The Wolfen Pack from the novel version of 'The Wolfen'

A sub-race of wolves which evolved separately from man, the pack in Whitley Strieber’s The Wolfen represent both a hidden threat to humanity as both predator and intelligent adversary. The novel (far superior than the 1981 movie) gives a real feeling to the ‘monster’ – That is possible that such creatures could exist, and were the basis for the original werewolf legends. There are several tense scenes in the book, from the inadvertent discovery of the pack’s lair to the finale in the high-rise building that really are spine-chilling.

Why The Wolfen?

Simply put, the novel was an awesome and fresh take on the werewolf legend in such a way to represent ‘evolutionary horror’. I enjoyed the book quite a bit as the narrative is both from the human perspective and the pack’s perspective, granting a rare view into the minds of main antagonist(s). Strieber offers a really good horror book without a lot of unnecessary and overt ‘dumbing down’ of the concept – There are questions that are never answered, but it’s a logical reason why those questions are never answered. In other words, the book doesn’t try to neatly explain everything , and that’s kind of cool.
I will say that the movie version with Albert Finney really doesn’t do the book justice at all (rewriting huge sections and changing the nature of the pack completely). In the end, the superior novel is left as a bookmark to the inferior movie.



The Wolfen Pack

Typical Pack Member

F: Ex (20)
A: Gd (10)
S: Gd (10)
E: Ex (20)
R: Typ (06)
I: Rm (30)
P: Gd (10)

Health: 60
Karma: 46
Popularity: 0*
Resources: Fe (2)

Talents:
The Wolfen are essentially evolved wolves, having no real talents or training.

Powers:
Evolved Wolves:
The Wolfen Pack are evolved wolves, slightly large in size with an opposable thumb-like digit, higher cognitive function and evolved sensory abilities. These evolved wolves have existed on the fringes of human society, preying upon the weak, sick, and overlooked. Usually a pack of seven, the Wolfen pack who serve as the main antagonists in the novel have the following abilities:

• Tracking: The wolfen pack can track with Rm (30) ability, being able to find a specific scent in the city of New York without an issue. The Wolfen can follow the scent and/or trail as per the novel across water, through various difficult areas, and including attempts to hide or evasion by their prey. Once the Wolfen have selected a particular prey, they gain an additional +1cs to track that individual.
• Heightened Senses: The Wolfen Pack in the novel have greater than normal sensory abilities, able to see in almost pure darkness, pick up specific sounds that are outside the normal reigstry (even for wolves), and distinguish different scents and smells with greater ability (implied throughout the novel as being superior to wolves). It is assumed they have these senses at Ex (20) ability.
• Hyper-Movement: The Wolfen Pack are faster than normal wolves and/or dogs, able to move four areas a round and keep pace with a police vehicle moving at moderate speed. In addition, the Wolfen Pack and jump and bound longer distances with Pr (04) ability.
• Stealth: The Wolfen Pack move with inhuman stealth, granting them Gd (10) ability. The pack has evaded detection from advanced (1970s advanced) detection systems such as radio-mics, infra-red scanners, and other means.
• Mimicry: Wolfen have the ability to mimic human sounds with Rm (30) ability, often being able to lure unsuspecting prey into areas by posing as hurt children, familiar individuals, ect.
• Bite: Wolfen do Ex (20) edged damage to an opponent, capable of halving effective body armor and severing body parts (such as during the climax of the novel). Once a Wolfen has locked their jaws down, it requires an Ex (20) strength or opposed grapple to get them to let go.
• Pack Mentality: The Wolfen are incapable of speech, but communicate with each through other sensory abilities and low sounds. The Pack seems to share this mentality and are able to understand and communicate silently via line of sight. It is not telepathy, but rather a combination of sounds, scents, and body language.
• Cognitive Awareness: Wolfen seem to have a preternatural ability to determine if someone understands they exist, and can quickly make assumptions about a target accordingly. As seen during the pursuit of the police in the novel, the Wolfen quickly understand which officers know or have guessed about them, and proceed to hunt each down.

Contacts:
The Wolfen have no contacts, although it is suggested, implied, and revealed that during the ancient past, mankind had developed a means to communicate with the Wolfen using hand signals. This has since been forgotten by the Wolfen Pack.

Limitations:
The Wolfen Pack have several key limitations:

• Secrecy: Although not completely reasoning, the Wolfen understand that their existence must be kept secret, and will go to extraordinary lengths to hunt those down who have encountered them and lived. In addition, the Wolfen Pack tends to understand how to avoid detection and will never willingly or openly set up attacks regardless of the benefit and/or cost to do so, including rescuing their own from certain death. The Wolfen Pack will eat their own to destroy evidence of their existence.
• Animal-like intelligence: As stated before, the Wolfen Packs are evolutionary forward of wolves, but are not capable of resisting their instincts or developing past rudimentary concepts. The capacity for reason is there, the cunning is there, but for the most part, they are not revealed to be as cognitive as humans.
• Rare: Wolfen are rare, and it is implied by the author of the novel that they may even been near extinction. The Pack realizes this, having not seen other packs or encountered any others.
• Predator Need: The Wolfen need to feed regularly, taking one or two people who will not be immediately missed at a time.
• Lair: The Wolfen maintain a lair somewhere near their preferred hunting grounds. The lair is usually guarded, and not easily moved.
• Unusual Looks: Close examination of the Wolfen reveals their unusual size, the opposable thumb, and the larger head/brain. As such, those who know what to look for gain a +1cs to spotting the difference between large wolves and Wolfen.

Notes:

I always liked the book. One more 'animal' monster group during this round of Halloween write-ups.