Actual Play – Werewolf in Par, er Wyoming (1/25/2009)

System: Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Last game started with a tribal moot, and then led into an adventure in Wyoming trying to help the sick Fianna that we rescued some time back.

Only one of our pack members were at the moot and he stirred up some crap, mostly however he was just the catalyst for some well laid plans set in place by some NPCs. I think the Storyteller wanted to make some changes in the political structure and wanted us to see them as they happened (which is cool) but there wasn’t much participation because a) we weren’t playing our characters and b) the characters we were playing really didn’t have much of a say or an agenda. There was a story to be told, but not one that our characters were really part of. (More on this below)

Afterwards we realized that our pack was going to eat some shit if we hung out, so we took a Moongate to Wyoming where we met some Uktena and then head to the Valkenburg Foundation, a place to care for wolves. This place creped me out. It felt like going to Arkham Asylum only the nutters were the once outside the cages. I just got this fucked up feeling that we were going to end up helping the wrong people. But, of course, I love it when that shit happens, so while I had reservations in the beginning, I was all over it by the time our characters were overcome a supernatural force that made us weep.

In the end my character had a “stalled car” moment with Yvette, the hottie Bone Gnawer he’s been after for a while. He didn’t put any serious moves on her but he’s ready to next time. Once they have some time alone he’s going to try and get her to commit to something more than just being pack mates. This should make for some fun times, provided I don’t end up making the player uncomfortable, which I hope not to.

What rocked

The tribal moot was coon in concept. I liked that we as players go to see firsthand the machinations that were going on behind the screen. It was brief, which was good and got across the point that there is a major political coup going on to usurp power from the Silver Fangs. I’m sensing tribal warfare happening soon and I don’t think it will look pretty.

We got to become the questing pack (again) for a sept who’s last questing pack died (again!). There is just some really funny irony to the fact that we keep filling the shoes of dead werewolves.

We got some fetishes, which was cool, though mostly flavor. One was a rock that glowed according to the moon cycle. Another was a some face paint that gave access to different gifts and can be used 10 times. There was a killer dagger that I was hoping for but my alpha took (what’cha gonna do when you’re a bone gnawer). All in all, it was cool go get some “loot”.

What could have been improved

Despite liking the moot in concept I felt that we didn’t really have a role in it. Even the player who got to play his own character was just being a puppet of the Shadow Lords. I got some of this “ooh ahh…. Look at how powerful the NPCs are effect which tends to chafe me.” Ironically that is exactly the thing I’ve seen a couple times in my Burning Wheel game when Arthas, Uther and Jaina show up. I was EXTREMELY happy the other night when Jaina was bested in a Duel of Wits, it proved to me how mortal the characters are. Still, I know I have done it some, and I don’t like having the NPCs overshadow the PCs (regardless of which side of the screen I’m on). I don’t think this was intentional, it was an experiment with some story exposition, which is always hard for any GM.

Modules. Modules. Modules. I’m sorry, it’s evil, but my brain turns off when boxed text is being read. I mean it really does. There was this 40 something roundish woman named Mary Knu that I was totally hitting on because I paid absolutely no attention to her when the boxed text was being read. I just feel like boxed text is the sign that the blinders are about to be but on, and we can only see or go one direction. The storyteller wasn’t railroading us (trust me, that would be another entry all together if he was) but there was a bunch of the module that I just ignored because of my dislike of boxed text and one way streets.

This was a transition episode, as step between our last climatic show down with the Get of Fenris and the work for the Valkenburg Foundation. As such there wasn’t a lot of conflict. Which is cool by me but did leave us with a little “what did we do” feeling at the end. We did deliver a crazy mo fo and talk to some other crazy mo fo, which is something, it just didn’t feel like a lot. There’s really nothing to say about that though, sometimes there are transition games, I’m sure the next one will be much more action packed.