Pyramid Review
Hunter Survival Guide
Published by White Wolf Game Studio
Written by Bruce Baugh, E. Johnathan Bennett, Michael Lee, Forest B. Marchinton, Robert Scott Martin, Angel McCoy, Deena McKinney, Wayne Peacock, Greg Stolze, Andy Woodworth and Pete Woodworth
136 pages, $19.95
Well, this is a good sign. The Hunter Survival Guide breaks away from the "first sourcebook" jinx., and provides a mostly very good guide to the monsters of the world, and the people who hunt them.The release of the Hunter: The Reckoning rule book wasn't an entirely auspicious launch to the game line. Between the less than well received, "we've been sold! Whoops! No we haven't!" publicity stunt, and the fiery rantings of fans who felt betrayed that the characters had supernatural abilities, the game itself got kind of lost. Which is kind of a shame, because the game should be judged on its own merits, as weak or strong as they may be.
The HSG is a very good book. The introductory fiction, which covers the hippie characters from the H:tR intro-fiction, is an interesting study in a lot of ways, particularly in the (fairly creepy) view of the maternal instinct.
The source book starts off with a short section on Hunter-net.org, the website that the Hunters use for communication. It's followed up with a "how to" section from a Hunter. It's a bit on the creepy side, like when the writer suggests that you get by on three hours of sleep a day -- I turn cranky if I get less than ten -- and . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 4, 2000
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