One of the very first games I ever played when I got into tabletop RPGs was Hunter: the Vigil 1e. Of course, back then there was no 1e attached to it. It was a brand new game in the New World of Darkness. Not only was this game one of the first that I played, it was the very first long campaign that I ever ran. We had a lot of fun with it. I started with the Spearfinger module, then we transitioned to my own campaign plans set in Mexico City. We still quote this game, even though we played it more than 15 years ago!
Recently, I decided I wanted to revisit the game, and so created this character, a scientist who has just had their eye-opening moment. The plan is to play through the creation of the Hunter cell he’ll belong to, and to follow the story where it flows. I hope you enjoy reading it!
The game play is separated into Out of Character (OOC) sections where I talk through questions or thoughts about the game, and draw cards from the GameMaster’s Apprentice Deck as the oracle or for inspiration, and In Character (IC) sections where I write the actual game play prose.
OOC:
What was his reason for stepping into the shadows? “Gather Restrained Agreement.” He went to pick up something that was not quite legal and experienced something. Something chased him, made of black smoke, smelling of ozone. It terrified him and he wants to discover what it was.
IC:
I went back to where it all started. Rather, back to where my eyes were opened, the scales being ripped from them. It was a dirty alley way, trash piled up in the corners. It smelled terrible, like piss and rotting… something. I hated it. It made me want to puke and run. Perhaps part of that reaction were the memories. I could still remember the way it moved, like a dark cloud of oily smoke. It drifted behind me, smokey tendrils reaching out for me. Light flashed inside it, like a distant storm. I could smell the ozone from the lightning strikes.
I shook my head. I was here to answer questions, not to get lost in my memories. The foremost question in my mind was this: am I going crazy? In order to answer that one, I needed to determine if I’d actually seen what I thought I had last night. I stepped farther in and gently pushed the trash around, looking for some sign, some trace of that… THING!
OOC:
I roll Wits + Composure to see if he spots anything. -1 for the general state of chaos. No successes.
IC:
I don’t know what I expected to see, but I certainly didn’t find it. There was nothing to suggest any kind of monster had been in the ally the night before. In fact, there was nothing to suggest that even I had been in the alley the night before.
OOC:
Something has to happen. Does someone come talk to me? Yes, Joan.
IC:
A noise behind me. I turned, on edge, ready to run or fight but… neither was needed. An older woman stood at the entrance of the alley, her coat torn and patched.
OOC:
Is she a Hunter? Yes, and has been tracking this thing. Does she know he encountered it last night? No.
IC:
“What are you doing here?” she barked, like that from a tree.
I blinked at her. That was certainly not the question I’d anticipated. “Uh, me? Nothing,” I said. What a ridiculous answer.
“Clear out then,” she barked again. “I got work to do.”
I nodded, feeling very stupid at having wasted so much time there. I stepped around her to leave, but something made me turn back. She’d already dismissed me and was looking at the ground, pushing the trash around with her toe, much as I had just done.
“What are you doing?” I asked back at her.
OOC:
That seems like a Socialize roll. -1 because she’s not inclined to help. Spending WP, 2 successes!
IC:
She hesitated, then just says, “Hunting.” I scoff.
“Hunting what?” I ask.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she answered. The tree bark in her voice was softer this time.
I paused for a second. What did I have to lose? I could ask if she was hunting the very thing that I encountered the night before. If that’s not what she was looking for, she’d just think me crazy. She already did, I was sure.
“Was it a living cloud with internal lightning?” I asked. “Is that what you’re hunting?”
OOC:
Does she react violently? Even odds, I don’t know her yet. Yes.
IC:
Before I understood what was happening, I found myself slammed against the wall of the adjacent building, the bricks cold against my back. Her forearm was against my throat and I felt something jabbing into my gut. I was pretty sure it was a pistol of some kind.
“And what do you know about it?” she snarled.
OOC:
I need to calm this down. Persuasion, which I don’t have. I’d be rocking a Chance Die. Willpower! Fail.
IC:
“Hey now, there’s no need for that—” The side of my head exploded in pain. She pistol whipped me! I stumbled away and scrambled to get my hands up to defend myself. She was on me again, her hands flashing towards me.
The blow connected and my vision went white. I was rattled and couldn’t keep track of her. Still, I reached out, but the world tilted under me, and I collapsed.
OOC:
She knocked me the fuck out! Does she take me away? Good odds: YES! She thinks I can lead her to the whatever-it-is.
IC:
I awoke sometime later with a headache the size of Montana. I’ve never been, but it seems pretty large on the maps.
OOC:
Are we in her van? Even odds: No. Her hideout must be close to where we fought.
IC:
I found myself tied to a chair, my pockets turned out and my watch and necklace gone. The space I was in was dark, except for a circle of light all around me. I blinked, but it didn’t help me see anything in the darkness. From that darkness came a voice.
“So, Casper Jones, what were you doing in that alley, huh? That is your name, right? Casper?”
My thoughts were slow. Yes, that is my name. How did she know? I asked her. There was an exasperated sigh.
“From your driver’s license. And your Quinn Corp employee badge. What were you doing there?” she asked again. “Trying to put a leash on your Servitor?”
I blinked in confusion. “My… what? I don’t have a servant, or what did you say? A servitor? What is that?”
OOC:
Must roll to make her believe me. Presence + Persuasion. 2 dice. Willpower! One success. My dice don’t like me much.
IC:
There was a pause, then she sighed, “You really don’t have a clue, do you?” she asked softly.
I shook my head, and winced at the pain that caused. “No, I don’t. What are you talking about? And why did you attack me?”
OOC:
Does she answer my questions? Poor odds: No.
IC:
She ignored my question. “So, how did you know what I was looking for?” She asked. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”
I paused. Should I tell her? Would that make her hit me again? I decided it probably wouldn’t.
“I saw it last night. I came here, well, there to pick something up. When I got there, the something I was looking for wasn’t there, and that thing was.” There was more to the story, of course, but I wasn’t ready to share it with her.
OOC:
Does she push the issue? Good odds: YES!
IC:
What happened then,” she asked.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I answered forcefully.
OOC:
Roll Manipulation + Intimidation. Chance die. Fail.
IC:
She stepped into the light and I got a really good look at her. She was shorter than me, but not by much. Her hair was a dirty blonde that looked like it hadn’t been washed in too long. But her eyes were what intimidated me. They were hard like flint, cold like ice, and burned with a cold flame.
“What. Happened. Then?” she asked. Her voice burned with her inner cold.
OOC:
I don’t know what happened. It must have been traumatic. “Fail Pandering Ward?” It influenced him to go back and kill a test subject? Sounds OK to me.
IC:
“It— It touched me,” I said. “An oily tendril reached out and touched me.”
I paused. She waited. Her patience ran out. “That’s it?” She asked, disgusted.
I shook my head. “No, that’s not it. After it touched me, I found myself back at the lab. I was holding a syringe, and my trial subject experiment was dead!”
“You think the servitor made you do that?” She asked. Her voice was calmer now, more understanding.
“I know it did,” I answered. Emotion threatened to break free in my voice. “I never would have killed her myself destroyed so much of my life’s work!”
OOC:
Does she ask for more details? Even odds: No.
IC:
She nodded and stepped away from me. “Ok, I believe you,” she said.
“Will you let me go?” I asked.
She looked at me, her gaze meeting mine. “Are you going to go to the cops?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. They would never believe me. And, they’d ask too many questions.” She nodded, then moved behind me to cut me free.
As I stood up from the chair and stretched, she came around to where I could see her again.
OOC:
Does she ask me to join her hunt? Not going to leave that to chance; of course she is! That’ll be fun.
IC:
“I could use your help tracking down this servitor, and the witch who created it. Are you interested in helping me?” she asked.
I didn’t have to think about it. Of course I was interested.
OOC:
He’s not in the medical field, so maybe he destroyed an experiment, not a patient. And, the cops won’t be involved this way.
IC:
I went home and crashed out. My head had just touched the pillow, it felt like, when…
OOC:
“Fix Obvious Nightmare.” Ok.
IC:
… my phone rang. My boss. “Yeah?” I croaked.
“Where are you?” he demanded. “Everything’s gone to shit!” he shouted.
I groaned and got up to head into the lab.
OOC:
Is it obvious that I sabotaged the experiment? Even odds: No.
IC:
Owen, my boss, waved at the cabinet of petri dishes when I walked into the lab, his face red. “It’s dead! All dead!” he shouted. “What the hell happened?”
OOC:
I’m going to lie that I don’t know. I’ll get +1 for it’s not obvious. Two successes!
IC:
I shrug and explain that I have no idea, but I’ll get right on it to find out.
OOC:
Does he want to know? No, he wants it back on track.
IC:
“No!” he screamed. “There’s too much money invested in this. We need results!”
He told me I have to recreate it. This was months worth of work. I had no idea how I was going to create it, but I told him I’d get to work.
OOC:
This is a difficulty 7 of 10 challenge. That means I’ll need 20 successes and each will take me an hour or a day? An hour is more cinematic and will more likely lead to exhaustion. Rolls: Fail, 2, 3, 1, 3, 3, 1, 2, 4, 2. After 10 hours, it’s done.
IC:
It took me ten hours and one aborted start to recreate everything. By the time I was done, I was absolutely fried. I locked up and started towards the parking lot, and my car.
OOC:
I think either the hunter of the servitor should show up. Is it the hunter? Even odds: Yes.
IC:
I found the woman who assaulted me leaning against my car. I groaned when I saw her.
“It’s late,” she said. “Pulling an all-nighter?” she asked conversationally.
“No, fixing the ruined experiment,” I said. “I really want to go home. Can you let me into my car?”
She shook her head. “No-can-do, muchacho. We’ve got a servitor to hunt down.”
I looked at her sourly. “I really need some sleep,” I told her.
OOC:
Can I get some sleep where we’re going? Even odds: Yes.
IC:
“You can sleep on the way,” she said, then held out her hand. “Keys.”
I groaned again, but gave her my keys.