Storyteller: werewolf@cairoafterdark.com

Note: Making a Werewolf character is done according to the rules found in the Werewolf: the Apocalypse Revised Edition Core book. Here are the rules that apply to each section.

Character Creation Restrictions
In order to try and keep the characters in a somewhat early stage at character creation, no players are allowed to raise any stat above 4 before the freebie point stage. I realize that this is in line with the standard White Wolf rules, but the next part is my alteration. During freebie points and merits & flaws, the only stats that may be raised above 3 are Attributes and Backgrounds. All other stats are limited to a max of 3 dots through the entire character creation period.

Stories vary in power, and thus the players within the plot - the PC's - must also vary in strength. In the case of a low-power game, you may sometimes need to restrict some aspects of character creation. Keep in mind, that Werewolves often lend themselves to "power gaming" situations, by virtue of their given abilities. So measures may occasionally need to be taken to balance play for non-WtA players.

Note: Characters coming from Free Forum Chronicles will be required to start a fresh character sheet according to White-Wolf stats. No points will be carried over from your Free Forum game.

NO starting character, unless an extensive 10,000 word history is given, can take any rites but starting creation rites and one other. If a extensive history is give character maybe granted stats, rituals, rites and etc.

Concept:
The Concept is quite important, so give it some thought before you move on. Cairo by Night values character interaction above all other styles of RP. This is not to say that there is no combat, but some thought here makes all the difference toward adding that little touch to your PC's personality. Even though the normal WtA sheet does not allow for them; I will honor the Nature/Demeanor system of the other World of Darkness games (and the Werewolf 2nd Edition Player's Guide) and the Willpower bonus that goes along with them.

Accepted Breeds, Tribes, Etc.:
I'm not the type to ban anything outright, within reason. I will accept a sheet from any of the Tribes, Changing Breeds and their Eastern or Wyrm-Tainted variants. Kinfolk are acceptable. They fall under the Mortal umbrella, however I will work with the Mortal ST for the particular nuances of Kinfolk characters.

Being a game set it Cairo, there are some of the Breeds & Tribes that have absolutely no earthly business being there. The Fera that make the most sense in this sort of setting would be:

Garou: Black Furies, Bone Gnawers, Children of Gaia, Glass Walkers, Silent Striders, Silver Fangs, Black Spiral Dancers.

Changing Breeds: Ananasi, Bastet (Bubasti, Swara, Simba & Bagheera in particular), Corax, Mokole, Nagah, Ratkin & Rokea.

Now, I could buy that a Homid breed Wendigo or Pumonica would travel to Cairo to cleanse what is obviously one of the more Wyrm-tainted & Vampire influenced cities in the world, but it's going to take a lot of doing, convincing me that a lupus-born Uktena from New Mexico would uproot from its territory and fly to Cairo. As with anything, a little common sense goes a long way.

Attributes:
Attributes: 7 | 5 | 3

Abilities:
Abilities: 13 | 9 | 5
No ability above 3 at this point, but you can raise it using Freebies later.

Secondary Abilities
First off, before we get too far into this, be aware that unlike the default abilities on the character sheet, all Secondary Abilities must be approved by the Storyteller before purchasing.

Secondary Abilities are used exactly as standard abilities are, only because of their specialization and limited purpose, cost less than standard abilities. The cost to buy a Secondary Ability is two (2) experience points. To raise a Secondary Ability costs current rating in experience. Again, be sure that the Secondary Ability is available to you before you purchase it.

Rage, Gnosis, Willpower:
Starting Gnosis depends on your breed: Homid starts with 1 Gnosis, Metis starts with 3, and Lupus begins with 5.
Rage is decided by your Auspice: Ragabash start with 1 Rage, Theurge 2, Philodox 3, Galliard 4 and Ahroun begin with 5 Rage.
Willpower is decided by your Starting Tribe: Black Furies (3), Bone Gnawers (4), Children of Gaia (4), Fianna (3), Get of Fenris (3), Glass Walkers (3), Red Talons (3), Shadow Lords (3), Silent Striders (3), Silver Fangs (3), Uktena (3), and Wendigo (4).

Backgrounds:
Backgrounds: 5

These Traits describe advantages of birth, circumstance and opportunity: material possessions, social networks and the like. Backgrounds are external, not internal Traits, and you should always rationalize how you came to posses them, as well as what they represent. Who are your contacts? Why do your allies support you? Where did you meet your retainers? How exactly do you make enough money to justify your four dots in Resources? If you've put enough detail into your character concept, selecting appropriate Backgrounds should be easy.

Although it's uncommon to make roll involving Background Traits, the Storytellers might have you do so to see if you can obtain information, goods or favors. For example, you might have to roll Wits + Resources to keep your stock options healthy, or Manipulation + Contacts to wheedle that extra favor from your smuggler "associate".

Rank: All new PC's are assumed to begin at Rank 1, period, no exceptions. If you have previously played the character in another chronicle, and can provide a detailed account of the character's Challenge(s) to the higher Rank. The higher the Rank requested, the less likely I'll be to accept it. 2 or 3 I'll consider. Anything higher than that, I more than likely will ask you to scale back some. Too many High-Rank Changing Breeds running around will unbalance a game of this type faster than anything, after all. Use discretion.

Gifts & Rites:
Starting Gifts: 3 Level 1 Gifts (1 Breed Gift, 1 Auspice Gift, 1 Tribe Gift)

Gift Restrictions
The standard freebie point cost for a Gift is 7 per Gift, and is limited to Level 1 Gifts. For starting characters, I am also limiting the purchase of Gifts with Freebies to your Breed/Auspice/Tribe of choice's Gifts. Obviously, things get a little more complicated for the other Breeds. I'm not going to list them all here, but assume that the same applies - whichever Breed, Auspice equivalent, and Tribe equivalent Gifts are available to your character from the start, assume those are the Gifts available to you with Freebies. It's obviously easier to learn the secrets of your own 'people' from others of your kind, than it is to learn from a group that may or may not carry some enmity for you.

Experience point costs for Gifts are as follows: Gifts from your native Breed/Auspice/Tribe are 3x the level of the Gift. For example, the Galliard Gift: Beast Speech, a Level 1 Gift, would cost 3 xp. Gifts outside your Breed/Auspice/Tribe are the Gift's level x5. Obviously, you need to be the appropriate Rank to learn a higher level Gift than 1. (Rank 2 for Level 2 Gifts, Rank 3 for Level 3, etc.)

Learning Gifts from Other Changing Breeds:
It is possible for a Garou to learn a Bastet or a Corax Gift, or any combination thereof. The Breeds protect their secrets well in most cases, and such a thing is rare. As such, the rules on this are strict. First, it has to make sense. Obviously, a Bastet or a Garou will not be able to learn an Ananasi Gift that requires the spinning of webs, or a Corax Gift that requires feathers. Secondly, these Gifts may not be purchased with xp. The entire teaching/learning process will be role-played out through in-character interaction. Thirdly, no Out-of-Breed Gifts may exceed Level 2. Any Fera attempting to teach a rival Breed anything higher than that will no doubt receive grave repercussions from the elders of their kind. This includes the Hengeyokai, with the exceptions being the Kahn, and the Nagah. The Garou/Hakken, the Ratkin/Nezumi etc. are far too different from one another to trust the other with their most powerful secrets, if they trust them at all.

Rites may not be bought with xp. They are taught by elders & spirits, as a general rule. No character can learn a Rite any higher in rank than his Rituals rating, as per the rules listed in the core book. In addition, without the Rites Background, the new player starts with no knowledge of Rites.

Renown:
Renown & Rank will be awarded in-character, through role-playing. Keep a mental note of the things your character has done to earn Temporary Renown. If the player's character feels they have earned enough Renown to go through the Rite of Accomplishment, please come to me on an out-of-character basis, talk it out with me, and we'll set something up to be role-played in-character. To me, some of the best times I've had playing Werewolf have been going through the Challenges for Rank, and I will do my best to give the players the same sorts of experiences that I've had.

Merits & Flaws:

• Only 7 points can be spent in Merits and Flaws.
• No additional Freebie points can be gained from Merits & Flaws.
• Restricted Merits & Flaws: None at given time.

Merits and Flaws are optional Traits that the Storyteller may choose to include, or prohibit, in his/her chronicle. Properly used, Merits and Flaws help players create and individualize their characters. Merits are special abilities or advantages that are rare or unique in the general Shapeshifter population, while Flaws are liabilities or disadvantages that pose challenges to a character's nightly existence. These Traits can provide player characters with added depth and personality, but the Storytellers should be careful to ensure that any Traits chosen will not adversely influence the course of the chronicle or give one character an unfair advantage over the rest. As a general rule, I prefer that you balance out your Merits & Flaws. Meaning, if you take 7 points worth or Merits, you balance that out with 7 points worth of Flaws, etc. It keeps things from getting too out of hand, and also makes for a more interesting RP experience. There's no advantage without cost, after all.

Advantages:
No present restrictions.

History:
This is one of the things that I look at & focus on more than anything on the sheet. It's one thing to slap down a bunch of dots & abilities onto paper, it's entirely another to justify it all with an interesting history for the character. I'm far more likely to allow something outside the realm of normalcy if it's explained out well in the character's history. This is not to say it needs to be a novel, just be creative. A creative description of your character's past exploits and how they came to be where they are today shows me that you're a mature enough player to handle playing something that I might normally raise an eyebrow at.

Freebies:
The player may now spend 15 Freebie Points to purchase additional dots in Traits. These points may be spent however the player chooses - thus the term "freebie". Each dots has variable freebie point cost based on which type of Trait it is - consult the chart below for freebie point spending of Traits.

Botching Initiative
When a player rolls a '1' for initiative, they then roll a second time. If the second roll comes up as anything other than a '1', they simply add 1 to their initiative rating and go during that phase. However, if the player rolls a second '1' then they have botched their initiative. This results in that player doing nothing for that round. They can perform simple reflexives, soak damage, etc. They may not, however, dodge, use disciplines, speak (IC), or move.

Note: Players are people, no matter how hard they try to get into character. Often times there are things they don't wish to say to the group aloud.

After reading the rules section, it's obvious that I tend to find lots of ways to limit the progress of my characters. So I felt that I needed a way to focus their learning to compensate. I looked to the Trinity system for inspiration. A character in Trinity can buy multiple specialties in both abilities and attributes (to a maximum of three), whereas in the World of Darkness, you earn a specialty when you reach 4 dots in something. I decided then that rather than letting the characters get more powerful, I would try to let them get more specialized.

Specialties
Some character are especially good at particular applications of their Traits. For example, a painter might be particularly good at portraits, a baseball player might be adept at catching fly ball, and a brawler might be infamous for his/her low blows. To represent this, characters with scores of 4 or higher in Attributes and Abilities may choose specialties for those Traits.

A specialty is a particular subcategory of an Attribute or Ability - thus, a character with a Strength 5 might choose to be especially adept in "dead lifting," while a character with Investigation 4 might be a whiz at "ballistics". Whenever a player makes a die roll involving an activity in which his/her character has specialized, she may take any die that comes up "10", tally the success normally, then re-roll that die in attempt to accumulate extra successes. If the re-rolled die also comes up "10", he/she may continue to roll for still further successes. This process continues until no further "10s" are rolled.

Multiple Specializations
In order to develop laterally and to enhance their abilities without becoming all-powerful, characters can specialize in specific skills and abilities.

As per the standard rules, when a character reaches 4 dots in an ability or attribute, he may choose a specialization for that attribute or ability. For example, with 4 dots in firearms, the character may specialize in handguns. From that point on, the player may re-roll 10's to acquire additional successes on any roll involving that quality or specialization. But with all the time in the world, couldn't a vampire learn not only to specialize in handguns, but also rifles?

Thus, I bastardized the multiple specialization rules from Trinity. Upon reaching the 4th dot in an attribute or ability, a character earns a free specialization, as expected. If the player wishes the character to broaden their talents, they may later spend experience to buy a second specialization. If again the player wishes that the character become even more knowledgeable, more experience may be spent to buy a third specialization, but only after buying a fifth dot in that ability. No more specializations may be purchased beyond 3. This may be done in both attributes and abilities to a maximum of 3 specializations per attribute or ability.

I like skills, no kidding, I really like skills. There aren't nearly enough skills, talents, or knowledges on the character sheet so as a result, I'm a big fan of secondary skills (as offered in the Players Guide for 2nd Edition or the Storytellers Companion in Revised Edition). Unfortunately, both sources only give rules for buying secondary skills at character creation so I had to come up with my own system for buying them with experience, because I think (for example) anyone can learn Area Knowledge after they've been in a city for a while. I offer this option mostly because people are not aware of Secondary Skills at the time that they are creating their characters.

New: Automatic Weapons
I'll be honest here. We don't like 'em. But I'll also admit people with connections CAN get a hold of these. So instead of putting a flat ban on automatic weapons, we'll just make it tough to get one. If your char wants an automatic weapon, then he/she needs to have a streetwise of 4. A final note: even though the World of Darkness in Cairo is larger, it's not New York City. There are consequences to letting loose with an automatic weapon--from the cops, as well as ...other... people. This list is an attempt to be exhaustive. Likely, however, it isn't. Thus, we reserve the right to make additions. Players will be informed when such additions are made.