Minireview: Hunter: the Vigil
I’m actually glad that Hunter: the Vigil wasn’t the first “monster hunter” game White Wolf came up with. Even though this game is actually what most people wanted the first time round, Hunter: the Reckoning did end up as an underappreciated gem and a very neat game of monster hunting with some unconventional features. It was also extremely dark and nihilistic, making the new Hunter: the Vigil almost shiny & happy by comparison. But only by comparison… this is a fairly grim game also, starring people who hunt monsters and usually pay a high price for doing so.
As far as I can figure, this is the first White Wolf roleplaying game which has “normal people” as PCs . Sure, you could argue that the new WoD core rules plus the “generic” supplements are actually the first “mortals” game – and you would have a point. In any case, this is a first where a named group (“Hunters”, here) is not endowed with supernatural powers… except that some of them are. Let me explain.
Hunter: the Vigil is a toolbox game about monster hunting. As part of that “toolbox”, you’re given three different “levels” of running a game. At the lowest level, you just have a group of people who have encountered something supernatural and have decided (or been forced to) deal with it. The second involves more organized groups of hunters, here called “compacts”, which provide for local-scale groups of organized monster hunters. Last, we have some global-scale monster hunter groups, here called “conspiracies”. At street level, the PCs will be free to do pretty much what they want, but will have very limited resources. At “conspiracy” level, they’ll have lots of resources (some supernatural) but will have at times extreme limits on what they are and aren’t allowed to do. You can also mix and match… start small, and slowly introduce larger “metaplot” if you want. I like this model, though it’s not the first time I’ve seen it (Unknown Armies had a very similar setup going).
The compacts and conspiracies presented here are a varied and interesting lot, especially if you take them as they are meant to be taken: as examples and ideas. If some of them don’t work for you, don’t use them. I personally loved the Ashwood Abbey, the Lucifuge and many others, while Strike Force: VALKYRIE came off more than a bit campy… but I can easily see using it in a slightly more tongue-in-cheek Buffy-style game. I guess that with work you could get it to work in a “deadly serious” context too, Delta Green style, but my first reaction was more in the “amused” category. Ashwood Abbey is great for being just so… weird. I mean, a bunch of aristocratic decadents hunting monsters “just for kicks”, while high on drugs or whatever? Priceless. Also, the Lucifuge is awesome for presenting a bunch of offspring of Lucifer ferchristsake (according to them)… who aren’t bad guys, quite the opposite. Oh, and there’s The Cheiron Group, for some Pentex-style action. It’s a very nice collection of extremely different groups, and showcases the game nicely. It’s also nice that not all of the groups presented here are “good guys”. Some of them operate in extremely grey moral areas, and some cross over at times into “bad guy” territory… but that depends on your viewpoint. There’s a lot of moral relativism going on here. For example… if you hunt witches using tools which are (objectively) supernatural, are you yourself any better?
As noted, Hunters are normal people who don’t have supernatural powers. Mostly. At the Conspiracy level, they can get access to some weird shit that is firmly in or close to the supernatural category. Biotech implants, weird military superscience, magic potions, ancient artifacts, prayers that work… all kinds of stuff. Of course, these toys come with lots of strings attached. Lots.
We get some new rules along with this book. Hunters have Tactics, which are codified group tactics which can be practiced and then performed out on the field, with nice results. These can be developed with “Practical Experience” points, which are gained alongside with normal Exp in the game. There are some tweaks to how Willpower is used and gained, encouraging Hunters to use a lot of Willpower (good choice, given that not using Willpower can sometimes mean a bloody death).
I really liked this game (and I also liked the original Hunter, which is a very different beast). This seems like an excellent basis for running “normal(ish) people fighting the supernatural” games, and those can be a ton of fun. Hell, watch a few episodes of Supernatural and you’re ready to rock. You could ask “why do I need this game, I already have the base WoD mortals rules?”. And you’d be right… you could run a monster hunting game with those rules and using many of the WoD sourcebooks. You get a lot of tools with this separate game book and a ton of fun ideas specific to a monster hunt game – but there is no reason you absolutely need this book. That said, I’d much rather use this that the code WoD for a game like that, simply because this game does a lot of groundwork for you and is full of really cool ideas.
The theme of this game is “light versus the darkness”, with the Hunters as the candles that shed some small limited light into the dark, hungry unknown. The subtitle “Vigil” refers to being guardians of humanity, standing guard and being awake while most sleep. It’s a nice symbolism.
Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:54 Posted in Books, Games
Tags hunter, white wolf
