Introduction

  Half human. Half beast. Predators that stalk the deepest woods and the darkest urban alleyways. Monsters that creep up on their prey like ghosts, then explode into a fury of claws and fangs. Beasts that howl under the full moon and kill those that cross the boundaries of their territory.
  Werewolves.
  In some ways, werewolves embody the oldest human fear — the fear of the wolf at the door, the awful thought that for all our tools and fire, we are still prey in the eyes of Mother Nature. We struggle to control every detail of our environment to our exacting specifications, and that makes us all the more afraid, deep down, of being stranded in a hostile place under the control of something larger and stronger than us: something with fangs and a taste for meat.
  But there's more to it than that. Humans have always feared, even hated wild animals, particularly those that are stronger than us on some level. But we have always envied their strength at the same time. In the earliest times, prehistoric humans wore animal skins and bones and prayed to somehow become as swift or keen-eyed or strong as the animals with which they shared the world. Even today, people wear clothing, jewelry, even tattoos depicting animals they respect in a sort of unconscious desire to borrow those animals' power. And we tel1 stories of humans who can take animal form (or vice versa). We always have, from the Americas to Europe to Africa to Asia. And the king of these stories is the story of the werewolf. The werewolf represents everything we fear in Nature — and everything we'd like to be.
  Deep down inside, we're afraid of wolves, yet we want desperately to wear the wolves' skins and to be like them. This is your chance to do just that.

Storytelling

  Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a storytelling game from White Wolf Publishing that allows you to step into the shoes — or pawprints — of a werewolf of legend. The rules in this book allow you and a group of friends to assume the roles of a pack of werewolves, hunting and fighting as one. Together, you tell the story of these werewolves and their struggle, whether they triumph at great cost or die in a blaze of glory.
  In a storytelling game, the players use the game's rules to create characters to serve as alter egos of a sort. They then take those characters through dramas and adventures called stories (a game term that means pretty much the same thing as the word's common use). Each of the players describes his character's actions and speaks as the character would speak, thus guiding the character through the plot established by the group.
  To keep track of all this activity, one person acts as the Storyteller — a role more like that of a movie director than an author. The Storyteller describes the setting of each scene, roleplays the actions and speeches of the various people the players' characters encounter and generally guides the story's plot. However, the Storyteller's control isn't absolute. Since the players control their characters, each scene in a story is the product of the entire group cooperating to tell the story in a way they enjoy. What's more, the rules in this book provide a common ground to gauge the characters' chances of success impartially. The players generally try to help their characters accomplish their goals, while the Storyteller provides opposition and obstacles (in the form of the possibility of failure) to add tension.
  The ultimate goal, of course, is for everyone to have a good time. Whether the characters succeed or fail is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that everyone is happy to have played a part when the story ends. For that reason, the rules in this book are useful only as a means to provide a framework for the story. If the rules conflict with the story, the story wins every time.

The Legend

  The werewolves of the World of Darkness aren't quite what one would expect from the movies. Humanity has managed to grasp the concept of the werewolf only partially. The European legends of shapeshifting witches and the Native American tales of animals that take on human form are equally full of misconceptions. The following are a few of the most commonly accepted "facts" about werewolves — and just how true or false they are in the world of Werewolf.
  Werewolves are mindless beasts in wolf form. False. Werewolves retain their intelligence, which is equal to that of any human, in any form they take (and werewolves have five forms from which to choose). Their reputation for savagery stems from their Rage, which is a supernatural fury more intense than any anger a human can feel. Werewolves can channel their Rage to perform incredible feats of strength and speed. However, the stronger a werewolf's Rage is, the more likely he is to lose control in times of great stress, flying into a berserk fit of violence called frenzy. It is virtually impossible to reason with a werewolf in this state. All he can think of is fight or flight. It is this savagery that has given rise to the legends of brutal, uncontrollable man-beasts.
  A werewolf changes form when the moon is full. Mostly false. Werewolves can change forms whenever they want, day or night. However, they have deep spiritual ties to the moon, and they revere the mighty moon-spirit Luna as one of their greatest totems. A werewolf s Rage is tied to the moon's phases, growing stronger as the moon grows brighter. Therefore, a werewolf is at her greatest risk of frenzy when the moon is full, and more werewolf attacks tend to occur under the full moon.
  If a werewolf bites a person, that person becomes a werewolf. False. Werewolves are born, not "infected." Most werewolves are born of human or wolf stock, and they don't know their true heritage until they reach adolescence and undergo their First Change. Even so, some tribes have been historically known to keep track of their young cubs from afar, then staging a mock "wolf attack" just before the children are due for their First Change. Although this practice has fallen out of favor in modern times, it was in no small way responsible for the rumors of the supernatural disease lycanthropy.
  Werewolves are witches who take wolf form by dressing in wolf skins. False. Either you're born a werewolf, or you aren't. Wizards and witches exist in the World of Darkness, and some of them can shapeshift into animal form, but none of them are true Garou with all the according powers.
  Werewolves can be killed only by silver. Partially true. For all their supernatural power, werewolves aren't immortal. They grow old, and they can be killed. However, werewolves are remarkably resistant to injury and disease. Furthermore, they heal with incredible speed, even to the point of regenerating damaged internal organs. A gunshot wound that would kill an ordinary human can be nothing more than an inconvenience to a werewolf. But werewolves cannot heal all wounds with equal ease. With its spiritual ties to the moon, silver can burn werewolves more severely than fire could. A wound from a silver weapon can be fatal, and although werewolves can heal such terrible damage, doing so takes them a long time. Therefore, a silver bullet might not be the instant kill depicted so often in the movies, but it's an enemy's best chance at taking a werewolf down.
  Werewolves can be detected by odd features such as pointed ears or index and middle fingers of the same length. Almost entirely false. Werewolves are indistinguishable from humans in their Homid, or human form. However, there are a few werewolves whose parents are both werewolves rather than humans or wolves. These metis are always deformed in some fashion. Their deformities are usually evident in human form, although they are much more debilitating than cosmetic oddities like pointed ears.
  Werewolves, unlike wolves, are loners. False. Werewolves have a powerful pack mentality, and they feel distinctly uncomfortable without the presence ofpackmates or tribemates. To be cast out of one's pack and sentenced to walk alone is a horrible punishment for a werewolf.

The Truth

  In the World of Darkness, werewolves have walked among humanity for as long as humans have existed. They can blend into human civilization, but rarely for long. They're predators at heart, and people can sense as much on an instinctive level. At heart, a werewolf is a creature of both human and wolf nature, but it is neither fully. They refer to themselves by a name from their own tongue — the Garou.
  Werewolves cannot breed among themselves to preserve their lineage; their blood is too potent, and the result is too much like inbreeding. To continue their bloodlines, werewolves must mate with humans or wolves. However, the chance that any children or cubs that result from such a pairing will breed true is small. In most cases, the spirit half of the werewolf isn't passed on.
  Werewolves born to human or wolf families are indistinguishable from their mortal siblings. There is no detectable "Garou gene," and DNA-testing does not reveal anything amiss. Newborn werewolves simply appear to be normal humans or wolves in almost every respect. Only a very few are even told by their parents that werewolves exist at all. However, young werewolves are prone to strange dreams and fits of temper that alienate them from their relatives or friends. Finally, some time after adolescence, a young werewolf under goes his First Change. This event is often brought on by stress or trauma, leading the confused young werewolf to lash out at whatever is hurting him. It's then that the werewolf's Garou relatives arrive to collect him. Once among his own kind, he is initiated into his Garou tribe and taught the purpose and traditions of his people. From that point forward, the young werewolf lives a life of constant danger. Should he persevere, though, he can become a legend among his Garou kin.
  Garou society is older at its core than any human culture. Many of its traditions date back to a time before agriculture, before the first humans settled Australia, and even before history as we know it. They have managed this amazing longevity while keeping their true nature a secret from humanity by two means: oral tradition and faith.
  To the Garou, the past is a living thing. They keep tales of their ancestors alive, retelling them at gatherings to inspire the latest generation to strive for similarly heroic deeds. The laws laid down millennia ago are learned and recounted by each generation until every werewolf knows them by heart. By keeping all their lore alive in an oral tradition, the Garou have retained a sense of continuity that binds each generation to the next.
  Secondly, werewolves believe that Gaia — the living spirit of the world itself — created them to defend her and make war against her enemies. They're aided in this belief by several points that seem to support their claim: their obviously supernatural nature, their allies among the spirit world and the fact that they are definitely at war with the forces of spiritual corruption. Their war has been going on for millennia — not even the wisest Talesinger among the werewolves can recall a story of their race at peace. According to their traditions, Gaia brought werewolves into being as a response to the rise of their enemy — the Wyrm. The Garou maintain that their true purpose in life is to fight, kill and die in the service of the Earth Mother.
  The Garou's claim to be a race designed for battle is certainly well founded. Werewolves are deadly creatures, perhaps the most lethal overall of any living being in the world. They possess great strength when they shapeshift, allowing them to tear apart metal and stone with their bare talons. They heal remarkably quickly, making them nearly impossible to kill with mundane weaponry such as knives or small firearms. They possess mystical powers that allow them to travel the spirit world, strike with stealth or monstrous force and even call on the forces of the earth itself. They have all the intelligence and tool-using capability of any human, making some werewolves masters of both high technology and occult power. Most importantly, werewolves are pack creatures, which makes them a hundred times stronger. A pack of werewolves is worth more than 10 times its weight in enemies.
  If they were more numerous, it's possible that the werewolves would have already won the war. But they are too few in number; at the beginning of the 21st century, they are a dying race. Their enemies are virtually uncountable, and they range from humans who fight with raw intelligence, cunning and resources to monsters from deep in the earth that can tear apart tanks — to an entire tribe of werewolves that has sided with the enemy. Worst of all, the Garou fight amongst themselves. Rivalries that started centuries ago continue even today as blood feuds that prevent the Garou from achieving the unity that would make them unstoppable. Just as their pack mentality brings them together, their Rage drives them apart. Such is the tragedy of Werewolf.
  As you can see, the lot of a werewolf is far from an easy one. But therein lies the appeal of trying on a wolfs skin for a while.

How to Use This Book

  Each chapter of this book focuses on a different aspect of the game, be it a certain aspect of characters, a specific portion of the rules or a description of the setting. You don't have to read them in order; feel free to skip around until you're comfortable with the book. Naturally, the world of Werewolf is far too large to be contained between two covers. This rulebook is intended to serve only as a foundation on which to build your games. Feel free to modify, clarify, elaborate upon or disregard anything and everything within that doesn't suit your vision of an exciting game.
  Chapter One: A World of Darkness details the setting of Werewolf: The Apocalypse — both the Garou themselves and the world they prowl.
  Chapter Two: The Garou describes the werewolves of the World of Darkness in more detail, particularly their breeds, auspices and tribes — traits of bloodline and society that influence each werewolf's role in the greater scheme of things.
  Chapter Three: Character and Traits describes the step-by-step process of creating a werewolf character and details the various traits by which a character's strengths and weaknesses are measured — raw attributes, skills, backgrounds and so on.
  Chapter Four: Gifts and Rites defines the supernatural powers of the Garou, both the rituals that call on their bond with the spirit world and the mystical "tricks" they learn from their spirit allies.
  Chapter Five: Rules describes the core rules of the Storyteller system — the foundation for all of Werewolf's rules.
  Chapter Six: Systems and Drama goes into more specific rules, such as how to stage a combat or chase scene, as well as the details of character growth and advancement.
  Chapter Seven: The Umbra details the spirit world and its residents, as well as the role they play in the Werewolf setting.
  Chapter Eight: Storytelling describes the role of the Storyteller and offers advice on how to put together the best game possible.
  Chapter Nine: Antagonists details the Garou's rivals, adversaries and mortal foes.   Finally, the Appendix details Werewolf's supporting cast and some of the trinkets that Garou characters find particularly useful.

Source Material

  Sad to say, most movies, books and TV shows that depict werewolves aren't very helpful source material for a Werewolf game. The tack most writers take is to approach the werewolf as a person who becomes an uncontrollable monster when the full moon rises. This misconception is the one humans of the World of Darkness have of werewolves (which, of course, they don't believe in consciously), but it's not an accurate picture of the Garou.
  The Garou owe some of their traits to classic Western werewolf literature, but the reading list goes far beyond that. S.P. Somtow's Moon Dance is probably the best example of recent werewolf horror fiction, and the most applicable.
  However, to get a proper feel for all the aspects of the Garou experience, we recommend a number of books on wolves, myths and environmental concerns. Jack London's works such as Call of the Wild and White Fang are just as suitable as Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men and Parley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf (which is also available as a film). For capturing the American Indian viewpoint, we recommend American Indian Myths and Legends (edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz) for the legendary side, and just about anything by Sherman Alexie for the human side.
  Sadly, most werewolf movies qualify as "decent" at best — if that. Wolfen, The Howling (the first — the sequels are strictly avoidable) and An American Werewolf in London are probably the most applicable. Others include the classic The Wolf Man, Wolf (the recent Jack Nicholson movie) and An American Werewolf in Paris — most of which are probably better for illustrating what humans think they know about werewolves than for inspiring characters that would work well in a Werewolf game. Finally. Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Princess Mononoke, while not strictly about werewolves, is a masterwork depicting the innate rivalry man has with nature, and the spiritual aspects of nature at its best and worst. With a rich cast of humans and nature-spirits (and yes, there are huge, sentient wolves), it's as close to "must see" viewing for Werewolf's themes as it gets.