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I find vampires to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "the hunger withing us all" that you want, at the end of the day vampires are pretty straightforward, just fast bats that are hard to kill.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on vampires in any of your games?

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I find zombies to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "the betrayal withing us all" that you want, at the end of the day zombies are pretty straightforward, just flesh eating people that are a lot to kill.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on zombies in any of your games?

>inb4 werediapers

I find fairies to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "alien among us" that you want, at the end of the day fairies are pretty straightforward, just aloof alien minded beings
that can do vague magical crap.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on fairies in any of your games?

>>33071832

What's your point? /tg/ has had tons of threads about how to reinvent vampires, often with some really interesting ideas. I'd like to have a similar discussion on werewolves.

There's no need to be an ass about it.

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I find ghosts to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "the grudges withing us all" that you want, at the end of the day ghosts are pretty straightforward, just intangable apperitions that are hard to kill.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on ghosts in any of your games?

>>33071959
Those threads are usually "girls like vampires too much, how can we make them too repulsive for girls to like them?" Same with elves.

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I find witches to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "the evil withing us all" that you want, at the end of the day witches are pretty straightforward, just magical women that are hard to kill.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on witches in any of your games?

watch the movie dog soldiers

>>33072036

Sometimes the threads are good, sometimes they're bad. I'm not interested in trying to make werewolves some disgusting, gnarly beast to counter the popularity of Twilight. I'm just curious if anybody has some good stories about alternate interpretations.

>>33071932
I read that as Wereraptors and am now disappointed that there's nothing like that.

>come into thread
>expect to take part in discussion
>nope

I'd like to take werewolves away from any philosophy or symbolism about virility or the beast within. Also, no more American Werewolf in London style painful physical transformations, more but more magical sloughing off of the skin into a more four legged, vicious creature like OPs pic.

>>33071959
Everything has been done. If you want something new be absolutely nonsensical but good luck on players wanting to play with you again.

>>33072056

Aren't they pretty typical werewolves in that movie? Big, tough, impossible to kill without silver, etc. Only unique thing I recall about the movie was that they were (to an extent) able to control where and when they tranformed.

>>33072036
You can't stop girls, or anyone, from liking something, though. I know for a fact there are tons of girls out there who like gross shit. Personally, I'd love to see vampires and elves who are disgusting yet sexy.

>>33072086

They do seem to have become very physical monsters, haven't they?

I mean, I've lost track of the number of times I've seen books or movies try to portray them as just biological anomalies as opposed to outright magical creatures. Even then, most writers seem to content themselves with just mixing up the usual cliches. You know, varying whether silver can hurt them, or if they are or aren't intelligent after transforming, or if they can control it, etc, etc. Just little aesthetic tweaks, for the most part.

>>33072080
It's not really an alternate interpenetration, but I always thought you could play werewolves as a The Thing style threat pretty easily if you made the main one just a little smarter while in wolf form.

Like "Oh, we found Jenkin's cloths all torn up in the woods. Does that mean Jenkins is a werewolf, or is the werewolf screwing with us?"

Not a game, but there's an urban fantasy series called Felix Castor. Premise is that the spirits of the human dead are coming back from the afterlife, either as ghosts, zombies or werewolves. Main character is an exorcist.

A ghost is just a spirit without a body. They're usually tied to a particular object or place. Poltergeists are just ghosts that didn't keep sane.

Zombies are what happens when a spirit takes over a human corpse. They're not strong enough to muscle in on a living human body, but they can animate bodies and bum around in them until the body decays so much that they can't operate it anymore.

Which leads to loup garous (though werewolf is used as a slang term, even though it's inaccurate) - a human spirit is just powerful enough to invade and take control of a living animal. This occupation causes the animal's body to grow/shrink and do a pretty good imitation of the invading spirit's original body. The resemblance isn't perfect, though, and there are usually signs of the original animal body present. Oh yeah, and eventually the spirit loses control and the body reverts.

I've only read three of the books, and my memory is shit, but the loup garous encountered so far are:
- a bull
- a collective of rats
- a collective of cats (this one was pretty cool, because the were was tailing the main character throughout the book by sending a cat after him
- a dog, I think

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>>33071790
Running a city campaign at the moment. Werepigeons are a growing epidemic amongst the smaller races in the more seedy neighborhoods and my players are stumped how to put a stop to it short of gathering a mob, burning down a section of the city, and shooting anything that tries to fly away.

>>33072086
My favorite transformation was the one from Van Helsing, where they just rip out of their human skin like it's a straight jacket and go to town.

>>33071790
Go take a look at some of the older stories.
In those WereWolves were Witches/Shaman/magicfuckwits who made deals with 'other' powers so that they could take on the shape of a wolf or other animal by wearing it's skin. If you do werewolves like this then it helps to change the focus from Brutal half manimal to something that's doing everything because it chooses to.

Alternatively there were stories about Werewolves who didn't actually know if they were WereWolves or not. Which does a nice job of ramping up paranoia as it could literally be anyone. Even yourself.

>>33072086

The infectious rage?

There's parallels between victims of violent abuse, and werewolves, as victims of such abuse have a higher chance of becoming abusers themselves. Not sure of why, though. Perhaps it's a psychological motivation to try and understand what was done to them, fixating on it instead of coming to peace with it.

It at once makes the creatures more monstrous and more tragic in this light: a victim now turned into beast themselves. It's not the "beast within us all", but the "beast that was very much forced upon us". It also opens up into a beastly duality: become the beast, and succumb to the violent urges, or fight and suppress them in the hopes of letting it go someday.

Personally, I'm really interested in seeing more done with the concept of werewolves as sorcerers.

After all, most medieval accounts depict werewolves as witches or sorcerers who, through ritual or some magic item, turned themselves into wolves to mess with their neighbors. Murdering people they don't like, killing their livestock, that sort of thing. The idea of a "curse" was fairly infrequent. When people got burned at the stake for being a werewolf they were often accused of witchcraft as well, especially in France.

This interests me because it throws in a few X-factors a writer can play with. Why does the sorcerer want this power? How does he use it? What is the source of the power? Does he have any abilities other than becoming a monstrous wolf? You get the idea.

>>33072175
I personally am more a fan of magic werewolves, but viciously so. The Dog Soldiers werewolves looked fucking cool, design-wise. Tall, thin and freaky.

I think a return to real folkloric werewolves would be great. Stuff like having fur under their skin if you cut them, wearing a belt to transform, weird folk tale stuff.

The simplest way to make a monster cool again is to go back to an older version.

Evil witches who made pacts with the devil, with various powers including transforming into a wolf and controlling wolves.

Werewolves should be less about the monster form and more about the person. Like supernatural serial killers. Don't let the PCs get into a slugging match with a werewolf. Have it murder it's target, then use it's wolf form to get the fuck away and then transform to blend in. Investigation rather than combat, themes of paranoia and accusation. Have one of the PCs framed as a werewolf.

Think of the werewolf less as a dude who can change into a monster and more as a monster who can disguise itself as a dude. Make the shapechanging actually important.

As a bit of a twist on the classic, have the werewolf not change it's shape, but instead possess an animal through psychic projection or whatever. It's a wolf driven by human intellect and maybe buffed up a bit with magic, but the key point is that killing the wolf doesn't stop the werewolf. It just gets another wolf.

>>33072233

I have thought the idea of more strongly connecting werewolves to the undead has potential.

When I was a kid I misunderstood werewolves. I didn't get that they just bit you and then you became a werewolf, ala zombies or vampires. I thought a werewolf had to kill and devour you, and then you came back from the dead as a werewolf.

>>33072240
THAT

I LOVE THAT.

Nowhere near a stellar movie, but I like out and fuck everyone else.

>>33072311

It's worth noting that most werewolf myths and folktales seem to depict a person who just turns into a wolf. Not a particularly big wolf, and not a horrible wolf-human hybrid, just a wolf. One wolf, without a pack, was not a particularly huge threat even in the middle ages. It's what the werewolf chose to do with this ability that was sinister. You could get away with a lot if the locals just blamed things on animal attacks, and not on you.

>>33072335
But if you were devoured, how would you come back from the dead?

>>33072302

Have you ever seen the movie "The Company of Wolves" where the werewolf sheds the human skin by crawling out through the mouth? That was pretty freaky.

>>33072311
>As a bit of a twist on the classic, have the werewolf not change it's shape, but instead possess an animal through psychic projection or whatever. It's a wolf driven by human intellect and maybe buffed up a bit with magic, but the key point is that killing the wolf doesn't stop the werewolf. It just gets another wolf.

This I like, because this part in Witches Abroad where a Fairy Godmother changes a wolfs head to get it to play out the Little Red Riding Hood story and it shows just how badly putting these human thought into its head has hurt the animal. So you make the wolf into another victim of the werewolf.

>>33072399
From it's poop, anon. All animals poop.

>>33072399

I'm not sure what I thought was going on at the time. I guess I assumed werewolves were a sort of revenant. Some time after the werewolf ate you your remains would reform into this shadowy wolf-monster form. You could still re-assume your old human shape but you'd be... changed. Not that you'd necessarily look like a zombie or anything, but you'd be different. Certain tells, changes in personality and behavior, etc.

>>33072036
>Same with elves
I really like Jersey Shore elves that are better than you not by much but are prepared to make a huge deal out of it. Everyone else agrees with them, because that's what riles up the neckbeards and dorffags.

There's an odd belief from Albania that the only way to kill a vampire was by having wolves eat its legs off. And in Bulgaria the way to destroy an ustrel, a baby vampire, was to leave it at the crossroads for wolves to devour.

I like the idea of a werewolf-sorcerer who wanders from village to village, selling his services as a vampire hunter. People pay him some money, he turns into a big wolf, and goes to hunt down the vampire and kill it. Then he moves on to the next village. Of course, sometimes the vampire hunting business is slow, so then he just uses his wolf form to steal livestock.

Kind of an amoral character that the villagers don't really like but they put up with him because he's useful from time to time.

>>33072616
No. Don't do this. Don't make vampires and werewolves rivals. It's far too played out. Goddammit, this isn't fucking Twilight.

>>33072240
>>33072346
That was a fantastic movie. The directors said they wanted vampires and werewolves to look like rockstars for the final fight and they definitely succeeded. The action and art direction were pretty great. The girls were all sexy as hell and the support roles for both sides were funny without being obnoxious.

All in all, it aimed to be a lowbrow movie and turned out fantastically given the brief.

>>33072645

Eh, it was just a thought. I mean, the two traditions ARE connected in the folklore. Mainly because it was thought that witches/sorcerers were likely to become vampires in death, and that being a werewolf was witchcraft. So you could have a witch who was also a werewolf and who became a vampire.

I just thought the weird wolves = anti-vampire weapons from a few Eastern European countries was interesting.

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>>33071790
I don't really want any gimmicky "unique" werewolves, I prefer the standard. I love the idea of someone waking up in the middle of a field, not even remembering when they feel asleep. They try to move and their ribs are broken. Thye know it happened again, can they go home? Did anyone see? That sort of fear they constantly live with makes for a compelling monster to me, always worried about the change, terrified they'll eat a love one or gore their own son. And when they change, the other side of Werewolves I like is just plain how fucking cool they are. A massive Ape-Wolf with the strength to uproot a tree. You just cannot escape it, it will catch you and it will pull you apart and it will not be gentle. You'll be a fucking mess on the ground and chunky sheets hanging from low tree branches when it's done, or werewolves battling each other for dominance.

I guess it sound huuurr edgy or whatever, but it's just a pure savage animal. It's only sad when human, when it's a beast it doesn't muse or smirk with smug one liners, it just devours. Werewolves are so hard ass, a great balance of violence and guilt to make Werewolves interesting to me. Plus they remind me of Halloween.

Nothing needs to be changed. That's just how a Werewolf should be. If you need anything different OP, just find a new monster.

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>>33071790
Not a werewolf specifically, but a nice little tale about Lycanthropy that some of you might not be familiar with.

>>33072886
It helps that a werewolf is one of the scariest monsters I can think of. In human form, being near one is like the tension of being around a murderer. You freeze, keep your head low, and walk on eggshells. And when it's a beast, welp. You can't outrun it. YOu can't wriggle away if it pins you. I sorta mentally associate them with being attacked by a hyper-fast bear, and I am terrified of bears, so werewolves have always rung on that note for me.

>>33072892
>were-lion
So basically, what would happen if Ajani and Garruk had a baby?

>>33071832
I know it's a bad joke, but vampires have some variety to them. People like to bitch about Twilight vampires not being vampires, but the fact is that almost every single work that uses vampires puts a different spin on them. Hell, the vampires in Dracula are radically different to the vampires in Nosferatu, which was directly based on Dracula.

Werewolves are much more homogenous. They're just big, mindless wolves that eat people. The only exceptions I can think of are the WoD werewolves.

>>33073850
Oh, and Twilight. And Underworld. Sort of defeating my own point here.

I have a campaign world where Werewolves are not men at all, but wolves who have eaten enough manflesh that they can take forms of men. Wolves are also physical manifestations of spirits of fear.

>>33074311
And hunger, spirits of fear and hunger.

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The werewolves in this are pretty good. You'd have to read it to get kind of the bigger picture, as they are agents of the Iconnu and shit like that, but it works.

Werewolves here aren't really wolves, they are bestial monsters that our brain kind of recognizes as wolves. They were originally savage spirits from some other plane of existence, brought here when the Iconnu(Basically Old Gods) entered our reality and were fought off. The Iconnu took a whole bunch of those spirits and threw them into regular people, who were subsumed by these spirits.
The werewolves can transform into bestial killing machines, but that's just about it. The In-Character portion of the info about werewolves notes that we are lucky we have some concept of bestial monsters that change shape from man to beast, because otherwise we would be fucked.

>>33072197
Funny enough, that's pretty much the fluff behind the game Werewolf.

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I find nazis to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "Not one of us" that you want, at the end of the day nazis are pretty straightforward, just big beasts that are hard to kill.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on nazis in any of your games?

>>33071913
hello parsee. How's things?

>>33071790
thanks for the pic, it's a great reference for the tattoo I want to get

>>33072233
Felix Castor is a Mike Carey series, isn't it? A friend of mine was a fan, I think I still have The Devil You Know.

Dresden Files also manages to cover basically every classic variation on the werewolf in Fool Moon, from men who become wolves through magic, to men possessed by the spirit of wolves, to wolves that become humans, and also the classic loup garou.

>>33072254
the adventure time episode 'hugwolf' actually does a pretty good job of this.

>>33072945
Goddamnit I do not want to plqy an Ajani/Garruk BFF deck....yes I do

>>33071790
Theres always the old style loup garou who turned into a wolf monster who drank blood and flew around on a giant bat. And had a crippling fear of frogs.

>>33075789
And also did magic.

>>33072482
That actually sounds sort of cool.

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I find spartoi to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "the skeleton within us all" that you want, at the end of the day spartoi are pretty straightforward, just big warriors that have a bone to pick with you.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on skeletons in any of your games?

>>33077975

It'd at least be very convenient for when you want werewolves to be in your undead faction but can't quite figure out why they'd work together.

>>33072482
So, what, do they eat your soul when they eat you?

>>33078024
Simpliest way that no one uses is to take a skeleton that's not a human and use it as an enemy. It's a great way for bringing in an orge or a griffiin in a place where there wouldn't be orges or griffins - it just died a long time ago and was reanimated.

A potentially mindfuckery way is to not have the bones come back together in a traditional human shape. Have the ribs shift around and form claws on the forearms, which shift lower on the torso as the shoulderblades come around to form armoring for the hips, which have been pulled forward as the legs have become another set of claw arms - the whole body floats in an awkward hunched position, nothing but bone claws and ragged armor.

It's held together by MAGIC - why do our normal rules for how they come together apply?

>>33078282

I dunno, I never figured out the rules.

Still, my guess is no. You're still you, just an altered version of you. It's no different then stories where a person's soul remains in a vampire, but the vampire still becomes a monster.

>>33078391

I'm pretty sure the anon you're replying to was just being a sarcastic dick.

>>33071790

The Dresden Files and the Anita Blake series both had, like, 5 different takes on "werewolf". In the Dresden Series, it's usually just people who can only do one spell. In the Anita Blake series, it's a magic virus that is easily transmissable via claws and bites, with wererats and werewolves being the most infectious, to everything else either being a curse or hereditary or just extremely difficult to contract.

They both also had the whole "wearing the skin" thing, and actual curses being another thing. I don't think the Dresden Files had the viral-based infection angle.

Point is, you can have everything, and if you write it carefully, it won't detract them or make them any less of a threat-just keep the "humans are generally weaker/powerless" angle and play it up if your players think they can just take them on.

What if Romanesque empire ruled by vampires and barbarian Germanic werewolf tribes fucking around in the woods?

>>33078436
>vampires vs werewolves

A little old hat. What if the Romanesque empire was ruled by Strixes? Now then you'd have something.

>>33078457

The werewolves are the underdogs hurhur

>>33078391
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhQhBzXMIJM
>not in a traditional human shape

>>33078457
But in this case the werwolves are in a bunch of disunited tribes, some of whom work for the vampires, some of whom fight the vampires and the vampire allied werewolves, and some of whom dont give a fuck either way about the vampires. And all the werewolves fight each other too cause barbarians

>>33078500

I dunno, man. I think you need to spice it up.

>>33078500

But, like, a million other fantasies already do that. And the vampires are always suave and elegant, and destroyed from within by political turmoil. ALWAYS.

>>33071832
>>33071913
>>33071938
>>33072007
The problem with all these comparisons is that werewolves really are just big beasts that are hard to kill, there isn't really anything inherently magical about them they're just a big wolf that's maybe a bit harder to kill. There's also the shapechanging but what they're in wolf form they're just that; a wolf. Boring.

>>33078578

There's other stories that give them their own spirit-magic that makes them druids.

And not to mention the werewolves that are witches that can do other things.

>>33078578

>Werewolves

>there isn't really anything inherently magical about them

>>33078578
>Wolves aren't inherently magical
I'm pretty sure "wolves are magic" is one of the basic elements of indo-european culture, along with "the sun is just God's mega sweet ride" and "the patriarchy"

>>33072082

>Wereraptors

Someone fund this

One thing about werewolves is that these days in any media that you see them the first change to the old myths is removing the restriction of only changing during full moon.

Mostly because it makes them harmless for most of the time. In an rpg people would not like a character class that can only kick ass on certain days and is a regular human for the rest of the time.

Likewise if the werewolf is an opponent making it dormant for a few weeks between the attacks is not seen as a threatening enough.

Though I wonder if the immunity to non-silver weapons remains even when there is no full moon. Or maybe the werewolf heals from the lethal injuries during the next full moon?

>Part of this is because they've been done so many times
>It's hard to be original with such a popular concept
I'd say it's because the concept in itself is rather limiting. Vampire for example can be applied in more varied ways while still being recognized as vampires and generally are allowed more "character". The werewolf character is also more dull in a sense that usually the human-form has no particular powers or urges and the monster form is generally a mindless wolfbearthing without personality.

>>33078646
>I'm pretty sure "wolves are magic" is one of the basic elements of indo-european culture, along with "the sun is just God's mega sweet ride" and "the patriarchy"
>"the patriarchy"

But that's not specific to indo-european culture at all.

>>33078617
I specifically said aside from the whole shape changing thing. Basic werewolf it's just a wolf when it's in wolf form and just some dude when in human form. I repeat: boring.

>>33078816
Eh, I thought it was funnier than "catchphrases"

>>33078816
>it's just a wolf
>it's just some dude

I scoff at you again!

>>33078743
There are several depictions of werewolves that retain their intellegence when in wolf/hybrid form. (I suppose you can argue wether this makes them a more generic monster and takes them away from the original myth. Similar changes have been done to vampires as well. Sometimes they don't NEED to drink blood. Sometimes daylight, garlic and other such things do not work on vampires. In fact, it seems like whenever I watch a vampire movie these days the first thing they need to do is to remove most of the weaknesses because "otherwise it isn't scary enough" or something.)

And usually they can change at any given time, so being a "normal human" when in human form is not such a problem. In fact, it just means that when using its powers the werewolf must reveal its monstrous side. Which can be seen as symbolic.

A vampire commonly (in recent media) can blend in and be more subtle even when using its powers thus being the more devious monster that hides among its prey. Not that the werewolf couldn't hide but unless the vampire is caught before it can wipe the blood from its mouth it can blend back in. The werewolf is more likely to have its clothes torn by the transformation (unless the clothes magically repair themselves or something) and often covered in blood. Again, thus revealing that it is a monster and being forced to flee.

>itt people who don't realize how fucking terrifying even a normal a wolf can be

Bunch of coddled milkdrinkers that never spent even a single night in wolf country.

>>33078892
I thought wolves were scared of people?

>>33078980

Back in the day they weren't. In Europe, they were used to humans.

>>33078980
It depends on how hungry they are and if they're in a pack.

>>33072056

>U wanna 'ave a go, m8?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JI_Jfw22To

>>33072109

At least there's more emphasis on pack behavior. Because really, wolves are pack creatures

>>33079082

You know they have the full movie on youtube, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fiy4A3sbd4

>>33078980
American wolves are faggots.

European wolves are FUCKING VICIOUS

>>33079246

It's true, American Wolves are actually tameable.

>>33078892
Single wolves aren't terrifying. It's the fact that, while your watching the one coming at you from the front, there's two more about to spring from behind.

I tried to change lycanthropy up in my homebrew setting. It may not be great, but I daresay it's original:
There was an ancient species of myr (the species group that includes elves, goblins, orc, and dwarves, among others) called Weremyr. They have no known biological descendants, and are only notable in that they are the only race known to be able to shapeshift without the use of a spell, enchantment, or demonic meddling. Basically, magic-users can use their blood to create Lycan, the most common variety of which is a Werewolf, though one may theoretically create a Lycan based of of any animal. Weremyr blood is combined with the blood of the chosen animal to create the desired strain of lycanthropy. 'Werewolf' is the generic term for someone possessing some form of canine lycanthropy, from Jackals to Direwolves to Cerberi. After the initial transformation (a six-hour rampage of blood-letting) the Lycan can more or less control it's ability, though it begins to transform if it behaves in a way associated with the related animal. When in control, the Lycan only need transform bits at once; in the werewolf's case, maybe only fangs, claws or fur at any time. Full, uncontrolable transformation only happens at certain times (blood moons for werewolves, solar eclipses for weredrakes, etc.). At this point, the Lycan goes into an uncontrollable rampage closer to the traditional werewolf depictions. Eventually, most Lycans lose their fight and become vile perversions of the beings they once were, being as much beast as they are [insert race].

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>>33071790
DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT WEREWOLVES SON

>>33071790
Well I have seen timber wolves, not quite werewolves, but wooden constructs, that turn tings the bite into wooden constructs, and can absorb/ reform from wood and other Timber wolves. Can phase taught woods and reform and stuff.
Pretty weak outside the forest, but you really don't want to go in forest with them.

>>33078816
things have to have magic to be interesting?

simple idea for a werewolf plot:
>have werewolf hunter
>best in the business
>but he has a secret
>occasionally wakes up naked in the middle of nowhere covered in blood
>eventually comes to accept that he too is a werewolf
>still goes around killing other werewolves, intending to kill himself after the rest are dead
>blah blah blah love story
>woman is with him when he goes into one of his episodes
>wakes up naked and bloody, goes to her
>he's not a werewolf, he's actually several midgets in a suit

>>33078816
Where the fuck do you chem-geld fuckers come from? Can you not put a hint of imagination into things you hear or read?

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>>33071790
I got a concept for a good werewolf story.

There's this village in the woods where people are turning up dead. A group of people go out to find and kill whatever the fuck it is, and shoot a rabid bear or something. Bears get rabies right? Whatever, it's big and scary and it eats people. Killings don't stop. They go out again, and the werewolf starts to go Predator on them. But, you never really see it too much. It's just these glowing eyes in the dark. You finally kill it, and all you find is a man. No, it's not the fucking priest or some good hearted man. It's a fucking guy you don't even know.

There's no bullshit about the beast in man. There's no grey morality. It's a fucking monster from hell. You're just some guy in the woods. It's dark. There's something hunting you. Have you ever been in the woods at night? Shit's scary. It sells itself. It's primal.

But, no, they always have to make monsters something you can relate to. Something you can intellectualize -or sexualize, as seems to be the case lately. We always need a spin on it. I can understand if Alfred Hitchcock decides to put a spin on something, but most people need to at least master the art of horror before adding their own little bullshit ideas in there.

It's not the monster. It's the story. It's the guy making it thinking with the clever part of his brain and not that little ball of animal part that's terrified of the dark and big, scary predators with fangs.

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Currently running a campaign with werewolves in. They're basically the worst parts of human and wolf nature rolled in to one- greed, bestial hunger, pride, violence and rage. They're predators with the intelligence of humans and the morality of a wolf. Animals don't give a shit about good or evil, only their desires, and so do the werewolves. Backed with human intelligence and the body of a 7 foot tall killing machine, they're pretty nasty foes.

>>33072602

You think the situation is better than me (not by much)???

I have a fucking college degree in Japanese and east asian economics dude!

Recently made myself a Were-Wolverine in 3.5e. I'm pretty pleased with him and means I'm not stuck with the chaotic evil alignment restriction faggotry.

Not reading the rest of this thread, but here's an idea:

When a person infected with lycanthropy dies, their body quickly begins to bloat and turn into something resembling a large, fleshy egg. Shortly thereafter, a werewolf bursts forth from this egg (likely devouring it for nourishment) and goes on its feral hunt.

Now, should someone kill the werewolf, it too begins to quickly bloat and rot, with a dazed (possibly amnesiac?) human clawing its way out of the resulting mess of skin and fur.

And you can rule that a werewolf only dies when shot by a silver bullet, decapitated, or whatever you want to truly kill it once and for all.

>>33078699
Increasing numbers of yuan-ti in isolated colonies are becoming werecrocodiles or werelizards. Yuan-ti legends even speak of weredinosaurs.

>>33083272
Sorry but that's fucking awesome

>>33083285

You have no idea what Yuan-Ti are do you?It's a generic lizard race for DnD

>>33083395
Aren't they more snakes? No I was just marvelling in the fluff concerning reptilian lycanthropes. This is the first instance I've heard of Were-Dinosaurs though, is this from Serpent Kingdoms or somewhere else?

>>33083395
Uh, no, not generic at all. You're thinking lizard men.

>>33083395
No they're not. They're snake-men with glorious past, nefarious plans for world domination, and all kinds of half-breed abominations running around.

>>33072236
>pigeons
>More seedy part of neighborhood

I see what you did there.

>>33083454
>glorious past
for example the Ghostwalk stuff is amazing

>>33083442
It's OC from my campaign.

I doubt it was the first to use it, but to expand werewolves to werecreatures like in Dwarf Fortress makes it a bit more intresting.
You just gotta love weregoats and weresnails,

>>33083504
Fair enough. My compliments on your fluff.

>>33071790
Well, my take on werewolves is that they are the manifestation of the animalistic qualities of a persons soul made manifest. In this vein, many were creatures exist in my settings, and are a form of tribal magic rather then a curse. There are of course evil shamans who can force the change, causing a more bestial manifestation, with the creature being more beast then man. Those who discover/cause the transformation themselves however are more akin to humans with advantageous animal traits. Hmmmm, I suppose a great example would be Udyrs spirit guard whatever skin for League. Where he grows a shell in turtle form, and claws and whatnot in bear form. So basically in my campaign setting, were creatures are tribal humans who've "tamed" or "accepted" the beast within themselves to draw strength from it or "given in" and been "consumed" by the beast within. To note even if you are forced to confront your beast by an evil shaman you can still retain your humanity by accepting it or overthrowing it. There are also 4 stages of how bestial you become based on how you dealt with it.

>>33078729

Most of the old myths don't involve moon transformations or silver at all. The stuff didn't become a major part of the werewolf tradition until Lon Chaney Jr came along.

>>33071790
The werewolves are actually skinwalkers and the light of the moon forces them out of their skinsuit, making them have to make a new one.

>>33082978
Kyoht art.

>>33083532
Thank you. Please do steal it!

Just forget about fluff, make the crunch count. If you want to make werewolves good, make them a nightmare to take on. Of course they're gonna be underwhelming in a high-fantasy setting where gigantic things with spellcasting powers fly around, but if you put a werewolf in a low-fantasy countryside, where not ever barkeep sells a silver sword, you could make it a legitimate threat to the players and the NPCs.

Ramp up their immunity to everything but silver, and make their attacks actually hurt. Make the players prepare for every full moon, plan ahead, and get scared shitless when it comes.

>>33085189

The crunch rarely makes a monster more exciting or interesting, it just makes it more of a pain in the ass to beat.

>>33078421
Dresden Files had
>true werewolves, which were people who had learned how to transform themselves into dire wolves with magic
>hexenwolves, who were using an enchanted wolfskin item to transform into humanoid wolves (in this case, wolfskin belts)
>loup garou, who were bitten or scratched by a loup garou and were cursed, just as they were, to turn in a terrifying wolf-like demon (this is the infection)
>wolfwere, which was a wolf who had figured out how to turn into a human

>>33078699
Diego Brando and Scary Monster might have something to say about that

>>33072254
Werewolves are the patterns of abuse, vampires are sexual predators. What about other monsters?

>>33085823

Anita Blake has:

Lycanthropes, which are infectious to varying degrees. They are stonger and faster than humans in human form, and staying in animal form too long gives them more animal qualities. They start with no control and later can shapeshift whenever, but suffer an 8 hour coma between shifts.

Witches who skin lycanthropes and wear them in a magical ritual that gives them everything but the ability to infect others.

And witches who can curse a bloodline with non-communicable lycanthropy, the advantages and disadvantages varying depending on the curse.

And depending on the lycanthrope, they have sphamanic magic.

>>33086668
And fuck, DF has more than one kind of skinwalker too. The "shapeshifting human" type, which is Injun Joe, and the "2evil4world" type, which is the naagloshii

>>33071790

Sang-Froid did a fantastic take on this; namely that werewolves were the souls of sinners that left their bodies when they slept at night and entered into the bodies of wolves. This causes them to take on a human shape.

>>33086753

I think the best thing about the Anita Blake series was the Lycanthropes and their interactions with eachother and humanity.

They are "known" to the world, so to speak, but being infected has this stigma attached, so you get fired, lose your kids in a divorce, etc if you get found out.

That, and when you do get bit, you have a handler assist you in understanding the ins and outs of lycanthrope society. It's weird.

But it is the only series that made me excited about werewolves.

>>33086411

Vampires can also be seen as malevolent aristocracy. They literally feed off of the poor, downtrodden folk who are too fearful to defend themselves. This kind of vampire became popular during time of economic depression, because scenes of obscene wealth, power, and luxury often go hand-in-hand, and are always at the expense of the downtrodden poor folks.

Of course even further back, vampires were considered to be a pestilence, an ugly, sickly kind of evil that sucked the life from health individuals to sustain itself.

No idea what other monsters are with analogs to human behavior, but I love the idea that they're anthropomorphized expressions of human emotion and disorder. It adds that much more depth to the monster itself, rather than simply being a staple monster with X powers and X abilities and X weaknesses for the heroes to take down. It also bring fairytale back into the real of the self, that the adventure and journey is a metaphor for an inward journey to conquer one's inner demons. The external monster tends to lose some of its meaning, and becomes yet another piñata to hit so EXP falls out.

For myself there should be some sort of conflict between new werewolves and old primitive werewolves.

Didn't you notice how werewolves are being "vampirized"? organizations, clans, rules, secret societies... I wish I could see an old primitive werewolf see the new world and feel disgusted with the new werewolves.

Also, the difference between old and new werewolves is like the difference between wolves and dogs (in size, aggressiveness, etc).

One scene for example could be when a primitive werewolf meet a pack of new werewolves and the leader challenges him to some sort of combat by trial full of rules and all that, then the primitive wolf just rips off his throat making the rest of the group feel grossed out and scared of the beast.

So, basically, I want werewolves to represent actual chaos and anarchy, something really wild.

>>33087041

Yea, but you forget that the majority of the time, werewolves are in human form. It's cool that being a smelly hermit gives you powers, bro, but no thanks.

>>33086974
Zombies could be the fear of a man who was not a man - a mindless husk, worse than an animal, because at least an animal can be dissauded by pain. Basically that what you are looking at may look human, but isn't. Uncanny valley and shit.

Its not revolutionary,but Discworld has "pureblood" Werewolves as part of the old aristocracy of Uberwald (lovecraftvania). Not contageous, turn from human to wolf in a matter of seconds, stuck in wolf form during full moon, regenerate from nearly anything that isn't fire or silver. They're not humans. They're werewolves. They're not wolves. They're werewolves.

They're the cruder "sportsman" sort of nobility, as opposed to the classier uber-steriotypical vampires.

Oh, neat side thing: werewolves are occasionally born as Yennorks, where their "switch" is stuck on one or the other. Typically Yennorks were killed in the old days, or they'd go live among humans or wolves, as the case may be. That's where you get all the other sorts of werewolves; humans who progress from human to wolfman during full moon, or just need to shave twice a day, and uncannily-intelligent wolves. That's where the fairy-tale monsters come from.

There was also one example of a wolf who humans-out during full moon.

Apart from that, they're just people.

>>33087085
Well, that's basically the point I was thinking. Primitive werewolves are hobos or hermits, feeling disgusted by the ones wearing all black and hanging out in clubs.

I also I don't like the multiple personality most media takes on werewolves. In my personal taste, I prefer when the werewolf is aware of everything even when transformed, almost like if he was drugged and full of hormonal reactions.

>>33086974
I remember some cracked article about how conservatives fear vampires and liberals fear zombies.

Vampires are decadent parasites who courrupt people with sex and decadence. The people who fight them are crazy-prepared practical manly men who beleive in god.

Zombies are a horde of shambling braindead idiots who mindlessly consume all in their path. The people who fight them are regular folks stuck dealing with a shitty situation who have to use their brains to outwit the horde.

>My own take:
Which is funny, because the new sort of conservatives now like zombies because it feeds their post-apocalyptic libertarian survivalist fetish, whereas vampires are now an ancient parasitic 1% elite feeding off and fucking over everyone else. Also, they reproduce swiftly like zombies. (see The Strain)

>>33087208
Discworld's thing has werewolves who spend too much time as wolves start to...get dumb. Its like being drunk. They're still the same person, but they're thinking with a wolf's brain. It can get so bad that even in human form they still act like retards.

One example was a baron who's proposed reaction to unexpected visitors was "bite 'em." Very hard-of-thinking.

>>33072111
Looking for some freaky Tzimisce?

>>33087098

Could be more like >>33087233, being swept up by the horde, or the group. To have oneself lose individual identity and become a part of the mindless mob.

Perhaps it's also of persecution against the survivor. Everyone is out to get you, to destroy you, with absolute, irrational zeal. Your friends and loved ones also turn against you, familiar faces among the teeming, hateful masses turned against you simply for being... different from them.

Wow, that is kind of a weird persecution thing. You're the minority who haven't "conformed" to undeath, and are relentlessly hunted for being alive. Those that are captured or infected are forcibly turned, and some would better take their own lives against the tide than become one. Society and infrastructure crumble because the mob is focusing exclusively on a single issue, for seemingly no purpose other than its complete and pointless eradication. Every single minute of existence in this world is fraught with danger, usually through being discovered. Sometimes you can fake it just long enough to get through, but if you're found out, suddenly everyone is your enemy. You can make camp and hang out, but left in one place, you stagnate and die a slower, more agonizing death than by your own hand or that of the mob. Relative safety comes in the form of small communities far away, though sometimes the protective walls fall down and the survivors are left to the merciless hands of the mob.

I suddenly have a whole lot more respect for the zombie genre, even though I don't like zombie as much, because it's essentially putting you in a position of irrational persecution: just replace survivors with, I don't know, homosexuals, and zombies with conservatives (trying not to be too /pol/ here), and it works as a great analogy.

>>33072602
I'd rather just have Jersey Shore elves, that sounds hilarious

>>33087233
Well, "liberal" and "conservative" are temporary labels. If liberals became the absolute dominant establishment and tried to keep it that way, they would in fact be conservatives

>>33087521

Wow, it gets better. The only way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brain, as they'll keep fighting you until you destroy that part of them.

You can change the mind of an individual, but it's done relatively nothing to change the oppression by the undead in general. And you can only keep fighting so long as you have weapons and energy to fight them.

>>33087233
In both situations, a redneck with a ton of guns could be pretty useful

>>33087742
Or you could just tell the zombies to check their undead privilege, that should work

>>33087733

In a literal sense. Is it not possible that it's taken on its own colloquial meaning as a shorthand for opinion and stances on various issues?

A liberal in political America tends to hold one stance on, say Gay Marriage or gun rights or abortion, while a conservative generally holds the opposing view (though not all on either side).

I doubt these would switch when one becomes the majority or minority, and given how back-and-forth Congress and the Presidency have been in the past few presidencies while the definitions have not generally changed but only became for polarized, I would say that the evidence is against your definition.

>>33087521
Come on, you never thought of that?

The zombie apocalypse is the dream scenario for every speshul snowflake edgelord, shut-in, and social outcast.

You've never felt alone in a crowd? You've never been to a mall and watched the lard-filled meat tubes waddle about? You've never felt cut off from society by your intelligence, unable to engage in all the things that other people seem to do as easily as breathing?

Well, it turns out that that scary outer world has fallen apart, and you, because of your self-sufficiency, love of crowbars, and RPG-instilled larcenous impulses, are as perfectly equipped to survive in this new world as you were ill-equipped for the old one. (see: Zombieland).

>>33086974

That's more of a modern interpretation, though. Before Victorian literature changed them dramatically, most vampires were seen as members of the peasant class themselves.

>>33087233
>>33087754
So to maintain the analogy, rednecks fear Frankensteins.

>>33087870
>A liberal in political America right now tends to hold one stance on, say Gay Marriage or gun rights or abortion, while a conservative right now generally holds the opposing view (though not all on either side).
Fixed.
>In a literal sense. Is it not possible that it's taken on its own colloquial meaning as a shorthand for opinion and stances on various issues?
Of course.
>I doubt these would switch when one becomes the majority or minority, and given how back-and-forth Congress and the Presidency have been in the past few presidencies while the definitions have not generally changed but only became for polarized, I would say that the evidence is against your definition.
It would require the average person to care about the meaning of the words "liberal" and "conservative

>>33087965
Nah, that would be any zealot. They believe that their thing (and theirs alone) has all the answers.
A patchwork man, on the other hand, is actually far stronger than the average person, and is cobbled together from the pieces of various dead people - it's a person who comes off as non-committal because they say they believe in everything and they're tolerant of everything, but they actually believe in none of it, and mostly just worship their own self-righteousness.

>>33087961
Well, the modern interpretation
>>33087965
I feel like that's another topic, and goes into the whole anti-science thing. Frankenstein doesn't represent some sort of actual threat.

But you did remind me of This Book is Full of Spiders, where a character sums up that there are two types of monsters: Breeders, and Non-breeders. Vampires and zombies are breeders. Frankenstein is an example of a non-breeder. He's tragic and dangerous, but at the end of the day, he's just one monster; his threat is immediate and personal. If you run away from him, he doesn't hide under a rock and start spawning more frankensteins. You need to find out what kind of monster a new critter is as quickly as possible..

>>33087791

Heh. As in real life, bitterness and anger against society are just about as effective as they'd be against zombies.

Of course, one aspect not seen in much zombie media is the fact that the walking corpses will eventually decay and cease to be. As is true of societal moods, these might eventually fade away that the survivors might once again live free.

>>33087934

The interpretation deepens!

>>33087980
Question, where you pointing out that as soon as liberals get what they want they inherently become conservatives? or was that a pointless dig at liberals?

>>33088056
>Frankenstein doesn't represent some sort of actual threat.
Brutally strong, reckless, unintelligent brute.

>>33088039

The original Frankenstein monster was pretty tragic. Abused as a creation, he eventually hid and taught himself to read and become educated. He enlightened himself, to become a better person, but even when he returned, gifted with intelligence and philosophy, he was still rejected by his father and the townspeople as a monster.

It's less that Frankenstein's monster was a monster, and more that humans were too small-minded, prejudiced, and monstrous to accept him.

Then the movie versions turn him into a monster as some kind of "me am go to far!" anti-scientific, pro-"God is the only one who makes life around here!", though they stay faithful to the interpretation that his monstrous qualities were, although inherent, not helped by his constant neglect and abuse.

>>33088086
Neither, I was just pointing out the fact that "conservative", when stripped of modern connotations, just means "someone who is inclined to maintain the status quo", "liberal" means "someone who is inclined to change the status quo" and the status quo is just however things are right now. The Empire were the conservatives, and the Rebellion were liberals. When the Rebellion set up the New Republic, they became the new conservatives, and people like Thrackan Sal Solo became the new liberals.
>>33088056
>>33088149
>frankenstein's monster
>unintelligent
>reckless
Holy shit are you people retarded, or have you never read the book?
>>33088062
Also, zombies, werewolves and vampires share a common element of evil: they cannot make their own progeny, but steal something good and twist it into one of them.

>>33088210
>Holy shit are you people retarded, or have you never read the book?
We're talking in the context of rednecks.

>>33073850
>big
And the werewolves that only become normal sized wolves?
>mindless
And all the werewolves that retain their mind, or remain intelligent but overwhelmed with bloodlust?
>wolves
Were-X where X is not wolf?
>that eat people
Werewolves that don't hunt humans?

These are all used in fiction.

>>33088062
Now, lets compare the Outcast Nerds and the Survivalists. They both look at the modern world and retreat from it. The nerd feels an inability to connect that turns into generalized apathy and a bit of fear. They're not being "allowed in," and aren't really sure they want to be allowed in anyways. There seem to be these mythical "happy people" somewhere, but all they personally see is waddling meat-tubes and cast-out loners.

Survivalists are all about displacement and disdain. They see XYZ things about society and it disgusts them; gays, socialized medicine, big 'gubment, whatever. They refuse to invest in a structure that any sane person can see is crumbling. So they fantasize about the collapse and how right they'll turn out to be. They already see the world as overrun with extraneous subhuman parasites (blacks, people on wellfare, intellectuals).

>>33088149
Frankenstein is strong, but he's also intelligent, and was only made a monster by the mistreatment of a cruel world. He's only reckless because life has given him very little to lose.

The whole point of Frankenstein is that man is the real monster.

>>33088260
>The whole point of Frankenstein is that man is the real monster.
Shelley must have walked through the Scary Door

>>33088260

I suppose this is why I'm not a fan of zombies. I can't relate to either of these interpretations, though I know people that do love the genre, and I can definitely see these forms of opinions in them.

>>33088260
>that man is the real monster.

But not really "man" in general, so much as Dr. Frankenstein himself.

>>33088344
Maybe it's the fear of scientific study unchecked by morality, doing something simply because it can. Aperture Science.

>>33087135
I like Discworld wearwolves because they act like dogs, under the logic that a dog is what you get when you combine human and wolf.

My favorite types of werewolves are ones who either don't know they're a werewolf or know it but have no control over what they do once they've transformed and have to witness it. It's the type of thing that I can't imagine working well on the tabletop unless its a relatively small group or if the group is hunting the werewolf.

>>33088344

Well, it portrays man in general as being shallow and judging books by covers rather than being out-and-out monstrous.

>>33071790
Something tells me that werewolves would be more interesting if wolf packs were still a legit way to die.

>>33088210
Yes, thank you, captain pedantry. Why don't we just say Republicans and Democrats, then? Or left and right?

Every side says it wants "change" now, because its obvious that shit's fucked. Its just that "liberals" advance policies they think will actually change things for the better (emphasis on think), while conservatives advance policies that they think will change things back to the way they think that things used to be (said policies are sometimes "planted" by, and further the goals of the hidden plutocrat masters like the Koch brothers.)

/pseudo-sarcasm.

>>33088320
You're on 4chan and can't relate to the first interpretation? Gee, you life must be going super-swell.

>>33088344
And other people. Dr. Frankenstein is a stand-in for man. The same people who like zombies also probably empathize with the Monster, because he's thrown into a world that has no place in it for him. People expect things of him (like not being hideous or having bolts in your neck) that he literally can't do, and then treat him like shit for reasons that are beyond his control, and every attempt he makes to change that turns to shit.

>>33088494

> You're on 4chan and can't relate to the first interpretation?

In high school, definitely. I can definitely remember a time when I would be able to relate to that, but I grew out of it.

>>33088494
The better distinction is:
>conservatives want to defend traditional values against the progress of liberal capitalism.
>liberals want to stop old injustices, with the help of ilberal capitalism.

It gets confused in America because:
a) Capitalism has been around for so long that there are no pre-capitalist traditional values left, so the values conservatives defend are helpful to capitalism.
b) For this reason, american socialists and socialist policies ended up getting lumped in with liberals, because they hate the same shit.

>>33088628
>Capitalism has been around for so long that there are no pre-capitalist traditional values left
What "pre-capitalist traditional values"?

Before you say stuff like charity, be aware that Americans gives more per capita to charity than any other developed country. Capitalism is highly compatible with charity.

I always thought werewolves would make a great racial empire. They've already got the pack instinct going for them, and every citizen in the Empire can transform from lowly/sickly peasant into badass murderbeast at the drop of a hat; leading to a big wolfy Roman Empire.

>>33085823
The hexenwulf belts are also incredibly addictive and it takes an immense will to stop using them once you start. They might also be infected with Nemesis.

The Loup Garou isn't infectious, it's only hereditary, at one point (possibly in the RPG) Harry mentions that unless Terra West had and of Harley MacFinn's kids, the MacFinn curse died with Harley.

They also bring up the possibility of more general polymorph spells, along the lines of turning people into newts. But Bob mentions that putting a human brain in an animal body will eventually destroy the person, also doing it to another person is a violation of the Laws.

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>>33089007

Pack instinct doesn't mesh well with empires, though. Any group above the normal pack size tends to come flying apart sooner or later.

>>33089307
>Much sangria
>Very lime
>wow

>>33088475

Even in the past wolf packs generally weren't a way most people died. When they hybridized with dogs that could result in some nasty critters, but wolves on their own generally limited themselves to killing your livestock or your children. They tended to avoid human adults to the point that he have no recorded incidence of wolves killing and eating adult humans unless they were rabid or dog/wolf hybrids.

Mind you there were a few suspicious incidents that indicated a person MAY have been killed and eaten by wolves, but there's not much hard proof in those cases. At any rate it wasn't common, at least not in recorded history.

Pre-history... that's another story.

>>33088896
Staying at home on the farm.

Doing pretty much what your parents did (farming).

Getting married at age 16 to someone your parents have previously agreed upon, then immediately having enough kids to provide work for your farm.

Going to church literally every day, and living in constant fear of the sky-god.

Not traveling more than 20 miles from the place of your birth.

Rigidly enforcing small-town homogeneity amongst yourselves and socially shunning those who break protocol.

>>33089364

That we have no recorded*

>>33089364
People generally worry about the wrong things. You know what's way more likely to kill you than a wolf or a shark? Another human, a car, or a cheezeburger.

>>33089364
More people are killed by cows every year than are killed by sharks since we started counting how many people are killed by sharks.

>>33089397

It's not just a modern day thing, though. Even reports of wolf attacks from the Middle Ages were limited to children and livestock. There's a few cases where the facts aren't quite clear that may have involved wolves killing adults back then, but it's hazy.

Of course, it's also possible that in very rural regions it happened and wasn't recorded.

>>33089368
Those are less pre-capitalism values and more pre-Enlightenment values. But capitalism took off during the Enlightenment, so maybe it's a moot difference.

>>33089307

Actually Empire was the wrong word, I have a feeling that a polity of werewolves would be democratic in nature.

>>33089484
Werewolves are individually powerful predators. They don't do well as run-of-the-mill citizens.

What's way more likely is a more Discworld-eseque situation where there's a region where a good portion of the landed gentry are werewolves, with each family/house being independent, and the humans living like typical eastern-european supersticious peasants. Humans are allowed to live in the werewolf's territory and provide money, food, and labor for the pack. In exchange, the werewolves provide the dubious services of the nobility (leadership, warfare), and get to hunt the occasional Most Dangerous Game (there's a cash prize for surviving, so there's always a volunteer or two), and don't eat all the humans.

Pop Quiz: Wolves hunt in ______
You have 1 minute

>>33089778
Masterworks

>>33089656
>Most dangerous game
Bear-back Dynamite Badmin?

>>33089778
helicopters

>>33089778
the woods

>>33089484
Werewolf society would be more like Anglo-Saxon England: not feudal or democratic, but tribal, with communities run by chiefs.

Does OP still find werewolves dull?

But by no means stop discussing things. We've got 110 posts left for more fascinating discussion.

>>33072197
>interpenetration

>>33072302
trick r treat had a great transformation scene with fur under flesh

>>33072616
>The way to destroy an ustrel was to leave it at the crossroads for wolves to devour.

Did it actually need to be devoured by wolves, or did it just need to be left with the intention of that happening? What if something else came upon and ate it?

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>>33079301
>American wolves
Are you ok?

>>33071790
>I have no creativity. PLease spoonfeed me.

Werewolves are the result of a melding of two unique entities, not one being. They have two souls. When they are human, they are human. When they are wolf, they are wolf. The two sides constantly bid for control of each other and results in a split personality. The human side can sometimes embrace the wolf side, but they never overcome it. The wolf side sometimes becomes more domestic, like a dog, but never understands human social structure or develops a more pronounced psychology or intelligence.

TL;DR Werewolves are people who share their bodies with dog spirits.

>>33091351

The records do not elaborate. they just say it should be left for the wolves to devour. Maybe the idea is that only wolves would willing devour such an abomination?

>>33086668

I hate how after Book 10 Anita loses her moral decency because of "magic", becomes a super slut, and more powerful (sex magic), and is not a bad whore because "magic made her do it". Actually, that seems to be the tendency of most of those strong female lead books-the author makes them strong for a while, and then turns them into cock addled whores.

>>33091526

What about people who have sex with dogs?

>>33092145
Werewolf: The Yiffing

>>33092145
Beast Master is a class, not a race or ailment.

>>33092069

From what I hear, her deal was that in the early books she had a whole team of people doing research on stuff.
But as time went on, these people began to ask why they weren't getting credited, or better yet, paid if they were going to be her full time support staff for book after book after book.

Rather than appease them she went "I don't need you guys, I can write just fine without any research"

And she wound up with the original storyline getting shoved aside in favor of nice, easy-to-write sex stuff, forever.

>>33092486
What research exactly is necessary for books on werewolves and magic?

>>33092587

Research on myths and legends, on locations and their history, stuff like that.

>>33092663
All people use these days is a VHS tape of Underworld, is that the same thing?

>>33092700

It'd be more like going to the Library of Congress and doing exhaustive hours of research going through documents and consulting specialists to properly handle fragile artifacts and documents, and contacting other museums, universities, and institutions for permission to meet with their own specialists and historians to go over their own artifacts and exhaustively researched subjects.

After doing my own research on source material, I can definitively say that almost everything we know is wrong.

>>33074935
That game is fucking hilarious. We got a bunch of friends together, and we were mostly pretty chill the whole day - we were even still friends after Mario Party.
But once Werewolf got started, so did the yelling.

>>33092847
That's kinda a given about everything. Vampires are ugly, dragons are actually quite small, and MtG isn't very good.

>>33092932
>Vampires are ugly,
Yeah. Original Vampyres are more what modern people would call 'zombies', animated corpses that feed upon the living. Occasionally intelligent, usually mindless.
It wasn't till John William Polidori that we got a sexy, upper-class aristocrat who hypnotizes people and drinks blood.
>dragons are actually quite small
Not really. Western dragons were always massive serpents, but usually wingless. More like very large snakes than anything. Generally the size of an anaconda at their smallest.
Eastern dragons were always so massive they blot out the skies.

>>33093117
Goddamn /tg/'s dragon whining is starting to wear off on me, I forgot the Chinese dragons were still technically dragons despite of muh limbs.

>>33092932

It's not just that. Everything we know historically is inaccurate. Everything we know about the ancient Egyptians is colored from the interpretation of the ancient Greeks, who studied ancient Egypt, and everything we know about the ancient Greeks is colored heavily by the Victorians, who studied ancient Greece.

What we know as historical knowledge is actually seen through several lenses of subjective interpretation, each one twisting facts and romanticization and bullshit into what we think we actually know about the world.

>>33093151

If we want to go literary on this issue, the "Dragon" is really a title for a the ultimate monstrous creature of a story, and the embodiment of all the negative concepts contained within the self that are to be defeated as the actualization of the self towards the end of the hero's journey story archetype.

I don't give a fuck what kind of hierarchy or classification system dragons or wyverns or wyrms or what-fucking-ever are defined as, they're ultimately just fictional stand-ins to set a stage for an epic battle and usually one of the key obstacles to defeat in the completion of the game's ultimate objective.

>>33093265
It's a dragon because some old folks from long ago said it was. I wish I could go back in time and start naming various fauna "dragon" to make nerds mad on /tg/.

>>33093265
Dragon means snake. That's it. It an old word for snake or worm, which in old times were interchangeable words.

>>33089778
Packs

Had one idea for a style of werewolf. It's based around the change itself, on a fully biological level.
1. That kind of change requires energy, since they just added about 3 feet to their skeleton and who knows how much to their muscles. They're hungry as hell because they need to refuel after transforming.
2. That transformation? It hurt. A lot. Mind-breaking pain plus going straight to starving leads to a blood-thirsty rage.
3. Whatever causes that transformation releases a huge amount of adrenaline when they transform (but not triggered by adrenaline, they're not the Hulk) and probably massive amounts of endorphins when they eat or changes back. They'd have a large amount of regenerative ability, but the downside is whatever causes this gives them a severe allergy to silver. That's because their immune system is over-reacting to it, attacking the silver and any tissue close to the point of contact.

>>33089778
Fur.

>>33072616
This reminds me of "The Lawnmower Man," oddly. Just replace werewolf with weregoat and vampire with lawn.

>>33095066

Stephen King does love his weregoats. I'm looking at you, The Talisman.

>>33095642

M-O-O-N

>>33094573
>not just having it be magic
pleb

>>33093151

No, they were upset that the dragon that was described in the books and illustrated in the books was not the dragon shown in the (bad) movies.

>>33094573

You don't have enough calories in your body to fuel a "natural" transformation, no matter how much you consume before hand. You would die in the middle of the shift.

Second, that amount of pain would put you into shock...and kill you.

Shit is more magical than lightsabers, sorry.

>>33095861
1. Sure, it's gonna need magic or some kind of energy source beyond calories.
2. The pain's kind of the point, but would probably need something to dull it so it's juuuust under "going to kill you" levels.

Sure it's magical, I just like adding pseudoscience.
That goes for you too, >>33095774 .
Why not have wizards also explain shit?

>>33096005

When you explain shit it gets too boring. "Well, Candy the vampire hunter, how do werewolves work?" "Gee nigel my new protege who is totally going to bite it and or get infected, it is blahblahblah."

>>33096076
Sure, if you explain shit like that. When it's an explanation like "Your body will literally consume itself to turn into a agonized, powerful engine of hunger and rage."
You gotta make knowledge interesting, this is why kids don't want to learn.

>>33096204

Then the explanation should be "in the middle of your pain-fueled transformation, hookers appear out of nowhere and inject heroin into the tip of your penis. Just like real science!"

>>33096284
Sure, if your werewolves work like that. Slaanesh might make a few of those.

>>33096005

So boring. Oh look, rage fueled wolf. Looks like it's going out into the night in search of nubile teenagers.

>>33096381
Congrats, you find the end result boring.
Much wow.
I but you find the fact that grass is powered by devouring a nuclear space-fireball's energy boring too.

>>33096442

Some folks is just too jaded.

>>33096595
Turns out a massively jaded outlook on the world is the one true cure for lycanthropy.

>>33096595
Seriously. Thinking "It just does" is a more entertaining explanation. It's like what a tired parent says to shut up a curious toddler.
Or a guess a GM says to their players.

>>33096442

No matter how spectacular the occasion, if the effect is mundane, who cares?

You should post that on Facebook. You might get likes there.

>>33096639

This is now canon in my setting!

sometimes there's no reason to fuck with what works.

but i guess you could take the packs and say that they're gangs. all these mutilated drug dealers showing up are from cartels and all but they sure aren't getting murdered by machetes with those bite wounds

>>33096653

So I'm immune to lycanthropy in your setting?

>>33096651
Oooh, you're clever as shit.

>>33096673

Sure, werewolfism is powered by zee beast within, und iz ein manifestation of zee passions. Iff ve crush zee passions unter a nihilist's disdain for all things, ve leave zee werewolf inside no means of escape!

>>33096708

You are easily butthurt. doyoulikeit

>>33096743
Not really, it's just a dull interest. Like if humanity only could achieve that sense of discovery, who knows what we could have discovered.

>>33071790
>It's hard to be original with such a popular concept
Stop focusing on needing to be original, just have fun
Seriously, trying too hard to "Be Original" more often than not ruins people's fun
I'm not saying don't try, but if something works you don't need to fuck with it, and then complain fucking with it doesn't work as well

>>33096789

The inside of your own ass, apparently.

>>33096880
Incredible. We could accomplish so much.

>>33096849
Yeah, I agree.

Something being popular does not mean that everyone likes it but neither does it mean that it has been "spoiled by the popularity" unless you are a hipster that cannot enjoy anything that others like.

Wolf is a separate symbiotic entity that actually jumps the fuck out of your body to tear shit up.

I got the idea from a jerky commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIFpYQcKAfc

>>33096639

I'm just so tired of it all. Life. The hunt. At one point there was a forbidden thrill to it, a certain secret joy in the transformation coupled with the thrill of the hunt, but it all rings so hollow now.
I still remember when I was first reborn. The shock of the new form, horror turned to pleasure with my first kill, the curious exploration of so many new sensations. It all seemed so new. Now even those memories seem hollow, blackened words on a black page. The hunt has become routine, as monotonous as any dead-end job but without the option of quitting.
Well that's what I'm doing. I quit. I'm done transforming. The fullmoon lingers overhead but I don't feel it's pull anymore. I just can't muster enough energy to care.

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>>33078024
>philosophical musings on "the skeleton within us all" that you wan

>>33097406

Warewolves Who Cut Themselves: The Musical

Track 1:

CRAWWWWLING INNNN MY SKINNNN, THESE WOUNDS, THEY WILLLLL NOT HEALLLL

>>33098144

Shouldn't it be-
>Crawling out my skin, these wounds will quickly heal
- you know, on account of werewolves?

>>33098184

NOT ENOUGH ANGST ARRRRGH

>>33098184

SILVER RAZORS NIGGER

>>33071790

Werewolves who break into houses randomly and hump the furniture.

If you allow them to hump your leg, you get infected.

>>33098612

So werewolves are really annoying nuisances and not murder machines. Noice.

>>33098612
You were sitting at home having a cup of tea and BAM! The door's in splinters, werewolves are everywhere, humping the lamp, the table, each other, that odd knothole in the wall.. You don't see your dog but his submissive whimpering is clearly audible.

Though irritated, you turn back to finish your tea, figuring the caffeine'll help you remember where you left the garden hose. You finally down the last of the cup, leaves and all, when you notice the hot sensation against your leg. God damn it, it's one of the tiny ones. The little ones are always the worst, nobody feels it's necessary to scold them and now it's done and gotten you humpwolfed.

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>>33098612

So, like this but they're all covered in fur?

>>33098823

It's a quick fix to cure it, but it's 200 dollars plus tax for the pill, so most ghettos devolve in to humping, shoe destroying nightmares on a full moon.

>>33098612
every morning i wake up and there's hair on all my stuff in the attic.

how do they even get up there?!

>>33098879

Yes. Hey, we finally made original werewolves

>>33098879
oh my fucking god this shit isnt even with audio and i can still perfectly hear when the TURN DOWN FOR WHAT happens

>>33098890

They are fought off with newspapers and cries of OFF THE COUNTER! And spray bottles filled with water.

They have only one weakness: chocolate.

>>33098879

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sblR0eIRW-I

>>33098612
>>33098754
>>33098823
>>33098879
>>33098900
>>33098936
>>33098908

And thus /tg/ delivers the OPs request after 2 days of intense brainstorming.

>>33071790

In my settings wolves bitten by humans turn into weremen every monday morning.

>>33099163

HORRIFIC

>>33089007
While not strictly werewolves, Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series has an empire of 9ft tall wolfmen called the Canim.

>>33099163

>were-man
>man-man
>a man cursed by the full moon to turn into a slightly different man

I think you want "wolfwere," the inverse of werewolf

>>33099261

And it's homoerotic.

>>33099276
So they're uncontrollable, very specific shapeshifters?.

Every Thursday evening at 5:42 PM, hundreds of identical Jiminy Dawersons shuffle into the dying old CD City , buy a copy of Pink Floyd's "The Wall," Drop exact change on the counter, mumble something about gremlins and wander out. Indeed, CD City hasn't raised the price on the wall in over a decade despite it being their most popular CD, and indeed would have gone out of business years ago were it not for a generous government grant.

Occasionally a clerk might stop Jiminy for a moment. Perhaps to small talk, to question Jiminy's dress or perhaps to ask why Jiminy Dawerson is the third Jiminy Dawerson that the clerk has seen in the last minute and a half. Jiminy always panics when confronted, and bites when panicked. Next Thursday evening, there is one more Jiminy Dawerson making the trip to CD City, buying a CD with exact change, and leaving a confused former clerk to wake to his ever increasing pile of Pink Floyd copies of "The Wall."

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>>33099276

Tomatoe, tomato...

>>33099487
>Tomatoe, tomato...

Nigga I'll fite you.

>>33099145
Now that's the kind of lycantrophy I wouldn't mind to be infected with.

>>33099810

Ceiling collapses. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT! Wolves start falling through, humping everything.

>>33099869
Oh fuck! I'm on my workplace! how literally fucked I am?

>>33099937

How many other people are in the room? Multiple that by the number of humpable limbs and furniture, and then average it.

You might actually be fucked sideways.

>>33100037

You can distract them with IKEA furniture.

>>33099869

The moon rose, and with it, the pack rose too. Tonight...was the Wild Hump.

>>33100037
13 people.

>>33100060
Oh yeah! we have Ikea tables! I maybe can make it!

>>33100118
Guys, I've been caught.

My leg is all warm and sticky, covered in canine love and shame. I feel it, the burning fire inside me that is melting my bones and the pain of my limbs, all fueled by the craving of humping.

I'm sorry anons, but I'm going to turn in one of those monsters. Please, remember as the human I was and not as the humping monster I've become.

>>33071790
I once played a campaign (think a low fantasy shadowrun) where we had to fight a former professional boxer who became a Kangou-Garou at some point.
Shit was cash, he jump straight in front of one PC and one shot him with a superpowerful uppercut.

>>33100227

Someone get this man chocolate before he turns! Hurry!

>>33100387
RUURge tto hUmPp kEyboArd

rbgtfb gvrfb resfdg dfgredrg egdrfdrf dfrhef jyntyn ujtrbbb dxsadf

>>33100455

No. He's gone. He's gone to the big Ikea in the sky.

>>33093152
You hooked me, man.

>>33096849
Exactly, these concepts have been around for a long time now, the only way to be truly original with something is to take it so far from the source material as to be a completely different entity in it's own right

>>33072399
You're just suddenly there. Walking out of the forest, going to your house, sleeping in your bed, continuing your life...
Except it isn't really you.

>>33078436
>romanesque
>sandals and skirts
>for creatures afraid of sunlight

How about lycanthropic romans and insanely numerous germanic zombies?
Wait, we need something for the Roman tendency to integrate tribes in the empire.
Evil witch tribes?

>>33072335
>>33102797
Huh. Reminds me of the /x/ version of skinwalkers.

>>33102903
Rome does have some ties to wolves. Romulus and Remus being raised by a she-wolf. That one fertility holiday called lupercalia.

>>33078980
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_of_Paris

The entire city of Paris had to fight a WAR vs a pack of wolves (with a leader that had blood red fur) in the middle of said city and finally took them down in front of the steps at Notre Dame and this is AFTER the things killed 40 people.

>>33086411
Zombies are the thick crowds of unthinking autopilot people.
The stupid footfolk that can't see further than their next meal with no appreciation for beauty or gratefullness for the wonders of civilization.
They're the uncultured customers that don't understand your art or the fickle voters that want immediate results.

>>33102903

Lycanthropes imply disorganization in their battle lines, an un-Roman quality.

Ideally the Romans would be vampires mind-linked by the lich-like Aquilifer, whose eagle standard is the staff that controls the entire legion.

>>33103002
Wolves are pack animals and many lycan myths/stories also give them that attribute.

>>33087791
What would zombies based on the SJW worldview of the patriarchy and triggerings be like?
I'm thinking something that threatens your sense of justice or something, focussed agrressive monsters that target the weak first and use invasive and humiliating practices to convert them

>>33102960
>>33103002
I know
The aristocracy is werewolves. It's one of those heriditary rather than infectious versions and a proof that they're descended from their mars equivalent.
The soldiers are voodoo zombies controlled by the eagle staff.

>>33103111
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/21495514/

>>33100100

Humpweres can call upon The Wild Hump to aid them in battle. After 1d4 rounds of summoning, the Wild Hump comes crashing through walls, doors, or ceilings to engage the legs of the enemies.

>>33071932

I find werediapers to be one of the dullest of mythical creatures. Part of this is because they've been done so many times in so many ways that they feel like a very known quantity. It's hard to be original with such a popular concept. The other part is that you can have all the philosophical musings on "the betrayal under us all" that you want, at the end of the day werediapers are pretty straightforward, just revolting concept that are hard to get rid of.

But perhaps I'm just jaded. I'm sure there's inventive ways to use this stock fantasy monster that I'm unaware of. So tell me, /tg/, have you had a particularly interesting or original take on zombies in any of your games?

>>33072892
As I mentioned in that thread, I was peed on by a lion once.