Character Creation Challenge 2023 7: Teen Wolf

Character Creation Challenge 2023

31 Buffy The Vampire Slayer characters

7: Teen Wolf

Werewolves get a mention in Welcome To The Hellmouth, and they’re the classic monster exemplar for adolescence, a double life and impulse control issues. So when one shows up in the form of Oz he’s already an established sympathetic character, so the show takes that The Wolf Man approach, naturally by way of the variously Buffyish I Was A Teenage Werewolf, Werewolf By Night, An American Werewolf In London, Teen Wolf, Turning Red and Ginger Snaps. The Teen Wolf TV series sticks closer to Buffy and Angel in tone than the original films.

But overall Oz being a werewolf is only a big deal in four episodes. Bruce Banner has more trouble with his monstrous alter ego in The Avengers. For one thing, it doesn’t seem particularly infectious. And while we get werewolves who are cooler with lycanthropy, we never get a fully monstrous example who chose it on purpose.

The Buffy rulebook has Werewolf as a Quality if you’re in control and a Drawback if not, and is the basis for rules for part-time monster PCs, expanded on in Monster Smackdown. The Angel rulebook uses a fully modular approach with more options, but going with Buffy I can still tweak by houseruling.

The Watch House followed its inspiration The Night Watch in having a hereditary werebeing with the group for safety, and in control of the curse (the big Quality version) so they could be handy in a fight. Among his featured episodes was one like The Replacement where he got split in two, regular human and hyper-werewolf, both played by this player.

And I’ve had a Drawback-type werewolf in a play-by-post, and one episode involved her accidentally trading her lycanthropy to a witch who then sold it to someone who wanted the power so she had to take it back.

So anyway, some werewolf system notes and plot hooks from my experience of Buffy games.

To be different from Oz, let’s start with the gang meeting the werewolf because of the werewolf-ness.

Melissa Walden

Type: White Hat

Description: Oddly confident

Example quote “Don’t make me angry. It would be awesome.”

Vanessa Morgan

Walden comes from a cursed lineage. Which she didn’t know was actually a thing until the recent Blood Moon. So now she has some wolf in her, a little bonus when in human form making her sure of herself, quick to defend herself and others, and also the kind of person who attracts the attention of monster hunters.

Attributes (15 + bonuses when in werewolf form)

Strength 2 (6)

Dexterity 3 (5)

Constitution 2 (4)

Intelligence 3

Perception 3

Willpower 2

Skills (15 + 1 from Drawbacks)

Acrobatics 1

Art 0

Computers 0

Crime 1

Doctor 1

Driving 1

Getting Medieval 1

Gun Fu 0

Influence 1

Knowledge 1

Kung Fu 3

Languages 0

Mr. Fix-It 0

Notice 3

Occultism 1

Science 0

Sports 0

Wild Card 2 (Good with predatory animals, not prey)

Qualities (10 + 1 from Drawbacks)

Acute Senses (Smell/Taste) (Part of Werewolf Quality)

Attractiveness 3 (3)

Natural Toughness (in werewolf form)

Nerves Of Steel (3)

Situational Awareness (2)

Werewolf (only around the full moon but in control) (6)

Drawbacks (5)

Adversary (monsters and stuff, possibly including rival werethings) (2)

Phobia (silver) (1)

Secret (Werewolf) (2)

Life Points 26 (50)

Drama Points 20

House rule: While she can control whether or not to change and control the change around the full moon, she can change at other times when sufficiently provoked by spending two Drama Points for a Righteous Fury style effect.