Three Foods of The Land Beyond The Great Forest

There's three dishes that really stand out.

Blood Soup.

Rich, red and warming. Packed with paprika. Normally made without blood, but a concentrated base of pork (or less commonly, beef) stock. 

Recommended to build you back up when you're a bit pale and drained from sleeping badly the last few nights. Traditionally a remedy for anaemia - hence the name.

Variations include floating chunks of pickled beetroot, much much more garlic, or absolutely no garlic at all. Sometimes served in a hollowed-out stale loaf.

When served chilled and congealed, it is sliced like sausage as an accompaniment to strong drink in the open air. The gelatinous texture is an acquired taste.

Hunter's Broth.

A simple soup of bone broth, salt and a mix of alliums. Traditional peasant dish, to be enriched with leftovers. 

It is thought that it gets its name from being fed to those injured in hunting accidents to determine the severity of stomach wounds. The distinctive smell would indicate internal perforation, and the poor soul would prepare for death. 

This may also be reflected in the tradition of adding a symbolic drop of crushed belladonna to the soup as it is served.

Another theory is that it's an example of ironic peasant humour. Surely no hunter would attempt to stalk animals after eating something so heavily seasoned with garlic that it scents your sweat.

The tourist recipe is significantly milder with edible berries in place of the belladonna, and served with toasted (or stale) bread floating on top. Sprinkled with cheese, and/or shredded dried meat.

Red Velvet Chicken.

According to folklore, a meal personally prepared and served by the head of a noble household to a guest of more humble station. 

Red and glossy. A powerful symbol of hospitality, it is purported to encourage restful sleep and agreeable conviviality.

Originally a simple, rustic chicken dish, the recipe now includes expensive imported spices - the different combinations and proportions said to reflect the characters of both past and current armigerous clans.

The brightly-coloured example in the nicer coaching inns is more affordable. Contains lots of paprika (and sometimes garlic), instead of the rare and precious spices.

The most authentic-looking (and expensive) tourist version contains cumulatively poisonous (but surprisingly palatable) metallic dyes. The locals aren't fooled, by appearance or by taste, but the adulteration is overlooked by less-conscientious authorities as long as adverse reactions are few, rare and restricted to tourists. 

System Agnostic Mechanics.

Blood Soup: double-rate recovery from health and attribute damage from blood-loss, blood-disease and assorted haemovores and energy drainers, living and (un)dead.

Hunter's Broth: belladonna for bonus vs. surprise by vampires/minions, and resistance to lycanthropy; stench vs. vampires as (eg) Troglodyte, and penalty to surprise/stealth.

The tourist version has no mechanical effects.

Red Velvet Chicken: disadvantage/penalty on saves vs. sleep, charm and hold. Can be specific to the villain, or more generally. 

The tourist version lacks the psychoactive compounds - it's tasty but usually overpriced. 

Tainted meals give a cumulative 1% chance of getting really sick per portion consumed. The poison is purged at a rate of up to 5% per week after last dose.

Commentary.

Thanks to what is now Strange Studies of Strange Stories for the idea/image of the Count making Jonathan Harker his supper.

The soups seemed thematically appropriate without being too light-hearted.

DINOSAURS! - Back to Basic

The Mandela Effect has eliminated the 40+ dinosaur stat-blocks from Advanced and Basic D&D, leaving only scattered references - including that they're big stupid hungry reptiles.

Oh no! Have to make my own in a lonely-fun vacuum. 

Compatible with most old school D&D-alikes/derivatives.

(And apologies to dinosaur aficionados and experts).

Proof!

They don't need species names: Big Hungry, Old One Eye, the God-Beast,

Hit Dice.

As they are equally huge and weird (see above for proof), dinosaurs can be built on the 1e AD&D Froghemoth, meaning they get 16 HD.

Armour Class.

Things like Pterodactyls are leathery so they have AC as leather (+2); most other dinosaurs are scaly so they have AC as scale armour (+3). The dinosaurs with armour plates (you decide if Stegosaurus is one of these) have AC as plate (+6). 

Triceratops gets +1/+2 vs. missiles for having a shield round its neck - Stegosaurus might also qualify for back plates, if you've not already decided they're armour plated.

Pterodactyls can also get +1 to +3 for flying, or nothing if you think they're clumsy, ponderous fliers.

Attacks.

One big attack for 6d6, or can split the dice between up to six opponents. 

Pterodactyls always split three ways: beak and two wing buffets for 2d6 each (and see below). 

1d6 attacks are incidental bashes, blunders and buffets in the melee.

2d6 and 3d6 attacks are claws, kicks, flipper and tail swipes and so on. Includes the bites of small-headed herbivores.

4d6 and above are carnivore bites, single-target stamps, goring and tossing with horns. 

6d6 is the slavering jaws of the Tyrant Lizard King, being trod on by a Brachiosaurus, sat on by a Triceratops.

If you prefer, 4d6+ attacks don't need a hit roll, you save to evade.

Various 3d6+ attacks can cause hull damage; 4d6+ can cause structural damage.

Special Attacks.

On a successful hit of 19-20 vs. a human-sized target, the dinosaur inflicts a special.

(If smaller than human-sized, special on 14+)

The big carnivores swallow you whole; the big herbivores trample you underfoot. 

Auto-damage (save to resist for half) each round until you can escape/are rescued - you're pretty helpless while being digested/stomped. Various bits of equipment are at risk.

Marine dinosaurs knock you into the water or swallow you if you're already there; includes capsizing and holing boats.

The armoured dinosaurs with spiky tails knock you prone and you drop whatever you're holding - lose Initiative and no attacks for two rounds (one to pick up your weapon, one to get back up - in any order, or you can crawl away). 

You can also use this for rams, butts and tossing by the bone-headed and the horned dinosaurs.

Flying dinosaurs carry you off into the sky, or knock you down (like a spiky tail) with a wing buffet, or knock you off the branch/bridge/deck/ledge with same.

...unless they do an apocalyptic swoop - an AoE attack of up to 16 dice, but also suffers same number of dice damage itself. If you like, use massive damage instant death rules on it. Maybe it's also on fire because the volcano has erupted.

Special Defences.

Immune to spells that don't cause points of damage, normal fire and poison/venom.

Use your judgement - it'd be shame to spoil a cool improvisation or cunning plan for the sake of a statement. 

There's special cases to be made for all sorts of illusory tricks, setting things on fire, freezing the lake/river/swamp, casting disintegrate as the stinking jaws close round you like a cage, enlarging toads thrown into the yawning throat etcetera.

Stupid Dinosaur Behaviour.

At this stage, dinosaurs are pea-brained monsters of appetite and are easily fooled. 

Carnivores always attack and always attack the nearest largest suitable target. Includes siege engines, other dinosaurs, submarines, airships, lighthouses, mining equipment, atmosphere processors, time-machines, and trains (etc).

Herbivores generally only attack if attacked. If surprised (whether or not with hostile intent), they must pass a Morale Check or stampede - trampling you into the dirt (as special, above - and see below).

Horned herbivores can set vs. charge, but mainly do so against other dinosaurs (and similar, above).

All dinosaurs can fight on for d3 rounds at 0 to -16 hp (or if their head has been disintegrated in spectacular improvisational manner). 

Split their attacks between as many opponents as possible, and on a natural 20 (or a 1, if you prefer) they topple over (dead) on whatever they're fighting for a 6d6 AoE.

Morale for most dinosaurs is 8. On a double six, they go berserk and fight to the death, even turning on each other.

Morale Checks can also be triggered by 10+ points of magical cold/fire damage, or a similar amount of electrical damage, in a round.

Commentary.

These are the dinosaurs of Ray Harryhausen and Charles R. Knight and not as many Doug McClure films as I thought. They don't even aspire to Jurassic Park levels of accuracy, let alone have feathers.

I've noted elsewhere that my opinion is the older edition dinosaurs are high in number, low in inspiration.

I think the E/X of Basic D&D probably got it about right by having a limited range, even if they're otherwise unexceptional in their treatment. The Master set consolidation (particularly after the Latinate glut of the 1e AD&D Monster Manuals) was a sensible move, and was the spark point for this article.

CYTHRONS (from 2000AD's Slaine) - Monster for Old School Fantasy & Horror

 

Glenn Fabry.

The Earth is a farm. We are someone else's property. (Charles Fort)

AC Unarmoured   HD 6+3 or 8+4    Movement 100% Normal Human    Morale 11

Time-travelling humanoid alien demons that inhabit Cythraul, a hell-dimension that is in fact the Earth millions of years before the appearance of earthly life. Imprisoned (in space, but crucially not in time) after losing a cosmic war, they are analogues in Slaine's world for the Great Old Ones and Old Ones/Elder Things.

They feed on the energy produced by human emotion, especially the negatives ones. As well as food, this energy can be harnessed towards the goal of awakening the dead/sleeping High Cythrons and freeing themselves from the Earth.

Alignment: We're nothing but stupid animals to them. Some of them like hurting us more than others. Some keep us (or merely a scrap) as pets. Mostly we're raw materials.

Three-way alignment, they're Chaotic, I suppose; nine-ways, they're a mix of Lawful and Neutral Evil - possibly representing the organic farmers (millions of year alien conspiracy) vs. the battery farmers (full-scale alien invasion).

Dexterity, Intelligence and Strength: min.12 in each; 13/15/13 min. array for 8+4 HD Cythrons.

Roll d6+12 for exceptional individuals. Modifiers as for stat/system.

Innate resistances: Half or no damage from cold, electricity and normal fire.

They are immune to acid, poison (inc. gas)/venom and the related abilities of jellies, oozes and slimes. These are variously cleansing, refreshing and therapeutic to Cythrons - they enjoy them.

Unless specially made, their armour, equipment and garments do not share any or all of these resistances.

And they hate it, spoils a good abduction.

Weapons and Armour: swords, axes, spears and pole arms of various levels of sci-fantasy sophistication but really anything they/you want, including their bare hands (prolonging their victory so they can feed on your desperate fear, puny mortal).

Can use leyser weapons (sci-fantasy magical energy weapons - swords, pistols, cannons) but - from the comics- favour minions, hand-weapons and optical leyser beams (see below).

Cythron Power Suit: the wearer look like a sci-fantasy ancient astronaut insect-skeleton stormtrooper (see above). Often look like ancient images/descriptions of deities.

• As protective as chainmail, as encumbering as leather.
• Activated by thought control:
•  +5 bonus to AC* and saves vs. all attack forms, protection from normal missiles, resist cold, resist fire.
• Non-Cythrons will need to be instructed or experiment in order to use the suits as more than passive protection, but even a brutal and unimaginative barbarian will find it easy enough.
• 8+4 HD Cythrons get the added benefit of protection from mortals - immunity to non-magical attacks from 0 to 3rd level characters. 
• Optical leysers: 2 beams per round for 2-12 hits, plus save vs. stun (1-4 rounds). Electricity or energy immunity works against the stun effect. Ranged touch attack, adjusted for cover (including shields).
• Fly as a glowing energy ball. I'm going to rule that you can travel through any non-solid medium without ill-effect in this state.
• Additional weight/living beings can be carried. In the comics, a Cythron abducts Nest (female human druid), and Slaine rescues both Tlachtga (female human fighter) and Ukko (male dwarf thief).
• Non-Cythrons need to concentrate while doing this. Double-ones on 2d6 you botch landing/re-entry and materialise in an occupied space. 
• I suggest contested saves to see who survives if it's a living being. If it's an object, roll, argue or judge to see if you have the reflexes and wit to turn back into energy and rescue yourself (still take a critical wound worth of damage). 

If one was to come onto the mortal market, it would as likely trigger an actual war as it would a bidding war.

It's sufficiently advanced technology that it's indistinguishable from magic. How it interacts with magic (and dispel magic) is up to you and your setting/system.

* Can stack with the passive protection, because I've based the Cythron power suit mechanics on Oard technology. However, I'd make protection from mortals the main effect and only use the higher AC bonus - but that's because I'm a low-armour kind of fellow.

Communication (8+4 HD only) with anything that has equal or lower species-average Intelligence than they do.

This is a universal translator ability, but they can also use telepathy - especially with minions.

Cythrons invented Common, and then took it away as a joke/punishment (symbolised in the Tower of Babel). 

The 6+3 HD Cythrons have a lesser and non-telepathic ability to speak with anything that has a language (within the range given above).

See Aura (8+4 HD only): As well as your emotional state they can easily determine your alignment, experience level and whether you are under a curse/spell. They will not be fooled (or not long fooled) by (human) disguise, polymorph or invisibility. 

The ability is a biological function and blocked by things that would foil normal vision. I'm going to say this includes magical darkness. In fog and smoke, they can probably tell you have an aura, but not the specifics.

What Was Left Out.

The Guledig (Praise Be His Name!) and the High Cythrons (Cthulhuvian in their nine-dimensional glory).

Myrddin, sired on a human mother by the Guledig, and by implication, other half-Cythrons.

The niceties of the bio-welder and the organic blender. 

Cythrons can re-make living things, for amusement and for utility. Reskin any monster as various forms of Orgot (organic-robot). AD&D Mongrelmen and Broken Ones/Shattered Brethren serve as abandoned experiments and grotesque pets. All these things are, at some level, human.

Cythron regeneration. Only one featured Cythron does this (three times, shedding its skin as it does so and extruding sucking tentacles). Slaine claims it was feeding on his energy, but he doesn't seem to suffer for it.

Cythrons vs. charm etc. As Nest is able to use the Talisman of Venus to charm the Cythron, Oeahoo, so at least the 6+3 HD Cythrons are not immune to mind-affecting magic.

How this translates to a D&D-ish system is up to you, but a quick rule could be that 8+4 HD Cythrons are immune (so Knuckles the Medium can't charm Pseudo-Osiris) and the 6+3 need two castings and to fail both saves.

Relationship to the Laws of Macrocosm - acts of so-called Good and Evil tip the balance in favour of the other side. A game of rock-paper-scissors in which you have to tell your opponent what you're going to play, and the least worst way to win is for nobody to take a turn.

Earth Power. There's at least two (1) (2) Slaine rpgs, so there's rules out there you could crib.

Commentary.

I stopped regularly reading 2000AD after the first part of The Horned God (early 1990s - switched to Fortean Times), and tended to re-read the earlier stuff in the time since (stuff I actually owned) - with the first part of Time Killer being one of the gaps in my collection.

Because it's a lot easier to access nowadays, I've speed-read c. 40 years of Slaine recently and that's the spark that lit the where's-the-Slaine-old-school-homebrew tinder. 

I can see why the Time Killer/Tomb of Terror arc wasn't remembered fondly, comparing it to what came before and (some) of what came after. Maybe the story/worldbuilding suffers because it's an episodic comic strip, put together week-to-week? I don't think the dungeon-crawl role-playing game tie-in did it any favours, either.

BUT: I was always able to squeeze a lot of juice out of it, and Glenn Fabry's art is great.

If this exercise wasn't about the Cythrons, then you could use/reskin Oards.

If you think they're a little bit low-powered for god-like beings, then graft on some later-edition types & sub-types (Aberration and Outsider?) onto them, maybe give them a d12 Hit Dice into the bargain.

Ian Sturrock did a piece on leyser weapons and Cythron characters (+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma, +4 bonus when making magical attacks) for the d20 Slaine rpg. 

DILUVIALS (from 2000AD's Slaine - Time Killer) - Monsters for Old School Fantasy & Horror

 

Glenn Fabry.

AC +5    HD 1+4    Move 100% Normal Human    Morale 8

Beetle-skeleton tribal humanoid monsters. Plucked from the remote past to serve as minions.

One weapon attack per round for d8 (or by weapon).

Champions have +6 AC, 2 HD and 9 Morale. One champion can act as leader for 2-12 lesser Diluvials.

Leaders have +6 AC, 3+1 HD (min. 16 hp), 9 Morale and +1 to damage. They are accompanied by 2-12 champions as bodyguards.

The special weapon of the Diluvials is a bone-conch triple-horn that acts as a horn of blasting that can also transmute rock to mud once per day.  These are non-magical durational effects (10 minutes) and 50% of lost hit points/structural damage is recovered if the target is not destroyed/slain in this time.

Maximum of one horn per 10 Diluvials. Must be wielded by a champion or leader.

Diluvials not commanded by a champion or leader will:

• stop fighting and feast on fresh kills on a 1-2 on d6 each round
• switch allegiance to the most obviously physically powerful character/monster if they fail a Morale Check

Diluvials of all types will not seek cover from magic or missile attack, nor do they make Morale Checks when subjected to same. This is because they are stupid.

Further Elaboration.

The triple-horn does damage tagged as sonic/sound/vibration, and its powers can be adapted to transmute rock to lava and stone to (lifeless) flesh. 

Transmuted flesh is permanent and used to feed the mass of Diluvials. 

They also like to use the triple-horns to liquify living victims so that they can drink them (traditionally irrevocable short of a wish) - this delicacy is usually reserved for leaders.

Higher-level Threat.

While they remain minions/sword fodder, use the leader statblock for all Diluvials to make them a higher tier threat. 

Number appearing is 2-12.

If there are at least 10, they have a triple-horn. Or, each has a 10% chance of carrying one.

Horror Monsters.

Number appearing is 1-3. Use the leader statblock. Claw/claw or claw/claw/bite if they are unarmed.

There is only one triple-horn.  It has all of the possible abilities. The Diluvials do not necessarily possess it at start of play.

If there are two Diluvials, together they can produce an infrasonic moan (as a Cloaker). If there are three, they can generate lethal vibrations (as a Death Watch Beetle, Giant).

These are the ones I'll convert for Call of Cthulhu.

Commentary.

First appear in Time Killer (1985), and that's where most of the basic information is drawn from.

Mechanically, they're the Giant Beetles with a bit of Goblin mixed in. 

There've been at least two Slaine rpgs and the Diluvials never made the cut.

The Human Werewolf.

art by Lucas Cranach the Elder

In a fantastic world where people can turn into animals for real, is there room for this version? Maybe.

Fear them, pity them, hate them, utterly misjudge them - this is the werewolf of human suffering. Their transformation is a property of their own minds and/or the accusations against them (not mutually exclusive).

This werewolf could be a beggar, a shepherd, a grand prince, a king, an unconventional therapist, a dressmaker, a wealthy farmer, a pedlar, a tailor, a mad duke, you, a lonely old woman, a grandiose peasant, a babe in the woods, a mooncalf, an eminent psychiatrist, a dishonourably discharged soldier, a noble baron, a creepy little kid.

As well as people who believe themselves to be monsters, it also includes monsters who claim to be human, and unfortunates being mistaken for monsters.

Human werewolves behave like humans, and wolves, and how they think wolves and werewolves behave, and how other people think wolves and werewolves behave. And sometimes they do this to a timetable, or for an audience, or when triggered. Can be gradual (even over weeks) or abrupt.

For example, the mad duke might go out howling at night, digging up graves and telling people he's a wolf, but spend the day doing his ducal duties and political scheming. He might act as if he is (or genuinely be) unaware of his nocturnal personality.

Remember also, some people only realise they're a werewolf when told they are by the bloke with the red-hot pincers and thumbscrews. You can roll d12 on this table to determine how someone thinks the transformation is accomplished.

Genres: crapsack, historical, (folk) horror, low-level, modern, mystery.

Basic profile: a Normal Human, a Berserker, any NPC, a PC.

I'm writing in ye olde D&D-adjacent, but it's all system agnostic really.

Nebuchadnezzar, eating grass not babies, being retrospectively diagnosed with porphyria. 

Combat: improvised weapons, in the mechanical and the narrative sense. They'll beat, bite, grapple, scratch and strangle as needed, even reach for a handy rock, broken bottle or piece of cutlery (if they're not too deep in the wolf delusion).

There's nothing but their own beliefs, delusions and preferences to stop them using any armour or weapon, even firearms.

In less casually violent settings, it might just be their willingness to do damage without worrying about the consequences that makes them dangerous.

Optional: Infected Wounds, whether their teeth and nails are tainted with grave-earth and rotten viscera, or just because the human mouth is apparently a filthy place. Treat as in your setting/system, but with an increased chance (+1% per point of damage, for instance).

Double 1s on 2d6 and victim thinks they're turning into a werewolf too.

Optional: Ferocity. Attack as a Giant Shrew - you can have the Initiative bonus, double attacks, the whole stat block if you like.

Optional: Battle Rage. If you aren't already using the Berserker stat block, you get the +2 attack bonus, +1 hp and 12 Morale - plus the deranged behaviour.

Special Qualities: Pick, or roll d12; not compulsory.

1. +d2 AC for thick hair, toughened skin, pain tolerance etc.
2. -1 to all rolls in normal daylight; -2 in bright sunlight.
3. take 2 hp damage per time unit (pick or randomise) in direct sunlight; this does not heal naturally, unless recovery time spent in darkness. Bits will eventually drop off.
4. Animals (mammals) - initial Reaction is Unfriendly.
5. Cats and Dogs - initial Reaction is Hostile.
6. Ghouls - initial Reaction is Neutral.
7. Wolves and Werewolves - initial Reaction is Neutral.
8. Wolves and Werewolves - initial Reaction is Hostile.
9. Wolves - initial Reaction is Friendly.
10. Appearance, behaviour, reputation and/or unsettling presence reduce Charisma by 3 (or a Reaction Roll penalty).
11. Appearance, behaviour, reputation and/or unsettling presence reduce Charisma to 3.
12. Can eat raw meat, spoiled food, cadavers and assorted carrion without (debilitating/significant) ill effects; +4 save vs. ingested poisons & diseases, and a save of 16+ if one is not normally allowed.

As well as having a higher than normal chance of spontaneously rising from the grave as a vampire, human werewolves are likely more susceptible to a vampire's charm/mesmeric ability (even becoming Pawns to their Liege).

Their circumstances and/or habits make them ideal candidates for ghouldom or ghasthood, as well as making them attractive to bad spirits and demons.

And their fellow humans might shove them in a cage and tour them, charging a silver piece to see the captive werewolf, and giving them only meagre, stinking provender to eat and a worn, filthy blanket against the chill.

Commentary.

Historical werewolves have been medically ascribed:

• Hypertrichosis. Petrus Gonsalvus (1537-1618) was educated and toured the courts of Europe within the same time frame as the Gandillon family, Gilles Garnier and Peter Stubbe were being executed for werewolfism. Even though Petrus wasn't seen as completely human (he was also a slave), he wasn't subjected to torture and put to death for it.

  

  They didn't think he was a werewolf, or his hairy children, either.

  
  
• Porphyria. This article from 1964 seems to be the source for this gaining popularity. But porphyria was recognised as far back as Hippocrates, and the disfigurement it causes is not unlike that of other diseases, such as leprosy. Sensitivity to garlic and sunlight as symptoms apply more to vampires; more to our modern ideas, in any case. And porphyria gives you superpowers in much the same way as an origin-story dose of radiation doesn't.
• Rabies. Well known to the ancients (4000 year old laws about dealing with rabid animals) and contagion by bite is characteristic of the 20th Century werewolf.
• And, crucially, Lycanthropy as a disease of the mind (a form of melancholy) was recognised as early as the 7th Century. See also the case of wee Jean Grenier, who was tried as a werewolf but judged to be suffering from lycanthropy - at a time (c.1604) when similar cases resulted in sensational confessions and brutal executions.

Back to Basic - Werewolf.

Our traditional (D&D-adjacent) rpg werewolf is the child of science-fiction, so I'll use a variant of the Mandela Effect to remove it from (my) Basic D&D and start again.

Ultimately system agnostic, because I have faith in your abilities.

Reminder, because I've not written anything like this in a while, that I don't really recognise any hard lines between the pre-3e systems and their simulacra. And it probably shows.

One of my absolute favourite pics, of werewolves on a were-break.
Note the crescent moon.

What is a Werewolf?

A werewolf is a human able/compelled to transform into a wolf, and/or an at-least-wolf-headed humanoid, usually at night.

Neither form need be unusual, but tradition suggests there are behavioural and physical markers to identify werewolves in human form. The were-form may have some unusual feature that marks it as more than 'just a wolf' - unusual colouring, human eyes, (literally) flaming eyes and maw, no tail, clothing (intact and neatly piled up nearby), that kind of thing.

Use stats for a Normal Human, levelled character, Berserker etc. in human form, and a Wolf (vanilla) or a Dire Wolf (the wolf as archetype/symbol) when they drop on all fours and start howling.

Use any suitable animal/monster for the were-form, but for purposes here we'll call it the wolf.

Not intrinsically good or evil; choose either path or none. Motivation behind becoming a werewolf can be a desire for power, vengeance and unaccountability, but also a sacred rite of your people or faith, or something that is done to you against your will. These things are tangled in context.

Usually a loner, but not always. Can run with a pack of real wolves, often as their leader. Might have a family, who can also be werewolves.

Invulnerability and Injuries - Armour Class and Hit Points.

Wolf and human have separate hit point totals. Wounds to one shape are healed on changing to the other. This might not apply to a forced change.

Armour Class is at least as good as the animal form, and possibly better: treat as Chain/Medium amour, or an equivalent bonus.

A werewolf in wolf form can be an Invulnerable Monster. They have no uniform special vulnerabilities (but see below), but are often difficult or seemingly impossible to harm/kill.

Traditionally, if you chop off the wolf's paw, the human form will be missing the corresponding extremity. You can extend this to other narratively appropriate, disfiguring, wounds. So werewolves might be vulnerable to crits and severing hits, however tough they might be.

Also, if brought to casualty state (0 hp), the werewolf reverts to human form, helpless but stable. 

Powers of the Werewolf.

Even without invulnerability, bite damage and HD sets you above a Normal Human in terms of a D&D combat. Possibly the wolf's ability scores, if they factor in. Track by smell, see in the dark, stealth etc. The Dragon Warriors Wolf can't be surprised.

With your human intelligence, or under diabolical influence, you can behave in ways that an animal would not, even if that's just making a choice whether to flee from fire or gunshot.

You're a wolf, and can do the kind of things that wolves can that humans can't. It might be enough that you can survive the cold night and fill up on raw meat, rather than freeze and starve in your hovel.

Being in a different form part of the time means that they don't know it's you doing the things you do. Try and get away with murder, or do anonymous philanthropy.

When you die, you are apparently more likely to rise again as a vampire.

Some werewolves have hands, and I've seen dogs turn door handles with their jaws.

Turning Into a Werewolf.

You can normally only turn into a wolf when night falls, and some won't be able to change while observed; neither is absolute.

How long does it take? Let's say up to 2 combat rounds, during which you're effectively helpless. Some transformation methods lend themselves better to a less (even instantaneous) or more leisurely rate of change.

Pact with the Devil; sunset to sunrise, last day of the month.
Spends the time running around and knocking things over, that's Wagner the Wehr-Wolf (use AD&D MM2 Cooshee for the wolf form).

Here are d12 methods for play, and they need not be exclusive of each other:

1. Magic belt. Only you can take if off; roll 2d6 when you do. Double 1, you can't find it next time. Often made of human or wolf skin.
2. Wolf mask. Anyone can put it on, but only you retain your reason. Can be blown, snatched or splashed off, so take care. If you're masked and alone with a victim, they must save or be helpless/deluded - even up to you starting to eat them.
3. Hairy on the Inside. Turn your skin inside out (or simply take it off) to transform. Morale Checks, if not fear/sanity saves for witnesses. A significant wound (crits/impales, judicial torture, max. damage etc) reveals your secret.
4. Wolf Skin. Even sleeping on/under it means you dream of wolves and the hunt, possibly even generating a wolf tulpa. Put it on to transform.
5. Divine Punishment. Cannibal pranks vs. customs of hospitality, or just not going to enough Mass? It's possible that you will be permanently in wolf form, but a feat of strength or willpower lets you to pull off your wolf head to reveal your human form and allow you to speak. There is sometimes a time limit, but immortality and/or heredity can be part of the package.
6. Potion of Lycanthropy. Ingredients are blasphemous, criminal, poisonous, unsavoury. Could be an unknown impurity in the salt that lends efficacy to the draught. Drink it to turn into wolf; effect expires at daybreak.
7. Werewolf Salve. Ingredients are blasphemous, criminal, poisonous, unsavoury. The smell clings to you like the stench of a skunk, a Troglodyte, a stinking cloud, and witches (and/or witch hunters) will recognise it because it shares a profile with their flying ointment.
8. Ritual/Spell. Equivalent 1st level, or a ritual anyone can learn/teach. Might have material components, but the power is in the performance. Can be interrupted.
9. Bandit Wolf Cult. You get recruited to be a Werewolf, and your patron/leader gets the XP from the treasure you steal as well as +1 spell slot per current recruit. NPCs don't notice they're not getting XP for gold.
10. A (not-inevitable) consequence of Practicing Magic - might even be your goal. Spell level % chance every time you cast a spell, then also your cumulative level each advance (1% at 1st level, 3% 2nd, 6% 3rd, 10% 4th and so on). Or Powers Checks as for Masque of the Red Death.
11. Ancestry/Puberty. Hereditary lycanthropy. Might be something people know/say about you and your family. Puberty, tasting (certain types of) meat, or initiation triggers The Change. Might also be reflected in your human life.
12. Enchantment. As a blessing/mission or as a curse, you take the form of a wolf. As a curse, you might behave as an animal but retain your awareness of what you do.  As a blessing/mission, you probably have a special enemy you are expected to hunt (eg. witches, vampires, ghouls, other werewolves, actual wolves).

The first (or every) time you transform, roll 2d6 (or make a Morale Check). 

On a 12 (or a double 1 if you prefer low=bad) or a failed check, you're dominated by your animal/demonic nature for the period of transformation and act accordingly. Otherwise, you retain mastery of self.

Curing the Werewolf - Vulnerabilities.

You don't cure the werewolf, because (this) lycanthropy isn't a disease. 

You might be able to use remove curse/ dispel evil to render it wholly human, if that seems appropriate, and dispel magic (or similar) might disrupt a magic item or spell-based transformation. It really depends on how 'magical' a werewolf's transformation is compared to (say) the spells your characters cast - this will also tell you something about the setting, if you haven't already decided on it. 

Atonement might work, or the un-italicised, non-spell version. Likewise, werewolves may be vulnerable to holy relics, consecrated ground, prayers, priests, virgins, and so on, depending on the milieu. 

Certain substances - eg. iron, but including silver - are traditionally effective vs. supernatural entities so could beat a werewolf's invulnerability, or the touch could force the werewolf back to human form, or work to ward them off as a cross does a vampire. Blessed and holy weapons could also fall into this category.

While not strictly speaking a vulnerability, day/sun-light turns the wolf back to a human, so if you can find a way to weaponise this, good for you. Maybe you can fool a werewolf into thinking the sun is coming up? 

Consider these Unholy Attributes as material for this sub-section.

If potions and salves of lycanthropy exist, then antidotes to counter them are likely. Good luck greasing up your wolf or forcing it to drink.

Possessing the werewolf's clothes (or skin) gives you power over it. At least, according to tradition and the magical laws of sympathy. The same applies, more or less, to getting hold of its belt, mask, salve or potion, though this is mundane coercion, not magical.

Killing the master werewolf (or the Devil or the Lord of the Forest or what/whoever), if such a thing exists, should also dis-empower subservient werewolves.

The werewolf ability could be a possessing spirit that can be driven out, exorcised, or defeated on the astral plane. And psionics, if that's the way you want to play (suitably advanced bio-technology being indistinguishable from magic, and all that).

Werewolves in human shape can also expect the following: burning, beheading, garrotting, impalement, nailing to a tree, removing the heart (and burning it, for good measure), staking down in a grave, driving a pitchfork into the forehead three times, crushing under stones, walling up alive, breaking on a wheel, feeding to the wolves, ripped apart by horses. 

Reverse Werewolves and Others.

Wolves that turn into humans are also werewolves for our purposes, and much of the above applies. 

However, the reverse werewolf is not strictly human but something other - faerie folk, beast folk/Cynocephali, wendigo, spirits of the dead, elementals, ancestors and ancestral spirits, demon-possessed animals and actual demons. The human form is the more dangerous one in these cases. Extra abilities to taste.

The werewolf as given here can be adapted to the broader category of animal shapeshifters. 

To the standard rpg weres- and -weres, you can also add the selkies, hawk men and swan maidens, arachnes, harlequin worm people and vespiform space vampires - as long as you've got the stat block for the animal (or giant animal or archetype) form, you're golden. Like I said, I have faith in your abilities.

Commentary.

I've tried to keep pre-20th century for my werewolf, but not absolutely - just leaving out what I think are the three main signifiers of the 20th century/pre-Universal werewolf:

Do a quick search for silver, wolfsbane and contagious lycanthropy in the three main (accessible, popular) sources for the modern (Western) werewolf tradition: Sabine Baring-Gould, ('Reverend') Augustus Montague Summers, and Elliot O'Donnell. (Now compare these three to your favourite were-books growing up).

O'Donnell (who could be accused of just making stuff up) published in 1912. The werewolf as we know it was prototyped in 1935, then fully realised in 1941.

For all the trappings of ancient tradition, The Werewolf of London and Curt Siodmak's Wolf Man were meant to be an all-new, modern monster archetype. 

I've also left out/for later, the astral/psychic and delusional/illusory werewolves, plus the moon stuff, because I felt that's more strongly associated with the 20th century monster - it feels incidental to the older one.

Tangentially, compare the statblocks for the Werewolf, Ogre, and Dire Wolf. I used OSE because of the SRD.

DMR2 Creature Catalog - W, X, Y: Water Weird to Yowler, and that's the lot.

Water Weird. 

Basically the same as the AD&D MM Water Weird. Some slight statistical difference.

As seems fairly common between AD&D and D&D (as the dividing line existed previously), the CC's Water Weird has 2 Intelligence vs. the MM's Very (11-12). 

CC's also lacks the ability to take control of Water Elementals, so maybe that's tied to Intelligence, but the idea of Water Weirds as elemental tape worms is quite appealing. 

Whipweed.

I think this is the only monster to have crossed to CC from the 1e Fiend Folio, having first appeared in a pre-Fiend Factory (?) issue of White Dwarf. 

It's a plant that lashes and grabs you with its two fronds, then secretes acid on you until you're dead or escape.

It's not a monster I've given much thought about until looking at them now, and I prefer the FF's overall portrayal: it's a creature that was previously mistaken for a plant (but is affected by Druidic plant-magic, implying not that of Clerics and MUs), and if you sever the fronds/tentacles, the lumpy little body attempts to escape on root-like legs.

Retrospectively, it's a bit like a bit of John Carpenter's The Thing, so two thumbs up for that.

White-Fang.

Distantly related to white dragons, this is otherwise your standard fantasy cold-dwelling furred serpent -  which is a monster type I generally like, on top of it being something that could be mistaken for a dragon in a setting without Dragons.

Tim Sell, he illustrated House of Hell.

It's got magical venom that freezes your blood: paralysed and lose d8 hp per round until you die or you're rescued, all the while turning blue. Even if you save, it leaves you numb and cold, with Strength and Dexterity penalties.

Also has improved infravision that can see heat hidden by cold (snow, ice, water, arctic atmosphere). They themselves are 80% undetectable to your infravision.

That the venom is magical suggests that dispel magic should work as well as neutralise poison, but that's not stated in the text, nor acknowledged in 2e.

Winged Warrior.

A Living Crystal Statue with metallic bladed wing-extensions on its arms. Though it is under a permanent fly spell, it apparently needs its wings to fly as it must land to fight.

Apart from the ability to fly it's not mechanically different to the Living Crystal Statue, not even getting better attacks with those razor-wings.

I'm going to guess that they cropped up in a module and were hoovered up into the CC without discrimination. The relative simplicity of upgrading a regular Living Statue to a flying one implies that there could be equivalents for all varieties (except maybe Jade, due to magic resistance).

Wood Imp.

No relation to the AD&D Imp, they're basically faerie/forest goblins, and I have a place for such as these.

Traps, camouflage, ambush/surprise, ride on the backs of (Huge Wood) Spiders, poison arrows (damage and slow). Their two-handed swords score d6, so maybe they could handle a short sword. Shamans up to 4th level (Cleric).

They capture evil humanoids and humans [and] small forest creatures, but it's not made clear if these constitute a larder, sacrifices, slaves or prisoners for ransom.

Tall Tales of the Wee Folk gives more context and makes them playable characters. I imagine they look more like Pathfinder Goblins than D&D.

2e gives us the Bog and Garden varieties. Bog (slightly froggy, make a cry akin to that of a puppy) and Wood Imps are not that different, and not that different from something like the Tasloi in any case. Garden Imps (with flowers growing in their hair) seem closer to something like the Brownie, as they watch over any dwelling attached to its garden.

Wychglow.

At first glance, this seems to be the BECMI/Mystaran analogue of the AD&D Will-o-(the)-Wisp, by form and by electrical attack (although it has significantly weaker AC and HD). 

It was meant to be in the Companion set (1984), but the Prime Plane monster list ends with Whales.

However, rather than feeding on life force, it feeds on the electrochemical energy of metal objects. As the process can take hours or even days, it kills you first to get at them, eventually reducing the metal to a fine, chalky dust. Your Fighters and your Clerics will be their primary targets; Thieves and Magic Users can save for no damage, with a +5 bonus due to leather or no armour.

You could read that it doesn't feed on or will be distracted by precious metals, as the text specifies it goes for plate armour, shields and weapons for preference. It seems that size is more important than quantity, so maybe leading it to that golden statue (or Silver Golem) will save your bacon.

One thing that does cross-over from the MM is the (Exceptional) Intelligence: the Wychglow has a score of 15. Which seems quite high for something that does not otherwise suggest or specify an intellectual bent. 

Is this more a Star Trek energy being alien than a haunter of the lonely marches? Probably. There's obvious room for negotiation if you can find a way to communicate with it, especially if you don't cleave too close to Chaotic=bad.

Wychlamp.

Weird little extra-planar energy beings with a folkloric name. My memory had them as being related to Wychglows (above), but it's just that Wych is a strong word.

They're attracted to, disrupt and immune to magic, but are basically non-aggressive. They might accidentally discharge energy into you (2-5 hp and slow). The text suggests capturing one or more in a net to use when trying to slay spell-casters.

Wyrd.

An undead spirit inhabiting the body of an elf - so a bit like the Undead Dragon, these might not actually be the undead version of a particular live thing, and maybe there should be details on that disincarnate entity/

Greater and Normal Wyrds look like creepy, robed, undead Elves, wielding green or red spheres that they can use as both melee and missile weapons. These cause more damage vs. live Elves, and are instantly replenished if expended.

Terry Dykstra for The Bane of Elfwood in Dungeon 21.

Greater Wyrds trigger a fear save vs. attack and damage penalties, as well as causing paralysis via their spheres.

Because of proximity and Wy-, I can't help feeling these should be somehow connected with the previous two monsters - maybe even wielding them as alternatives to their usual spheres? 

2e connects them to the Positive Energy Plane.

They're in a pretty interesting (to read; never got to play) adventure in Dungeon magazine (see illo), which includes a possessed treehouse.

Xytar.

Six-legged, fire-breathing, brightly-coloured dragon-lizards. Preferred companion animals of the Sis'thik.

Extrapolating from their six-leggedness, they could be related to Basilisks via the Elemental Plane of Fire (give them the Pyrolisk gaze attack for consistency). In which case, maybe Black Dragons (or some other type) can produce viable offspring with them, or maybe Xytars are Red Dragon Dracolisks?

Yowler. 

Yowlers are Yeth Hounds, with the same stats and abilities, though the Yowler's howl incurs a penalty to the save the more Yowlers are yowling, which is both a good detail and logical.

A decent Black Dog monster, also suitable for inclusion in your Wild Hunt.

Pointlessly brought into 2e instead of just updating the Yeth Hound entry, either with the howl details or just saying 'another name for them is Yowlers'. 

Conclusion.

...which makes them something of an anti-climax; there's not even a new type of Zombie to take away the somewhat disappointing taste (Zombie, Lightning in the 2e Mystara supplement).

By an almost-uncontrived coincidence, I'm just about to reach the Yeth Hound episode of Monster Man.

So the end of Monster Manual II, and then the next season delves into the Creature Catalogue (AC9).

Now I'm aware of Monster Man and that it's covered/covering the same ground I have, there's diminishing returns in me looking to the better known old school D&D-ish bestiaries. So I doubt there'll be a Fiend Folio read-through, but there might be ones for White Dwarf Fiend Factory mini-modules and so on. We'll see.