Hunter the Vigil: Dream Catchers is a fan-made Hunter: The Vigil book that tries to be as close to Original Flavor as possible. It is the second fan-made supplement of this kind to be made.
Following the pattern used by previous supplements explaining how Hunters interact with the various other gamelines (Nightstalker for Vampires, Spirit-Slayers for Werewolves, Witchfinders for Mages...), this one focuses on changelings, fairies, and the problems associated with them. It introduces four fan-made organizations, as well as another dive into the Philadelphia area to explore the relationship between the region's hunters and the fractured changelings in the city.
Organisations
- The Sons of Cú Chulainn: Formed from a Irish American charitable fraternal order and iron age Celts thrown into the future, the Sons of Cú Chulainn protect their communities with a mixture of archaic and modern techniques. The Sons' iron age lore makes them one of the few Compacts who know how to deal with the topsy turvy world of the Fae. Their Endowment lets them swear Geasa which enhances their combat abilities and resistance to magic.
- The Wilde Society: An international art circle that descends from Victorian Britain, the society uses secret techniques to open their mind to faerie glamour at the cost of their sanity. The Wilde Society may be the only hunters who actually understand faeries, but they're more interested in how glamour inspires their art. Their Endowment provides bonuses to understanding the fae, or creating art.
- Searchlight: Originally Searchlight was just a support group for friends and family of missing people, until they discovered that their loved ones had been taken by faeries. The Hunters reasoned that no one else will believe the truth, so they'd just have to rescue their family personally. Searchlight are fanatical even by Hunter standards, but their Endowment protects them from the stresses of the vigil.
- The Conspiracy of Dream Catchers is the Office of the Lord Stewards, a collection of diplomats, lawyers and occultists within the British civil service. Their job is to maintain a complex tangle of treaties and informal agreements that keeps the supernatural population from descending into civil war, and an equally complex set of treaties with the country itself. Their Endowment is Arrangements, Stewards can request aid from the land itself.
It may be found here
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This game provides examples of:
- Anachronism Stew: A Son's combat gear may include kevlar, war paint, Cold Iron broadswords and assault rifles.
- Artistic Stimulation: For the Wilde Society, glamour is used a creative stimulant, boosting their artistic talents.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Mostly averted. As is normal for Hunter, authority implies a skilled administrator rather than a badass fighter. However, it is not wise to pick on a high status steward, not unless you want to annoy the very ground you're standing on.
- Band of Brothers: The Sons of Cú Chulainn.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The three Compacts fit:
- The Wilde Society are the brains, with an Endowment that enhances mental skills and a free dot in Library.
- Searchlight is beauty, as their endowment removes many of the social penalties common to hunters.
- The Sons of Cú Chulainn are the brawns, being skilled in both modern and ancient weapons even before their Endowment.
- The Sons of Cú Chulainn and Searchlight's subgroups also fit this troupe. The Wilde Society almost fits; its sub factions are brains, beauty, and pure artists.
- Dirty Coward: Other hunters often see the Wilde Society as this; they need the Society's knowledge of faeries but when there's trouble, the Society are more likely to skip town. From the Society's point of view, they're civilians, not monster hunters.
- Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: The True Fae and Hell have a peace treaty. This is actually a very good thing for the Lucifuge and any Changeling to whom they offer protection.
- The Fair Folk: The supplement's Hunter groups all specialize in fighting the True Fae and their assorted minions.
- Fighting Irish: The Sons of Cú Chulainn, though they dropped the attitude for a while when no one was picking on them.
- Functional Addict: The Wilde Society usually qualify, because glamour isn't quite as dangerous as heroin. Getting hold of glamour is quite another matter.
- Genie in a Bottle: The Ascending Ones know how to create them — namely, by tricking a True Fae into getting inside the bottle and granting wishes via a Pledge. Unfortunately, they're more trouble than they're worth.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: The Wilde Society intentionally expose themselves to glamour until it drives them mad, they see the benefits as worth more than sanity.
- Happiness in Slavery: Nearly universal for the Lucifuge's faerie slaves, because the alternative is either Hell or Hell.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: John Dee founded the Lord Stewards.
- Insanity Immunity: Insane people are sometimes immune to the Mask that makes fae beings appear normal. The Wilde Society always have the right kind of madness.
- Irish Cop: Plenty of both these and Irish Priests in the Sons of Cú Chulainn. It's important to note that the cops and priests are descended from Irish immigrants, not actually from Ireland themselves.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: The opening fiction for the Aegis Kai Doru is a textual montage of gearing up with magical artifacts. Side by side the three hunters reach the level of Rainbow Pimp Gear.
- Mad Artist: The Wilde Society. Usually they're not violent or dangerous, just crazy people who like to make art.
- Magically-Binding Contract: The British Government has inherited generations' worth of magical contracts, and it is the Stewards' job to make sure they are upheld. Both Changelings and the Stewards are also quite capable of creating their own.
- Mirroring Factions: All the hunter organisations serve as this to Changelings.
- Changelings struggle to balance their human and faerie natures. The Sons of Cú Chulainn also come from two very different worlds, but form a harmonious union.
- Searchlight is the most direct foil. Changelings were stolen, while Searchlight is dedicated to rescuing stolen people.
- Changelings struggle to overcome their madness. The Wilde Society intentionally dive deeper into madness for practical benefits.
- Changelings are also called the Lost, for after the durance they find it hard to fit in anywhere. In contrast, the Lord Stewards do far more than just fit in, they helped build and maintain the political landscape that both humans and monsters fit into.
- Monster Lord: The True Fae, probably the toughest thing a hunter is ever likely to see face to face. Their stats can go up to twice the limit of anything else in Hunter: The Vigil's simplified monster creation rules. Anyone who's read the appropriate Changeling: The Lost supplements will know they're actually holding back. The True Fae are really much more powerful.
- No-Sell: The Lord Stewards are the only Compact without a single offensive Endowment. To compensate their Defensive Endowments are extraordinary.
- Oathbound Power:
- The Sons of Cú Chulainn gain supernatural combat skill and magical resistance when acting to uphold an oath, but suffer penalties if they break their oaths or break their warrior's code of honour.
- The Office of the Lord Stewards Endowment works by speaking to the world around them and reminding the world that it is contractually obliged to provide certain aid; and of course the Stewards must uphold their end of the deal.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The Dragon of the Rust, a scrapwork mechanical dragon capable of taking on whole Cells without a sweat.
- Pals with Jesus: The Lord Stewards aren't exactly friends with Britannia; but they have a mutual respect for each other.
- Reasoning with God: A major part of the Lord Stewards' job.
- Screw Destiny: There are rules for it; manufacturing a Prophecy Twist is the safest method.
- Shout-Out:
- The opening fiction for the Wilde Society has a shout out to the Regency of Thorns, a faerie hunting Conspiracy in the Hunter fan supplement Skin and Bones. Another of Lauren's pictures appears in Black Maria in a book of pictures for young girls.
- The hunters in the example trip to the Hedge are from The Staff of Janus, a faerie hunting Conspiracy that was proposed on the White Wolf forums but never written.
- The first five paragraphs of the Lord Stewards are all shout outs to Diana Wynne Jones books. They're also mentioned to occasionally request help from "those sick fucks at MI18" which references both another fan written conspiracy on the White Wolf forums and World War Z.
- Some stewards first learn magic in Oxbridge drinking clubs, as did the ethically challenged magician in Moon Over Soho.
- The Sons character from the Philadelphia appendix is the son of a quiet, peace-loving man from Inishfree
- One of the archetypes given for the Wilde Society is based on María Elena.
- There is a merit called second thoughts, which works a lot like Tiffany Aching's Second Thoughts.
- The fiction Red Blood and Royal Writ contains all the components of the spell Jonathan Strange uses to protect himself and George III.
- The example for the Fated Path Merit mentions a nightclub called Neon Lady. Lady Neon is a Faerie Queen whose court resembles a nightclub. The example itself resembles faerie tales about enchanted relatives, such as East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
- One of Searchlight's plot hooks strongly resembles Lakeside from American Gods.
- Philidelphia's Changeling Freehold is lead by an expy of Beast.
- A very obscure one. The final Status bonus for the Lord Stewards says "You can command no power, but after a lifetime of service you need only ask". This is a reference to a webcomic called Shades.
- The Disney Fairies franchise was created by a Task Force: Valkyrie plot to discredit the existence of real faeries.
- Technical Pacifist: The Stewards are the only Conspiracy without a single Endowment that can be used offensively and legally they cannot carry guns. They are part of the government, they have an army for stuff like that.
- Troubled, but Cute: The Wilde Society are brilliant artists and some of the least violent hunters you'll ever meet, they're also insane glamor junkies.
- Virgin Power: Losing your virginity is listed as one of the ways a person might lose the Sight. However, it is also listed as one of the ways a person might gain it.
