Page 96 - Hunter - The Vigil

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• What are some common ways that members of this Profes-
• What are some common ways that members of this Profes-
Specialization
sion first encounter monsters (i.e., the “inciting incident”)?
sion fi rst encounter monsters (i.e., the “inciting incident”)?
If a player wants to focus on a specific area of a Profes-

sion, there are a few things she can do before creating a whole • After their first encounter with the supernatural, what about

new Profession. Most obviously, she can note her specific title the Profession pushes them to confront the supernatural?
for the Profession in the same way as a specialty. This helps • Do any of the Profession’s Skills have particular use when
• Do any of the Profession’s Skills have particular use when
reinforce the difference between a Criminal (Dealer) and a hunting monsters? A Technician can build weapons and
hunting monsters? A Technician can build weapons and
Criminal (Forger) or a Journalist (Blogger) and a Journalist equipment, a Hacker can trace computer records, a De-
equipment, a Hacker can trace computer records, a De-
(On-Air Personality). This specialty will probably echo a spe- tective or Journalist knows how to fi nd clues, an Occultist

tective or Journalist knows how to find clues, an Occultist
cialty in one of the Profession’s Asset Skills. knows the folklore behind the monster, and so on.
knows the folklore behind the monster, and so on.
Above and beyond that, the second dot of Professional Train- • How do members of this Profession react to the Vigil in
ing allows a character to broaden his horizons, adding a third Asset the short term? Do they see it as an interesting distraction, or

Skill. Players who want to explore a specific niche of a Profession something they throw themselves into full time?
should note that taking this level of the Merit during character
• What effect would carrying on the Vigil have on members
creation can take her free specialty in her new Asset Skill. This is • What effect would carrying on the Vigil have on members
of this Profession over the long term?
especially valuable for concepts that fit into one Profession, but in of this Profession over the long term?

an area that would be better served with a different Asset Skill.
Differentiation
Source Consider what makes this Profession unique. A “Con Man”
Profession may encompass a whole range of white-collar crimi-

The first question to ask is “Where is this Profession com-
ing from?” Is it a new creation that doesn’t fall under one of the nals, while Criminal remains the standard Profession for muggers,
leg-breakers, and other blue-collar workers on the wrong side of
existing Professions, or is it mentioned as part of a Profession that the law. This is your chance to say “[Profession X] was too limited

otherwise doesn’t seem to fit? Once you’ve worked this out, you’ll and didn’t have the focus for people who do [Profession Y]. This
have a better idea of what you want from the Profession. Some- Profession has that focus, but doesn’t care so much about another
thing created whole cloth will normally be broader than a slice integral part of [Profession X].” The clearer you are, the easier it is
off an existing write-up. That’s not always true — if you wanted for other players to know what makes your Profession unique.
to make Musician a separate Profession to Artist, both may still be Also think about people who go into your Profession. What
just as broad as each other — but it gives you a starting point. are they like? Did they go to college or drop out of high school? Do
Work out what the Profession does, what kinds of jobs and
roles it covers. Feel free to borrow or steal ideas from the existing they need profi ciency for a certain subject, or do they get training
on the job? The preceding questions define what a person who

Professions when describing this — not just the job description, takes your Profession does; now you need to define what they were

but how a typical member of the Profession tends to think. Try to like in their life before taking on the Profession.
answer as many of the following questions as possible.
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• Does she approach her job as just something she does Character
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for money, or does it give her a chance to learn and use
, or does it
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ive her a chance to learn and use
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s skills that she wouldn’t otherwise?se? As a result of working out the typical background for a mem-
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ber of your Profession, you probably have an idea of what Attri-
• Does the job require special training? butes, Skills and Merits a member of your Profession should have.
• Does it give her access to equipment and resources that Note those down. If a musician needs above-average Presence or
• Does it give her access to equipment and resources that
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s she wouldn’t otherwise have?? a Forger needs both Dexterity and Wits, make it plain. Likewise,
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list a few Skills — no more than half a dozen to begin with, but if
• Do most members of the Profession come from a spe- your Profession is sufficiently broad, you may find you need more.

cifi c social class?
Finally, what three Merits are most likely among members of your
Bear in mind that there’s nothing wrong with going Profession?
against these suggestions when creating a character, but it All this information is a guideline for prospective players, but
helps give the Storyteller an idea of what the archetypal Mu- it serves another purpose. Not every student is going to have dots
sician, Forger or Drug Chemist is like. in Streetwise or the Iron Stomach merit. These suggestions come
The Candle in the Dark in handy for a Storyteller who needs a rough sketch of a charac-
ter immediately. Assume two dots in every Attribute and none in
Next, you have to consider how the Profession intersects Skills, raise any mentioned Attributes to three or even four dots,
with the Vigil. Some Professions work better for low-level and assume ratings between one and three dots in each mentioned
games — street criminals, vagrants, laborers and anyone else skill. Pick two or more of the Merits, and the character has enough
who looks like easy prey to a monster. If your new Profession statistics to be useful in a range of circumstances. Players and Sto-
doesn’t have a “street level” hook into the hunt, you need to rytellers both benefit from Professions, after all.

work out how members of this Profession can find out about Finally, work out the two Asset Skills for your chosen
the darkness, and what they do about it when they know. The Profession (see p. 74), think up some evocative titles for each
following questions cover that aspect: rank of Professional Training (p. 67), and you’re done.
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