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View Full Version : Hinting at the possibility of a werewolf: advice needed.



Isamu Dyson
2013-12-12, 02:29 AM
What signs can I leave, in a forest, that something beyond merely your average wolf inhabits it?

More specifically, I want the players to get the sense that something is amiss, but not clue them in too early as to what exactly is hiding within the woods.

Rhynn
2013-12-12, 02:55 AM
Unusual amounts of dead animals, many of them untouched by predator or scavenger.

erikun
2013-12-12, 02:56 AM
Pretty much anything that points to wolves and unnaturalness will tip people off that there's something more than just a wolf pack running around. Claw marks on trees, dead and half-eaten animals, slain travellers that have been bit and ripped apart, and other things that give the "attacked by a wolf" signs but make no sense for a wolf to actually do.

If we're talking about D&D, though, there are a number of other "evil for the sake of evil" intelligent wolves, such as wargs and winter wolves, who could've done the same thing.

Other indicators could be markings at indicate something standing upright to make them. Claw marks on the bark of a tree, at waist or chest height, would obviously not be made by a pack of wolves. People killed and hung up in trees. Claw marks on the sides of trees or houses, where it is clear that something actually climbed up.

And as usual, I would recommend leaving several more obvious clues, typically in the form of individuals the PCs can talk to which would hint at werewolves being involved. That's becaue players tend to be remarkably oblivious (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule) and will probably think the hints indicate owlbear wizards or something just as remarkably moronic. If you throw in all the forest clues about werewolves and have some crazy old guy in town ranting about how he noticed that Sir Jackel has a sudden aversion to touching silver coin, then the players will probably still be hunting owlbears but bring the silvered swords "just in case".

Rakaydos
2013-12-12, 02:56 AM
Not enough tracks for a (4 legged) wolf.

Rhynn
2013-12-12, 03:00 AM
That's becaue players tend to be remarkably oblivious (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule) and will probably think the hints indicate owlbear wizards or something just as remarkably moronic.

I've actually found the reverse in this specific case: experienced (D&D) players dealing with clues of (typical D&D) monsters.

I've seriously had this happen at a table: "You enter a cave filled with rubble --" "A bulette!" "... yeah, a bulette bursts out from the floor. Up yours."

Hinting at familiar monsters without giving away what they are is pretty much impossible, in my experience. The second players encounter life-like statues, they're gonna be blindfolding themselves and getting their mirrors out. (Of course, this can be used for fake-outs: sorry, it's just a demon that obsessively carves life-like statues!)

erikun
2013-12-12, 03:07 AM
I've actually found the reverse in this specific case: experienced (D&D) players dealing with clues of (typical D&D) monsters.

I've seriously had this happen at a table: "You enter a cave filled with rubble --" "A bulette!" "... yeah, a bulette bursts out from the floor. Up yours."

Hinting at familiar monsters without giving away what they are is pretty much impossible, in my experience. The second players encounter life-like statues, they're gonna be blindfolding themselves and getting their mirrors out. (Of course, this can be used for fake-outs: sorry, it's just a demon that obsessively carves life-like statues!)
I guess it depends on what players you have at the table.

I was assuming something similar to a base World of Darkness game, where the mortals would need to puzzle out that there is a werewolf in town and prepare themselves correctly or be horrendously murdered on sight. (and possibly horrendously murdered anyways)

If the goal is to surprised your experienced D&D party, then yes, just the most basic clue should be sufficient. Something senselessly attacking and killing things, not for food or defending territory (as a wild animal might), and some chest-height markings from a wolf will indicate an unnatural bipedial lupine. From there, it's pretty clear what you're dealing with... although the players would need to recognize the clues for what they are.

holywhippet
2013-12-12, 03:32 AM
Subtle:
- A pack of rabbits dash past the party seemingly afraid of something behind them. If the party checks the direction they came from they find a blood stain and nothing more.
- Signs with a warning symbol are posted around the forest
- Unnatural silence in part of the forest as even the birds have fled

Blatant:
- During the night the party/person on watch hears some wolves howling, then hears another howl that is a lot louder and more powerful
- The party sees wolves watching them from a distance before slinking off

Clue-by-four:
- They find a dead adventurer with a note offering 500 gold if he "kills the beast", he is armed with a silvered sword and silver crossbow bolts.
- The party spots some animal tracks that seem to shift as they go until they become humanoid tracks

GungHo
2013-12-12, 10:05 AM
Mangled corpses with bites/scratch marks that are too large for the wolves commonly in the area (assuming no dire wolves around).

Erikun's idea about an unusual amount of intelligence in a wolf attack would be a good idea. Like someone who was attacked in a cabin and ripped apart by some animal... but the doors were closed/secured. How/why did a wolf enter through a skylight... or how did a wolf close the door behind them... that kind of thing.

If the werewolf has powers over other wolves, wolf attacks could become strangely organized. Only happened at certain hours... always fled before rescue arrived... corpses dragged to altars that look like wolf-men.

Maybe there's a natural growth of wolfsbane or veins of silver/silversmith's shop that the wolf attacks always avoid.

CarpeGuitarrem
2013-12-12, 12:23 PM
Yeah, when it comes to very traditional monsters--leaving hints of "wolf" is a dead giveaway. They're going to jump straight to WEREWOLVES when they see wolf tracks about.

So find another supernatural that might fit the pattern, and selectively choose your hints accordingly. It can also help you cast them in a non-stereotypical fashion. Maybe there's an angry werewolf pack that burns down houses in the night, and then shifts and catches/eats people when they run out of the houses. One of them has a screeching roar--it's a speech impediment.

The PCs get the following clues: claw-slashes, eaten people, scorch marks everywhere, and witnesses who heard a screeching cry. Oh hey, something's obviously up, but it's not obviously werewolves. (It's actually obviously something else....)

Then, you find opportunities to drop clues that something else is going on.

Lord Vukodlak
2013-12-12, 07:03 PM
If you really want to do a twist, give them the clues that yeah there's a werewolf lurking around attacking people but what if... he's not the bad guy.

So here's the scenario over the past few weeks children started disappearing from the villages in the area. Then townsfolk and travelers started showing up dead having been savaged by some creature. The clues from the dead do lead the party to conclude a werewolf is responsible.... but he's not the bad guy.

One of the children taken was the Werewolf's own child. The people the lycanthrope killed were involved in the abductions. (identified by scent). Maybe the abductors are cultists maybe slavers etc.

ngilop
2013-12-12, 07:10 PM
This is one of those times that the Tracka bility comes in very very handy.

THe PCs see a grisly scene carcasses tore up, rip up /whatever. but nothing really.. eaten so to speak


QUE PC with track.. suddenly he finds that teh bear/wolf/whatever tracsk go from animal to human with a very drastic change.


extra points if you have a totally innocent NPC druid whos fave wildshape form is of the same animal points LOL

thats how me and a couple fo my friends got tripped up.

veti
2013-12-12, 07:31 PM
I don't know how much descriptive text/scene-setting you habitually use, but...

... anytime someone mentions the herbs "belladonna" or "wolfsbane" (or "aconite", to be marginally less blatant), I just know there's a werewolf waiting somewhere in the wings to make its entrance.

Fiery Diamond
2013-12-12, 11:07 PM
If you really want to do a twist, give them the clues that yeah there's a werewolf lurking around attacking people but what if... he's not the bad guy.

So here's the scenario over the past few weeks children started disappearing from the villages in the area. Then townsfolk and travelers started showing up dead having been savaged by some creature. The clues from the dead do lead the party to conclude a werewolf is responsible.... but he's not the bad guy.

One of the children taken was the Werewolf's own child. The people the lycanthrope killed were involved in the abductions. (identified by scent). Maybe the abductors are cultists maybe slavers etc.

I like that idea.

BeerMug Paladin
2013-12-13, 04:55 AM
Imagine finding the bodies of slain warriors, dressed in armors and travel garb. They are geared for travel, with medical bandages and supplies but oddly, not a single one of them is equipped with a weapon of any kind. The bodies are fresh, perhaps less than an hour dead. If the party has access to Speak With Dead, their tongues are missing as well.

Unbeknownst to the players, they were a werewolf hunting party, and were slain. Their silvered weapons were taken so they could be hidden away and not used against the werewolf in the future. All their other gear was uninteresting, so it was not looted by the werewolf, because disposing of the silvered weapons was a high priority.

If the area was recently inhabited by the werewolf, the party could come across small areas throughout where the scrub was burned away, obviously on purpose, the werewolf starting fires to get rid of wolfbane. Not that there's enough of the plant to really identify it. The fires were thorough.

If the werewolf has been there a while, there could be no wildlife activity in the whole area. Birds are quiet, no crickets at night, and the place is suffused by an eerie calm. Perhaps a deer or some other creature comes across the area, and suddenly stops to skirt around it.

If the werewolf has been there a long time, the territory could be dotted with mundane, old pikes surmounted with skulls on top. A warning to outsiders to keep out.

Berenger
2013-12-13, 07:42 AM
The sturdy cabin of a charcoal burner: the family inside is clearly slain by wolfes, but the cabin shows signs of having been besieged by a more cunning enemy (for example burning marks on the outside, a rolled-up blanket in the chimney to smother the inhabitants in smoke, the windows have arrowslits and the charcoal burners body has a crossbow in its cold, dead hands which obviously did not suffice to defend him...).

CarpeGuitarrem
2013-12-13, 09:52 AM
Imagine finding the bodies of slain warriors, dressed in armors and travel garb. They are geared for travel, with medical bandages and supplies but oddly, not a single one of them is equipped with a weapon of any kind. The bodies are fresh, perhaps less than an hour dead. If the party has access to Speak With Dead, their tongues are missing as well.

Unbeknownst to the players, they were a werewolf hunting party, and were slain. Their silvered weapons were taken so they could be hidden away and not used against the werewolf in the future. All their other gear was uninteresting, so it was not looted by the werewolf, because disposing of the silvered weapons was a high priority.

If the area was recently inhabited by the werewolf, the party could come across small areas throughout where the scrub was burned away, obviously on purpose, the werewolf starting fires to get rid of wolfbane. Not that there's enough of the plant to really identify it. The fires were thorough.

If the werewolf has been there a while, there could be no wildlife activity in the whole area. Birds are quiet, no crickets at night, and the place is suffused by an eerie calm. Perhaps a deer or some other creature comes across the area, and suddenly stops to skirt around it.

If the werewolf has been there a long time, the territory could be dotted with mundane, old pikes surmounted with skulls on top. A warning to outsiders to keep out.
I like all of this. Enough indication that something's awry, and if they dig deeper, they can find clues that it was a werewolf. (For instance, "The fire? There were some herbs in those places...rosemary, bloodroot, wolfsbane...")