Making a Hound of Hell is not as easy as some might make it look. Making a werewolf or a kinfolk character for most systems can be a rather easy process, however it is almost an entirely different occassion when building a real Hound of Hell.
First there should be understanding on what a Hound of Hell truely is. Hounds of Hell are an MC or otherwise known as a Motorcycle Club (Gang in the words of some.) If you have been referred to this page by a Storyteller or even if you are reading this as first discovering our system then please take careful note of the words that follow. They will help you fit in and function with our group and especially with the game.
Coming into the group with a dislike of bikers, a dislike of gangs or even just a simple thing as a dislike of bikes will not get you far with the Hounds of Hell. Imagine yourself walking up to the Hell's Angels and telling them of your profound dislike, it is not a good survival plan, to put it lightly. Think about this carefully, before you question... yes this has happened. On multiple occasions.
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Make a concept that has your own level of knowledge, not just making mistakes and giving the excuse of "oh well he/she would have known that"
The information for you to make an informed Hound is available on this website, so if you wish to make someone of years service to the club or even someone with a knowledge of their histories or the world around them, make sure you read and understand these pages carefully. The storytellers do not have the time to give you a complete history on demand, as much as they would like to. Again this comes down to the responsibility of players and something for you to think on before submitting your sheet for approval.
What is a biker? What is a Hound? Renegades, outlaws, scoundrels are a few terms that come to mind. From their cuts to their boots, their jeans to their generally unkempt apperance, a biker lives a lifestyle.
Originating in the sixties the first MC's were born of Vietnam Veterans returning to a country that had turned on them while they were serving it. Everyone has heard that returning vets were sometimes known as 'baby killers' or even spat on simply for having served the country in an unpopular war under an unpopular administration.
Many of these men had what we now call post traumatic stress disorder and simply could not go from an environment where one slept with a gun and were constantly on alert for an ambush to a life waiting tables and buying groceries. These men needed something else, they needed comraderie and needed to push aside the mores and norms of a society they no longer belonged in. They built their bikes and rode into history. In moder days most MC's fall into one of two categories, one of old men trying to shake loose thirty years of accounting on the weekends and the other, treated with fear and mistrust, the outlaws who thumb their nose at the police and make a living trafficking everything from people and drugs to guns and murder for hire.
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The Hounds of Hell are much closer to the latter than the former, and while drug traffic may not be an everyday thing with the Hounds, it is important to understand that these Garou hold themselves to a higher law and a higher calling than that of society. As a consequence, a hound would not flinch or even really care to witness a drive by shooting between rival street gangs... Now if a little girl accidently gets shot, now there will be hell to pay. A couple of junkies want to overdose in a hotel room, the hound is more interested in finding the guy who sold them shit than calling the police or paramedics. A three car pileup on the interstate? The hounds motorcade wouldn't even stop.
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Understand what it is to live outside of society and what it considers to be acceptable behavior, understand that the warriors of Gaia are fighting a loosing battle for all of humanity, and know it. Understand that each of these men and women have committed to something not only wholly alien to 99.9% of the worlds population but something alien and frankly scary to even the remaining 0.1%. Bearing the foregoing in mind, think hard about what life would lead an individual to a commitment of that nature and ask yourself whether or not your character concept still fits in this game.
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Check this website for further information on the world, the club and the general setting, it's important you come in with at least some world knowledge, most of our stories and places are not canon, so take your time. You will find your character survives longer, has more fun and much more to connect with if you do read up.
That being said, bear in mind what has been said in this introduction to the Hounds of Hell. Keep your characters workable and follow the walkthrough and summaries linked below.
So good luck, we hope your mind is inspired and welcome to the Hounds of Hell family.
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Head Storyteller & Creator.
Charlotte
In the game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, the Garou (werewolves) were made to defend the earth from the cosmic forces that threaten to tear it apart. The Garou fight against the Wyrm, the destroyer. It is a struggle against nearly insurmountable odds, especially considering the rivalry between many tribes. These rivalries make it almost impossible for the werewolves to present a unified front against a cosmic force that pervades reality.
From this morass of hatred and mutual betrayal, there is little hope that the Garou can emerge triumphant against a foe so well armed as the Wyrm. The Wyrm promises money, power, sex, and whatever else the heart desires to its followers while the Garou receive no reward for their striving. It drives them deeper and deeper into despair, or into betrayal so deep that they choose to serve the Wyrm instead.
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Cosmology
The three main spiritual forces in the World of Darkness are the Wyrm, Weaver and Wyld. The Wyld is raw unbridled creation. The Weaver spins reality into patterns. The Wyrm is supposed to destroy the excess order or the excess chaos. However, the Weaver went insane and tried to spin all of reality into its web, including the Wyrm. This drove the Wyrm mad so that it now seeks not to balance, but to destroy everything. The Wyrm has many agents and many faces, all bent on the utter destruction of Gaia, the Earth. The Garou are fighting to keep the Apocalypse from coming, but they are dying out and losing the war. Some tribes believe that the coming Apocalypse will be the end of everything, and fight desperately for even the smallest victory. Other tribes believe the side that wins at the final battle will be able to reshape the world in its own ideal. Some Garou blame the Wyrm for all evils and some blame the Weaver for spinning the world into stasis. Thus the Garou can agree on nothing and will not provide a unified front in the coming End Times.
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The Garou
The Garou (werewolves) believe themselves to have been created by Gaia as her defense against the Wyrm and Weaver. They are the ultimate predators in the World of Darkness. They revere the Wyld but are also steeped in millennia old traditions. They are fighting to survive in the modern world, but cling to the old ways. Adding to their troubles is the fact that only one in ten offspring of a Garou turns out to be Garou themselves. Worse still, their kin, the wolves, have been nearly hunted to extinction, leaving them with very few wolf mates. Thus they have had to make do with humans, thinning the primal instincts of the Garou so that a Homid Garou may never have seen a forest until after his First Change. There is one way to guarantee Garou offspring and this is to mate with another Garou. However, due to an ancient curse laid on the Garou, any offspring produced this way are deformed and sterile, marking them as obviously different. Their birth can put the life of their mother in jeopardy. Thus the Garou need to take their chances with humans and wolves to continue the line.
The Garou are a divided people, divided along lines of breed, auspice and tribe. Each Garou has a breed, auspice, and tribe and this means that they are not even uniform along a single trait. A Lupus Ahroun Child of Gaia is a far different creature than a Lupus Ahroun Shadow Lord even though they share two traits in common. The most severe divisions are between tribes, but breeds and auspices hold different values as well, which can contribute to conflicts in ideals.
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Abilities
Garou have several special abilities. They heal damage incredibly fast, and can be killed by little but silver or the claws and fangs of other supernaturals. They can change shapes at will and step into the Umbra, the spirit world. They are granted Gifts by the spirits; these are special magical abilities or spells. They are generally instantaneous effects. This can be anything from being untrackable to conjuring a fireball to the ability to speak with animals. Each Breed, Auspice and Tribe has its own set of Gifts. Common to all Garou are Rites, magic that requires specific things to be done to invoke them and have oft-bizarre effects. A common Rite is that which allows you to change form without shredding your clothing, while a rare and potent rite allows a group of Garou to build a caern, a gate between the physical and spirit world. Rites take time to learn and to enact.
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Rage
It is a gift of madness from Luna (the Moon) that allows the Garou to do truly spectacular things. Too much Rage is extremely dangerous and will result in frenzy, a maddened state where the Garou loses all control. there are two forms of Frenzy that are commonly orchestrated: Berserk and Fox. In a Berserk frenzy the Garou will attack everything in sight regardless of allegiance. In a Fox Frenzy, the Garou will flee in terror and will do anything to get away. Truly horrible frenzies are known as going into the Thrall of the Wyrm. The details surrounding as to what will happen when a Garou enters the Thrall of the Wyrm frenzy is dictated by a Garou's Auspice (the moon they were born under). Thralled Homids will cannibalize fallen enemies (or packmates), Metis will do perverse and twisted sexual things to enemies and packmates (regardless of whether they are alive or dead), and Lupus will attack and destroy anything and anyone who can't defend themselves, particularly packmates. The Thrall of the Wyrm is one of the most dangerous, destructive and twisted forms of frenzy known amongst the Garou, which may be the reason why some Garou vent their Rage regularly, lest they endanger their allies.
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Gnosis
Gnosis is similar to the Polynesian concept of mana, or the Eastern concept of chi. While all creatures have some spiritual component, Garou can consciously control and use it. Garou are quite literally half-spirit already and Gnosis reflects how connected they are to their other half. Gnosis can't be precisely measured, but if you think of it like water, it makes comprehending the difference between a Garou and a human easier. A human has a cupful to last a lifetime, a Garou has access to an endlessly replenishing river.
Gnosis can be used to bribe spirits, activate fetishes (magical artifacts) and Gifts, and to enter the Umbra. Creatures without enough Gnosis generally cannot perceive or enter the Umbra.
Gnosis is a renewable, but dwindling, resource. Garou can regain it at sacred sites, by meditating, or bargaining with spirits. Sacred sites provide Gnosis, but if they become defiled, it can corrupt the Garou, or there simply may be no more available. The water analogy works well here. They need water, but they need to protect their sources because drinking tainted water may make them sick, and if they aren't careful, their well may go dry.
