Hunters of the Sixth World Redux, NOT White-Wolf! Options

[Ronin Soul]

Some of you from the old forums may remember a thread I started ages ago about a fan project dealing with the supernatural in the shadows, and the people who interact with it on a regular basis (particularly people who make a career - or an obsession - out of hunting the "Grey Walkers").

Well I want to resurect the thread on this board. As it stands I wanted to link to a couple of threads from the old forums, but I can't get to 'em at the moment ( :( ). So instead I'll just put a quick outline of what the thing is all about.

Why am I doing it? Well, firstly, I want imput. A lot of people on Dumpshock are creative people who could contribute a lot to this project. And quite frankly I appreciate anything people have to add.
So basically write up anything, suggestions, IC posts or comments that might be relevant. I'll write up all the stuff I already have when I find the time. Until then I'll just give an overview of what the "book" deals with:

Don't Go Gently Into That Dark Night: Basically an intro to the "darker shadows" - the paranormal in all it's nasty ugly forms. HMHVV infected species (Leeches). Spectres and hostile ghosts. Corrupted and otherwise dangerous magick users. Shedim. Things that are harder to define. A whole shadow business has grown up around these - preventing them from hurting people - making money out of them being inconvenient, learning about them. From the Mr Harkers you get your biz from and the way "hunters" work compared to vanilla shadowrunners, it's all in here. Basically a primer to Hunting.

The Mindset of a Madman: Hunters often make Shadowrunners look like well-adjusted and productive members of society. Shadowrunners deal with primarily human problems. Hunters... well, there's a reason their business is nicknamed the "Deep Shadows". From the "Touched" - people who Hunt monsters because they can't do anything else, to moonlighters who do it on the side, to government and corp organisations and freelance organisations and lone wolves who do it for more idealistic reasons than simple money - this section looks at what makes Hunters tick.

Alone in the Dark: This looks at some of the more famous Hunters - from living legends like Winter and The Stranger, Helios, Helsing, The Graveringer Poet, Aftermath, the vampire vampire-hunter Blake and more (feel free to add your own!).
This section will also look at Hunter organisations - from freelancers like Sabbath and the Ashwind Riders to corp groups like Code Violet to government agencies such as the UCAS Omega Squad and the British Spookhouse. Once again, any ideas and additions in this area would be great.

Then we have sections on the things Hunters hunt. Each of these sections also look at things like *why* they are hunted and also if it is humane or even human to do it. After all, vampires are sentient. Can it be reasonable for a Hunter like Helsing to kill them indiscriminately?
These sections are very open. If you have an idea, add it! IC posts or simply ideas. It's all good and much appreciated.

The sections of this bit are:
Leeches and the Damned: Vampires and other HMHVV species. This is by far the largest section as it deals with a lot of them (including homegrown ones). Also, how you hunt them and the differences in vampires across the world.

Who You Gonna Call?: Ghosts, spectres. They're a pain. Hard to see, hard to kill. Totally different strategies are required compared to vampires. If anything this section raises more moral questions. Ghosts are often the target of Harker-Runs (ie. missions you get hired by corps to do).

Bump in the Night: Shedim. Not just how to deal with them but also conjecture into what they are; where they come from, similiarities to other more familiar "Grey Walkers" and other such stuff.

Mageslayer (tentative title): Hunting magic users. How to overcome their abilities. THis deals with toxics, blood mages, and other corrupt or otherwise "evil" magic users but not the bugs, they get their own section.

Did someone call for an Exterminator?: Bugs. Don't you just hate them? An extensive section just as likely to attract normal shadowrunners as full-time Hunters. A big section.

Whatever it is Shoot It: Other things. Not just a catalogue of things but also what to expect in different parts of the world. Not exhaustive either.

Open Forum: Conspiracies: As the name suggests this is all about Hunter conspiracies (which Ill add to soon). Things like just who Winter and the Stranger are (they ain't normal, that's for sure), if some particularly fanatic Hunters can really channel weird powers (called "the Passion and the Temper" by Helsing) and other more "normal" conspiracies (such as Monster Hunting within the Matrix)

This is designed not just for people wanting to run Hunter only campaigns (if someone is I'd love it!) but also how to introduce the paranormal into regular shadowrun campaigns.

It's not a great description but it'll hopefully do for now. I'll add to it as soon as I can but for now, if anyone wants to comment or add an idea or anything, please do! It'd be great!

Thanks all for your time!

[Hot Wheels]

Well the real risk is if you get caught up tracking a bone gnawer and don't notice the Galss Walkers closing in on you before you're ghouled to the local Ventrue prince and...no?
Seriously I'll think on it.

[Stormdrake]

Not a bad idea. With the increase in mana levels, corps. messing with things they shouldn't and I can see the possibilities. Add the state of almost bedlam the america are in and supernatural critters are going to become more of a problem. I like the idea and after all shadow runners are more likely to run into this kinda stuff before any one else. Can't wait to see what people come up with.

[Siege]

Given the Awakening and the manifestation of magic, how much could really be classified as "supernatural?"

Certainly, all of it is spooky and creepy to those of us who live in the here-and-now, but to the citizens of 2060?

The closest thing you had was the rumors of bugs, but that got blown to hell with Chicago. Werewolves (as such) are not especially commonplace, but if local Joe has to deal with the fact that magic exists, supernatural critters abound (although not all of them want to eat you...initially) and things like Wendigo and vamps that have bounties on their heads.

The next "bump in the dark" spookiness would be the Horrors which may (or may not) become part of the canon World.

Sorry, the relative debates over Horror checks got me thinking in odd ways.

-Siege

[HMHVV Hunter]

I actually have the intro I typed up from the view of "Helios," my HMHVV-hunting runner, saved on my comp.

And I also have his profile that I typed up.

Both of these are Shadowland style, Helios's profile being filled with comments from the Shadowland regulars, and the intro to hunting post being typed up with in-character comments from people on the Dumpshock forums.

[Fortune]

So post them! :)

[Abstruse]

I was working on a sourcebook for Houston (the forth largest city in the entire country and what Shadowrun coverage does it get? Some chess dork in Prime Runners is from there and one adventure in Missions...)

Anyway, Houston is a major spot for "paranormal" activity in 2063. Let's see, we've had a hurricane in 1901 that killed thousans, a plague of yellow fever in the late 19th century, lots of street violence over the past 300 years (from the days of being gutted by a bowie knife to the days of being gutted by a switchblade to the days of being gutted by an Ares Combat Knife), the Battle of San Jacinto, graveyards all over the place, plenty of pirate activity from being the 2nd largest port in the US (making it the largest in the CAS since NYC is #1), near the swamps for that Voodoo action, several Native American tribes settling in around here before the white man came to colonize...there are a LOT of angry spirits roaming around. Plus a bit of a (non-canon) epidemic of HMHVV...

Hell, some modern day "ghost hunters" (aka people who take pictures in graveyards wearing black eyeliner regardless of their sex and see a lens flare as a "picture of a ghost") say that the Houston/Galveston is the most haunted area in the United States save for a few Civil War battlefields.

The Abstruse One

[HMHVV Hunter]

Those files are way too long to post as posts on here, especiallyt he Hunting 101 file.

[Fortune]

[HMHVV Hunter]

I would, except I have no clue as to how to make one.

[snowRaven]

Okay, a link here to some work I did on expanding the various vampire types based on vampire legends from around the world, as well as some suggested rules for ancient vampires with special powers.

snowRaven's Vampires

Use it at your leisure, but if you publish it somewhere I'd appreciate the credit [grinbig]

[Fortune]

[toturi]

As usual, paranormals in Asia is mine!

:D Ok, not all of it. Just China and South East Asia, maybe India.

Paranormal activity should be really hot in SE Asia. What with the Ring of Fire and all...

Got to revise some of my material to fit into the canon material though, pesky Lung and Ryumyo. Interfering buggers, dragons are.

[HMHVV Hunter]

You want me to e-mail the stuff to you, Ronin?

[vinsane]

[Fortune]

[Eternl Knight]

I wouldn't mind a copy either. Please send to bktolputt at pacific dot net dot au.

[Ronin Soul]

[HMHVV Hunter]

[The Question Man]

I like the idea of corporations messing with things man was not meant to know. A "RESIDENT EVIL" splatter fest. cool. Neat idea. Mix in a little Sedim and ...vawala instant combat session.

Cheers

QM

[Eldritch]

I'd like to see what you have as well - my e-mail is eldritch_mage at Yahoo.

I'll see if I can dig up some of my old notes for this type of stuff.

I had a little company called Vampire Hunters, Inc.. A small company based in seattle that specialized in the extermination of the undead. They'd hired my PC's a few times for some business or another.

I also had an initatory <sp> group called The Reavers. A group of spell casters that specialized in bounty hunting/assassination of mages. Any Mage.

I should have a couple of 'dark' artifacts that kept my pc's busy over the years. I'll see what I can dig up and post.

See Ya

[northern lights]

if this were to touch on the passions, ala 4th world, i might be in on it for writing some stuff. otherwise, it sounds very cool, and something i very much wanted in my last campaign, where i wanted a character based of underworld with a lot of occult type stuff.

i've been told i can write well, so if you have need of such, i am certainly paying attention.

[xythlord]

I would also be interested in seeing your new rules/material. If you would be so kind as to email it to me at jbornicke at Comcast dot net. Thank you.

Xyth

[GunnerJ]

I've been thinking about making a custom metamagic for corrupted mages called Necromancy that allows them to summon ghosts, toxic ancestor spirits, and most interestingly, shedim. The shedim summoning is the most detailed part, as the mage must enter into a pact with a Master Shedim and then begins to carry out activities similar to (but subtly different from) those of a bug shaman. If I wrote that up, would it have a place in this book?

[Fygg Nuuton]

i have rules for werewolves for a campaign ive written, if youd be interested contact me on AIM, id like some input even if you won't use them :)

a little better opposition you can use to scare the bejeesus out of a team, and incase of infection, rules that are pretty balanced as well.