Hunter: The Vigil Rulebook

Hunter: The Vigil is a game line from White Wolf, announced on January 2, 2008 and released on August 14, 2008, when the sponsors for the second Free RPG Day were announced. It is the sixth game line to be part of the World of Darkness. Like Promethean: The Created and Changeling: The Lost, Hunter: The Vigil will be a limited game line, consisting of a core setting book and several supplements. A board game is also planned.

The first hints of the new game line came in the Changeling: The Lost core book. At the back of the book was a word search, and after finding all the words and removing several Xs, all that was left was a cryptic message: thehuntersarrivetwothousandeight.

There are two sets of quickstart rules, one for FreeRPGDay and another in line with the usual quickstart rules for the other game lines. They are "About 50% different."

Organizations
Hunters operate socially, in collectives and groups of various sizes. The smallest organizational unit in which hunters operate is the cell. Cells operate independently of one another, frequently without even being aware of the existence of other cells in the region. Individual cells make up for their lack of firepower with flexibility and local knowledge.

Characters affiliations are categorize into 3 tiers:
 * First-tier Characters (individuals who for various reasons do not affiliate with any organization other than their Cell)
 * Second-tier Characters (individuals who belong to Compacts, small and loosely connected organizations)
 * Third-tier Characters (individuals who belong to Conspiracies, large global groups that command greater power and resources)

Cells occasionally discover one another and band together for strength and mutual support. When multiple cells get together in a region, the organization often acquires an independent identity, a group structure known as a compact.

Frequently, a compact forms out of a sense of cultural identity or shared purpose: The Long Night, for instance, comprises mostly fundamentalist Christians, whereas the compact known as Null Mysteriis draws its membership from the ranks of scientists and medical personnel who have been exposed to supernatural phenomena, and seek to strip it of all the superstitious hocus pocus surrounding it to find rational explanations for the irrational wherever possible.

Compacts can extend their reach to encompass large geographical regions, and even become global in scope through the medium of the internet if the compacts are particularly net savvy. Compacts sacrifice some of their flexibility for backup from other cells within the compact.

Compacts examples from Core Book:
 * The Long Night – Christian hunters trying to prevent end of the world.
 * Null Mysteriis – A group that seeks to disprove or demystify the paranormal.
 * Network Zero – A group trying to expose the supernatural world to the public via the use of media sites such as YouTube.
 * The Union – Consists of regular folks mostly trying to protect their neighborhood from oppression of any kind (humans or monsters).
 * The Ashwood Abbey – Thrill seekers who want to experience everything involving the supernatural from the most benign to the most psychotic (torture, mutilation, and worse).
 * The Loyalists of Thule – Guilt-driven knowledge seekers who use what they learn to help the world after their assitance in creating the Nazi Party.

Sometimes, a compact becomes something else: a truly global organization, with access to Endowments - powerful devices or other powers whose use blurs the line between the hunters and their prey. Conspiracies sacrifice flexibility for access to serious backup and firepower, including their Endowments. Some conspiracies date back thousands of years; others are relatively modern.

Conspiracies examples from Core Book:
 * Task Force: VALKYRIE ("The Men in Black") – Founded after the "real" death of Abraham Lincoln, their aim is to protect the public and keep them from knowing things they do not want to know.
 * The Lucifuge – Children of Satan, who use their infernal powers to hunt monsters.
 * The Cheiron Group – Group of international corporations who experiment on monsters in order to find cures for modern diseases such as cancer and HIV.
 * Aegis Kai Doru (Greek for "Shield & Spear") – Empowered by ancient relics and bound by a vow to destroy both werewolves and mages for reasons that are lost to time.
 * Ascending Ones – Ancient Egyptian cult turned Islamic hunters, they are well known for their use of drugs to help aid their monster hunting.
 * Malleus Maleficarum – Secret enforcers of the Catholic Church, based on the heretical book from the Inquisition and specialize in vampire hunting.

Endowments
Endowments are a new category of Merit, and represent "tools of the trade" that hunters use to hunt monsters in the World of Darkness. While most hunters hunt with "their wits, willpower, and whatever supplies they can gather from the local sporting goods store", others have access to "tools beyond those that ordinary men and women can acquire".

Books
A list of known, upcoming Hunter: The Vigil titles.


 * Hunter: Witch Finders (August 2008) Hunters who hunt mages.
 * Hunter: Deadly Prey (December 2008)  A board game. 
 * Slasher (February, 2009)  Hunters that hunt human (or inhuman) serial killers.
 * Hunter: Spirit Slayers (March, 2009)  Hunters that hunt werewolves, shapechangers, etc. 
 * Night Stalkers (March, 2009)  Hunters that hunt vampires. 
 * Horror Recognition Guide (February, 2009) A book of in-character documents like 'Rites of the Dragon.' 
 * Horror Recognition Guide (February, 2009) A book of in-character documents like 'Rites of the Dragon.'