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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 815001" data-attributes="member: 463">Instead of trying to think of it as how much info modern people have on werewolves, think of it as how much info they have on simple first aid, on fire safety, on how to keep common use but dangerous chemicals and bleaches safely handled and stored, and the like. Those are every bit as much REAL THREATS as DND WEREWOLVES are with that world. Whether you learned stop-drop-roll from your church, your parents, your school teachers or not is irrelevent... as a REAL THREAT the adults did their best to teach you the right way to deal with it. They teach you to not talk to strengers, to shout if someone touches you inappropriately and to duck-and-cover in case of a nuclear blast.If were wolves prowled our streets, they would be teaching you about silver and wolvesbane too.It sounds like you have defined for your world that werewolves are a rare occurance and that common DND notions like "the pack of werewolf brigands preying on caravans" and the like would be a non-entity. You sound like you are having werewolves as an exceptional threat, not like your orc or troll or even giants which are fairly commplace.You seem to have made wererats even more mythical to the point of being not even known much.OK, thats fine. But when i look through DND modules and read accounts of DND worlds events like greyhawks stuff, it seems obvious to me that were-varmints are just as much a part of things as elves and dwarves (though in smaller groups) and that the notion of "mans turns into man-beast" would not be a wondrous or rare thing at all.the common campaign of DND is a highly mystical environment where medusas lead thieves guilds and werewolves form brigand groups to raid caravans.If you are running a game thats not in that mode, and you expect or susect your players are not aware of that change, it should behoove you to explain that to them ahead of time so they can roleplay accordingly.They cannot ROLEPLAY well the changes you don't tell them about? [/B]</blockquote>I do try to tell them about my world - incidentally in my world halflings are rarer (and more mythical) than wererats, they're lumped in with the rest of the faerie races.  Elves are nearly extinct, dwarves and gnomes are rare - few people ever see one - but generally known to exist.  IMC werewolves are generally about as common as they are in European mythology, ie they turn up now and then but not on the routine basis you seem to describe.  Generally the world is closer to real-world myth & fable than to standard 3e norms, I guess.  I started creating it in 1986 so Monte Cook's high-magic approach in 3e came too late to influence its development.Finally: in the UK we are NOT taught (at least I wasn't) stop drop & roll, the Heimlich maneuever, basic first aid, screaming when touched, duck & cover, all those wonderful things that are part of an American child's education (apparently).  I did learn basic first aid, but only when I joined the Territorial Army Reserve aged circa 25!  "Common knowledge" varies a lot by area, in the real world and presumably in most fantasy worlds.  The average American 16-year-old can drive a car.  In the UK it'd be illegal for them to drive a car.  Where my American wife went to school, all the children were taught gun safety, guns being part of everday life in rural Tennessee.  Not in Belfast where I grew up - not like that, anyway...My point being that if wererats are very rare in Area X (as DocM SPECIFICALLY SAID was the case in his game), the people in Area X aren't likely to  waste much time educating their young adventurers about them.  If they're common (as in your game?), it'll be different.[/QUOTE]

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