This summer has led to a massive amount of RPG releases - I think I've bought more systems in the last three months than I did in the previous nine - however, the outstanding release of the summer for me was Hunter : The Vigil.
That was a surprise to me. The rest of the World Of Darkness Reloaded has been low on priorities and not really grasped my attention the way the original did way back when, however, Hunter is the book I needed when I was running Conspiracy X and really makes me want to start it again.
The book's got the usual White Wolf layout, pretty but evocative pictures, a little too much fiction, the history of humans vs the supernatural, new rules and a new setting, but also makes it almost completely configurable for a variety of different styles, moods and campaigns. There's no sticking rigidly to a metaplot here.
There are so many different hunter societies detailed and they are so radically different that you can pick and choose what to include. Want an all out secret technological war ala Conspiracy X - go for Task Force Valkyrie. Want an Avengers type aristocratic investigation - go for Ashwood Abbey. Want normal John and Jane Does protecting their neighbourhood - go for the Union. Want to purge all memory of the appalling thing that was Demon : the Fallen - go for the Lucifuge. Want a relic hunting, action adventure - go for the Aegis Kai Doru. Want to run the Inquisition - go for the Malus Maleficium. Want to play conspiracy nuts out to prove the government are covering up the supernatural - go for Network Zero. Want Muslim drug dealers dabbling in alchemy and deriving their powers from poisoning themselves (yeah, I went WTF here as well) - go for the Ascended Ones.
One major rules addition is the appearance of tactics. Humans know they are outclassed one-on-one by supernatural beasties and need to rely on each other to take them down. To this end they can develop team tactics to assist themselves. Animosities have to take a back seat out in the field, the hunters have to place their lives in each other's hands if they are to make it through the hunt. These tactics can involve defanging critters, exorcisms and staking amongst many. Teamwork is the humans' best defense against the dark.
Hunter does have a lot more going for it than just customisation and teamwork, it also hammers home that hunters generally also have to do a day job to pay the bills - one that occasionally comes in handy. It calls in a new background called 'Profession' which gives contacts and better skill training in the applicable field of expertise. Its a nice (and fairly understated) way of bringing new dimensions to the player characters.
Of course, the book also deals with what happens when a formerly decent citizen becomes too obsessed with hunting down the boogyman.
It's been a long time since a book came along that instantly made me want to write a campaign for it, but this one certainly does. It gives the tiny little humans lurking in the background of the world of Darkness a real and realistic fighting chance against the horrors that lurk in the dark. When I finish my Scion campaign, chances are that this'll be the rulebook I pick up next.
Tags: Review WoD Hunter
