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MonkeySage
2015-08-16, 11:28 PM
A friend of mine has his game set on the moons of a gas giant, and this has me wondering how lycanthropy might work. The moons have a day night cycle comparable to Earth

Geddy2112
2015-08-16, 11:47 PM
Well, Lycanthropy on earth is triggered by a full moon. If the humanoids are on the moon, the reverse may be true-when the planet would see a full moon the lycanthropy takes effect. You could have it based on orbit-perhaps the moon is unusually close/far from the planet once a month or so, triggering a lycanthropic event.

Reltzik
2015-08-16, 11:59 PM
Dude, it's magic. The only rules we have for it assume a single bright moon going through phases. If you're in another situation, extend the rules however you like. We can brainstorm options but we can't say definitively what is and isn't true about it.

That said, here's some options.

Phases of the gas giant.

Can you have a smaller moon orbiting the moon and base it on that moon-moon's phases? If it's much closer to the moon than the gas giant, its orbit might be pretty stable. .... which implies why this isn't physically very pluausible, and why we don't have a term for "a moon of a moon".

Phases of another moon (even larger and brighter) orbiting the gas giant.

Some feature of the gas giant, akin to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. When it lines up directly with your moon, lycanthropy kicks in.

ArkenBrony
2015-08-17, 12:40 AM
One idea is that you could keep it synced up with earths moon, giving a 28ish day cycle that seems out of sync. maybe not a great idea but i think it might be interesting

Nifft
2015-08-17, 01:15 AM
A friend of mine has his game set on the moons of a gas giant, and this has me wondering how lycanthropy might work. The moons have a day night cycle comparable to Earth

How many days does it take the moons to do a circuit around the gas giant? Do the moons happen to spend ~3 days in the planet's shadow?

(Obviously the exact times in shadow will vary by orbit, but if they're around 3-7 days then that's a reasonable trigger.)

Murk
2015-08-17, 04:19 AM
I wouldn't make it dependent on the sight of the moon. Our "full moon" is only a full moon because we see it completely - not because the moon actually changes shape.
Now, on earth that works fine. However, as we know, we only ever see one half of the moon (not the so-called "dark side"). That means that if you have a moon situation similar to ours (which seems the simplest), only half of your population will ever see the planet. This could mean only half of your population could undergo lycanthropic effects, which is cool, I guess, but it would be easier not to make the process sight-dependent.

Instead, I would indeed go for a certain spot on the planet turning about, the other moons or even other planets "lining up", the sun fully lightnening the moon for only a small period per month, or something else that isn't necessarily bound by you seeing the big planet.

Lvl 2 Expert
2015-08-17, 06:57 AM
However, as we know, we only ever see one half of the moon (not the so-called "dark side"). That means that if you have a moon situation similar to ours (which seems the simplest), only half of your population will ever see the planet.

Since the moon has a day-night cycle comparable to earth (for gameplay reasons) it either orbits the giant in a single day or it isn't tidally locked with the planet (always having the same face towards it).

The first scenario is going to put the moon pretty close to the surface, depending on the weight of the giant it may not even be possible, or at least unstable in the long run, but it would give a spectacular view at night, imaging the planet shining with an intensity that's about halfway between our moon and our sun (not literally half as bright as the sun, more logarithmically halfway, if you go by trying to perceive it rather than putting a number on it you'll end up in the right place). Lycanthropy could be cause by anything in say the weather cycle of the moon or planet, but if it has to be "set your clock to it" astronomy related like a full moon it might be an idea to have the planet spin almost as fast as the moon, with the side you see from the moon only slowly changing. Being right above the mysterious great storm/red spot/dark pit triggers lycanthropy.

The second option works a little better. The moon has a day-night cycle separate from its trip around the planet. If that second cycle last about as long as that of our moon, 28 days, that would probably lead to a planet that looks just a few times brighter than our full moon (although I'm really not sure of this, how did gravity, orbital periods and brightness link up again? Also, I'm assuming a sun about as bright as our sun, as seen from the moon), and has a cycle of visibility just like our moon does. Realistically this moon would probably end up tidally locked, but maybe the planet and moon are just younger than ours, and the moon is still in the process of slowing down. In this scenario it's perfectly workable to use a "full planet" for lycanthropy. On many full planet nights you will also be able to see the shadow of the moon tracking over the planet, but it's way too small to cause anything resembling a lunar eclipse.

A third option would be to put the moon further out still. The moons trip around the planet becomes longer than an earth month, and you'll need something else to trigger the lycanthropy (see the first option or all the stuff everyone else said), but at least you've avoided questions about tidal locking. Lycanthropy could at this point be based on a moon of a moon (very uncommon as far as I know, but not completely impossible if you're far enough out) of on another moon further towards the planet that has an orbital period shorter than our earth moon and keeps lapping the one you're on. It will not be brighter in the night sky than the planet, but it will still be clearly more visible than say Venus from Earth, and clearly not just another star.

Lord Torath
2015-08-17, 11:34 AM
How scientific are you going for this? You can work out orbital periods and such if you're so inclined. My first though was to have the werewolves come out when the moon is between the sun and the planet, so the planet is "full", although I also like the idea of it happening when the moon is in the planet's shadow (although that might be when the vampires come out instead).

Or you could have the moon carried in the mouth of a giant wolf that is walking along the edge of the plate that the gas giant rests on, which is wedged between the horns of a giant giraffe that is walking on the 'bottom' of the crystal sphere the planet is located in. And whenever the wolf exhales, all the were-creatures come out to play.

Joe the Rat
2015-08-17, 12:30 PM
My first thought would be for it to be based on the phases of another moon orbiting the giant.
Being on said moon means you're either 1) Beasted Out all the time, or 2) In complete control, as being away from the Lycan moon is what causes the instabilities of the curse.

You could even have multiple alternate moons, each governing a different wereform.

Strigon
2015-08-17, 12:53 PM
You could even have multiple alternate moons, each governing a different wereform.

Oooh, nice.
What about lining up celestial bodies?
If we're assuming an uninclined orbit, the moon, planet and star would line up roughly twice per orbit; maybe that triggers it? Or maybe 2 moons line up with the planet to trigger it?
This also leaves some wiggle room for big events (i.e., what happens if more moons line up at once? What happens when all the moons line up with the planet and the star?)

Nifft
2015-08-17, 12:58 PM
My first thought would be for it to be based on the phases of another moon orbiting the giant.
Being on said moon means you're either 1) Beasted Out all the time, or 2) In complete control, as being away from the Lycan moon is what causes the instabilities of the curse.

Nah.

The moon you're standing on is "full" (from the planet's perspective) when it crosses the planet's shadow.

That's half the reason why I suggested that period of time -- the creepy and unusual total darkness doesn't hurt, of course.

Ralanr
2015-08-17, 01:01 PM
Uhhh...perhaps they're stuck in their wereform?