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| White Wolf |
90s RPG phenomenon Vampire the Masquerade provided the means to play out the shadowy politicking and tragic tales of the undead. The 1992 supplement The Hunters Hunted followed up with options for the few humans seeking to destroy the vampires hiding in plain sight. This was curtly established with the book's frontspiece, depicting a hand using a disposable lighters to torch a rose, an allusion to Vampire's iconic cover art.
Hunters Hunted leans into the idea that the Kindred really are running the World of Darkness and actively making it worse. Even so, the book doesn't automatically give its errant humans the moral high ground. From the get go its established that even the best established hunters are working on incomplete information, filling in the gaps with their own biases. The motives presented are selfish to varying degrees, either driven by a personal grudge or a transparent desire for power.
Hunters are unlikely to ever get close to the truly influential vampires, cutting down plenty of the more "human" ones without ever realizing they might even be serving the truly monstrous rulers of the night.
An interesting parallel is formed, where vampires themselves are undead creatures who thrive off of human society but the humans pursuing them become murderous pariahs during their quests. That dynamic is where Hunters Hunted excels, giving a better swipe at "who's the real monster" than most similar works.
All Walks of Life
Falling a dozen pages short of a hundred, The Hunters Hunted mainly offers new perspectives and story advice on running this kind of Vampire chronicle, with the mechanical side of things coming second. Which is to say, nothing new for White Wolf.
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| White Wolf |
The former covers much of what I've previously discussed and admittedly doesn't have many surprises: revenge, a sense of obligation, or plain old thrillseeking. More detailed and varied are the methods, which range from the rational to the spiritual and everything in between. Hunters Hunted also points to the detective work that can be used to unravel the tangled web of lies surrounding vampires.
Or you could go in guns and blazing.
Specifics are given, including the drawbacks of each method. Hunters Hunted keeps the categories broad without making them overly so. There's plenty of ways for vampire hunters to take shape, though it's clear none of them have all the answers. There's no one "right" approach and plenty of disastrous, failed ones.
Rogues Gallery
Besides dwelling on the fraught, paranoid and usually short lives of hunters, a few pages are provided on how to bring them to the table, for players as well as game masters. The book also offers some established groups.
Some predate Hunters Hunted, such as the Society of Leopold, a Church backed group representing the "Second Inquisition." Not all hunters are so militant, as shown by the also previously established Arcanum, who simply gather information on the supernatural.
Others are much more ephemeral affairs, as represented by a Lost Boys style gang of bikers that've found the ultimate high from vampire blood. Government agencies get three different entries and the book creates convincing reasons as to how the Masquerade has survived the scrutiny, with the NSA's upper ranks compromised.
FBI Special Affairs is the best executed and most entertaining, representing a small group within the organization led by a paranoid veteran agent commanding a handful of subordinates. Easily strung along by the Camarilla Elders, the FBI will redirect their quest if they find their own use for the Kindred.
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| White Wolf |
Those references date Hunters Hunted but I'm already plotting how to bring them into my own games.
Less darkly humorous is the CDC entry, which deals with a more pragmatic issue in a setting with blood drinkers; the spread of disease. However, the entry specifically points to some vampires inadvertently spreading HIV, creating unexplained cases that have drawn the organizations' interest
It's a charged narrative choice, one that reminds me of a controversy that marred the most recent iteration of Vampire. I don't think Hunters Hunted is nearly that bad, though truthfully I don't know how necessary the emphasis is and I can't imagine this being a rewarding or fun campaign to run.
Totally departing from that are the Children of Osiris, a benevolent counterpart to the Followers of Set, virtuous and pure in contrast with their rivals' nihilistic evil. It's a waste to include a group of Kindred in Hunters Hunted, considering they're only focused on destroying a specific group of their kind. The pages eaten up by their unique discipline doesn't endear me to them either.
While the Children of Osiris' implications aren't as unpleasant as the Followers', both are disappointing attempts at mixing Vampire's setting with Egyptian mythology.
Tools of the Trade
A considerable portion of Hunters Hunted is given to the various supernatural powers hunters can possess, collectively called Numina. Telepathy, spellcasting and the like, the most developed is Faith. Hunters Hunted goes at length to establish just waving a cross in front of a vampire won't do much - repelling the undead and receiving miracles requires true belief, with a lifestyle reflecting that.
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| White Wolf |
And it doesn't need to be a cross either, a nice departure from the strong Christian focus in so much of Vampire the Masquerade's background. They emphasize how broad "consecrated ground" can be, while also specifying how rare true belief is, especially in a world like Vampire's.
All of these powers mean that hunters are more than just plucky humans facing the supernatural with nothing but their own wits and heavy caliber firearms. But it gives players more of a fighting chance against Kindred and in the case of Faith offers some great roleplaying potential.
Similar but nowhere near as developed are some vampire hunting tools briefly described at the end of the book. They quickly veer into the pulpy with the likes of stake firing shotguns and crusader's swords. The Star Wars influence is also strong with Thermal Detonators and "Kaiphurr Crystals."
The Hunt Goes On
As much as fans lament how their Vampire the Masquerade chronicles became "Superheroes with Fangs," the published material tried to keep a broad perspective. Even a militant minded book like The Hunters Hunted reframed the game's existing setting with a new perspective, one clouded by superstition and hate.
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| White Wolf |
Even within the actual book that variety is prominent, with the scratchy black and white art depicting a wide variety of hunters, from different eras and with clashing mindsets. This is one of the better illustrated Vampire publications, the usual atmosphere being competently repurposed for its specific focus, as best shown by the Janet Aulusio cover depicting a befuddled, overarmed group of hunters oblivious to the threat just behind them.
White Wolf would later create a game line in a similar vein, Hunter the Reckoning, though its mystically empowered "Imbued" were explicitly tasked with destroying the supernatural, as opposed to the broader goals of these hunters. A good effort but it lacked a certain pluckiness and self-awareness that makes Hunters Hunted so memorable.
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