Shifter/Philosophy

I am coming into Fulcrum with a few different ideas than I have tried before. This means that what you expect, probably won't be what you will be encountering.

One thing that has always come up as an issue. Packs. Yes, they are integral to most Shifter games, but with the way online games work, you come in with people, one out of three stays for more than three months. Or you make a pack in game but have fun playing with others, or timing just doesn't work and so you fall out of touch in the game. Thematically packs are everything with Garou Society, thematically not living with your pack, not doing most things with your pack, arguing with packmates etc - well, in the course of play these things happen. You find other people to have fun with, jobs and life take precedence and the game thematically doesn't really work with that. So, we are going without a pack or sept focus. This also means there's no punishment for not living with a pack. There's no punishments for having weird and unusual friends. If you make a pack, awesome, but neither I, nor anyone else will spaz if it has to break up for any reason.

Issue two: man oh man, is it hard to play other shifting races. I am guilty of this too, oh so very guilty. So, with a lack of sept and packs, I am hoping to see more opportunity for players to give other races a try. The downside, there aren't a ton of NPCs out there to work with. NPCs will be few at game start, likely for a long while. I am all for having people try out different races, I am not interested in telling stories for Wyrm affiliated Shifter PCs. So, sorry folks, no BSDs or other walking the dark side PCs in the Shifter Sphere. YOu can be mean and nasty, but no spiral saunters will occur.

Issue Three: Solving plots. Sometimes when I make a plot I know a solution. Sometimes I know 4 or 5. What I don't enjoy is PCs asking for rolls to just 'know' the solution. Come up with ideas, please! If you think you are on the right track, test your theories, help me make an exciting fun story for both of us. Don't ask the NPCs for solutions. Give them your solutions and ask for feedback. The NPCs don't know the answers but they have expertise. Better still, different NPCs will agree with or disagree with one another. The decision of what path to take, what solution to use: will always be in the hand of the PCs. Otherwise its me playing with myself. And as fun as that it, it is ultimately incredibly unsatisfying.