Question: How did you mechanically run werecreatureness? The core books seem to be all over the place on it and seemed to give legendary types a full pass on potentially contracting it.
Yeah, the books are kind of a mess on the subject of therianthropy, so we took what ideas were interesting from them and let the rest slide off into the muck.
While werecreatures are definitely not some of the more powerful beings on a Scion's radar, they're still far more of a challenge than mortals or even lesser Scions can handle, and since part of their traditional danger is the ability to create more of themselves, we thought it was a shame to lose out on that. Instead, we rule that werewolf (and/or other appropriate therianthrope - use your discretion) bites or claws can spread the condition to anyone they attack, whether or not they have a Legend rating. The Scion who suffers the attack makes an opposed Stamina + Fortitude roll against the werewolf - if she fails, she's contracted the condition. If she succeeds, her divine immune system is too strong for the werewolf's alien physiology to overcome and she remains un-furry.
Since there aren't likely to be many therianthropes out there who are above mid-Demigod range in Legend, they pose no threat to most gods (though those with poor Stamina still might want to avoid them), but they easily spread the desire to howl at the full moon to mortals and may also infect Scions at Hero and even Demigod levels. The condition could probably be purged by high-level Health (if you decide it's a disease) or Magic (if you decide it's a curse, in which case Purifying Flame might also come in handy), but if nobody cures the unfortunate Scion, she may be stuck running amok at the full moon for quite some time. We ruled that if the Scion bought Animal boons up to Animal Feature for their therianthrope type and Moon boons up to level six, she could begin to control herself while transformed - she'd still turn at the full moon, but she'd be able to avoid eating all her comrades, something they would no doubt appreciate. Woody, back in the day, succeeded in doing this and managed to keep it together for a couple of months on the strength of his powers of Moon (though he has since lost much of that power to the capricious whims of Fate).
But, yeah, we didn't see any reason to make lycanthropy something that blanket didn't apply to beings with Legend; if they have the Stamina to avoid it (and many do), then it's no problem, but if they happen to be featherweights, they should probably hide behind something when the werewolves come to town. Gods can laugh it off like they can any Hero- or Demigod-level shenanigans, but it's still a real (and therefore totally playable!) issue for those who are not yet on the higher end of the power spectrum.
(Unless, of course, some hapless deity happens to piss off a moon-god who hates them enough to use Lycanthropy on them. Then it's entirely possible for a god to suddenly contract lycanthropy, which will probably not be fun for anyone in his or her immediate area.)
Didn't Kettila eventually get cured of her lycanthropy? I thought there was part of a fiction (maybe Casual Encounters or Thicker Than Water), where Kettila changes back and is diagnosed by Vivian as no longer a werewolf?
ReplyDeleteYes, Kettila was eventually cured... sort of. Actually, she died and was resurrected by her father Tlaloc, which had the side effect of losing the lycanthropy, which had died with her. Not one of the more recommended methods of shedding the condition, but she did come out ahead. :)
DeleteEhh....this is my fault for not double checking like she asked me to before she posted this.
ReplyDeleteI havnt read that boon since we wrote it...that boon is a mess.
Double epic attributes? What does that even mean?
Target becomes legend 3? Does that mean it only works on those below legend 3? Most importantly gods should be immune.
That is a mistake on our part. It does sound really cool for a god to be cursed with werewolfism, its rather improbable. I could more see that as something you could do with avatar of moon though.
That boon needs a rework though, mechanically. Right not it is either insanely powerful, or useless? ARgg....so much work to do....
I think the Legend 3 was meant for mortals that have Lycanthropy used on them, but assumed that otherwise their Legend rating wouldn't change? But you're right, the boon is messy and needs fixing.
DeleteSo, I gotta ask. Why is that Boon in Moon, not in Animal? I've been planning on adapting it for use as an Animal Boon that turns your victim into a were-beast of your totem critter.
DeleteI kinda get Moon, because werewolves have a lunar association, but there are all kinds of transforming critters like Kelpies and Selkies and Hyena-monsters in Africa that aren't tied to the Moon at all.
Mostly because, while those creatures absolutely exist all over the place, they're almost always hereditary. Beings like Selkies are very seldom cursed to be in that form (and when they are, it's a pretty clear case of Transform Person + Beast Shape/Animal Form, because witches are involved); it's usually a natural form for them or they're part of a different, non-human race. They also don't spread the condition to others, nor do they have any connection to lunar business at all. They change shape into animals, but they're vastly different from the middle-European concepts of werewolves.
DeleteEuropean werewolves, however, have a huge barrel of different connotations, and one that's steady throughout is the connection to the moon. Depending on where your folklore comes from, you might get a werewolf that's hereditary, or that has been cursed by a witch or devil, or that just was unlucky enough to be out on a full moon and accidentally become a monster. With the idea of the transformation being attached to the moon, Moon seemed like the most reasonable place to put it, especially since such an ongoing, changing condition didn't fall under the umbrella of the Magic combo.
We haven't done much with Animal turning others into beasts, because it doesn't seem to fit much; animal gods usually have almight power over their totems, but I can't think of too many examples of them turning people into them. It seems more likely to me that that's a result of people using Magic in most cases.
I believe this brings us back to my continual issues with Animal. If you don't poke at it, it will eternally be doomed to a whole Purview of dice-adders, turning into and creating increasingly badass versions of your associated critter. That's not very much to base a Purview on, especially compared to ones like Magic and Chaos and the Elements which can do all KINDS of things.
DeleteHave you done anything with the template? Or the werejaguar stuff in Mesoamerica?
ReplyDeleteDunno if it's helpful, but I ended up writing a template for Jaguar Warriors. They get 1 dot of Epic Strength, Dexterity, Perception and Stamina. They have the ability to transform at will into a jaguar and have an innate power that adds their Legend to their Stealth and Survival rolls.
DeleteGenerally they're Legend 1 or 2 and use the Elite Soldier Template, but there could be stronger versions.
Oddly it seems from recent scholarship that most of the were jaguar stuff from mesoamerica(source J, I think here hes talking about mayan/toltec were jaguars not aztec jaguar warriors) seem to have been mistakes from early anthropologists. There is still a great deal of debate, but it seems more likely that the statues they based the assumptions about werejaguars off were more snake men, or statues of a snake god(perhaps early quetzl or tlaloc).
DeleteJaguar warriors certainly still useful, I think those are good stats for them for low legend needs. And of course jaguar warrior is really more of a title, so a character could certainly be a jaguar warrior themselves without any stat changes.
Re: stats for werejaguars, Id do similarly to a were template with stats based on legend of the creature. Thatd be rather indepth though and probably deserves its own question of the day.