Page 323 - Hunter - The Vigil

Hunters hunt. It’s what they do.
chances are high that the Storyteller will be spending more time herd-
“The man visited by
“The man visited by
ecstasies and visions, who
ecstasies and visions, who
takes dreams for realities
takes dreams for realities
is an enthusiast; the man
is an enthusiast; the man
who supports his madness
who supports his madness
with murder is a
with murder is a
fanatic.”
fanatic.”
— Voltaire
— Voltaire
(François-Marie Arouet),
(François-Marie Arouet),
“Fanaticism,” 1764
“Fanaticism,” 1764
For some, this is extremely literal — guns drawn, bullets blazing,
the hunter tracks her prey and puts an end to its profane existence. For
others, the pursuit is more figurative, capturing and studying the su-
pernatural, or gathering resources and information to help protect
the people, places and things important to the hunter. Regardless
of the theme of the individual game being played, Hunter: The
Vigil presents some unique challenges in terms of Morality.
Murder, Death
and Destruction
Simply put, if hunters are held to the same Morality ratings as
non-hunter humans, a Hunter: The Vigil game has the potential for
the characters to degenerate into low-Morality lunatics in a very
short span of time (and that may very well be a game you want
to play). If characters are forced to make degeneration rolls for
killing a vampire, werewolf or other monster, as they would for
killing an innocent human, a dedicated hunter cell is quickly go-
ing to find itself making degeneration rolls on a regular basis, and the
ing the derangement-swamped characters as they rampage across the
game setting than actually running any sort of scenario. Any or
all of the following alternative methods may be utilized to soften
Morality-taxing scenes or game sessions:
The Code: The Vigil changes a person. “The Code” (below)
details an alternative set of game rules that can be used to adapt a
hunter’s Morality away from the human standard and into a Vigil-
specific Code over time. While this system has its own drawbacks
(social penalties and hunt-specific derangements known as Tells), it
works well with a kill-heavy game, allowing characters to continue
their hunt long after the normal Morality system would have sent
them spiraling into madness.
Monsters Don’t Count: As discussed earlier in the book, hunt-
ers may not identify superhuman monsters as human. Storytellers
may take this perspective into consideration, ruling that assaulting or
killing monsters doesn’t count as a Morality sin at all, and not requiring
hunters to make any sort of Morality degeneration roll for actions taken
against a monstrous foe. This ruling skews the Morality scale in a major
way, and Storytellers who utilize it should be cautioned that it lifts one of
the major weights of consequence of hunter characters’ actions, but may
allow for a more “heroic” game.
It’s Not Like They’re Really People: Slightly less extreme than
the Monster’s Don’t Count theme is the idea that, while taking a sin-
ful action against a monster may be bad, it’s nowhere near as morally
damning as taking the same action against a normal human. This Mo-
rality variation gives characters bonus dice (+1 to +3 depending on
how inhuman the monster is) whenever the player rolls for degenera-
tion for an action related to that monster. A Storyteller might give a
player a +1 bonus to a degeneration roll for an action taken against
a seemingly human magic wielder, +2 for a sin against a humanoid
lycanthrope, and +3 extra dice when making a roll for slaying a human
who’s already dead (vampire, ghost, Reanimated, zombie).
Do Nothing: The Vigil is a morally perilous journey, and holding
strictly to the standard human Morality scale only emphasizes that dan-