Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a role-playing game from the Classic World of Darkness line by White Wolf Publishing. Other related products include the collectible card games named Rage and several novels (including one series). In the game, players take the role of werewolves known as "Garou" (from the French loup garou). These werewolves are locked in a two-front war against both the spiritual desolation of urban civilization and supernatural forces of corruption that seek to bring about the Apocalypse. Game supplements detail other shapeshifters.
Werewolf: The Wild West is a role-playing game from the World of Darkness line by White Wolf Game Studio. The setting is similar to Werewolf: The Apocalypse but is taking place in the Wild West in the 19th century. This time, players take upon the roles of Garou, raging werewolves, and wage holy war defending the Pure Lands (the Americas) from overwhelming corruption in the form of the mighty Bane called the Storm-Eater.
Genre
Weird West (Wikipedia Article)
Weird West (TV Tropes Article)
Campaign Overview
Time: 1860
Recent Events:
February 22 – Shoe-making workers of Lynn, Massachusetts, strike successfully for higher wages. The strike spreads throughout New England, and eventually involves 20,000 workers.
February 26 – White settlers massacre a band of Wiyot Indians on Indian Island, near Eureka, California. At least 60 women, children and elders are killed. Bret Harte, newspaper reporter in Arcata, reports the news to newspapers in San Francisco.
February 28 – The Artists Rifles is established, as the 38th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Burlington House in London.
March 6 – While campaigning for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln makes a speech defending the right to strike.
Place: Salt Lake City, UT
Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. At the time of Salt Lake City's founding, the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone; however, occupation was seasonal, near streams emptying from canyons into the Salt Lake Valley. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water". The land was treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone was ever recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States. The first U.S. explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley (the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776 were undoubtedly aware of Salt Lake Valley's existence). U.S. Army officer John C. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845.
The valley's first permanent settlements date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24, 1847. They had traveled seeking a secluded area to safely practice their religion away from the violence and the persecution they experienced in the East. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, "This is the right place, drive on." Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon train's arrival. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement.
Four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple, which would become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark.
The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block later called Temple Square, took 40 years to complete. Construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece. In fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley.
The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849. The United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital in 1858, and the name was later abbreviated to Salt Lake City. The city's population continued to swell with an influx of Mormon converts and Gold Rush gold seekers, making it one of the most populous cities in the American Old West.
Explorer, ethnologist, and author Richard Francis Burton traveled by coach in the summer of 1860 to document life in Great Salt Lake City. He was granted unprecedented access during his three-week visit, including audiences with President Brigham Young and other contemporaries of Joseph Smith. The records of his visit include sketches of early city buildings, a description of local geography and agriculture, commentary on its politics and social order, essays, speeches, and sermons from Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and other prominent leaders, and snapshots of everyday life such as newspaper clippings and the menu from a high-society ball.
Disputes with the federal government ensued over the Mormon practice of polygamy. A climax occurred in 1857 when President James Buchanan declared the area in rebellion after Brigham Young refused to step down as governor, beginning the Utah War. A division of the United States Army, commanded by Albert Sidney Johnston, later a general in the army of the Confederate States of America, marched through the city and found it had been evacuated.
Maps and Images
Glover's Map of Salt Lake City (1875)
Sketch of Salt Lake City (1860)
Knutsford Hotel, Salt Lake City
Knutsford Hotel: Ground Floor
Knutsford Hotel: Grand Lobby
