S.P.R.A.L. Rules and Guidelines


Welcome to SPRAL, the Western Washington University's club for live-action roleplaying. We here are currently involved in running a game of Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and if you are looking this over, you are probably at least interesting in joining us. However, as with most live-action troupes, we have a few house rules. For the most part, we use Laws of the Wild as our rulebook, so if you don't have a copy of it, you might want to pick one up. They're down at Eagle's Games and Hobbies for about $15. If you can't afford that, don't worry; there are plenty of copies floating around. If you've never played by the Mind's Eye Theatre system before, see if someone is willing to loan you a copy of Laws of the Wild, so that you can at least look through the Rules and Systems chapters to understand the basic rules and how challenges are done. We do not, however, use everything in Laws of the Wild. There are a few changes and several additions. They are listed below: Auspices beginning Rage is between 1-5, not 1-3.

Rites and Gifts are listed as levels 1-5, not Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. For every point you put in the Rites background, you may pick up a level of Rites (if you have 2 points, you may pick a level 2 rite or two level 1 rites).

Any garou can get any level rite, provided that she has a teacher.

There is an additional Background, called Spirit Ally. The more points you have in Spirit Ally, the more powerful your spirit friend is.

Though the Renown breakdown is still the same, it is a little more difficult to gain Renown. Like in tabletop Werewolf, we have temporary Renown and permanent Renown. You must have 10 points of temporary Renown to gain a permanent point.

The Bone Gnawer disadvantage is that they are down 2 traits in all social challenges with garou from other tribes.

The Silent Strider disadvantage is that they are haunted when they get stuck in the Gauntlet, not if they fail a simple test every month.

The Silver Fang disadvantage is a Derangement that is only active in times of high stress, unless a Willpower point is spent.

The Stargazer advantage is the same, but they also can gain Willpower through meditation as well as Gnosis.

There are a number of additional gifts, rites, fetishes, totems, and other such goodies listed in several notebooks that circle the group. The Storyteller always has a list of them.

Gifts are available as soon as you are of the appropriate rank. You cannot have a level 2 gift until you are Rank 2, Fostern.

The merit Outmaneuver can only be used in Social challenges.

If your character has even 1 point of Rage (in other words, all Garou, but very few Kinfolk), you must pick a Rage Sensitivity. This is something that sets you off into a Frenzy whenever you encounter it, unless you spend a Willpower point. They can be almost anything, but you should have a good reason for it.

The term Extended challenge means that the first challenge is of the appropriate type, followed by simple tests. They continue until the side initiating the challenge loses unless specified otherwise.

Maximum Rage, Gnosis, and Willpower is different for the ranks. For cubs, it is 5. For Cliath, they may have 6. Fostern have up to 7. Adren may have 8, Athro have 9, and Elders can have up to 10. Legends may have up to 12.

While the advantages of the different forms remains, the exact traits are different in our game. Glabro gains Ferocious x2 and Brawny x2. Crinos is unchanged. Hispo gains Ferocious x2, Tireless x3, and Quick x3. Lupus gain Quick x2, Tireless x2, and Ferocious.

A garou may make a partial transformation with a static Physical challenge vs. 9. The time it takes for the partial transformation (hand into a claw, for example) is equal to the time it would take if the change was complete. If you spend a Rage point to instantly make a partial transformation, you must still complete the challenge.

Experience costs as following: Traits cost 1xp for every 2 traits in that category; for example, if you had 10 traits, it would cost 5 xp to get an 11th. Always round up. Abilities cost 1 xp for every one you already have (if you have Brawl x3, it costs 3 to get that fourth point; if you have 7 physical traits, it costs 7 to get the eighth). To get a new ability costs 1 xp. Gifts cost 3x the level of the gift. If it is outside your breed, auspice, or tribe, it costs 4x. If it is a gift of a camp within your tribe, it costs 4x. If it is a gift of a camp outside your tribe, it costs 5x. You must locate the appropriate spirit to learn a gift. Rites cost the level of the rite -- and you must have a teacher. You can also learn them if you can get someone to teach you completely in-game, without a cost. Gnosis, Rage, and Willpower costs 2x your current level of the trait. Negative traits, flaws, etc. cost twice their rating to get rid of them. Notoriety traits cost 2 xp to lose, and they require some roleplaying as well. (Note: gifts outside your species, if you can learn them at all, cost 10x the level of the gift, and you must be at least 1 rank higher than the level of the gift. And you'd better have a DAMN good reason for it)

Yes, things are much more expensive. But we meet once a week, and you can get several experience every night. For showing up to the session, you gain an experience point. If you are in costume, wearing whatever your character would wear, that is worth an xp as well. You can also gain an xp for interacting during the week. This could be as simple as sitting down to coffee with the Warder and bullshitting with him, or it could be as complex as plotting to have the Alpha killed. Lastly, up to 3 people can receive Exceptional Roleplaying every night; this is worth an additional xp. In other words, someone can get up to 4 xp every week, and to get 3 is easy.

Other beings are allowed, at the Storyteller's discretion. The easiest exotic creatures to work in are other werebeasts or changelings, though wraiths, vampires, gypsies, or almost anything else is possible. However, you can't just make a character to hang around with garou with no real reason to. I want the following from you in order to play something exotic: I want you to read everything available on the exotic. If you want to play a Nuwisha, for example, I want you to read their section in the Player's Guide as well as the Nuwisha book. I have copies of almost every book worth reading from White Wolf, and I can loan them out. After this, you must roleplay with the Storyteller. No character sheet to fall back on, just roleplaying. I want to see if you can play what you want to play. After this, I want you to have a plotline that deals with your character. This plot should explain why you're dealing with garou, and it should help illustrate the differences between garou and what you are playing. You should not be a garou in the skin of another creature -- you really should be exotic. I also have limits on how many exotics I am allowing, so if it's full up, be patient for a space to open up. The only exotic I will never allow in the hands of a player character is a mage. There's just too much potential for abuse. It's been abused in the past, and it would be again in the future.

As for our out-of-game rules, they are very simple:

There is the Poopy Bullshit rule -- this rule means that out-of-game is out-of-game, in-game is in-game, and they do not cross. If someone's character pisses you off, you don't have the right to slash his tires out-of-game. It was the actions of the character, not the player. The reverse is also so. Information that was learned out-of-game is also to remain there. Just because you, the player, read Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand, this doesn't mean that your character knows everything. The information that gets to be considered in-game is: the main rulebook (including tabletop), some information in the player's guide, and the tribebook. Even other werebeasts are barely known about. Above all, always remember that it is just a game.

No touching. Most of us are good friends and we occasionally forget this rule; we will slap each other on the back, or shake hands, etc. If you do not feel comfortable with someone's actions, tell them to stop. If they hassle you, inform the Storyteller.

No stunts. Some of us run, jump, or fall into the fountain from time to time. If you wish to do so, do so at your own risk. But don't forget that we are in a public area, and we don't want to attract too much attention. (Luckily, this is a college town.)

No drugs or drinking. If you show up to game under the influence, I take that as an insult: you can't have fun here without chemicals. If this is true, don't bother coming. If you come to game under the influence, I will send you home with a warning. You don't get a second warning. You will be banned from SPRAL permanently. What you do with the rest of the week is your business, but on the night of the game, you'd better be sober.