Spark of Life

Each trait on your character sheet might have a story behind it — the reason your character decided to pursue computer programming, the experiences he had that rationalize his rudimentary Survival Skill, and so on. Try to think of as many of these stories as you can. Even a story that seems completely mundane — such as learning how to fix a car from his father, who spent most of his time trying to keep a VW microbus running — provides another facet of your character’s personality and another potential hook for the stories. Don’t overlook potential physical or personality Flaws, either.

What do your character’s Attributes mean? Is his Strength the patently obvious build of a weightlifter or a surprising wiry power? Which Skills did he learn because he had to, and which because he wanted to? What does your character look like? Does he have a distinctive appearance? Does he take care of himself? What color are his eyes, his hair, his skin? Does he wear glasses, and will he still need to after the Change? What does his voice sound like? What does he look like in Dalu, Gauru, Urshul and Urhan form? Picture your character as clearly as you can, as it helps you express his image and personality when it comes time to roleplay. The more realistic and interesting other people find your character, the more everyone enjoys the game.

Final Questions

The following questions can help you determine aspects of your character’s background and personality that you haven’t considered or defined. Even if you don’t run a prelude or answer all of these questions, you should consider answering as many as possible, either by writing up a character background or by talking about the details with your Storyteller. The more you know about your character, the more real he will seem.

How old are you?

When were you born? How old were you when you underwent the First Change? How long have you been a werewolf? Did the Change affect your emotional maturity? For better or worse? Do you look older or younger than your years? Are you more or less mature than you seem?

What was unique about your childhood?

What do you remember about your early years? What was your home life like? Was it idyllic? Troubled? Abusive? Where did you go to school? Were you a good student? What is your most powerful childhood memory? Did you go to high school or college? Did you have a hometown, or did your family move often? Did you run away from home? Did you play sports? Did any of your childhood friendships last until adulthood? Did your nascent Rage affect your childhood?

What kind of person were you?

Did you like who you were? How would you describe yourself as a person before the Change? How would the people who knew you best describe you? How would someone who disliked you describe you? What about a total stranger? Did you have an active social life? A family? A steady job? Good friends, or simply acquaintances? How did you expect life to go before the Change turned everything upside down?

What experiences with the supernatural have you had?

Did omens manifest before your First Change? Did you take particular note of them? Were you hunted and bitten prior to the Change? Did you ever have an encounter with a manifested spirit, Ridden or other supernatural entity? Were you skeptical of the supernatural? Is there anything you learned to fear?

What was your First Change like?

How did your auspice moon affect your Change? What stress brought on the Change? Did you do anything you regret? Did your Change have ramifications in the mortal world? Are you now hunted by the police, or by someone else? How does your First Change haunt you today?

Who taught you what you are?

Who was your mentor? Who brought you into werewolf society after your Change? Were they expecting you to Change, or did they run across you by accident? Are you related? Is your mentor one of the People or someone with wolf blood? Do you come from a strong werewolf bloodline, or were you born into a family in which the blood was weak?

What was your tribal initiation like?

How many werewolves of your tribe were present? Do you keep in touch with any of them? How did you feel when the rite was completed? Did you feel proud? Frightened? What is your Uratha name? Why were you given this name? Do you answer to it, or do you prefer your human name? Were you initiated into a tribe at all?

How was your pack formed?

When did you first meet your packmates? Did you get along with them at first? Were you brought together by elders? By circumstance? What is your pack totem like? Is it the sort of totem you expected to have, or did it reveal something strange about your own personality?

Do you keep a territory?

Is there a place you consider “yours”? Do you share it with your pack? Are you comfortable with the responsibility? If you have no territory, do you want one?

Do you retain any connections to your mortal life?

Are you a “missing person?” Have you been presumed dead? Do you retain contact with your family or friends? Have any of your loved ones been subject to danger due to your new life? Do you have any wolf-blooded relatives?

What motivates you?

How much do you believe in your tribe’s cause? Do you have issues from your mundane life that still go unresolved? Do you have loved ones to protect, or are you in search of someone who understands? Are there wrongs in your past that need to be righted? Have your experiences as a werewolf given you new motivation? Do you want to hold on to a portion of your previous life? If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

Key Events

No list of formative events could account for all the ways in which your players could make characters, or for all the ways you could structure a Werewolf story, but the following are some guidelines that help. Most werewolves go through experiences such as these (in some way) in their lives, and how they handle them informs the kind of people they become.

Mundane Drama

Every werewolf lives the first
part of his life among humans, believing that he’s one of
them. As he comes closer to his First Change, however,
the others around him react subconsciously to the difference
between him and them. He might be ostracized by
his peers at school, divorced or thrown out of his parents’
home for defiant, unruly behavior. Go over how the Rage
builds in him and what he does to control (or vent) it.

First Animistic Exposure

As the First Change nears, spirits pay more attention, and prospective werewolves even catch them at it. When that happens, a character’s worldview changes radically, teaching him something that no one else seems to know. If the character in question is one of the “lucky” ones, go over how he handles it when he peels back that corner of the veil of mystery and finds intelligent but alien things staring back at him.

First Change

Whether it’s a bloodbath on prom night or a terrifying rampage in a secluded summer home far from civilization, the First Change is an event that every werewolf has in common. The circumstances not only determine the werewolf’s auspice, they often reveal his fortitude and true identity. Go over the events that trigger the frenzied First Change and the moments of horrified exhaustion that follow. Ask the player if his character is frightened, resigned or relieved to discover what he is.

First Trip into the Shadow Realm

The thriving, dangerous spirit world is not only the element that sets this game apart from generic werewolf fiction, but also the legacy that makes the Forsaken different from everyone else. Before his First Change, a character might have glimpsed the animistic forces that drive and react to life on this planet, but that’s not the same as literally crossing into the spirit world at the threshold of a locus. Go over his first experience crossing the Gauntlet and his first reaction to the world on the other side. Also decide how he reacts to the spirit patrons who live there, and vice versa.

Adoption into a Tribe

Unless the character is a Ghost Wolf, he has this experience before he is set free to find his pack. Go over what draws him to his tribe, as well as the conditions the local elders of that tribe set before him. Does he have to make a tough choice between two equally attractive tribes? Does he find the tribe that was perfect for him with no question at all? Does a terrible example set by a member of another tribe drive him to make the choice? Will no other tribe take him?

Formation of the Pack

This event usually occurs during the first session of actual play, but that isn’t always necessary. If you want to begin your story with a fully formed and functional pack of werewolves, go over what event drew the packmates together. Briefly discuss what the other local packs think about this one, and vice versa, and lay out any powerful dynamics between members that affect how the pack works as a whole.

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