Werewolf Started Last Night

Recently, I convinced my DnD group to try Werewolf: The Forsaken. We made characters (see the previous posts here and here) and agreed to meet for our first game last night. I made up a batch of Mik's "Spicy Balls of Doom!" and the game commenced. They were each called to make up a new pack to take over for a pack that went missing in Elizabethtown (E-town), Kentucky. E-Town is about 2 hours away from where we actually live, giving it a familiar but not too familiar feel. Here is the run down of what happened:

• Pack met and didn't kill each other (a definite plus).
• Found a house they can live with and afford
• Chose their beginning territory (funny enough, not at all where I thought it would be!)
• Found a usable locus (place to draw magic from) in their territory, though it is currently depleted since no one has been caring for it.
• Ran their first patrol route as a pack and found two bodies, strung up by their heels, gutted and still fresh.
• While examining, one of the wolves was shot, suffered massive damage, and fell into a Death Rage.
• In the end, the found that a deer spirit had Claimed a waitress and had forced her to kill her husband and son. The husband and son had been poaching and recently killed the deer spirits fawn (read Bambi).
• They also discovered the family was dirt poor and was poaching to put food on the table.
• Welcome to the World of Darkness.

Likes:

• Using the internet. ex. "DM, where is the college?" "Check the internet." See how easy that is?!!! There were still a few things I fudged but most of the info is already on the internet.
• I am granting XP to the person who writes up the adventure on Obsidian Portal
• He already has the first scene written! Check it out here.
• I am also granting XP if the character writes a "blog" entry on the site for the week.
• XP can be spent as the character sees fit, there are no "bonus this at such and such level". It is more like money to improve your character as you want.
• Combat went pretty well and I really liked the mini-story associated with the deer and hunters. Both were wrong and both had a point.

Dislikes:

• Combat Actions: The way I read it, you get one action per round. So you can move. Or you can attack. Or you can change forms. It was a little too stilted. So I pulled a Dnd and said they got 1 Move, 1 Attack/Standard Action, and 1 minor. It changes the round from 3 seconds to 6 seconds but it improved the flow dramatically.
• Death Rage: Death Rage means you failed your composure roll and "lost it". The rules say the Storyteller randomly decides who the beast attacks. I decided that, as long as there were no intervening models between the beast and the thing that caused it all the damage, then the beast would go after the offender. If someone or something got in the way, then they would be attacked. Once the offender was killed (read ripped limb from limb) then all the others were fair game. Thankfully, the rest of the pack attempted to calm her down and it worked, this time.

That's it for now. I liked the game and came away with several more things I need to read up on.