Game: Werewolf: The Apocalypse (first edition – White Wolf, 1991)
My Experience: Werewolf was on the market by the time I started playing Vampire. I grabbed it as soon as I became aware of it, in the fall of 1993 when I was a freshman at UK. I briefly tried to run it for the guys in my dorm, but I was the only gamer on my floor, so that kinda fell flat. I’ve been in a couple of short-lived campaigns over the years, but I never connected with it as well as I did with VtM. I did do a bit of freelancing for one book during Ethan Skemp’s tenure as line developer.
Nadia Vasylyk, Dangerous Antiquarian
Nadia Vasylyk is not the dean of her university’s college of liberal arts. Despite her youth, she could be if she wanted to, certainly, and the general belief among her faculty colleagues is that the current dean only speaks when Nadia’s hand slides up his ass to make his mouth move. But whatever the nameplates on the office doors say, Nadia is the one with real power – the one who makes or breaks careers, grants or denies tenure, approves or rejects research proposals. And that suits her just fine. It leaves her more time to pursue her own projects – which, of course, benefit the university and the Garou Nation almost as much as they benefit her.
Once, Nadia’s ancestors were nobility, ruling a swath of the Carpathians near Uzhhorod. They were scholars and knights, as proud of their libraries as they were of their armories and stables. That was then, though, and centuries of European upheaval forced them to flee west. But they brought with them the core of their being, and passed down this identity to their descendants. Leaders. Warriors. Scholars. Werewolves.
Nadia’s family was kinfolk, humans whose bloodline intermingled with that of the Garou, so it was always a possibility that she would breed true. Her First Change was thus not entirely unexpected – but still a traumatic and humiliating loss of control that she’d just as soon never speak of again. Born under the crescent moon, she was initiated into the ways of Garou spirit-speaking and ritual even as she was applying to some of the most elite graduate programs in the western world.
All werewolves are hunters. Nadia’s preferred prey is knowledge. She’s spent the better part of a decade working herself into a position where she can leverage human institutions to further her pursuit of lost lore. No ivory tower academic, she’s happiest doing fieldwork, roughing it at dig sites or wrapping village elders around her finger while she extracts local folklore that’s never before been written down. And if her research brings her wealth and prestige along the way, well, who’s to say those aren’t other weapons she can wield on behalf of her people?
Traits
Breed: Homid
Auspice: Theurge (crescent moon)
Tribe: Shadow Lords
Attributes
Physical: Strength ••, Dexterity ••, Stamina ••
Social: Charisma ••••, Manipulation •••, Appearance •••
Mental: Perception ••, Intelligence ••••, Wits ••
Abilities
Talents: Brawl •, Dodge •, Intimidation •••, Subterfuge ••
Skills: Etiquette ••, Leadership •••, Melee ••, Stealth •, Survival •
Knowledges: Enigmas ••, Investigation •, Linguistics ••, Occult ••, Politics •••, Rituals •••
Advantages
Backgrounds: Kinfolk ••, Resources •••, Rites •••
Renown: Rank 0 – Glory 0, Honor 100, Wisdom 400
Rage: 2
Gnosis: 3
Willpower: 6
Gifts
Fatal Flaw: Spend a Gnosis point, concentrate for a turn, and roll Perception + Empathy against the target’s Wits + Subterfuge. Success reveals the target’s weaknesses, adding a die of damage to attacks and providing knowledge of other vulnerabilities.
Persuasion: Spend a Gnosis point and roll Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 6) to reduce the difficulty of all social rolls by 1 for the scene.
Spirit Speech: Spend a Willpower point to communicate with spirits for a scene.
Rites
Moot Rite
Rite of Cleansing
Rite of Talisman Dedication
Equipment
deceptively trim and simple business attire (predominantly black and burgundy with tasteful platinum and ruby jewelry)
BMW 3-series
leather satchel containing current research material
modern reproduction of falx, custom-forged by a kinfolk smith
tenure
Notes and Afterthoughts
I was going to randomly roll for tribe, I swear, but after four d20 rolls in a row were higher than 13 (thus necessitating a re-roll because, well, 13 tribes), I said “screw it” and just picked one that’s easier for me to get my head around.
The Shadow Lords are perhaps the most political of the Garou tribes. I wanted to put a unique spin on that, and I’ve spent enough years working adjacent to academia to have an idea of how amazingly political the faculty environment can be. (If I’m being honest, I also wrote Nadia while giggling to myself about how a werewolf would completely dominate faculty politics in truly unsettling ways.) Admittedly, the build is a bit under-powered for the concept – she could use a lot more points in Knowledges and Backgrounds – but the concept amused me too much to let go.