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Review by: Prax
Rating: 10/10
A dense and comprehensive look at what it’s like to be a werewolf.
Blood of the Wolf written by Matthew McFarland, Wayne Peacock and Peter Schaefer is more or less the handbook for being a werewolf. This has nothing to do with Tribes or Auspices, just the physical and psychological aspects of being spirit, flesh, human and wolf all rolled up into a single disturbing amalgamation.
The book opens with Like God, a strange piece of fiction written by Matthew McFarland. I’m still not quite sure what exactly is going on in this story, but it definitely feels like a very werewolf story and gets across the feeling of otherness a werewolf can inspire in normal humans without even changing shape. Following that is a short introduction about how werewolves are defined in the World of Darkness and then a chapter breakdown.
Chapter 1: Flesh and Blood is a comprehensive look at werewolf physiology. It begins with another look at the First Change and then goes on to discuss the intricacies of regeneration. Included is a discussion of systems for delaying the effects of regeneration when it might be better to not have your wounds miraculously heal in front of potential witnesses. Silver wounds are also discussed including what it feels like to be hit by silver and what kind of wounds and scarring silver weapons inflict. If you have questions about the kinds of effects various drugs have on werewolf physiology the next section covers that. The following section covers the myriad aspects of werewolf pregnancy, including the conception of a Ghost Child. Ageing is then discussed as well as a massive section about shape shifting with a closer look at each of the five forms. The chapter ends with a fairly thorough discussion of partial transformations. All in all this is a very dense chapter that offers an extremely close look at the werewolf condition. It’s sure to prove insightful and interesting to both storytellers, casual and hard-core werewolf players alike.
Chapter 2: Sheep’s Clothing is about living with normal people. How do werewolves get on in the world? How do you describe that creepy feeling that people get whenever a werewolf is around without using the same descriptions over and over again? What kind of jobs are available for anti-social bastards with anger management issues? All these questions and more are answered in this chapter. The book also takes a look at urban, rural and suburban settings as well as taking a closer look at the Tribal Vows and the Oaths of the Moon. Again this is a fairly dense chapter packed with useful information for both players and storytellers.
Chapter 3: The Wild Hunt is concerned with the wilderness. What does it take to survive in the wild and how much of an advantage do werewolves really have when attempting to live off the land? Included are tips and tricks for running stories in the wilderness, several new animal templates, though sadly no elk, deer or hare template is included. There is also a new Gift List called Halcyon for easing weather conditions and several new Rites specifically made to make wilderness survival easier. Ultimately this is the weakest chapter in the book, but it’s still pretty useful. You also have to consider the high quality of the other chapters in comparison.
Chapter 4: The Wolf-Blooded is just that a discussion of those who carry the blood of the wolf, but who are not werewolves themselves. This is another packed chapter and introduces a new scalable version of the Wolf-Blooded merit for mortals. More importantly though, it offers a detailed look at exactly what Wolf-Blooded are and what sets them apart from the rest of humanity. Also provided are everything you need to make fully fleshed out Wolf-Blooded NPCs and PCs. Three Wolf-Blooded families are also introduced either for easy inclusion in your own chronicles or as an example of just what its like to grow up in a family where numerous members of the family are werewolves. Also introduced are the strange variety of Ridden exclusive to Wolf-Blooded known as Moon-Puppets. The Chapter ends with a collection of three Wolf-Blooded NPCs with full trait write-ups and an extensive look at Wolf-Blooded from a Storytelling perspective.
I highly recommend this book for any player of Werewolf: The Forsaken. Whether you are a player or a storyteller there is something in this book that you can benefit from. The Wolf-Blooded chapter alone is almost worth the cost of the book to me and that’s only one quarter of the information contained within it. Bottom-line you cannot read this book and not come away with a greater understanding about werewolves in the World of Darkness. To put this in numerical terms I give this book a 10 out of 10. I guarantee you will not be disappointed with your purchase of this book at least if you’re a fan of Werewolf: The Forsaken. Unfortunately I can’t vouch for the value that the book will hold for Vampire fans, Mage fans or Werewolf-haters.
