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In Short

The Good: A large variety of mechanical options aid players in customizing their werecreature. New types of werecreatures are readily inferred from the existing templates. Fans of the environmental focus of Werewolf: The Apocalypse may find that this product reminds them of an old favorite.

The Bad: There is no real purpose behind these supernatural creatures other than “humans bad.” The writing is boring to read and often feels padded, with a large volume of text often offering little useful information. The werecreatures here lack the wonder of the older Changing Breeds books.

The Physical Thing

Under the Cover

Focusing solely on setting material, this chapter is easily the worst part of the book. The primary goal here is to provide setting material and motivation for groups playing these werecreatures. Unfortunately, the execution even beyond the long winded writing just doesn’t cut it. In summary, these are very animal-like people who need to balance the world between humanity and animals. Humanity tends to be cast as the villain that needs to once again be put in check, and the werecreatures are the only ones able to do it.

There’s a little more than just that, of course, and those familiar with any of the various Werewolf incarnations will find it instantly recognizable. For example, the chapter talks about the humans who interact with these beings and become a support mechanism for them. Roleplay considerations for being a half-beast, from sense changes to behavioral shifts are also included. On the whole, however, the best that can be said of this material is that it provides some good things to keep in mind while playing a half animal character. Unfortunately, almost all of this information is very intuitive and I doubt many readers will benefit from this section.

Chapter Two Building the Perfect Beast - 64 pages.
Chapter Three The Breeds Beneath Our Skins - 86 pages.

Initial character creation is the same as standard World of Darkness mortals until the Feral Template is applied. The Template provides a variety of immediate changes. The Feral can shapeshift into an animal form, a hybrid form, and a war form. Natural healing is highly accelerated, the character develops a severe allergy to silver, and humans who witness the Feral in certain forms suffer from the Delusion which tends to disperse memories of the encounter.

In addition to the basics of the Feral template, these characters gain additional advantages based on what sort of animal they are. Bastet (cats), Land Titans (elephants, rhinos), Laughing Strangers (foxes, hyena), The Pack (dogs), Royal Apes, Spinner-Kin, Wind-Runners (elk, horses), and Wing-Folk (birds). Within each of these categories the character chooses a specific animal, such as Hyena for the Laughing Strangers. Each of these has unique stat modifications in different forms and has unique Favors.

A few more notes before we move on to Favors and Aspects, the real guts of the mechanical options here. A character also selects an Accord, which is a general disposition towards the world. Accord grants three Specializations to reflect this fact. Accord also determines a character’s starting Respect which is a measure of how she is perceived within were-creature society. Respect comes in five categories – Cleverness, Ferocity, Insight, Loyalty, and Passion – and can be used to track how were society views the character.

Instead of Morality Ferals make use of Harmony, which reflects the balance between their animal and human halves. Essence is based off this trait, with Essence representing a sort of energy pool that can be tapped by certain Feral abilities. Regenerating a lethal health level for a mere 1 Essence is pretty amazing. As for Harmony, maintaining Harmony is the core theme of Ferals, and the game generally.

This leaves Favors and Aspects. Favors are included as part of the package deal for the various Feral types. These abilities include things like Extra Limbs, Many Legged, Darksight, and similar abilities that are inherent to many animals. They’re presented individually so that players who want to construct their own creatures can do so.

Aspects are a little more open to player customization regardless of character type. These abilities allow for animal magic, legends attached to certain animals (a cat’s nine lives), venom, totem guardians, and various other powers. They’re very comprehensive while also allowing for some uniqueness such that most players will easily be able to realize whatever character they have in mind while also being inspired by abilities that are more than just generic powers. For a little more detail see my example character below.

On the whole the level of customization here is just right. While I find the theme of the product and supporting setting to be uninspired, the mechanical implementation is just fine and will work well for most groups.

Chapter 2 focuses on more of the mechanics and abilities while Chapter 3 introduces the various shifter groups. I was a little disappointed to see that old favorites from the original World of Darkness return only in generic form at best. While there are were-bears and were-ravens, they lack the heart of the old Changing Breeds series. That said, there is still some worthwhile flavor here and those looking for a bit of cultural inspiration may leave with at least a few ideas. Still, this is a product you need to come to with preexisting ideas.

Chapter Four Faces in the Smoke - 9 pages.

The very few example NPCs here at least serve to bring the product together by showing completed characters. However, six NPCs is awfully skimpy support and I’m a little surprised a nine page NPC chapter made it in here at all. These could be added to some games with ease, which does make them a useful GM resource at least.

Speaking of example NPCs, let’s build one.

Example: I’m building Aleesha Danvers, a young woman who chose to follow her father and become a firefighter after she lost a basketball scholarship. She had always been stubborn and hard working, but any observer would simply have pinned that on a family trait. The reality of the situation is that she is one of the Mhole-Rho, were-elephants, and those traits have only recently begun to emerge. I leave her WoD stats to your imagination. Let’s walk through her abilities as a Feral. For being a Mhole-Rho she has the Breed Favors Extra Limb (trunk), Fang and Claw (tusks, 3L), and Size 15. In War-Beast form she gains +4 Strength, +4 Stamina, -3 Manipulation, Size 8, Health +12, and Speed +5. Her starting Harmony of 7 means that she will have to make degeneration checks for anything worse than disrespecting nature or theft. Harmony 7 also sets Essence at 7 which gives her potent combat potential even without any other abilities, thanks to the Feral’s inherent ability to instantly heal with Essence and use it for various other effects. Her Feral Heart score, an attribute that measures how, well, feral the character is, determines how many essence can be used in a term, social penalties, and Attribute/Skill max. Aspects give her more unique abilities, and I have seven points to spend on items from the list. Durga’s Blessing, a 3 dot ability, allows Aleesha to heal aggravated damage with her Essence expenditures, a kick butt power for a firefighter. My other four points go into Natural Armor, reflecting the elephant’s thick hide. This buys bulletproof armor of 3/2, not bad at all. As for unique Merits, the only one included here that fits particularly well is Animal Companion. A smart bird that helps my character will cost 2 points and doesn’t stray too far from the elephant theme. Finally, my character’s Accord will determine her general disposition and influence her starting Respect. I go with Den-Warder, the Accord focused on nurturing and protecting the world. That fits well with both the firefighter background and the way I envision her elephant aspect. This Aspect provides her with 1 point in Loyalty, one of the five Respect categories, and my other two points go to further increasing Loyalty to 2 and placing a point into Insight.

My Take

If you want interesting setting material, fiction, creative ideas, or any of the other features found in RPGs beyond raw mechanics then I suggest passing on Changing Breeds. The execution feels half baked and is far from inspiring, and the sorts of creative ideas so commonly found in many other White Wolf products are simply lacking here.

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