Unleash the Beast - Werewolf Role-Playing

Role playing is a type of make believe. It's a game where you pretend to be someone else. There are many different types of role playing games, some use dice and pencils to keep track of various scores, while others are played on a computer which does the score keeping for you. However the score, the stats, and the numbers, are really the most mundane part and they don't even really count as part of the experience. True role-playing involves taking on the personality of someone else, someone completely different, like an alien, a psychic, or a werewolf.
Werewolves are the literary link between man and beast. They represent the wild creature that exists inside of all of us. They are the passion of our ancestors, the intensity of the wild. They represent everything that ensures that humans are still savage.
When you role-play as a werewolf, you are accepting the terrible legacy of our human past. You are inviting the raw and terrible savagery of the beats into your world.
However, there is a time and place for everything. The world is still wild. Having access to some of the passion and power of our ancestors can actually help your daily life, in certain situations.
Further, the beast is there, within every human, whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. It's impossible to truly hide that animal passion that sits just behind our souls. That is why werewolf role-playing is so cathartic. It lets those passions exist in a reality, without consequence. In a lot of ways it teaches you control over that beast.
By channeling this powerful energy into a creative process, you can create stories that reflect a different part of your soul. This is true whether you are working on a personal creation, or a group initiative. In a group you will have constant feedback, making the experience more dynamic. Whatever savagery you display, will be immediately judged by the group. The great thing is that those stories will represent a hidden aspect of your mind.
On top of the emotion, the werewolf character is actually a representative of nature. It is the part of humanity that is still connected to the natural world, the raw, rugged, real aspects of the tumultuous earth that gave birth to us. The werewolf is ferocious, like a bear with the intelligence of a man.
One important thing to note; despite the savage nature of a werewolf, it is still a pack animal. They are powerfully influenced by those that they consider important and part of "their own". This is one of the most powerful dichotomies which exist within the personality of the great beast; the interplay between loyalty and independence, savagery, and humanity. These are the key concepts when trying to develop a werewolf's psyche, whether in play, or simply in creation.
The werewolf is a literary character that represents the savage beast which exists within all humans. When we embrace such a creature, whether through act or word, we are embracing the primitive spirit that lies just beneath or civilized exterior. We are acknowledging some hidden power within our self, to be stronger, fiercer, more dangerous, and yet on the other hand also more pure, natural, and loyal. In this way we are truly imitating the savage garden that the world around us, really

Article written by Joseph Gambi