The sample characters from the White Howlers Tribebook got a great reception, so now I’m throwing out the Gifts for open development. Take a look, see what you think, and comment on the Google doc.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/172d1BV2PVEvC6_M8lqVYPsLTTjgCU2e7QsUqvos3W1k/edit?usp=sharing
And I think this is a good time for me to talk a little about open development. Follow me below the cut for more. To make up for that, I’ve also got another recipe from the W20 Cookbook down there. 🙂
I’ll admit to having been a bit reticent to reveal early draft material — especially pre-redline first drafts. I think that’s because I’m still getting to drips with open development from a writer’s point of view. I need to remember to step back. Showing unfinished work worries at the back of my mind; I worry that people will see the raw first drafts and be turned off a book by something that gets caught in redlines.
But the truth is, if that does happen I’d like to hear about it. If nothing else, it’s a place where I can focus on when redlining. I’ve just got to remember that, much like software, it’s a good idea to have more than one person reading the code. Yeah, things I show you will go through redlines and redrafting and development and editing… but that’s no reason not to show it off. With any luck you’ll be seeing a lot more open development stuff as we go on.
Anyway, enough of that. Enjoy the Red Talon recipe from the W20 Cookbook!
Red Talons
Finding a recipe for the Red Talons was no mean feat. The whole idea of presenting a tribe’s food culture kinda falls down when most of that tribe hunt their own food and eat it raw. I was saved by a Red Talon called Smokejumper, a Theurge who cooks “homid food.” I don’t know if she fell in love with the taste of cooked meat, or if it’s something about the different tastes available between Homid and Lupus. She’s not the only one — Smokejumper’s in contact with a handful of other Red Talons, who test new ideas and new flavour combinations. They’re making some mistakes, but it’s fascinating to see from the outside. It’s also a little worrying hearing Smokejumper talk about the more fundamentalist Red Talons, who see the whole process of cooked meat as being inherently Weaver-tainted.
I’ve had to adapt Smokejumper’s recipe. She’s a big believer in “some” as a unit of measurement, and her recipe starts “first build your oven.” If you’re feeding four, joint the chicken legs (or use four drumsticks) and serve with salad and couscous.
Smoky Chicken and Peppers
Serves 2 on its own; joint the legs into drumstick/thigh and serve with salad and couscous to serve 4
Prep time 10 mins
Cook time 1hr
Variations
Vegetarian/Vegan — Replace the chicken legs with portabello mushrooms. Cook for 15 minutes each, rather than 30.
Ingredients
2 whole chicken legs, skin on
2 large bell peppers, either red or orange
1 red onion
2 red chilli peppers
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
Olive oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200/180/390
- Chop the peppers into slices about 5mm/0.2in thick. Peel and slice the red onion. Take the seeds out of the chillis and finely chop. Peel the garlic.
- Place the chicken legs into an ovenproof dish or pan with a lid, skin-side down. Scatter the vegetables and garlic over the top, then sprinkle over the paprika. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle generously with olive oil.
- Bake with the lid on for about 30 minutes.
- Take the lid off and turn the chicken legs skin-side up. Cook for a further 30 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves before serving.
Comments
16 responses to “White Howler Gifts and a Recipe”
Crowd Sourcing: I only bring up the V20 Companion and Ron Spencer write-ups as examples because, well, I think they’re good examples of the changes/corrections that the players/purchasers/fans of the products can help with and in the end create something better… but at the same time, knowing how to handle the incoming information and not get too stuck up on the “differences of opinion.”
One suggestion, I guess, is that when you are done “taking information”, please announce it so that “helpful” folks don’t continue to try to offer help when it’s become a moot point, or in vain. At least after that it becomes a conversation for different reasons and participants can know that. 🙂
Otherwise, I hope that the input given will be very helpful.
I figured that the Red Talons would be one of the more… difficult ones, and I’m glad to see it tackled.
Conversions are gonna bite ya in the ass, I know. If there’s not really a difference in cooking, and 5mm and 6mm won’t make a difference either way, I would suggest giving “5mm / ¼” ”. Inches don’t really break down into decimals well (unless it’s a whole number, 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8… and even then, looking at .25 cups should be easy to translate into 1/4 cups) but our measuring cups aren’t in decimals and some cooks MAY not catch it correctly and .125 might be misread/mis-translated for .25, or 1/4, etc. Silly, perhaps, but I imagine MOST ingredients/spices won’t be quite picky enough to make a difference with a .05mm difference, etc.
I’m also curious if things like egg-sizes are the same there as they are here (XXL eggs and the likes.) You’ve probably got plenty of American/English/European books to use, so maybe this is already considered. 🙂
Ingredients: PERHAPS, if you think of it, you could also just post a list of the ingredients used in the cookbook (just cut and paste and don’t worry about the rest) and see if any of those ingredients are somehow TOO exotic for folks in the US to locate easily, or perhaps another name used, etc.
But, what I see from the Red Talon ingredients and preparation, the only thing I would mention is the 5mm and 1/4″ suggestion.
Otherwise, maybe a quick “International Conversion” at the front, or back of the book might help, that converts the the metrics to inches, cups, teaspoons, or tablespoons. And maybe a VERY brief explanation of the 3 temperatures listed too… you know, some basic stuff like that. 🙂
Otherwise, looking great. Glad to see more about this project and hope it’s turning out delicious on your end too. 🙂
Size doesn’t matter. “Cut the peppers into slices.” Job done. 😀
“Thin” slices, or “thick” slices – either one is frequently used in recipes. 🙂
While it probably doesn’t matter for the peppers to say anything more than “thick” or “thin” slices, that is a good point above: measuring cups and rulers and other measuring toos in the U.S. are divided into 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. Some measuring cups have 1/3 and 2/3 also. Using decimals for them will be awkward at best.
And the oven temperatures will be confusing if you don’t specify C or F.
Otherwise, this looks interesting! I like the explanations of Smokejumper’s cooking.
Sorry, but every time I think about Werewolf meals for cooking I think of this cooking show on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg 😉
On the other hand, while some might be turned off from a book, I’m gnashing my teeth wondering how the Mokole Archid Traits are going to turn out. I dread the prospect of Sacral Plexus showing back up (a piece of corrupted Mnesis akin to the Great Fossil Lizard flaw if there was one), as well as what should be known as Loreal Pits are going to get tagged as a Jacobson’s Organ, as in the Breedbook.
[…] – Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: At press. Mike Lee is almost done the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel. The Storyteller Screen files are at press with W20. Bill has prepared the W20 Anthology outline and contracting prospective writers. The Skinner is approved and the PDF is going out to the KS backers ASAP. Jess Hartley is writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is being outlined. Check out some news here: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/2013/06/03/white-howler-gifts-and-a-recipe/ […]
Very interesting gifts! I especially like the healing howl. Visualizing it, I think using it would makes for a very interesting scene.
There’s a typo in the “Visions of slaughter” system.
Quote:
“difficulty range from 4 to 9; 5 for an all-but-innocent…”
Is it 4 or 5?
Other than that, I like the gifts, and in our group, it seems like we’re gonna be playing a WH pack just to get the feel of it..
Not a typo – range is 4 to 9. Someone who had set traps and hit an opossum was a 5, but someone who had done less (never been directly responsible for death) could be as low as a 4.
I’ll be sure to clarify that, though! Thanks for catching the confusion! This is one of the things I love about Open Development!
I’m under the opinion that Visions of slaughter should be a lot More nasty.
Despite being otherwise interesting, “mere” willpower drain is fairly lacklustre for a lvl 4 gift.
I’m under the opinion that it should cause at least temporary derangement as well.
It essentially does, given the inability of the victim to regain Willpower, and the special penalty for falling below half max Willpower.
[…] – Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: At press. Mike Lee went back and revised a fair number of chapter in the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel prior to submitting to Bill for dev review. The Storyteller Screen files are at press with W20. Bill has prepared the W20 Anthology outline and contracting prospective writers. The Skinner is waiting for PoD approval and should be available from DTRPG in a week or so. Jess Hartley is writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is ready for editing- which might take a while since our regular copy editors might not be as up on translating UK measurements to US ones. Check out some news here: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/2013/06/03/white-howler-gifts-and-a-recipe/ […]
[…] – Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: At press. Mike Lee went back and revised a fair number of chapter in the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel prior to submitting to Bill for dev review. The Storyteller Screen files are at press with W20. Bill has prepared the W20 Anthology outline and contracting prospective writers. The Skinner is waiting for PoD approval and should be available from DTRPG in a week or so. Jess Hartley is writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is ready for editing- which might take a while since our regular copy editors might not be as up on translating UK measurements to US ones. Check out some news here: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/2013/06/03/white-howler-gifts-and-a-recipe/ […]
[…] – Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: At press and getting the page-edge gilding put on. Mike Lee went back and revised a fair number of chapter in the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel prior to submitting to Bill for dev review. The Storyteller Screen files are at press with W20. Bill has theW20 Anthology stories in and is formatting them for editing. The Skinner is available from DTRPG in PDF and PoD form: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/115057/Skinner-SAS . Jess Hartley is writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is ready for editing- which might take a while since our regular copy editors might not be as up on translating UK measurements to US ones. Check out some news here: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/2013/06/03/white-howler-gifts-and-a-recipe/ […]
[…] – Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: At press and getting the page-edge gilding put on. Mike Lee went back and revised a fair number of chapter in the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel prior to submitting to Bill for dev review. The Storyteller Screen files are at press with W20. Bill has theW20 Anthology stories in and is formatting them for editing. The Skinner is available from DTRPG in PDF and PoD form: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/115057/Skinner-SAS . Jess Hartley is writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is ready for editing- which might take a while since our regular copy editors might not be as up on translating UK measurements to US ones. Check out some news here: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/2013/06/03/white-howler-gifts-and-a-recipe/ […]