Page 268 - Hunter - The Vigil

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You might halve hunter’s Health scores. You might even sug- So, what avenues of investigation exist for hunter charac-
gest that the players create two or three hunter characters ters? For some, the most obvious (though potentially the least
because, hey, at least one of them is probably going to take a reliable) is research into mythology and folklore. Poring through
dirt-nap sometime during the story. And that’s okay — if you library books and countless search engine links will lead to a bevy
let the players know this before the game begins. Don’t spring of mythological information, much of which is diluted by centu-
an overly lethal game-style on them out of nowhere. ries of interpretation from the source. Mythology provides a larg-
er cultural context for monsters, and it’s cool to provide players
Investigation with things they find (maybe even taking the players themselves

and Mystery through a very real Google search to see what might come up
as a result) to show the universal nature of a monster or mystery.
The Vigil isn’t just about hunters breaking bones and Even something as ubiquitous as a vampire has a hundred
having their own bones broken. Hunting is as much about variations across a range of cultural folklores and mytholo-
the chase as it is about catching the prey. Hunters use many gies, and a thousand other entities that bear enough of a re-
avenues of research as part of the Vigil, all in the name of semblance to confuse any would-be scholar. The hopping de-
learning about the hidden enemies of humanity. How much mons of Asian folklore taste mortal blood by extending their
will investigation play into your game? Is it the key to all en- edged tongues and licking sleeping people. These are equally
during mysteries, forcing characters to pore through books as vampiric as the bone-pale undead that so dominate West-
and to scour crime scenes to find some truth? Or does inves- ern perception, based primarily, of course, on Bram Stoker’s

tigation play as small a role as, “You find a note pinned to the Dracula. Yet they suffer different banes, feel agony at different

exsanguinated body, and on that note is a taunt, a threat and wounds or are repelled by different rituals.
an address. Time to hunt.” Folklore tends to be more local, and allows you to maybe
If you’re going to invoke a game where investigation give glimpses into regional stories or even get the characters out
plays a significant role, you’ve got a few things to consider. on the street, asking questions of the townsfolk or neighborhood

First, mysteries have to have answers and clues must be found. vagrants. This information doesn’t have to be utterly reliable
You can’t drop clues that characters won’t find (it stalls the (though some gems of truth should lurk within the misinforma-

game) and you can’t posit mysteries that simply have no an- tion), but that’s okay. Misinformation stirs suspense and confl ict
swers at all (it frustrates the players). Yes, clues can be hard (more on that in a minute). Point is, mythological and folkloric
to find and mysteries may not always have clear answers, but interpretations of monsters and the mysteries that surround them

payoff is always necessary. can be a goldmine of story fodder.

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