Hello,
How are you? Doing well, I hope. I’ve got some fun things for you to get your teeth into. A couple of the sample characters from White Howlers, fresh for your consideration and comments. These are first drafts, content may change between now and the book, et cetera et cetera. But we still hope you enjoy.
Farwalker
“Keep your swords high, and your spirits higher!”
Prelude: You were born to a tribe already in decline, a fact that was obvious even if it was never spoken of. Your dreams were always of the world outside the walls that surrounded your village, and as soon as you were old enough to slip away unnoticed, you followed them. As a child, you’d come back at night, willing to accept the punishments meted out to you for disobeying your family’s orders to stay within the sanctuary of the village walls. No matter how harsh the beating, it was a small price to pay for the freedom found in the lands beyond, and you almost always earned another whipping for laughing about the first one.
Your First Change came when one of your wanders brought you between a hungry mother brown bear and her two newborn cubs. The fight nearly killed you, but in the end, it made a good story — the first of your collection as a Garou. After your Change, you were brought into the White Howler tribe, and given an education in what it meant to be Garou, but it wasn’t long before your wanderlust rose and you set out to explore the world again, gathering stories from distant lands and foreign tribes.
Concept: There’s a big world out there, beyond your village, full of people doing exciting things—you plan on being one of them. You don’t just want to hear stories of others’ exploits; you want to be there beside them, howling and laughing the whole way. Encouraging others to drink deeply of life (and to do so yourself) is more than a passion for you; it’s your Gaia-given duty, and one you take seriously.
Roleplaying Hints: There are worse things than dying for a cause. You don’t know how long you’ll be alive, but you know that you’re going to live every moment of it to the fullest. You’re not certain what you’ll find out there, but it has to be more interesting than what you’ve found at home. Your travels might lead you into dangerous situations, but one thing’s for certain — you will never be bored.
Equipment: Wool cape and kilt, copper trimmed boots, walking staff
Breed: Homid
Auspice: Galliard
Rank: 1
Physical: Strength 3 (5/7/6/4), Dexterity 2 (2/3/4/4), Stamina 3 (5/6/6/5)
Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2 (0/0/0/0), Appearance 2 (1/0/2/2)
Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4
Talents: Alertness 1, Athletics 1, Brawl 3, Empathy 1, Expression 1, Primal Urge 1, Subterfuge 1
Skills: Animal Ken 2, Crafts 2, Melee 2, Performance 1, Stealth 3, Survival 3
Knowledges: Enigmas 1, Investigation 2, Law 1, Medicine 1
Backgrounds: Ancestors 3, Pure Breed 2
Rage: 4; Gnosis: 1; Willpower: 3
Honor: 0; Glory: 2; Wisdom: 1
Gifts: (1) Beast Speech, Haunting Howl, Smell of Man
Monstrous Protector
“I will stand for no threat to that which is mine.”
Prelude: Your temper and stubbornness caused you no end of problems as a youth—until the day that the first Roman scouts found their way to the valley that held your village. The elders didn’t believe you when you begged them not to trust the foreigners, not even when the scouts returned with soldiers to “provision” themselves from your people’s meager larders. When provision and resupply became pillage and rape, you could take no more. The red rage fell upon you, and the next morning nothing remained of the Romans but a scarlet stain on the cobbles of your village’s courtyard.
The stories began that night, of a creature from legend sent by the gods to drive away the Roman invaders. Now, you are the protector of an entire region, whispered about (and occasionally prayed to) by those who you have claimed as your own. Your pack has stood between them and invading Roman troops on more than one occasion, and your sword has found its way into the guts of those who would abuse or conquer your Kin.
Concept: You are the monster that stalks the night, the white-coated stalker that protects the people against all invaders—mortal or supernatural. The inhabitants of your territory sleep a little sounder knowing that somewhere in the forests beyond their city walls, the beast with the silver blade is watching over them.
You do not travel far from your homelands to pursue those who would do your people harm. It is enough to drive invaders away; once they are gone, they are someone else’s problem.
Roleplaying Hints: That which you claim as yours is sacred; woe be to any who seeks to harm it. It is a fulfilling life, but a lonely one. You must remain aloof from each individual under your care, or risk weakening your attention to the rest. Your responsibility is to the greater good. You could only consider forming a pack with those who are as devoted to the duty of protecting the humans and wolves you call your own as you are.
Equipment: Fang Dagger
Breed: Homid
Auspice: Ahroun
Rank: 1
Physical: Strength 4 (6/8/7/5), Dexterity 3 (3/4/5/5), Stamina 3 (5/6/6/5)
Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2 (0/0/0/0), Appearance 1 (0/0/1/1)
Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Talents: Alertness 1, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Intimidation 2, Leadership 2, Primal Urge 1, Subterfuge 1
Skills: Melee 3, Stealth 3, Survival 3
Knowledges: Investigation 2, Law 1, Medicine 1, Occult 1
Backgrounds: Allies 1, Fetish 3, Kinfolk 1
Rage: 5; Gnosis: 1; Willpower: 3
Honor: 1; Glory: 2; Wisdom: 0
Gifts: (1) Desperate Strength, Razor Claws, Smell of Man
What is the breed spread here, I see two homids, but will lupus and metis be included as well?
Anyway, onto the characters themselves, I like the concepts and how they tie to the culture of the Howlers.
Lupus and Metis are represented as well. These two didn’t have any of the new Gifts, Rites, or other goodies, so they seemed the most solid to share early on.
Cool ^^
I like that you included a potential for pack for Monstrous Protector, some revised templates lacked any ties to the Nation.
Good point. And thank you for what you have shown.
All looks very cool
The only inconsistency I see in Monstrous Protector is that you say he has a “FANG dagger” and you refer to “the beast with the SILVER blade” before. Wasnt fang dagger made of fang literally? Either change it to klaive or change the text.
Apart of that I really do like it!
These are the details that get caught during redlines. 🙂
Perhaps I am a little slow, but what do the numbers in the parentheses mean?
IE: Strength 4 (6/8/7/5)
They are changes to the stat that each of the five forms has. Glabro-Crinos-Hispo-Lupus, in that order.
Slight inconsistency here.
“Your pack has stood between them and invading Roman troops on more than one occasion” = You have a pack
“You could only consider forming a pack with those who are as devoted to the duty of protecting the humans and wolves you call your own as you are.” = You don’t have a pack.
Otherwise, those are good sample characters. I like that they are grounded in decidedly less modern concerns. The reality of the era permeates through what matters to them. This doesn’t feel like 20th century werewoves in times of the romans. This feels like Roman era werewolves should.
I think the “could” could also be seen as being a requirement for those that this character is already with too. “The only girl I could ever see me marrying is you, babe.” You know, that sort of thing. But it could perhaps come across a little more clearly with some better wording either way, I suppose. 🙂
Agreed. Om both counts.
Only thing I’d like to change is that the characters would have had Dark ages-skill set instead of modern but since DA-line hasn’t been updated to reflect the changes in W20 I guess this will have to do.
Very nice. Of the two homids the Farwalker is my favorite. Got Queen stuck in my head while reading the backstory.
Nice!
I totally recognize where that first one comes from, BTW. It fits perfectly as the childhood of a certain NPC in Past Lives.
*grins* I’m glad someone caught that Easter Egg, Erinys!
Oh wow! Nice catch my friend.
Just a little historical criticism: The actual “kilt” that Farwalker wears is a 16th century apparel; unless this is a kilt-like thing.
True, a liene (long baggy-sleeved tunic worn belted in a skirtlike fashion at the waist) would be closer. Even that is more of a guess — an interpretation from stone-carvings — as there are (to the best of my knowledge) no extant fiber pieces from the tribes that the Romans would later call the Picts from the White Howler’s era. But where most readers will “grok” a kilt (and it takes up four letters to get a feel across), using “liene” would require an explanation that’s too big for what we’re trying to use in the sample characters.
But, good catch!