The first actual new FF book published (well, there's Bloodbones, but it was technically written a long time ago and more like Jonathan Green's older works) by Wizard Books, Howl of the Werewolf has gotten good critical reviews and generally considered a good start to FF's apparent revival (which unfortunately seems to have died off since Blood of the Zombies). How would it fare in a single playthrough? Here's where we can find out!
Back cover blurb:
Surprisingly for a Jonathan Green book, there actually isn't a lot of new rules/mechanisms listed at the beginning - only one new stat to keep track of: CHANGE. But before we get to that, let's get the Standard FF Boilerplate Rules out of the way:Lupravia is a cursed land; a chill place of snow-capped mountains, brooding forests and mist-shrouded moors, haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. Only the foolhardy or insane would enter that benighted realm of predators.
But enter you must, after a vicious wolf attack sets you on the path to murder and madness. Steadily succumbing to the beast within, YOU must seek out a cure to your condition before the next full moon. But how long can you survive in a land where all live in fear of the Howl of the Werewolf?
Skill, Stamina, & Luck
STAMINA score: Roll two dice. Add 12 points to the result. We roll a 2+1 (!) and get 15
LUCK score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result. We roll a 6 and get 12
SKILL score reflects your expertise in combat, your ability with weapons, and your dexterity. STAMINA is your general constitution and "Life points" . LUCK score shows how lucky you are. None of them may exceed their Initial score unless specifically stated.
Eating a meal restores up to 4 points of STAMINA; you may only eat one meal at a time.
Testing your Luck: When instructed by the book to Test your Luck, roll two dice. If the result is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you are Lucky. If the result exceeds your current LUCK score, you are Unlucky. Whatever the outcome, you must deduct one point from your current LUCK score every time you Test your Luck. The more you use your LUCK, the less likely you are to be Lucky.
Combat:
The combat sequence is then:
1. Roll two dice for your opponent. Add the total rolled to its SKILL score. This is the Attack Strength of your enemy.
2. Roll two dice and add the total to your own current SKILL score. This is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is the higher, you have wounded your opponent: deduct 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA..
If your opponent's Attack Strength is higher, it has wounded you: deduct 2 points from your own STAMINA.
If both Attack Strengths are equal, you have avoided each other's blows.
4. Begin the next Combat Round, starting again at step 1. This procedure continues until either you or your opponent has a STAMINA score of zero. If your opponent's STAMINA score reaches zero, you have killed it and can continue with your adventure. If your own STAMINA score reaches zero, you are dead.
Often you will have to fight more than one opponent at a time. Sometimes you will treat them as a single opponent; at others, you will be able to fight them one at a time; and sometimes all of them will be able to attack you, while you defend yourself and may attack only one of them. Against any additional opponents you must roll for your Attack Strength as normal, but cannot damage them if you have the higher Attack Strength.
Using Luck in Combat
You can use your LUCK in combat to inflict a particularly serious wound, or to minimize a wound that has been inflicted on you.
Whenever you wound an opponent, you may Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound: deduct an extra 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA. If you are Unlucky, you have merely grazed it, and you deduct 1 point less than normal from its STAMINA.
If you have been wounded, you can Test your Luck in exactly the same way. If you are Lucky, the wound upon you was only a glancing blow and you can deduct 1 less point of STAMINA than usual. If you are Unlucky, the wound is serious: deduct 1 extra point from your STAMINA.
CHANGE:
As you can probably guess from the back cover summary and title, the book involves werewolves.....specifically, the PC being bitten by a werewolf and needing to find a cure before he gets turned into one himself. The CHANGE stat keeps track of how far gone we are in terms of our transformation.....and we would have to roll against it the same way we do for our SKILL or LUCK. Unlike the other 2 stats though, it's usually better(but not always!) to roll above it instead of below. It's probably not hard to figure out why: a higher CHANGE score generally indicates that you're losing control of your human side and giving in more to the Beast. It generally also makes your lycanthropy condition more detectable by others....and as you can imagine, folks generally don't react very well to people whom they know to have contracted lycanthropy.
Other the other hand, as the transformation gets worse you may also gain certain abilities, such as becoming stronger in combats, so there are definitely cases where having a suitably high CHANGE score may turn out to be a benefit. It's going to be a delicate balance.
The CHANGE score will of course gradually go up throughout the adventure. It starts at 0 in the beginning. During the adventure it's sometimes possible to lower the score if you come across something (an antidote, a blessing, healing magic, etc) that delays the transformation process. However, once rises above 0, it can never be reduced to below 1.
Starting equipment:
Typical FF starting gear: sword, leather armour, 10 meals worth of Provision and a lantern. We also start with some gold....specifically 2D6+6.
We roll 11 + 6 = 17 gold!
Good start.
There isn't much else in the rules beyond that.....although we do have a column in the Adventure Sheet for recording "codewords", so there'll be some of those, too!
And now, in place of the "Background" section that is in most FF books, we get....
BAD MOON RISING:
It was madness even to think that you could make it to the next village before nightfall. As dusk descended, what possessed you to leave the road and attempt to take a shortcut through the suffocating forest? An experienced sword-for-hire you may be, but your brash bravado has got the better of you this time once and for all. Your heart beats a tattoo of near-panic in your chest, your ragged breathing rasps loudly in your ears. You quicken your steps, just as you know that the creatures that are hunting you are quickening theirs.
You can hear the wolves panting as they run, easily keeping pace with you. The night closes in, a smothering shroud of darkness. You trip over exposed tree roots, the moon - only a matter of nights away from being full - casting its sickly light through naked, black branches above. To your agitated mind, the trees seem to claw at you with skeletal fingers.
Suddenly, the adrenalin rush to panic is replaced by that of desperate hope as you catch sight of a flickering light between the looming, leafless trees. It may be no more than a lone guttering candle-flame, but to you it is a brilliant beacon of hope amid the blackness. The light is shining from the window of an isolated hut, and suddenly you feel there is a chance you might yet escape the cruel fate that the encroaching night seems to have set aside for you.
A howl cuts through the chill night air, a mournful sound that freezes the blood in your veins. You immediately stumble to a halt: the animal cry came from somewhere close by. Your heart racing, your breathing shallow and fast, you spin round, scouring the oppressive forest for the tell-tale signs that you know must be there. And then you see them, a dozen blazing-red eyes, smouldering like coals, watching you from the darkness.
Growling, the wolves slink into the moonlight in front of you. The animals have a lean, hungry look, their grey pelts scabrous and patchy, their ear-tip pressed low against their skulls, lips curling back from yellowed, slavering fangs. Darting anxious glances around, you realize, to your horror, that you are surrounded.
You unsheathe your sword, the blade shining as it slides fro its oiled leather scabbard. You test its weight in your hand, knowing that it is only a matter of moments before you will be forced to fight for your life. In that moment, your mind is suddenly awhirl with memories of the last few months...
Growing weary of the comfortable security of the plains of Famphrey anf Lendleland, you ventured north into that cloud-capped, frostbitten realm of unforgiving mountain peaks and brooding forests that is Mauristatia. The pettily feuding principalities of that deadly land have histories as long and as bloody as that of the Old World itself. People talk in hushed tones of the Vampire Lords of Mortvania and the ghoulish death-cults of Bathoria. No land is more benighted and accursed than that of Lupravia. A chill place of primeval mountains, dark forests and mist-shrouded moorland, it is said to be haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. The wretched native folk of that land struggle to eke out even the meanest living from its thin soil and regularly suffer the predations of wild animals. Only the foolhardy or insane would choose to willingly pass beyond its borders and enter that desolate realm. And yet here you are on the very edge of Lupravia, and suddenly everything you have ever heard about that place seems so terrifyingly real...
A snarl more menacing and blood-chilling than any you have yet heard this hateful night brings you back to the present and the dire nature of your predicament. The wolves half as one. Pushing aside the other wolves as it moves through the pack is the undoubtable leader. It is caught for a moment in the washed-out light of the moon, which hangs like a mourner's corpse-watch candle in the pall of night. You have never seen its like before.
The creature is huge, a monstrous beast twice the size of any other wolf in the pack. Its pelt is utterly black, apart from the one long streak of grey that runs from the top of its head all the way down its back. The look of evil intent is in its eyes, something wholly unnatural in a wolf, something almost inhumanly human. A guttural growl that speaks of your imminent demise rises from deep within its chest and the wolf prepares to pounce.
Turn to paragraph 1.
Any ideas?With the wolf pack steadily closing in on you, and the great wolf tensed ready to attack in an instant, you are going to have to act fast and use all your cunning of you are ever going to get out of this dire situation alive. Will you:
Turn your back on the wolf and try to run for it?
Stand your ground and prepare to meet the Black Wolf's inevitable attack?
Seize the initiative and charge the wolf?
Adventure Sheet:
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 15/15
LUCK 12/12
CHANGE: 0
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern & Tinderbox
Gold: 17
Provisions: 10 Meals (+4 STAMINA)