how lycanthropy should be attained?
I think it is cringe reddit when in fantasy setting there is "god of werewolfs and forest,etc" and because of him werewolfs exist. but also quite stupid when one attains it from a scratch or a wound (wtf? in a scenario like this the world would simply end from a werewolf-zombie apocalypse, if its that easy to turn into a werewolf)
so how do you guys do it differently or what are the best examples from other fantasy worlds to ripoff ?
also what do you think about werewolfs deteriorating (possibly permanently) into dogmen, ratmen (or worse...?) when they are starved for many fullmoons
muh nsbm
>werewolfs deteriorating... when starved
actually an interesting idea there OP
Anyway most of the time "god of werewolves" tends to be some aspect of a greater-scope wild-god type thing. It'll be described as something that a big scary wild entity invokes in order to strike back against particularly egregious offenses of civilisation
After all, the werewolf is "you thought you were civilised, but actually you have the monster inside you all along", so it makes sense that it gets invoked as a weapon to remind people that they're still one bad harvest from cannibalism
Which dovetails into the other way it can come about - as retribution for offending the natural order by eating your own, or as some transformation wrought by man upon himself, by succumbing to instincts of some sort. Y'know, "man hunts so much that he starts becoming bestial"
I don't really rate any one higher or lower than another, I think it forgive me saying this, I know it's the buzzword of a shitposter on this board depends on the setting. I don't think that either version of WoD werewolf is BAD, but I think they're two very different takes on specific bits of mythology and ideas about transforming monstrous humans
Last time it was mentioned in a fantasy game I was running, years ago, lycanthropy was a magical disease in the traditional D&D way, but I made it way more lethal, in the way a regular disease is, and that only by surviving it are you "judged worthy" for transformation. The short version is
>The incubation period is until the next full moon, which is typically a month but not always, since the monster might transform itself if it's strong
>The disease runs over a month, giving increasingly high fever, and accompanying fever dreams
>The players never got near one so I didn't have hard rules, but it would've been a nasty disease aimed at killing 80% of infected NPCs
>After a month, the fever breaks as you hatch from your own skin, a newly turned werewolf
In my setting, it's a curse that powerful fey can strike you with if your entire community really pisses them off.
>Buzzword
It's not a buzzword, but it's pretty debatable whether it applies to this thread. OP is a gay for implying that there should be a single way to achieve lycanthropy across all settings, but at least he's asking for opinions this time, not statements of fact.
>In my setting, it's a curse that powerful fey can strike you with if your entire community really pisses them off.
And who do they strike? A community is generally large. Would they turn them all into werewolfs or just one unlucky guy, maybe the son of a shepherd
No, they wouldn't dare mock of the son of a shepherd. But jokes aside, usually just one person. Possibly someone who came to apologize (you can apologize with your life, sorta thing). It's a terror weapon, not a tool for committing genocide.
OP do you have brain damage?
You can only be turned by a bite on the full moon. Werewolves can technically be active outside of it, but they're most active then. Werewolves are rare do to a combination of factors besides that. Werewolves usually attack to kill, and they're good at it. It isn't guaranteed that you'll turn, and there's a decent chance the wound will just get infected and the victim will just die if they aren't healthy enough or have good/bad luck (depends on how you feel about being a man-eating wolf monster). Becoming one can be avoided with wolfsbane by either consuming it or applying it to the wound within a few hours of the bite. Finally, if you can kill the original werewolf before the next full moon, the person they bit won't transform.
>should
I don't think there's any singular correct way for every depiction of lycanthropy ever.
The cool thing about fantasy is the ability to explore different aspects of a concept without staying rigid to a singular, universal rule.
>wat u do diffren
I don't restrict forms to just wolves, and I don't restrict the time to the night of a full moon, but were-forms are still connected to the moon, and werewolves are still the strongest.
The goddess of the moon; in reflection of, rather than in opposition to, the provision of the sun, is also the goddess of beasts. When humans feel they're too weak, are unsatisfied as their position as the sun's gardeners and shepherds, they pray to the moon for more power, and are granted such. Controlling this power comes down to controlling one's own urges to abuse it. Letting go of one's humanity twists the werebeast into something feral, a terror upon humanity. Embracing the beast form while cultivating one's humanity creates a warrior of not just unrivaled strength and magic, but of higher wisdom and responsibility.
I have no problem with it being a curse or a gift from a god, as long as he's more like Hircine and less like the great tree spirit of love, hugs, and body odor.
If you don't like that, though, just look to actual myths. Werewolves were often witches and the change was magically acquired. Werewolves might also be people who were cursed for being cannibals.
Does your world have The Moon or multiple moons or what?
I think werewolves only being wolfmode during a full mode is limiting for a game, so I assume you'll be avoiding that.
If you accepted it as fact then that would be a limiter on the spread of a werewolf epidemic via infectious bites.
So maybe figure out how lunar cycles can affect your werewolves and then tie infection of a new werewolf into a phase of the moon.
Also,
this guy mentioned cannibals becoming werewolves, which made me think of wendigos but also "Ghouls" and then I remembered reading a discussion about the origin of the 'Alzabo' creature from Book of the New Sun and how the name was possibly derived from old arabic for 'wolf'.
The concept of an Alzabo is it's a huge alien bear/wolf that can absorb the memories of creatures it eats. So if it eats a human it can temporarily gain the memory, and therefore capacity, of speech. But it also gains the victim's memories of their family, of what the victim's voice sounds like and in some way the functioning of the Alzabo's brain adopting the memories of the victim is also like the Alzabo partially becoming the victim, but with twisted predatory instincts. A part of the Alzabo is the recently dead parent crying out for it's child to come closer and hug them, but there is a still a part of it that will eat the child when it gets close.
Anyway, you could have a werewolf as a man that thinks he's becoming a wolf, but a degenerated werewolf is more of a wolf that dreamed it was a man. It keeps eating humans to speak and remember humanity but it dissipates increasingly quickly.
>I think werewolves only being wolfmode during a full mode is limiting for a game
Also not really an element of authentic myth, just Hollywood that got backported. But unlike you, I like it. Once the party realizes what they're dealing with, it can add a ticking clock element that you might leverage to enjoyment of your players.
An orphaned thought I have is that not all werewolves need be the same. Warhammer Fantasy has a thing where different vampires have different weaknesses, peculiarities, and affinities, and attempting to leverage the wrong ones can cause you fatal trouble. Its werewolves too can come from at least 3 sources- mutation, divine blessing from Ulric, or in at least one case, a curse. If you want to make that ticking clock even more heard, finding out the RIGHT werewolf might be critical.
If you think one lunar phase is too restrictive, you could pull a khajiit thing where it's different forms for different phases.
Wow, OP was sure interested in the topic he had to post.
So much engagement and discussion going on here.
I'm pretty sure the engagement is bots as well. If you make a thread it falls straight off the catalog with no replies but these always get high effort multi-paragraph posts that nobody reads or answers to. It's just AI talking to itself.
My post wasn't a bot post FYI.
Actually one of my threads got straight up deleted lol literally only the troony club of spammers can make threads
holy fricking shit the state of this site
>how lycanthropy should be attained?
medieval people dont belive that werewolfs as a cursed (this idea come from lycon being punished by zeus)
>"Thiess also told the judges of how he had first become a werewolf, explaining that he had once been a beggar, and that one day "a rascal" had drunk a toast to him, thereby giving him the ability to transform into a wolf. He furthermore related that he could pass on his ability to someone else by toasting them, breathing into the jug three times and proclaiming "you will become like me." If the other individual then took the jug, they would become a werewolf, but Thiess claimed that he was yet to find anyone ready to take over the role of lycanthrope from him."
a werewolf and shapeshifter animal would be someone who was born with this ability or uses magic to transform themselves. if you wanna go in monster way, just make werewolf like apostle from beserk.
Im pretty sure werewolfs come from the devil, as a curse or gift for selling your soul
but that doesn't mean they can't make choices and reject the devil or use it for good
>how grammar should be attained?
>I think it is cringe els when in Ganker board there is 'god of nogames and shitposters, etc.' and because of him esl exists.
>but also quite stupid when esl google translates from a phone (wtf? in a scenario like this the world would simply drown in shitpost nogames apocalypse, if its that easy to access the internet)
>so how do you guys do it differently or what are the best examples of not being a fricking idiot to ripoff?
>also what do you think about OP pissing into their own mouth, butt-hole (or worse...?) when they are starved for (you)s
>I think it is cringe reddit when
Holy shit, I've never dry-heaved as hard as I did reading that.
Ancient Elven wizards did it.
any idea for magic device that could keep "captured" werewolfes in their form ? im thinking a scenario where an antagonist kidnapped/enslaved some solitary werewolfs and forced them into fighting for him under the pretext that he's in possession of "the switch"
in my setting werewolves are just shapeshifted druids, the reason they despise vampyres is because those are stagnant perversions of nature, a dead being, feeding on life to perpetuate itself like cancer. druids and dryads are connected to the earth, and they can sense when an insidious vampyre is encroaching and influencing nature. they impact their connection and mysticism, so it's advantageous to slay them. like removing a blockage, a chakra that flows through the environment to them.
the opposite is true for vampyres. they cannot sense werewolves, the more natural they decay the more powerful they become in their stagnated climate.