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[Ana Mizuki]

Well, I wrote this, hope it offers some inspiration....

[Ana Mizuki]

Yep, if you are unaware of the garou society, you are a lost cub. Ronin is a 'choice'.

For example, my wendigo lost cub only became ronin when he willingly chose to not assosiocate with the Nation....

[Ana Mizuki]

It was more blatantly clear in the Umbra revised that it could in fact cleanse a BSD and that it had happened before.

Here is what the book says on BSDs that went through erebus;...

[Ana Mizuki]

This was before 20th ed was released, back then, erebus could cleanse you from the taint and ties to the Wyrm....

[Ana Mizuki]

This is actually why I don't consider the garou true werewolves. They are too much like their very own race, rather than a cursed/infected person....

[Ana Mizuki]

Well, I have two ronin characters that are not tribed due to personal reasons. One due to being a former BSD and so kinda afraid to get into the larger game again. Another because his catholic education, wendigo pb5 and white ways would basically doom him to death in the hands of his tribe as he is a lost cub.

But in general, a lost cub could work in terms of introducing the player to the setting. A ronin is too aware of things to really serve as a conduit, especially how complex garou society is.

This is, of course, assuming there is no Bitten.

[Ana Mizuki]

Surprisingly for a WtA fan, the Changing Breeds never sat right with me. Mostly, because they were all different with different mechanics to the garou. Plus for example the bastet tribes compared to the garou ones seemed to put the felines in a very stereotyped position compared to the wolves. Or that Kitsune were solely asian, despite the myth of the clever fox being very common around the world. Having an unified ruleset how each shifter worked, and then having ones like ratkin just be another type of creature entirely.

Generally, I think the CoD mentality of not tying everything...

[Ana Mizuki]

Is it me, or are they heavily using the template of Bloodlines here? I mean, in general a ronin is not something that gets played often or mentioned often in WtA briefings. As for 'factions', let me guess Sactum of Gaia and such?

Otherwise, might be good, I'm just kinda confused how heavily the garou vs humans angle is here.

[Ana Mizuki]

Personally, I have always disliked this 'garou aren't the good guys' push as much as the 'lol captain planet' stuff. And for the same reasons, actually. Because garou are as good and bad as people in general are. Their faith is not evil or good, it can just as easily be a force of both.

The difference between Warhammer 40k's Imperium and the Garou Nation is, that the Imperium doesn't learn. Space Marines are still using the geneseeds of long dead primarchs, even though the Blood Angels can randomly go nuts thinking they are Sanguinus, for example. And even though Ciaphas Cain and...

[Ana Mizuki]

For me, the idea isn't bad. But I highly prefer the split be more personal, as in some members of a tribe are moderate and some more eager to use horrible methods. After all, Shadow Lords are a tribe of garou who want to make right old wrongs.

But they are also a tribe of garou who are willing to torture others for information....

[Ana Mizuki]

For the good vs bad tribes, I find it interesting how the writers chose to make the Red Talons into basically the MAJOR bad guys within the Nation, rather than a splinter faction of isolatonists. They now officially ally with a faction known for torture and make special human killing squads. Fenrir got to be racist again, Furies accept males and poor Fianna are stuck with that one story justifying all the metis abuse. Wendigo join in because ??.

For what it is worth, I don't mind the split, but it was not done to flesh out the tribes more. If anything, it seems to have been done only...

[Ana Mizuki]

IF things go by the MET book, there won't be many caerns left and umbra is now legit dangerous to be in. So, that venue of communication is out....

[Ana Mizuki]

So, I have heard (through the grapevine, please note) that in the new Werewolf, some of the tribes are planning to start a new Impegrium. This alone is utterly baffling to me for reasons that I will come to later. But given the videogame seems to gear towards garou versus humans, I think that is the general theme of the new edition.

Now, something that I have always felt weird about, is that garou are judged by the Impegrium even in modern times. Mainly, because the impegrium took place so long ago that there weren't even tribes then, nevermind the fact that many human cultures then...

[Ana Mizuki]

Skin Dancers are people who lash out against abuse, feel they were snubbed by fate or generally just feel THEY need to take part in the fight.

As for Black Spiral Dancer kin, that is actually interesting. It might be used as a carrot for really ambitious kin to join the 'big ranks' if they do well.

[Ana Mizuki]

They are very much wyrmtainted, as The Laughing Stranger pointed above. Even if they use BSD skins, they are still unwilling victims, thus they get tainted.

Another thing is that these guys are going very much above and beyond to harm their families and learn some very deep lore (Rituals 5). The Skinner scenario is a -great- source for these guys, detailing the reasons, the motives and such of how one becomes a Skin Dancer....

[Ana Mizuki]

They might be mixed race, but then human ancestry passes even if by kinfolk lions....

[Ana Mizuki]

I'd actually say no matter what tribe, rape would be treated as a VERY nope-thing even done to a metis.

For one, it is an act of the Wyrm. Second, rape implies willingness to commit such acts out of a free will. Third, you got kinfolk, why the heck do you take pains to force another garou, a deformed garou at that, to sex? It implies the rapist has a LOT wrong about them.

[Ana Mizuki]

Well, that is that then, isn't it? Drawing for reactions, emotional responses, it is all there. Explains basically everything that has been an issue with the content for me.

However, this means they do very much need someone experienced with the TT and such, then, to help them see what stuff should be toned down....

[Ana Mizuki]

In all fairness, I do have to note that the LARP scene in Sweden might just be like that. After all, if American WtA fans to this day can't agree on things like whether you have to sleep in your birthform or not, or do metis regen before their Change, think how differently Vampire could be seen in a country that lacks a lot of American culture?

And I say this as a Finn....

[Ana Mizuki]

Personally, warnings in the books aren't really as important to me as the warnings between the group. Because if we ignore the Black Dog books, most utter horror is pretty mild in most books. Besides, the books are more like an array of seasonings than the whole truth of the setting. It is the ST who decides how the themes and such are used and which of them are used.

Which is why I think it is good for an ST to ask first what topics the group is uncomfortable with, before planning the plot.