Seeing it released is an incredible moment for all the writers, artists, editors, and layout bods who worked on the book.

The deluxe Kickstarter editions — both “regular Deluxe” and Heavy Metal — will be coming soon. Rich Thomas is working closely with the printers and they’re printing the interiors. The best place to get info on that is the W20 Kickstarter update page; Rich is in close contact with everyone involved, while I’m focused more on the new books in the line.

Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: Corrections [for the Deluxe edition —Stew] are with the printer. The W20 PoD proofs are great- we’re going to go live with this on DTRPG this week maybe even tomorrow.

I’m also looking over the PDF proof of Changing Breeds and it looks amazing. Got to get it marked up and checked over, but my first impression is wow!

Wow. It’s been a long time. I can only apologise; I’ve been a little overwhelmed with projects, including Blood & Smoke for Vampire: The Requiem, a story for When Will You Rage 2, and a whole bunch of other stuff. That’s no excuse for not posting here, though.

So what’s been going on? Rich is waiting on the third round of W20 PoD proofs from DriveThru, and is getting the interior of the Deluxe W20 to match his color notes. Both the Deluxe and Heavy Metal covers are being prepped for proofing. As always, the best place to look for Deluxe W20 info is the Kickstarter update page.

In case you haven’t seen, we’ve launched the Kickstarter for the Deluxe Exalted 3rd Edition. It hit its goal in 18 minutes, which is just insane. Naturally, it’s racking up the stretch goals.

Speaking of stretch goals, I’ve not forgotten the W20 stretch goals. We’ve got the first drafts of White Howlers coming in soon, and I’ll be sure to get some great excerpts up here for you. I do want to get a bit more of a conversation going about what’s in the book, but I’d much rather the writers do their thing without me constantly leaning over their shoulder. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring a bit more of a dialogue here with White Howlers.

But what about the W20 Cookbook? Glad you asked! Below the cut is the introduction and recipe for the Bone Gnawers, ripped right from my current draft.

Bone Gnawers

Rat’s chosen tribe don’t mess around when it comes to food. They go in for big pots and bold flavors, and when you see what they’ve got to work with you soon understand why. While many Bone Gnawers can make a meal out of almost anything, it doesn’t mean they necessarily want to. American Bone Gnawers favor dishes like jambalaya, chicken and dumplings, or a big old pot of five-alarm chilli, but I went a bit further afield to discover something that represents the tribe while introducing new flavors to American and European Garou.

I’ve adapted this recipe from one I learned from a sept of Bone Gnawers in Ghana. They use a couple of old stewing hens for both the stock and for their meat, and make enough to feed twenty or thirty Garou and Kin at a time. Doing it their way can take four or five hours, I’ve condensed it down to something that most people can cook in an hour and a half. It scales well — if you have a big enough pot, double the ingredients and cook each stage for 45 minutes to an hour.

Chicken and Peanut Curry

Serves 8 (leftovers will keep in a freezer for several months).
Prep time 15 mins
Cook time 1hr 10mins

Variations

Vegetarian/Vegan — Use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock. Swap out the chicken legs for a similar weight of vegetarian chicken breast or seitan; don’t fry it first, but add it to the pot with the sweet potato and peppers.

Note: Since a few of the recipes include seitan as a vegetarian/vegan meat replacement, the W20 Cookbook will include a recipe for it in the appendix, along with a list of equipment and common terms.

Ingredients

1L (2pt) chicken stock (broth), hot
240g (¾ jar; 8oz) smooth peanut butter
2 onions
3 tbsp sunflower oil
3-inch piece of ginger
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tsp coriander (cilantro) seeds
3 tsp cumin seeds
2 scotch bonnet chillies
2 bay leaves
800g (2 cans) chopped tomatoes, with juice
150g (1 cup) chopped peanuts
400g red lentils
4 chicken legs
4 sweet potatoes (batata)
2 red peppers
Large handful coriander (cilantro)
400g (2 cups) basmati or long grain rice, to serve.

Method

1. Pour the hot chicken stock over the peanut butter and stir to dissolve. Heat a dry skillet over a high flame and toast the cumin and coriander seeds for a couple of minutes until they release their aroma. Remove from the pan and crush to a powder in a pestle and mortar. Peel and mince the ginger. Take the seeds out of the chillies and chop. Thinly slice both the onions.
2. Cut the chicken into thighs and drumsticks. Leave the skin on and the bones in. Season with salt and pepper, then fry in a skillet in a tablespoon of the oil. You want a medium-high heat, enough to brown the skin for flavour but not to cook the chicken through.
3. Fry the onions in a very large pan in the oil. Once the onions are soft and translucent (about 5 minutes), add the ginger, cayenne, coriander and cumin, chillies, and bay leaves. Cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, peanut stock, peanuts, and lentils to the pan, stir well, then stir in the chicken. Put the lid on, and simmer for 30 minutes. Give it a stir every 5 minutes or so to make sure that the peanut butter doesn’t stick to the pan.
5. Peel the sweet potato and cut into 2cm (¾ inch) chunks. Take the seeds out of the peppers and cut them into similar-sized chunks as well. Add to the pot along with most of the chopped coriander, and simmer for another 30 minutes with the lid on. Keep stirring frequently, and if the sauce looks too thick, add some water to thin it down.
6. Cook the rice according to how you would normally; if you don’t know how, look on the packet. Too many varieties for me to specify here.
7. Once the big pot’s done, sprinkle the rest of the coriander over the top and serve with the rice. Make sure everyone gets a piece of chicken.

In celebration of completing the Editing Pass of Doom™, I’ve included the introduction to the Ajaba below the jump.

In other news, I’m going to be a guest at Conpulsion in Edinburgh — an easy con to get to as it’s right on my doorstep. I’ll be running some Werewolf: The Apocalypse, including an exclusive sneak preview of the Skinner SAS! Hope to see some local Werewolf fans there!

Legend

Dark times are upon us, my child, but do not mourn. Set your teeth instead to the killer’s grin, for darkness is a friend to those who know the shadows — and none know the darkness better than we.

It was not always so. In the light of First Morning, we were a proud people with a sacred duty. We were the choosers of the slain, the cullers of the flock, and in our footsteps the tears of those who mourned fell like rain. Our jaws offered salvation from a slow death by hunger, by age, by illness. We cleared away the misshapen, the perverse, the wrong-blooded and warped who sullied the herd with their taint. We slew the weak, that the strong might grow stronger and the fallen feed the scavengers and carrion-birds.

It was an honorable duty, a strong birthright, and we did our job well. For generations without number, we held to our ways, and the veldt prospered.

Then came the dry times, when the rains no longer fed the grasslands and hunger swept the land. Drought killed more than even we would dare slaughter, from hunger, thirst, and the heat of the never-ending summer. It drove the herds to seek new lands, looking for water, food, or shelter from the sun.

And it brought men to the land of the beasts.

They came with their flocks, bearing their villages on their backs, and the grasslands died, eaten bare by their cattle and goats. We moved to cull their numbers as well — beast and man alike — but the humans baited us, hunted us, and in time, proved their worth. These were strong men and women, and their blood strengthened our line. Our numbers grew, both two-legged and four, and for a time our clans stretched from one edge of the land to the other. It was a glorious time for the Bringers of the Rain.

But the dry times did not end. And though we held our duty dear, the rains would not fall, no matter how many tears we called to summon them. The wild flocks faded. Even we could not bring swift peace to all those who faced the long night with hollow bellies, never to see another dawn.

Just as hunger drove the herding villages to us, seeking respite, it brought other predators into our lands. Our cousins, the cats-who-walk-on-two-feet, sought the dwindling herds also, and we warred beneath the twilight for food to feed our cubs.

The war between ourselves and catkind grew to desperate levels. They who had once patterned themselves mighty hunters, but who stormed in to steal our kills. They who fouled our waters with their lazy ways. They who left meat to rot in the sun rather than bear the presence of the scavengers who starved around them.

They blamed us for their poor hunting. Blamed us for our “unnatural ways”. Blamed us when their own pride left their cubs to hunger, their Kin to starve, their children to dry up in their mother’s wombs.

There was no longer enough for both to survive. Not enough food. Not enough water. Not enough hope that we all might live on. They murdered our young, and we theirs, and the grasslands supped on blood from both.

Then came the Endless Storm, and the battle came to a head.

Bare your teeth, my child, at the name of Black Tooth, killer of our kind. It was he who learned the Yava of our people. It was he who raged across the lands, slaying Ajaba, hyena, and human alike. It was his pride who swept the Serengeti like a murderous squall, and his minions who hunted us to the streets of Bombay.

Something had to be done. Our king, Adjua Ka, called the people together, to unite our forces — and counterattack.

We gathered by the hundreds — men, women, and children — filling the Ngornongoro Crater until the valley glowed bright as day with our campfires. Metis and Kin, an army of hyenas, humans, and we in between. And, as the sky overhead turned dark, and the shadows crept in around us, our once-King began to speak.

Adjua railed against the Simba and vowed to lead us against them. Together, he promised, we would drive the lions from the plains and stop the slaughter of our people. His words were food for our hunger, water for our souls. In his voice, we could hear the song of our freedom, and an end to our troubles.

Our replies thundered in the darkness — howling voices, stamping feet, pounding shields, snapping jaws — all eager, all ready. It was a night of spirit-raising, war-planning, and truth-telling. It was to be the night when the choosers of the slain took back the midnight land.

It was a trap instead.

I remember bristling fur and wide eyes as the first of the lion’s roars shook the night. Winds cracked the hills and torrents washed away the campfires as the Endless Storm swept over the crater’s edge. In the lightning-flare I saw a wall of lions, leopards, and men around us. There was surprise, but no fear from our people — not then. We were the choosers of the slain. We were the cullers of the herd. We lived to take life — it was our sacred duty, and we were ready to fulfill it upon those who would do us harm.

How little did we know.

They fell upon us, and our world came apart. We fought hard, and we accounted for our lives in blood. But Black Tooth knew our Yava, and his warriors struck exactly where they could do the most harm.

Our people fell like raindrops to the thirsty land.

Some, seeing the battle turn, escaped into the darkness. They ran across the grasslands and summoned up spells to hide themselves. When they reached the cities, they scattered and hoped for the best.

The ones who stayed were butchered. Each man and woman. Ajaba and hyena. Kits and Kinfolk, warriors and children alike. They slew us all, destroyed the court. To mock us, they decorated the site with skulls. And with foul magics, they cursed the lands we once protected, barring us from them for a hundred-hundred years.

So many lives, so many futures, so many tales forever lost. But we are far from dead.

They may have run us into the darkness, but the darkness has ever been our ally. They may have thinned our number, thinking to weaken us, but we are the cullers of the herd, and we know that what survives grows only stronger in response.

Denied our lands, we have scattered to the four corners of the earth and claimed each shadow as our own. Denied our Kin, we plant our seed where we may, breeding new clans to replace the ones so mercilessly taken from us. Denied our duty, we fulfill the role of rainmakers for all, bringing down those who are too weak, too foolish, too vulnerable to survive the teeth-that-bite-and-never-let-go.

We will endure. We will survive. And in time, we will regain what has been taken from us. We will rebuild our families, reclaim our lands, return to our natural place in the order of things.

And when that day comes, the cats will yowl for mercy and find it denied them. They will run, but from the shadows we will hunt them down. And their Kin will mourn over their thrice-wretched bodies as we call forth the rains over the plains of Africa once more.

Let’s preface this by saying I love food, and I know I’m not the only one. Matt McFarland regularly cooks for his group in the style of Chopped. David Hill released a cookbook for his post-fantasy RPG, exploration of the culture of the world through its food. And on a more personal level, a whole lot of freelancers — Werewolf and not — sent me jealous email and tweets. It’s clear that though I really want to do the cookbook, I’m not the only one who wants to see it.

On the one hand, a cookbook is a great way to get a look at a culture through how it eats and what it eats. Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a fiercely multicultural game and I want a chance to reflect that in the recipes used in the book. The Children of Gaia and Bone Gnawers both cook big pots of food that can feed a lot of people. The Glass Walkers eat on the go or order in, and they’re epitomised by food that’s available the world over, adapted to the local palate. Even the Red Talons have to admit that meat tastes better when cooked (all hail the maillard reaction), but what would a tribe of lupus choose to accompany their meat?

At the same time, the people who play Werewolf aren’t the same people who first picked up the game, even though they have the same name and date of birth. Time changes us all. In those first few years of gaming, I could live on ramen and Ginsters pasties, Haribo and Dr Pepper. These days, I cook for my family and bribe my gaming group by cooking dinner. My tastes have changed — food’s not just fuel to stay up for three days straight, it’s something to enjoy. Few things beat eating a slice of bread with the same hands that kneaded the dough, or feeling the sizzle of a steak as it hits the pan. I could go back to Haribo and pasties, but I find that I don’t want to. I’ve changed as a person — and I’d be very surprised if I was the only one to feel that way.

For all that I want the W20 Cookbook to function as an in-world artefact, the sort of thing that a Garou or Kinfolk chef might compile as a way of examining the culture of each tribe through the food that they eat, I also want it to be practical and useful for the people who will use it, which means including vegetarian and pescatarian recipes that are appropriate for the Garou. I’m cooking each recipe multiple times, using both normal and US measurements. I may have a passion for food but I also have a tiny kitchen and a limited set of equipment. I won’t put anything in the cookbook that I couldn’t do at home. I’m also trying to make the ingredients the sort of thing that people could find in a well-stocked supermarket. I want people to cook the recipes in this book. I’m not the same person I was when I started playing Werewolf: The Apocalypse, I can’t survive on the same level of junk food that I could as a teenager. And if nothing else, my players are less likely to flake if I bribe them with dinner. I hope it inspires people to do the same.

The outline I’m currently looking at includes 20 recipes. One for each tribe of the Garou Nation, one for each Lost Tribe, one for each of Hakken, Boli Zhouisze, and Siberakh, and one for the Black Spiral Dancers.

As a pet project, I’m working on it in parallel to other books. Jess is hard at work writing Tribebook: White Howlers — oh, yeah, have an outline — and once I’ve got this last little bit of Changing Breeds done I’ll be working with our consulting developers on the next Book of the Wyrm pass.

AS Rich mentions in the latest Kickstarter update, the Index is going into the book now. Once that’s done, every Kickstarter backer gets a PDF to make sure that their name is in right. At the same time, we get files sent off to the PoD and Deluxe printers.

I don’t want to say how long this last step will take. If I say “by X”, it’ll end up being the day after X just to make us look bad.

But it’s coming.

Book of the Wyrm is finally redlined and back with the writers.

RAGE Across the World is out of editing and in Chaney’s capable hands for layout.

The White Howlers Tribebook outline is done, and I’ve got a writer on board. I need to confirm a few things about the comic and get contracts out, and then we are go. Once everything’s confirmed, I’ll get the outline posted up.

If you weren’t following the Hunters Hunted II Kickstarter, you might not have seen that one of the stretch goals was a section on Project Twilight. I’ve got that sent off to Eddy, and I’m sure it’ll bring back some fond memories. “Bob Schnoblin’s Pyramid of Satanic Power™” and all.

(I have some actual news coming as soon as I finish these redlines, I promise)

I’m now going to compile the notes from our discussion into the redlines that go out to each writer. Good news for all of them: the first drafts are all really good, and I’m sure the finals will be even better.

Once that’s done, I need to check the edits on both Book of Changing Breeds and RAGE Across the World, then get on down to writing an outline for the White Howlers Tribebook. In that neat way projects have of linking up, some of the ideas for the White Howlers have come out of John Mørke’s Black Spiral Dancers draft for Book of the Wyrm. I love it when a plan comes together.

I’m aware that I’m now talking about books that are three and four down the line, and Changing Breeds hasn’t yet seen the light of day. It’s getting a very thorough edit, and that’s no small task. If you recall the outline, we had the whole book being 90,000 words. The chapter on the Changing Breeds themselves is at 95,000 words. It’s going to be impressively meaty.