Page 274 - Hunter - The Vigil

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T THE TIERS|ONE TIER ONLY|THE MOTLEY CELL
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ries, hunters will spend as much time working to
KEEPING THE harm their hunter opponents as they do hunt-
ing actual monsters. And there’s nothing wrong
GROUP TOGETHER
with that.
Tensions fl y thick and fast between many The Motley Cell
hunter groups, and any Storyteller will
Will you allow a cell of mixed hunters, that
dread those scenes when it becomes apparent
is to say, characters belonging to various compacts
two characters just can’t work together
and conspiracies working together? Or will you
any longer. Such chronicle-threatening
ask the players to all create hunters from one tier,
moments usually arise from those words:
compact or conspiracy? Neither approach is in-
“It’s what my character would do” or “My
valid. Having them create hunters from one group
character just can’t be in the same room
is easy, and helps keep you focused on the themes
as him anymore.”
and confl icts unique to that group.
There’s a way around this, a way to patch
That said, a mixed or motley cell can certain-
it up until a stronger and truer solution

ly work, though it might at first seem a difficult
presents itself through roleplaying. It’s
task to manage. How can it work?
by no means unique to Hunter Hunter games,
Friends Forever: Maybe the hunters have all
but is especially appropriate to Vigil
joined disparate groups, but they’ve been friends
chronicles. The fact is that hunters are
for so long (or at least “hunting buddies”) that it
in a lot of danger a great deal of the
doesn’t matter. Their loyalty is to one another, re-
time. A group’s cohesion and unity relies
gardless of what their bosses say.
not so much on desire and friendship, but
Failure to Communicate: Some hunter orgs
rather necessity. The glue binding the
don’t manage their people very well. It’s com-
characters together is composed of many
monly recognized among hunters on the Vigil that
elements, but the primary ingredient is
the hunter is not his conspiracy or compact. Sure,
the fact that they’re likely as good as
Cheiron Group is a lofty European medical con-
dead if they try to perform the Vigil
glomerate, but a cell of its hunters may easily go
alone — especially if they’ve gathered a
against type. This is because the larger groups are
number of past enemies from their efforts
sometimes too large to really keep an eye on its
within a cell. The still-living enemies
people (not to mention a limited “hiring pool”).
of the cell would no doubt delight in
The US government may only keep an occasional
the chance to pick off a lone wolf that’s

eye on the lone clandestine VALKYRIE office in a
strayed from the safety of the pack.
given city, and that gives the hunters free rein. In
particular, it gives them the chance to partner up
Abbey — do in pursuit of the hunt cannot be easily called with those from theoretically opposed groups.
“human,” but therein lies the question of what truly defi nes a On the Same Team: Not every hunter group stands in
hunter’s humanity). opposition to every other hunter group. Hunters from the
Going third tier with the overarching hunter agencies sees Malleus Maleficarum and Long Night make easy allies. The

a greater struggle with more potent resources and meaner poli- Loyalists of Thule like to work with damn near everybody, as
tics. Third-tier cells might work in opposition to one another. do Null Mysteriis (though both for differing reasons). These

They might infiltrate each other. Cells have to contend with groups don’t always have competing ideologies or goals, and
top-down leadership that often seems misguided or outright so they can take up the Vigil together. It’s possible even that
wrong. Here you’ve gone beyond local institutions and could their overarching leadership demands they work together,
easily turn your Vigil game into a globe-hopping horror adven- perhaps to accomplish a common goal.
ture: raiding tenebrous tombs in Kolkata; storming a village of Hush-Hush, on the QT: Some hunters work clandestinely,
bloodsucking terrorists outside Kabul; tracking a prized speci- joining cells under false pretenses. Many of the agencies like to
men through the villages and cities of eastern Europe. send hunters to work undercover with other cells. Some do it with-
The other option is, of course, assuming a city or game out direction and, like the Loyalists, just aren’t keen on announc-
in which all tiers come into play. While you may not get ing their allegiances. Others do so against their org or conspiracy’s
to focus on themes and moods particular to each tier so wishes, just looking for some allies outside their own groups (though
easily, it does create a more dynamic and dangerous politi- it still likely means they don’t telegraph their membership). Some
cal situation. Hunters are not lone wolves in this type of cells are composed of several hunters who, frankly, don’t know a
story: they work together, against one another, but never grain of actual truth about one another. For some, it doesn’t matter,
in exclusion. The political atmosphere in a city bursting as long as they follow the Vigil together. For others…well, a seed of
with hunter cells and groups is tense. In many such sto- suspicion can grow into a carnivorous plant pretty fast, eating up
any hopes of working together in the future.
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