advances to Basu. It adds a horrifying sense of inevitability when you enter Wasu-Im that your only option is to get as far away from the people you love as possible before the Basu-Im takes over, because it WILL happen. I would like it if you could prolong Wasu for as long as you succeeded at the rolls, instead of such a binary one interval if you fail, two intervals if you succeed. Maybe each time you successfully resist Basu, you get another interval at half the time of the last one, so you have a sense of getting closer and closer each time you hold it off, and if you ever drop as low as a one-turn interval you automatically go Basu. Just some thoughts.
My vote is Renown all the way.
Merits
Oh, another thought! Since we know from the Harmony spoiler that Werewolves will have Touchstones now, wouldn’t it be cool if a werewolf could be talked our if Wasu-Im (but definitely not Basu-Im) by her Touchstone?
“You know the man you truly are, Remus! This heart is where you truly live, this heart! Here! This flesh is only flesh!”
Oh, another thought! Since we know from the Harmony spoiler that Werewolves will have Touchstones now, wouldn’t it be cool if a werewolf could be talked out of Wasu-Im (but definitely not Basu-Im) by her Touchstone?
“You know the man you truly are, Remus! This heart is where you truly live, this heart! Here! This flesh is only flesh!”
I vote merits! i want these mechanical spoilers!
I vote Merits!
I like the sound of the new rage options.
I vote for Renown.
Renown!
Oh wow I’m picturing one of those large Pure packs all enter Kuruth at once and it is scary and amazing… I kinda want to throw that at my PCs for a “boss battle” or something to run away from. XD
I’ll toss my vote in for Renown.
Hm, interesting. I like that there’s a “softer” stage with the werewolf struggling for control. The different triggers also make sense to me from a storytelling viewpoint. Very nice!
About the whole “any nearby werewolf who smells the kill also enter Basu-Im”. The way you wrote it seems to mean that only fellow packmates of a werewolf in Basu-Im would be affected. Is that correct? Or would, say, the Predator King my packmate was grappling with at the time also be affected and enter Basu-Im when he smells my kill? If not, why? What is the relationship between Basu-Im and the pack bond?
I also agree with others that Wasu-Im could benefit from being something that you could possibly beat without entering Basu-Im. (Mind you, doing so should be almost impossibly hard. Just the faintest glimmer of hope would be enough.)
I would also support the suggestion that other werewolves smelling the kill of a Basu-Im only enter Wasu-Im.
I vote Renown
Like others, I’m curious whether there’s a way to stop a Wasu-im from going to full-blown Death Rage. I also think some reisstance or control over the werewolf members of a pack losing their shit might be worth thinking on a bit.
My vote for next week is Renown.
And stuff.
Renown, plz.
Pitch: Maybe totems help werewolves from reaching Basu-Im, not automatically, roll something. It gives you an incentive to be in a pack and, it’s better than trying to fix it with a merit because one stray packmate who goes Basu and kills something fucks you sideways anyway.
There will be the Changing Breeds in the Indigans Chronicles?
Vote: Merits
Renown, please.
Renown
One vote for Merits here.
And kudos on the Death Rage revisions, but is there any way to head off either of the “-im”s before innocent bystanders are reduced to a bloody mist?
Merits!
I like this a lot, the IC is definitely making werewolves feel like werewolves should IMO, the Kuruth changes just further reinforce that feel. I approve of the lethal vs bashing compromise as well, though I feel Gauru claws should also do lethal (since there is a time limit on the form and that entire form is distinctly supernatural in nature) unless you are including a Gift of Facet of a Gift that can be used to that effect in Gauru form. I don’t mind if one has to spend Experiences for that slight benefit.
I vote Merits
Renown, it’s the last piece!
I know Renown has lots of traction because of it’s history, but please give us merits! I’m sure there’s a nice surprise for us waiting in the wings.
Really starting to get a sense of that classic wolfman feel…!
My vote’s Renown!
WOW , I MEAN WOW , I WANT THIS BOOK NOW !!! Also I like the changes in forms . Urshul now is a must hunting form (I noted you mistaken it for urhan) .
I liked the higher defense in wolf forms , but I guess things innately should be even towards the other lines , ”you want the highest of dexterity or wits ? buy a merit” , fine by me .
So is death rage resistable ? (before entering I mean)
By ”extreme” on harmony you mean Both 1 and 10 ? They have the same effect on Kuruth ?
I Vote Merits because most people seem to like auspicies :p
Sorry for double posting but according to the changes in forms , now gauru claws do bashing to supernaturals ? Or the only bite rule goes to Urshul , Urhan and Dalu ?
Renown.
I was probably the most verbal opponent to lethal Claws to vampires in all forms, but even I thought Gauru claws should have been lethal.
Will there perhaps be a merit or gift that grants such a quality, or perhaps Gauru claws could still do lethal as well?
Just some thoughts.
Renown.
I’m going to vote for Merits, especially any combat ones. The specialized fighting styles from Blood & Smoke were great given the fact that the Kindred became more resilient to weapons, including blades. With the Uratha healing factor getting an upgrade, I’d like to see what ways have been created to counter that.
Holy shit…That’s fucking scary and really shows the dangers that Werewolves deal with on a daily basis from an internal POV. I’m loving it.
I vote for Renown.
I am sorry if I am repeating or talking about anything that someone else has already said I have not read all of the posts.
Though I like the idea of two types of Kuruth Wasu-Im/Basu-Im for werewolves. I feel that a not quite as angry(Wasu-Im), and really angry (Basu-Im) version do not really serve the game that well. I do like the rules for Basu-Im where a werewolf has lost their mind and are going to kill anything in their sight. Though for Wasu-Im I think a much more subtle the wolf has to hunt idea would fit better into the game.
For the later type of Kuruth it would be more like the character gains a “condition” that would compel them to go after a certain type of prey. This could be chosen at character creation or at the time the Kuruth roll was made depending on how one really wanted to run with it. The “condition” itself could potentially last a long time or a short time though I would think it best that it would end only after the chosen type of prey had been hunted and killed. During the time that one has this “condition” they would also be at a higher risk of losing all their faculties and entering Basu-Im. (Though there is also probably conditions that would send one into that right at the start as well.) Mechanically Wasu-Im could be represented a number of ways from the character being restless/distracted to actually being forced to go and hunt down their chosen prey. (I guess in that sense it would come down to how much freedom one wishes the character to have when determining their actions in this state. It could also come down to the availability of their prey)
As a random note, good music choice, but I would of picked Ice Cube’s “We’re Gonna Tear This Motha F**ka Up” is what I would reach for when it comes to the thing I woudl say fits this week. Still, not-rock is a nice change of pace.
And stuff.
Hey! There has been some debate on the White Wolf subreddit, and I was hoping to clear something up.
“Each character has triggers dependent on Harmony. Close to balance, she has specific things that set her off — e.g. seeing violence against children, smelling freshly-spilled blood. In the mid-points, she reaches Kuruth when she encounters something that she might not be able to avoid — e.g. seeing her Auspice moon in the sky, smelling raw meat. At the extremes, she’s affected by passive triggers — she doesn’t have to see or smell anything.”
Does this imply that, unlike how Harmony/Rage works currently, a Werewolf with a Harmony of 10 is MORE likely to enter Kuruth than a Werewolf of Harmony 5?
Vote: Renown
This is pretty awesome. My only question, is there any way to leave it or end it early, or do they have to rage across the world involuntarily for hours until it ends “naturally” ?
Like someone else said above, without that, it’s going to get a little tedious after the 3rd or 4th rage storm. Other than that, though, really good stuff. I like the idea of infectious rage…
Huh, infection Death Rage is kinda the scariest thing I’ve seen in a while. Um. Yeah, I’m, officially terrified of Werewolves. I approve 🙂
And while Renown would be interesting, I’ve never been unhappy to see anything written by a WW/OP writer named ‘David’ so… put another up for Merits.
I spent today with my gaming group trying out the Werewolf changes regarding forms and as it stands, all of the changes seem to be a net positive. Here are my thoughts on the form after today’s session. We have been trying very hard to prevent the entire white room situation simply by allowing all of us who are playing werewolves, to use the updated rules as they are released to try and get a feel of how it works as a whole. These are the results.
Hishu: Being able to natively track by scent greatly increases the feel of the Uratha and allows suitable roleplay opportunities. Today, my character was able to track his target from a nightclub to her hotel room without much trouble in this form which was very nice. Before, I would have at least needed to be in Dalu which although humanoid, can definitely be suspicious. My character does have the anybeast gift so he could have turned into an urhan/dog if needed, but why bother doing that in the middle of a city when it is simply an additional risk?
Urshul: Tilts play well as with everything else in GMC and this was no exception. I find the tilts a significant improvement over the whole defense penalty from before. I have always been a fan of the Urshul form and the changes simply reinforce the role I have already been using it for.
I did not use Dalu nor Urhan in the game session, but i did use Gauru and this is where I feel there is some issues currently.
With Gauru, the feel by consensus (mine included) is that it is an offensive ripping machine. In the current form, it favors a nearly impenetrable defense for only a slight increase in offense when compared to the Urshul form. This made me use Gauru not as a combat form, but a mid fight health reset button. Honestly, the damage does not feel good, while the damage healing feels obscene. While I do realize that staying alive longer does equal more long term damage, the fact is the damage of the form simply feels like an afterthought when compared to the massive defense benefits it offers. As a result, in it’s current form, I would never even consider using Gauru to begin a fight, I would simply switch to it when damage was piling up, heal to full health, and then switch back to Urshul when my time runs out.
A second issue is that in Gauru, it is currently mandated at risk of kuruth that you must always attack the closest target. This lead to a really annoying situation where my character had already disabled his target through two applications of the leg wrack tilt, but had to spend an additional 2 turns finishing him off rather than switch to a new target who was actively shooting at him.
This is actually the biggest flaw I found with the form, being that even semi-intelligent decisions are unable to be implemented and can easily be taken advantage of.
For example, what would have happened if it was 3 enemy creatures. If they realize that you can only attack the closest target, they can send a person in to soak damage while they attack from range, then when the person in front is damaged enough, they switch spots. Now the damaged enemy is safe while a new enemy takes his spot. Essentially, this allowed the implementation of tanking rotations commonly seen in MMO’s.
While I agree with taking an offensive action every turn, I believe the player should retain the choice as to the target unless he is in Kuruth. Gauru form should be the war form, not the form of implement a tanking rotation against it because he is too stupid to do anything else.
I hope to didn’t come across as too forward on this, but these were the results I personally found after today’s game session. On another positive note however, I still think the defense vs firearms as the implementation of a merit for higher of wits or dexterity for defense are fantastic. I definitely enjoy the feel of not being gunned down in 2 turns from range simply because the enemy had a pistol instead of any real skill.
Also, I vote for Renown
Also, to provide context of the chronicle, and explain how I reached my conclusions from earlier, my character named Aiden is working with another Werewolf and a mage to prevent a bunch of cultists from opening a portal to Hell using a relic. They kidnapped and are attempting to 7 murder people who each committed one of the 7 deadly sins.
My character in today’s session was able to locate one of the cultists who was hanging out at a local bar in DC attempting to locate a target suitable for using to represent Lust. Once identified, I was able to track her in Hishu form back to the nearby hotel, where the other Uratha in the group more specialized in stealth was able to sneak in and steal her phone with the contacts it held.
This lead us to a situation where a nice and bloody fight ensued where I started in Urshul form and then switched into Gauru at about 3/4 damage (mid combat health reset button). There were 4 enemy cultists and by the time I was finished chewing on cultist #1 (the double leg wrack), the other 3 were unleashing a barrage of gunfire against me (yay ranged defense). Thankfully, the storyteller didn’t realize he could do tanking rotations against me since otherwise my Gauru form would have wore off having dealt significantly less damage to a single target and eventually allow myself and the mage to finish off the remaining 2.
Had they done so, the fight would have been extremely different thanks to them being able to heal their own wounds at the cost of 1 willpower per lethal thanks to a demonic pact.
Don’ t forget that the insane healing allows for going all out on the attack forsaking (pun intended) all defense. I am at my work currently so I can’t check my books but that should give you another couple of dice to attack with.
I can really ser that tank rotation scenario, but i think Thats why their implemented the down and dirty combat rules on gauru,and you can always going all out to get + 2 dices and use willpower to increase dice pool.
Thank you for the update, as always! Merits please 🙂
Renown, please.
Renown is one of my larger complaints. Let’s see it.
Death Rage is finally a fun concept to deal with, at a glance. Nice.
Voting for Renown.
Is there any way to end Wasu-Im without going into full death rage, or is it an inevitable slide you’ll want to just hold off as long as you can, taking time to get away from those you care about?
Also, merits.
I’m not sure I understand the rationale for applying defense against firearms in any form. Defense ultimately represents an ability to avoid an attack in the first place and I don’t think werewolves can traditionally dodge bullets (unless the suggestion is that they are partially in twilight, but that’s never really been the idea to my knowledge, and that leads to other questions like why they do full damage). I could see an argument that the lunacy factor makes a shooter less likely to hit, even another supernatural or even another werewolf. In that case though it shouldn’t be defense but sheer fear factor that deducts instead, maybe using the lower of Presence or Primal Urge + Intimidation (instead of lower of Wits or Dex + Athletics).
Ultimately, a werewolf’s ability to keep going in the face of traditional firearms shouldn’t be about whether they are hit or not, but the fact that they can shrug off or heal damage. Armor against firearms instead might make sense, maybe 1 in Dalu or Urshal form and 2 in Gauru. This and the fact that werewolves should heal lethal per round naturally should help offset the basic firearms damage. Of course, I haven’t had a chance to play test this, so maybe it isn’t enough. If it isn’t I would suggest altering armor and healing rates rather than applying defense.
In my mind a gun should be better than a sword against a werewolf. After all, a gun gives you the safety of distance and a high caliber bullet does more raw tissue damage than a cavalry saber. The fact that a silver blade does aggrevated (and thus combat-permanent damage) would give it an advantage over a gun at the cost of having to close range with an angry werewolf. And a silver bullet should be better than a silver blade. After all, the classic weakness for a werewolf is a silver bullet, not just silver.
tl;dr – Defense against firearms seems a conceit of mechanics over storytelling. If you need the balance instead use another trait such as Pre + Intimidation. Ideally armor and regeneration should make firearms less effective, not an artificial penalty to attack. And while a silver blade should be better than a lead bullet, a silver bullet should always be the best weapon against a raging werewolf.
My vote goes for Merits.
And another thing, I really like the way Kuruth can now make you loose control. This is the real Rage, the ancestral rage, the heritage of Father Wolf. But i also hope that this could be more defined than this, I mean; It should be a way you could enter immediately in whichever stage, and also it should be ways to avoid the pass from the lesser rage, to the hard rage.
There is. You take Gauru form amid Wasu-Im and it turns into Basu-Im.
I vote for Merits
Renown.
I really like what you’ve been doing, by the way.
Meeeeeeeeeeerits
Happy birthday, Stew!
I vote renown.
How about being close enough to smell a kill by someone in Basu-Im is a universal trigger for Wasu-Im, maybe with a penalty?
Renown.
The Death Rage changes still suffer from the same inherent problem with all mechanics that remove player agency; you sit out and do nothing for the remainder of the scene, the session, or worse. If you absolutely must fall into a ‘murder all things’ berserk state then design it in a way that still includes the player’s involvement. Give them Beats for particularly dangerous or damning acts of violence and killing. Give incentives to have their now-raging werewolf to hunt down and kill people close, or simply useful, to them, not just their pack. Let the player be the one choosing how they revel in the sheer brutality and encourage them to damn themselves while in the thrall of Death Rage.
But that’s just my opinion. I’m not a fan of removing player involvement. I think that when you have people not involved in such a way that the they begin pulling out their tablets or cellphones or logging into a game to kill time while they wait to become relevant again, you have personally failed as both a game master and a game system.