I don’t think anyone else has recommended it, so I thought I’d mention Werewolf: the Apocalypse for all the gamer nerds here. It’s a table-top storytelling/roleplaying game in which the players play werewolves (duh) that call themselves Garou and were created far in prehistory to protect Gaia from the forces of evil and corruption, personified by the Wyrm, a spirit of death that was driven mad by the Weaver (a spirit of static ordering and high technology) and now seeks to destroy everything. The Wyrm, in addition to the Weaver, causes corporations and corrupt humans to despoil the land with waste, and create monsters. The werewolves, along with other shapechangers and spirit-allies, fight against these forces, all the while expecting the apocalypse to be right around the corner. The whole game is steeped in animism, which makes for an interesting game.
I’ve tried to get a game of that going, to little avail. It should provide a great opportunity to really explore the spirits of your local bioregion, if you play your local pack. But alas, my attempts so far have all failed.
Yep. You could easily play that setting just using Primetime Adventures, In A Wicked Age, or some very simple story game. I’d play a werewolf! Except in truth, I’d want to make up my own cool tribal setting. In fact, I’ve just really started doing that right now, a setting hack of “The Fifth World” called “Tears at the End of the Fourth World”, about modern animist nomads that live almost invisibly amongst the structures of civ and wilderness.
I’d actually disagree–like Ron Edwards said, system does matter. Even taking the same setting as Werewolf: The Forsaken, putting it into Primetime Adventures will make it play more like a TV drama, while putting it into In a Wicked Age would give it more the themes of sword and sorcery. World of Darkness is really a traditional game, though it’s the grandfather of all story games.
You decided to make “Tears at the End of the Fourth World” a setting for the Fifth World? Too awesome! I can’t wait to see it!
I’ll clarify my point; I’d want to storyjam a werewolf, not to play a traditional game that would deliver the experience that those old White Wolf games delivered (whatever they actually promised), but to tell a satisfying narrative story with characters that have an exciting arc (and that occured in my place, on my land!).
I do heartily agree that system does matter. Because of my personal preferences, I suggested some different systems, that would deliver a more narrative jam. When played with all five senses involved, Primetime Adventures doesn’t so much deliver a TV drama, as much as an serial dramatic storyline with consistent main characters. I like that kind of story.
In A Wicked Age, in my experience, doesn’t so much deliver a sword and sorcery story (though it certainly will if you use the offered Oracle, instead of making your own!), as much as an intense action-oriented anthology with rotating characters, and a strong experience of a perservering underdog. I like this kind of story too!
This would make for an interesting conversation (for me, anyway 
) - using the setting (or a similar, more personalized werewolf setting), what kind of story would you like to jam? Tragedy? Heroism? Consistent characters? Rotating characters? Known destinies? Ever-evolving destinies? And which games matches that thirst?
Fun stuff!
Regarding TATEot4W, yes, I’d like to see if I can make a go of it with the Fifth World! I have a lot of ideas already, and it fits right in with your culture creation stuff in the Fifth World. So we’ll see how it goes…
I started a Werewolf game a couple nights ago, and to my surprise my usual gaming group seems excited! Not surprisingly, however, one of my ‘friends’, a person who exhibits basically all the worse traits of a civilized asshole, is playing a civilized asshole obsessed with technology who thinks he’s the top of the world and that everyone should bow down to him. I expect to figure out a fun way to kill of this character, and perhaps teach the player a lesson.
There’s another advantage of this game: it’s very easy to use it to teach people the importance of their ‘pack’, and working cooperatively with said pack.
I agree, Dan–and since it is more traditional, you can get people in who normally wouldn’t play story games, much less listen to what you have to say about rewilding.
Willem, I think you got to the meat of what IaWA and PtA really do in your reply much better than my original comment did. And that nicely clarifies the role Werewolf can fill, too: a bridge that lets those not quite ready for that to dip in their pinky toe. Of course, anyone reading this is probably long past dipping in pinky toes, so this is more a tool for talking to others than anything really useful to ourselves. And personally, yeah, I’m much more interested in more narrative games, too!
The game was obviously thought up by people with particularly anti-civilization views. I’ve always laughed at how many of the Garou tribes resemble the various subgroups in the whole hippie/counterculture/neopagan/alternative scene.
Whether or not they could recognize them as such.
I was recently going over some very old poems of mine and to my surprise found a lot to chew on, anti-civ wise. It seems to be something that had been tumbling about my mind for a while, even unconsciously, that contrast/conflict between the way people in my life lived and the way the forest lived…
I had the pleasure to work with Bill Bridges, the creator of the game, for a while and though he may not call himself anti-civ as such, he’s deep into both environmentalism and storyjamming. One game I worked with him on was a dystopian near-future that talked about global warming, its implication for the Atlantic currents and the impact of corporations. He couldn’t finish it because it got too close to what was going on in the world and made him too depressed.
Suggestion: check out the new Werewolf system (Werewolf: The Forsaken) for some of their takes on spirits (I like how they handle totems & tribes) but ignore most of it because White Wolf Games transformed eco-warriors into whiny farmers. Seriously. It’s pretty damned annoying.
Second up, I’ve got some material that was generated for the games I ran (including Live Action and sit-down games) I’d love to share. It includes rituals and commentary on some different spirits. The live-action stuff… gods I have some fun memories from that. Thanks to chemical special effects, we had one time where we were out camping, the core gamers (playing Garou) were being attacked on all sides. The ‘priests’ (theurges) were performing a ritual around the campfire. They finish one segment of it and WHOOSH! A gout of green flame explodes from the fire and spirals into the sky. One of those magical moments.
Werewolf was one of those games that actually helped prepare me for re-wilding because at it’s core, if played according to the books, you have to come to term with the fact that the world’s dying. No chance for reprieve, no miracle cure. It’s just a matter of time, definitely within your lifetime. I delved deep into a few characters to find a strength to play that out (rather than denying it) and when I had to face it in real life, it made things a lot easier.
On a side-note, now, when I refer to our world dying, I understand that the world my children will live in will be nothing like I live in now. This time is dying. What life looks like beyond this ‘death’, I don’t know.
Last up, I’m working on a semi-Werewolf to DitV conversion, much for the same reason Willem was; storyjamming. DitV works well for those judgemental furballs.
Best
Bill Maxwell
I’d totally love to see any material for table-top playing. I always look to add some depth to my games, and I’m also having some issues thinking up enough plots.
On the topic of coming up with ideas:
Are you familiar with “Bangs!” ? Its basically a term for a scene/situation in which you force a story element (player character) to make a meaningful choice. A situation that will change herhimit no matter what course of action is chosen. A choice that will tell us something about that character or player. When you look at your player’s characters some ideas for bangs will probably jump out at you. Try not to conceive of a resolution of such a scene yourself, just try to come up with the bang itself.
Last up, I'm working on a semi-Werewolf to DitV conversion, much for the same reason Willem was; storyjamming. Smiley DitV works well for those judgemental furballs.
I must play this.
Thanks for the vote of confidence Jason. Here’s the unfinished nonsense I have so far (very raw). I’ve decided to post it just because work has me going insane & I’d rather post something than nothing for another month!
You stand now apart from your People, though you will always be a part of them.
What you have seen changed you; what you will do will transform you.
You exist, now and forever, as part of the FIVE.
THE FIVE
The Five exists as a Lodge, one of the many social grouping that cross family, clan and clave territories. While most lodges serve political, spiritual or networking functions, the Five serve one clear purpose: to protect the Heart of Kin, Clave, and Land.
Lodge members choose new initiates because they possess two valuable assets: (1) an air of authority. When the initiate speaks, people always tend to listen. (2) the ability to shapechange. When an initiate dons another persona (called by most, a Mask), they appear to others as someone completely different, a separate individual that the people may or may not recognize.
ON AUTHORITY
Under normal circumstances, people with this trait would be trained as leaders of either family, clave or land, any chance of ego held in check by the rituals and traditions that have existed since the dawn of time. Unfortunately, these aren’t normal circumstances. The World is dying, the Ferals are being threatened by the teeth of Civ, its spirit-devouring collectives destroying the land.
The Civ seem obsessed with authority; they thrive on it, creating a hierarchy that many must follow or be crushed and thrown aside. With that in mind, Authority among the Ferals now counts as a weapon and the People hone it as such.
ON SHAPESHIFTING
The Civs have a specific madness they have forced upon their own, that of a ‘multiple-personality’. This delusion, seen in a lesser extent to an Civ specialty “acting†is a reflection of something everyone has done since childhood. It represents the powerful ability to pretend.
Adults, even among the Ferals, use this to deal with everday life, one face for family, another for the hunt, another for ritual. These ‘masks’ define their interaction with the world.
Members of the Five show a talent for this that exists beyond the normal. Such a talent is often used in medicine ceremonies, but in conjunction with the current circumstances, it can also be wielded as a weapon.
To hone these skills, members of the Five focus on four different personalities, in addition to their core one, to round out a specific curriculum that prepares them for most (though not all situations) they may have to face.
The Five Masks they take on are:
That with which you were born
That which intimidates
That which kills
That which hunts
That which swims the World flow
TIED TO THE MOON
The Five tie their work to the Moon, which reflects the light of the Sun, illuminating the night. They hold her in special esteem because it is their fervent hope that they reflect the light of the world and their ancestors, holding their ways through the Long Night of Civ until, perhaps, a new Dawn can come.
While the Masks are intimate and very personal, each member of the Five adopts a moon-name which reflects their relationship with the world. This moon-name is based on the phase of the moon:
Silent: The new moon, completely dark, the time of the Trickster who stands when everything else has failed, who knows no bounds, no morals, no scruples save the ones the Trickster decides to adopt. Never ready to die but always dying. [The Trickster]
Sliver: The time of the crescent moon, the eye opening just a fraction, mysteries of the spirit all around. [The Medicine Worker]
Half: A place of justice, seeing sides that others may not perceive, always ways the decisions of the ancestors against a dark and unknown future. [The Judge]
Gibbous: A moon pregnant with possibility. The storyteller who can lie as well as create new dreams. They present the hope that a new world will be born and create webs of stories to try and link the old world to the new one that is to come. [The Wordweaver]
Full: The full fury and judgment of the ancestors, the ability to rip away the lies of Civ’s darkness and reveal its dark brutal truth. It’s the pain one cannot quickly hide from. [The Warrior]
Your normal persona
The bruiser / intimidator, +2 Traits, + 1 Relationship.
The killer / destroyer, + 4 Traits – 2 Relationships
The one who hunts, + 1 Traits, + 2 Relationship
The one who senses the world, who is fast., + 4 Relationships, -2 Traits
The game is designed to be a social experiment. Its core premise is that a healthy village is a functioning, stable community and that exposure to Civ and its values destabilizes this. The players are a team of “feral" humans that come into a dysfunctional situation and find mechanisms to fulfill one of two victory scenarios: (1) fix the dysfunctional situation / put the village on the path to recovery. (2) expose the corruption and set the healthy humans on a road to fighting it effectively.
Villages (or larger), called here “claves” (from the word ‘enclave’) are designed on a
DEPENDENCY (manifests as scarcity)
…leads to…
BREAKING TABU (manifests as a disruption in the social order)
…leads to…
BREAKING THE WORLD (young no longer respect old, traditions lost, new ways must be built)
…leads to…
HIERARCHY (certain segments of society grow stronger over others, increase in violence and power-over tactics as survival mechanisms)
…leads to…
HATE & MURDER
Character Creation:
Given a set of dice; divide them among four attributes. You later use these dice like poker hands, comparing dice totals of two or more dice to win a step in a contested action.
Create your traits: Divide a set of dice among things that make you what you are. You decide this. “I’m a good talker.†“I ride horses.†Etc. etc.
Create your relationships: these are used when you are struggling with that relationship or the relationship is in direct jeopardy. These can be people “my brotherâ€Â, institutions “my village, or even emotions “my anger.â€Â
FALLOUT:
Just talking: d4s
Physical, not fighting: d6s
Fighting with any weapon (including guns): d8s
Bureaucracy: d10s
Sample Town:
TBD