A while back, I wrote for the Chronicler’s Guide to Werewolf the Forsaken. We did a lot of crazy things with that book. (I did a chronicle hack for playing a lone wolf. Chuck Wendig sent the game back to Sumer and Matt McFarland really brought the horror back by causing characters to have no idea what they did when they changed. There’s a LOT of really fun chronicle hacks, and you should totally check them out.)

One of the hacks I did was to lift the ‘werewolves can’t get wild together’ rule. I messed with the setting and the in-game culture enough to allow characters to be involved physically and emotionally. (Actually, that’s already in the books to some extent, I just removed the parts that punished the characters for doing so.) I also added a mechanic for the levels of love a person can fall in love with and talked about how the People dealt with those stages. It was a BLAST to write and I think a lot of people had a good time with it. (Or so they’re saying on the internet.)

When I was originally writing and planning it out, I wrote a tongue and cheek section talking about what sex and love is like from the various tribes. Before I even showed it to my developer, (David) I cut it for wordcount and because it didn’t quite vibe with the rest of what I was doing. It ended up more like practice writing. (Something I am a BIG advocate for in any kind of writing.)

But anyway, it was still cute, and all this writing about sex and vampires reminded me of it. (Did I mention I just finished my redlines up for Strange, Dead Love? Why I did! And that’s a book about sex and vampires!) So here, for your viewing pleasure is a bit about werewolf sex and love I was too embarrassed to show to my editor.

Shot Gun Weddings and Kissing Cousins

At the end of the day, pack attitudes and the opinions of individual Uratha are what matter when it comes to sex and marriage.

You think so? Really? Tell that to little Billy’s over protective Tribal Elder who raised the kid to be a proud and strong Hunter in Darkness and doesn’t much care for your pretty Iron Master nose sniffing around his boy. Below are some example Tribal attitudes toward sex, marriage, and Uratha offspring.

Blood Talons

Should you marry a Blood Talon, (without being one?) Mm. Probably not. Of any tribe, the Blood Talons are the most hung up on the right breeding, (not good breeding, but the right breeding) and family lines like the Lodge of Garm are so vital that it’s almost impossible to get elder consent to mate with a Blood Talon without being one first.

Would I have a wild, whirl-wind affair with one? Damn right. Stalwart warriors and high idealists, a Blood Talon is the last Uratha you have to worry about giving into a berserker rage and do something you’ll both regret. That said, a Blood Talon won’t hesitate to kill when it’s necessary, so make sure you don’t insult her mother.

Bone Shadows

While the Blood Talons might be very worried about who you’re mating with, the Bone Shadows are likely to be very hung up on how you’re doing it. The preservation of ancient traditions to appease the ancestors and spirits who might over see your relationship is going to be a big deal. Don’t anticipate running to Vegas if your would-be bride a Bone Shadow. Instead, expect to be dragged onto the Hisil and introduced to each one of her ancestors three hundred years back with a formal greeting and exchange of Essence and other gifts.

That said, the Shadows do believe in payment in kind, and so they can be nurturing loves with an eye for giving as good as they get. Keep in mind though, if you screw around, payment in kind can mean something very different.

Hunters in Darkness

If you want the kind of lover you broadcast about to any and all channels, you may not want to hook up with a Hunter in Darkness. The master hunters maintain their affairs with the same silent dedication that they maintain their hunt. It isn’t anyone’s business what they do, or who they do it with, and if you’re along for the ride, you sure as shit better be able to keep your mouth shut.

But you want to talk about tender, romantic, and secretly thrilling? You want to talk about the smoldering passion the Hunters keep in check just aching for an outlet. If you can stand all the cloak and dagger crap, you’ll be thrilled by how they treat your sacred places while in their territory.

… Meaning your heart, of course.

Iron Masters

So, you do want that Vegas wedding after all? Maybe looking a little love outside the status quo? If it’s cutting edge, challenging to the old guard or even just plain freaky, you probably want to hook up with an Iron Master. While there’s something potentially kinky in the hearts and souls of any Uratha, the Iron Master’s willingness to change and try new ideas, it is refreshingly easy with members of this tribe.

Keep in mind, though, since they’re so flexible in their concepts of territory and what territory even means, you might well find yourself in part of the new definition. In which case, expect a lot of honor, and likely a lot of possessiveness.

Storm Lords

Power, authority, purpose.

Scary, huh? The Uratha mate or lover of a Storm Lord has to be prepared to be understanding at best, made of granite at worst. They may be condescending, traditionalist, dominant and obsessive.

But, they’re yours. If you can put up with their driven nature, a Storm Lord will weather just about anything with you, and better still, won’t complain about the little annoying things you do. That might show weakness.

So aside from a nice load of freelancing projects I’m gearing up to go into a post-birth hybernation sequence that should last about an entire day if my last baby was any indication. In the meantime, what will I be up to while I wait for the egg timer to go off?

• I did Phauxcon the week before last and it was a certified blast. The smallest and coziest convention I’ve been to yet, I loved the chance for a real personal experience with the other attendees. I want to thank our hosts Robert and Sierra, they were awesome, I’d do it again next year without hesitation, and I think David and I created some new gamers in the crowd. That always makes a nerd-mama proud. While there, I got to hear from writer L.A. Banks, her story is beyond inspiring and developed a pretty immediate admiration for her. David talks about her talk here. The stuff of inspiration.

• My first fully independent role playing game is now up for you to buy at RPGNow. Torn Apart by Radiation Wraiths is a teaser, demo style game written for Maschine Zeit, a full Horror/Science fiction setting David and I are working on and hope to have out next year. Torn Apart by Radiation Wraiths is a full contained game complete with five developed characters full of secrets and motives. Torn Apart is also my first experiment in my Dominadora project. It’s less than $2 bucks over at RPGNow, so head over there and pick up your copy. (Note to new customers. Torn Apart had some strong language in it, so you have to login to view it. Login is free and required to buy anyhow, so it saves you a step later!)
• Next weekend I’ll be at GameXpo just a hop skip and jump from Philly. I’m going to be there pretty much all weekend manning tables, running games, getting people excited and hopefully selling more than a few copies of Torn Apart. In addition to all that, on Sunday David will be doing is WILDLY successful “RPG Design in an Hour” Panel and I’ll be joined with him, this dude, and this other sketchy character to talk about pen and paper RPGs and how awesome our writing is. (Erm, you know, not too much self promotion, I’m sure.) Come on down and hang out or we might have to bring the whole con to you, and trust me, you don’t want that sort of shenanigans going on at your place.
• I’m getting some real movement and support over at A Letter to the Game Industry. If you don’t know what that is yet, in short, it’s an open conversation going on about being a woman gamer and all the highs and lows that entails. Professionals to casual players are welcome to join the conversation, and I hope you will too.

Beyond that, I have about a dozen new projects sitting on various burners and various plates. I cannot wait until I can tell you more about them when I can. Really very exciting stuff.

The first anthology I’ve been invited to write for is available for preorder now and I couldn’t be more excited. 12 to Midnight’s Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas. Real fiction and everything!

You can read more about it here, including the bios of some of the other writers involved. David Wellington? Are you kidding me!? I’m having a fangirl moment. Shane Hensley might be one of the nicest guys on the internet. Remind me later to tell you what an idiot I am and how it involves that kind gentleman. Who doesn’t love Deadlands? I’m not ashamed to see my name below any of the names included.

So go get your preoder out of the way. I’ll be waiting right here.

Among a lot of other things going on this summer, it looks like I’m going to this writer’s conference in June. I’m trying to collate some info on dos and don’ts for the first timer at this kind of event. (I want to get the most out of it.) If I get any good stuff, I’ll post it here, practice it and tell you how it worked after the conference.

So, I put it you, internets. What do you know about this sort of event? Any personal thoughts, or short of that, good leads so’as I can school mah self?