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Other than the obvious full moon, would there be any other time a werewolf was forced to transform? If you allow magic, then all sorts of spells could be aplied, but science could probably be made to work, such as a syrum or injection that trigered the transformation. But what I was looking for was more in the rut of some natural catylist, similar to the full moon. Any ideas?

Strong emotions.

Nothing like the good ol' fashioned really pissed off werewolf.

Difficult, this is.... but IMHO:
There are two basic Werewolf concepts out there: in one, the Werewolf is the new baseform, and the Human has become metamorphic camouflage.
In the other, the Human is the baseform and the Werewolf is a metamorphic mutation, in many cases a degenerate mutation.
This is the classic Werewolf form: Mind is lost, Intelligence (what remains) is being run by Wolf impulse and instinct, and is classically violent and destructive-even though Wolves are anything but that-unless frightened.

In the first case; Shifting is at will, and also a defense response. Strong emotions might trigger the Shift; prolonged fear would trigger a Shift. I would also suspect the Were' might Shift when sexually aroused, extremely angry, or very concerned for the safety of someone who is "close" to the Were'. This form would keep the intelligence and mind shown as "human" and add to it with the Wolf's instincts and improved senses. Shifting would be generally controllable and the only real effect the Moon would have is to provide the equivalent of "overcast day" lighting for the Werewolf, thanks to their improved night sight.

The second case, the so called "classic" form is almost the opposite. Shifts would occur whenever there was an excess of adrenalin, which can be caused by fear, excitement, anger, shock, or pain to the Were'. These shifts would be only marginally controllable; by controlling the release of adrenalin. Once the Shift occurs, you have an upset Werewolf with the Wolf instincts in charge. Not Fun. The Moon would trigger Shifts no more frequently than the first case: The Full Moon/Werewolf Shift is a product of 1930's Hollywood, and not supported by the histories.

Note: I'm deliberately ignoring the "Cursed" version of Lycanthropy, since it is virtually identical with example two: the "Classic" werewolf form.

Anyhow: that's my two bits worth...

Things I have seen that cause an automatic transformation in various media.

Full Moon

Three Nights of the Full moon

Strong emotion(s): usually anger, but also lust, love, confusion, and in more comical forms happyness as well. and things such as the will to survive.

Just being night fall.

Artificial full moons: psychosematic response

Hunger or the sight of blood/food

the emotions one can be extended to anything else I can think of for automatic transformations.

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry... sheesh, ya think this "getting angry" horse is dead yet? Let's keep kickin' it..

Hmm, what about LSD?

I hadn't considered emotions, but I was thinking of a more external source, like a plant that had the property of trigering a transformation if injested or injected (it's funny how similar those words are )

Templar wrote:You wouldn't like me when I'm angry... sheesh, ya think this "getting angry" horse is dead yet? Let's keep kickin' it..

Hmm, what about LSD?

The drug version is voluntary if you know what it will do.

a book I read called Dark Heart about were-dragons had one that used drugs to try and control the voices in his head, but LSD made him transform and go on a killing spree.

Last thing you need is a shapeshifting beast-man hallucinating.

Templar wrote:You wouldn't like me when I'm angry... sheesh, ya think this "getting angry" horse is dead yet? Let's keep kickin' it..

Hmm, what about LSD?

Templar! You're gonna give LSD to a Metamorph? Instead of a Werewolf, he/she would turn into a walking Kaleidoscope image.
Uhhh---

Heh, actually, I saw somethin' more along the lines of this...or this.

"I was right in the middle of a friggin' reptile zoo, an' somebody had been giving booze to these things. It was only a matter of time before they tore us to shreds..."

Man, I love this movie...

I guess if you used synthetic hormones you could induce transformations that are normally controlled by strong emotional responses. A little bit of epinephrine and your sprouting fur in no time. As for plants all I can think of are the stereotypical herbs you find in your standard witch's pantry. Belladonna (Nightshade), wolfsbane, mugwort, milkweed, hemlock, etc. They're all cliched in their own special ways, but that's all I have to offer.

Interesting: Epeniphrine is used as a "booster' for certain drugs; like Demerol (synthetic Morphine).
Trigger: A sudden Shift to a re-e-eally mellow Werewolf...

Heh, all I can think of now is a werewolf with the munchies, reaching his paw into a bag of Doritos. Seems like a pretty efficient way to get yourself some heavy set werewolves.
"Dude, my paw is like totally HUGE."

A druged and transformed werewolf would be perfect for exposing their existance.

Thus the reason why they would not do drugs.

yah, but an adict isn't going to worry about that sort of thing. He'd be a huge threat to werewolf society. And, if they take after real wolves, a threat to the whole must be eliminated.

Kelpten wrote:yah, but an adict isn't going to worry about that sort of thing. He'd be a huge threat to werewolf society. And, if they take after real wolves, a threat to the whole must be eliminated.

so werewolves act as a collective like the Borg?

Beast of Brayroad, best way to hide, go out at night, barely able to see you so sightings can be written off as something else, and no one believes the eye witnesses. The sheer number of werewolf stories on ghost sites like Castle of Spirits tells me that if they exist then no one would think to look.

drugged out werewolf, gets written off as some homeless guy in a costume goes on killing spree with the people insisting its a werewolf being laughed at. We had an unknown craft crash outside of a town Kecksberg with military and everything around and most of the town knowing about it, but to most the rest of the world its just another UFO story on the sightings type shows.

got to give a hand to modern apathy over this stuff.

Plus how much drugs would it take to affect them? after all pound per pound the amount of morphine it takes to make a dog sleep would kill a human of the same weight. So they might be able to take drugs and get the buzz but not worry as much about the negative side effects.

Perhaps other forms of physiologic stress, such as an allergic reaction, a bad injury, or simply going a long time without shifting?

Scott Gardener wrote:Perhaps other forms of physiologic stress, such as an allergic reaction, a bad injury, or simply going a long time without shifting?

Yeah, that would be interesting, like a food allergy or something reacting badly and causing a shift. I don't know if wolves also react badly to chocolate like dogs, but if they do that could give a werewolf reason to pause before eating that Hershey bar.
Shifting because it's been a while? I don't know. I'd blame that on a psychological urge more than anything else. Granted if you're self control cracked at the wrong moment then yeah you have a problem on your paws, but I don't see a physical need to. But that's just my two cents on the matter.

Just to further confuse the issue; let's add in a thingie I use called a Panic Shift.
It's a fifteen second shift that is the most dangerous: it looks like the classic Wolf-Man, rather than a Werewolf, and is the result of fear or terror taking the Were's body over.
The Panic Shift is a survival adaptation, and only shifts the minimum amount of tissue to Wulfen, leaving approximately 75 to 80% of the Were' still in Human form. They are recognizable-obviously- and are destructive as all get out; since the Wolf is in control and is either ready for flight or fight-and nothing else.
Once the danger is past, the Shift must continue to the Were' (or Gestalt) form before returning to Smooth Human shape.
Needless to say, the Panic Shift leaves the Were' exhausted-or at least very tired, since this uncontrolled shift is the equivalent of running five miles uphill at the very least.
It is truly uncontrolled, since it occurs when the form control of the Were' is overwhelmed and instinct takes over. A Panic Shift is equivalent to pissing in public, in the degree of embarassment; and will earn the Were' involved a measure of shunning until the degree of risk generated to the People by the panic shift is found out.