Wererwolf: The Apocalypsebrought to us by Paradox Interactive, will show us our world (or almost) through the eyes of gods Garouwe will tell you about it in depth in our review. Gaia is in danger, a imminent danger, namely the Apocalypse, and it will be up to you to do something to stop it, with fangs, claws and with the brain. You will have to choose carefully how to act, because violence is not always the right choice, even if it can help. But let's proceed step by step and sink our jaws into this review.
Gaia calls us
We howl, our packs bite, tear and kill. We howl at each other. We howl in memory of our lost kin. We howl to reunite our people. We howl to fuel our fury and to save Gaia.
in this edition of Werewolf, you will put yourself in the shoes of Garou (Werewolves), or shape-shifters who have coexisted with humans since the dawn of time. As anticipated, your aim will be to protect Gaiathe mother spirit of the world, the Earth itself.
The world where you will go to live your adventure is almost ours: same people, cities, bars, shops, political class, multinationals, etc. All with affections and problems similar to ours.
the Garou are halfway between the world human and that of spiritsbut unfortunately for them they are not accepted in either. Humans are terrified of them, one fear visceral that dates back to the most ancient times, now persists in human nature. Spirits on the other hand, having a long collective memory, with some not even knowing the concept of time, tend to detest the Garou, as these have imposed pacts and obedience to some of them.
Becoming a Garou
Your adventure will begin by deciding together which topics to include and which not, each player having themes they prefer not to face. We advise you to create the characters all togetherso as to align the purpose of the pack and make it parallel for all the characters (hereinafter PG).
Let's briefly discover together how to create a character. We will first assign the Attributes. Those Physicists they will be Force, dexterity And constitution, where the latter +3 will represent the health of our PC. The attributes Social instead they are charisma, persuasion And self controlwhile finally the attributes Mental are represented by IntelligencePbuzz and Ftightness. All these factors will be the basis of our PG.
You will also have access to it 20 points ability to be assigned to all those available (27 categories), plus one point specialization free (by choosing the Academic, Expressiveness, Manual Skills and Science skills you will have 4 more).
Skills are just as useful as attributes. Quoting, «it is useful to have a PC capable of unhinging a fire door, as well as one capable of handling, with skill, parts to repair an engine”.
A Specialization represents a particular degree of expertise in an aspect of the Skill. This is an area in which the character is particularly expert, where he has developed a certain personal aptitude, or has studied in depth. If the Master asks you for a test, in an area in which you have a specialization, you will add a die.
Garou rules and sacred texts
The Manual, with its contrasting colors, fantastic cartoons and illustrations present on almost every page, is a really good work of art. Nice to look at and able to break up the reading, making it pleasant, clear and discursive. A quick first read will be enough for you to understand the fundamental concepts, which you will then go on and learn more about on the table together with your group.
But let's now talk about the fundamental rules in the manual. These are two, while you will have time to read and explore the others later.
The golden rule
This is the most important rule, the only one that is always worth following: the story belongs to the Storyteller and the players. This game can be anything players want: a roll-free chronicle full of intrigue between the characters and the remnants of the Garou Nation, or a long tactical confrontation in which each player is tasked with controlling an entire pack.
If they rules of this book interfere with the fun of the table, then it is the table's job to change them. The world represented in this manual is so complex that no inflexible rule can perfectly reflect it. This volume should be considered as a
collection of guidelines and suggestions, not the only, mandatory way to represent the World of Darkness as a role-playing game. The table decides what works best, and each group can use, modify, exploit or ignore these rules as they wish.
Dice reserve
The dice pool is given by sum of many factorsthat is to say attributes, skills, specializations, reserves, prestige and so on, ranging thus from a d10 to 10 d10. The tests have difficulty based on the action, from 1 success to 7 successes to pass. By rolling an equal or higher score on dice with a result of 6 or higher.
Furthermore, specifically, every two pairs of dice with a result of 10 (critical success) create 2 additional successes, and is equivalent to rolling 4 d10s with a result greater than 6. This only applies to pairs of dice, so two 10s = 4 successes, four 10s = 8 successes, etc.
the GM can decide, to leave more space for the narrative, that it is a test passed automatically without shooting (e.g. when the player's dice pool exceeds double the difficulty of the test).
Garou or not Garou?
Werewolf: The Apocalypse will take you on a journey through our world, just a little – much – darker, also given the presence of many of the creatures of the night as it should be in the World of Darkness.
Create many PCs, differentit won't be a problem, having an infinite number of possible joints available and one vast choice for customization (and we didn't mention either Tribe, gifts, equipment and so on).
Summing up everything, including the game material, the setting, the rules and the mechanics, we can with our eyes closed recommend Werewolf: The Apocalypse a whoever. We also underline that, given the possibility of excluding sensitive topics, if you are passionate about creatures of the night this is the game that is absolutely for you!
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