Werewolf: The Apocalypse can be a tough game to wrap one's mind around. The broad strokes make sense (an ancient, secret collection of werewolf tribes attempt to use their natural fury to commit acts of ecoterrorism in order to save the planet from the evil grasp of capitalism and modern corruption), but there are details of the game that can be difficult to grasp. And this is particularly true for those who are attempting to win the favor and help of spirits in the game. Whether one is a theurge (the spirit-speaking magic users), or simply spiritually-inclined, the idea of chiminage might feel a little too ephemeral to easily incorporate into one's playstyle.
For this, we need to get back to gaming's roots... black magic, and the writings of Aleister Crowley!
A more learned source you won't find in these lands.
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The Rules And Expectations of The Spirit World
All jokes aside, though, in Werewolf, a majority of the powers you come across are either gifted by spirits (they teach the werewolf how to use certain abilities), and the magic items you use are things that are bound to a particular spirit. And even outside of these mechanical concerns, the spirits can help or hinder werewolves as they attempt to achieve their goals, making a good relationship with them pretty important for all characters, and not just the ones who are attempting to make deals and bargains with them.
This is where chiminage comes in. The word itself is an antiquated term referring to a toll paid for passage through a forest, but in Werewolf it refers to the gifts and payments given to spirits as part of the rites and rituals for contacting them, asking them for aid, and attempting to recruit them to your cause.
And that is sort of an airy concept for a lot of folks, especially those who have not delved into religious traditions where these kinds of targeted offerings are far more common, might have issues with. And if I were to recommend a single book to Werewolf players (and especially those who are going to be playing theurges), it wouldn't actually be something from the World of Darkness. It's The Three Magical Books of Solomon: The Greater and Lesser Keys & The Testament of Solomon.
For folks who haven't read this book, it is a collection of the various goetic spirits (or goetic demons, or infernal spirits, whatever you want to call them) that were supposedly summoned and studied by the ancient King Solomon. And the book is set out exactly how you would think a grimoire is set out, with the explanations of rituals and summonings, with descriptions of the great spirits, the gifts they offer, and what they may demand in return. It speaks of how to protect oneself, and how to discern falsehood.
Now, the book is a bit of a rough read for those who don't consume textbooks for fun. But with that said, the style of the entries, the setup, and how these rituals function can provide a lot of insight into making a particular character's style and spiritual setup feel unique to them, while also making it feel like more than just a character rolling a handful of d10s to see if they get their way or not.
So whether you have someone playing a traditionally-trained theurge who comes from the Children of Gaia who focuses on only using naturally-occurring implements and offerings they feel have been given to them by the Earth herself, or a Bone Gnawer theurge who seems to be a street corner shaman using a chaotic hodgepodge of improvised tools, the goal of both of these characters is to persuade the spirits to their side, to show them proper respect, and to earn their alliance.
My experience with this book is that it sort of primes the mind, and gets you asking the important details about different spirits, and it puts you in the mind of the acceptable aesthetics and ritual for how to please them, as well as how your particular character goes about their spiritual negotiations... and that is often what makes or breaks a character's performance as a theurge in this game.
And as a bonus, well thought out performances often get you bonuses from the Storyteller, making it even more likely that you succeed when all is said and done!
Additional Resources For Werewolf Players
For those who are looking for additional resources for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, I'd recommend checking out the following supplements by yours truly:
- 100 Kinfolk Bundle: With 100 NPCs from many of the major tribes, there are over 1,500 characters in these supplements!
- Tales From The Moot: This short story anthology covers a variety of tales from different tribes of the Garou Nation... and there are quite a few extra pieces that weren't included in this book!
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Combat is the main event in a lot of roleplaying games, but there are times where a fight just feels inconsequential for the player characters, or it's just going to eat up a massive amount of the time you had planned for the story that night. This can be an issue in games that take a more cinematic approach to combat, such as the Chronicles of Darkness, but the Down and Dirty Combat mechanic that's listed on page 87 can solve this problem neatly and elegantly for those who want to go to narration for those fights that might be necessary, but which aren't super important.
You got this kid! Come on, one roll, and this bum's going down!
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Not Every Fight Is Supposed To Be Do-Or-Die
I've made the comparison before, but consider the first John Wick film. The scene where Vigo tasks a crew of assassins to go kill John before he can come after Iosef to get revenge. There's 11 or so assassins in black suits and ski masks, making them literal faceless goons who are all dispatched to our main character's house. John, of course, kills them all with the only damage being to his house, and his composure, just to let the audience know the kind of badass we're dealing with.
This is what I mean when I talk about thinking of combat cinematically. I'm not just talking about what it would look like, and the ebb and flow of a brawl or a shoot out. But ask where it fits in the narrative arc you're telling, and if this is an important, meaningful fight that should be slugged out round-for-round and pound-for-pound, or is this an interim fight with goons who aren't important in the grand scheme of things?
Because if you're running a Hunter game, and your cell of trigger-happy monster hunters are going after a vampire, then absolutely that fight in the vampire's lair should be a pulse-pounding scene where you dedicate a lot of screen time to the action, and you pull out all the weird powers and hail-Mary weapons for your mortals to try to eke out a victory. However, you probably don't want to dedicate that same time and attention to the fight with some club bouncers that are guarding the first layer of access to that vampire's lair, three sub-basements below The Red Circle.
You want to fight the counter guy who got your order wrong? Fine, but this is the last time...
The way this simple mechanic works is that you, as the ST, offer the chance to the players to run this with Down and Dirty rules. Because it should always be their choice. After all, regular combat mechanics and Down and Dirty mechanics both offer risks. If the players say yes, they want the D&D rules, it's fairly simple.
First, you determine which characters have what goals in this scene. For example, your bruiser might be trying to beat a combination to a locked door out of a flunky, while the shooter is just picking off as many other targets as she can. If there are distinct, different goals at-work, then these characters each make separate rolls. However, if multiple characters are all in sync with their goals (say all four members of a cell are rushing the two guards on a door, and looking to pummel them into submission), then they can use the Teamwork mechanic in order to combine their efforts together for a better chance of success.
Once you know who is trying to do what, you put together the combat pool for the player characters (Strength or Dexterity + Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry), and then the NPCs will either roll that same pool if they're opposing the PCs, or they'll roll something like (Strength or Dexterity + Athletics) if they're trying to get away. Once both sides have rolled, count the successes, and the difference between them.
If the players get an exceptional success (5 or more on their side) they achieve their goal, and get a point of Willpower from the rush. A regular success (1-4 more on their side) and they achieve their stated goal, dealing damage equal to their weapon modifier + successes, killing enemies if that was the goal. If they fail then the opponent deals them damage equal to the number of successes they achieved over the PCs, and they escape unless they want to press things. Dramatic failure is the same as a regular failure, except the PCs are Stunned as a result of how badly things went.
Just be careful who you start a fight with... it might go badly for you.
This mechanic does a lot of heavy lifting for you as a Storyteller. On the one hand, it allows player characters who are built for fights to still contribute to the story and the game, but you don't have to eat up half (or more) of a given session making sure they get their fights in. On the other hand, it puts control into your players' hands, so they can decide what they think an important fight is, versus one they're willing to let a single roll of the dice settle.
With that said, though, as a Storyteller you should consider a couple of things before allowing the Down and Dirty rules to resolve a given combat.
- Should This Be Do Or Die? - The Chronicles of Darkness is a vicious system when it comes to combat, and the more combatants and weapons involved only ups that ante. If you want to avoid a serious risk of PC death, then this is a good time for the D&D option.
- Are These Combatants Named? - Think of your chronicle as if it were a movie. Are the people your characters fighting Named Characters, like the current villain, their lieutenant, or important characters to the plot? Or are they Gangster #1, #2, and #3? Even if you gave them names, histories, and personalities in your notes, ask if they are Important. If not, D&D is probably an acceptable way to solve things.
These two questions make a great guide as to when these rules should be invoked. Because once you have the necessary results, you can narrate what happened, and dictate what the fight accomplished, or what resources it used (how many rounds did they fire, did they manage to keep things quiet, and so on) without interrupting the flow of the current arc too much.
And if things go REALLY terribly, you can always invoke the Chase rules... but I think I'll talk about those next time if folks are interested in hearing more about this setting?
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Folks who keep up with me as a creator are aware that I've put a lot of supplements out for the World and Chronicles of Darkness over the years. Last time I ran the numbers, it made up roughly 25% of my total title count. However, I had to step away for a year and a half or so because Storyteller's Vault was just too big of a hurdle for me to overcome, financially.
I noticed an unusual refrain as I was going around and trying to do my part to promote these titles, though... players, reviewers, and commenters keep saying that "we" own the World and Chronicles of Darkness now. And while this is absolutely NOT a statement on the legal rights and intellectual property of the setting, it does seem to be true in the sense of the new releases we're getting... or, more accurately, not getting.
Hand over the monsters. Slowly.
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
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Who Is Still Lurking in The Shadows?
Back in the 1990s, the World of Darkness was once called the DND Killer. Vampire, Werewolf, and the other bruisers were everywhere, and sucking up the oxygen in the room. Players were wearing their sunglasses inside, dressing in black leather, playing club music, and doing their best rendition of a modern day (and edgier) Dark Shadows. It held steady, and even into the 2000s it was doing strong numbers. It eventually started flagging, which led to the re-invention into the New World of Darkness, which eventually became the second edition known as the Chronicles of Darkness.
And even though the setting is a shadow of its former self, there is still a dark power to it. There is something about it that captures the imagination, and leads one down a dark alley to show them the broken glass of shattered dreams, and to whisper to them that monsters are real.
However, Onyx Path Publishing seems to be focusing on the other games it's publishing these days. Curseborne is (or at least was) the new hotness for a while, but there's focus on the Trinity Continuum, as well as on up-and-coming projects like Monster Kingdoms, and a slew of other games and settings that already exist.
But the World of Darkness, and the Chronicles of Darkness, seem to be largely abandoned by the company and their official releases. It seems like nothing really new has come out for even the most popular spheres of the game, and there isn't any buzz about up-and-coming projects players should look forward to. Now, there's still a huge amount of stuff already out there... but new supplements and books don't seem to be coming through official channels...
... they're coming from the community.
The call... it's inside the house.
With releases like Book of Lineages for Promethean: The Created, Book of Courts for Changeling: The Lost, or something like Dark Eras: A New Origin, there's clearly a lot of interest still going on in these settings... it's just that the designers aren't currently part of the Onyx Path/Paradox/etc. stable (anymore, at least, as I've heard there are several former designers who are trying to shoot adrenaline into the setting by lending their talents to community releases). So, that puts us all in something of a unique position.
On the one hand, Storyteller's Vault lays out clear rules and requirements we have to follow to make products for these settings... but on the other hand, if the company isn't planning to keep the games we love going, then why shouldn't we, as a community, pour that love into them (along with some other dark, alchemical fluids)? For all the flaws, missteps, and problems in the games we love, why shouldn't we keep doing our best to refine them, to offer fresh perspectives and ideas, and build them that much bigger, better, and darker?
I say this as someone who has designed my fair share of WoD/CoD supplements, and who still has a slew of projects I'd like to put up... if you want to see these games keep going, then make sure you're supporting the community creators as best you can. Check out new releases, leave ratings and reviews, and help us spread the word so that we can defray our costs, and pay our bills, while putting out fresh stuff for everyone out there who isn't ready to leave the shadows behind just yet.
Also, if you're someone who enjoys the World and Chronicles of Darkness, but you haven't yet checked out Discussions of Darkness, consider giving the series a look over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel!
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That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
If you're one of the readers who also checks out my contributions on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, then chances are good you are one of the folks who saw the latest audio drama Screams in The Shadow. This short little audio drama follows a strike team of garou who delve into the Umbra in order to purify a corrupted place... a place whose constant spewing of vile hatred has led to a spiritual cancer in the hearts and minds of those who listen to it for too long.
This little story was the introductory fiction from my supplement Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See In The Penumbra, which is for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. And if you haven't grabbed a copy, consider doing so... I'm still trying to get the supplement up over Copper status. However, putting that audio drama together got me thinking... would my regular readers/listeners be interested in more Werewolf content?
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
Breathing Life Into Tales From The Moot
Most folks who are familiar with my World of Darkness supplements know me for my 100 Kinfolk supplements (which are still in the 100 Kinfolk Bundle, which has something approaching 1,500 NPCs in it). However, in addition to those supplements I also put together Evil Inc.: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries, and I was invited to be part of the Savage Age project, penning 101 Savage Kinfolk. However, what a lot of readers might not know is that a few years ago I managed to get a project going where I gathered several of my fellow authors and Werewolf enthusiasts, and we put together Tales From The Moot; a short story anthology filled with the kinds of stories the garou tend to tell around the fire to their fellows. Some are filled with action and savagery, others sorrow and heartbreak. Some seem to underline the pointlessness of this long war. But this collection has, largely, been overlooked by readers out there.
I'll be honest, I've been wracking my brain for some way to get more eyes on this collection. I've written about it on this blog several times, it's gotten shout-outs on several WoD podcasts in the past, I've shouted it from the hilltops of social media, and my fellow creators did their best to spread the word so other folks could find out about it... but we could just never seem to really reach the folks who would be interested in tie-in fiction.
Which made me wonder... would you all be interested in hearing a few stories in the collection get the audio drama treatment the way some of my other vignettes have?
The way this project would work is that I would begin with the introductory story (which is a van of three kinfolk on their way to the moot), and I would make it as a kind of lead-in/commercial for the anthology as it stands. And if folks enjoyed and supported that part of the project, I'd look into dramatizing my contribution to the collection, Late Bloomer, which is a story about a Silver Fang who had his first change while he was on deployment in Afghanistan. And if folks wanted to see more of the stories then I would reach out to Josh Heath and the folks over at High Level Games, as well as contacting the authors of some of the other pieces, to see whether this is something they'd be interested in.
And if you're one of the folks who would like to see this project go forward, then leave your thoughts in the comments below, and make sure you respond on social media! In addition to your thoughts, consider grabbing a copy of Tales From The Moot for yourself, and leaving a review where you tell us which story you'd most like to hear get the audio drama treatment!
Because, as I repeat so often on this channel, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If this book suddenly gets a lot of fresh interest, sales, etc., it's very likely that future anthologies could finally go into production... but at that point we'd be asking you, our audience, what you'd like to see from us going forward!
Lastly, if you're looking for something else to get excited about, I'm still scripting season 1 of Windy City Shadows, which is a Chronicles of Darkness podcast project. And if you haven't heard about that yet, then check out the AMA I did for it a little while ago.
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That's all for this week's Table Talk. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
Folks who know my work know that I have a deep and abiding love for the World/Chronicles of Darkness. For several years of my career, in fact, I would release a supplement every month, or every other month, for one of the games in these settings. About two years ago I stopped, though, because it just wasn't financially feasible for me to continue... however, variety is the spice of life, and it seems there are still folks who really want me to come back to these games.
So I wanted to ask folks again... what games would you like to see me come back to?
Speak, and perhaps you shall receive.
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
My Next Destination... The Vigil? The Primordial?
Back in March, I made an episode of Discussions of Darkness asking viewers what they would like to see me put together for future World/Chronicles of Darkness content. The two games I proposed were Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Changeling: The Lost, since those are the two games I've written the largest number of supplements for over the years.
I started with Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See in The Penumbra for Werewolf, and yesterday I cracked the seal on my next Changeling project, which deals with the Gentry, and will dovetail very nicely with 7 True Fae in Arcadia for folks who picked up a copy of that supplement from Lily Lessard. However, I'm laying out plans for what I want to start on this fall, and I wanted to touch base with all my readers out there...
First and foremost, I was recently part of the supplement Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage, which is a hefty book for Beast: The Primordial that deals with a lot of extra lore, character archetypes, etc. to flesh out the setting. I had fun with my part of the game, but I was a little surprised by the size of the response from folks. Apparently Beast is quite a popular game, and there are a lot of folks who are hungry for more... so would you like to see me put out some supplements for this game as well? And if so, what sort of things would you like to see added into the mix?
However, I've also picked up Hunter: The Vigil, and I'm working my way through it. I can honestly say I haven't looked at Vigil since I took part in the initial playtest for it, but I'm trying to read a few dozen pages a night before bed. While I'm doing the work for a chronicle I plan on running for my own group, I have several ideas of things I'd like to organize and arrange into supplements based on the material I'm making... particularly since the game I'm writing is set during Prohibition!
So this week, I wanted to check in with you all as my readers... do either of these proposals sound interesting to you? And if so, which one would you prefer to see?
Place your vote in the comments below, and leave it on social media for extra points to be sure I see it! Additionally, check out the 39 supplements I've written in my World/Chronicles of Darkness pinboard so you can see everything I've already put together for this setting!
Also, if you haven't checked out my latest Changeling: The Lost video essay which introduces the host for my upcoming podcast Windy City Shadows, then give this video a look see, as well!
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
Folks who've been following my work for a while know that for several years I was an active creator on Storyteller's Vault for a variety of games in both the World of Darkness and the Chronicles of Darkness. Though I stepped back due to financial reasons, I thought that maybe I could dip a toe back in to see if things were worth coming back for. And because it seems I'm not capable of doing things in half measures, the first release I've had on Storyteller's Vault in years is the supplement with the largest word count of anything I've published except for my full RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic.
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
Delivering On A Promise...
For folks who don't watch the Azukail Games YouTube channel (though you should watch and subscribe if you haven't yet), I made a video for my show Discussions of Darkness a little while back asking viewers what corner of the World or Chronicles of Darkness they'd like to see me tackle. And while there was some back and forth, it was a toss-up between more Changeling, and getting back to Werewolf, the two games I had made the most content for thus far.
In the end, my decision erred toward Werewolf specifically because of how much undiscovered country there still was for me in that game, but also because of the success of my video essay The Problem With Pentex. Because it seemed at a glance that there were a lot of Apocalypse players out there who would be interested in seeing me step back into the Storyteller's Vault fray... and with this supplement I very nearly pulled a creative muscle due to the scope and scale of it. The result, though, I feel speaks for itself.
When I first set out, I wanted to do something similar to my 100 Strange Sights To See In The Hedge for Changeling: The Lost. The idea was that I wanted to put together a guide for Storytellers to draw on to make the Umbra feel like a truly bizarre place, to give their players a sense of unreality, and to bring across how surreal the world of spirit can be. And the first few entries started that way... but they quickly grew into something more.
You see, my thought process was that while some games might go deep into the Umbra, not all of them would. But practically every game of Werewolf will take you into the Penumbra; the area of the spirit world that is pushed right up against the material world, acting as a dark reflection of it in many ways. For context, though, I had to create both the real world location, as well as the location in the Umbra so that the symbolic twisting and expression of the real world would make sense in its spiritual mirror. And once I had those two aspects I wanted to offer a general guide to the kinds of spirits one was likely to find in this place, along with the Denizen. The Denizen is a powerful spirit that is tied to a given location, and it is not something that can just be dispatched; it has claimed this area as a domain, and even if defeated, it will reform again and again unless the source of its power is weakened or eliminated.
Something very similar happened with my 50 Geists supplement a while back. What was meant to be a simple, straightforward list felt a little too anemic for the purpose at-hand, so I expanded on the individual entries and fleshed them out enough that players and/or Storytellers could take the rope and run with it. And, just like the geist list, the word count on Dark Reflections was edging into untenable territory. If I had followed through with my original plan to make a 100-item list then the supplement likely would have crossed into the length of a novel... as it was, it's already well past the minimum word count for a novella.
Which seemed like quite a deal, all things considered.
Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?
From my end of things, I feel this supplement was pretty solid. I haven't done anything for Werewolf: The Apocalypse in a while (and most of my previous contributions can be found in the 100 Kinfolk Bundle, with the addition of Evil Inc.: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries), and I wanted to test the waters to see if this was a good sphere to come back to. Since there were so many folks asking for content that could be used with the 5th Edition, as well as with older editions of the game, I thought this was a solid swing.
But only you all can send a message regarding whether or not this one connects.
So let me tell you how to make it happen.
If you're someone who has enjoyed my WoD/CoD content in the past, go and get yourself a copy of Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See In The Penumbra. And if you're one of the handful of people who have picked up copies for themselves at time of writing, please leave a rating and a review on DTRPG so that more people find it. Lastly, consider sharing a link to the supplement on your social media pages, and telling your various gaming friends about the supplement... the algorithm is stamping down harder than usual, and it has been all but impossible to make headway as a creator looking to connect with an audience.
And if you haven't checked out all my other supplements for the World and Chronicles of Darkness yet, check out this Pinterest board with links to all 37 of them! From Vampire and Werewolf, to Changeling, Mage, Geist, and even a few general use supplements, I've put quite a lot of work into my contributions for this setting over the years.
If I haven't touched on your favorite game yet, leave a comment below letting me know what you'd like to see me cover! And if you're one of the Wraith players, don't worry, your game is on my to-do list... I just have to find some time to actually read up on it, since I never got a chance to sit down and play it during its heyday.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
There is a world behind the one we know. It is a world of spirit that is, in many ways, a truer reality than the one in which we live and breathe. It is also, however, a place that holds up a mirror to the physical world, and shows us the spiritual reflections of the everyday horrors we walk right past without truly seeing them. This world is filled with spirits, but it is also filled with memories and legends, holding the emotional resonance of the world.
This place is the Umbra, and if you're new to Werewolf: The Apocalypse, or really any World of Darkness game that allows you to access this plane, it can be a lot of wrap your mind around. So I thought this week I'd offer an interpretation that might help folks get a grasp on the world, and what can be found within it.
I call this interpretation Dark Miyazaki.
It helps anchor the fantastical in a lot of ways.
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Let Yourself Be "Spirited Away"
While the film that most fits Werewolf's anti-pollution and anti-corruption themes is definitely Princess Mononoke (and one could argue that many of the monsters in that film are a perfect fit for the creation of fomori or corrupted spirits), the film I think works best as a jumping off point for the Umbra is Spirited Away.
For those who aren't familiar with the story, the broadest strokes of Spirited Away are that a young girl crosses a boundary into the spirit world, is stranded there, and must navigate the new rules of this bizarre places while attempting to survive, make friends, and find her way back to the physical world once more. While she's in the spirit world, though, we see great spirits and small ones, we see spiritual reflections of the material world, we see the sometimes orange-and-blue logic that drives the spirits to behave the way they do, and we begin to get a sense of the hierarchies that exist in this other world.
While it isn't a perfect one-to-one comparison, it can anchor your understanding as both a player or a Storyteller to have a reference like this to draw on. Much like how someone who has played Vampire might be able to easily sidestep into the mechanics of Werewolf as they're built on the same system, it's easier to ease yourself into a new fantastical concept if you already have a shared basis to draw on, and spin out from.
However, given that this is the World of Darkness, Storytellers might wish to paint with a darker brush than we see in this film. Players might find that in their attempt to destroy an oil refinery in the physical world means that the fire spirits who occupy the reflection of that site may have grown violent and destructive, demanding sacrifices of flesh and soul from those caught in their territory. You might find that locations opposite a vampire's haven are riddled with cancerous rot and violent, insane monsters, not unlike what you'd come across in Silent Hill's dark world. You may even find that the opposite side of a school is a prison that crushes tiny spirits until their essence flows freely, all of it drained out of the floor until the "pupils" in the place are a hollow, empty hivemind that conforms to the dark desires of the place.
Lastly, because the Umbra is massive, unknowable, and constantly shifting and changing, there is an infinite possibility as to what one might find on the other side of the gauntlet that separates the world of spirits from the physical world.
If you're a regular reader, you might be familiar with supplements I wrote for the Hedge for use in Changeling: The Lost. Supplements like 100 Sights To See in The Hedge as well as 100 Hobs To Meet in The Hedge proved to be extremely popular, and given that the Hedge is also an ever-shifting realm of danger and madness where lurk bizarre creatures and impossible dangers, I figured that putting out supplements like this to help Storytellers get a grip on what they wanted players to encounter in the Umbra might be of-use.
So if you'd like to see a line of resources for fleshing out your part of the Spirit Wilds, let me know in the comments, or on social media!
And, of course, if you'd like some resources for the physical side of a Werewolf game, I'd highly recommend getting your hands on the 100 Kinfolk Bundle which has something like 1,500 NPCs in it, as well as Evil Inc.: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries.
After all, the more interest there is in Werewolf as a property, the more likely it is I can greenlight projects related to it!
That's all for this week's Fluff post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
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As regular readers of this blog know, it's been about a year and a half since I put out any RPG supplements that used a community creation platform. I talked about this back in Why I Will Have Fewer Community Created TTRPG Products Coming Out back in July of 2023, but for those who don't want to read the older entry, it boiled down to money. At the time I'd been given a raise by Azukail Games for my up-front payment as an author to 2 cents per word for content that wasn't made using a community creation platform like Storyteller's Vault, Pathfinder Infinite, and so on. While I was still completely allowed to write supplements for those platforms, I'd only receive 1 cent per word as an up-front payment... and given that my word count tends to rest between 11,000 and 15,000 words on one of these supplements, that's not a small difference.
In fact, to make up the difference in earnings, one of these supplements would have to sell between 183 and 366 copies (depending on the sale price), just for me to break even with the royalties on the back-end. Given that only about 20% of the supplements sold on DTRPG even break 50 copies sold, and that I can count on one hand the number of projects of mine that eventually broke the 350 mark after years of being on the market, this is a pretty dismal prospect.
So why am I going to voluntarily work on some of these in the coming year?
There is method to my madness...
The short version is that variety is the spice of life, and I can only work on the same genre, style of product, etc., for so long before I need to shift gears and give my brain something else to work on. Not only that, but I had a bunch of supplement ideas that I hadn't gotten to yet, and frankly leaving them dangling is starting to really bother me. I need a change of pace, and I need to work a different set of mental muscles... and I need it badly enough I'm willing to leave money on the table, despite all the storm clouds on the horizon, and the fact that I haven't managed to claw my way up out of the hole I got kicked into over a decade ago at this point.
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
Which Platform/Game/Setting Do You Most Want To See?
As hinted at above, I don't honestly believe that anything I write for a community creation platform is going to do the kind of numbers I need in order for it not to be a loss over a different project... but that doesn't mean I'm just going to throw caution to the winds! I've narrowed my current projects down to a relatively short list, and this week I wanted to ask my readers to please cast their votes for what they'd like to see! The options are listed below, but in addition to which platform/game you want to see me make more supplements for, please take a moment to suggest the format you'd like to see (adventure module, 100 list, Baker's Dozen list, list of 10, etc.), as well as any specific suggestions you might have.
And if you made it this far in this week's post, but you're not sure what a community creation platform is yet, I made a video about them a while back on Tabletop Mercenary. So check it out, and if you enjoy it, consider subscribing to the Azukail Games YouTube channel and checking out some of the other stuff there as well!
Option #1: Werewolf The Apocalypse
A lot of folks who know my work at all know me because they found my World of Darkness supplements, and specifically my Werewolf: The Apocalypse supplements. From my 100 Kinfolk Collections (100 per tribe, with something like 1,500 characters or more last I looked), to my supplement Evil Incorporated: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries, I've spent a goodly amount of time in the world of Werewolf.
While I've considered expanding the NPC roster with ideas like A Baker's Dozen of Elders To Encounter (for those who need powerful NPC werewolves), or A Baker's Dozen of Tales to Tell at a Moot (for spicing up these fireside meetings), something that I figured more players and Storytellers would get use out of would be a series of supplements for fleshing out the Umbra in a way similar to what I did for the Hedge in Changeling: The Lost. So supplements like 100 Sights To See in The Umbra, 100 Spirits To Meet in The Umbra, and so on, and so forth would be what I'd work on for this game. At first, at least.
I know Werewolf has had its ups and downs, but folks still grab copies of the supplements I've already written for it, so I figured there's still an audience. And if you're in that audience, and you'd like to see me add to what I've already made for it, make sure you cast your vote below!
Option #2: Exalted
Exalted is a game that I went elbow-deep into a while back, trying to make sure I had all the ins and outs for my character ready to go. While the campaign is currently on-pause, I spun up quite a lot of nonsense while putting together Barabbas the Butcher, and I figured that putting some of it out there for folks to use in their games might be of-use/interest!
For example, something like Whispers From The Void: 100 Messages From The Neverborn might be useful for all the Abyssal players, and the Storytellers trying to help give them a memorable experience. 100 Demons To Find in The Brass City could be helpful for those venturing to hell, or even 100 Gods To Encounter for Storytellers who are looking to fill the corners of the setting with gods big and small to really bring home the strangeness of this setting.
While I know there's a lot of Exalted lovers out there, and everyone has their preferred edition, my hope is to try to make my first steps actually fit a pretty universal mold... and then if folks really want more of this, I'll do my best to branch out into a wider array of options.
Option #3: Call of Cthulhu
While I've worked on my share of Cthulhu Mythos stuff (up to and including my 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, Cthulhu Mythos Edition, which has an audio drama version linked in the list), a lot of it honestly seems to have died before it was released. However, two supplements that did make it through editorial and which are available today include 100 Shops, Stores, and Businesses to Find in Arkham as well as a follow-up/supplementary piece 100 Gangsters, Gun Molls, and Goons, which was meant to flesh out the criminal underbelly in Arkham during Prohibition.
I'll be straight with folks, this setting already has something in the works simply because of the ease of putting it together. However, I could expand my scope beyond Arkham, and the Prohibition period, if that's something folks would want to see? Whether it would be something like 100 Rumors To Hear in Lovecraft Country, 100 Dreams To Have In The Witch House, or even something like 100 Cultists To Encounter, allowing Game Masters to flesh out the ranks of their conspiracies and plots.
If you do vote for this option, make sure you make clear which era of the game you're most interested in as well! Also, as a note, this game doesn't have a community creation platform, but Azukail Games does have the ability and willingness to pay the licensing fee for these supplements, so that's why it's on the list.
Option #4: Pathfinder/Golarion
Pathfinder is the game I've played the most, and Golarion is one of the settings I deeply enjoy because I love kitchen sink nonsense in fantasy games. I've only dipped my toe into Pathfinder Infinite twice, though, penning the very popular 150 Sights To See in Absalom (which has gone Electrum due to a popular bundle it was included in), as well as the less-popular but well-loved 100 Books To Find Across The Inner Sea (which includes the story narrated above).
There was a rather drastic difference in the two supplements I put out, and after all the hullabaloo with Paizo changing things around and shifting priorities, I didn't want to be in the midst of working on anything while major changes were happening. But it seems to have mostly calmed/quieted, and if folks wanted me to, I could put out some of the ideas I had to help expand Golarion that much more. While some of the ideas were flavorful, like 100 Rumors To Hear in Sandpoint (because the best adventures always seem to start there) or A Baker's Dozen of Tortures To Endure in Nidal, I also had some more mechanical ideas, such as expanding the Divine Fighting Technique feat to include minor gods, or putting together a fresh hellknight order, complete with their own mythos, legends, and prestige class options should you wish to play one.
If you want to see me return to Golarion, make sure you tell me what kind of thing you'd like to see, and what part of the world you want to see it in. After all, there's so much of Golarion to explore, and I'd like to know which corner you think needs some love.
Option #5: Pugmire
If you haven't played it, you are missing out, not gonna lie!
Pugmire is a game I have a lot of affection for, and it inspired a lot of the direction I went with my own RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic. In short, it's a game set in the far, FAR future where humans are gone, dogs, cats, and other creatures have evolved into a medieval-esque society, and they have all kinds of bizarre adventures in the deeply changed world. It's a load of fun, and while Azukail Games has released supplements for it like 100 Birds For Pirates of Pugmire or 100 Cats To Meet in The Monarchy of Mau I haven't actually turned my hand to this game just yet.
Would folks like to see me expand the NPCs one can find in the city of Pugmire? Would you like rumors, books, letters, or even organizations that could play into your campaign? Because I've had ideas for a while now, but just haven't taken them out of the box to turn them into finished products yet.
How You Can Make Your Voice Heard!
If any of these ideas are something you would like to see, then here's what you need to do:
- Comment down below what you want to see, and be as specific as possible.
- Comment on social media, if you saw this post there. 7 words or more really helps drive engagement!
- Share this post around so that other folks can see it, and weigh in on what they'd like to see!
And once you've done all that, conider buying available supplements from a given setting, platform, world, etc. that I've already put out, and linked in the appropriate sections. While votes are certainly a good way to cast your ballot, supplements that do numbers make it much easier to get projects greenlit by the publisher.
And, like I said, over 130 sales minimum just to break even. It's definitely not easy making a living on this grind.
Also, Don't Forget To Check Out My Own Settings and Games!
If none of the above really caught your interest, I'd like to remind folks I have my own settings and games that I've been hard at work on expanding for the past year and change! So if you'd like to see more of Army Men, or of my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting for Pathfinder Classic or DND 5E, then leave a comment requesting more of that! And if you haven't checked out any of the supplements for these games yet, the lists are below!
Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic
A game where you take on the roles of troopers fighting for their homelands in the Plastos Federation against the insectoid monsters of the vespoids!
- Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic: The base book for the game, this is technically the only book you need to play this game... but it never hurts to get some of the others as well!
- Army Men: Threat Assessments: The first collection released after the original game dropped, this supplement is full of new creatures for your squad to have to deal with when out in the field.
- Army Men: Medals of Honor: This supplement introduced the Medals System, allowing players to earn medals for their troopers, gaining unique bonuses and abilities usable for the rest of the campaign.
- Ungentlemanly Warfare: A Baker's Dozen of Booby Traps: Giant bugs and enemy combatants aren't the only threats you'll have to deal with in the field. Booby traps are a serious concern among troopers looking to leave their service with as many limbs as they started.
- Army Men Missions: A Night At Breckon's Beacon: When a squad goes missing while they're on patrol, it's your squad's mission to find them, and bring them home... or to avenge them, if that can't be done.
Sundara: Dawn of A New Age
This is a setting I've been gradually expanding for several years now, and there's a new series of supplements coming out for it in the near future! Sundara can be played on its own, or it can be added piecemeal to your own settings to fill in gaps and blanks so that you don't have to do as much heavy lifting the next time you get folks around your table!
Cities of Sundara
The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!
- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!
- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.
- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.
- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.
- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.
Gods of Sundara
- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.
Species of Sundara
Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.
And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.
- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!
- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.
- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.
- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!
- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.
- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.
Organizations of Sundara
Phase 3 has been going strong, but there's still a few titles left in it! So if you haven't seen them, consider checking out:
- Sellswords of Sundara: With power structures being smaller in scale in Sundara, standing armies aren't often maintained for long. As such, soldiers of fortune are quite common! This supplement contains 10 mercenary companies, their history, uniform, sample members, whispers and rumors, as well as either an archetype or subclass for playing these unique warriors. Grab your copy for Pathfinder of DND 5E.
- Cults of Sundara: Faith comes in many forms in Sundara, and there are as many gods in the Prim as there are dreams in the minds of people. This supplement contains write-ups for 10 cults, their histories, sample members, rumors about them, their beliefs and tenets, and a unique magic item for each. Get your copy for Pathfinder or DND 5E.
- Guilds of Sundara: While cities and villages may be relatively local, guilds are spread across the length and width of Sundara. From professional orders of skilled miners and dredgers, to monster slayers and bounty hunters, this supplement has 10 guilds with histories, sample members, rumors, as well as unique feats one can take to represent the skill and benefits of joining this order. Available for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E.
- Merchants of Sundara: While city states might be the largest form of government you find in the setting, merchants hold an outsized amount of power. From huge mercantile houses, to small brands infamous for their quality as much as for their price, there are a lot of options listed in this particular world building supplement.
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