Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?

[rebekahse]

An old friend has finally convinced me to play on an oWoD game, but I know next to nothing about the system or the setting. The sphere he's involved in is werewolf (the good ones, not the evil crazy ones), and I decided to make a kinfolk. The trouble is, I have no idea how to make a useful one.

I don't need anyone to build me my sheet or anything, I'm just looking for advice on what skills or areas of focus or sorceror/psychic powers (if I go that way) would be useful for a werewolf pack's kinfolk. The suggestions I've gotten so far have all been based around crafting (through enchanting or something, I think?), but that doesn't sound all that appealing and doesn't really fit with the background I had in mind. So I guess anything other than that.

Thanks in advance!

[Jennkryst]

@rebekahse Join the crazy evil ones. It is the best.

A useful kinfolk varies, based on what useful you want to do, as well as if you want to... er. Multi class. In oWoD, it is possible to be a Kinfolk who is also a Mage or Changeling. Or a Vampire, but that might get you killed faster than playing the crazy evil ones.

[peasoupling]

Resources 5!

It's hard to answer this because I feel it depends a lot on the game, sphere, pack, etc. And you seem to already have a background in mind that narrows it down. Typically, kinfolk have social connections and positions that are hard for werewolves to maintain, but that might be fun or not depending on the game and how much social stuff is relevant or useful for plot purposes. Things like "Fortune" are always useful, but also terribly situational depending on how cooperative STs are, because mechanical effects are just fluff. Stuff to deal with ghosts and that whole plane of existence might be useful since most werewolves aren't very good at that, but are ghosts going to come up on this game? Is the pack full of Silent Striders and werewolves with ghost buddies? It's hard to say without knowing more.

[Tinuviel]

Appearance 5, Resources 5, Dominate 5.

There, that's all you need.

[Auspice]

@Tinuviel said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

Appearance 5, Resources 5, Dominate 5.

There, that's all you need.

[Coin]

I'd make sure whoever was recruiting you to play a Kinfolk isn't someone who ascribes to the (very much official, as far as in-game attitudes are concerned) position that Kinfolk are basically breeding stock.

[Derp]

@Coin said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

I'd make sure whoever was recruiting you to play a Kinfolk isn't someone who ascribes to the (very much official, as far as in-game attitudes are concerned) position that Kinfolk are basically breeding stock.

Unless they're really hot.

And then you should suggest LARP. <.<

[Auspice]

@Derp said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

@Coin said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

I'd make sure whoever was recruiting you to play a Kinfolk isn't someone who ascribes to the (very much official, as far as in-game attitudes are concerned) position that Kinfolk are basically breeding stock.

Unless they're really hot.

And then you should suggest LARP. <.<

[surreality]

@Coin Especially if it's on that game where the headwiz or whoever makes breeder kinfolk for every wuff with a dong that shows up. That'd likely lead to a poor experience.

[Auspice]

@surreality said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

@Coin Especially if it's on that game where the headwiz or whoever makes breeder kinfolk for every wuff with a dong that shows up. That'd likely lead to a poor experience.

Look, she's half of her own playerbase. Gotta respect the time commitment

[surreality]

@Auspice It really is a melange of impressive and terrifying, isn't it.

[Auspice]

@surreality said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

@Auspice It really is a melange of impressive and terrifying, isn't it.

[surreality]

@Auspice Virginia Madsen is too good for those shenanigans!

[rebekahse]

@Jennkryst said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

@rebekahse Join the crazy evil ones. It is the best.

A useful kinfolk varies, based on what useful you want to do, as well as if you want to... er. Multi class. In oWoD, it is possible to be a Kinfolk who is also a Mage or Changeling. Or a Vampire, but that might get you killed faster than playing the crazy evil ones.

I was kiiiinda thinking about the crazy evil ones, since the background I was going for was like...deep South redneck trailer trash, and the crazy evil ones kinda seem to have a Rob Zombie movie vibe going for them that would work for that I think. But there don't seem to be all that many of them around.

I was thinking of taking a lot of street/crime Connections, and Streetwise and social skills, but I don't know how useful that would be.

[Ghost]

@rebekahse My advice:

Playing a kinfolk isn't about being spectacular. It's about being able to go places Garou can't and also maintaining clarity that they lose in their battle with their own rage. Regardless of tribe, they're the ties that bind them to the world of the kine (mortals) and exist to remind them of their responsibilities to them.

Now, that doesn't involve turning into a giant war beast, but its pretty fucking important.

My advice is to make a person. A person who has just as much at stake as they do and only a fifth of the physical strength. What they do know is how to maneuver the mortal world, and in that they can provide human-level connections and real-world know-how.

So worry less about the sheet and less about making things rare or unusual, and instead put your energy into making a regular type person who happens to be caught up in werewolf drama that is designed to flow with the angsty psyche of the werewolves around them.

Those Garou spend so much time licking their wounds and doing wolfy stuff that they often forget to maintain the truck, cook a hot meal, weld security fences into place, etc. In a way, the Garou go off to fight and often kinfolk have to keep watch.

Hope this helps.

[Grayson]

The question I have to ask is 'are you absolutely sure you want to make a Kinfolk?'

If you want to be a useful part of a pack, another werewolf is often the best way to go. There are some types that are more easy-mode than others, when it comes to learning a new game, and there are enough tribes and auspices that most sorts of characters can find a niche.

Kinfolk, however - well, to be honest, the first question is 'are you as a player okay with your character being forever being a second-class citizen', and the second question would be 'did you actually want to get involved in Garou stuff'. If you're okay with being a lesser sort of being and not being able to get involved, the questions are 'what do you want to play' and 'what does the pack need'.

[Ghost]

I'll poke in here and note that whether or not Kinfolk are second class citizens isnt a standard.

It varies based on tribe, auspice, personality, etc.

Some tribes, garou, auspices might argue that the litany only requires them do certain things but doesn't inherently make them in charge. "Cleaving to the mortal world" doesn't mean to treat kinfolk like baby farms who dont count, but could also mean to cleave to their wisdom and respect them for their burden to be the parents of children who they will inevitably have to see go off to fight with a life expectancy of less than 10 years post-change.

W:tA, like all WoD, is subject to the whims and interpretation of the people who play it, but nowhere in the books does it state these things to be standards.

It is absolutely possible that a pack could bind around a Kinfolk as the heart and soul of their pack.

I imagine the Tribes most likely to treat Kinfolk as 2nd class to be: Get of Fenris, Shadow Lords, Red Talons, Silver Fangs, and maybe Uktena

But could I see Wendigo, Black Furies, Children of Gaia, and Glass Walkers honoring their kinfolk at higher levels? Totally.

[Grayson]

I'd suggest that most Garou don't treat kinfolk like baby farms who don't count.

I'd also suggest, however, that very few Garou see Kinfolk as their equals when Garou have a hierarchical society that kin can't really make much headway in.

There's a lot of room between 'bloodstock' and 'equal'. Most Garou are somewhere on that line, rather than at either end, and if someone's looking at playing a kin character as their first exposure to oWoD werewolf it's a good idea to make sure they know what they're letting themselves in for. Especially when while the pack they're with might consider them a valuable part of the pack equal to any Garou, the rest of the Sept... probably aren't.

[ZekeTheG33k]

@Ghost said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

I'll poke in here and note that whether or not Kinfolk are second class citizens isnt a standard.

It varies based on tribe, auspice, personality, etc.

Some tribes, garou, auspices might argue that the litany only requires them do certain things but doesn't inherently make them in charge. "Cleaving to the mortal world" doesn't mean to treat kinfolk like baby farms who dont count, but could also mean to cleave to their wisdom and respect them for their burden to be the parents of children who they will inevitably have to see go off to fight with a life expectancy of less than 10 years post-change.

W:tA, like all WoD, is subject to the whims and interpretation of the people who play it, but nowhere in the books does it state these things to be standards.

It is absolutely possible that a pack could bind around a Kinfolk as the heart and soul of their pack.

I imagine the Tribes most likely to treat Kinfolk as 2nd class to be: Get of Fenris, Shadow Lords, Red Talons, Silver Fangs, and maybe Uktena

But could I see Wendigo, Black Furies, Children of Gaia, and Glass Walkers honoring their kinfolk at higher levels? Totally.

Red Talons don't have human kinfolk, that survive...

[Ghost]

@Seamus said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

@Ghost said in Anyone kind enough to help me with oWoD?:

I'll poke in here and note that whether or not Kinfolk are second class citizens isnt a standard.

It varies based on tribe, auspice, personality, etc.

Some tribes, garou, auspices might argue that the litany only requires them do certain things but doesn't inherently make them in charge. "Cleaving to the mortal world" doesn't mean to treat kinfolk like baby farms who dont count, but could also mean to cleave to their wisdom and respect them for their burden to be the parents of children who they will inevitably have to see go off to fight with a life expectancy of less than 10 years post-change.

W:tA, like all WoD, is subject to the whims and interpretation of the people who play it, but nowhere in the books does it state these things to be standards.

It is absolutely possible that a pack could bind around a Kinfolk as the heart and soul of their pack.

I imagine the Tribes most likely to treat Kinfolk as 2nd class to be: Get of Fenris, Shadow Lords, Red Talons, Silver Fangs, and maybe Uktena

But could I see Wendigo, Black Furies, Children of Gaia, and Glass Walkers honoring their kinfolk at higher levels? Totally.

Red Talons don't have human kinfolk, that survive...

Right, but even their lupine kinfolk are litter machines