When I first heard about The Walking Dead sourcebook I was rather happy. Most fans of Hunter will agree that, if the mass influx of the dead to Earth that occurred as the Wraith line of books was discontinued was not the only reason Hunters were created by the Messengers, then it was the metaphysical straw that broke the camel's back. It made sense for Hunter to cover them beyond their description in the Hunter Storyteller Companion, since it appears Hunters were primarily designed to fight the returned dead. After reading The Walking Dead I found myself enjoying some sections of it, left feeling large portions were a teaser for other books, and left with a rules discrepancy that left me going "How could they miss this in editing?"
The book starts out with telling the story of the final hunt conducted by Cop90, a Hunter introduced in the Avenger Creedbook. It's a good tale, and I presume the reason that the White Wolf writers capped a character they devoted a lot of time and space describing in previous books was to let readers know that they're weren't playing favorites, and that just because a Hunter was popular or portrayed as smart doesn't mean they couldn't join the choir invisible at any moment. Still, a good character like Cop getting killed while fools like Bookworm still take up space in supplements gets me steamed.
The Introduction of the book is preceded by an excerpt from Hunter.net, describing how the Hunter.net text found in the following chapters have been archived, to allow other Hunters to learn from them. I like that idea. Fans who read the first book of the Year of the Scarab trilogy will be wondering why the characters in that book had trouble finding out certain information, since according to this page it's all nice and posted and accessible to all Hunters; look at my Inherit the Earth review for more information on that travesty of a novel....Anyway, another irritating thing to be found here is yet another comment about how the original Hunter.net was taken down by monsters, and yet again WE LEARN NOTHING ABOUT THE CREATURES THAT DID IT! Sorry about that, but it's something that was a major event in the world of Hunters, and nothing has been done about what was behind it or how they learned about the original Hunter.net.
Getting to the meat of the Introduction, we're told this book is to provide both players and Storytellers with information how the returned dead work in Hunter, even noting that changes between this book and Wraith ARE official, owing to the events in the final Wraith release Ends of Empire. There's also the usual list of recommended reading and viewing. While I agree with the idea that the Hunter.net transcripts would be great reading for players, I don't think this is a book you'd want to give a player as a gift or to have them borrow to read. The Storyteller section gives away all the rules for playing the returned dead, and if a player were to merely glance over the section they could quickly learn too much about the rules for spirits. They'd also learn that a total hose to Hunters has been introduced in the players' section of this book, but more on that later.
Chapter One begins with a post from Pilot56, and the first time event of a undead creature getting on to Hunter.net and chatting it up with Hunters. It's rather a short chapter. When I first read this book I thought that Pilot was a minion of the Technocracy, and wondered why his mage employers didn't show up as wrong to Second Sight, but a few months ago I finally got to look at the 3rd Edition of Vampire, and suffice it to say that apparently normal human technology is capable of doing the fantastic things described in this chapter. I post this in the review because it's been two years as I write this since The Walking Dead came out, and the first time Pilot and his employers were mentioned again was in the Wayward Creedbook, which came out in February 2002. This is the first example in the Walking Dead where startling and/or entertaining ideas are introduced, and are not only not resolved in this book, but left writhing in the wind, leaving readers to wonder whether White Wolf was going to address the subjects later, or forget about them and let Storytellers do whatever they wanted with them.
Chapter Two has another undead going online to Hunter.net, though he's not identified as an undead as such, and I've been told he was a reoccurring character in the Wraith line of products. This character's portions of the text are entertaining, though the stumble-luck way that his identity as a walking cadaver is discovered by a Hunter makes you feel like the writer had been told by the editor to reduce his manuscript for this work, and he sliced out what he had originally planned and just stuck in whatever came to mind. Either that, or the Hunter that makes the discovery has Patron, which isn't true, according to her write-up in Defender. In this chapter we also get an encounter between a walking dead and a Hunter who fans of the Phantasm films might have a particular fondness for, and also the death of a Hunter in Philadelphia. Between these accounts we get some good information on how spirits work in Hunter, done in just the right way to reveal large quantities of information to players without making the Storyteller say "Why don't I just let them read the Storyteller-only section and be done with it?" A very good chapter.
Next up we have a chapter covering what may be the final adventure of Shaka74, and here we get the second dose of "When will White Wolf resolve/follow up on things?" For the record, it's a pretty big dose. This section has nothing to do with the preceding chapters, the threads of which are picked up in the fourth chapter of the book, and it does have the feel of just being plopped in here because, hey, why not? That feeling is not helped by the fact that none of the other chapters in this book refer to what happens here, as though it's in its own little pocket universe.
Shaka has gone to Haiti to investigate, spurred on by recent events in his life and by the folklore the nation posseses on the restless dead. At first, this is a great chapter. We get the introduction of a creature that seems to disappear to Second Sight, a massive conspiracy involving the US government, that may involve Banes, Fomori Technomancers, Nephandi, or something new. There's a quick tie-in to something in the excretable Apocrypha that I didn't even notice until I reread it for this review, and more. As the chapter ends we get another dose of "When will White Wolf resolve follow up on things." And as this chapter ends we're left hanging for answers, hanging for a long time.
You see, this book was published in 2000, and the second "When will White Wolf resolve/follow up on things" found in this chapter was not resolved until February of 2002, when Creedbook: Wayward was released (see my review of that book for some theories on why it took so long). The main hanging thread, mainly what the heck is going on in Haiti, has been totally ignored by White Wolf since then. This doesn't make sense on several levels. It's been shown that Hunters have followed up on the posts of their comrades on several occasions that were, far, far lower on the threat-o-meter than the events Shaka discusses occurring in Haiti. Second, Soldier91 is apparently a close friend of Shaka, given info in Wayward and Visionary, and he apparently has made no effort to find out what's going on in Haiti with his friend, instead pursing in Wayward something left behind by Shaka with no relation to Haiti. Heck, given the U.S. government's apparent involvement in Haiti I think Soldier and several other Hunters would have followed up on things immediately. There's been a rumor going around that the events in this chapter are something of a prelude to what's to come in Demon: the Fallen, which means basically this chapter was a tease for something (well, two somethings, counting Wayward) that didn't come out until 2002. We'll have to wait to see if this is true, and if so I'm going to be very honked at White Wolf.
Chapter Four, as I said earlier, continues the threads found in the first two chapters. This is a great chapter, giving Hunters a view on not only spirit, but vampiric activity as well. Plus there's a lot of bits that will bring a smile to your face and maybe even an out-loud chuckle or two.
Chapter Five is both a "When will White Wolf resolve/follow up on things" example, plus it sets the stage for a potential total screwing for players. Basically this chapter follows Oracle171 as she explores a major tidbit of information dropped by one of the monsters on Hunter.net; why Hunters would follow up on this and do nothing to check on Shaka is beyond me. We get some signs that Oracle is a corrupted nutjob in this chapter, and she survives the total screwing for players I mentioned a few lines ago. That's it. When I get to the portion of this review for the Storytellers out there I'll sink my teeth into what's wrong with this chapter. For players with enough honor to stop reading this review when I get to the Storyteller chapters, I'll just say that no matter how cool this chapter sounds never follow up on Oracle's tale if you value your characters.
Chapter Six ends the player's portion of the book, and is enjoyable. The two supernaturals who had gotten onto Hunter.net are ejected, with one apparently speaking in tongues and giving hints at what is to come in the World of Darkness; attention-minded Hunter fans will see a connection between the information given here and some that was presented in the Hunter Survival Guide. I have to admit that after reading Inherit the Earth and the first Year of the Scarab novel I was a little disappointed with this chapter, but this relates to the rules discrepancy I mentioned earlier, and a problem in the YotS novel where it sounds as though the author didn't understand the concept of why an undead stays on Earth. If you're a player, or a Storyteller whose hasn't read those books or isn't a stickler for the rules you'll have absolutely no problems with this book. Oh, I almost forgot! This chapter also has evidence that Second Sight works on magical items; the infamous Hunter Storytellers Handbook chose to ignore this factoid, even those it's an important point in one of the stories in this chapter.
Okay, now we're onto the Storyteller-only section of the book, so I'll asked all players to please discontinue reading, so as not to spoil any surprises.......Please?
The seventh chapter of the book beings the rules information of the book on ghosts, zombies, and the like. It starts out with an excellent section on what's been going on in the realms of the dead, done in such a manner that you don't need to ever have read any Wraith books to understand it. The section also gives some theories on Hunter's creation, pretty much backing up ideas presented in the players' section of the book. Following this is a section on the "dark side" of ghosts. For those who have never played Wraith, in that game spirits have a dark personality separate from their "normal" one, which occasionally causes events to occur or even overwhelms the main personality, doing terrible things when it's in control. This section sums up this facet of the dead who've come back to Earth very nicely; there's even a great little section about keeping former Wraith players in line who complain that spirits in Hunter don't act as they did in Wraith. Unfortunately, following this section is the one containing the rules problem I've kept mentioning in this review. I'm going to cover this section first as it's portrayed in this book, then contrast that with how it showed up in Wraith. There's a reason for this, trust me.
Okay, the problematic section deals with anchors, those people, places, or items that keep a ghost bound to the world of the living. When the ka-ka went down in the realms of the dead that resulted in spirits coming back to Earth in record number, the spirits found themselves being bonded to the first area, person, or thing they came in contact with, whether they like it or not. I should note that while this book seems to suggest such spirits could come back anywhere in the world, almost all the undead found in Hunter products seem to arrive near something that has personal significance to them. It is possible, I suppose, that the restless dead that Hunters have encountered have been, for the most parts, ghosts who were entering the realms of the living before the ka-ka went down, but I find that a bit odd. At any rate, a ghost can't move more than 100 yards from its anchors, unless it possesses certain rare powers, which can be used to move away from an anchor for a limited time. There are two exceptions listed to this, however. First, if a ghost gets bonded to a corpse it becomes a walking dead, and the body becomes an anchor that the ghost can't escape from, but can move wherever it wants. Second, it also states that if a spirit comes back and touches a living person, it can bond to him and possess that person. It was only as I wrote this that I realized that, if true, that means that on some occasions when a Hunter has killed a living being that was possessed he has, indeed, killed the spirit, because once an anchor is destroyed (and I believe killing a living thing counts as destroying it) the spirit would be sent back to the afterlife to be destroyed by the storm there.
Now, in Wraith, spirits had passions, which were the items, people, strong emotional ties or ideas that kept them from fully departing the realm of the living and meeting their final fate. Those wraiths who had beliefs or unfinished business could move about the living world as much as they pleased, though once they completed their tasks they moved on to their final reward. "So what," you may be saying, "so emotional ties no longer affect ghosts in the material world. What do you care if White Wolf did away with that idea?"
My problem is this: While according to The Walking Dead ghosts are tied to anchors, repeatedly and often in Hunter we see spirits wandering here and yon, even going to different continents on some occasions, without the use of any of the special ghost powers that allow such movement beyond an anchor, or indeed even any evidence that they have a physical anchor. The introductory fiction in the Hunter rulebook, the Wayward Creedbook, the Hunter Survival Guide and the Hunter Storytellers Handbook are the first examples that spring to mind that have such wandering ghosts, but they show up quite frequently in Hunter products. Now since I'm familiar with Wraith a little bit I can accept this fact, but what about Hunter Storytellers with no knowledge of Wraith? They were probably shaking their head and wondering why there have been so many examples of ghost going about with no apparent anchors. More importantly, on page 14 of the Walking Dead says "...players familiar with Wraith: The Oblivion and the conditions of the Underworld established in that game are in for some surprises. Things are not as they were...." This seems to suggest that the anchor rules are the "official" rules for spirits now, and that emotional ties can no longer be enough to keep a ghost on Earth without a bond with something physical. Personally I think that idea's a load of warm poo, but nevertheless it could be read that way. So what theories can we assume?
A) White Wolf simply left out the section on strong emotional ties being enough to keep spirits on Earth, allowing them to wander about without anchors.
B) The examples of ghosts going about without anchors were done by authors who hadn't read The Walking Dead, and were familiar with Wraith.
C) The examples of ghosts going about without anchors were done by authors who had read The Walking Dead, but said "Screw it, I'm doing it like Wraith had it. It's easier to write and it's my attempt to stick a metaphysical shiv into the guts of White Wolf for giving me an assignment to write about monster hunters. Vampires and werewolves are so kewl."
D) It's just another example of White Wolf rules inconsistencies between books (The whole "do Edges do aggravated damage" debate, anyone?)
Anyway, after this confusing part there's a section on identifying anchors, along with helping ghosts to their final reward that doesn't involve them Cleave or Ravage. What's nice about this section is that it involves those spirits who have secondary anchors, which are anchors that allows them to stay in this world, but unlike a primary anchor it always has emotional significance to the spirit. This was a nice nod to the idea that strong emotions can keep a ghost on earth, even if it doesn't explain the anchorless spirits that have shown up in Hunter. All in all, save for the flaws I mentioned, this section is very well-written.
Next up is a small section on angry ghosts, those spirits who seem to ones where the dark, secondary personality has gained total control. I was VERY impressed with this section, as the normal personality still exists in an angry ghost, and can even manifest itself at times, to do good deed and thwart its better half. In all the years of my reading fiction I have always wondered why if so many things have a dark side that comes to the surface that take them over, why we never see a light side that occasionally surfaces in evil beings and takes them over and makes them do good. Only once before have I ever read a piece of fiction which worked off the idea that if extreme evil exists and goes around doing bad things, then there must be extreme good that comes around and does the right thing, and it was great seeing that idea here again.
Now we come to the "Screw You" section of the book. Remember Chapter Five? Well, here we get game effects for the area of madness and evil described there. Basically, it's a complete hose job, allowing Storytellers to screw with their players as they see fit, have them face overwhelming odds and die. They have no chance to make things better, and when I say that I don't mean their outgunned or in a couple years they could take this den of evil. The book actually says that it is "certain death" for Hunters to go there, and that "The imbued are simply not up to the task" of making a difference here. Wow, so we get a whole chapter in the book telling us pure evil on a stick is there, and if your players decide they want to face it, they'll automatically die! Thanks for the friggin' waste of space, White Wolf! If I wanted to lead my players to certain death I can do that on my own!
Mediums are covered next, nicely done, with enough information that you don't need the Wraith supplement on them to use them in your campaign (and yes, they do show up as wrong to Second Sight). This is followed by rules for ghost cults and the insane individuals who follow the dead---there are some excellent rules here for running cultists (both special powers and rules on their mental state) along with a statement that it is possible for cultists who never received powers from a ghost to become imbued. I point that out because there is a small set of Hunter players who ignore the Exposure Background in the Hunter rulebook, and absolutely refuse to accept that a Hunter can be imbued if they ever encountered the supernatural at any point in their life. Those of you who fall into this category should read this section. Finishing off this chapter are new powers for spirits, some specific to ghost haunting various portions of the world, and others available to any spirit.
Lastly, I should comment on the art of this book. With two exceptions, there is a high level of quality found throughout this book, and my respect for the artists who worked on this book increased even further after seeing some of the work that was published in later releases in the Hunter line. It's a pleasure to see White Wolf employ talented artists in their books, and I hope that most, if not all, of the artists who worked on The Walking Dead come back on future projects.
So, do I recommend The Walking Dead? If you're using the returned dead as your main antagonists and you don't have Wraith absolutely. If you're reading this in the year 2010 and White Wolf has finally published follow-ups to the dangling story threads I mentioned earlier then yes, you should buy this. Otherwise I think it's up to how much of a strain it is on your wallet to determine if you get this book.
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