I'm going to be honest right now and say that from the first time I read through the Creed descriptions in the Hunter rulebook Innocents were my least favorite Creed. While the idea of Hunters who were open-minded to the supernatural were a good idea, the descriptions of them in the rulebook worried me, making me feel like they inclined to side with the supernatural before they would with fellow Hunters. It didn't help my opinion when I went online, and found that the majority of those Hunter fans who favored Innocents were hardcore fans of one of the other World of Darkness games and were playing Innocents because they felt they were the only worthwhile Hunters, because Innocents understand that drinking the blood of innocent people/killing off humans when their population gets too high/fill-in-the-blank is alright, and with time and effort they might convince other Hunters of the wrongness of their crusade against the supernatural. After reading the Innocent Creedbook, I'm convinced that not only were my initial worries about Innocents were right on the money, but that this book was written to cater to all those hardcore World of Darkness/Innocent fans I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, that makes this book an abomination to most other Hunter fans.
The book starts with the webpage format, not seen since Avenger and Defender. The Vitalis website, run by Innocent Bookworm55, or as I like to call him, &*&(*&!()* Head, is for Innocents and by Innocents, though the comments of other Hunters show up throughout the book. Bookworm wrote the Monster write-ups in the Hunter rulebook, though as we discover later in this book, he feels really, really bad about that. At any rate, the webpages set up the stage for a disillusioned Bookworm taking time off from his website and attempting to redefine his place in both Hunter society and the real world. Here we get a basic view of Innocents' viewpoints on the supernatural, and we also get the beginnings of the Oracle171 story. Right here we begin to see why I don't like Bookworm and the rest of his Innocent ilk. See, good old Innocent Oracle171 sells out, for lack of a better word, a group of Hunters, resulting in all of them (except for Oracle, naturally) getting horribly murdered by what appears to be a bunch of Giovanni-controlled zombies. Now, sane Hunters (like the esteemed Crusader17) have decided Oracle is nothing but trouble, and worthy of a bullet to the back of the head. Bookworm, on the other hand, is raging against Crusader and others for being against Oracle, using the logic that since Oracle is the Hunter, she's one of them, and deserves the benefit of the doubt. Well, now, I think the bodies of all those dead Hunters would be enough for Bookworm to realize that Oracle is dangerous, but noooooo.....I guess non-Innocent Hunters aren't as worthwhile as Innocents.
[Incidentally, this was the official beginning of the Oracle madness storyline, though hints of it began in the Hunter Survival Guide and Walking Dead, and it is still going on as I write this. Basically, Oracle has manifested two different Level 5 Edges, which would require twenty points of Mercy to do, and Hunters are limited to a max of ten points. The write-up of her in the back of Innocents seems to suggest she has been corrupted by some supernatural, making it feel like Oracle and all related storylines are nothing but teasers to get us to buy the upcoming Demon: The Fallen. This feeling was reinforced by the Hunter Storytellers Handbook, which tells us ALL level 5 powers are supplied by demons. The reason I'm pointing this out here is that the Oracle/Crusader17 feud begins in Innocents, and that Storytellers know because of that information that Oracle is in fact the villain, while Crusader is on the side of the angels, though in the World of Darkness the sides are murky. However, many Hunter writers seem intent on writing Crusader as a bad guy, and frequently have Hunters site Crusader's well, crusade against Oracle as one of the signs he's a bad guy. Odd that the authors would be unaware of what is going on with Oracle---either they're uninformed of what is being done with Oracle, or White Wolf's writers feel that it's wrong to persecute demons and their minions. Hmmm...better not let Mothers Against Dungeons & Dragons find out about this one, especially about the fact that Crusader a good Christian boy.]
Next up is the obligatory fiction, starring Bookworm55 and revealing how exactly he lost his legs and incurred the other injuries he had in the Hunter rulebook. Reading this will reveal that Bookworm is an idiot----I'm legendary in my social circles for bad relationships and going back to the wrong woman, but I'm certain that a woman who ripped my legs off with her bare hands would be someone I'd shy away from. I must admit, in White Wolf's favor, they did list his obsession with said woman as a Derangement, but I'm still filing this fiction under "Sucky." Oh, yeah, this story continues the White Wolf tradition of having a picture related to the text having the wrong gender of a character.
The introduction is next, and I found it very disturbing. Why, you ask? Because there's a little note telling us that both Bookworm and Oracle will be focused upon heavily in future books. This made me very angry the first time I read this. You see, part of the reason I love Hunter is the characters and the situations they encounter are very real, and you never know who's going to live and who's going to die; an idea that was reinforced in The Walking Dead, when Cop90 (who had been described in great detail in the Avenger Creedbook) met a sudden death. So imagine my surprise when I find this little note, saying that these two pretty much have a "Survive for Several Future Hunter Supplements" card. I really hate these two characters, and the promise that they're going to be showing up repeatedly in future releases did nothing to make me happy, especially since that means I might have to bear witness to the greatest of Hunters (Crusader, God45, Doc119) getting kacked, while these two freaks go on their merry way.
Chapter One introduces us to the main voices we'll be hearing throughout the book. In addition to Bookworm we get Nurse216 (whose visited regularly by the spirit of her dead son), xxx289 (doomed from day one, which is sad, as he's the only Innocent introduced so far that I've had any respect for), and SixofSwords, a Visionary who worries about Bookworm and the adventure he has undertaken. Bookworm proves his stupidity even further, saying he now believes that it wasn't the vampire's fault that she ripped off his legs, she was just defending herself from another Hunter's attacks. By that logic if I was ever attacked in a public place I could maim an innocent bystander and claim it was their fault for being there. There's also another one of those "the art doesn't match up with the text" pictures as well. The best part of this chapter is a small boxed text where we learn that Crusader17 and God45 are on friendly terms, which is odd, given the latter's screenname and the former's religious views. In this boxed section you pretty much find a perfect summation on what's wrong with Innocents and their views on the Hunt.
Chapter Two doesn't have much going for it. With Bookworm55's posts we find the font they used for him changing in size every so often with no explanation---apparently a trick by White Wolf to fill up space in the book; this looks bad, unprofessional, and is somewhat hard to read in places. Bookworm also references Hunters as Scooby Gangs, a phrase which incites myself and several of my players to anger, and attempts to subtly insult God45. There's also the usual section on monsters, which is pretty much a bunch of whining and "Love Thine Enemy" crap you would expect from an Innocent. There also a vote on the "Can Hunters Use Second Sight to See Monsters Through Television," the answer in this case being "Yes." There's also a bit with an Innocent complaining that a Visionary Hunter talks down to an Innocent Hunter, despite the latter' experience. I find that amusing, as in many places in this book we have Innocents doing exactly that to other Hunters.
Chapter Three doesn't have much going for it, either. Bookworm gives his opinions on Martyrs, which shows that self-sacrifice isn't a phrase in his vocabulary. Also, Crusader17 has his first in-person encounter with Oracle, and we get Oracle's view of it here.. That's really all that's worth mentioning in this chapter.
Chapter Four has the miraculous healing of Bookworm, the death of xxx289, some more whiny Innocents, and some words of wisdom from Crusader17, including his account of his meeting with Oracle. It's interesting to note how "open-minded" Bookworm totally shoots down Crusader's account of what occurred----Bookworm seems to feel that only those with similar views (IE other Innocents) should be readily trusted and believed.
Chapter Five has the rules section for this book. The usual breakdown of members of a Creed into three groups are here, and for the first time I actually found it useful, introducing the concept of jaded Innocents. Basically, jaded Innocents have been so soured by repeated exposure to truly evil supernaturals that they're just about ready to chuck it all and start following the path of the Avenger or Wayward, but are still clinging to that last bit of hope. I like that. The new Backgrounds are not all that good. There's Continued Exposure (you have an ongoing relationship with a supernatural, though it's a weak member of its type), Everyman (Basically a watered-down version of the Arcane background that some supernaturals can possess. For every dot in Everyman anyone researching you through mundane means has a 1 to the difficulty. Unfortunately, the flavor text, with its talk of computer crashes and such, makes it sound less like you live a quiet life and more like some sort of supernatural protection. If they wrote this up as being protection by the Messengers I would respect it more, but as it is it comes off very badly), and Roots (basically a lame version of Allies and Contacts mixed together, which seems to be more of a liability than a help to a character). Some new Archetypes and Derangements are introduced, some of the latter being very interesting.
Then there are the new Edges. The new Level One Edge (Fool's Luck) is a very cool idea, but sadly the rules system is sadly lacking; it seems to be up to the generosity of the Storyteller as to how effective this power is. The new Level Four Edge is reminiscent of the Level Three Edge introduced in the Defender Creedbook, and then there is the Level 5 Edge. Basically, Innocents with this edge can enforce pacifism on other Hunters for a length of time determined by the number of successes they get---if an affected Hunter tries to commit an act of violence during this time, they take damage equal to their own Zeal rating.
Let's think about this, shall we? Several Innocents powers are designed for use only with other Imbued, which is strange, as the Messengers gave people powers to deal with supernaturals, not their fellow Hunters. Now we have a power specifically designed to harm those who follow the path of Zeal. This implies that their is some sort of schism among the Messengers, one which is so intense that they're willing to risk the Hunt. This is doubtful, however, given previous write-ups of the Messengers. This power also does nothing to stop those violent Hunters who have little or no Zeal---it would be very amusing to see an Innocent use this power on a violent Hunter, only to find out their violent tendencies come from a high Vision or Mercy, and not Zeal. You could argue, if you believe that all Level 5 Edges come from demons, that this power was designed to cripple the most aggressive of Hunters. Since I don't follow that demon bit, it doesn't help my comprehension of why this power exists. I mean, Innocents are supposed to be finding the good in monsters, so wouldn't it make more sense for them to have powers that affect other supernaturals?
The last bit of this chapter covers Innocents ability to make Charms. Similar to Defenders' Tokens, Charms allow an Innocent to give ordinary humans protection from the supernatural. The Charms are a nice idea, though much like Tokens I don't understand why Hunters can't benefit from them. I'm especially confused by this, as compared to Tokens, because Innocents' Charms are useable by Bystandards, while no mention has been made of Tokens being useable by Bystandards.
Chapter Six starts with some premade Hunters. The only one I found interesting was the Recovering Burnout, who is a prime example of the Jaded Innocent. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the background character description didn't comprehend the Imbuing. First of all, the Messengers would never tell someone NOT to do something during their Imbuing. Second, even if we ignore the Messengers telling someone to stand by and do nothing, plenty of Hunter books have told us that doing such gets you, by best, Bystander status, not full-fledged Hunter.
The book ends with four prominent Innocents described, though only two are stated. We get Ticket312, one of those fools who believes there's nothing wrong with continuing on with their ordinary life after taking up the Mission. We get a write-up of Oracle (no stats), where we get evidence of her pact with demons, even if she doesn't know it and even if the reader hates the concept of Hunters getting demon powers and not being noticed by other Hunters. Nurse216 is also written up, as is Bookworm. At least White Wolf gave Bookworm a high Destiny rating to explain why such an incompetent has survived for so long.
I never did mention the art in this book. It hovers in the average range---I've seen much better, but it's still leaps and bound over many of the other Hunter books.
Well, I really can't recommend this book to you at its cover price, even if you play an Innocent in your Hunter campaign. If you can find it on sale in a store, or on E-Bay dirt cheap, pick it up, Otherwise this book is so bad I can't even recommend for you to ask a relative to buy it for you as a holiday/birthday gift; the guilt you would feel over asking them to buy it for you would be too overwhelming.
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