Customer Reviews

The Reckoning

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Though suffering from a bit of the verbosity that seems to plague White Wolf publications (the supplements in particular; you could halve their lengths if you just made sure each point was made only once), Hunter: The Reckoning is, despite the judgements flung towards it, actually one of the most down-to-earth, difficult, and tactically challenging games White Wolf has released. Though many might instantaneously assume that it is meant to be an Army of Darkness style shoot-'em-up (like the namesake video games based on Hunter), the inclusion of firearms is primarily just a natural human response to grab SOMETHING they can fight back with. Honestly, against blood-drinking walking corpses, semi-spirit werewolves, immaterial ghosts, and horrors far worse, you'll need brains to survive. Unless your storyteller is heavy on action and firepower, trying to play this game in the twinky stereotype it's often given will get you killed, fast. In fact, not all the Creeds (philosphical archetypes of Hunter, which determine their powers) are even geared toward fighting at all. Some try to rehabilitate or cure monsters, while others don't even go that far, simply seeking to understand them, let them know they are not begrudged for it, and leave the doors of forgiveness open. Trying to talk an angry vampire out of killing a roomful of mortals can take on challenges all its own.

An issue of confusion seems to be those who mix up the Hunters (capital H; note the full, proper title being the "Imbued Hunters") with unrelated groups. Though some number of them may have joined groups like the Society of Leopold, Hunters are imbued with their powers when confronted with the supernatural. They share no unified system, no overarching organization or membership cards. Though they can meet with others of their kind, their disorganized nature and supernatural powers set them apart from conventional mortal hunters, be they alone or in groups. The issue of incompatibility seems to be largely unfounded. Imbued Hunters are explained in several White Wolf core rulebooks, and creatures from several of these books are even summed up in Hunter. The relatively minimal mention of them does make sense. Ultimately, the Hunters, as they are, are not a powerful force. All together, their powers and armaments mean relatively little. Only with time, careful planning, and survival could they ever hope to take back the night. It is this ultimate weakness which is their primary dilemma. Still ultimately mortals with a few helpful cantrips and tricks to give them a better chance, most are left with the disappointment of only being able to do what few things they can.

Whether you want to play a boomstick-toting zombie blaster, a skittish parapsychologist trying to get a peek into a dark and hidden world, a wandering redeemer seeking to save the inhuman souls of the damned, a stake-toting Van Helsing, or a stiff-collared exorcist attempting to dispel hellish influence from the world, there's a niche in Hunter for you. Just don't pack any guns you can't drop in a hurry. You'll need to shed as much weight as possible when it's time to start running.

If you're interested in playing a vampire hunter, or werewolf hunter... this is a great game to do it based on a storytelling aspect rather than dice rolls.
Also, it's set up to play as a kind of survival-horror game better than anything else; it doesn't have the dice rolling of the old Dark Conspiracy game, but you can definitely do the story well with the character outlines provided.
The book is well layed out and easy (and fun) to read, with more than a few inspiring sections for a beginning gamemaster. I do recommend picking up the player's guide with it, though, especially if your players are veterans of other RPG's.

I've played Werewolf. Hell, I've dabbled in Vampire. Both are really great games if you want to play as something that's rediculously powerful and only have a real challenge if you're fighting an older Vampire or Werewolf (in either game). Hunter is different: instead of being this ungodly-powerful monster, you're this regular Joe with a neat trick, trying to fight the aforementioned monsters.
It sounds unfair, I know, but that's what makes this game beautiful. You have extraordinary powers, but they're hardly enough to stop a charging Get of Fenris or Bruja in its tracks. You're alone, and if you don't find help, either you'll die, or you'll be driven insane. That, my friend, is true fear.
Yes, the story aspect is my favorite part of this game, but let's discuss the gameplay. As in most White Wolf games, the gameplay takes a backseat for story, but there's a perfectly working game here, too. Each player creates a Hunter (someone trying to fight monsters that only they can see) and assigns him/her powers.

Hunter is one of the most compelling games White Wolf has ever made. Unlike the other games, your character is "merely" an average human, given the ability to see and react to the supernatural around him by the mysterious "Messengers". Each hunter is given a different view of how to answer the supernatural based on their own reactions, some seeing it as a last ditch war against the darkness while other instead approach it with innocent curiosity and optimism. While there is a sort of general "framework" to the game plot so it can fit into the overreaching world of darkness metagame, the writers do an admirable job of providing enough supplements and help for players so that in no way will your chronicle be limited by having to fit in with the other games. The hunter's powers are the best of any game I've seen, tailored to be cinematic effects than a cheesy "+12 spell of death". They suit their name of "edges", giving the players just enough power (and really cool chances for dramatic effect). The "everyman" feel of the game only adds to the suspense. The main weakness of the game is that to really enjoy it on more than a "its clobberin time" sort of level you have to buy multiple supplements, especially if you're going to get a deeper understanding of the different creeds. Spectacular game, but you really need the patience and the supplements to truly enjoy it.

You don't need this book at all. If you want to run a Hunter chronicle buy the Vampire or Werewolf or whatever WOD rulebook. The rules are the same and to play a mortal human isn't that different from what a player should already know.

Analogue to tribes or clans hunters are distinguished in this book by their reason to hunt and their ways to do it. This is boring!

On the other hand, Hunter: The Reckoning innovates the imbued, a term for special super-human abilities. Forget these rules, make up your own. It will be much more intriguing. And most of all I guess in the real world only one in a thousand humans have supernatural abilities. The book implies, that almost every hunter is imbued. That kills the spirit of the World of Darkness. Humans are by definition mortals. They are not that strong, not that fast and not that powerful. They are human. Play it like that.

When this game came out, White Wolf's forums were...less than thrilled about this game. It's a shame that people judge this book before they read it, because it has amazing depth and humanity to it.

You are the Imbued, regular blue- and white-collar citizens who one day get a big cosmic message from enigmatic beings (called the Heralds) waking you up to the fact that monsters not only exist in your world, but they have been there for a while and they've inserted themselves very neatly into law enforcement, politics, media, etc. Armed with "second sight" (the ability to spot these monsters out of a crowd) and "edges" (powers given to you by the Heralds to help you out in the hunt), Hunters can either strike at the darkness, search for redemption inside monsters, or merely try to learn more about them and figure out what went wrong. But as you begin to fight the good fight, you realize that you're outnumbered, outmanned, and underpowered. To top it all off, leading the crusade against darkness ultimately alienates you from your friends, family, and society. It's gritty, tragic, but ultimately hopeful. Despite it's bad rap as a twink game, Hunters are actually fragile, panicky creatures who bleed easy and go down fast. It's a welcome change from the usual White Wolf fare (if you haven't picked up a White Wolf game yet, I recommend this first before purchasing others...knowledge about the other games ruin the mystery of the monsters somewhat)

Fans of the previous WhiteWolf rulebooks (Mage, Vampire, Wraith, Changeling, Werewolf) will most likely be disappointed by this fairly new release.

I personally reserved a copy of Hunter:The Reckoning about 4 months before it hit the shelves and was saddened when I first read through it. The storyline for even the existence of Hunters is weak, the skills are mediocre at best when compared to the other systems and even the artwork was rather depressing.

I leave my rating up at 3 stars only because it is at least new and tries to incorporate several of the other systems which often have little or no ties to each other despite failed attempts at 'crossover' books. I would recommend this book only to hardcore fans of Whitewolf who wish to own all of the rulebooks for their collection. It makes me sad that Wraith was phased out to make room for this monstrosity of a rule set.

-Zilean

Finally! I play and storytell White Wolf games for almost 5 years now and although I like Werewolf and Mage, and revised Vampire, I felt there was something missing, the very something that almost dripped from the old 2nd Edition V:tM. Gehenna, Apocalypse and Armageddon are neat. But the World of Darkness should be about rather more subtle horrors, and more internal conflicts. Therefore, I was very glad when I bought Hunter and found out that it's almost as good as the old 2nd Edition Vampire. Its atmosphere, all encompassing paranoia and isolation are perfect in their ability to gnaw at you. Excellent. Even for my players, who are Vampire vets and at least competent Mages or Garou, this is something completely different. For all those, who play for atmosphere and emotional strength of the story, this book is a must. ...Well, two objections (minor, but still here): 1) The art on the Creed Names is HORRIBLE. Shoot the responsibles, please.(The one responsible for Martyr should be burned alive, instead) 2) "Monsters" could be described a bit better. This makes us Kindred all look like impotent morons. Nonetheless, this is one of the best things from White Wolf. Well worth the money.

Hunter is my favorite RPG in the World of Darknes series. In this game, you do not play an all-powerful vampire, mage, or werewolf... but instead a vulnerable human with a few paltry powers (mostly revolving around detection and identification of the paranormals). I highly recommend the Hunter: the Reckoning for the following reasons: * The StortyTelling system from White Wolf has an excellent resolution engine for tasks and combat. * I enjoy the story line -- playing a vulnerable human hunting very powerful paranormals... trying to understand them, sometimes destroying the evil ones, sometimes befriending the good ones. All of these things combine to make this one of my favorite games to play... and I've been role-playing since the Summer of 1980. If you buy it, I'm sure that you'll enjoy it. There is a decent-sized community of online gamers that play Hunter via "WebRPG Online". Buy the game and join us. Have a great day!

I love the World of Darkness and am an avid player of these White Wolf games. I love the idea for Hunter. Here, normal people are awaken to the reality that supernatural beasties are everywhere. However, what has disappointed me about it is how confusing the system become to understand. If you can grasp it, more power to you. This is an excellent source for how Humanity is fighting back.

Oh, and for you people how are saying that these humans aren't 'human' anymore bacause of their special abilities - consider this, if they didn't have any powers to fight back with, White Wolf would have entitled this work "Human: The Horrible Death". Still, you don't want a character without the paranormal 'Egdes', I'd suggest taking a peek at the "Sorcerer" book.