In Short
Territories is a resource for Storytellers interested in fleshing out the all-important land werewolves have dedicated themselves to protect. Building a setting for a Chronicle can be a daunting task, but with the tools and suggestions found in Territories it becomes a lot easier. While this product has a Werewolf focus a lot of the suggestions and story hooks found within could be applied to any World of Darkness game.The biggest flaw of this product is Chapter 2, which reads more like a general introduction to Storytelling than a part of a book focused on Territories. Despite that, the other two chapters are so good they pick up any slack lost in the middle of the product. Example territories, useful places to put into any game, how territory is gained, lost, changed, and an otherwise complete description of everything that could be included in a setting. Information on how to get characters involved in their territory, how to build a territory with players at the start of a Chronicle, and how to otherwise make territory an important part of the game is presented.
The Physical Thing
This 142 page hardcover showcases average production quality. The formatting is good and makes for an easy to read product. The paper stock here seems to be of a lower quality than that found in some other White Wolf products, though it still feels sturdy. The art is of good quality all the way through, and maintains a creepy atmosphere very appropriate for this product. However, while most of the art is logically paired to the text many of the pieces are just general scene pieces. This works well at times, but there isn’t enough werewolf specific art.This product has no index or other easy way to reference information. However, as a 142 page product broken up into three toolkit-like chapters it is not difficult to find material.
The Ideas
In Werewolf: The Forsaken a major part of the game involves policing the territory a pack has taken. This product is focused around assisting a Storyteller with building and using that territory. At its core this is an idea book, a tool kit meant to remind Storytellers about what makes up a territory while providing many useful examples to make a territory come alive and serve the Chronicle. The toolkit aspect of the product is extremely helpful and retains a focus on Werewolf, though much of the information could be useful in other game lines. The product culminates in five well written example settings.
Under the Cover
Territories begins with a surprisingly enjoyable piece of setting fiction that illustrates the importance of territory and what can happen to those werewolves who don’t pay attention. A general introduction presents the content of this product.Chapter 1 Drawing Borders 38 pages.
As presented there are two major ways to design a territory. The first is Storyteller design where the Storyteller decides everything. In this case the book recommends that players should be able to spend Merit dots to add a location to the territory. So if a player really wants a nightclub, and the Storyteller did not include one, a Merit point may be spent to add it. The Merit point also results in the character having a strong connection with the nightclub, such as being an owner or well known regular. The other method, cooperative design, essentially involves all of the game participants sitting down and deciding what the territory looks like.
After that brief discussion the rest of the chapter is taken up by different types of territory descriptions. Each description is presented with a paragraph on how to create or destroy this area, what benefits and problems the area brings, the major resonance in the area, and interesting plot hooks that may develop. Here’s an example from the text:
Club or Bar
A bar or nightclub is a location serving alcohol and playing live or canned music. Some bars serve a full menu of food, others have nothing more than bar snacks, or no food at all. Most jurisdictions keep children under the legal drinking age (21 in the United States, 19 in Canada) from entering bars at all.
Creating: A corner bar is easy to open. Financially, it represents a few months worth of Resources *** investment. Bureaucratically, opening a corner bar requires a few months’ worth of weekly rolls to accumulate 15 successes to get the proper permits.
Eliminating: See “Destroying a Building,” above. In many jurisdictions, enough violence in the area around a club can get it shut down as a “nuisance bar.” Avoiding that fate requires regular Resources ** bribes and/or good Politics and Bureaucracy rolls.
Benefits (free-form): Packmembers who succeed in a Socialize roll can treat any bar in their territory as though they had the Barfly Merit (they can enter the bar without difficulty, regardless of the sort of establishment it might be). Clubs are excellent places to meet Contacts – subtract 1 experience point from the cost of buying or raising the Contacts Merit. Drunken patrons are easily seduced; werewolves receive +1 die to seduction attempts while in a bar.
Merit: **
Resonance: Passion, intoxication, music, lust.
Problems and Hooks: Predatory spirits of lust haunt a local bar, looking to Ride or Urge young people in the area. Drug dealing or other criminal activity happens quite openly at a particular tavern. The pack may have no moral objection to this activity, but it does attract gang activity and, later, the police.
Some entries can be modified up or down in Merit cost by adding benefits or flaws. If the bar sees a lot of Arcane traffic, apply the Arcane template. The Merit cost goes up by 1 and many mages and other folk interested in the occult hang out at the bar. If the bar is controlled by the Pure that subtracts two dice, as the bar is likely going to be a thorn in the side of the player characters for the campaign.
That’s the chapter in a nutshell. It’s very helpful in that it provides a lot of interesting example places to add to a pack’s territory, gives a general rules system for doing so, and assists a Storyteller in creating interesting plot hooks based around the pack’s territory. It’s an excellent chapter and could easily be used in other World of Darkness games to design a common section of a city or a small town.
Finally, those interested in new Merits, Rites, and Gifts will find them here. All told there are five pages worth, and for the most part they are very atmospheric. The new Territory Gift allows a werewolf to call upon her territory for aid, which results in the actual land attacking or otherwise impeding the werewolf’s enemies. The Merits and Rites also have a strong territory focus, giving bonuses to a werewolf while she is inside her territory.
Chapter 2 Mapping the Land 20 pages.
About half of this section is a very general presentation on concerns about territory and storytelling generally. The players and Storyteller should know the territory well, vampires and mages may live in the territory, a calendar might be useful in the Chronicle, etc. While some of the advice is good it often is either way too simple or just not focused around territory. At times this reads like the Storyteller section found in Werewolf: The Forsaken, and for that reason isn’t very helpful.
The chapter otherwise is a large collection of story hooks, essentially meant to either be an idea farm or a go to for Storytellers who want a random event on the fly. There are a few different categories to make it easy for a Storyteller to find what they want. Here’s an example:
* Glass-eyed woman touches a person; that person becomes glassy-eyed and walks on while woman blinks and starts crying in confusion. Variations: Woman touches character but all character feels is a sudden pressure in his head, crowd instinctively parts for glassy-eyed person.
The story hooks give just enough ideas to fire up a Storyteller’s mind, but at times they are so general as to be of little use.
Chapter 3 Lines in the Sand 70 pages.
This chapter presents three example territories, complete with NPCs, interesting locations, and background material. The writing is excellent, really evoking an interesting and unique mood for each entry. The only downside here is the lack of maps. While they are meant to be somewhat generic, even a generic map could have been a nice addition since these are otherwise ready to go locations.
Small Town: Hood River. Hood River represents a quiet, conservative rural community set out in the middle of nowhere. It is my favorite of the five settings, as the writer really does a good job with stressing the interconnectedness of the populace. I also especially liked that the older folk either know or have a general idea that there are werewolves around there and that they’re a part of the community. This is a great setting for any game that wants to have a small town feel, where everyone knows everyone else, and where the horrors in the night are always close to home.
The Forested Wilderness presents a true forest, with no remnant of civilization except occasional ranger patrols, wildlife specialists, and perhaps a few odd folk living in a cabin here and there. This territory really focuses on the horror of isolation, and presents many more spirit NPCs than humans. It’s a neat setting and definitely evokes different images and game themes than the others. Allies may mean a lot more here since the characters are so cut off, and an unexpected interloper (perhaps a Pure pack) could shift the power of balance so dramatically that the characters have little choice but to run or hide.
The City Block is likely the blandest of the five territories, but that may be more due to a reader’s knowledge than the actual presentation. It is as a reader would expect, the best part being the discussion of spirits and how they may behave in a city setting like this. Example locations are presented, complete with resonance and a discussion of the sorts of spirits they are likely to attract. Combined with the rest of the product, this chapter does a good job of further fleshing out a city setting.
Suburbia discusses how the themes of the game may change when the werewolves are taking a suburb as their territory. One interesting suggestion is to play up the theme of the werewolves themselves being monsters, and to use the suburb as a looking glass to reflect their own bestial nature. There are a lot of good ideas presented, surprisingly enough. Suburbs tend to have few animals, but have lots of those animals. Dog, cat, deer, rabbit, opossum, and raccoon spirits may all be exceptionally strong in a suburb. It’s even possible that some spirits of the animals wiped out to create the suburb still linger, providing an excellent antagonist to work against.
War Zone: The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument presents a monument on the edge of the United States / Mexico border. This territory doesn’t really serve as an example territory so much as a potential game setting. The territory is unique, with a focus on the pain spirits and general nastiness created due to illegal immigrants crossing over into the United States. However, there’s a lot more going on which ultimately makes this a very dangerous, violent setting no doubt meant for a lot more werewolf vs. everything combat.
These territories are well written and a treat to read, each with NPCs and locations that really speak to the territory’s theme. A discussion of how to expand the territory from what is presented (as in conquer and hold more territory) is presented as well.
My Take
With the exception of some of the more general discussion in Chapter 2 this product does an excellent job of holding to the theme of creating and using Territories for Werewolf: The Forsaken. While a lot of the advice is generally useful for any campaign, there is a strong Werewolf focus throughout the book. This book is going to be most useful to a Storyteller who wants to build a moderately detailed territory with their players at the start of a campaign, and to that end it does the job admirably. However, for someone who already has a specific location in mind (complete with maps or strong knowledge of the area) there is a lot less to be taken from this product. While many of the minor mechanical tweaks, story hooks, and ideas involving spirits would still be useful there is no need for a lot of the discussion presented here.If I get the opportunity to run W:tF again I will definitely be using this product at the start of the campaign. I think that doing a collaborative territory design will help integrate the characters into the setting while also providing character ideas for other players. “Can there be a bar? I want to run the bar!” However, once the game is in full swing and we know what is in the territory I suspect this product will very rarely be taken off the shelf. The plot hooks, NPCs, and general story ideas are great for when a Storyteller needs a kick in the right direction but are not sufficient to make this a commonly referenced book.
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