Circumstances — and the crunch of redlining — continue. However, Rites won the delayed vote, and I can talk about them. So let’s do that.
Particularly astute readers may have noticed that I got my start with White Wolf on Lore of the Forsaken. One of the first things I ever wrote for the game involved the section on changing rites. Rites invoke ancient spirit pacts and bans, and spirits are strange and symbolic creatures. Naturally, different actions that carry the same symbolic meaning can have the same result. Sometimes, the spirit ban needs a symbol of death. Sometimes it has to be a skull, but one cast from crystal or resin would work as well as a the bones of a human or an animal.
That’s informed how rites developed through the Idigam Chronicle. Each rite has a set of symbols that it needs to incorporate, though how an individual pack does that is up to them. The dice pool used for the rite is an Attribute + Skill pair based on the ritual action — long-term readers will already know why we can’t use Harmony in the dice pool.
This changing nature of rites will lead to ritemasters coming up with their own forms of spirit magic that play to their favored Attributes and Skills. This is a feature, not a bug — each ritemaster should do things differently. A rite does have to include all of the required symbols; failure to do so means the rite is automatically a dramatic failure.
If you want, you can come up with a rite that uses Dexterity + Academics, but the ritual actions have to a) represent that dice pool, and b) incorporate all of the rite’s required symbols. A rite that somehow incorporates territory, the pack’s totem, the strength of a pack, ownership, and establishing boundaries with actions that require Dexterity + Academics is going to be a unique rite that suits your character.
That said, if we only offered that system it’d make rites complex — too complex for some groups. Some players may enjoy coming up with new rites, while others prefer to use rites without worrying about the semiotics involved. Hence, each rite description includes a sample version of the rite. It includes both ritual actions and an appropriate dice pool. They also provide handy examples of how to incorporate symbols into ritual actions.
Given the Idigam Chronicle heightens the focus on the pack, we’re including two kinds of rites. Wolf Rites rely on the spiritual nature of the Uratha. Many of them are closely-guarded secrets, and all require a werewolf ritemaster.
Pack Rites use the spiritual bond that ties a pack together as a channel. Any member of a pack who learns the rite can use it. Humans who think they belong to a strange chapter of the Hell’s Angels might be told by their (Uratha) superiors to clear out a bar of other patrons, then hold a gathering at the bar involving bloody initiation rituals. They end by washing down the bar-top in whisky and setting it alight. They may never know that the bar is a locus, and that they’re using the Wellspring Rite to infuse the it with the resonance of loyalty, but they’re part of the pack, and gives them the power needed to work the rite.
Here’s the first draft of some of the rites in the book. We’re including more rites than this, and it is a first draft so the wording may change in the final book.
This week’s music is The Specials’ Ghost Town. Next week, would you like Hunting Grounds or Merits?
Comments
70 responses to “Ritualistic”
Hunting grounds
I know more than one person who has “accidentally” performed a Wellspring Rite
although it was with Sambuca
I vote for Hunting Grounds
I was kind of hoping that Uratha wouldn’t need a rite to steal Essence from spirits, but I’m sure they’ll have other suitably thematic methods of gaining Essence. My vote’s for Hunting Grounds.
omg hunting grounds please
Vampire Domains were great, and I’m hoping the same for Mage’s Mysteries. I hope ‘hunting grounds’ refers to these sort of sample settings that we’re getting a taste of now, rather than just how werewolves claim territory. Otherwise merits are good, too.
So…if you’re previewing the Idigam Chronicle’s sample settings a la Vampire Domains or Mage Mysteries then I vote for hunting grounds.
If not, then merits 3:
Sounds cool being able to perform a given Rite in different ways acording to the Rite master preferences and style.
I vote for Hunting Grounds.
I like the first Rite that will help with those worried about every werewolf pack end always in a death rage binge.
The Siskur-Dah, on the other hand seems lacking, it gives bonuses against prey spirits, but what about the other posible prey like sharta or humans?
Agreed. If Bone Shadows are the only Tribe that benefits for hunting their favored prey with the sacred hunt ritual, aren’t the other Tribes getting a little short changed? Unless there are other rituals for hunting other types of prey, which I would be fine with.
From some of the other stuff we’ve seen, others power and gifts key off of the Siskur-Dah. So, if you declare a sacred hunter against humans, there are other abilities you can use against the humans you are hunting.
Lots of the gifts previewed earlier only worked during the Siskur-Dar, or were more effective during the Siskur-Dar. Also, the Aspects have spesific powers duringthe Sacred Hunt.
Loved most of these, they seem very usefull. Like that they are so flexible and clearly invoke the spirits, in the original WtF book the Rituals were very tame and lacked thematic resonance.
I vote for Mertis
On the forums, the rite’s writer made it sound that, at least for this particular one, this rite is purposefully a ‘first draft.’ The idea, from what I took from his post, was that he simply wanted to present a rite which a pack would perform before going on the hunt.
I think for the purposes of this rite that Hosts might be affected even though they aren’t quite SPIRITS. I don’t know about human prey, though
Merits for my taste!
The rites are wonderful !
I vote for Merits
Placing a vote for Merits.
Hunting Grounds!
I like it. Flexibility in how you perform the ritual is very cool, plays up the spiritual symbolism. I would love (probably in a future book) to get some ST guidelines on creating new rituals, but for a core book I will be happy just with a list. My vote is for Merits.
I vote for Merits. I remember how you said that tribal bonuses for favored prey would be handled through Merits instead of Gifts, and I’d like to see a preview of that.
Merits, please!
Neat! Also, Hunting Grounds, please.
Nice-I feel love for my old Ithaeur Blood Talon returning. I also have to say, I love how many of these rites empower the humans in a pack. It’s not free, but you can easily set up a scenario filled with glass cannons pointing at the same prey, and even play it up for sneak attack value.
Also, Loci were always big deal, but I definitely want it.
I’m curious about locales, buuuuuut Merits.
Totally agreed on the idea that you can empower humans with these rites. I especially love the spirit appeasement rite. It brings to mind a weird guy/family out in the wilderness putting up gris-gris bags or fetishes around the territory.
It’s the kind of thing the pack would outsource to the humans (the mystical equivalent of busy-work). They don’t need to know more beyond the fact that it works and makes the humans the front of the strangeness to outsiders
Nice — I love the sense of flexibility here, the way you can combine interesting description and role-playing with a fairly easy and straightforward dice roll. It does a good job of catering to those who love to describe everything AND to those who just want to roll some dice.
Merits — it sounds like this is going to be where a lot of interesting miscellaneous powers will end up these days (like heightened senses for Blood and Smoke), so I’m curious as to what those might be.
Merits, for the love of God, Merits!!
Merits, all the way.
Meeeeeeeeeeerits!
I’m loving this new approach. It feels less like rote “power selections” and more like an anthropology paper on Uratha culture. Above all, it still provides everything expected from a RPG game spell set.
Finally, I love how it allows human participation with these rites. I can finally see how to play out a full “Dances with Wolves” inspired chronicle.
Like some of the others here, I love the changing nature of the Rites. The ability for players to have incredibly different ritemasters who are all equally good at the same rites is fantastic. I also love the example rites. The Wellspring rite is probably my favorite right now. Gaining Influence? Yes, please!
I’ll put my vote in for Merits.
Merits.
Being able to explicitly destroy a spirit with a common rite rather than weird prep (that ime not all storytellers allow) is a wonderful upgrade.
Merits please.
Really liking the direction here, but the sample merit for the first rite doesn’t seem like it incorporates all the symbols? It’s not obvious how it does in any event.
Also, does that persistent ban from Supplication end when the rite ends, or is a ritemaster that uses that rite multiple times going to end up with a huge stack of bans eventually?
The sample rites don’t necessarily incorporate all the symbols for two reasons:
1) They provide a framework which a player character can use and customise with the remaining symbols that need to be added.
2) I don’t have the word count available to do exhaustive descriptions of sample performances for all the rites 😛
I’m still mulling over the Persistent Ban Condition as to how long it lasts.
Hunting grounds! The part of the book I’m most excited for~
Love the new Rites system, specifically Sacred Hunt. I’ve always given my group a way to take essence (forcefully) from a spirit, so that rite is right up my alley. I like that it’s a breaking point toward Spirit if not due cause. I always thought essence gain was very stunted in W:tF without some good HRs, so I’m looking forward to see how it’s handled in Idigam Chronicle, and this is a great start.
Tough choice this week. I think I’ll go with Hunting Grounds.
Hunting grounds
Merits!
I love new feel of Rites, and they becoming story seeds on themselves. Great job here!
I vote for Hunting Grounds, as I work now on my Northern Sweden one. 🙂
I vote for merits! I love how the rites have different dice pools, it reminds me of rote spells from Mage. I’m looking forward to what kind of benefits the merits give in relation to a werewolf’s favored prey.
I vote merits
Also, now that I’m a bit more lucid.
It seems that the Rite system is explained as needing more symbols than the examples really cover, so it’s a little uncertain what all you REALLY have to include when making it in a custom way; do you need something that just barely brushes everything, or can you leave a few bits out, or what?
Actually I’m working on a venetian-mountain hunting ground so…
Hunting ground!
“Spirits and Uratha within one hundred yards per Locus dot, or within the
entire territory (whichever is larger), add the Locus’s rating to all rolls for
Influences that match its Resonance.” Wait a minute. Uratha get influences? Where do they get them from?
They have their sources 😉
I love the new Rites so far! Hunting grounds!
MERITS!!!! 😀
Merits!
Hunting Grounds
Merits!
Amazing stuff as always! My players have trouble seeing the utility in rites. These will totally make it so we have a Rite master in our upcoming game!
Merits!
Excellent! I must confess that I was never really thrilled with Rites, originally – a little too pricey, when so many were more about cultural events, etc., than utility.
THIS, though. This is GOOD.
Also: Hunting Grounds!!
Nice new system, I like it. I like the division of Wolf and Pack rites as well.
Vote: Merits
My vote is for merits
Merits.
Merits.
Rites, on the other hand, look awesome. My only gripe is just they seem to need sooooo many symbols (making customs gets complicated).
Rule of thumb I’d take, for my own ease of mind there: the symbols there are suggestions, use 1 explicitly per lvl of the rite.
This brings credence to the fact that a lvl 5 rite is way more complicated than a lvl 1 rite.
Hunting Grounds! 🙂
First off, Merits. Oh stars and Moon, merits.
Well. This was unexpected. Rites actually not only feel resonate and distinct, but somehow feel even more broad reaching and seem to have even more utility. They were always rather utility focused and strengthening that was unexpected but welcome.
Oh gods, I’m so torn on this choice.
Merits would be awesome. Truly awesome. But so would Hunting Grounds.
All in all though, my vote is for Merits, if nothing else I want something to show my friends who are convinced Werewolves are going to be pretty much useless.
Merits please 🙂
Merits.
Not a big rite fan, but some of these were interesting.
Totemic empowerment and Wellspring looked like something that would be fun to play with, while Banish and Supplication made me yawn.
Supplication: I don’t think the impressions-chart sound very fun.
Banish: There is one of these for every game isn’t there?
Still, one more excellent post on the upcoming Idigam Chronicles. I can hardly wait!
Oh, and I vote for ..
Merits!!!
Increasing a step on the Impressions chart is a powerful tool for generally building alliances with and getting favours from a given spirit type. If wisely done, it can make the Shadow much safer and more manageable.
You’ll also note that Wellspring and Supplication adds another level for packs feuding or clashing with one another – go in and muck with their occult practices. Find out the Wellspring Ban and try to force the pack to break it; sneak into the territory and tear down the charms and trinkets they’ve been hanging around for the Supplication.
Hunting grounds please!
Interesting… Though we always “modified” the rites based upon the Rite Master’s perceptions and proclivities. A given Rite from a Blood Talon was different than the same Rite from the Bone Shadow. So Nothing New There. I like the Attribute + Skill combination, and May go that route in our Current Werewolf Game.
MERITS… The Preciouses…
My vote goes for hunting grounds.
will we see any update about the pure tribes?
Maybe it’s a stupid question but they was one of the main antagonist and the updates about the moon tribes was GREAT and the old book ”The Pure” is one of the best of the entire Forsaken line… Hope they will become more badass.. and maybe more playable for veteran players.
The pure were as badass as badassedly possible.
Its like trying to put more cake on top of.. well.. cake! 😛
I would guess the focus of IC is the Uratha vs Idigam and the entire “the wolf must hunt” – thingie.
I have to agree with you Scarbringer, I would love to see more of The Pure. They were great antagonists and could to some degree be used as playable characters.
On the other hand, they have already been portrayed with both depth and detail. Not that it is a competition, but it would be a hard to overcome the quality of the written content given to us in The Pure already.
Still it would be fun to see the IC adaptations on the Pure and how they play out in this game. Will the Anshega ally with Uratha to fight Idigam?
In fact , yes they are the perfect badasses in the main line 🙂
By the way I agree with you entirely. It would be great to know what the pure hunts and if they are more or less foundamentalists about theyr beliefs and if this will influences the game, if is still possible to play as a pure (like in the main line for veteran players ).
I am a great fan of forsaken and after a couple of years of playing wta I played the pure and I find the whole concept very deep and psychological.
I see them like the last stand against the modern world, of course extremists and a inhuman, but very ”romantic” in a certain way, if you know what I mean.
I pick merits
Merits.
Merits