Now available for Werewolf: The Apocalypse in Advance PDF from DriveThruRPG: Kinfolk: A Breed Apart
Born to Run
The Garou are born of two kinds: humans and wolves. These are their Kinfolk — those “of the blood.” These special people — whether of two legs or four — carry in them the hope of the Garou: the promise of future generations. Although Garou are born to Kinfolk, nobody knows they’re different until they undergo their First Change. Until such a blessed (or cursed) time, they are just like their more mundane Kin. Most live as humans, suffering the foibles of humanity, all the while hoping they’re secretly special, that they harbor the wolf within. Even though that wolf will never howl for the majority of Kin, they’ve still got a vital role in the war, aiding the effort from behind the lines.
Stuck in Second Gear
This book gives the Kinfolk the spotlight and shows how they live their lives as adjuncts to the Garou — werewolves who could be their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, even their parents. It explores the society of Kinfolk, both those “kenning” (in the know) and “callow” (ignorant of the Garou). Storytellers will find advice on running Kinfolk-oriented chronicles, while players can discover special Kinfolk Gifts and fetishes, as well as learn the many differences between Garou and Fera Kin.
Kinfolk: A Breed Apart contains:
- Overview of the Kinfolk, both kenning and callow, including some of the Fellowships founded by Kinfolk to aid the Garou cause — and to protect themselves from their cousins’ Rage.
- Character creation for playing Kinfolk, including new Skills, Backgrounds, Merits and Flaws, as well as special Kin rites, Gifts, and fetishes.
- Guidelines for running Kinfolk chronicles, as well as in-depth information on the Kin-Fetches, the unique spirits used by Garou to watch over their distant cousins and warn the tribes if one of them should undergo the First Change.
While I like almost all of the book so far… There is one glaring entry that seems to contradict all previous material in a very bizarre fashion.
The section on Mokole Kinfolk. Rather than the information we’ve been given in previous volumes of W20, where Mnesis dreams of early Mokole in the height of their power ruling over proto-humans is seen as only a recent and aberrant corruption of memory, the Kinfolk book treats it otherwise. Not only that, but it bases the write-up of attitudes between Mokole and their human kin completely on this bizarre break from the rest of the material.
Apart from this, however, really enjoying the background information and plot hooks that this book provides.
This is the most interesting thing to come down the CWOD pike since the revised Technocracy Convention Books. I will definitely be paying attention. Very happy to know that some people out there are still interested in WtA (even if I can’t seem to find any of them in Minneapolis, where I and 2-3 friends are hoping to start up a game, but would really like to have a full-sized pack).