Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts: Ravenloft Accessory RR7:

by Nigel Findley

For All Character Levels:

I know now the shape of madness, of ravening insanity, and it is me!

I dread the waxing of the moon, yet how can I flee from time itself?

The hour of transformation is at hand, and my heart surges in bloodlust!
- The Cry of a Werewolf

Werebeasts: men and women who assume the shape of animals.

In this volume, Dr. Rudolph Van Richten - Ravenloft's eminent expert on the horrific - exposes the truth about their ravenous kind.

For years, Van Richten has doggedly pursued these creatures. More than once, the hunter became the hunted, yet lived to tell the tale.

Now Van Richten reveals the secrets of his survival.

Discover the werebeasts' many forms, from the common to the bizarre.

Read how they live, lust, and multiply, spreading their affliction among the innocent.

Learn to see through their human facade, and how to follow their beastly spoor.

Finally, discover what it really takes to cure lycanthropy in Ravenloft.

For upon the demiplane of dread, few adventurers can avoid the werebeast's fang forever....

Summary of content:

Introduction

1. An overview of lycanthropy (hereditary, pathologic, maledictive)

2. Biological survey (vulnerabilities, transformation mechanics, diet

3. Psychological survey (moral and ethical outlook, societies)

4. Pathologic scourge (phenotypes, triggers, cure)

5. On the hunt (identification, hunt)

DM Appendix: werejaguar, werebadger

Genres: Role Playing Games, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

Nigel D Findley (July 22, 1959 – February 19, 1995[1]) was a game designer, editor, and an author of science fiction and fantasy novels and role-playing games (RPGs). Findley died suddenly on February 19, 1995, at his home in Vancouver, British Columbia. He suffered a heart attack at the age of 35.

Reviews

[Taddow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the early 1980s there was a television series called Werewolf that my brother I and enjoyed. This series gave my brother inspiration to run a D&D campaign where the PCs were involved in a grand power struggle between various powerful people who were fighting for control of the various lycanthrope "bloodlines" (as my brother called them); each bloodline of the prominent weretypes were lead by a "Chosen" who was deemed fit and worthy to command and advance their particular weretype. There was in-fighting as individuals fought and politicked to be the Chosen and there was also fighting between the various weretypes as well. Of course, the PCs in this campaign played lycanthropes (I played a Ranger Werebear).

This supplement came out about a decade after my brother did his campaign, but it is dedicated to giving information that will help run a D&D adventure or campaign where players hunt or play lycanthropes. There are many weretypes described in brief (Werewolves, Werebears, Werefoxes, Weretigers, Weresharks, and Wererats to name a few) and descriptions of their various weaknesses (expanding from the idea of silver weapons being the bane of all lycanthropes, which is not always the case when dealing with different lycanthrope types). You'll also information on true, infected and cursed lycanthropes, how lycanthropy is spread, how to cure it and some lycanthrope behaviors for surviving in the world. There is a mix of "normal" and Ravenloft setting rules.

I used this book and the Dungeons & Dragons Night Howlers supplement to create lycanthrope house rules for my 5e D&D campaign. With both books, you get a great lycanthrope foundation to expand upon.

[Cimuchowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit to much low quality art and not enough detail on some good concepts.