Hey all I'm having a discussion with a friend of mine and was hoping someone out there had a BBB handy and could look up the paragraph and page number where it specifically says that to a shaman his totem is never dog or the dog or even a dog but just Dog.

Thanks
Edge

I think that it is deliberately left up to the player to decide how he views his totem. I think the only real specifics is that its different for everyone.

I'm almost positive there is a paragraph that specifically states that to a shaman it is always Dog.

Just out of curiosity...
What is the context of this argument?
As in...what is the important matter that relies on the title of the totem and it's relation to the Shaman?

Well if there is, my group has been playing it wrong ever since we started. Nobody seems to beleive that their totem is just some mystical animal essence. My coyote shaman saw his totem as an actual spirit or maybe even a person, who he met on astral quests several times. His cat shaman girlfriend is similar, but not so in touch with her totem (she sees Cat as being apathetic, anyway, so I guess it's appropriate). And then there's a wolf shaman with a "D&D Druid" theme, who has an ally spirit in the form of a wolf that he sees as the actual physical manifestation of his totem...

(And we don't play with absurd levels of magic. Our spellcasters have all together been Coyote, Cat, Moon, hermetic mage, and Wolf. Two nearly-retired, two who rarely play.)

Pride of course, What else. But seriously I it's just bugging me because I'm almost positive that it says that in the BBB but I don't have it here to confirm it and was hoping that someone around would know the paragraph I'm talking about so I can give the guy the page number so he can look it up.

Just as a follow up...I did look in the SR3 under Magic, Totems, p162:

There is no actual direct reference to a Totem being called Dog rather than a dog, the dog, or otherwise.

On the otherhand...
I think where you are getting your idea is from the way that the SR3 writes out each of it's example Totems.
"BEAR: Bear is a totem found..."
"BUFFALO: Buffalo is a uniquely North..."
"CAT: Cat is honored in...."
"DOG: Dog is a loyal friend...."

All of those entries actually use the pattern you are refering to.

Conversly, it is stated on page 162, under Ideals, that:
"Of course, not all shamans interpret their totem's ideals in exactly the same way. Some Dog shamans may be fierce ...
...Within the basic ideals of the totem, there is room for individual style and interpretation"

Bascally.
The only thing really evident is that when refering to a group of shamans that follow a certain totem it is common for them to be refered to as Dog shaman, or Cat shaman, without any "the" or "a" in it.

Though, it is completely up the shaman and the totem that chose him on whether he calls his own totem "Dog", "the Dog", or "a Dog".

Cool thanks Stumps. I guess maybe that was some older referance material I was getting that out of. Oh well I guess I concede this argument then.

No problem, glad I could help.

Got curious, since I remember that passage too. It's in SR2, p119

"Players should also note that a totem is not just a "bear" or even "the bear." The totem is Bear, the archetype for all bears in the world. A totem is not just an animal, but the essence, or true spirit, of that animal."

And there it is.

I think the reason, as it appears, that they removed that in SR3 is because they better defined Totems in SR3 with the IDEALS paragraph.

*shrug* or, it could have been an oversight

Awesome thanks a bunch guys. Now I know I'm not crazy.

I great example of this is at the end of "Shadowplay" (SR Novel) when Falcon takes his spirit walk with some old lady and comes face to face with Wolf. Really well written in terms of emotion and senses.

Other than the rather non-cannon view of the Great Crash its a great novel for people that want to understand Deckers, the Matrix, Seattle, Gangs, Shaman and Ameri-indians. I highly recommend it especially if you want to know more about Shaman and its cheap too.

Feonyx