Page 12 - Hunter - The Vigil

SOURCES AND INSPIRATION
SOURCES AND INSPIRATION

seem endless and eternal. They can only hope that others will ters take? Down what path will the story of your tireless hunt-
carry the Vigil in their stead. ers travel? You’ll fi nd no wrong turns in the following pages.
Theme How to Use This Book
The theme here is “light in shadows,” with hunters being The chapters of this book break down the rules and back-
a reckoning force that takes action against the darkness. But ground necessary to run a Hunter: The Vigil story.

we’ve covered that already. Throughout, you’ll find Flesh Trade as a five-part story
The game has a minor theme, too: humankind is both detailing the formation of a hunter cell as it’s exposed to the
powerful and fragile. He is fragile when he is alone and ig- horror and mystery of the World of Darkness.
norant, but he is powerful when he gathers his resources and Chapter One: Shadows Cast by Firelight details the Vigil
finds knowledge. Hunters must work together to accomplish from the ground up: how much and how little the hunter commu-

their goals, but even then, a cell, compact or conspiracy is nity knows about itself, how they band together in cells, compacts,
only as strong as the weakest within — one traitorous worm and conspiracies, and the many monstrosities they must fi ght.
boring to the heart of the apple or one rogue ant that leads Chapter Two: Character Creation features all the rules and
the trail astray has the potential to destroy the rest. And the processes you need to put together a fun and detailed Hunter:
pressures of the Vigil, the sacrifices inherent, can drive even a The Vigil character, including new Merits and Professions.

hunter of the strongest heart to such disunity and disarray. Chapter Three: Hunter Organizations looks in depth
at a number of potential hunter compacts and conspiracies
Mood within the World of Darkness. In addition, it provides systems
The prevailing mood is horror and mystery: these two for each of the conspiracy Endowments, as well as systems of
elements work in tandem to drive unaware humans to take up Research and Development regarding new Endowments and
the Vigil as hunters. Horror explodes before their eyes: fami- a discussion on creating your own hunter organization for use
lies dead on a blood-slick floor or some awful gibbering thing within Hunter: The Vigil.

crawling free from a bus crash. Mystery dangles like a hang- Chapter Three: Special Rules and Systems identifi es all
nail that one cannot help but pick — a tattooed cipher on a the rules that might govern hunter characters in your story,
dead man’s arm, a book written in a language that cannot be including new equipment and the Tactics available to hunter
human, a box on a doorstep filled with dry leaves and bundles cells of any experience level.

of human hair, all bound together in ribbons of taut skin. Chapter Four: Storytelling gives you perspective on the
Other moods pervade, too: the Vigil is grim, brutal, in- art of taking all the stuff in this book and channeling it into a
sane. But it can also be hopeful and heroic. This is a desperate story for you and your players. The game’s themes and moods
struggle, but it is not impossible. And it may lead the protago- are explored more explicitly here.
nists on mad adventures, indeed. Appendix One: Morality and the Vigil lets you tweak
the Morality settings for Hunter: The Vigil to tell the story
Humanity’s Hidden Power
you want to tell as Storyteller or player.
For every hunter, a different Vigil.
Appendix Two: Philadelphia takes you monster hunting in
This book aims to supply players and Storytellers with all the
the hotbed of American Revolution, the City of Brotherly Love.
resources necessary to craft a monster-hunting story of their design.
Hunters are brought into the World of Darkness in various ways Sources and Inspiration
— how does your character have the scales torn from his eyes?
Does he watch something gut his wife and harvest her heart? Is Hunter: The Vigil is a horror game, a game about hu-
he courted by one of the ancient hunter conspiracies because it mans taking control from the exploitative monsters of the
believes he has certain skills and “moral fl exibilities” that will suit World of Darkness. As such, the world offers no end of pos-
its needs? Has he always known of the supernatural, having been sible inspirations, and some of these can be found below.
born into a family with a diseased and infernal bloodline? Non-Fiction
Your hunter — and your Hunter: The Vigil story — have

Alien Dawn by Colin Wilson offers itself as a non-fiction
the potential to be nearly anything and assume any face you
look at all manner of bizarre phenomena and monstrous in-
desire. Want an ass-kicking, take-no-prisoners game, with your
cursions into our world. Folklore, ghosts, lost time, psychic
hunters grabbing monsters by the throat and taking the city back
weirdness, aliens and monsters all appear in some form or an-
block by bloody block? That’s perfectly viable. Or do you instead
other. Read it as if a very real hunter in the World of Darkness
want a game devoted to studying the maddening mysteries of
wrote it and it gets scary, fast.
the World of Darkness, where every pulled thread threatens to
Everything Is Under Control by Robert Anton Wilson:
unravel the entire fabric of one’s carefully crafted theories and,
cults and conspiracies in easy-to-digest encyclopedia format.
worse, one’s cautiously cultivated sanity? No problem.
Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experi-
Hunters are that candle in the darkness, performing a
ence is exactly as its name suggests, and provides a wealth of
seemingly endless duty. They’re about taking back the night,
story hooks.
about putting humanity back in control. But the road is long
The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel (also recommend-
and home to many crossroads. Which road will your charac-
ed: his Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings) is really the story
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