The Werewolf Forum FAQ

0. Disclaimer

This FAQ is not an official work by White Wolf Games Studios. I do not work for White Wolf, this document is not endorsed by them and unless you catch Ethan on a good day all of their staff will deny all knowledge of it's existence. The material herein is a collective work by many of the people who post or used to post on White Wolf's Werewolf Forum. While I may have reworded answers for clarity or to fit the tone of the FAQ, I cannot claim to have created all of the material here. Unfortunately, in many cases the original author is lost to time. Any that want to get attributed herein can e-mail me.

A further note about the FAQ: The answers to the questions run the range from polite through bitingly sarcastic all the way to positively acerbic. This is a deliberate choice of style by me, and is not meant to belittle the reader. The World of Darkness is all about attitude, as am I. This FAQ reflects that in tone and this should not be taken personally.

1. Recent Updates

25-02-2004 00:02 am

Added information on the WoD 2.0 Werewolf.
Added Ethan's post on the spoiler-free state of the forum.

21-01-2004 20:06 pm

Added a bit on the White Wolf/Sony lawsuit.

08-01-2004 21:29 pm

Added Thingmaker's information about silver.

14-12-2003 00:43 am

Finally got around to covering Garou attitudes towards homosexuality
Black Tooth's death is finally addressed
One more question, this time about the news tickers

11-8-2003 23:42 pm

Added a Q/A on conduct regarding repetitive questions
Fixed the answer on the nipples Q/A
Added two new Q/As to the Time of Judgement section

29-7-2003 21:54 pm

Added a link to Justin Achilli's post about the Time of Judgment

28-7-2003 02:26 am

Added a section about the Time of Judgement
Removed a couple of question/answer pairs that no longer have relevance
Reworded some answers for clarity or to fix spelling mistakes.
Added the Disclaimer and Recent Updates sections
Fixed the HTML to make it fully standards compliant
Added a Q/A on dealing with disagreements that get out of hand.

2. About the Forum

Question: Are there any things I really shouldn't post even though the Use Terms don't mention them?
Answer: There are a few. No serious `Is (insert random something here) of the Wyrm?' posts. - We've seen way, way too many posts asking seriously if something utterly mundane is of the Wyrm. It's the Forum's big running joke. Non-serious, joking ones are fine as they provide a nice bit of levity, but we've found that serious posts like this just generate boring arguments. Also, please don't ask us about MET stuff, or about things based on the RPG chatrooms that White Wolf hosts. There are other forums for that. This is really just common sense, and I know many people won't need it, but please post your question in the most relevant Forum. This also applies to cross-posts, you will lose more people from cross-posting than you will gain in replies.

Finally, please, please do not feed the trolls. If someone makes a remark that is obviously only there to piss you off and conveys no message, don't respond. Do not flame them back, do not engage in witty repartee, do not attempt amateur psychology upon them. Just leave them be, and possibly let Conrad know. He's the administrator of the Forum. His e-mail address is conrad@white-wolf.com and he will ban those people that break the use terms when he notices them.

Question: What's with all of these abbreviations people are using?
Answer: A list of the most common acronyms:
TT - Tabletop. As in, gaming around a table with a group of your `friends'.
LARP or MET - Live Action Role Playing / Mind's Eye Theatre, the art of dressing up in-character and acting out what you do. An alternate form of gaming to TT, which can be just as much or as little, fun.
IYG - `In Your Game', a qualifier stating that the poster's opinions are just opinion, rather than hard fact. Can also refer to the Golden Rule. Akin to YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
IC - In Character, usually used to tag a thread in which participants post as their characters.
OOC - Out Of Character, used in IC threads to mark comments included by the poster, as opposed to the poster's character. Also used to differentiate rules-based reasoning from character based reasoning.
OT - Off Topic. Please, please mark your threads with this if they don't pertain to Werewolf, the World of Darkness, White Wolf or the Forum.
META - To do with the metalevel of discussion on the forum, to wit, posts having to do with the Forum itself as opposed to things which are Off Topic or to do with Werewolf.

Question: What's with the marking of threads? Why should I mark them?
Answer: This is simple netiquette. If you are making a post in character, please mark said post as being in character. If you're making a post about the forum, or about the people on the forum, please mark the post as such (the most common way of doing so is adding the word Meta to the beginning of the thread). If your post has nothing to do with the forum or with Werewolf and the WoD, please put in an OT (Off Topic) tag. The reason for this is that people who work for White Wolf such as Ethan Skemp, the Werewolf Developer and Dark Ages Developer 'Black Hat' Matt McFarland, visit this forum regularly. A topic with an interesting subject line may draw them and other people in, and yet be completely unrelated or an IC topic, and thus people waste their time entering the thread when they would otherwise have nothing to do with it. It's common courtesy to your fellow forumites.

Question: Who are these Forum Regulars? How do I become one?
Answer: Stick around a fair bit, post some questions and take notes of the answers, and generally be around regularly in the forum. Don't post junk threads like "Is Britney Spears of the Wyrm". An old method used to be that you would be considered a regular if you knew other regulars well enough to carry on a casual conversation, or simply if you remember back when Stew used to post as "Wyldcard", but those goalposts are always changing. As long as you're constructive and post regularly, you should get the recognition. When people recognise your handle and that recognition is good (as opposed to because you are flamebait or whatever), you have attained the mythic state, and you can join us oldsters whining about the clueless newbies ;)

Question: Who is this ESkemp guy, and why does he have that "WWGS" under his name?
Answer: ESkemp is the ever-loving Ethan Skemp, the Werewolf: The Apocalypse Developer. He's the guy that makes the big decisions about Werewolf, decides what does and doesn't go into books and generally keeps the line being peachy-keen. Now you see why we all love him. Oh, and "WWGS" stands for "White Wolf Game Studio".

Question: Is "fluh-CHING" a noun or a verb?
Answer: Yes.

Question: Someone was mean to me! Surely that's not allowed?
Answer: Technically, as long as the poster did not break any of the Use Terms of the Forum, there's little that can be done. First, look closely. Is the person insulting you as a poster, or your idea? If the latter, it's a staple of formal and informal debate. If the former, try to work out why the person insulted you. There may be a concrete reason. If there isn't an obvious reason (Outwar spamming, or instance) odds are others will see the situation and will help resolve it. One thing to not do is to post to a number of threads replying to the posts made by the `aggressor' referring back to the original argument. That just makes things worse. If a swift resolution isn't possible on the forum, consider contacting the poster via e-mail, and if an agreement or understanding cannot be reached, try simply ignoring that person.

Question: Where's Black Hat Matt's website?
Answer: www.blackhatmatt.com is his site, full of gaming essay goodness. It's also the home of the Werewolf Forum Regulars photo gallery. www.blackhatmatt.com. He's the Kibo of this forum. www.blackhatmatt.com. Satisfied now, Matt? I hope the cheque's in the post...

Question: What's the most powerful supernatural? or "My vampire can kick any werewolf's ass!!!21!"
Answer: Prepare yourself to see scorn and derision, especially so if you post the latter topic. Simply put, such "what if" scenarios are neither new ideas nor are they very productive. Stick around for a month or two and it's guaranteed you'll see a lot of them. And, even if people do try to answer the question or post decently, it inevitably gets turned into a battle of powers, counter-powers, and natural abilities that becomes less and less plausible with every proposed move. We have the books. We could figure all of this dancing around with powers if we cared. And besides, we know that the Garou would win. This is, after all, the Werewolf forum.

Question: I'm a Vampire player, could you explain X Werewolf-specific thing for me?
Answer: Sure. But there are some things to bear in mind. First of all, everything you ask us will be answered in Werewolf terms. Some of us play Vampire (or whatever) and are therefore able to convert the answers to Vampire terms, but many others won't be able to phrase our answers in terms you would be most familiar with. Second, most if not all of the information given is in Werewolf terms. Therefore, where bits cross over, the Werewolf things paint Vampires as bad and of the Wyrm. This is how things are in Werewolf, so please don't come at us with tales of how 'all vampires are really good at heart engaged in a noble struggle with the inner blah blah blah'. We know. We've seen that argument for vampires not being of the Wyrm too many times, and it won't wash. Finally, don't ask for 'all the information' on something Werewolf specific. We're fine with giving information, often detailed information, but what we won't do is type up the books for you. If we point you at a book, at least have the courtesy to read it in the store rather than pestering us to type up vast tracts of the printed material for our game. It's all a matter of courtesy.

Question: Yuo don't know more than me even if this iz my furst post! T3h Golden Rule iz t3h sh1zz0rz!!
Answer: This is the one and only time I will answer such a question-type thing civilly. You have been warned. Point one: Please use a spellchecker or at least try to spell words correctly. There are hundreds of thousands of pieces of software out there with built-in spellcheckers, you could at least make the effort. I know that sounds harsh on people that are dyslexic or speak a language other than English or American as their first language, but we have seen enough people that just plain didn't care about little things like spelling and capitalisation. If you don't make the effort, it's harder for many of us to take you seriously. Point two: We more than likely do know more than you. We have seen countless questions come and go, from the philosophical nature of the Digital Web in animistic compared to subjective realities to the more common vampire-vs-werewolf argument. We have answered these questions in the past and will continue to do so. That is why some of us get annoyed when someone has posted a question we have worked out an answer to, we give our respective, time-aged answers, and some clueless fool pops along and says "Yuore all wrong!! GOLDEN ROOL!!1@!21" [I have seen it spelled like that]. Yes. We know about the Golden Rule, thank you very much. The problem is, that can be used to answer any question whatsoever, and it is of no help to the person asking the question. We try to give answers based on the World of Darkness as presented in the books, or relative to a setting the querant describes. In this way, we hope to deliver (and usually succeed in delivering) useful information. Perhaps now you see why most of the time I refuse to answer posts like this civilly.

Question: Who are all you freaks?
Answer: Beyond the vast amount of information I have on myself here, MFP has been good enough to collect and collate the answers people gave to the 3-monthly "Who the hell are you?" thread. This selection of Forumites new and old can be found here [At present, this site is down whilst MFP is busy with real world stuff].

Question: What's with Mythdude?
Answer: Mythdude's a poster here with a rather... quirky sense of humour. He's the Forum's sense of harmless fun, and you shouldn't take offence.

Question: Where'd Amado go?
Answer: He died for your sins, may you burn in hell for his pain. Fucker.

Question: Stew, don't you think I'm cool because-
Answer: No. Nobody is cool unless I say they are, and then that may or may not count depending on what I've been drinking, what I've been smoking and whether there's anything left to try to synthesise LSD out of. To high holy fuckery with you all!

Question: Why are people complaining when I just posted a normal question?
Answer: There are always a lot of threads present on the Forums. Often (especially with the Time of Judgement and Underworld) lots of people have questions or things to say, and start new threads for them. Unfortunately, this large amount of people lead to many, many threads being started. Once an answer has been posted in one, it's irritating at best to see the question asked again just ten minutes after the first answer has been posted. The best solution to this is to read through the existing threads that look like they have something do do with your query. Only if they don't give you an answer, should you post. This may seem rather strict, but after seeing five threads started for one news ticker item, three of those after the answer had already been posted... it's least painful for all involved.

Question: What's all this about Underworld and lawsuits?
Answer: White Wolf has filed suit againt Sony Pictures, Screen Gems amd Lakeshore Entertainment, the companies behind the film Underworld, claiming that it too closely resembles characters, situations and the overall "feel" of the World of Darkness games Vampire and Werewolf, and also that the plot resembles the Nancy A Collins short story "Love of Monsters." The case is still being heard; as White Wolf could not post a bond to cover Sony's losses were the release schedule of the film and related merchandising, releases are proceeding apace. It bears mention that this is a very "edgy"topic. People on the Forums have likely made their minds up as to whether they agree with White Wolf's decision to sue or not, and no amount of discussion is going to change anyone's mind.

3. About the Game

Question: Hey, did you know Slipknot did some stuff about Werewolf?
Answer: Yes, we do know. We've seen several threads on this. Whether we want to or not. The stuff is "Eat Sleep Mate Repeat", and if you're a fan of the band that probably already means something to you. Some people on the forum love Slipknot, some people hate Slipknot and some couldn't give a toss. But believe me, we all know. This topic is joint contender for `Topic most likely to result in a flame war'. You may love Slipknot, but please don't post about how they are the greatest band ever and do loads of Werewolf stuff unless you are expecting some replies which state that some of the Forumites detest the band. It's safest not to post.

Question: Why did White Wolf take away the Stargazers? They were my favourite Tribe! Waah!
Answer: They didn't. The Stargazers haven't been killed off, axed, hosed, or generally made unplayable. They're not the Ravnos of Werewolf (the Celican might be). Look in the back of your copy of Werewolf Revised. See? Full character creation rules for the Stargazers. Even more information on them in the Werewolf Storyteller's Companion (the book that came with the screen). They will be getting a Revised Tribebook like any other, and featured in the series of Tribe Novels. So why did they go? Their main Caern over in Tibet was pounded. They asked the other 12 tribes of the Garou Nation to help. The Nation turned around and said `Sorry, no can do. We have to get our own act together.' So, the Stargazers all met up and decided to go join the Beast Courts. Of course, individual Stargazers are still around. And just think of the plot hooks you can have fun with by taking those characters to the big Tribal Moot and having them try to influence the decision to leave, in one way or another. Nice, juicy plot hooks just for you, courtesy of Uncle Ethan.

Question: Do Crinos have, um, you now, squishy bits? I mean, they're warriors of Gaia, being able to be kicked in he nuts seems like a design flaw, but they have to have them for Thrall of the Wyrm to work so, um...?
Answer: They are retractable, like with kangaroos. Normally they are tucked up safely out of harm's way, but if someone should be unfortunate enough to go into thrall... [Compiler's note: This later was put into the Official FAQ in the Storyteller's Companion, it got asked that much]

Question: Do female Garou in Crinos have the normal two breasts or do they have six like wolves?
Answer: No. They don't have `breasts' at all, as you're thinking of them. There's far too much muscle and fur involved for them to have bouncy breasts. That's not a good design for Gaia's warriors (otherwise female Garou would have been SOL until the sportbra was invented). They do have two nipples, but they're certainly not obvious. And anybody getting close enough to part the fur on a female Garou in Crinos to count how many nipples she has is likely to be missing their head shortly thereafter.

Question: Then how do you tell apart male and female Garou in Crinos?
Answer: You usually don't. If you look at the art though, you can pick up a few things. Males tend to be more angular than females and look a little less refined. The angles are sharper and more defined than with females, who tend to be rounded off a little more. Males tend to be broader across the chest and head than females. Males will usually have a triangular outline from shoulder to hip, females will be built a bit closer to rectangular (or at least not so obviously triangular). Overall, females will look a little more compact and refined, generally well put together, males will be a bit rougher about the edges. But that's just how they show up in the artwork, you don't have to hold to it.

Question: Where do I find info on Albrecht, Mari, and Evan?
Answer: See the comic in Werewolf 2nd edition. Also check the novel The Silver Crown. There's also some additional info about Evan in the 2nd ed Player's Guide and in the front of Werewolf Revised. Additional info on Mari can be found in the Black Furies tribe novel. Also check their respective tribe books.

Question: Where do I find Albrecht, Mari and Evan's stats?
Answer: See Rage: Warriors of the Apocalypse for pre-Silver Crown stats. Theit stats as they are at present (and at the end of the Tribe Novels) are in their respective Revised Tribebooks.

Question: I've heard about three `Lost Breeds'. What were they, and what did they do?
Answer: There are three of them, the Grondr (wild boar shifters, the groomers of Gaia), Apis (auroch-shifters, Gaia's matchmakers) and Camazotz (bat shifters, "like a moon-tied Corax"). The Grondr and Apis were killed off totally in the War of Rage. The Camaztoz were decimated, and the Shadow Lords that arrived with the Conquistadors in Central/South America finished them off. The Bat totem later fell to the Wyrm, becoming the Bat that the Black Spiral Dancers followed. Their kin may have survived, though the Apis especially have none left. Cows are to aurochs as a Jack Russel terrier is to a dire wolf, and the last auroch died out around the time of the Roman Empire.

Question: Will there be a breed book about the (insert lost changing breed or lost tribe)?
Answer: Sorry folks. The lost shifters have been used in the books for colour and plot devices. They were never intended to be something you could play in the modern game. As such, they probably won't get a breed book devoted to them. If you really want to throw `the last of a species' into your game, look through the current books for info on what their role in shifter society was, and try and build your own version of the lost shifter from what they were intended to do. For lack of a historical supplement covering their areas, the Past Lives supplement has some information.

Question: I see the Croatan mentioned in some stuff, who are, they, what do they do, where can I find stuff on them?
Answer: You can't really 'do' too much with the Croatan, other than use them as a lesson because they are all dead. They sacrificed the whole tribe to banish Eater-of-Souls from the material world after it arrived in the Americas. So they're very dead now, not even their spirits survived (one would figure as much since they sacrificed themselves to Eater of Souls). Wendigo and Uktena sporadically go on quests to try and find their spirits, but with no success. They are effectively background material. But.... if you are planning on doing a historical chronicle, there is info on the Croatan in Croatan Song (clever title, neh?). it is intended for use with games about the Americas before contact with Europe. Soon after there is contact, the Croatan die.

Question: Are there any plans to bring the Croatan back?
Answer: No. This seems to be a favourite plot device for `epic chronicles'. But no, the Croatan are staying dead. Why? They sacrificed themselves, all of them, souls and all, to drive the Eater of Souls (one of the major manifestations of the Wyrm) from the physical plane forever. The loss of spirit was so total that their Kinfolk didn't bear any more Garou children. There were no more Croatan. No one can find their spirits in the Umbra either. It is a stark reminder than someday the rest of the Garou might have to make the ultimate sacrifice if they don't clean up their act because the Croatan's sacrifice was only necessary as the Garou weren't doing their job. Bringing them back destroys that, so no, the Croatan will not be reappearing.

Question: So what about the White Howlers? They didn't get destroyed, they got corrupted.
Answer: Yes, nearly 2000 years ago. The Black Spiral Dancers have pretty well bred out what redeeming qualities they had in that time. So no, the White Howlers will also not be making a reappearance.

Question: But it says that they sometimes get throwbacks...
Answer: One does not a tribe make. You might get a throwback who looks an awful lot like White Howler, but he's not a White Howler. The Tribal totem won't accept the cub and there is no one to teach him the ways of the tribe anymore. He might be able to muddle around and rediscover their old Gifts and Rites (if he took a lifetime at it), but he'd be considered a Ronin with some funny Gifts and Rites. And there's no guarantee it'd breed true. With all the corrupted blood, it could well have children that were Black Spirals. So, nope, it'd be a fluke and aberration, not a revival of the tribe.

Question: Why are the stat mods for the different Changing Breeds' forms so `off'? Why do the Garou use claw attacks so often when wolves have claws rather unsuited to this task?
Answer: A few reasons. First, speaking in terms of game mechanics, even one extra dot will make a tremendous difference, especially at low levels where, due to a quirk of the Strength chart, that mere extra dot would make you two and a half times stronger. But, if you're speaking of why the Garou's Crinos form is much brawnier than, say, a Khan's is, the answer lies in the spirit behind the creation. The Garou are Gaia's soldiers against danger, her Talons- as such, they have a great deal more physical prowess and larger weaponry than one would consider a strictly half-human half-wolf as having, due to the fact that there's another half angle that has to be added in, that of being half spirit. You see, it would technically be inaccurate and misleading to think of the Garou merely as `werewolves' in a junk Hollywood sense, because that leaves out the fact that they are, in this game, also spirits clothed in flesh. Hence, the Garou have a Crinos form that can overpower a Khan's. However, if you still aren't satisfied, take a look at the animal forms; you'll see that the Khan, when in their tiger form, can most definitely overpower a Garou in wolf form. At least, the numbers would seem to suggest that.

Question: What happens when a Vampire tries to Embrace a Garou?
Answer: The Garou odds on dies. Very occasionally, the result is what is known as an Abomination, a vampiric Garou. This is not the cool "best of both worlds" that it seems. The connection to Gaia is lost. The ability to raise Gnosis is lost. You exist in a state of permenant Harano. Every Garou alive will kill you alive, no questions asked, nomatter what your reasons. In game terms, becoming an Abomination requires you to botch a Gnosis roll. Remember that under Revised rules, you can (and 99.9% of Garou will) spend a Willpower point to negate a botch. That should give you an idea of how rare they are.

Question: I have a question about another game...
Answer: Then here ain't the place to ask. In case you had missed them, White Wolf has forums covering just about every aspect of their game lines. Some of those even have their own FAQ's. If you're going to be posting in the Vampire forum, I suggest you check out the Vampire Forum FAQ (http://www.amokk.org/vtmfaq) that Amokk currently is the caretaker of. Likewise, if heading over to the Hunter forum then Soul's Hunter Forum FAQ (http://inherittheearth.tripod.com/forumfaq.html) would be the place to check.

Question: When will Tribebook: Black Spiral Dancers be released?
Answer: In the words of Ethan Skemp, Werewolf Developer: "There are no plans for a Black Spiral Dancers Tribebook, nor is this likely to change in the foreseeable future. The Tribebook format, which includes in-character justifications of tribal practices, is no longer appropriate given the practices that the Dancers tend to engage in. The Dancers will be treated as straight-out antagonists for as long as the eye can currently see; the Book of the Wyrm 2nd edition and Werewolf Storytellers Handbook should possess all the information and advice necessary for a Storyteller to portray them accurately, effectively and with sufficient variety to go beyond the stereotype."

Question: What new shifters do you want to see? I thought of were-penguins, wouldn't they be kewl?
Answer: No. No, it would not be `kewl'. We have seen every suggestion for a new changing breed possible, and quite a few that aren't thrown around for fun. People don't like these threads for two reasons: 1) Introducing new Fera into the game would dilute the themes of the game. There are already 13 Tribes of Garou, 1 Fallen tribe, 2 dead Tribes, 10 living Breeds of Fera, with the Bastet having 9 'Tribes' plus one dead one, the Gurahl 4, the Mokole 4 and the Anasasi have 3. There are also three recorded dead Changing Breeds. Adding more would remove the theme of the Garou and Fera being dying races. There isn't any reason to include more. Additionally, the new Fera that are suggested ninety-nine point nine recurring percent of the time have no basis in real world legends. All of the existing Fera are rooted in myths of the real world. Even the Rokea. If you think they are a stupid idea that nobody would ever believe in, there's a whole host of Polynesian tribespeople going to tell you just how wrong you are.

Question: What do the Glyphs mean along the edge of the Klaive White Wolf sells?
Answer: Two of the Forumites have worked on this to come up with their own interpretations. JuJu's take on the glyphs is here, whereas Fenris Lorsrai came up with the explanation here.

Question: What sort of stand would the Garou Nation have on homosexuality?
Answer: For this, I shall turn to the latest post by Ethan Skemp, Werewolf developer (emphasis mine).

"The Garou Nation, as the monolithic entity that has a variable amount of influence on how individual Garou form their opinions that it is, and not as the colossal hivemind that forces all Garou into CorrectThink that it isn't, has not particular grievance against homosexuality. Its larger issue is with being "honorably mated," which is almost always interpreted as having an honorable relationship with a Kinfolk and producing issue. Since homosexuality is no bar to being honorably mated, it is not seen as innately wrong by the Garou Nation as an entity. Interpretations of that position vary from there. The Garou Nation, as the monolithic entity, etc., etc., forbids Garou/Garou pairings, most commonly regardless of gender, breed, or the production of metis offspring. Interpretations of that position vary from there. For further exploration of homosexual behavior in a warrior culture that does not necessarily preclude the institution of male/female marriage for the purposes of producing the next generation and furthering the nation's strength, see: Sparta."

Question: Who killed Black Tooth?
Answer: You did. To elaborate, when A World of Rage was being written, Ethan took note of the number of people who had run stories featuring the demise of the Endless Storm's leader, and decided to give them a present: He didn't detail the killer in order that Storytellers can point to that section, turn to their players and say "You guys did that." STs who don't want to have anything to do with Africa and the Ahadi can ignore the whole thing (after all, if your game never touches the area, why do you need to know?). If they really, really need an answer, they can make one up. It could have been anything from the Ajaba to the Nagah to a hungry hippo.

Question: How pure does silver have to be to affect Garou? Why do you say silver nitrate does nothing?
Answer: The consensus of forumites is that Sterling Silver (92.5% pure) is the minimum to be considered "spiritually pure". "Fine Silver" is more than 99.9% pure. "Coin Silver" will vary by nation and year. "Jewelry Silver", which is less common in the US than in Europe, is 80% pure. Argentite and Horn Silver (silver ores) are chemical compounds and therefore not "spiritually pure". German Silver (also called "nickel silver") is an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc - it contains no silver whatsoever. Neither Silver Nitrate, Silver Chlorate, Silver Iodide, nor Silver Sulfide count as "silver" for the purposes of any supernatural effect. They are chemical compounds which stops them being spiritually pure. If this seems strange, remember that a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen will burn very well. A chemical compound of these two is the most common compound used for extinguishing fires. Silver Solder contains only 4% silver at the very most. Silver plating, whether fine or sterling, is considered to be part of the larger object and therefore does not qualify as "spiritually pure". There is a canon ruling in the Mokole Breed Book that plating comes off after one or two hits anyway (this is not the case in real life, but one can make an argument for it from a spiritual point of view).

4. The Time Of Judgment

Question: What's this Time of Judgement thing?
Answer: At the 2003 GenCon, White Wolf made their big announcement: After 12 years, the end of the world is nigh. A series of books known as the Time of Judgement (the missing "Year of... for 2003) will cover the build-up, then a series of hardcovers January through March detailing the end of the Big Three games (Vampire in January, Werewolf in February and Mage in March) along with an "End of Everything Else" book in March. World of Darkness books will go officially out of print in August 2004 as White Wolf will bring out an all-new World of Darkness.

Question: White Wolf is ending the WoD? WTF??
Answer: To be honest, it's been a long time in coming. A number of people have already voiced their unhappiness at this, but think in terms of comic books: Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC's big attempt at resetting the world) was a good thing, as it cut loose a lot of the shit. Marvel's Onslaught saga failed because though there was a year with everything changed, in the end everything ended up how it was. The general mood tends to be guarded optimism. One request remains, however: Please keep thoughts on the Apocalypse to their own threads. Nothing is more disheartening than finding a productive discussion has been ruined by people basically saying "But the game's going to die! Nothing matters any more!" Some of us still want to discuss Werewolf as it stands. Some of us will still be playing Werewolf in 2034. Please, show some courtesy to us by keeping discussion of the Time of Judgment to threads that were started for that purpose.

Question: Waaah! Now I'll never find the books I'm missing!
Answer: Actually, you probably will. Greg Stolze (White Wolf freelancer, God-among-men responsible for Unknown Armies and Godlike... that guy) put up a rather good summary of why which is linked here.

Question: What am I going to do without Werewolf?
Answer: You can still play Werewolf, after all nobody is going to batter down your door and burn all of your books if you dare to run a game after the release of the Apocalypse book. In the same way as Wraith and the AEonverse games are still existing and still being played. Ethan has never been one for tying players to an overarching metaplot, and with this the game is finally being given to the players. Logic has it that that the Apocalypse book itself will be more a toolkit book on how to run the Final Battle than a "This is how it is" book, though obviously Non-Disclosure Agreements prevent us knowing that for sure. And as for what happens when books are no longer being made... if there is a fan-base, I'm sure something like the Wraith Project will be started, or even the Continuing the Continuum project for the AEonverse. And even if not, to paraphrase Rich Dansky in Ends of Empire: "The game is truly yours now. Don't disappoint."

Question: Why is this happening? Are WW just trying to scam money from us or what?
Answer: Justin Achilli, the Vampire developer, put a post on the RPG.net forum with his replies to common questions and concerns. It's archived here.

Question: What do we know about this so-called "new World of Darkness"?
Answer: The new World of Darkness will not be a post-Apocalyptic version of the new games. It will not continue from the extant world in any way, shape or form. Instead, it is an entirely new game-line, with some similarities to the World of Darkness as-is (check the name, after all). Ethan Skemp, Two-Fisted Werewolf Developer, is going to be developing something in the new line. We do not know what, as we do not know what the new line will be like. Speculation continues to run rampant, of course. We do know that while the system will not be compatible with the existing WoD system, the new WoD will not be D20 in any way, shape or form. The name of the new Vampire game will be Vampire: The Requiem, and the new Werewolf game is Werewolf: The Forsaken. All of the "WTF?!? LOLZORZ!!!!!" jokes have been done already and are decidedly not funny.

Question: How do you know all of this?
Answer: Through a diligent reading of the White Wolf Forums (which should be the reason you are reading this, but I can't presume), combined with other news gleaned from WolfSpoor.

Question: What's the deal with these news tickers?
Answer: The Time of Judgment News Tickers (archived here for your convenience) are examples of the effects that the ToJ is having in the World of Darkness. Note that not all of these tickers are public knowledge, especially the Intercepts. Use them in your games or not as you want, they are intended for flavour.

Question: What's this about the Werewolf forum being spoiler free?
Answer: Ethan made it crystal clear that since there exists a place to discuss spoilers for the Time of Judgement — unsurprisingly known as the Time of Judgment forum — spoilers regarding the ToJ had no place in the Werewolf forum. This isn't some kind of joke you can ignore when you please, it's the way things are in the forum. A place for everything and everything in it's place.

Question: Do I have to keep my W:TF questions to another forum?
Answer: Again, provided by Ethan:

Discussion of the new World of Darkness is arguably off-topic: though if it's off-topic for this forum, it's also off-topic for the Time of Judgment, as the new World of Darkness is not described in either the Werewolf: the Apocalypse books *or* in the Time of Judgment books, which also have nothing to do with the new World of Darkness. There is no on-topic forum dedicated to discussing the new World of Darkness yet, so don't be too sensitive about it. This place isn't any less appropriate than the Time of Judgment forum. Similarly, speculation on the new World of Darkness topic does not fall under the "spoiler-free forum" rule, because it doesn't spoil the new games. It's guesswork and wishful thinking, not spoilers. It would only be spoilers if somebody who is under NDA leaked information, and they would quickly find they have a lot more painful woes to deal with than someon saying "But this is a spoiler-free forum." If you don't want to read about or provide speculation for the new World of Darkness material, that's fine, but there is no rule stating that people who do can't use this forum to do so (presumably if they're discussing the new incarnation of Werewolf). Just mark your threads accordingly so the people who don't want to even talk about it can politely avoid your threads.