advice on rites

[cyanopepla]

I'm a relatively new player, and my character's gonna be performing the rite of wounding for an npc my group's been 'mentoring'. I get the mechanics of it, but I'd appreciate any advice from older players on role playing it, getting other players involved- your own experiences performing a rite for the first time would be very helpful.

[Damian May]

Rites have different ' flavours'' depending on the culture of the region it is performed in and which Garou are performing it. If it is being performed at a Caern then both the Caern Totem and the Pack Totem ( and other spirits at your disgretion.) are called on to witness the rite as well as Garou in the area. As its a relatively minor rite, both in terms of importance and power, its unlikely that the entire Sept would attend but at least one Elder to pass the tale on. The packs Galliard should tell the tale of the wound to all present so it is passed on and recognised.

[Heavy Arms]

IME, unfortunately, rites tend to be something that a lot of players just start to hand-wave rather than RP unless the rite has some very specific RP components to it (ex: Rite of Summoning).

Something to consider: Rites generally only take a few minutes per level. We're talking about something that's only going to take, in total, around five minutes. Don't get too wrapped up in anything grand here. Level 1 and 2 rites mostly quick affairs. Once you think about meeting all the practical requirements of the rite, there's not necessarily a lot of time to turn them into a thing where 5+ characters all get a significant part.

[heinrich]

For this specific rite, if you are roleplaying it, describe how your character prepares a mixture of silver dust and ash. Recount, while the other garou of an assembly or a war party or something like that stand in a circle around your character and the garou to be honoured what the battle entailed that lead to the wound and why the accomplishments of the honoured garou were exceptional, or why the wound was exceptional to the life of the garou in question (first wound by a BSD's claw, first wound by a silver blade, etc).
Then describe who your character rubs the mixture into the wound and how the pain makes the garou shift and yell and how the yelling turns into a howl of pride and joy, when you finish and the other garou in the circle join in.

Something like that...