Howling Cold | Werewolf: The Forsaken of Soviet Russia

Creating your character

Character creation happens in Session 0, and in a follow-up Session 0.5 if we got overtime without finishing. Both these will be free of charge. Character creation in Werewolf: The Forsaken is uniquely more difficult than in any other CofD gameline due to how the gift system works (it's confusing to work out which gifts you can and can't get at character creation). We'll use a more simplified and narrative method: you'll agree on a totem spirit for the pack which will grant each of you a Totem Gift (chosen by me based on the spirit's type) and each of you 1-2 dots of a personal gift (which you freely choose). Your starting gifts from character creation will be drawn from the various non-spirit gifts (like Gifts of Change, Gifts of the Wolf, etc). You are free to play a Wolf-blooded instead of a werewolf if you want to, and you'll get all these things when/if you experience the First Change. As far as your character goes, this chronicle is set in Soviet Russia during the cold war, so generally speaking you would play an Eastern European character. This is a recommendation as opposed to a hard restriction if you've come up with a cool and believable alternate concept.

Preparing for the session

Players should be prepared to join my GMing discord server where I provide all the useful information I can think of, as well as have the actual voice communications for the game. Foundry is the virtual tabletop I use, and it does not require players to have anything other than an internet browser and the link I provide to each game session. Be prepared to use Edge in the event that your chosen internet browser experiences technical difficulties with Foundry. Players should familiarise themselves at least somewhat with the Storyteller System's resolution mechanic (D10 dicepools, 10s explode, successes are 8s, 9s and 10s; 5 total successes is an exceptional success; concept of success/failure, exceptional success/dramatic failure) beforehand. Also familiarise yourselves with a little history and geography of Soviet Russia during the cold war--it is a turbulent and suspicious time of famine and espionage. Prior knowledge of Werewolf: The Forsaken lore is not required as your pack will be fresh out of their First Change.

What Roy brings to the table

First and foremost, I provide a living, breathing world that reacts and adapts to the players' decisions. There are no rails to follow; this is a sandbox where your actions matter and can change the fate of the universe. There are no throwaway or "silly" characters who exist just to serve a humorous bit; every character is brought up in the fiction of the game universe. Players that join my games can expect the rules as written to be followed, setting a clear baseline for how everyone's player characters can interact with their world. Over and above that baseline, they can expect me to try my best to fairly interpret the mechanics or consequences of any imaginative action they can think to attempt--just because there's no rules for swinging on a chandelier doesn't mean you can't try! I'll do my best to ensure my players have the best experience possible. I provide voices for all my characters and draw on my long gaming history to sample appropriate immersive background music for my games.

Homebrew rules

We'll be using house rules to replace the normal Werewolf: The Forsaken Harmony system. In short, Harmony doesn't provoke interesting game experiences (in my humble opinion) the way that Vampire: The Requiem's Humanity, Mask and Dirge and Touchstones do. We'll be using Virtue, Vice and Touchstones for Willpower recovery. Additionally, instead of Harmony, Blood and Bone, you'll have a mortal's Integrity stat (along with 5 player-chosen breaking points) alongside a Predator archetype analogous to a vampire's Dirge; this archetype will help dictate how the wolf-spirit that your body now hosts demands to interact with the world (similar to VtR's concept of the Beast).

How Roy creates a safe table

My players will receive links to safety tools, in particular a consent checklist. I will review these checklists before a session 0, and then discuss how the content in the game might relate to or be altered by the consent of the players. Furthermore, session 0 will begin with a general consent check for players to indicate anything they forgot to mention or wanted to ask other players. In the case of safety tools, I will encourage my players to message me privately (using a whisper in chat or a discord message) in order to indicate when they are uncomfortable. When this occurs, I will alert the group that I need to take a quick break to handle a consent check, then private message with the uncomfortable player (I will do this without asking anyone to leave the group call, so as not to single out anyone).