Blast From The Past: Hunter: The Reckoning

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...