PitW as source material

[CmdrPowers]

Hi Kris!

First of all, let me tell you just how much I enjoyed getting with you at CONtraflow in New Orleans. I know that we didn't get all that much time, but it was well worth it as always.

Now, what you may not know is that Randolph Allen and I have been working on an RPG called Society of Night. The core book is about vampyres (yes, with a 'y'). Those rules are now on the slippery slope towards publication. We have the first final rough draft (yeah, I know...) and we work on it when we can. So, what does this have to do with you and PitW?

The next book will probably be about Therianthropes in the Society of Night universe. I think that we would like to adapt some of the PitW tropes to establish our werewolves, werecats, etc. We are also reading a lot of Carrie Vaughn's stuff as well. Between you and Carrie, therianthropes get some good background.

We are NOT writing a Peter is the Wolf roleplaying game! We are just inspired by the story background elements of it and I wanted to let you know.

Your thoughts?

[bar1scorpio]

My thoughts? Awesome. We've used other sources as research material, or sources for in-jokes.

And if you're into RPGs, make sure to pick up the Robotech: New Generation sourcebook from Palladium Books, as it features 7 new pieces of art by me!

[CmdrPowers]

Oh, I've seen them. I have all of the Robotech game books. My co-author and I have been wrangling background details all day. We have more or less decided that Therianthropes will have two forms- Human and Hybrid (much like in PitW), but Shapeshifters are faerie and go from Human (sort of) form to animal form, without the hybrid stage. This lets us keep the two types separate. Now the problem is what's Fae and whats Therianthrope? We also have to figure out how they interact with the vampires in the core book and on and on... Game design is so much fun.

[Kris@WLP]

Thanks for letting me know! It's always good to know one's work has inspired others.

I've only read the first book of Vaughn's Kitty series (wasn't much taken by it- Kitty seemed too passive for my taste, although I'm told that changes in later books). I was a bit surprised when you mentioned her works and ours as a common inspiration, though, since the depictions of werewolves in both have significant differences from what I recall- the most notable being the anthropomorphic v. full shift difference.

You ask: what's Fae (the full shifters) and what's Therianthrope (the hybrids)? For that you're probably going to have to do something I've avoided doing in PitW: reveal the origins of both kinds, or at least decide on it and structure what you tell players from that point. With the name 'fae' you've pretty nearly decided on the origin of one side already: either members of an extradimensional alien race more dependent on magic for basic biological functions than humans, or humans with some sort of contact with such (blood, enchantment, etc.).

With non-fae werewolves, you have a variety of choices. They could be humans, descended from some who "hacked" the fae's shapeshift magic but either couldn't get it quite right or deliberately changed it to get what they want. They could be the subject of some ancient sorcerer's experiments (Gold Digger). They could be possessed or empowered by celestial beings (angels or demons). Or it could be a symptom of untapped, untrained magical power (for example, in southern Europe it was apparently a folk belief that babies born with the birth caul stuck to their heads would be witches and werewolves, and that as many such used their powers for good as for evil).

In a world with only one kind of zooanthrope you can elide over this point. If you're only telling a story, rather than fleshing out a whole world for multiple stories, you can also skip it. You've chosen a path which won't let you do this, though, because origins will always affect how different groups of people relate to one another. Also, since you're doing this in a vampire world, with lots and lots of different magical races and subraces, origins also provide hooks for adventures. We never stop becoming- our origins are, in essence, everything that has come before us, and get larger every moment. When you define those origins, you are forced in turn to define other origins, and others, and others, until you get a wealth of possibilities for adventures- and that's what RPGs are about.

One final note, on conspiracy. One of the things that annoys both Ben and I about the White Wolf mythos is how EVERY GODDAMN THING is part of a great Game, a conspiracy in which absolutely everyone (so it seems) is a major player. This is not how civilization works. The vast majority of people will be totally unaware that anybody is manipulating anything. A minority is vaguely aware of some manipulation, but can't point to specifics. A tiny minority know who the players are, but know that they aren't in and never will be. A tiny, tiny minority are manipulators, but are comparatively inept at it- Gus leaps to mind here. Only a tiny, TINY handful of people actually get to manipulate people, and society, on a long-term basis without being found out and undone- and even then they do NOT get anything like total control, or even RELIABLE control, except in isolated circumstances. Too many such people think they're putting a puppet Chancellor in power, only to realize too late they've just let Hitler in the door.

So really, don't be too quick to put major power politics on the table. Simple interpersonal relationships, combined with outside threats and unexpected emergencies, are plenty exciting enough for most characters, especially for low-level adventures. Making every little interaction have World Shaking Consequences isn't dramatic- it's DUMB. Characters will have all they can do (for example, in a PitW-style world) finding a way to get a blackmailing human cop to lay off without exposing themselves or offing the cop. Making the cop the right-hand man of one Mastermind Ogliarch while the players are top servitors of three other different Mastermind Ogliarchs, all four with competing, conflicting, and concordant goals depending on circumstances, isn't adventure- it's melodrama.

That's about all I have to say at the moment.

(One thing: yes, I HAVE decided where PitW werewolves, etc. originate from. No, I've not revealed it yet, nor do I intend to, nor is it important in any way whatever to Peter's story. I DO intend to make a reference to it towards the very, very end of the comic, though... just so I can pull one mother of a And that's the only hint I'm giving.)

[CmdrPowers]

Kris, thanks for a very involved and thoughtful reply. Your points are cogent and certainly applicable to our design process and I'll be sharing these with my co-author, Randolph.

I started to give you a ton of background on the game and then went back and deleted it as not relevant yet. Suffice it to say that our vamps are more realistic and so also would our therianthropes and faerie be. Much of the justification for this is two separate retroviruses created by "the gods". The faerie would be the manifestation of lesser gods and yes, these gods are ultimately aliens to our Earth, come here a long time ago. Magic in Society of Night is pretty much variations of psionics- telepathy, telekinesis and so on. Vampyres have Houses that compete with each other for hunting territory. As a game mechanism, a Vampyre uses Blood Points to enable his abilities and, of course, has to replenish that Blood. A Vampyre can also addict a Human to vampyre blood and thus create a Servitor.

PitW provides inspiration for what sort of realistic werewolves could exist in the SoN world and they would have an entire sourcebook devoted to them. Like your stories, a Therianthrope can infect a Human with blood, semen and other bodily fluids (and it is a crime that Peter didn't get a better education from his Sire!). Carrie Vaughn's stories (and I have read all of them and they DO get better) provide further inspiration on the intimate lives of Weres. I want Weres to be small, insular communities like those depicted in PitW, with adventures concentrating on Were meets boy/girl, but how to keep the secret, etc. Keeping the secret of Were existence would be the main theme, followed by how do you control someone whose hormones are running amuck. Sounds familiar, eh?

I completely agree with you concerning the difference between world-saving gaming and personal adventures. Sure, some elements may reach places like the government and the UN, but for the most part, we're more concerned with competition within Houses and between Houses. Bringing in the CDC or the FBI is tantamount to Deus Ex Machina and takes the game away from the players- though it isn't unreasonable for government agents to be involved at some level. A lot of our playtest games revolved around hostage rescue, and true love versus dynasty building. Ethical questions came up with great regularity, especially when humans became involved.

Your comments will always be appreciated. Thanks again, Kris!

[Happygun]

[Happygun]

Oh, and if I could indulge in some shameless self-promotion, if you liked the PitW universe you may like my Lycanthrope Club series - nearly eight years old and three long novellas/novels plus a series of short stories. The last novella might be of particular interest to you: http://heliotroph.deviantart.com/

[Kris@WLP]

[Happygun]

[CmdrPowers]

...and what pops up but Debbie's notebook. Gee, just in time too!