Comment by WJW
5 days ago
I didn't originally write this, but can't find the original place I read it anymore. I think it makes a lot of sense to repost it here:
All of the World Of Darkness and Chronicles Of Darkness games are basically about coming of age/puberty. Like X-Men but for Goth-Nerds instead of Geek-Nerds.
In Vampire, your body is going through weird changes and you are starting to develop, physically and/or mentally, while realising that the world is run by a bunch of old, evil fools who still expect you to toe the line and stay in your place, but you are starting to wonder if the world wouldn't be better if your generation overthrew them and took over running the world, doing it the right way. And there are all these bad elements trying to convince you that you should do just that, but for the sake of mindless violence and raucous partying. Teenager - the rpg.
In Werewolf, your body is going through weird changes and you are starting to develop, physically and mentally, while realising that you are not a part of the "normal" crowd that the rest of Humanity belongs to. You are different and they just can't handle that whenever it gets revealed. Luckily, there are small communities of people like you out there who take you in and show you how use the power of your "true" self. Of course, even among this community, there are different types of other. LGBT Teenager - the RPG
In Mage, you have begun to take an interest in the real world, and you think you know what the world is really like. The people all around you are just sleep-walking through life, because they don't really get it. This understanding sets you against the people who run the world: the governments and the corporations, trying to stop these sleeper from waking up to the truth and rejecting their comforting lies. You have found some other people who saw through them, and you think they've got a lot of things wrong, but at least they're awake to the lies! Rebellious Teenager - the RPG
“ The people all around you are just sleep-walking through life, because they don't really get it.”
Twist: we’re sleepwalking through life because we really DO get it.
(Source: I’m 56)
The same is probably also the case for most superhero comics. They are made for teenage boys going through puberty. Boys with a changing body that now is much stronger than the younger kids. The stories try to give guidance: You have to restrain your new power and use it for good. Some aspects of your transformation you should keep to yourself. There are other kids undergoing these changes too who use it to bully their weaker peers. Those are the bad guys. There are also bad girls who abuse their new powers (which are not defined by muscle strength) to entice and manipulate other people.
This tracks, but I'd say Werewolf goes beyond LGBT folks, the violence there also fits the boy's aggressive play and the saving the world theme resonated a lot with the basic "i want to be important/hero" thing. Its my favorite of all world of darkness books, i regret not getting the kickstarter edition :(
Yeah, I would say Werewolf is more like Social Activist: The Rage simulator than LGBT teenager
I think I read it too, it’s called Twilight. /s
I had friends who were into Vampire growing up. I hadn’t heard of Werewolf until after the aforementioned book came out and people started going nuts for it. I mentioned to my wife at the time that there was this game called “Vampire” and told her about it and she just laughed, pointed to the book, and said “this is so much better”. :shrug:
Rewind back and there were the Star Wars kids. Fast forward and there are the Harry Potter kids/adults. Each generation has their own “thing”. During that time, it was Quake MSDOS and Vampire. Oh and we started Senior Assassinations. 90s super soakers were the real deal.