2e Outline is here

[mlvalentine]

One non-core book question. You said that your plan is to introduce new writing blood for each Hunter supplement as well. Does that mean there will be periodic Hunter Open Calls, or you will you be dipping into the existing pool of submissions? My instincts would be towards the latter, but I just wanted to clarify since I know there are a number of us on the forums who would be interested in throwing our hats into the ring if we didn't get a chance to for the core book.

I'm going to draw on the existing open submissions pile. Thanks!

[Daigotsu Max]

Awesome to hear! This has me excited already, much like the Mage and Werewolf 2e previews did. If Hunter 2e can do half of what those two books did to me for their gamelines, it will be very successful indeed. And really, there is every possibility it will do more. It is awesome to see that history will continue to be included.

No kidding, I really think of the current batch of Chronicles of Darkness as a "golden age" for the genre. All the 2nd edition core books are very strong and with Changeling, Hunter and Geist on the way, I couldn't be more excited. This is going to be a good year!

[SunlessNick]

I'm expecting that every Compact and Conspiracy will be mentioned, with perhaps as much as a paragraph each to give a sense of what they're about; but only a few will get several pages worth of material to themselves.

One of Monica's replies confirms this.

Most of the ones from supplements (many of which I love) have more inherently restrictive focuses than the core 6/6 that are important to their themes. The core were intentionally a set with broader uses, even if they had favored prey (vampires for MM, mages for AKD, etc)

The core compacts mostly showcased reasons to hunt (religious duty, neighbourhood watch, scientific enquiry, thrills), while the core conspiracies showcased types of Endowment (blood-borne power, holy rites, high technology, mystical artefacts), and that seems like a philosophy it would make sense to retain. Anyway, another of Monica's replies confirmed that most in the new core will be retained from the old.

If I had to guess which one was being relegated, it would be Aegis kai Doru (relics are the easiest Endowment to decouple from a parent conspiracy and make a generic thing hunters can have - and relatedly, the Endowment most logical to have turn up in the hands of other groups like the Malleus Maleficarum, Ascending Ones, or Council of Bones - or for that matter, relics of the dead are a logical Endowment for the Council to have) or Malleus Maleficarum (the other logical option for the Council's Endowment is some sort of ritual necromancy, which would fill the same magical rite niche of Benedictions). If it is one of those, I hope it would be Aegis kai Doru.

By the same token, it would make a lot of sense for Ashwood to be the Compact that gets cut if it's featuring in the Slasher Chronicle chapter. Which I would certainly hope it does, what with the Hunt Club being part of them and all. I would have assumed Ashwood would be the Compact to VASCU's Conspiracy in that chapter, if it hadn't been specified that the Compact was new and as of yet unnamed. So I'm guessing they've gone full black hat. But it's possible the new Compact could be an Abbey offshoot, the rest having been corrupted by the Hunt Club.

The new compact isn't just unnamed, it's specifically said to be brand new. My hope is it's either formed out of frequently victimised populations (the homeless, sex workers, etc...), or maybe people who support them like social workers or counsellors. A group focussed on supporting the kinds of people slashers and other killers would often be targeting would be a good counterpart to the law enforcement conspiracy - or to put it another way, a Catherine Black to go with VASCU's Frank Black.

I do agree that it seems Ashwood Abbey would be a logical compact to go. The other one I could see is the Union, since it seems like the easiest to replicate its themes without a specific splat for it.

[mlvalentine]

One of Monica's replies confirms this.

If I had to guess which one was being relegated, it would be Aegis kai Doru (relics are the easiest Endowment to decouple from a parent conspiracy and make a generic thing hunters can have - and relatedly, the Endowment most logical to have turn up in the hands of other groups like the Malleus Maleficarum, Ascending Ones, or Council of Bones - or for that matter, relics of the dead are a logical Endowment for the Council to have) or Malleus Maleficarum (the other logical option for the Council's Endowment is some sort of ritual necromancy, which would fill the same magical rite niche of Benedictions). If it is one of those, I hope it would be Aegis kai Doru.

I apologize for answering this in a blurry haze of uncaffeinated-ness. I'm super excited and focused on the fact that we have seven compacts/conspiracies, and I will have more on this later. Huzzah!

[SunlessNick]

As I mentioned upthread, every conspiracy that was in the HTV1E corebook will also be included in 2nd Edition. No conspiracy is on the "chopping block." There were five conspiracies in the first edition corebook, and there will be seven in this one. Thanks!

There were six: Aegis kai Doru, Ascending Ones, Cheiron Group, Lucifuge, Malleus Maleficarum, and TFV.

Edited to add: or should I take this to mean that one of them isn't being removed, but altered into a compact?

[LostLight]

Finally! I'm waiting for this for such a long time! Although I really fear for the fate of the Abbey now- but again, I have already made them into a conspiracy in my game, meaning I'm way out of canon as far as they are concerned, so such change would hardly effect my games, I think. Other than that, I'm excited to see that Monica did managed to add more splats to the book, and is going to represent all groups in it.

(also- am I missing something? there were 6 conspiracies on the corebook- the Aegis Kai Doru, the MM, Lucifuge, Cherion. Ascending Ones and Task Force VALKYRIE. Unless one of them is suddenly no longer considered a "conspiracy"- what's going on?)

Another question on the subject- are the groups from the future Beast's Mortal Remains are also going to be mentioned?

EDIT- as for the new setting examples, I always wondered if such settings would truly be "new". Malta, Berlin, Vietnam and other settings have all hinted about potential Hunter crossover (not to mention Tokyo. Hototogisu- come at me!). Maybe instead of brand new settings, we'll get to see how hunters operate in places already ruled by monsters?

[SunlessNick]

EDIT- as for the new setting examples, I always wondered if such settings would truly be "new". Malta, Berlin, Vietnam and other settings have all hinted about potential Hunter crossover (not to mention Tokyo. Hototogisu- come at me!). Maybe instead of brand new settings, we'll get to see how hunters operate in places already ruled by monsters?

I asked this "Do chapters five and/or six include cities around the world the way the other 2nd ed books do?" on the blog post, to which Monica replied:

See above: we are taking an integrated approach to the worldbuilding. HTV2E will be a little different, and this is very exciting for us! Loads of setting to explore!

Which I think may mean example settings are presented within the writeups of the example monsters and mysterious places.

[atamajakki]

Can I just say how amped I am to see VASCU in core? I love them so much.

[mlvalentine]

There were six: Aegis kai Doru, Ascending Ones, Cheiron Group, Lucifuge, Malleus Maleficarum, and TFV.

Edited to add: or should I take this to mean that one of them isn't being removed, but altered into a compact?

Nope! This is just me not having enough coffee. No worries!

[nofather]

Looking forward to this, it looks great.

[LostLight]

so what does people think about the Council of Bones? While we only have a basic concept for them, but people who summon the ghosts of the dead to track down their killers is an awesome concept, especially since it is going to work out so well for the Slasher chronicles. Also- for a change, summoning a spirit using an Ouija board is a good idea!

Another thing I hope to see is at least few new example Cabals in the Slasher section (please not the Abbey), as I've always found their concept as both fascinating and creepy as hell. Talking about Slashers- I'm not really sure how I feel about "something" making them. We still have to see what it actually means, but I hope it won't turn out as making Slashers as having excuse for being monsters. Slashers becoming what they are out of their own actions and choices is what makes Slashers scary for me, using the "devil made me do it" as an excuse for what they do. If the devil really made them do it, than they are not responsible for what they are, and it makes them a lot less scary, to me at least. But once again, we'll have to wait and see what the Outline actually meant.

[Rose Bailey]

Ashwood Abbey will be one of the short Compact writeups, not a slasher group.

Slashers will remain morally culpable for their actions, but, at the same time, there are more of them than there used to be, and finding out why will be a legit campaign focus. Monica and I specifically intend that there won't be a "Slasher Force" or some other kind of metaphysical phenomenon that just spawns slashers willy-nilly.

(One thing that's a bit challenging about slashers is that, in 1e, they straddled a line between being procedural-inspired serial killers and horror-movie-inspired spree murderers. When that worked, they were a monster spin with a particular CofD flavor. When it didn't, they just kinda failed to make sense. We're conscious of that tension, and Monica's pitch was to include a variety of examples.)

[LostLight]

Ashwood Abbey will be one of the short Compact writeups, not a slasher group.

Slashers will remain morally culpable for their actions, but, at the same time, there are more of them than there used to be, and finding out why will be a legit campaign focus. Monica and I specifically intend that there won't be a "Slasher Force" or some other kind of metaphysical phenomenon that just spawns slashers willy-nilly.

(One thing that's a bit challenging about slashers is that, in 1e, they straddled a line between being procedural-inspired serial killers and horror-movie-inspired spree murderers. When that worked, they were a monster spin with a particular CofD flavor. When it didn't, they just kinda failed to make sense. We're conscious of that tension, and Monica's pitch was to include a variety of examples.)

that sounds quit interesting. I'm excited to see how it would turn out. Thank you for replying

[Omegaphallic]

Ashwood Abbey will be one of the short Compact writeups, not a slasher group.

Slashers will remain morally culpable for their actions, but, at the same time, there are more of them than there used to be, and finding out why will be a legit campaign focus. Monica and I specifically intend that there won't be a "Slasher Force" or some other kind of metaphysical phenomenon that just spawns slashers willy-nilly.

(One thing that's a bit challenging about slashers is that, in 1e, they straddled a line between being procedural-inspired serial killers and horror-movie-inspired spree murderers. When that worked, they were a monster spin with a particular CofD flavor. When it didn't, they just kinda failed to make sense. We're conscious of that tension, and Monica's pitch was to include a variety of examples.)

So like some isn't making slashers, so much as someone is making creating an environment that makes it easier for hunters to fall into becoming slashers, basically an enabler instead of a creatorof slashers?

[Teatime]

Fiction: We’re presenting the fiction as stand-alone pieces called “case files.” They’ll be highlighting different aspects of the setting, and they’ll precede several chapters in the book. Lots of fresh monsters and locations here!

Chapter 5: Monsters Around The World – Every hunter needs a monster to fight, right? This is where we’ll have your monster-hunting needs covered! Our approach to the monsters is to focus on urban legends around the globe, while remaining true to core monster archetypes (e.g. the vampire, poltergeist, etc.). We will offer NPCs, a section on how to create your own monsters, and a heap of Dread Powers.

I'm excited to see that Hunter sets off the beaten track when it comes to monsters. I've always felt that the game did its best either when presenting something new or when putting a spin on an old archetype. Trying to transport Splats from other gamelines always risked retreading published material, while posing a challenge in preserving nuance.

Chapter 6: Mysterious Places – Have you ever wondered what would happen if hunters encountered a sentient haunted house? How would they cleanse a supernaturally-charged site? We’re attaching rules to places where hunters fight in exciting and (hopefully) scary ways! More on this as the systems and setting development comes together.

This is a wellspring of potential. It's fun to throw Hunters against something they can't fight directly - it forces them to be creative. I hope the book also touches on such things as curses, corrupted Relics and Twilight Zone phenomena - all to make Hunters' life unpredictable. Still, supernatural places alone add a lot to the world.

Chapter 8: Storytelling – In addition to helping Storytellers best run your games, we’re also including a “Creating a Compact” and “Creating a Conspiracy” section to help you create new setting material that’s in line with our rules.

Yes! You're doing more than just providing gaming tools. You're making a statement about the world, that published groups don't have a monopoly on the Vigil.