To become a werewolf is a very complicated procedure. You need to become well acquainted with the leader of the pack (LOTP), who is a black wolf with glowing eyes, and hope it nips you.

Unlike other wolves who can enter a lot at any time of day, the LOTP only visits at night when most good sims are tucked up in their sim beds getting a good night's sim sleep so they can get up for work the next morning. In my time playing "Pets", I have only seen the LOTP once and by the time my sim had got up and tried to interact with it, it was off the lot. So, short of my sims giving up their day jobs and camp outside their home to wait for the LOTP, there is no other way to become the first werewolf in your neighborhood.

According to MissWendy's tests, it took her over 3 days of playing in order to get that 100/100 relationship with "Tigger". Being nipped is a once-in-a-lifetime event so if your sim is cured, there is no second chance of being nipped again. After I have carried out some testing, I will be adding a tutorial in the near future on how to "get nipped quick".

What changes take place if my sim becomes a werewolf?

Assuming you have a sim who has been nipped by the LOTP, you will find their life is somewhat changed. At 8pm every night, a "strange metamorphosis" takes place and your sim becomes a werewolf. This can shock anyone who sees this transformation taking place. Still on two feet and dressed in the same way, they are now completely covered in fur and their face looks a bit more lupine and walking with a lope. For the next 10 hours, they will remain in this state.

Hunger immediately drops and your werewolf is in urgent need of something to eat, so prepare yourself a meal to be eaten after your transformation, as eating any earlier may mean that meal has been wasted. Nevertheless, Energy is maxed so your werewolf can party the night away and perhaps rub shoulders with the downtown vampires.

Over time, your werewolf's personality and skills will change. On a positive, their Body skill will gradually improve and head towards 10. Very useful in the military and in law enforcement. On a not-so-positive, their personality gradually mutates. No more Mr. Nice Guy and they can forget everything they learnt about tidying up. However, they are outgoing, playful and very active.

Can being a werewolf be passed on to the next generations?

Contrary to the Michael J Fox movie "Teen Wolf", becoming a werewolf is not heriditary in this game. However, I do not think that there is anything to stop your werewolf savaging his teenage children.

Can a werewolf create other werewolves?

Yes. Through the new interaction of "savage", a werewolf can bite other people and turn them into werewolves. They need to have a good relationship, though, in a similar way to a vampire passing their dark gift on. Your sim could choose not to, especially if he wishes to proudly declare "I am the only werewolf in the village", assuming you do not wish to go through the same rigmarole of waiting for the LOTP. This method is the most expedient and is purely under your direct control.

Is a werewolf immortal or does it require something special to make it die?

You don't need a silver bullet. A werewolf will die like any other sim can.

Is it fun to be a werewolf?

It depends what your sense of humour is like. Growling while in werewolf state or even howling can cause a fright to people nearby, causing them to perhaps wet themselves. Also, werewolves can summon wolves to the lot that they are on. As wolves are often on a sim's "fear list", your werewolf can upset a lot of people that way.

Are there any subgenuses of werewolf?

Zombies, vampires and even servos can all become werewolves. I am looking forward to seeing a hairy servo (werevo?) but I think I will have a very long wait. For a start, I've got to train a sim up enough so he can build one ... unless I cheat.

I don't want to be a werewolf now-ow-ow-ow.

No problem. Lycanthropic-B is a potion that can be bought from the Pet Obedience Trainer for §60 per dose, or if you have the NL expansion, the gypsy woman sells it as well. Any personality changes, however, are fixed. Also, if you change your mind back again, unless you made other playable sims into werewolves during your time, who live in the same neighborhood, that sim will not be nibbled by the LOTP again.

In the next section, we will be looking through the new cheats that come with this expansion.

As an addendum to the last section on Werewolves, I am learning more about this expansion every day either from my own experiences or from other people and have discovered that if a sim with a custom skin tone is savaged and turned into a werewolf, this new werewolf effectively becomes a bald one as he or she is not covered in fur. This is one of my likenesses as a werewolf howling. As you can see, apart from my goatie and that "just-got-up" hairstyle, my face and the rest of my body is not covered in hair.

MissWendy in her continuing research and study of werewolves and their subgenuses (weirder weirdness) has kindly provided me with the series of shots of the transformation of a servo into a werewolf (wervo?). A yellow eye and the werewolf lope. Not that big a deal, really.