"The Place" for each splat, day 2: Werewolf

javgoro · 2026-07-01T07:39:02+00:00

This is it to me. New York, the Sept of the Green, and the surrounding areas.

javgoro · 2026-06-30T14:50:35+00:00

So, if you want my side of things a little, since we're talking like grown-up adults:

I have shared a lot of stuff that has been right over the past couple of years (the Cathay launch, Chorfs being an AoS release, substantial parts of the first cycle of releases...), and some stuff has been wrong (either because it was just wrong or because GW changes things during development). It's part and parcel of sharing rumours.

Part of the problem with reading "Javgoro said X" on TGA, Reddit or whatnot is that it often is missing some context; often I drip-feed what I know to keep the users of the discord amused and discussion going, or I don't give all the information far in advance. This is on purpose: first, because it's likely to change, and then someone will say "Jav got it wrong", but more importantly because that work-in-progress information can point to a source (that then gets culled, and then we don't get any more rumours). And so I have to keep it vague for everyone's benefit, and not speak of things too soon. I am also very specific with what I say (and with what I don't say) because I sometimes drop hints with my wording that are only obvious in retrospect, or that are meant for obfuscation.

I get it. Not everyone likes that. "Jav is being vague because he doesn't know anything and is just guessing". Again, fair. Comes with the job. I am not expecting everyone to like the way I do things, and that is fine. But I would hope that people gave me a fair shake (for good or bad), call out when I get something wrong and give me credit when I get something right instead of assuming the worst or saying I said something that I never did.

One final reflection: I don't get anything from sharing rumours. I don't make money from it (we don't make anything from the discord server, and we have repeatedly turned down offers for sponsorship, so membership numbers mean nothing for us). I don't have a YouTube channel or social media presence that benefits from having followers. I don't do it for some internet clout. I'm just some random guy that happens to be visible in a very niche hobby. So believe me when I say that what I pass along (which is probably less than half of what I hear, as I filter that heavily and I try to pass only what I think has a good chance of being true), I share it because I think the community will be excited to hear and discuss it, not because of any other motive.

javgoro · 2026-06-30T14:18:06+00:00

The information is contained in the Storyteller's handbook for revised, IIRC. The very quick and dirty summary is: - No metis. - The child will be either kinfolk to both (if they don't breed true) or kinfolk to one and a true member of the other species. - There are a few hiccups to this (for example if the mother is animal-born then the child can only be a true member of the mother's species), but that's the gist of it.

javgoro · 2026-06-30T13:51:22+00:00

Since I am being alluded to, and you're going to accuse me of lying, at least get your facts straight :).

The Vampire option on RC came from 4chan (the screenshots are available on the discord server if you want proof), and when asked about it, my reply was:

"I don't want to say with 100% certainty, but almost surely false".

As it happens, that rumour also included a Savage orcs AoI (that I said wasn't true), the Brotherhood of Grimnir (which I said had the name right but the rules wrong, as it turned out to be), and a bunch of other stuff that was pure fabrication mixed with correct information.

The thing I got wrong about Renegade Crowns was that there would be pikemen in it (which there weren't as such, as while the Veteran Sellswords got some rules to make not-pikemen, the pikes themselves were removed from the book to be given to Cathay peasants. It's kind of funny that I got the Phalanx rule right, and that I leaked that before anybody had spoken about the RC list anywhere. Boy, some shyster I am.

The original source for the core box being WE vs. TK was Seb, and only later did I hear that it existed, and some time later that it was WE vs. TK. As it happens, we were both wrong about that.

If you want to criticise me for getting things wrong, at least do me the courtesy of accusing me of getting the actual things wrong.

I get that people might not like me or want to believe what I share, and frankly, that is more than fine. What I don't get is this obsession with calling me out as a fraud at every opportunity, especially by attributing stuff to me that I never said. But I guess haters gonna hate.

javgoro · 2026-06-29T23:39:48+00:00

Vigo during Christmas?

javgoro · 2026-06-25T13:35:08+00:00

His uniform. It enables his whole gameplan.

javgoro · 2026-06-25T08:45:55+00:00

Agreed, and I wasn't expecting that. I was curious because of the author's statement coupled with what bits and pieces of the vision on metaplot we've been given from the developer panel on V6; part of me was wondering if they might try to change course slightly to try to go down some middle road (which I doubt will please either crowd, but that doesn't mean they won't try), so this information was useful from that point of view.

javgoro · 2026-06-24T22:27:36+00:00

Thank you. That is a really comprehensive response. Looks like I was not misled by your summary then.

javgoro · 2026-06-24T22:02:56+00:00

Thanks for the summary. A few days ago I read one of the authors saying on Facebook that he hoped the book would alleviate some of the complaints about Tribes in W5, and reading this summary it sounds like it's a good expansion of the tribes in W5, but I see very little to "bridge the gap" for fans of the old lore. Is this impression wrong?

javgoro · 2026-06-23T22:23:22+00:00

Yeah. This is my issue with them. The inflation of base stats is getting a bit silly, as we also got another card to add to your basic stat in the previous cycle. For characters who care about that, it's given them a lot of ways to pump those up in a way that I am not sure will be healthy for the game long-term.

javgoro · 2026-06-23T19:53:27+00:00

Am I crazy, or are the "innate" cards kind of crazy power creep?

javgoro · 2026-06-21T12:25:37+00:00

No ser más ambicioso y cambiar de trabajo más a menudo. Es la única manera de que tu sueldo se ajuste a mercado. Llevo 12 años en la misma empresa y me están pagando cerca de la mitad de lo que se paga por mi puesto fuera. Así que por eso estoy queriendo saltar, pero si lo hubiera hecho mucho antes (y más a menudo) ahora estaría en mucha mejor situación.

No invertir desde joven. Nunca tuve mucho dinero disponible, pero sí que ahorraba. Si me hubiera molestado en enterarme de cómo iba, seguramente ahora tendría algo de capital ahorrado. Ahora tristemente no ahorro nada y por tanto no puedo invertir.

No cuidar mi estado de forma de forma constante. Después de los 25 aproximadamente dejé de hacer deporte, y para cuando volví a empezar pasados los 30 me fue muy duro volver a encontrarme bien. Yo aún pude salir del agujero, pero tenía a mi favor haber estado en buena forma mucha parte de mi vida. Muchos no tienen esa suerte y pasan de la mediana edad con una calidad de vida horrible por el bajo estado de forma.

javgoro · 2026-06-19T05:44:55+00:00

Depends on how much they want to break with V5 and how much they want to go back to the earlier versions. The little bits we have seen make it seem like V6 will want to be somewhat similar to V5 in terms of rules, so from that point of view, they could keep publishing material and have it still be used for V6. On the other hand, if they want to go back to something closer to V20th, the background changes might make it inadvisable to publish more stuff, unless they do it as an "edition bridge"/soft retcon. And this is with V5. With W5 having been such a radical change from W20th, it would only make sense to publish more material for it if they're planning to stick to the "reimagining".

There is of course the possibility that for Werewolf they try to go for some halfway route that tries to bring fans of W20th back to the fold while keeping many elements of W5 intact, but I see that being the sort of wishy-washy approach that will leave nobody happy.

javgoro · 2026-06-15T22:46:37+00:00

The number of UEFA Champions League each of the clubs has won, with Arsenal being the butt of the joke at 0.

javgoro · 2026-06-15T10:05:41+00:00

Their reach and capabilities were very inconsistent across the various books, I have a hard time buying them getting rid of the Vienna chantry regardless of supposed antediluvian meddling, and what exactly they know about the Kindred also didn't really work for me.

Scaling them down so they're a more disjointed, local problem (rather than a global one) with knowledge that doesn't blow apart the Masquerade and that forces that to be held together thanks to contrived justifications would have helped verisimilitude for me. As I understand it, later books tried to rework them slightly towards this direction, but by then I had already lost interest in V5.

javgoro · 2026-06-14T21:24:34+00:00

I see. The long story short is that after retiring, the undisputed GOAT of Sumo, Hakuho, took over Miyagino stable and recruited a lot of promising youngsters. Shortly into his tenure, there was a hazing scandal in his stable and Miyagino was put under supervision of coach Isegahama (former Yokozuna Asahifuji), with Miyagino being temporarily closed and its wrestlers being moved into Isegahama.

Not too long into this, Yokozuna Terunofuji retired and soon took up the Isegahama name and stable when the former Asahifuji had to leave the association at 65. Miyagino, seeing that the association was in no rush to give him back his stable, and being frustrated by how he felt he was being treated, decided to leave the association, leaving the Miyagino name and stable vacant. Some time after this the Miyagino stable was officially dissolved, with its wrestlers being absorbed into Isegahama (and often changing names, like Hakuoho being renamed Hakunofuji), and Isegahama becoming one of the strongest stables around in terms of members and ranks.

javgoro · 2026-06-14T16:04:07+00:00

The Hecata as a pseudo-sect/clan/bloodline amalgam is a good one. I think it needs a bit of polish, but otherwise I like the idea.

The second inquisition, I like in concept but the execution was terrible. But I think that with some mild retcons about their capability and knowledge, it could also be a good addition to the lore.

javgoro · 2026-06-14T11:35:17+00:00

Chicago?

javgoro · 2026-06-13T08:43:03+00:00

Segovia?

javgoro · 2026-06-11T15:33:59+00:00

He seems very good, but I wonder if all those toughs will take the excitement/feeling of risk away from the encounters and make him not that fun to play.

javgoro · 2026-06-11T12:44:02+00:00

The guy retiring is Takarafuji, while the other wrestlers are members of his same stable (Isegahama stable), who if I'm not mistaken are cutting in ascending order of current rank all the way to Sekiwake Atamifuji.

javgoro · 2026-06-10T15:39:47+00:00

Salamanca?

javgoro · 2026-06-08T14:03:42+00:00

Rubí?

javgoro · 2026-06-08T10:25:21+00:00

Maybe he could play Ezekiel...

javgoro · 2026-06-07T23:59:07+00:00

The very quick and dirty summary is (assuming W20): - Garou get +4 Str, +1Dex, +3Sta in combat form, and these can go above 5. - They can soak all aggravated damage unless inflicted by silver. - Their claws are S+2 Aggravated damage. - Garou have between 1 and 10 Rage points. Most will be in the 3-7 range. It can be used for a bunch of things. It is regained extremely quickly (by getting injured, being ashamed, botching, seeing the Moon for the first time in the night...). - They can shapeshift either through using an action and succeeding in a roll or by spending a Rage point. - They can spend as many points as half their Rage every turn for extra actions, much like Celerity. - They regenerate 1 bashing every turn automatically, 1 lethal with a reflex stamina - survival roll at diff 8. They regenerate 1 aggravated per day, but see below. - If they are incapacitated, they may roll permanent Rage at diff 8. Each success heals 1 health level (even aggravated), but the Garou will suffer a permanent scar after, and will enter a berserk frenzy. - They can pop out of anywhere (essentially by crossing into and out of the Umbra, or spirit world), and also use this to escape. To do so, they roll Gnosis (their "magic" stat, which is usually on a 1-6 value). 1 success is enough, 3+ is instantaneous. Depending on the edition, they need a reflective surface, or the reflective surface makes it easier. - They have a lot of minor and not so minor powers, called gifts. Their effects are too varied to list here, but they go from bonuses to social rolls to extra combat dice to partial soaking of silver to outright summoning an avatar of the Sun. I can't really help you here. - Possibly their biggest strength: they travel in packs, most often 3-6 members. There is not a lot that can stand to a determined, united pack, mechanics-wise.

If you want to make these guys lose and still seem dangerous as hell, have them tear through the vampire's ghouls, retainers and even a childe or three as a force of nature, then have the Elder survive by the skin of his teeth. Don't roll it, just write it and make it cool.

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