#dead mountain

Tree Roots

Known residents: Dewdrop Creatures, Rats, Rat King, Kent

Dead Mountain

I think Werewolf is an inherently queer medium

This is all a part of a larger long-term project.

I am trying to hold the World of Darkness to higher standards of inclusivity

Read our introductory comic here

Werewolf: the Essentials Project Update 04/02/2025

Hello, Kinfolks. Woof. What a time to be alive. This is a period that's been reflected many, many times in the past under many different names. It seems like every time I pick up my phone there is always some new awful thing awaiting us. The intentional composition of the writers on this team are diverse and come from cultures across the world, and what ties us together has been our queerness, our passion for Werewolf, and our commitment to let our passions fuel our writing. The result has been a product that shows the passion from one page to the next.

In short, the state of the world has impacted the pace at which we're working on the book. The priority right now is survival, and surviving is the task that has consumed most of the attentions of those helping with W:tE. It should come as no surprise that people who passionately care about Werewolf also care about the world around them at large, and that is exactly what many of us are doing.

All the same, what's agreed between everyone on the team is that we all feel the work we're doing matters, and in many ways it can be a good way to keep one busy when the other option is the good-old doomscroll. And so, work is still happening, and beyond that, its starting to pick up again.

So, what work remains?

Writing

Writing is more or less finished. Editing is ongoing and as small issues or missing mechanics come up we've been working them in. Chapters 1-7 are complete, and Chapter 8, our storytelling and chronicle section, is in its last few pages before calling it done. We have a small number of writers still working on this, and so far we're looking at 100 Rite of Passage Story Seeds, and 40-60 Cliath Story Seeds. All in all we're handing Storytellers enough game material to be able to keep their tables plenty busy for at least a year of weekly game sessions. Also as a spitball number, by the time this book hits shelves we are looking to be at around 450 pages.

Layout

We are at the 75% complete mark! Chapter 6 of 8 is underway. Due to an influx of support, we're able to have one of our editors pick up work on a more daily basis, so this process should similarly be speeding up in the immediate future. It always feels like the work is neverending, but slowly and surely we're making progress. I've promised myself once this book enters preflight I'm taking a long vacation.

Now, onto the fun stuff:

New W:tE Preview - Meet the Gaians!

With our full tribe writeups completed, we're happy to entice you with a new preview. For those ko-fi subscribers on the Fostern tier or above, you can now read not just our society and history dives, but can now see all the new tribes as written for Werewolf: the Essentials! This massive 80 page preview encompasses all twenty tribes of Gaians represented in Gulaka'i including background, territories, patron, and an all-new cultural outlook section!

All proceeds from ko-fi supporters help fund our commitment to using cultural consultants on our project!

To sign up and gain access to previews and our exclusive BTS discord to our project, subscribe to our ko-fi today! We've already raised $2,450 of our $3,500 goal!

I do still play Werewolf! I've been a part of Werewolf: the Podcast's World of Rage tabletop going on 2 years come this next April. We're recording games, so hopefully soon you'll even get to listen to me play!

I usually find groups through making friends with fans of the game that I vibe with! A huge part of any Storyteller's role isn't just running the game; curating their players both for social and narrative compatibility matters a lot. If you have players with clashing personalities or play-styles, that will pull each other out of the game.

The best game will always be a game hosted in-person. If there's a game shop near you, head there and they almost always have a corkboard where people post looking for tables. For online, White Wolf's sort of official VTT platform is Roll20, and has lots of WtA tables being ran there. If you want to hire a Storyteller, there's several great ones on startplaying.games! I also have a small WtA Tumblr community.

Often when I'm looking for a player for my table, I'll talk about the story in my friend groups. A lot of my friends are also writers or otherwise huge Werewolf nerds, so its usually easy to headcanon in these spaces. If you get excited and "yes, and" enough with a friend about an idea, they'll want to roleplay it out! @redratt and I headcanoned so hard, one of her OCs landed at my table!

With a game that awards experience points for the interaction and character growth, the best way to min/max this isn't to seek out just a peak point build but peak story compatibility both when seeking an STs or a Players.

The town of Trillium in Werewolf: the Essentials isn't a real place. Its location, however is very real. Say hello to Trillium, the small town at the center of Gulaka'i. Immediately behind where I took this photo is Dead Mountain. Macredie Station is a 15 minute drive away, encompassing what is currently known as Westfir and Deception Creek.