So I got my print copy of Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd edition in the mail today.

So I got my print copy of Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd edition in the mail today.

So I got my print copy of Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd edition in the mail today. I’ve been reading the BitD Quick Start again (though I haven’t run or played it yet) and I immediately thought that BitD would be a fantastic system to run WtF. I’m been tinkering with the idea all day. I think it would be a pretty simple reskin, actually. I don’t know how far I’ll pursue it, but if I do, I’ll post details here.

(I’m fond of the WtF setting, especially with the changes in 2E, but I don’t love the system these days. My tastes have shifted since I played WtF 1E years ago.)

5 thoughts on “So I got my print copy of Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd edition in the mail today.”

  1. I’ll have to write up all my notes and post then as a separate post, but here are some very rough initial thoughts:

    The playbooks are by role in the pack. Each has a choice of two auspice, which grants a move (similar to races in Dungeon World). Below is a very preliminary list of five playbooks.

    * Killer (rahu:warrior or irraka:assassin)

    * Stalker (irraka:shadow or ithauer:spirit-hunter)

    * Howler (cahalith:war-howler or rahu:champion)

    * Face (elodoth:mediator or cahalith:charismatic)

    * Spirit-talker (ithauer:witch or elodoth:emissary)

    The action and effect lists will be tweaked, but will work the same way.

    Backgrounds become place and role in the human world and work the same way. So occupation, social status, etc.

    Tribes determine gear and allies. They don’t have a lot of direct mechanical impact and are mostly about tying your character to the larger world. They also give more Gift tree choices.

    Gifts are bought as trees. There are no individual gifts. So you might have Shadow, Nature, and New Moon, for example. They do a couple things:

    Narratively, you can describe little color effects for free. You can also spend Stress to do supernatural effects (like intimidating all the lights to burn out). It’s similar to the Rituals special ability, I suppose.

    You get a Gift from your auspice, one from your Tribe, and one or more from a list on your playbook. Gift lists are more tied to playbook than to auspice or tribe.

    Rites are basically just an action and then made up free-form in play.

    For shape-shifting, all the forms except hishu grant +1D to some actions (like a Background) but also count as a condition for some actions and have narrative limitations. The wolf forms (gauru and the two wolf forms) have weapons that count as fine gear. Gauru also have armor. I have no ideas on handling death rage yet.

    Regeneration is simple. Spending Stress to avoid physical harm can be described as luck, skill, or burning power to heal quickly. Also, physical harm heals one segment after each scene and heals completely between hunts. Unless it’s aggravated, in which case it recovers like every other type of condition.

    The Pack sheet includes the totem, other packmates, the territory, pack status, and relations with other packs, spirits, and other supernaturals. “Coin” is renamed, but basically covers essence and other spendable resources.

    What else? The game basically runs exactly like BitD. The pack does hunts. There are leaders and followers and they switch as usual. Heat is trouble with spirits, other packs, humans, etc.

    I’m basically scrapping Harmony as a separate concept, but I picture Vices playing a similar role in some ways.

    There will be minor reskinning of tiers to be more about territory than status, but it’s basically the same. Also, other “gangs” aren’t just other werewolves. Spirits, hosts, and even other types of supernatural beings are all rivals and allies. Improving your territory is going to require allies and make enemies within and near your territory.

    Obviously that’s not everything, but it’s my high-level thinking at the moment.

    So… thoughts? Criticisms? Suggestions?

    Obviously, I’m emphasizing the parts of WtF that I like most and/or that I think for BitD best and I’m cutting or changing other things.

  2. So I realized that this post is buried and only the people who commented would get a notification, so I copied this as a new post. I made a few minor wording changes, but it’s basically copied and pasted.

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