Allow me to preface this by saying that these are my opinions, but not necissarily my ideas. What I mean is that some of this material is, in all likelyhood, included in some other Werewolf book. It is merely posted here for the sake of completeness. For some things, I honestly don't know. If you have problems and/or suggestions, you can easily email me at [email protected]. Just so we're clear on that.

Anyway, though...

�Ok, some basic stuff. Fact of life: Werewolf� tends to be violent. If you don't think you can handle this, don't even play. Like I said, it's a fact of life.

�Being a basically violent game, it is generally advisable to describe what is happening. To the finest detail practical. Give what is needed, so the players know what's going on. This does mean graphic descriptions of gore. Again, deal with it.

�This is by no means an absolute ruling, that you have to decribe every detail of the fomor's intestines as they spill from his abdemon. Nor does it mean that absolutely MUST describe things gorily in order to have a good adventure.

�A good plot is always a good thing. Without a good plot, stories tend to fail and die horrible, painful deaths at the hand of the players' ingenuity.

Ok, that WAS pretty basic. But what about the central ideas behind Werewolf? Fine. Here they are, as I see them, influenced, of course, about what I have read.

�Firstly, the whole concept of violence being an intrinsic to Garou existence. On many levels, it IS. While not something to be enjoyed by the general populace (The Get of Fenris being notable exceptions), it is a cruel necessity.

�Anger. The presence of Rage as a trait gives some insight into what goes on with Werewolves on the whole. In many ways, Werewolves rely on rage, although it can be a crippling disadvantage in a social setting. Frenzy, for example, can cause the death of packmates. Shape-shifting is not without a price.

�Heroism. Despite the many flaws of the Garou, they are often called upon to be heroic in many ways. They have a final enemy against whom they are bound to lose, but that doesn't mean they can't fight. They believe in their cause. The last segment of this is that they are expected to do the right thing. Every time. They don't often get second chances.