Gen Con often causes a lull in greytalking. This is your time to shine if your not at Gen Con bring up some none Gen Con topics. If your at Gen Con and sign in to greytalk give us the inside scoop. If you could careless either way let talk witches, lycanthrope's, and humanoid societies of Greyhawk. Existing ones or how you would change them in the game.
I am using lycanthropes in this part of my game. (We play 1st edition AD&D 95% with 5% of influences from Dr Who as we are all fans)
This part involves the party having to trek across the North of the Flanaess - from Dantradun to Vlekstaad in pursuit of a certain item.
The journey starts around Brewfest and almost immediately they share a camp overnight with a party of gypsies who remind them of an old folklore (I remember this from the old Hammer Horror films of my youth)
"Even a man who is pure of heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the Autumn Moon is bright"
Coupled with this, I have woven in the idea of the Feast of the Wolf (Feiring Av Ulv in the language of the North (borrowed from Norwegian)
So from an early stage, they are alert to the possibility of werewolf encounters. I want to build up the anticipation (and fear) so they start to suspect everyone they meet is a werewolf!
I then throw in a location they will know from Dr Who - Darlig Ulvstranden or Bad Wolf Bay. They don't actually go there but the mere sight of the name should set them thinking!
Add in the howling of distant wolves each night and of course some full moon action (helpfully, the moon 'Celene' is full at the midpoint of each festival) and the stage is set for the encounter!
One night, their camp is attacked by wolves but after a minor skirmish, the wolves retreat. Shortly after, 2 hunters come crashing through the trees being chased by wolves.
They are of course the werewolves but the party have no reason to deny them assistance.
Shortly after, the wolves return and just as the full moon appears from behind the clouds, the wolves attack and the werewolves change...!
There are some monsters that I always like to make a bit 'special' and lycanthropes are in that category! I think they make much better set-piece encounters than mere wandering monsters. They are, after all, part-human and deserve a back story as well as a bit of myth and legend woven around them
One of the best campaigns I played in featured an 'underground' society of werebeasts trying to afflict the populace of Greyhawk City. My characters were only first and second level when I started, so that made it particularly lethal (especially given we had minimal magic from the start, if any), but the campaign itself was of a Gothic horror style flavor, which only made it better and more terrifying. The primary instigators of this terrible plot were a group of werewolves led by a beautiful but utterly ruthless, cunning, and vicious female warrior. Their servants, spies, and minions were some wererats who had a shaman of Squerrik, the 'rat god.'
We defeated them, with help of course, but it was a particularly brutal, horrifying, and deadly campaign which left me really impressed with my DM's malevolence and ability to role-play such vile, bestial enemies.
Since then, I have "one-upped" him by developing my own pack of werewolves who were the main group responsible for this splinter group sent into Greyhawk City. He has grown to despise and fear them even though his PCs have decimated their numbers...it has come at great cost, and the leader, a high-ranking priest of Incabulos, is still at large, plotting his diabolical revenge.
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