City Jitters: State of Survival

 Welcome back to the blog, or welcome if you are new.

This is Shores of Night, where we talk about Werewolf: The Apocalypse on Sundays. As usual, I'm assuming the reader has some familiarity with the game, if only because otherwise I don't see why you'd be reading about it. (If you are new to the world of Werewolf, let me know and check out my initial pieces which attempt to serve as an introduction to this version of the World of Darkness). I'm referencing the 20th Anniversary Edition of the game, and haven't invested in 5th Edition. I'm still on the fence about buying it, to be honest. 

Recently, we've been talking about cities in the game, as the urban often runs contradictory to the ways in which the Garou operate. We've already discussed elements like sensory overload and the hostility of the Urban Umbra to the werewolves. Cities are not the Garou Nation's friends, they're strongholds of the Enemy. A Garou pack here must be canny and self reliant, often in the face of overwhelming adversity. 

Let's explore some ways that a pack can at least survive within the city, even if it's a daunting task. 

1) Finding Safe Havens: The very nature of the War against the Wyrm means that the pack will attract attention. The Veil is an important tool in remaining undiscovered but unless you're a master of disguising claw and bite wounds, being indiscreet will draw scrutiny eventually. Humans, as we know, take the deaths of their kin very seriously, so destroying people who've become tainted while morally correct (within the game's setting - I know you know that) will eventually motivate police to investigate. While in the World of Darkness that's probably more an element of a corrupt system looking after its own than any real sense of justice, it can still create issues for a young pack out on its own for the first time. 

So what should a pack do, particularly one that's unable to simply meld back in with the human population for a while? Glass Walkers, Bone Gnawers and members of some other Tribes may be able to just go home, clean up the mess, and go back to work the next day. That doesn't help Metis or Lupus characters, however, and they're going to stand out. So, one of the first investments a pack can make is a safe house, somewhere characters who can't meld back with the population can lie low for a while. This doesn't just need to be something for non-Homid characters, especially if the Storyteller hasn't limited the Tribes PCs can come from at character generation. As a Brit, I'd probably end up running a game in Europe, so a Wendigo or Uktena character would stick out a bit since, to my knowledge, there aren't many Native Americans over here. 

A safehouse also allows the pack to do things like secure weapons, ritual ingredients, and so on, away from their Sept and closer to the place their territory. It's probably wise to have a couple of lock ups for this sort of resource, if only because if the cops close in, you can sacrifice one location. Obviously, some things (like Fetishes) shouldn't be kept somewhere you could lose them, but for mundane items this is a good plan. Your characters don't want to have to explain why they've got a great axe in the trunk if they get pulled over by the police. Safehouses should have at least one mirror, to allow Umbral access in case there's a need to make a swift exit, and should have access to food and water - though eventually the pack will probably need to hunt. 

Of course, having static locations isn't the only option, some packs may benefit from staying on the move. They might even leave the city for a short periods of time to allow any heat to die down. While I don't wish to invoke the image of Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine, you might be looking at something not too dissimilar. That's especially true if you've got a Lupus character who likes to stay in that form in the pack. The danger there is - if the characters are travelling by van - they might be tagged at or near the scene of a crime. It's much easier to look for a vehicle than a person because vehicles have to be registered with the authorities and with the growth of CCTV and speed cameras, passive surveillance stands a good chance of picking up on a number plate or a distinctive looking machine. Access to a machine shop may be a boon at this point, to change anything that could tie the pack to a place of interest. 

All of this is to say that keeping a low profile will be a boon to your pack, you can do far more good as guerrillas and monkey wrenchers than by being "goodly heroes". The war against the Wyrm is a dirty, nasty, conflict fought one battle at the time, down in the trenches, and pyrrhic victories are common. The Garou are, after all, fighting against a tide of horror, heroically making a last stand against foes that appear to be on the verge of victory (you could argue that this is what makes Werewolf so compelling). So, victories will be small, and the real work may be done off the battlefield by teaching humans how to live lives more attuned to Gaia. 

Attempting to do too much will only end in disaster, and sadly the 21st Century isn't really the right war theatre for a character who wants to fight on an open battlefield. There's definitely a poetry to the Ahroun who stands atop  a building in Crinos form with his Grand Klaive and howls defiance at the enemy, but his war is likely to be short and bloody. It may even end up with him being forced to dance the Black Spiral.

2) Alliances: How then, can a pack make headway within the city? If violence - the Garou's best friend - can only lead to problems, what does work? I don't mean that in terms of the teaching work, or helping communities become self sufficient, or even greening cities - though these are all useful things to do. In the business of securing territory, and being Gaia's warriors, what can a pack do to have an impact? I think the first thing to remember is that no army stands alone. They need allies, contacts, resources, and intelligence. That could take the form of a Black Fury or female Child of Gaia reaching out to the local women's refuge, or a Bone Gnawer establishing connections with a soup kitchen. A Glass Walker might  support local businesses. A Fianna might forge alliances at the local O'Malley's Bar or support interest in Celtic culture. There are lots of options, and it all depends on the characters' strengths and interests.

 I should stress that a lot of these efforts aren't well supported by game mechanics, but would rely upon roleplaying and the players being willing to follow up on building alliances. While the Backgrounds aspect of a character is important, the Storyteller System has always been a bit woolly on the steps to gain Allies, Contacts and pretty much everything else covered in Backgrounds. Personally, this is a feature, not a bug. I'd rather a player let me know what they want to achieve and work with them, even if it means departing from the rigour of the rules to do so. Plus, if it means that a player is out there actually playing their character instead of dealing with them like a chess piece, I'm going to be happier. I'm sure many Storytellers feel the same.

Tribes are only one part of the picture, of course. Werewolf's three way axis of identity has to be taken into account. The different Auspices will approach these efforts differently. An Ahroun may not be challenging the biggest, baddest monsters in the city to a duel at dawn, but they can help a community in other ways. That might be by protecting the weak, taking care of gang violence, sorting out local problems. A Ragabash, oddly, might be part of that process, spying on troublesome elements and feeding back intelligence only they can access. As Questioners of the Ways, they might also provide new ideas for communities to improve living conditions, encouraging change from the grassroots up. 

In a similar way, Philodoxes might become community leaders, advocating for change in the human world, even as the Theurges and Galliards nurture the community's spirit through community events. This feels important, because the game acknowledges the importance of unity and coming together to help each other as a way to make change. In contrast to what White Wolf were doing with Exalted - where the focus was on the Great Man theory - I feel Werewolf focuses on a more communal strategy, as befits a pack animal. Allies can be won by providing aid and by being a regular. 

Such efforts needn't just be on this side of the Gauntlet, either. Theurges, Philodoxes, and Galliards could carve out alliances in the Umbra, fostering Gaian and Wyld spirits in the urban nightmare. That would likely require Chiminage, since these spirits are probably starving. Regular offerings to allow them to grow stronger will gain the pack helpful, probably grateful, allies who can provide good intel on what's happening in the Umbra. 

Other supernatural entities shouldn't be left out of this, either. While vampires are unlikely "break bread" with werewolves, the Garou can forge alliances and find common causes with other groups. That's particularly true of some Tradition Mages and Changelings. There will be probably an element of quid pro quo to these proceedings, but that's not a bad thing. If nothing else, it gives your Storyteller a chance to send you on a weird quest to rescue a Satyr Childling who's been abducted by something weird, or to fight weird cyborgs. It opens the box and creates new possibilities.

Another element to remember is the Fera. Ratkin and Corax are common to cities, and while the Ratkin probably aren't even going to talk to Garou - Bone Gnawers excepted - the Corax have a good relationship with the wolves in general. That's especially true of the Get of Fenris, but isn't limited to them. The Corax can make great scouts and have the same duties as the Garou in the service of Gaia. This makes them reliable as well as talented, and reliability is important in a conflict that requires trust in the information you receive. 

3) Intelligence and Deception: While the Garou value truth and valour above most things - living in a society that puts the focus on Glory, Honour, and Wisdom - their war sits uneasily with these principles, particularly in cities. Like it or not, the urban pack needs good intelligence on their enemies, usually gathered by the pack's Ragabash, Kinfolk, and allies. Of course, it's also possible for the other pack members to carry out surveillance, or to use their talents in gathering information in other ways. While they may not be talented in the specific area, being able to turn into a wolf and sticking to the shadows can take you at least some of the way. In a similar fashion, an anonymous enough car or empty apartment can provide a good base for a stakeout when the chips are down. Even the least intelligence minded Garou can keep watch and report what's going on. These little acts of deception would appeal to the werewolves' lupine nature, if not their coda. They're basic parts of hunting - being unseen, being observant and gathering information. 

If we factor in Breeds and Tribes, the Persuasion Gift can work wonders for getting information out of people for example - and both Homids and Philodoxes can learn it easily. Fianna and Glass Walkers can learn it to as part of their Tribal Gifts. Heightened Senses can provide extra sensory information (though a crueller Storyteller may want to ask for Willpower checks to avoid being overwhelmed), and Gifts like Sense Wyrm can also provide useful intel. 

Let's break these Gifts down before we move on: Persuasion (page 153) "imbues a homid's words with intrinsic credibility and conviction, causing them to ring true to the ear and lay heavy on the heart." In other words, you sound sincere, even when you're lying through your teeth. The system for this relies upon a Charisma and Subterfuge roll - difficulty 7 - and each success lowers the difficulty of social rolls by one for the rest of the scene and grants successful rolls uncommonly strong impact even to the extent that an addict might seriously reconsider the course of their life. So, a Homid Garou using this might sway a security guard working at a Pentex subsidiary into questioning what they're doing working there and into being willing to provide some details of any spots of the facility's ground where the CCTV cameras don't work or there simply isn't good surveillance. 

In contrast, Sense Wyrm (page 156) means "the werewolf can sense nearby manifestations of the Wyrm. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although Garou often describe the Wyrm's spiritual emanations as a stench." The rest of the Gift's details note that that it senses contact with the Wyrm's spiritual essence, which can mean blameless souls can carry it. The system requires a Perception and Occult roll, with the difficulty depending on the concentration and strength of the Wyrm's influence. If we consider using this Gift in a city, we can both see how it would be useful, but also how it shouldn't be relied upon without supporting factors. Anyone who ate at an O'Tolley's might well show up to the Gift even if they're just a kid who grabbed a snack on the way home. 

There are other Gifts that can also aid in these endeavours, but I'm not going to dive deep into them now (let me know if you want me to, though). 

The Umbra can be a useful tool in gathering information too, if only because it often reflects the truth of what's happening in particular locations. Something - or someone - that looks wholesome in the daylit material world can be haggard or loathsome in the Velvet Shadow. A factory or power plant might be confirmed as Wyrm riddled nightmare, tainted to its core behind a simple façade. That can be obvious - if there are a lot of Banes gathering in one place, it might be an indication that not all is well - but it can also be a more subtle taint. The big problem with the urban Umbra is that so much overlaps it can confuse the senses. I mentioned Sense Wyrm above, but even that Gift is a limited tool if everything smells of the Wyrm. It's a bit like looking for a specific leaf in a deciduous wood during Fall, eventually you'll find it but damn there are lot of leaves. 

That's the beauty of the Ragabash Auspice; intelligence and deception is their forte. Most Garou have an uneasy relationship with the idea of deceiving the enemy - even when it's the wisest cause of action. In the same way that humans are navigating a digital world with Stone Age mind, the Garou are trying to fight enemies that favour deception with a mind that longs for the open battlefield and the thrill of a clean kill. The modern world rarely provides such luxuries, however. Ragabashes are the Garou Nation's spy masters, the George Smileys to the Ahroun's Jason Bournes. They sleep, eat and breathe the sub-rosa world of deception, even if they've had no training within it.  

Two Examples

Ways Garou can use deception is by feeding false intel about where they plan to strike, drawing security details away in order to weaken their actual target. With the increasing important of the Internet, this can be something achieved through web searches, idle "chatter" on websites and forums, and basically making a noise about the false plan. If the pack has cultivated some allies among activist groups (the sort of people that if we were talking about Vampire, I'd dub "useful idiots" they can use them to provide a false flag, by staging demonstrations, acts of defiance, and other stunts to create interest at one or more alternative locations. While everyone is busy fussing about the fake target, the Garou can move in to capture the real prize. 

Alternatively, the pack might simply steal into a facility by pretending to be cleaning staff or other workers low down in the corporate pyramid, no matter how honourless that appears to be. Infiltrating the facility in this way can allow the characters to move more or less undetected, provided they have key cards and other forms of legitimate ID. This method may require less of a distraction, since the characters won't be overtly do anything wrong, but at the same time going into the enemy's stronghold this way carries a number of risks. 

Conclusion

Garou might find themselves influencing individuals in power, dealing with shadowy figures, or digging through corporate espionage, all while navigating the physical and spiritual corruption around them. This kind of roleplaying brings a unique flavour to urban Werewolf: the Apocalypse, making it an exciting and multifaceted experience that’s more about strategy, survival, and adaptation than pure violence.

In the next post, we’ll delve further into the ways Garou can be successful in the city, from gaining sustenance to ways to resist the ever pervasive decay that assaults them. Until then, stay true to Gaia!