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Review by: Prax
Rating: 9/10
A more then worthy successor to Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
What makes a good werewolf game? In my mind, it’s a game that makes being a werewolf mean something beyond a curse or the ability to transform oneself into a beast. That’s one of the many reasons I liked Werewolf: The Apocalypse. You weren’t simply a werewolf, you were one of the Garou, the Fangs of Gaia, a spirit-warrior dedicated to the preservation of the world and born into the final act of an epic already millennia old. Well, with Werewolf: The Forsaken the folks at White-Wolf have done it again and made being a werewolf truly means something. More then that they did it in a way that makes the game far more then a rehash of Apocalypse. It is truly a different game with its own themes and take upon the werewolf condition as well as what it means to be a creature half flesh and half spirit.
The book opens with Prologue: Fresh Meat, the first glimpse at the world of the Forsaken where we follow a pack of werewolves as they hunt down a young man who is about to undergo the First Change. If you’re familiar with Apocalypse you might find the scenario a familiar one until you see the fear in the pack’s eyes as they push their prey too far and the beast within is finally unleashed. Fresh Meat ends at that point and we move onto the Introduction, but I’m going to pause a moment here to dwell upon the illustration and text preceding the chapter. The wonderful illustration by Ron Spencer is of an individual undergoing the First Change and the accompanying page is a mental dialogue as the change occurs. I enjoyed both because I thought both did a better job then the opening fiction as far as setting the proper tone for the book illustrating that even though werewolves are born human the first change awakens within them something that is far more feral, something that will forever set them apart from the rest of humanity.
The Introduction is very well written. As usual it lays out the basic themes of the game and then it goes on to discuss what being a werewolf in the World of Darkness really means. It does this by addressing the myths and then presenting the “facts” as far as the World of Darkness is concerned. After this short werewolf primer we’re introduced to the primary theme of the game: The Hunt and the primary Mood of the game, which is two fold. Werewolf: The Forsaken is introduced as both a game of savage fury as well as one of dark tension where unnatural things lurk just out of sight. Following this we get a short rundown of each of the Chapters, a list of resources for inspiration and finally a large lexicon of terms. The lexicon is extremely useful providing both English terms and a list of terms in the First Tongue, the unique language of the spirits and by extension of werewolves. The First Tongue is not simply a bunch of borrowed words either, but a collection of distinct terms with its own linguistic flavor.
Chapter One: The World of the Forsaken is packed with information and just as the title would imply introduces us to the World of Darkness as its protagonists see it. We begin with a legend about the origins of werewolves in this new World of Darkness, or as they call themselves, the Uratha. We learn that they are the children of Mother Luna the fickle spirit of the Moon and Father Wolf the ultimate hunter of the dawn times. They are half-spirit and half-flesh because Luna bore the first of them while in human form. The first werewolves aided Father Wolf in his duties, keeping the things of the spirit and material world in check, so both could live in balance with one another. It was an idyllic age, if you were a werewolf or a hunter. However, as time passed Father Wolf grew weaker and his ability to keep the balance between spirit and flesh became impaired. In the end the Forsaken were forced to slay him so that they might take his place and continue to preserve the balance. With that act they were cursed by Luna and became reviled by the spirit world, which brings us to modern times when the Forsaken continue to uphold their ancient duties partially forgiven by Luna, still reviled by the majority of the spirit world and hunted by the descendents of those werewolves who refused to partake in the murder of Father Wolf. The Chapter goes on to discuss all of this in depth along with details about the First Change, the strange and alien Hosts, details about pack life, territory and the Uratha’s laws known as the Oath of the Moon.
It should be mentioned that Territory and the Pack receive a lot of attention in the book, because the game is far more focused on what the player’s Pack is doing to protect their own little section of the World of Darkness. This makes the game a lot more personal. There really is no grand cosmic war this time around, there’s just you, your packmates, your friends, your family and your territory. Beyond your territory is an alien and hostile place. Even if it’s just a few blocks down the street that place belongs to someone else, maybe even another pack of werewolves who don’t like you very much. Your primary concern is seeing that you and yours stay safe. Beyond the borders of your territory is generally someone else’s concern unless of course their problems begin to spill over onto your land.
Chapter Two: Character gets down to the systems. The Chapter is fairly straightforward with a rundown of the Werewolf Template and where it differs from the Mortal Character Creation rules presented in World of Darkness. There is a full walk through of the entire character creation process from beginning to end as well as a discussion of Packs and Prelude. You also get descriptions of all of the unique traits werewolves possess such as Auspice, Tribes, Primal Urge, Renown, Essence and Gifts. Each of the five Tribes, the werewolf societies that one can join, as well as the Tribeless werewolves known as Ghost Wolves get a three page write-up. All of which do a nice job of conveying the basic tenets of each society. Also presented are twenty-two unique Gift Lists, each containing five potent and quite varied supernatural powers. At the end of the Chapter the concept of Rituals is reintroduced from Werewolf: The Apocalypse with a few neat changes, such as treating them much like Gifts as far as learning them goes, but maintaining similar mechanics of length and ceremony required for their activation. They are definitely not simply another set of cool powers, but extremely useful powers and in many cases quite necessary to sustaining a pack’s territory.
Chapter Three: Special Rules and Systems addresses all the mechanical differences between a werewolf game and a mortals game. We get a run down on regeneration, silver, shape shifting, death rage (the dangerous frenzied state werewolves are prone to,) lunacy (the moon madness humans are prone to when they see a werewolf in a non-human form) and the superior senses werewolves possess. Additionally the chapter also has an in-depth discussion of Harmony, the werewolf equivalent of the Morality trait presented in World of Darkness, but with numerous differences. Harmony I think adds a lot to the game, emphasizing a moral system in which a character must find a balance between being human and animal without completely embracing either side. We also get a discussion of pack totems along with full mechanics and an explanation for how to build them. Unlike in Apocalypse there’s no big list of possible totems, instead a process is presented for building a Totem much like you would create a Werewolf character. Personally, I think this is one of the neater features of the book. Chapter Three also explains Renown, what it is, how it’s earned and what it means both to other werewolves and the spirits. The systems and even what each type of renown represents takes quite a departure from Apocalypse and forms a far more coherent and streamlined system. We follow that with a discussion of Lodges, elite societies found within each Tribe. It also provides write-ups for six of them, one for each Tribe and one Lodge open to anyone. I was not a fan of Camps, the equivalent of Lodges in Apocalypse, so I wasn’t thrilled when I heard about Lodges either, but I have to say after reading through the six example Lodges I have changed my mind. The Lodge of Crows and the Lodge of the Hunt in particular sparked ideas and showed me how Lodges can be used to add an interesting twist to any Chronicle. Finally, we end the Chapter with a list of example Fetishes, spirit empowered objects with special powers. Given the attention dedicated to Totems I would have liked a bit more detail on Fetish creation instead of general guidelines, but the example objects are enough to spark the imagination and provide templates for creative Storytellers.
Chapter Four: Storytelling and Antagonists expands upon the information presented in World of Darkness and addresses the unique concerns of storytelling a werewolf game such as the enhanced senses of werewolves, making the most out of shape shifting, spirituality and making a pack work together as a team rather then separate individuals. We also get an in-depth discussion of Territory and how a Storyteller can go about developing it and making it an important part of the Chronicle that actually means something to the players. I also liked that the chapter discusses horror with regards to werewolves. If you’re wondering how you can inspire fear in a bunch of monsters designed to be lethal shape-shifting warriors who are extremely difficult to kill without using silver every session, you’ll find your answers in this Chapter. All in all, this is a solid Chapter that even I, as a veteran werewolf Storyteller found useful. The chapter ends with ready to go templates for various opponents the characters might face during their Chronicle, from the perfectly mundane human hunter to antagonistic werewolves and dangerous spirits. At the end part of me wanted a few more antagonist templates, but really, that’s not the point of the book, which provides all the tools you need to make your own unique baddies. However, one thing I did miss was a magath template. Yeah, I know, you have no idea what that is, it’s not really that important, just something that would have been nice.
Appendix One: The Spirit World discusses the Shadow Realm and its inhabitants. This is a wonderful Chapter, but there is one glaring omission that bothers me. Nowhere in this Chapter are Ancestor Spirits addressed, not once, despite being mentioned several times previously in the book. From what I gather, they are the spirits of deceased werewolves, but different from Ghosts. They didn’t really need their own mechanics, but just a small paragraph on them like they provide for Nature Spirits, Elementals and Conceptual Spirits would have been nice. Aside from that any questions you might have about the shadowy spirit reflection of the material plane are discussed here. You even get a small write-up on Spirit Character Creation so you can quickly make up your own spirits of varying power levels from minor gafflings to greater jagglings. Unlike Apocalypse there is no discussion of vast other Realms. Things in the Shadow Realm of the Forsaken are more or less reflections of reality as it is, albeit most often seen through a mirror darkly and colored by the emotions and perceptions of the people on the other side of the gauntlet. Also important in this section is a discussion of the Gauntlet, the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world as well as a discussion of loci, wellsprings of spiritual energy that manifest in the physical world. Controlling loci is something important to every werewolf both to replenish their own stores of essence and because they serve as gateways that allow spirits to cross over into the material world and wreak havoc. The Chapter ends with a discussion of the Hithimu, the Spirit-Ridden. The things that result when a spirit merges with a mortal and becomes a thing half-flesh and half-spirit like a werewolf.
Appendix Two: The Rockies provides a ready to go basic setting for Werewolf: The Forsaken, the Denver Rockies. This Chapter details the history of the region, the various troubles plaguing it today and then provides write-ups for twelve important packs in the area, which display the breadth of variety that you can find among both Uratha and Packs. Included in the write-up for each pack are full stats for each of the 12 alphas. My favorite pack out of all the write-ups is the young Storm Lord pack the Black Moon Extremes and their alpha, Moriarty. They are what happens when a bunch of teenagers undergo the First Change and have watched Blade way too many times, literally. You really have to read about them yourselves even if you don’t pay attention to any of the other write-ups. All in all, there’s enough information in this Appendix that any Storyteller can whip together a starting Chronicle in about two hours or so and be ready to go.
The book ends with Epilogue: Skins returning to Michael, our young werewolf from the Prologue in the aftermath of his First Change. There is not a lot to say about this, it ends the book and it doesn’t end it on either a high or a low note. In that I like it, as Michael walks off to begin his new life as a werewolf you follow him and neither of you really know where you’re going to end up. However, it’s clear that wherever you’re going, the real world is being left far behind.
All in all, Werewolf: The Forsaken is a great book and I’d love to give it a 10, really I would. The artwork is fantastic and the new reinterpretation of werewolves has created a setting that I actually find even more enjoyable then the one in Apocalypse. If you’re a fan of Apocalypse you owe it to yourself to at least give the book a thorough read through and if you simply thought Apocalypse was lame, but enjoyed the World of Darkness as a whole, give this new spin on werewolves a chance, it may just be more to your liking, especially from what I’ve heard from a number of other converts. However, there are a few too many grammatical errors and mechanical problems in the Gifts section for me to honestly give out a 10 out of 10. So, for exceeding my expectations, taking the place of Apocalypse in my heart as my favorite game and in general being a wonderful book, I give Werewolf: The Forsaken a 9 out of 10. However, if all of the little problems ever get cleared up in later additions I’m amenable to bumping the score up by 1. Till then, happy hunting.
