A while back, I wrote a review of for Hunter: The Reckoning. I suggest you go back and read that review so you've got the basics.
Before we get too much further, I hate to admit that I don't have too much experience with running Hunter games. One of the main problems with White Wolf games is that they can be very intense and requires tons of preparation from the Storyteller. I don't know how to explain how much work you have to do before you even begin to have players creating your characters. This goes double for a Hunter game. Unlike a game of Werewolf or Vampire, which included several built-in villains and enemies, Hunter uses every other White Wolf game as antagonists and enemies. In the Hunter core book, they mention vampires, werewolves, wizards, ghosts and zombies, and fae. In the core books of each of those games, there's usually the “good guys” that the players are part of and then the “Bad Guys” that oppose the organization that the players are part of. The most classic example is from Vampire: The Masquerade with the Camarilla and the Sabbat. When you do Hunter, there's no difference between these two groups, not to mention the various vampire clans. In Hunter, vampires are vampires. Of course, if you really wanted to, you could have your Hunter group exploring the subtly of vampire politics. But, I think you should just play Vampire if you want to play that. Or pick up the pre-Hunter hunter books.
This brings me to another important point: The level of detail in the old World of Darkness. By the time Hunter came on to the scene, the WoD had been around for some time with tons of source books and lore. Because the old WoD is now gone, you can't find a lot of source books anymore. Even when they were in production, there were so many to read. These days, with the World of Darkness Wiki, you can look up just about anything you might need. Assuming someone has taken the time to type out the details. Of course, it is your game and you can make up whatever you want or need. I would dread playing a Hunter game with an experienced Vampire or Werewolf player... If you get a detail wrong, you'd have to deal with it and I hate that sort of thing. Unless it's an honest mistake. I freely admit I like the lore and cannon of games and don't change it lightly. And with the Old World of Darkness having so much lore and history...
Hunter Source Books -
I'm not going to talk about the core book, as you need it to play, and you should probably review it on your own. Instead, I'm going to take some time to explore the books I've read and what I think about them.
The Player's Guide:
This is an important book for both the players and the Storyteller. Not only does it add Flaws and Merits to the game, it does add a lot of stuff about making your character. The most important thing is the addition of the two “lost” Creeds (the Hermit and the Wayward), but also Bystanders (that I mentioned in my review). The book gives you options for gaining new Edges and even on changing your character's Creed. I'd like to point out that changing something like a Creed is almost unheard of in other White Wolf games, and having it in Hunter shows just how human the characters are.
The Storyteller's Handbook:
This book provides almost no rules information, but it's critical for a Storyteller. It helps you build better monsters. It helps you navigate the World of Darkness and gives you tips on how to run the game in depth. It even gives suggestions for how to run a game for characters in prison. It also gives you some tips on how to use the Messengers and what exactly they are. While that might seem disappointing for people looking to expand on the monsters, there are other books for that, as I'll discuss below. All in all, the book is a very good resource for people trying to figure out how to start a campaign of Hunter and keep it going.
The Storyteller's Companion:
This is one of the books I just mentioned. The book gives you more rules and abilities for the monsters. It changes the mechanics for the monsters from the core book back to their own systems, which is a little weird. While it provides a wealth of new powers, the book is very thin, only 64 pages long. I think it's the smallest Hunter source book out there. However, it was coupled with the Storyteller's Screen, which may explain why.
If you're going to pick up the Enemy Books, you're going to need this book. All of the powers from this point on are adapted to their systems.
The Creed Books:
As there are nine Creeds (when you add in the two Lost ones), that means there's nine of these books. I don't want to break down each one (I might in a Sources Say, if there's enough interest), so I'm going to give you a summary of them as whole. I own all of them and I've noticed they are laid out almost exactly the same. Each book begins with a series of Hunternet posts (or Creed website) trying to explain who and what Hunters are and what each Creed is. From there, it has a series of additional Hunternet posts, journal entries, or something similar, that come in three different “Voices” or characters. Each of these characters we follow are our way of seeing the three different “camps” or philosophies of the Creed. They are almost universally the Conservative camp, the Moderate camp, and the Liberal camp. Keep in mind that all of this is just flavor and setting, no rules, and takes up roughly two thirds of the book. After that, you get new Natures, Demeanors, Edges, and each Creed's “super power.” Every Creed now gets a power unique to them that reflects their aspect in the war. After that, there's a brief bit with the profiles of the characters you've been reading about in books.
In the end, I think these books are worth having. They can help players understand their Creeds and give them new options to explore. For the Storyteller, there's new Derangements to give to characters based on their Creeds and some potential antagonists for the troupe to encounter in the form of other Hunters.
The Enemy Books:
Again, I'm just going to give a quick summary of each book for now. I will do a full review of each book in Sources Say in the future.
The Walking Dead gives details about ghosts and zombies. Almost all of the book is Hunter-net posts that include arguing, bickering, and a flame war or two. While it does provide some information about what other Hunters have encountered, I felt cheated. The last part of the book provides a few more rules, including rules for Mediums, I don't feel like it's enough. Okay, it does offer some details about what's going on in the spirit world and some advice for running the undead, it just doesn't feel like enough. I feel like there's too much information for players compared to what the Storyteller gets. It's like, is this book for players or Storytellers? If it's an “enemy” book, shouldn't it provide more information to a Storyteller than the players?
The Moonstruck details werewolves and other shape-shifters. That's right, now you have stats to you for the other shape changers out there. Including werecrows, which I didn't even know about. It also gives them some very powerful rituals that can really hurt your troupe if they rub these creatures the wrong way.
The Nocturnal gets into the vampires in Hunter games. There's a lot to vampires that just gets a mention in this book. If you don't know, there's two big groups of vampires in oWoD and they're very different. However, looking at them from the outside, I don't know how obvious those differences would be. The book does a fair job of giving you different perspectives and encounters between hunters and vampires in the first two thirds for the book, which should help you if you're a veteran VtM player. The last third of the book gets into the powers and personalities of the vampires, which is worth the cost.
The Spellbound fills you in on the Mages in the World of Darkness. Of all the enemies Hunters face, I think Mages are quite possibly the hardest to use. They look human but they aren't. They don't exist in the same reality of us. To them, reality is mutable. And that is something really hard to nail down in a game. Again, the first two thirds of the book are about how Hunters and Mages interact. And, again, there's two different groups at play that have radically different goals. The last third gives more powers, as always, but does its best to help you understand the “human on the outside, completely not on the inside” element of Mages.
The Infernal is a unique book in that there's nothing about the Demonic in the earlier books. At least, not directly. You see, after White Wolf did Hunter, they made Demon: The Fallen. Yep. Full Edge Lord Mode Engaged. However, the demonic does make for a unique and interesting antagonist for the Hunters. They're new, they're different, and they are very, very powerful, if left alone for too long. The first two thirds gives you different groups of Hunters to follow and different kinds of Demons they're up against. One of them is very, very tragic, so be warned. There's a lot to learn about these foes, so be very careful about including them in a game, especially if you have players or characters of a religious bent.
Survival Guide:
This book is misnamed. It's a “World Tour” of the World of Darkness, as seen by a handful of Hunters. Each continent is covered by one person, giving only their experiences in some areas. However, it is very well written and contains quite a bit of information from just those small entries. It's all good to see how the Imbued are a global phenomena. As this was written in late 1999, it isn't accurate to the world today, but the basics are probably still good. It's also good to see them looking beyond America, even if it's just bits and pieces.
Unlike The Walking Dead, I think having this book contain almost nothing but stories and player information as forum posts works well. Part of that is because the book is very focused and doesn't get distracted. The characters, even the racists, are engaging and present the information in a captivating way (even if you want to punch them in the face). Also, they even say it's a “player's guide” and was released after the Storyteller's Companion and was the second source book for the game.
I would suggest picking this one up because of the New Dijon incident, which is referred to in other books. It's also worth it just for the stories inside.
Holy War:
You might think of this as a sequel, or companion, to the Survival Guide, as it deals with the one part of the world they didn't cover, the Middle East. Keep in mind, when the Survival Guide was written, that area of the world wasn't as important to most Americans. Then 9-11 happened, and oh boy, did we sit up and take notice. And there in lies the rub. Hunters in the Middle East get a host of different powers, are at more risk than any other Hunters because of what's happening in that area, and are much more complex than Hunters in the other parts of the world. Now, I'm not saying that they're not and this is a bad idea, I just wonder why this area is so important. Faith is a big deal in Hunter. The books are littered with biblical quotes and the Middle East is the birth place of not only the Bible, but the Torah and Quran and the faiths connected to them. Could this be the reason? If so, that's fine. I'm not sure how I feel about all this religious stuff, but I do have to say that it does fit with the metaplot they've been developing. Since this book was part of The Year of The Scarab, it's clearly an attempt to fit something related to the Middle East into the Hunter series. As they had also released Mummy: The Returned that year, I would have rather had something more related to that instead of this. Then again, it could be that the Middle Eastern Hunters were more important because the End Of The World was suppose to start in that part of the world. Who knows?
Utopia:
This is a very different source book, as it takes the game in a very different direction. The book is all about “winning” against the forces of darkness. Which is why it isn't exactly canon. Okay, it's not about a total victory, but the beginnings of one. I honestly don't know how I feel about this one. I might need to do an deeper delve into it in the future...
Fall From Grace:
Oh boy... This book... This book is pretty much your “end game” book for players (not campaigns, see below). As you might remember, the powerful your Hunter gets, the more insane they become. This book gives the Storyteller options on how to handle that and tips for giving out Derangements. The major thing is that it explains what happens when the character is getting ready to get their 5-point Edge. It gets messy. You see, your character has the option of becoming a direct servant of the Messengers. Or simply forces themselves into that level of power. Or, and this is a doozy, makes a pact with a demonic being for more power. Yeah. Since Demon: The Fallen wasn't released until after Hunter, it makes sense that they had to slowly slip them in here and there. And this is one of those places. And given the biblical feelings of the Hunter line, it makes sense to have being tempting these “Chosen” and trying to corrupt them.
The beginning of the book has three stories showing different ways the hunt has effected people. Notice that these are stories, not Hunter-net posts and flame wars. And I feel the book is better for it. I've felt that the Hunter world is best presented in the form of fiction, rather than the ramblings of people online. Unfortunately, the people they got to write the tie-in novels weren't that good or couldn't make a story engaging enough for a full novel. Now, when you read the stories in this book, keep in mind that they're going to extremes. Harsh language, disturbing images and topics, all that good stuff. I do think they went a little too far, but it's not too bad.
Urban Legends:
This book is a good one for long running Hunter campaigns. Why? Because it gives the Storyteller some curve balls to throw at the group. And it expands the World of Darkness. There are rules for mutants, Mummies (who had been skipped so far), and “Anomalies” so you can cook up something even experienced players haven't seen before. There's ideas for unique monsters that they've already seen (atypical werewolves, vampires, demons, etc), there's rules for places with serious bad ju-ju, and so on. They also give some details of Fae, who never did get their own source book.
This book is best used when you've been running a game and find yourself tending to cycle through the same type of enemies over and over again. Or, you have a campaign focused on one type of enemy. This book allows you to have something different pop up and make the characters question things all over again.
First Contact:
This book deals with the other hunter organizations (see below) that exist in the World of Darkness and how to include them in a Hunter game. This is useful as one of the groups is Project Twilight (see below), who are members of law enforcement, someone that Hunters might interact with at some point. They do give you rules for making your own “Twilight Division” for law enforcement groups in whatever country you might live in.
These mortal hunter groups are also useful to have information on, and possible interactions with Hunters, if you're going to run a game that constant monster enemy. If you're going against vampires, for example, you might want to introduce the Inquisition. These human hunters could act as friends or foes in a game, depending on how things go.
The organizations presented here are each focused mostly on one particular type of enemy. The Inquisition is trying to take down vampires, Project Twilight targets werewolves (as they're eco-terrorists) and vampires, The Arcanum were a group that focused on the study of the supernatural including vampires, ghosts, and mages (and their source book is from Mage), and the Dauntain that were Fae that fought against other Fae. It's complicated. The book finishes with a handful of secret societies that seem to come from most of the other lines.
Time Of Judgment:
This is it, the end of the line. And the end of the world.
This book gives you three different scenarios for the End Of The World, each one based on the primary Virtues of the Imbued (Zeal, Mercy, Vision). This scenarios aren't about stopping the end, and doesn't really give much about how the end comes, but how to deal with things during the Last Days. Since this book also includes the conclusions for Changling, Demon, Mummy, and Kuei Jin, I suppose you could use any of those to explain the end. Personally, just from a quick check, the ones from Demon offer some pretty interesting options. It also discusses the reactions of each of the monsters from the game to the end, cutting off or empowering Hunters, and having humanity able to react normally to the supernatural. If you want to end the world, I'd suggest picking up this book and planning this out from session one...
Other Source Books -
The following are some books for other White Wolf books I've picked up and found useful. This isn't an exhaustive list, but you can look at it as a starting point.
Hunters Hunted (Vampire: The Masquerade):
This a very old Vampire supplement, dating all the way back to 1992, and lays the ground work for three different hunter organizations (two of which are further detailed below). The book was a chance to have your players take on the role of normal human hunters, or you could use it to create hunters of your Vampire players, and outlines several different philosophies for hunters.
While extremely dated, the book does have some good information for a modern game. As I mentioned, there's a list of philosophies for hunters, which you can use for your own Hunters or as suggestions for characters in how they think about the hunt.
The organizations covered here appear to be revisited for Hunter in the source book First Contact as well as source books for their respective game lines.
The Inquisition (Vampire: The Masquerade):
An expansion on an organization discussed in Hunters Hunted, the Inquisition gives a much more in depth history of the group and some additional powers. The Inquisition shows that not only have some people been aware of vampires and other supernatural creatures, but that they've discovered how to hurt and kill them. As vampires and the other creatures are aware that the Inquisition is still around and might give the Hunters a scapegoat for a while.
Project: Twilight (Werewolf: The Apocalypse):
I picked up a copy of this a few years before Hunter had come out and never had a chance to use it, so I sold it. Recently, I had a chance to pick up another copy for dirt cheap, so I did. Now, with Hunter out, I have a use for it.
PT covers the US Government's attempt to deal with the supernatural, covering the FBI, the NSA, and mentions the CIA. It also reveals the infiltration of the supernatural into the US government. While focused on werewolves, it does have mention of vampires and mages.
Recommended Reading -
Please note that the source books each have a list of things to read and watch. I'm adding more modern media to the list here.
The Watch Series by Sergei Lukyanenko:
This is one of my all time Urban Fantasy book series. Well, the first three. The last three are okay but not as good as the first ones. I think it best shows how the World of Darkness would work, but with all of the “monsters” organized into two camps: The “Good” guys and the “Bad” guys. While these are inhuman vampires, werewolves, and mages are no longer wholly human, they still come from humanity, that have had the veil pulled from their eyes. I feel like this is perfect for not only understanding the monsters in Hunter, but the Hunters themselves. If you haven't checked out this series, I strongly recommend it. If you don't have the time for the books, there are movies for the first two books (Night Watch and Day Watch) that do an adequite job of presenting the concepts for the books. Of course, they take things in a very different direction, but they're not terrible.
Recommended Viewing -
Watchmen:
I hope you're not surprised by this selection. I've seen people compare Hunter to super heroes and that's not a bad parallel. However, I think this movie (or the comic, if you're up for it) is perfect in showing what happens to a troupe of Hunters as they continue down their paths. If you want to, try to assign Creeds to various characters. And I believe Rorschach is the path of all Hunters as presented in the books. So driven by their mission, they can't even operate in normal society anymore. Think about it while you're watching the movie.
Dog Soldiers:
Sure, this is an action horror movie, but it does show a team of soldiers going against a pack of werewolves. It's not a bad thing to watch and get ideas from. It can also show players that werewolves travel and fight in packs, something to keep in mind. Since it's a horror movie, a lot of the characters die over the course of the film.
Ghost Machine:
Another action horror movie, this time with some sci-fi elements, this one involves a ghost. There's a minor romantic angle that some people may not like, but I thought it was okay. I think it does a good job of showing the motivations of a ghost, as well as the horror of what ghosts can do.
Underworld:
You might as well called this “World of Darkness: The Movie.” Because it's not far off the mark. In fact, White Wolf sued, that's how close it is. That said, I would suggest watching the first two. The fourth and fifth movies can kind of show why the vampires have the Masquerade, but they're not the best. The third is something that some people love and some people hate. No matter what you think of them, the do a good job of showing how vampires and werewolves could operate in the modern world.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker:
There's two different versions and I'm only going to talk about the original. Sure, it's old, it's hokey, but it's got a really good Hunter vibe. You have a believer out there, finding the supernatural, and no one believes him. There's also your classic monsters; vampires, werewolves, and more than one evil cult or magician. There's curses, monsters, and one guy out there to tell the truth. Sounds like a serious drama, doesn't it? Well, it's not. It's played for laughs. It's a horror comedy and it really works for me. If nothing else, you can recycle the plots for your own troupe. Werewolves on a cruise ship? Good luck killing them!
Starting Your Hunter Game:
This is discussed in depth in the various books, but I thought I would offer my own ideas. What I've done is create a document that includes some disclaimers, rules and guidelines for character creation, and a couple of questionnaires.
I did the disclaimers because there's a lot, and I mean A LOT, of racism, sexism, bigotry, and all sorts of other stuff in the books. I just wanted to make it clear that I don't support those things and that people be aware of it. I did the guidelines and rules because of Twilight. Yes, I seriously say “NO VAMPIRE BOYFRIENDS!” That damn series... Anyway, I also had some other things about the characters because I had some ideas about how I wanted to run the game. I'll talk more about that in a bit.
Now, I put in the questionnaire from the core book for characters, with some minor changes and additions. The one they give isn't bad, but I did have a few things I wanted to ask about. The second questionnaire was one to help people figure out what Primary Virtue their character might have. I would have loved to have done a much longer one, as well as ones to figure out exactly what Creed the character would have, but I just couldn't come up with enough questions. Well, at least ones that wouldn't be too obvious.
I did all of this for the same reason you should. You need to know what kind of characters you're going to be having in the campaign. In most other games, the person behind the screen can come up with an idea and then the characters can adapt to it. White Wolf games aren't like that. They're much more focused on the characters and their motivations. And unlike other White Wolf games, you don't have a community structure to motivate or control the players and their characters. As such, it's super important to know what kind of characters people want to play.
Since you can't completely plan everything out, what do you do? What I do is pick the location we're going to play. I choose my hometown because there's a lot of fun to take what everyone is familiar with and twisting it to something darker. Also, there's a fair amount of dark history here that I can tap into. It also makes it easier to map things out.
Next, I've been doing some research into the supernatural history and seedy history of my town, as you'll find that there's usually some crossover between the two. Let's face facts, a lot of criminals die horrible deaths and those can lead to ghosts. The best part of doing this, is that you don't actually have to create too many hints or stories, you can use real ones. I strongly suggest that you be respectful, as you shouldn't be a bag of shit. But, imagine what it would be like to have your troupe finally figure out who has been haunting the old library and putting that soul to rest. Or bringing down a century old gangster and human trafficker. By using these things, you bring the terror home as well. They know these places. They've been there. And they're going to have a totally different feeling about them now. Plus, it helps with the hardest part of running a Hunter game: How to get them into the Hunter. Unlike the other World of Darkness games, with mentors and groups, Hunters don't have shit. So, if I suddenly got the power to see ghosts, I would start investigating ghost stories and do what I could.
When you need to get them out there, use the news. Drop stories about wild dogs, people vanishing in a park, a bar burning down, whatever. While your Hunters are probably going to be proactive, they'll still need something to find. You don't want them to always being on patrol and running across the Monster Of The Week, because you've got a game specifically for that (that's also named that). Instead, you're going for personal tales of horror, bringing it into their lives. If a character has kids, have them tell the character something that makes them think that there's a monster on the loose. Maybe they saw something or heard something. Make the Hunter almost crap his pants. And then throw them for a loop. They can go out looking for one thing and find something completely different.
Because there's a lot of comparisons between Hunter and super hero media, you shouldn't be afraid to borrow ideas from them. Look at low level stuff, the early days of heroes, when they had to be worried about the villains finding out who they were. Imagine having a vampire or werewolf or ghost find out where the character lives, discovering their family. If things are slowing down, feel free to throw in a past enemy (or someone connected to them) at them, by attacking or even threatening their families. Eventually, your group will come to a crossroads: either they give up the hunt or they give up their lives as they are. And that's when you'll be ready to give them their 5-point Edges...
I do have to say that there is a few things you can plan out in advance: the power players. While the dead don't seem to be very organized, most of the other monsters are. As I mentioned above, each of the oWoD games came with a built in antagonist for the players. Well, in Hunter, you have to deal with both. Not only would you have to have a good idea of who's in charge of the Camarilla faction of Vampires in your city, but you'd want to have an idea of any Sabbat and Anarch terrorists in play as well. You'd want to know who the most powerful werewolves and other lycanthropes are in the city and if Pentex is involved. And so on.
My suggestion is to figure out their places of power are, their hunting grounds, and the like. Once you've got that figured out, work on the top of the organization and then connect those places to those people. Think of it as a level in a video game, with each step up this ladder as a “boss fight” but don't frame it like that to your players. I'd suggest looking into how very mafias and criminal organizations operate and use that as a framework for the organizations. I tend to find that once you know who's in charge, it helps set the tone for the organization as a whole.
Don't feel like you have to map out all of the intrigue right away, or even expect that it's going to come up in the game, as you will want to adjust to the players and their characters. Just have a rough map and be ready for anything. Once the characters discover that vampires are real and they're bad news, I bet you're going to want to have something ready for that. Maybe they'll be happy with removing a minor player and then want to deal with something else. Or maybe you're tired of them dealing with zombies and need that change of pace. The more time you invest now, the happier you'll be in the long run. Just don't get overwhelmed.
Okay, this has gone on long enough. If you want to play this game, I hope this was helpful. If you were on the fence about it, come on over and join us. I think you'll fit in just fine...
No comments:
Post a Comment