Page 241 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER FOUR: SPECIAL RULES AND SYSTEMS
an Intelligence + Investigation roll to break, with

a modifier based on the size and secrecy of the or- THE OUIJA
ganization. A hospital or theater would be -1, mili-
tary codes would be -2, while the code words of the Does the Ouija board actually work? It
Murder Barons, only used around members and their can, yes. Even a fl imsy mass-produced toy
victims, would apply a -4 to the roll. store model can do the trick, and the fact
that a cardboard version is as useful to
Occultism this process as an ornate board over 100
years old is of concern to many hunters.
All good occultists need tools. It’s impossible
Using the Ouija board helps a ghost or
to read tarot cards without a deck, and an authentic
other non-corporeal entity communicate. It
Ouija board attracts spirits in a way that a shop-
can communicate without the Communication
ping-mall knockoff can’t quite manage. Books and
Numina (p. 210, World of Darkness RulebookWorld of Darkness Rulebook),
computer databases give occultists a chance to re-
but necessitates that the entity succeed on a
member far more things than they could hold in
Finesse roll, a roll penalized by -3 dice.
their heads. In addition, certain supernatural crea-
Using the Ouija board alone…well, some
tures show up via means of occult detection that
say the rumors are true, and that doing so
most people dismiss as pointless.
leaves you open to harm by the entities. The
Divination Tools entity’s Finesse roll is only penalized by
-1 die, and in return, gains +1 to any Numina
Durability 2, Size 1, Structure 2, Cost •
rolls made against the character using the
to •••
board alone.
It’s important for a good occultist to put on a
show. No matter how seriously he takes his own work,
an occult investigator knows that nobody’s going to
be impressed by a shiny, just-opened pack of tarot cards. The older that space, the meter spikes. The meter is a simple yes/no device;
and stranger his divinatory paraphernalia, the more convincing. a hunter can’t get a “closer” or more accurate reading. The pre-
And that’s the key: “convincing.” See, the only problem with cise range is up to the Storyteller, and should vary. Characters in
divinatory tools is that none of them actually work — at least, not possession of an energy meter shouldn’t know the range of their
without real magic or divine favor to back them up. equipment until they have plenty of time and a known supernatu-
That’s not something most occult investigators concern ral phenomenon to experiment with. Most energy meters spike on
themselves with. Unlike their other tools, divination equipment the presence of ghosts, mages, and in areas where UFOs are report-
— be it an original Rider-Waite tarot deck in a decorated leath- ed to have landed. A character using one has the equivalent of the
er case, or a quartz-crystal ball — is there to impress clients. In Unseen Sense merit relating to ghosts, Fortean phenomena, and
the presence of good-quality fortune-telling tools, many people mages, though precisely what sets it off depends on the meter.
open up just that little bit more without realizing it. The occult-
ist thus has an easier time cold reading them, and from there, an Kirlian Camera
easier time making a show of telling their future or past. Durability 1, Size 2, Structure 2, Cost ••
Quality divination tools add their bonus dice to both A Kirlian camera photographs people’s auras. While for
Wits + Empathy rolls to cold-read a target and to the Manip- most people, these “auras” are nothing more than a handy side
ulation + Occult roll required to put on a good show. Most effect of the world, some supernatural creatures show up as
only offer a one-die bonus, but an investigator’s favorites unnatural to such photographic techniques. Outside of vam-
soon show a bit more promise, adding two or even three dice. pires (who appear distorted on Kirlian photography, much as
The cost of the item is commensurate to its bonus. they do on any other photographic medium), the horrors of
the World of Darkness share an aura that somehow seems “off”
Energy Meters or “wrong.” The only exception to this is that these cameras
Durability 2, Size 2, Structure 1, Cost •• highlight manifested ghosts in the images they capture (though
Energy meters exist for a wide range of energy sources rarely as anything more than a blob, orb, or smear of light).
claimed as useful by occultists. From the etheric energies cap- The pictures can also reveal ghosts and other supernatu-
tured by Kirlian photography to orgone and even psychokinetic ral creatures, if the character frames the shot right (requiring
energy, an energy meter purports to indicate abnormal amounts a Wits + Occult roll).
of the energy in the background. Most of them are junk: no
more than a few circuit boards scavenged from a dead clock ra-
dio, wired together and sold on for a vast profit. A few show Social Equipment

surprising results. They capture the presence of ghosts, and UFO
landing sites cause the meters to spike for weeks afterwards. Social interaction doesn’t exactly conjure an image of equip-
An energy meter monitors a radius up 15 yards (depend- ment proper. If a hunter wants to be stronger, he buys a weight
ing on energy interference). If a paranormal energy source enters bench. If a hunter wants to multitask and sharpen his cognitive
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