Before the Chronicles of
Darkness, there was a World of Darkness...
If you were a social
outcast in the 90's (like many gamers were in those days), you
probably heard of, and probably played, Vampire: The Masquerade. Or
maybe you played Werewolf: The Apocalypse, or maybe Mage: The
Awakening. Those were the “big three” of White Wolf's games. I
played Vampire but didn't like it very much. Why? Because I wanted to
play a vampire hunter. I looked over Werewolf, but found it pretty
depressing and couldn't really find a fit for myself. I did own a
copy of Mage for a while, but never played it as it didn't work for
me. I did play a game of Changeling: The Dreaming, because a friend
of mine loved it, and had a bit of fun with it. However, it wasn't
very popular. Neither was Wraith: The Oblivion, because it was
“Depression: The Existential Crisis” game and I never played it
but did read about it. My friend had Kuei-jin, which was the
“Eastern” type of vampires. Interesting but not engaging. And
Basset, which was were-cats, which I couldn't bring myself to play.
Interestingly, there were also supplements for were-bears, sharks,
and even spiders. That one was too terrifying to me to even look
at... I did pick up one supplement for the old World of Darkness
(oWoD) as the setting was called that I did like: Project Twilight.
But, it was mostly useless. It was about the government projects to
locate and deal with the paranormal. Of course, it mostly hunted
werewolves because the vampires controlled the government and the
werewolves were all about wrecking stuff, as they were furry
ecoterrorists. So, I knew something about all of the games, but never
really enjoyed playing them.
That was until around the
year 2000.
That was when I found
Hunter: The Reckoning.
As I figured, White Wolf
was getting ready to end their world. In the lore of the big games,
there was an apocalypse myth. And not just the werewolves. So, they
did a great job of laying the groundwork from the very beginning for
this game. I don't know if they were planning that, but if so, it was
masterfully done. When I saw Hunter, then read the back, I bought the
game then and there. Which was no easy feat for a broke high school
student. After I read it, I knew this was the White Wolf game for me.
Finally, there was a game for hitting back at the things that were
using humanity. Even the werewolves, who didn't feed on humans
(usually) weren't really our allies. The mages had some battle that I
didn't care about, but they were so far from humanity in terms of
what they were dealing with, they didn't seem to care much about what
they had come from. Even the Fae of Changeling were feeding off of
the very creativity of humanity. Sure, each race had a reason for
being apart from humanity. Each game stressed the depressing or
horrifying parts of being these things. But, I never really felt it.
As a brief aside, I think the monsters should revel in being
monsters, not being sad and depressed about it. You have powers that
we can only dream of. Enjoy what you can.
One look at how Hunter
worked and I was all for it. Unlike all of the other games, you
weren't picked by some ancient and wise Sire who would guide you into
the life of the immortal. You weren't from a special bloodline or
have some “spark” that made you different. No, you were just a
normal person... Until you weren't.
In Hunter, every character
would go through an event known as the Imbuing. Each one was
different and they usually happened one at a time. Your character
would be living his or her life, a normal day, when suddenly... You
receive a message. The beings that give you this message are aptly
called The Messengers (sometimes called the Heralds, which is also
fitting). A typical Imbuing would go something like this:
You're walking home at
night. It's dark, but not too dark. To save time, you cut through a
local park and enjoy the quiet night. As you're walking, you notice
something is off. As you round a corner, you see a woman being
harassed by two men. They're moving closer to her as she backs away.
One grabs her arm and pulls her forward.
As you're standing
there, the stench of rotting flesh forces its way into your nostrils,
almost making you gag. As you slump forward, you hear a clear and
loud voice in your head.
THEY HUNGER FOR LIFE
As you blink, trying to
figure out who spoke to you, you look at the two men. Now, there's
something wrong about them. They seem paler, thinner, unhealthy. As
one of them pull the woman closer and opens his mouth and presses it
to her exposed neck while the other one holds her.
What do you do?
Since Hunters were the new
kids on the block, they didn't have anyone to guide them. They would
start finding each other via the internet on a website, Hunternet.
This newness also helped them out. Since the others had been around
for centuries, if not longer, they wouldn't expect such a sudden
change in the status quo. But, being the “new kids on the block”
hurt Hunters, too. While Hunternet was a place to connect with other
Hunters, it was on the internet and we all know what the internet is
like. There were myths, rumors, flame wars, and other bullshit.
Hunters have to figure things out by trial and error. And errors
usually mean death. They're only human... Mostly human.
Because they're human,
Hunters come in a few varieties. And because this is a White Wolf
game. In most White Wolf games, characters were usually divided into
groups, be it Clans, Tribes, Traditions, or whatever. In Hunter, you
were given seven (nine, in an expansion book) Creeds. These Creeds
were under three different Virtues: Mercy, Vision, and Zeal. So,
three Virtues had three Creeds each (with that aforementioned
expansion). Kind of cool, right? Let's talk about the Creeds...
Under the Mercy Virtue,
you had Innocents, Martyrs, and Redeemers.
Innocents are the hopeful
questioners of the Creeds. They don't judge the various creatures
running around based on the actions of others, but their actions as
an individual. They are empathic and charismatic.
Martyrs are an interesting
group. They can be aggressive as Avengers, but they give themselves
completely and totally. They'll tear themselves apart to save the
innocent and defeat the enemy.
Redeemers are an anomaly
among the Hunters. Most of them seem to want to heal the monsters.
But, that doesn't mean that they're not unwilling to kill monsters,
it's just not their first impulse.
Under the Vision Virtue,
you had the aptly named Visionaries. In the Player's Guide, they
added Waywards and Hermits. These two “Lost Creeds” are very
different from the others. These were suppose to be the people
looking ahead, what was coming next. Waywards suppose to the generals
of the Hunters, but seemed to have been taken to the extreme. Hermits
were suppose to be something like intelligence officers, collecting
information from the Heralds, the beings that caused the Imbuing.
Under Zeal, you have
Avengers, Defenders, and Judges. Avengers were suppose to take the
fight to the enemy and were the most combat-oriented of the Creeds.
Defenders were to look after the home front and defend those without
powers. Judges played an interesting role in that they would help
decide which monster was the greatest threat.
A party of Hunters would
be made up from a lot of different Creeds and different walks of
life. The Heralds didn't seem to be very picky when they Imbued a
human. The only requirements seemed to be that you didn't have any
interaction before and that you had something inside you that would
let you answer the call. Of course, not everyone who saw the monsters
for what they were would act. These “duds” were called
Bystanders. They knew the monsters existed, but couldn't really do
much about it. Unlike Hunters, who all had “Second Sight” that
not only allowed them to see the monsters, it also protected them
from possession, mind control, and whatever else. Without these
protections, Bystanders could be more of a liability than an asset.
They also couldn't use any of the other powers Hunters were gifted
with.
Each Creed was given a set
of unique powers they could use to combat the enemy. Of course, how
exacted they “combat” the enemy depends on the Creed's
philosophy. Those who follow Zeal would have powers designed to take
on the enemy, toe to toe. Mercy might be more inclined to talk with
or communicate with, or even try to better understand, the enemy.
Before I move on, I need
to talk a little bit more characters. As many of you might know,
White Wolf was always very big on human stories, even if the
character you were playing wasn't exactly human anymore. And Hunter
was no exception. But, you got a twist. With Hunter, you could easily
play a character from any walk of life. In fact, it seemed to let
itself to the “lower classes” of society. Mechanics, criminals,
service workers, and all kinds of blue collar folks. The middle class
could also be played pretty easy and give you the kind of problems
you wanted. Soccer moms, college students, office drones, and all of
that could have very different types of stories. As you play the
game, characters start to sacrifice more and more to the hunt. First
time, then money, and finally friends, family, and perhaps even their
sanity...
Now, let's talk about the
enemy. In Hunter, the characters usually fight the undead. Not always
vampires, but zombies of different types and ghosts. In the
Storyteller's Companion, they list them as 50% of enemies
encountered. Next up are vampires. In the World of Darkness, there
are different clans and two major groups engaged in a war. Hunters
could care less. In fact, it's much more likely that they'll never
know about them. Bloodsuckers are bloodsuckers, who gives a damn
about their politics and schemes? After vampires are werewolves. They
also have a their own machinations and conflicts. Of all the enemies,
werewolves are probably the most inclined to help Hunters in their
war against the others, but many Hunters will view them as just
another enemy preying on humanity. The last two, and probably the
least common are mages and the fae. Both are involved in things very
different from the others and are engaged in conflicts that most
people, much less Hunters, are able to comprehend. As Hunter came out
before Demon: The Fallen, these enemies weren't in the core book, but
did receive a source book later on.
Well, I think that's
enough of a summary of Hunter: The Reckoning. In case you couldn't
notice, I could go on and on about it. It was a breath of fresh air
in the old World of Darkness. In allowed people to play normal
people. Well, mostly normal people. You could also fight against the
very same characters you'd played in another game. Like I said, it
was something new, something different. And it heralded the end of
the Old World of Darkness, for good or ill...
