The Inside Scoop on Gaming

From the outset, this book is pretty slick looking. It's bright, flaming (literally) orange. The quality of the pages is excellent, and they all have a slick feel to them.

The first section of the book, the Prologue, is the requisite fiction piece, and makes a nice introduction to what Hunters are about. It's designed to look like the Hunter-Net website, and is pretty interesting.

There's nothing really outstanding about the Introduction. It's your standard core-book drivel: what is Storytelling, what are Players and Storytellers, what is Gothic-Punk..anyone who's read any of the core books has pretty much seen this before; though it is a VERY good introduction for newbies to White Wolf (in fact, this whole game gives me the feeling of an "introductory" type of game).

Chapter 1, The Here and Now, is written in-character, mostly through the journal of a Dr. Van Wyk, and gives a good explanation of what an average few days in the life of a Hunter might be like. Highly recommended reading.

Chapter 2, A World of Darkness, is a good description of the World of Darkness from a Hunter standpoint. Even if you have run another of the core games, you should read this section as it will give you a much more "down to earth" view of how the average person sees the World of Darkness.

Chapter 3 details the Hunter's Creed. This is somewhat analagous to clan, tribe, tradition et all, but is much more broad than any of those. There are 7 creeds, which could be used to make just about any type of character. Yes, each creed has a "Weakness" but, unlike a vampire's Clan Weakness or a Changeling's Kith weakness, these weaknesses are much more roleplaying-oriented and much less mechanics-oriented.

Chapter 4 is the character generation section, entitled "I have heard the message." This is fairly standard, EXCEPT that Hunters use mortal character generation rules (meaning 6/4/3 for Attributes, 11/7/4 for Abilities, 5 points for Backgrounds, etc. etc.). Among the more interesting new Backgrounds is Arsenal which is like a cache of weapons you have, and Bystanders, those that were chosen to be Imbued, but for whatever reason just didn't make it.

One thing that I find interesting is the interaction between the Conviction and Virtues traits. Virtues can be raised ONLY by getting enough Conviction (10 points worth) and Conviction can only be gained by risking it for an Edge roll. Yes, you can buy Conviction with Freebie points (up to a Conviction 8), but no, you can't buy Virtues (not even with XP).

Conviction itself is interesting. If you spend a point, for an entire scene, you can see supernatural beings, see possessing creatures, becomes immune to illusions, effects such as Delirium, mind or emotion control and effects that attempt to control the character by force of will alone. Of course, you don't have enough Conviction to spend constantly, so yes, you WILL become vulnerable.

Chapter 5, the Hunter's Edge, details the powers of the Hunters. A couple of interesting notes here. Due to the way that Edges are bought, you can have 3 level 1 power or a level 1 and level 2 powers from the same edge. Period. No increasing with freebie points. The second interesting note is that you can never have a level 5 power unless the Storyteller gives it to you. Ever.

The Edges themselves are actually pretty interesting, and definitely very useful at low levels. For example, the level 1 power for Redemption, Bluster, can give you a mega-dodge type ability. You blurt out a word, trigger your power and roll Wits + Mercy. Now, this may sound relatively useless, because the maximum dice pool may seem like 8 (Wits 5, Mercy 3)..au contraire..remember what I said about Conviction points earlier? Each Conviction you risk gives you an extra die to roll, so, you could have a maximum starting dice pool of 16. That's enough to avoid harm from most extremely old vampires. And, if you succeed, you gain all those risked Conviction points back, and gain another one. So, the better you do, the better you can do.

Chapter 6 is the Laws of the Hunt, or the rules section. This tells you how to use the system to play the game. Pretty standard fare, if you're familiar with White Wolf. Pretty important fare if you're not.

Chapter 7, Tools of the Hunt, gives examples of various rolls and how to do things within the system, as well as the combat system for Hunter. Again, pretty standard (but important) information.

Chapter 8 gives the standard "Here's how to Storytell" section. Even if you have read other sections on Storytelling from other books, READ THIS SECTION. There are some interesting twists for Storytellers here. For one, it gives you some information on what the Heralds (the mysterious beings who give the Imbued their power) are. No, I won't spoil it. You'll just have to find out for yourself.

Chapter 9, The Enemy, gives a plethora of enemies to throw at your Hunters. A very, very simplified version of all of the other supernaturals of the World of Darkness is given here (a more complex version is given in the Hunter SToryteller's Companion that comes with the Storyteller's Screen). However, those familiar with the other games might want to use to those games' rules to portray the enemy, which is what I plan to do when I run. But, more than any other White Wolf game, Hunter gives you enough to pull off the antagonists without having to own any of the other core books.

Now we come to the Appendices. The first Appendix is the Hunter Code, a series of symbols that Hunters just KNOW how to read and write. Interesting concept, but not really explored well. Appendix 2 is a list of gear, and Appendix 3 details some of the Hunter organizations that have popped up.

The book is wrapped up with an Epilogue and an index, and two intruging ads, one for Mage Revised and another for something which is completely mysterious.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Hunter the Reckoning
Author: Bruce Baugh et al Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Games Line: Hunter the Reckoning Cost: 29.95 Page count: 300 ISBN: 1-56504-735-4 SKU: WW8100 Capsule Review by Prince Nightchilde on 11/09/99. Genre tags: Horror Conspiracy Gothic	From the outset, this book is pretty slick looking. It's bright, flaming (literally) orange. The quality of the pages is excellent, and they all have a slick feel to them. The first section of the book, the Prologue, is the requisite fiction piece, and makes a nice introduction to what Hunters are about. It's designed to look like the Hunter-Net website, and is pretty interesting. There's nothing really outstanding about the Introduction. It's your standard core-book drivel: what is Storytelling, what are Players and Storytellers, what is Gothic-Punk..anyone who's read any of the core books has pretty much seen this before; though it is a VERY good introduction for newbies to White Wolf (in fact, this whole game gives me the feeling of an "introductory" type of game). Chapter 1, The Here and Now, is written in-character, mostly through the journal of a Dr. Van Wyk, and gives a good explanation of what an average few days in the life of a Hunter might be like. Highly recommended reading. Chapter 2, A World of Darkness, is a good description of the World of Darkness from a Hunter standpoint. Even if you have run another of the core games, you should read this section as it will give you a much more "down to earth" view of how the average person sees the World of Darkness. Chapter 3 details the Hunter's Creed. This is somewhat analagous to clan, tribe, tradition et all, but is much more broad than any of those. There are 7 creeds, which could be used to make just about any type of character. Yes, each creed has a "Weakness" but, unlike a vampire's Clan Weakness or a Changeling's Kith weakness, these weaknesses are much more roleplaying-oriented and much less mechanics-oriented. Chapter 4 is the character generation section, entitled "I have heard the message." This is fairly standard, EXCEPT that Hunters use mortal character generation rules (meaning 6/4/3 for Attributes, 11/7/4 for Abilities, 5 points for Backgrounds, etc. etc.). Among the more interesting new Backgrounds is Arsenal which is like a cache of weapons you have, and Bystanders, those that were chosen to be Imbued, but for whatever reason just didn't make it. One thing that I find interesting is the interaction between the Conviction and Virtues traits. Virtues can be raised ONLY by getting enough Conviction (10 points worth) and Conviction can only be gained by risking it for an Edge roll. Yes, you can buy Conviction with Freebie points (up to a Conviction 8), but no, you can't buy Virtues (not even with XP). Conviction itself is interesting. If you spend a point, for an entire scene, you can see supernatural beings, see possessing creatures, becomes immune to illusions, effects such as Delirium, mind or emotion control and effects that attempt to control the character by force of will alone. Of course, you don't have enough Conviction to spend constantly, so yes, you WILL become vulnerable. Chapter 5, the Hunter's Edge, details the powers of the Hunters. A couple of interesting notes here. Due to the way that Edges are bought, you can have 3 level 1 power or a level 1 and level 2 powers from the same edge. Period. No increasing with freebie points. The second interesting note is that you can never have a level 5 power unless the Storyteller gives it to you. Ever. The Edges themselves are actually pretty interesting, and definitely very useful at low levels. For example, the level 1 power for Redemption, Bluster, can give you a mega-dodge type ability. You blurt out a word, trigger your power and roll Wits + Mercy. Now, this may sound relatively useless, because the maximum dice pool may seem like 8 (Wits 5, Mercy 3)..au contraire..remember what I said about Conviction points earlier? Each Conviction you risk gives you an extra die to roll, so, you could have a maximum starting dice pool of 16. That's enough to avoid harm from most extremely old vampires. And, if you succeed, you gain all those risked Conviction points back, and gain another one. So, the better you do, the better you can do. Chapter 6 is the Laws of the Hunt, or the rules section. This tells you how to use the system to play the game. Pretty standard fare, if you're familiar with White Wolf. Pretty important fare if you're not. Chapter 7, Tools of the Hunt, gives examples of various rolls and how to do things within the system, as well as the combat system for Hunter. Again, pretty standard (but important) information. Chapter 8 gives the standard "Here's how to Storytell" section. Even if you have read other sections on Storytelling from other books, READ THIS SECTION. There are some interesting twists for Storytellers here. For one, it gives you some information on what the Heralds (the mysterious beings who give the Imbued their power) are. No, I won't spoil it. You'll just have to find out for yourself. Chapter 9, The Enemy, gives a plethora of enemies to throw at your Hunters. A very, very simplified version of all of the other supernaturals of the World of Darkness is given here (a more complex version is given in the Hunter SToryteller's Companion that comes with the Storyteller's Screen). However, those familiar with the other games might want to use to those games' rules to portray the enemy, which is what I plan to do when I run. But, more than any other White Wolf game, Hunter gives you enough to pull off the antagonists without having to own any of the other core books. Now we come to the Appendices. The first Appendix is the Hunter Code, a series of symbols that Hunters just KNOW how to read and write. Interesting concept, but not really explored well. Appendix 2 is a list of gear, and Appendix 3 details some of the Hunter organizations that have popped up. The book is wrapped up with an Epilogue and an index, and two intruging ads, one for Mage Revised and another for something which is completely mysterious. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Hunter the Reckoning