I just got a published story about a pack's rite of passage, complete with pre-gen characters. it says in the ritual section of the werewolf rulebook that group cannot learn rites or gifts until their rite of passage is complete, but the pregens all have 3 gifts and some have rites.
does anyone know anything regarding this old RPG that can help clarify? I'm not running the actual story as it's presented, I'm just nabbing some of the encounters.
Most Werewolf chronicles started off after the rite of passage was complete. Normally it was narrated only or glossed over.
Since this is about the Rite of Passage, I'm assuming those listed on the character sheet are simply what rites the character will have after the Rite of Passage is complete.
Some of the scenes in the chronicle actually state that the characters will have trouble if they don't have X gift or X rite though.
Once a Garou completes his Rite of Passage, he is welcomed into one of the Twelve Tribes of the Garou Nation.
Before the completion of this rite, he is a cub, and he is treated as little more than a child. He may not learn tribal* Gifts or receive the tribe's deepest secrets.
*emphasis mine
So by that quote, they can certainly learn gifts and rites, just not tribal ones.
page 165 of the revised edition says under rite of passage: "before the rite of passage, the group are not yet rank 1. Their teachers do not teach them any* gifts.
*emphasis mine.
I like it the way you described, but it conflicts with both the character generation rules used for the pregen(which assumes rite of passage was completed already) and the story presented in the chronicle (which in contrast, suggests the pups have not had-any- sort of training by their sept; they were locked alone in a warehouse until their rite). none the less the story does go on to assume they have access to their gifts. I think white-wolf just decided to let them have their 3 gifts on account of that's what is fair for a new character to have and simply considered the continuity as less important.
it should be noted, however, that the copy of "Rite of Passage" that I own is from first edition. at least I think, the characters have numerical renown, rather than dots.
But then again, this IS the Storyteller system that we're talking about. Do what you need to in order to make it work, as long as your group has fun doing it.
By the time I ran that adventure, Second edition was what was in. I totally ignored that part of the players not having Gifts. White Wolf certainly did.