Werewolf Apocalypse

[SheikhJahbooty]

Not werewolf THE apocalypse.

I'm thinking about a werewolf apocalypse the way one would have a robot apocalypse or a zombie apocalypse or a vampire apocalypse.

I haven't decided anything else about it yet. Oh wait. I have decided that it should be absolutely insane, like people should not be able to trust their own perceptions or conclusions or something, partially because I want them to be "lunatics" and thus keep with the theme, partially because I can't think of any other way people would not address the werewolf problem during the day, partially because I really liked how the threat of insanity played out in movies like Pandorum or The Signal and in RPGs like Living Steel, and partially because the prototype for the werewolf seems to be the ancient Greek goddess Lyssa, who was a goddess of madness and wore a wolf's head on her head.

I can't think of any movies that address the concept of werewolf apocalypse, but I'm thinking that there has to be at least one novel or short story or something. I can't be the first person who's ever thought of this.

When I say I haven't decided anything else about it, I really mean, I haven't decided anything. Will it be a RPG? Will it be a novel or short story? Will it be a script? Will it be our current society falling to a werewolf apocalypse (maybe something about how we can save the lives of people that would have otherwise died, so this time there is an outbreak of werewolfism, it spreads because we can save the victims of werewolf attacks, and thus... the apocalypse)? Will it be some fantasy world or anachronistic apocalypse (In ancient Atlantis, Lyssa infects Zeus and Posidon with her madness, thus allowing her rabid "followers" to spread unchecked, which is the real reason behind the downfall of that great civilization)? Will it be some futuristic or cyberpunk apocalypse (nanites meant to treat rabies in dogs malfunction and cross into human species causing insanity and intermittent changes in canine forms)?

I just really think this needs to be some sort of intellectual property somewhere, and I'm kind of hoping that I'm not the first one to try it, but don't stress if you guys can't come up with an example of werewolf apocalypse. Even if this is the first, I'll see if I can produce something.

[vulpinoid]

I could see this working a few ways...

....and just reading it has inspired some ideas about how I could offer details for how things went wrong in my own "Walkabout" setting...(I'm thinking that when the spirits went mad in my setting they could have possessed humans, attuning themselves to the animals natures most strongly resonating with the hosts...then all it would take is a catalyst/bite to push the host into a flux state where they shift between a human and animal form. Everyone is tainted in this manner, and those who struggle to keep the old civilisation alive have a wide range of superstitions to ward off the beasts...it's a nice twist of irony that the technologists fall back on quasi-scientific superstitions while the beastmen just embrace their new life and get on with things.)

In general though, most examples of the werewolf myth have most victims dying, while only the rare survivors manage to carry on the "curse". Most tales of zombies have them spawning new young from their mortal victims regardless of life or death...in fact, failing to survive a zombie attack means that you WILL become a zombie. Thus there is a higher transmission rate of the disease/virus/curse. Vampires (depending on the myth) will spawn young just as easily, or wil conduct specific ritual preparations to create children. Either way, the transmission rate of this effect is usually a conscious decision...

Lycanthropy is wild. Either inherited (typicaly through recessive genes) or by being the very lucky survivor of an attack that is usually lethal.

Still, I'm sick of f%*king vampires (and fallen angels masquerading as vampires)....bring on the beast.

[kumakami]

I too have thought of this...if you get somewhere with this I will be most interested on seeing it

[Rob Lang]

I've not heard of anything approaching an apocalypse and it certainly is an interesting prospect.

I would think about what part the players would have if it were an RPG. If werewolves had taken over the planet, would humans be treated like cattle? Would there be a resistance movement? Was the apocalypse recent? If not, then humanity might just assume that they had always been cattle.

Perhaps the werewolves are worse than humans at looking after their food supply and all mammals are dead - leaving the werewolves to feed off a few surviving humans and rats etc. Perhaps there are no humans left? Although I think there should be some left to provide a much needed contrast.

[SheikhJahbooty]

How about this?

The apocalypse happened a while ago.

I'm thinking actual werewolves, not Underworld/World of Darkness werewolves. The werewolves lack the presence of mind to treat humans as cattle. If you were paranoid, half starved, sleep deprived, and not sure whether or not you are a werewolf, how much of a resistance movement would you be able to mount?

I really like that the werewolf plague would have caused the extinction of much of the prey animals. And then paranoia and insanity would make other sorts of cultivation difficult at best. Meat would be rare, and bread almost as rare. Most food would be wild fruit, berries, nuts. Not too rough if you stop to look around. My apartment complex in Atlanta was literally in a grove of pecan trees. Here in New Jersey, I can find raspberry and blackberry vines within 100 yards of where I am currently sitting, mulberry trees too.

Book of Eli + Living Steel + The Signal + American Werewolf in London.

So far I'm looking at, and , because I like the paranoia they inspire in players, that question of, "Is my character the enemy?" In my case, it would be, "Is my character a werewolf?" I'll probably reread .

I might go over Polaris and Dictionary of Mu. I'd really like to give players the freedom they get in Dictionary of Mu, that sense of "The world has been reduced to a desolate and horrible place. Go ahead and tear it all down, or maybe build it into something." I also like how in Polaris you can't escape death or defection. If the players do not change the world in amazing or terrible ways, then they will die or become werewolves (unless they are already werewolves, but too crazy to remember/ understand their situation).

When I consider writing a game about a horrible, Book of Eli-style, post-apocalyptic world, I keep coming back to , for sheer horribleness. And it might contribute a lot to the final product, when I think about a group of people trying to survive a winter with no meat, no bread, no cheese, only what fruit or nuts they had the presence of mind to dry or lay aside. Oh and every night they sleep fitfully, hoping that the others are indeed lying in their bedrolls as well (and not out hunting people, if not as a werewolf, then as a desperate cannibal), until that night the wolves come, wake them, separate them, chase them, and when they are alone in the snow, eat them.

[misterecho]

it would be a cool game. I shudder at the thought of having to play it! There really is no way for the characters to "win" or succeed. The world is screwed, it's now your turn to try and make a mark before you die.

[vulpinoid]

I had a long discussion with my wife about this subject since my last post.

Here's what we came up with as a plausible situation in which a Werewolf apocalypse might occur.

1. Predisposition toward Lycanthropy is genetic but it takes a trigger condition to activate. If you don't have the genetic markers and you get attacked by a werewolf, you die. If you have the genetic markers, you transform on the next full moon (due to magnetic flux, tidal shift, or something deeper and metaphysical that hasn't been uncovered by modern science).

2. Lycanthropes are hugely fertile. They are an embodiment of primal urges and instinctive predators of a physical and sexual nature.

3. Over the course of the last few centuries,the werewolves have taken a careful back seat to history. They have let the mythology of vampires keep alive (since this keeps their ancient enemies in check), but they've avoided to spotlight. Members have signed lifelong pacts to avoid attacking anyone. But that hasn't stopped their rampant sex.

4. Usually the genetic heritage is triggered by bodily fluid contact with a full fledged werewolf/lycanthrope, a claw swipe, a bite, etc...

5. A renegade werewolf/lycanthrope scientist figures that the genetic heritage of the lycanthropes has hit a critical mass in the world (maybe 50% of the world has now been born with the lycanthropic genetic heritage). He (or she) develops a biochemical weapon that disperses a cloud of werewolf DNA (rather than a typical anthrax dispersement, or other biological agent). When this weapon is fired off, the authorities think it has misfired, after all, there are no immediately obvious signs for days/weeks.

6. When the next full moon rises...all hell breaks loose. Those who have suddenly turned without any training are unable to control the urges coursing through their veins...those who have been a part of the ancient secret societies of lycanthropy are able to harness their new powers and become the new priests of a bestial age.

That's how we'd run the timeline anyway.

[SheikhJahbooty]

Man, I'm really liking the Atlantis thingie, Lyssa infects the other gods with her madness, and Poseidon in a fit of insanity sinks the whole shebang. I think that's a story though, or series of stories.

You guys seem to like the modern or even slightly sci-fi business. I have to admit, it would make for a better game. I've been trying to think of ways that the game would work, such that it would be in the players' hands how crazy their character is, and that it would be dangerous, kind of like pushing too much if you're playing , risking those Karbon points, thus risking actually being a clone. I've also been looking at Don't Rest Your Head. Maybe I could use dice pools or card spreads and if your madness comes up with certain results that is bad, but it could also add success. Ideally, the bad value for one's madness to come up would be tied to the phase of the moon, but the whole full moon thingie is more of a modern addition to the werewolf myth, so I'm not married to that.

Here's something I'm thinking of that might be interesting. Recently my friends and I played , and in that game, characters advance by making discoveries. So what I'm thinking is that characters in my werewolf game should advance my building things, gathering together a group of survivors, fortifying their home, planting crops, etc. and in situations in which that matters, it is worth a bonus, but... if the character ever needs a huge bonus, the player can "reveal" that one of the character's previous accomplishments is in fact delusional. The character never did that. That is just a symptom of the character's madness, kind of like buying off a key in .

That way, when Chris Eccleston is threatening to gang rape half the party with his military boys, one of the PCs can cash in on a huge reservoir of crazy, rage out, and tear through the villains like they're tissue paper. If it's the wrong phase of the moon the PC might even tip the crazy scale into werewolf (quick flashback scene of surviving a werewolf attack, didn't remember that?, oh yeah... crazy!), and risk tearing through the PCs as well.

What do you think? I think selling one's accomplishments as delusional starts to get at the feel of films like Pandorum or The Signal, where you can't quite be sure of the reliability of even the audience's point of view, that twist where the audience says, "Really, so what was he doing when he thought he was setting up a farm? OMG, what was he eating when he thought he was eating bread?!"

Plus, by measuring character advancement in "accomplishments" anything that works against entropy and the apocalypse, the players are given a concrete sense of, "I can and need to change this world, or it will eat me."

Right now the only problem that I see to work out is sharing accomplishments. How will it work when two or more characters share an accomplishment and one character wants to reveal that he never did that? It's a delusion. Maybe all the characters are forced to sell it off as delusional, or maybe the one character can sell it off as he really didn't take part in that accomplishment, but he imagined he did whereas the others actually did do that? I'm still thinking.

And there might be more problems that come up as I mull it over.

As for what the werewolves actually are in the setting, makes me think some sort of myth fusion may be in order. The problem is finding a North American word for shape changing monster/witch that I can use. The Navaho word is too long and difficult to pronounce. The Nahuatl word is "nagual" and people can say that but it might confuse some people who know the word from Carlos Casteneda's books. The Hopi word is "powaqa", which might work. The North American stories associate these beings with blight, crazy, and attacks (fatal and non-fatal), but it is a condition that requires effort to attain (an initiation that involves killing a close relative and in some stories, eating them). So like how coywolves are as bold as coyotes and a communal as wolves, in this game, the monsters could be all the crazy and blight of powaqas but as infectious as European werewolves.