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House Rules/Rules Changes


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Soul

Mon Jun 19 2006, 08:26PM

Werewolf HST/Goddamned Lunatic

Registered Member #4

Joined: Sat Apr 29 2006, 09:00PM
Posts: 166

House Rules/Rules Changes

1) Primal-Urge can be used to detect ambushes. This is not a supernatural sixth sense(without Gifts, anyway). It is being instinctually in tune to the environment, letting the Wolf recognize subtle environmental clues that the human brain can't or won't see. Note that this means that Garou are very difficult to sneak up on, but it has its limits. As it requires awareness of one's immediate environment, it won't help if a sniper has you targeted from a thousand yards or a Namebreaker around the corner is going to zap you with a downed power line. However, it can be your best friend if a mugger is going to jump you or a Black Spiral Dancer is waiting in your closet to chop you into hamburger.

In order to detect an incoming surprise or ambush, a Garou(and ONLY Garou - Fera are a different story and need their own analyses, which I will turn to in the fullness of time) has the right to make a reflexive Wits + Primal-Urge roll. If this roll is successful, the Garou can react as normal. That means that they can roll initiative and become part of the normal initiative count, they do not suffer the penalties for being completely unaware, and so on and so forth. In all ways they are treated as being aware, though it is not a conscious awareness.

Note that this is NOT a conscious reaction, and means it's dangerous to surprise a Garou. Many a Kin sneaking up on their mate or Garou friend to play a prank has instantly regretted it, and the Garou gets the same sense about a surprise party as they would a Black Spiral Dancer ambush. This means that Garou highly in tune with their Wolf are very dangerous to sneak up on, as it should be.

2) If Garou fall asleep, they do not change back to their breed form. It is only if they are unexpectedly knocked unconscious, such as through violence or (rarely) drugging that they revert.

3) Garou can soak bashing and lethal damage in all forms with their Stamina. There is no change to aggravated damage, which cannot be soaked in a Garou's breed form for Homid and Lupus.

4) Wounds can only be magically healed(that is, via Gift, Rite, etc) once per set of damage. That means you get one attempt at Mother's Touch - not just as an individual, but overall. In other words, one attempt at Mother's Touch or other healing magic can be performed every time you're wounded. If you fail, tough cookies until a health level has healed naturally. This means damage should be scary to Kin again and avoids the "I skinned my knee; Mother's Touch and let's rumble" syndrome. This ruling is intentionally harsh, but will be reviewed if it results in characters being out of commission for long periods of time.

5) Luna's Armor uses your BASE Stamina - that is, Homid-form Stamina unaltered by form bonuses. This is the tradeoff for it working on silver, as Troll Hide from the Get of Fenris book does not.

6) The unique nature of online gaming requires a few alterations to how Renown is accumulated and converted into permanent points.

i) You are allowed to accumulate temporary Renown over 10. There is no theoretical cap on how high temporary Renown can go, though realistically, it won't be going over 11 or 12. Note that any given method of converting Renown(Rite of Accomplishment or challenge) can only convert ten points of Renown at a time. For example, in the unlikely event that you have 23 temporary Glory and recieve a Rite of Accomplishment, only one point of permanent Glory is gained.

ii) Any given character is only allowed one Rite of Accomplishment per moot, as usual. If you accumulate enough Renown to require more than one permanent Renown gain a month, then it is the character's responsibility to find an Elder to challenge to have their Renown recognized. Note that it, in the unlikely case it becomes an issue, there will be no more than two permanent Renown gained in a single category in one month.

iii) Losing a challenge does not mean you lose the temporary Renown. You simply cannot challenge that same Elder for a Renown gain in that same category again for the rest of the month.

iv) In case it needs to be said - It is the individual player's responsibility to track their character's Renown. In general, this is on the honor system. However, should the Storyteller request it, it would be an excellent idea to keep track of where each bit of Renown comes from. Though I doubt it needs pointing out, lying about how much Renown a character has accumulated is a very bad idea, as the Storyteller will find out, and deal with it.

v) Some months are slow for scenes, and sometimes a player's schedule prevents them from getting online. In a game like Werewolf, this has the side effect of preventing characters from gaining vital Renown. To somewhat counteract this, as a bonus, characters of Fostern rank and lower gain one TEMPORARY Renown of each category per month, independent of any scene rewards. It can be assumed that the character is doing basic chores for the sept and such to gain the Renown. You do not have to accept this Renown, but it is available if you want it. Players of Adren rank gain one Renown in each of two categories of their choice, as long as these two categories are not exactly the same two months in a row; see the last post in this thread for details.

vi) The Storyteller can't be on at all times and see everything. If your character has done something that you feel warrants Renown, then email or private message the Storyteller with a log of the scene that you feel warrants the bonus.
Edits: Changed formatting - split clarifications into their own separate thread. Corrected minor typos.

[ Edited Sat May 24 2008, 10:08AM ]

Never compromise. Even in the face of Armageddon. That's always been the difference between us, Dan.

- Rorschach, Watchmen

Zodiac

Tue Jun 20 2006, 02:46AM

Fear Paradox. FEAR IT!

Registered Member #17

Joined: Wed May 10 2006, 09:10PM
Posts: 207

Soul wrote ...
5) A minor combat clarification. Defensive actions can be saved to defend against Rage actions. If they are not used(for example, if the Garou uses their Rage action to do something besides clawing your face off) then they are lost as usual.

I assume this applies to Desperate Defense (going into full defense mode, full dodge for the first dodge, and -1 die for each dodge after) as well?

Just makin' sure.

"We dream of hope. We dream of change. Of fire, of love, of death… And then it happens — the dream becomes real."

--Mohinder Suresh, Heroes 1.23: How to Stop an Exploding Man

People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe. And then they will not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen.

Neil Gaiman, American Gods

Soul

Tue Jun 20 2006, 02:54PM

Werewolf HST/Goddamned Lunatic

Registered Member #4

Joined: Sat Apr 29 2006, 09:00PM
Posts: 166

Zodiac wrote ...

I assume this applies to Desperate Defense (going into full defense mode, full dodge for the first dodge, and -1 die for each dodge after) as well?

Just makin' sure.

Yes, it does. This slightly increases the power of defensive actions, but if you're in a situation where you need to dodge that badly, you probably need all the help you can get.

On a completely separate note, I am still working on a list of house rules for all Gifts as necessary. This is obviously a long-term process, and I'll just add things as I get to them.

Never compromise. Even in the face of Armageddon. That's always been the difference between us, Dan.

- Rorschach, Watchmen

Soul

Fri May 23 2008, 03:47PM

Werewolf HST/Goddamned Lunatic

Registered Member #4

Joined: Sat Apr 29 2006, 09:00PM
Posts: 166

Some changes.

1) Adren characters will gain Renown in only 2 of the three categories once per month. The two categories that gain Renown cannot be the same two months in a row(for example, you could gain Wisdom and Honor one month, and then next month gain either Wisdom and Glory or Honor and Glory, but not Wisdom and Honor again). This is to slow down their growth somewhat. I will edit my first post in this thread to avoid confusion shortly.

2) I'm introducing the concept of Negative Renown. This has been on the back burner for a while and recent events have brought it to the fore. So let me explain.

There are cases - many cases - where a Garou should take a Renown penalty for something, and that Renown penalty would take them below the "brink" of their current Rank. As Werewolf rules currently stand, that's fine - life is hard. This is a wee bit harsh to me. While one could certainly make the case that a new Fostern should mind their P's and Q's, it seems equally goofy that a Fostern could lose their rank for saying something intemperate or doing something mildly offensive. This is doubly the case for being knocked below Cliath - Garou being returned to Cub rank is practically unheard of in the books(I can't think of a single instance of it happening off the top of my head), and as it stands, it's really pretty easy for a Cliath to get busted down that far.

So, to alleviate that problem, I'm introducing the Negative Renown rule. It will work as follows.

Renown penalties will work as normal(i.e. subtract temporary Renown), and can even turn permanent Renown back into temporary Renown, as things are in the book right now - for example, if you take a 3-Renown penalty to Glory, and you only have two temporary Glory, then you have to convert a permanent Glory into temporary Glory to cover the difference. HOWEVER: If that conversion would take you below your current rank(for example, if you had to convert the point of Glory that would turn you from Fostern into Cliath) then instead of conversion you accumulate negative Renown. Consider this "ghost" Renown that you owe the bank, and before you can gain positive temporary Renown in that category, you must pay it back. You -cannot- under any circumstances pay back negative Renown with your "free" monthly gain - you can only pay it back through Renown accumulated through stories or through roleplay. This means that your temporary gains in that category of Renown are effectively halted until you pay back what you owe, via participating in active storylines or other active methods of gain. If, at any time, a Garou accumulates six or more negative Renown in any category, then they will immediately drop to the previous Rank(A Fostern would become a cliath, for example) and convert a permanent point of the appropriate Renown into temporary Renown that will then be docked to pay off all negative Renown accumulated to date. Their repeated, or extreme, misdeeds are too much for the Nation to forgive, and they lose Rank in the eyes of their peers. Also, if the Garou does something so heinous that the base negative Renown penalty is higher than -5, there is no protection - if you get one penalty of -6 you can't accumulate negative Renown in that category, and will lose your Rank instead.

Note that any penalties imposed by rites are unchanged for anyone except cliaths. if a Cliath is subject to the Satire Rite, rather than become cubs again, they are instantly stripped of all permanent Renown up to the base line for their auspice(and all temporary as well, though that should go without saying). They then immediately gain five negative Renown in each category, meaning they're just on the verge of cubhood again. At even the slightest transgression in any of the categories, they will be stripped of all Renown and relegated to cubhood again - if the sept lets them.

This system may seem a little complex, so let me give you a hypothetical example.

Stone Beast recently became a Fostern. He hasn't banked up much in the way of temporary Renown in each category, because he's been kind of taking it easy after his challenge. In a really bad week, he shows up to the sept obviously drunk, gets into a stupid fistfight with a Guardian, and goes around loudly telling everyone how all Shadow Lords are pedophiles. All told, he started with 2 temporary Renown in each category, and his misdeeds all total up to -4 in each.

Stone Beast loses all temporary Renown in each category, and then accumulates 2 negative Renown in each category. He is then unable to gain any monthly Renown except through participating in storylines or performing actions that the ST rewards him for.

Stupidly, however, he continues his downward spiral, and picks more fights, has an affair with a packmate's wife, and slags off on his own totem for not stopping him. These penalties add up to an additional -4 to each category. Stone Beast instantly loses his Rank and becomes a cliath in the eyes of the Nation.

Stone Beast's Fostern Ahroun packmate(what an awful pack!) Fire Eyes the Silent Strider, had been doing well up to this point, accumulating 5 temporary Renown above the baseline to be considered Fostern. However, while out on a raid, she demonstrates true cowardice, abandoning one of her fellow Garou to a mob of fomori while she runs to save her own hide. This grevious act may be punished by a punishment Rite as well(or instead of the Renown penalty), but for the act itself, she takes an immediate -6 penalty to her Glory and Honor Renown - only a dishonorable coward would leave a Garou to die like that. She loses all her temporary Renown in the appropriate categories, but because of the severity of the offense, she is unable to absorb the -1 in each category that she still owes and turn it into negative Renown. She immediately becomes a Cliath again, joining her disgraced packmate Stone Beast.

This system may take some getting used to, and it means I'm going to be more free with giving out negative Renown, but I'm confident we can all make the adjustment, and I think it will be better for the game in the long run. If you have any questions about it please don't hesitate to ask, as I'm aware it's a new mechanic totally.

Never compromise. Even in the face of Armageddon. That's always been the difference between us, Dan.

- Rorschach, Watchmen


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