Werewolves, what’s not to love? In media they are a classic tragic monster; cursed to degenerate into a beast, doomed to hunt their loved ones, poor souls eternally haunted by the moon. In fantasy gaming however they are a slightly different beast. 

Introduced alongside other notable horror icons such as the vampire and mummy, the werewolf arrived first in chainmail (as lycanthropes) and then in the three little brown books where some notable cousins arrive with them. The werebear, wereboar and weretiger were added, and a little later the wererat arrived in the Greyhawk supplement.

The mechanics that were introduced for these creatures had some differences from the gothic tropes we’re all familiar with. No longer did a lycanthrope change due to the moon, instead their transformations are more in line with folkloric beliefs about lycanthropes, that they can transform at will. The Victorian invention of a weakness to silver was maintained, but there was a choice to make lycanthropy a disease over a curse from some reason. The TSR were-creature is a strange mash up monster, not quite the werewolf we know in popular culture, but certainly flavoured by it.

One thing is certain about these strange creatures, their damage immunity rules make them a staple big-scary-monster™ in many B/X campaigns.  

I’ve experienced the horror of facing down a were-creature as a player myself. I ran into a pack of werewolves in Attronarch’s Wilderlands campaign. You can read about my encounter with them here, and chuckle at my fast-dawning realisation that I wasn’t combating any regular wargs, but a deadly pack of werewolves. All the mercenaries I’d gathered were proven utterly useless!

As I was researching OSR werewolves for ideas on how to use them in my own game, I was pointed towards a fantastic BECMI module; PC4 Creature Crucible, Night Howlers. This gives B/X judges rules for allowing PCs to be infected with lycanthropy, which are pretty nifty. If you are running a game system like Old School Essentials I’d recommend grabbing a copy so when your players inevitably become infected by a lycanthrope, you won’t need to remove the PC from the game (which is what is recommended.)

Night Howlers has other useful rules for lycanthropes including; 

• Animal reaction tables.
• Transformation cycles with the moon. 
• Damage tables from armour during a transformation.
• Allowing massive normal damage to affect lycanthropes for half damage. 
• Spells which might cure the disease and allow the character to temporarily return to normal alignment. 

Now, on to why I wanted to write this post. There is one particular page in Night Howlers that gave me heaps of inspiration. On page 26 there is a column of text, and the header for this text is a question. ‘Why haven’t Lycanthropes taken over the world?’ The first line after this header is, ’this is a question you must answer in your campaign.’ 

Well, I read that and all sorts of ideas hit me like a were-panda rolling into a field of bamboo.

Our games are played in a (mostly) pseudo-feudal world, a world where combat and war determines power. Where a warrior class duel and battle each other in tournaments. A place where combat prowess often determines rulership prowess, it’s baked into the class mechanics of the fighter, as just one concrete rules example.

Simultaneously in this world there are creatures who ostensibly pass as human, but who aren’t affected by combat damage whilst transformed. Blows from swords, arrows and spear, the bread and butter of warcraft, have no effect on them. Surely then, it’s reasonable to assume that many of the royals, despots, and powerful political actors in our fantasy game world would be lycanthropes. The proverb of leading from the front is not as risky, and is far more rewarding, when the threat of death becomes so low.

With all this in mind I started woefully asking myself a question whilst staring at my campaign maps; Where were all the Were-Lords? I didn’t have any.

This section of Night Howlers, the one that had me pensively considering my campaign map, goes on to list the reasons why lycanthropes don’t rule the majority of Mystara (the setting that comes with BECMI), all of which seem pretty reasonable. But I don’t personally game in the Mystara setting, and a lot of you probably don’t either. So we must invent our own werewolf hunting holy orders, our own political purges, our own guilds of wolfsbane farmers, and so on and so on.

This is not the real issue though, we can hand wave away that not all kingdoms are were-kingdoms, but it is reasonable to assume that a great quantity of our campaigns leaders should be lycanthropes. We should all definately be designing and placing some were-kingdoms across our maps, because it simply makes sense.

So I started thinking up ways I could drop a few ‘out and proud’ Were-Lords into my game, and this is what I came up with:

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1. The Night Hound

Leader: Alfwin The Night Hound (5HD Werewolf)
Culture: Barbarian Roavers
Symbol: Hound Rampant
Market Class: V
Religion: Fragaran the Bitch 
AL: Chaos
Forces: 
– 2d6 werewolves ( the druids)
– 1d6 dire wolves
– 6d6 wolves
– 3d6*10 berserkers
– d100 non-combatants
In Lair: 40%
Treasure:
– 6,000 gold pieces
– 80,000 silver pieces
– 4 x gems (400gp)
– 6 x gems (100gp) 
– +1 sword
– Potion of Human Control
– Scroll of Protection from Magic

Lore: Alfwin Grendir was born into a chivalric noble house. He was meant to take the oath of a cleric, as is often customary for non-heirs, but instead he took it upon himself to quest into the holy lands upon his charger. When he returned, it was with a curse. On the night of the full moon he changed into a beast. When this was discovered, it was ordered by his brother, the King, that he be hung. When the gallows failed to kill him, he was cast into exile. Lost and alone, Alfwin travelled out into the northern Badlands, an area riddled with barbarians. Some years later, he returned with a host of warriors clad in skins and paint. Out in the mountains, he had come upon a tribe that worshipped a lunar goddess with the head of a black dog, Fragaran the Bitch. To these outlanders he had revealed his powers, and their druids had enthusiastically named him Avatar of the Bitch Goddess, Night Hound over the mountain. With an army of zealot berserkers at his disposal, he marched against his brother. In the courtyard below the keep, the two brothers duelled. First it was sword against sword, but within a few moments the younger brother transformed into a beast and devoured his kin. Castle Grendir is now ruled by the Night Hound. The howls of his army can be heard for miles around, and the order of Druids that aided him have been gifted the power to transform. The Night Hound goes on many crusades seeking silver to prevent his enemies from gathering weapons against him. 

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2. The Striped Order of the Eye

Leader: Guildmaster Massanna (5HD Weretiger)
Culture: Society of Merchants
Symbol: Cats Eye
Market Class: I
Religion: Tel-Star, King of Winds.
AL: N
Forces:
– 1d4 weretigers (the order)
– 4d4 thieves of level 1-3
– A scythe bladed chariot pulled by two war tigers
– 1d6*10 1HD Eunuch guards
In Lair: 50%
Treasure:
– crates of spice from around the world (2,000gp)
– 2 ,000 electrum pieces
– 4,000 gold pieces
– 2 x gem (1,000gp)
– 4 x gem (5,00gp)
– 6 x gems (100gp)
– 3 x jewellery (80gp)
– +1 Spear
– Eight +2 Arrows

Lore: The city-state has flourished for over a thousand years due to its location between three seas. It has always been an epicentre of trade, where the salts, spices, and wares of a thousand kingdoms conjoin. But for the last three centuries the city-state has been ruled by a shadowy guild known as the Striped Order of the Eye. There are said to be two cities, the one above the ground, with its walled bazaar, port, temple, and fortress, and the other is below ground, a labyrinth of tunnels and canals that link the harbour to the market of the Cat’s Eye. The administrator of the upper city is merely a slave to the Order that dwells below, often being replaced, found torn asunder in his sleep by the cat’s claw. Below the city is a colossal vaulted market, overseen by ghost faced Eunuchs, where the more decadent wares can be bought and sold; drugs, slaves and magic. They say secret chambers there lead to vast treasures, and to certain doom as well. Wayfarers know the sign of the true leaders of the city by the talisman of the ever-glistening eye of the tiger. 

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3. The Hall of the Pig

Leader: Grogmordo the Hoglord (9HD Devil Swine)
Culture: Cult
Symbol: A Red Maw with Two Tusks
Market Class: VI
Religion: Flesh for the Hog
AL: C
Forces:
– 1d3 Devil Swine
– 3d6 (4HD) Boar and (1HD) Pig faced Orcs riders
– 1d4*10 Pig Faced Orcs
In Lair: 90% during day, 15% at night
Treasure:
– Crown (900gp)
– Sceptre (1200gp)
– Gold Throne (1500gp)
– 8,000 copper pieces
– Potion of clairaudience
– Shield +1
– 1 Arcane Scroll of Death Spell

Lore: Branswick was once a simple town ruled by a kindly family of nobles, but two years ago a dark figure breached the serenity. At first people started disappearing during the night, their beds left soiled with a bloody stain. Adventurers were called in to help, but all of them went missing in the same manner. As the population continued to decrease, the nobles of the town fled in fear. Soon, the wooden manor house that had been a seat of grace was captured by a gaggle of fat devil swine, who now proclaimed themselves Hoglords. Pig-faced Orcs were soon drawn to the foul displays of cannibalism and torture that the devil swine inflicted on the peasantry. A cult was soon established and the wooden manor, now decorated with bones and trophies from the many who have been consumed, stands as a testament to evil. Soon enough gluttonous wild boar arrived at Branswick, and these were tamed as beastly mounts. Woe befalls any who cross the old lower road that passes through Branswick, for a pound of flesh is the toll, paid to a god of gluttony. Keep one eye on the sun, for it is said that the Hoglord and his pig faced minions rarely strafe into the light.

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So that’s what I came up with in a single session of rolling on some tables and a bit of brainstorming. How do you deal with the problem of fantasy lycanthropes in your game? Who are your Were-Lords? And who hunts them?