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Message no. 1
From: "Joshua M. Kanapkey" <Wakabout@***.COM>
Subject: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 14:30:30 -0400
Howdy!

I was wondering if anyone knows of any rules for Lycanthropy, the disease, as
it affects metahumanity. I would guess that it is a virus, similar to HMHVV,
that has a strong basis in a magical age, so that there weren't that many
cases of it in the world prior to the Awakening. I see Lycanthropy as taking
a more fantasy-based aspect than scientific. You know, the usual _changes on
the night of the full moon_ sort of thing, except it changes on the night
before as well as the night after. The infected person wakes up next morning
with hangover-like symptoms, wondering "What the hell happened last night?"
with only vague memories of a _nightmare_ in which they were running around
tearing people up. Sort of "An American Werewolf in London" meets
"Wolfen."

Also, is there any info on Dopplegangers or anything else to that effect?
Perhaps something similar to William Gibson's 'Belonging Kind?'

T'anks and Adieu,
Wakabout {{@***.com}}
Message no. 2
From: "Steven A. Collins" <scollins@**.UML.EDU>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 15:55:43 -0400
On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, Joshua M. Kanapkey wrote:

->Howdy!
->
->I was wondering if anyone knows of any rules for Lycanthropy, the disease, as
->it affects metahumanity. I would guess that it is a virus, similar to HMHVV,
->that has a strong basis in a magical age, so that there weren't that many
->cases of it in the world prior to the Awakening. I see Lycanthropy as taking
->a more fantasy-based aspect than scientific. You know, the usual _changes on
->the night of the full moon_ sort of thing, except it changes on the night
->before as well as the night after. The infected person wakes up next morning
->with hangover-like symptoms, wondering "What the hell happened last night?"
->with only vague memories of a _nightmare_ in which they were running around
->tearing people up. Sort of "An American Werewolf in London" meets
"Wolfen."
->
->Also, is there any info on Dopplegangers or anything else to that effect?
->Perhaps something similar to William Gibson's 'Belonging Kind?'
->
->T'anks and Adieu,
->Wakabout {{@***.com}}
->

There are no rules for lycanthropy in Sr because it doesn't exist.
That is unless someone has a house rule for it. In Sr there are no
werewolves just shapeshifters. As for Dopplegangers there are no rules
for them but the first book in the Secrets of Power trilogy had one.
It was a genetically/magically engineered creature that has yet to be
included in any rule book that I know of. In the book there was only
one created and the people who created it were pretty much all killed
cause they were double crossing Lowfyr (a tremendously bad idea) to do
it. Of course that doesn't mean that they were the only ones with the
know how it is possable there are others running around out there.

On the subject of Lycanthropes It might be posable for a magician to
"curse" some with similar effects. Link a detect full moon spell to a
Transform spell and use it a the trigger for the Transform. Then
quicken it or anchor it or something. This would be a neat thing to do
to a player in a group without much magical support as it would take
sometime for him to figure out what is going on. It wouldn't give hime
regeneration or anything and would in no way be bennificial so it
would truely be a curse.

I think I'm gonna use this on one of my players it should really freak
them out.
Message no. 3
From: Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:53:32 EST
> Also, is there any info on Dopplegangers or anything else to that
> effect? Perhaps something similar to William Gibson's 'Belonging
> Kind?'

The Protean from PAoE is the closest given, and that's not real
close. (Nasty, but lacking in that ultimate subtlty)

My personal favorite is a free Spirit with the MetaHuman Form
Power along with Aura Masking...read closely and discover what a pain
you can make him. :)
Message no. 4
From: John E Pederson <lobo1@****.COM>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 20:11:34 EDT
On Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:53:32 EST Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU> writes:

>My personal favorite is a free Spirit with the MetaHuman Form
>Power along with Aura Masking...read closely and discover what a pain
>you can make him. :)


I suppose you're referring to how such a character could make himslef
look like pretty much anyone it wanted? Yes, I've read that:) Life is fun
for players, ain't it;) Hadn't really considered the idea before, but it
makes sense.


--
-Canthros (Fun, fun, fun <EGMG>)
I had rather believe all the fables in the legends and the Talmud
and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.
--Francis Bacon
http://members.aol.com/canthros1
Message no. 5
From: John E Pederson <lobo1@****.COM>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 20:11:35 EDT
On Tue, 12 Aug 1997 14:30:30 -0400 "Joshua M. Kanapkey"
<Wakabout@***.COM> writes:
>Howdy!


Hullo!


<<I was wondering if anyone knows of any rules for Lycanthropy, the
disease, as it affects metahumanity.>>


Rules? No. IRL, lycanthropy is a psychological condition in which the
subject *believes* that he turns into a wolf, usually in the full moon or
at night. No documented cases exist, AFAIK, of a person who actually
turns into a wolf, only people who believe they do.


<<I would guess that it is a virus, similar to HMHVV, that has a strong
basis in a magical age, so that there weren't that many cases of it in
the world prior to the Awakening. I see Lycanthropy as taking a more
fantasy-based aspect than scientific.>>


After doing some stuff with the idea of the wolf-man type of werewolf
(ala WW: The Apocalypse), I finally decided that the only way that such a
creature will ever make it into my games will be in the form of a WoD
conversion (probably one I'll have to do myself or modify for reasons of
game-balance and consistency) or as it already is: as shapeshifters.
AFAIK, the oldest werewolf legends (useless fact for the day: the word
werewolf is derived from the Old or Middle English word 'werwulf', 'wer'
meaning man, 'wulf' meaning wolf) don't speak of the wolf-man of the
World of Darkness, rather the classical werewolf is closer akin to the SR
shapeshifter, a creature of two forms, human and animal. I suspect that
the wolf-man is of more recent origin and is derived from the legends of
the werewolf. The possibility that it is often what a person thinks of
when thinking of a werewolf is probably to be blamed on Hollywood, though
most of their wolf-man films were inspired by a book, I think.


<<You know, the usual _changes on the night of the full moon_ sort of
thing, except it changes on the night before as well as the night after.
The infected person wakes up next morning with hangover-like symptoms,
wondering "What the hell happened last night?" with only vague memories
of a _nightmare_ in which they were running around tearing people up.>>


You might look into the Loup-garou in PAoNA, the book is OOP, but you can
find most of the stats for the critter (a type of vamp) in PAoE, since I
don't own either one, I can't say more.


<<Sort of "An American Werewolf in London" meets
"Wolfen.">>


I thought both were fairly decent movies, though the former tends to be a
bit light-hearted, IMO. The latter, "Wolfen" was a pretty dark movie, as
I recall, and would work rather well for the shapeshifter mentality, IMO.


--
-Canthros (not that I'd know anything about shapeshifters, of course;)
I had rather believe all the fables in the legends and the Talmud
and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.
--Francis Bacon
http://members.aol.com/canthros1
Message no. 6
From: "J. Keith Henry" <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Sat, 16 Aug 1997 11:03:56 -0400
In a message dated 97-08-12 21:59:11 EDT, lobo1@****.COM (John E Pederson)
writes:

> <<You know, the usual _changes on the night of the full moon_ sort of
> thing, except it changes on the night before as well as the night after.
> The infected person wakes up next morning with hangover-like symptoms,
> wondering "What the hell happened last night?" with only vague memories
> of a _nightmare_ in which they were running around tearing people up.>>
>
>
> You might look into the Loup-garou in PAoNA, the book is OOP, but you can
> find most of the stats for the critter (a type of vamp) in PAoE, since I
> don't own either one, I can't say more.
>
OOORRRRR You could opt for the "psychological breakdown" of the fact. Say
a Shaper gets into the hands of a mundane or "civilized" family. An evil
magician (plot line development in action here) who knows what the child is,
but hides that fact from him/her and uses Control/Influence magic to his own
benefit. He introduces the child to the mythologies of humanity, and
psychological dependencies/stipulations are created deep within the child's
psyche.

Kind of along the line concerning holy symbols and vampires in SR. If the
person was highly religious before they converted, a psychological hangup is
created.
-K
Message no. 7
From: John E Pederson <lobo1@****.COM>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Sat, 16 Aug 1997 22:34:25 EDT
On Sat, 16 Aug 1997 11:03:56 -0400 "J. Keith Henry" <Ereskanti@***.COM>
writes:

<<OOORRRRR You could opt for the "psychological breakdown" of the fact.
Say a Shaper gets into the hands of a mundane or "civilized" family. An
evil magician (plot line development in action here) who knows what the
child is, but hides that fact from him/her and uses Control/Influence
magic to his own benefit. He introduces the child to the mythologies of
humanity, and psychological dependencies/stipulations are created deep
within the child's psyche.>>


Cool, but it wouldn't be the first time a similar idea was used (Canthros
was raised by humans in his first incarnation, and that idea was borrowed
the novel Striper Assassin:) and the idea itself is _really_ high on the
unlikeliness scale: shapers are born in animal form, IMO, they probably
don't figure out how to shapeshift right away (one of the reasons
Canthros got a major re-write).

All IMO, of course:)


--
-Canthros
I had rather believe all the fables in the legends and the Talmud
and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.
--Francis Bacon
http://members.aol.com/canthros1
Message no. 8
From: "J. Keith Henry" <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: [SRUN] Shapeshifters vs. Lycanthropes
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 21:50:03 -0400
In a message dated 97-08-17 06:12:43 EDT, lobo1@****.COM (John E Pederson)
writes:

> Cool, but it wouldn't be the first time a similar idea was used (Canthros
> was raised by humans in his first incarnation, and that idea was borrowed
> the novel Striper Assassin:) and the idea itself is _really_ high on the
> unlikeliness scale: shapers are born in animal form, IMO, they probably
> don't figure out how to shapeshift right away (one of the reasons
> Canthros got a major re-write).
>
> All IMO, of course:)
>
Not bad except for a thought, be it a stray one. As I said, he's found by a
magician who recognizes the child. He uses Control Emotions and/or Control
Actions to cause the child to change to "human" form. I would consider the
"Human Form" another form of camouflage, a "response mechanism" of
nature to
protect certain of her children, and to make certain they can "fight back".

And I do agree, it would be on the unlikeliness side of things, unless the
magician had a Detect Shaper spell (extended of course) and a particular
agenda to accomplish.

-K

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