Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
A Review of The New Hunter The Reckoning
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="robowieland" data-source="post: 8676055" data-attributes="member: 7026452"><p>[ATTACH=full]252164[/ATTACH]</p><p>The modern World of Darkness is not very concerned with tradition. It blew up much of the setting of <em>Vampire: The Masquerade</em> to redefine it for a modern age. It remixed the Clans to better fit some of these newer ideas, such as the death-obsessed Hecata. It also surprised many fans when it announced that the second game in the reborn setting would be <a href="https://renegadegamestudios.com/hunter-the-reckoning-5th-edition-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook/" target="_blank"><em>Hunter: The Reckoning</em></a>. When the original was released in 1999, it caused a stir because the game focused on hunters, called the Imbued, who were given powers to fight back against the menagerie of creatures in the classic World of Darkness. This edition, despite the title and the blaze orange color scheme, opts for a more low key approach. Renegade Game Studios sent a copy of the new book for me to review. Does Hunter hit the mark? Let’s play to find out.</p><p></p><p><em>Hunter: The Reckoning</em>, from designers Justin Achilli, Daniel Braga, Johnathan Byerly, Edward Austin Hall, Karim Muammar, Mario Ortegón, Pam Punzalan, and Erin Roberts, casts players as normal humans that have seen the truth about the World of Darkness and can’t go back to ignoring that there are monsters out there. Each character chooses a Drive to illustrate why they have taken up the hunt, such as classics like Vengeance or Atonement, or more complex ones like Greed or Envy. Drive factors into the bonus dice system for this game. Hunters can access Desperation dice based on their character choices. These dice come with a risk. They can cause an Overreach which can ratchet up the tension by increasing Danger or they can cause a character to Despair because they feel the cost of being on the hunt. Hunters can’t use Desperation Dice while in Despair. Acting in accordance with their Drive brings the hunter out of this condition.</p><p></p><p>The Desperation mechanic is an interesting mash up of <em>V5</em>’s Hunger mechanic and the stress dice from <em>ALIEN</em>. It exists as kind of a reflection to the Danger rating, which feels a little like the countdown clocks seen in games like <em>Tales From The Loop</em> or <em>Monster of the Week</em>. While I like the concept of both, they feel a little unfinished. I wanted more guidance on how to use Danger to raise the stakes in a game and when to give the players access to more Desperation. When games have a “doom” mechanic like this, I want there to be specific consequences beyond “the descriptions get spookier”. I wouldn’t mind something like the Doom Pool from<em> Marvel Heroic</em> or the light/dark tokens from<em> Chill </em>where the ST can spend points for a specific thing to happen, leaving the players to sweat out the consequences until the reveal.</p><p></p><p>Characters also choose one of five Creeds to frame how they hunt, be it the classic run and gun of the Martial Creed to the more Ghostbuster-y scientific capitalism of the Entrepreneurial Creed. Unlike the Clans or other supernatural counterparts, these essential elements aren’t overly tied to specific abilities or in-universe social collectives. There are recommended edges for each, but anyone can take a power and narratively flavor it to their liking. I like the change away from specific splats to something broader but I also see a lot of folks already lamenting the loss of the Imbued storyline.</p><p></p><p>The focus of this edition is on the cell, which gives the game a similar feeling to the early seasons of the long-lived <em>Supernatural</em> TV show. The crew stumbles onto something weird, figures out what it is, how to kill it, and how to survive till dawn when everyone rides out of town. These hunters aren’t the slick techno killers of the Second Inquisition, nor are they part of the compacts of Hunter: The Vigil. This version of Hunter: The Reckoning really leans into the punk half of the Gothic-Punk setting. It’s you and your cell versus the whole <em>World of Darkness</em>. I think that makes it stand out against other games in this series.</p><p></p><p>These hunters only have each other and, like their <em>V5</em> siblings, Touchstones that give them something to protect. Touchstones have a heavier role in this game as their loss can trigger a semi-permanent Despair until the Hunter finds a new person for which to fight. Touchstones are an underserved mechanic in World of Darkness and I hope each new game uses them in an interesting way.</p><p></p><p>Fans hoping for some clues on how the newest World of Darkness will change the other supernatural creatures won’t find many clues in the monster section. There are broad write ups for creatures that fit the Big Five and they are purposely written without many specifics. There’s also a big section devoted to hunter organizations, including a few returning ones like the Arcanum and Orpheus, Inc. I like that the book doesn't assume the reader already knows this stuff, but I was also hoping for some more straight up weird monsters that didn’t fit anywhere. Until such time as they release a deeper monster book, keeping around <em>Horror Recognition Guide</em> or <em>The Book of Unremitting Horror </em>seems like a good idea to really keep players on their toes.</p><p></p><p><em>Hunter: The Reckoning</em> is a solid entry into the monster hunting genre for tables that want that desperate feeling of being alone in the dark.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="robowieland, post: 8676055, member: 7026452"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1656362806787.png"]252164[/ATTACH] The modern World of Darkness is not very concerned with tradition. It blew up much of the setting of [I]Vampire: The Masquerade[/I] to redefine it for a modern age. It remixed the Clans to better fit some of these newer ideas, such as the death-obsessed Hecata. It also surprised many fans when it announced that the second game in the reborn setting would be [URL='https://renegadegamestudios.com/hunter-the-reckoning-5th-edition-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook/'][I]Hunter: The Reckoning[/I][/URL]. When the original was released in 1999, it caused a stir because the game focused on hunters, called the Imbued, who were given powers to fight back against the menagerie of creatures in the classic World of Darkness. This edition, despite the title and the blaze orange color scheme, opts for a more low key approach. Renegade Game Studios sent a copy of the new book for me to review. Does Hunter hit the mark? Let’s play to find out. [I]Hunter: The Reckoning[/I], from designers Justin Achilli, Daniel Braga, Johnathan Byerly, Edward Austin Hall, Karim Muammar, Mario Ortegón, Pam Punzalan, and Erin Roberts, casts players as normal humans that have seen the truth about the World of Darkness and can’t go back to ignoring that there are monsters out there. Each character chooses a Drive to illustrate why they have taken up the hunt, such as classics like Vengeance or Atonement, or more complex ones like Greed or Envy. Drive factors into the bonus dice system for this game. Hunters can access Desperation dice based on their character choices. These dice come with a risk. They can cause an Overreach which can ratchet up the tension by increasing Danger or they can cause a character to Despair because they feel the cost of being on the hunt. Hunters can’t use Desperation Dice while in Despair. Acting in accordance with their Drive brings the hunter out of this condition. The Desperation mechanic is an interesting mash up of [I]V5[/I]’s Hunger mechanic and the stress dice from [I]ALIEN[/I]. It exists as kind of a reflection to the Danger rating, which feels a little like the countdown clocks seen in games like [I]Tales From The Loop[/I] or [I]Monster of the Week[/I]. While I like the concept of both, they feel a little unfinished. I wanted more guidance on how to use Danger to raise the stakes in a game and when to give the players access to more Desperation. When games have a “doom” mechanic like this, I want there to be specific consequences beyond “the descriptions get spookier”. I wouldn’t mind something like the Doom Pool from[I] Marvel Heroic[/I] or the light/dark tokens from[I] Chill [/I]where the ST can spend points for a specific thing to happen, leaving the players to sweat out the consequences until the reveal. Characters also choose one of five Creeds to frame how they hunt, be it the classic run and gun of the Martial Creed to the more Ghostbuster-y scientific capitalism of the Entrepreneurial Creed. Unlike the Clans or other supernatural counterparts, these essential elements aren’t overly tied to specific abilities or in-universe social collectives. There are recommended edges for each, but anyone can take a power and narratively flavor it to their liking. I like the change away from specific splats to something broader but I also see a lot of folks already lamenting the loss of the Imbued storyline. The focus of this edition is on the cell, which gives the game a similar feeling to the early seasons of the long-lived [I]Supernatural[/I] TV show. The crew stumbles onto something weird, figures out what it is, how to kill it, and how to survive till dawn when everyone rides out of town. These hunters aren’t the slick techno killers of the Second Inquisition, nor are they part of the compacts of Hunter: The Vigil. This version of Hunter: The Reckoning really leans into the punk half of the Gothic-Punk setting. It’s you and your cell versus the whole [I]World of Darkness[/I]. I think that makes it stand out against other games in this series. These hunters only have each other and, like their [I]V5[/I] siblings, Touchstones that give them something to protect. Touchstones have a heavier role in this game as their loss can trigger a semi-permanent Despair until the Hunter finds a new person for which to fight. Touchstones are an underserved mechanic in World of Darkness and I hope each new game uses them in an interesting way. Fans hoping for some clues on how the newest World of Darkness will change the other supernatural creatures won’t find many clues in the monster section. There are broad write ups for creatures that fit the Big Five and they are purposely written without many specifics. There’s also a big section devoted to hunter organizations, including a few returning ones like the Arcanum and Orpheus, Inc. I like that the book doesn't assume the reader already knows this stuff, but I was also hoping for some more straight up weird monsters that didn’t fit anywhere. Until such time as they release a deeper monster book, keeping around [I]Horror Recognition Guide[/I] or [I]The Book of Unremitting Horror [/I]seems like a good idea to really keep players on their toes. [I]Hunter: The Reckoning[/I] is a solid entry into the monster hunting genre for tables that want that desperate feeling of being alone in the dark. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
A Review of The New Hunter The Reckoning
Top