The Unofficial, Unauthorized, and Unasked For Guide to Writing On The Hunter List

Welcome to the Hunter list. Congratulations, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into.

This list is for telling stories set in White-Wolf's world of Hunter. HUNTER. Repeat after me, folks. Hun-ter.

Right off the bat, that tells us several things. This list is for stories about the Imbued. As much as you might want to tell stories about ghouls, vampires who hunt vampires, witch-hunting cyborgs, werewolves, or demon-slaying ghosts, this is not the place.

That might seem obvious, but the place would be a World of Darkness menagerie if some had their way. One time, we had a guy who thought that Hunters were too twinky, so he wanted to play a cyborg, instead.

So, the first thing you should know about the Hunter list: If you don't want to play a Hunter, you need to find another list.

That does mean, incidentally, that Demon Hunter X, Strike Force Zero, Project Twilight, the Arcanum, and any other group out there that I missed are also out. That ain't what this is about. This isn't about Inquisitors with flamethrowers and the backing of the Catholic Church, it's about a guy hiding in his garage, desperately clutching a shovel while hearing noises outside.

The second thing that pisses people off is when someone shows up and proclaims that, while they only found the list yesterday, they have been hunting for two and a half years. While there is a place for that if you know what you're doing, all too often it's an excuse for making a character with more dots on the sheet. And, quite frankly, it's usually pretty lame. Just for your reference: If there are any of the first wave of imbued who haven't found the list yet, they're not going to.

Third: Do not decide that your character is going to be the one who tells us everything there is to know about the World of Nastiness. No one likes a know it all, and half the fun is trying to figure it out with fresh eyes. Werewolves, vampires, and mages all have very strict rules about cluing in mere mortals. Your hunter is not going to be one of them, especially if you go around killing stuff. We don't care if you have a werewolf lover, chances are, if she knows a lot about werewolf society, she also knows what the penalty is for breaching the Veil.

Fourth: Practical advice here, from someone who's been there: Action sequences may be a lot of fun to write. I know I've had fun writing them. But, unless you're the author, they're usually not all that interesting to read.

Fifth: We could honestly care less about your character's soundtrack. Music playing against or with the action does not work in text.

Sixth: Body counts do not impress us. I don't care if you've killed a hundred vampires. Nor will I believe it if your current antagonist is responsible for fifty or one hundred deaths. The Son of Sam had a single-digit body count and held New York City in terror for weeks.

By the same token, wiping cities off the map with volcanoes and whatnot is also too much. Do what you want in your TT games, but it is possible to have horror without martial law, terror without thousands dead, and ruin things for your characters without ruining the world. Part of the point of the World of Darkness is that, despite all the nastiness out there, everything stays covered up. Not only that, but if you want to come onto this list, you're asking to share the world. You can't mess it up too much for everyone else to play with it.

Seventh: Distinguish IC and OOC very clearly. When talking about things IC, it is your character talking, not you. When talking about IC things OOC, refer to your speaking voice as "my character," not "I". This will help to avoid confusion later on. Trust me.

Eighth: While we're on the subject, we're all storytellers here. Since we all have our own stories, and there is no real authority figure to appeal to, we need to stick as close to the book as possible. While I'm sure that your Hunter retrofit of Call of Cthulhu makes for a great TT game, it's not appropriate for this forum.

Ninth: Also while we're on the subject, it's only polite to ask before trying to interject yourself into another's story. You'd expect it of them, so they have the right to expect it of you. If they say no, they might have something in the works, or might not want to work with someone on that particular story. If someone asks, and you turn them down, be polite. It never hurts to be polite.

Tenth: If you do want to work with someone, be sure to do your part. Don't sit back and expect them to do the work for you. If you're going to be busy, and not going to have time to work on the collaboration, you really, really shouldn't do it, no matter how much you want to. If you agree to collaborate, you have a positive obligation to work on that collaboration until it's over. It's no different than promising to feed your neighbor's dog while she's gone.

Eleventh: Hunter is a game that deals with the fantastic in a realistic setting. That does not mean that you should ignore reality. Arson and shootings are investigated, and promptly. People do not ignore the sound of a chainsaw at 3:00am. People do have to work in order to support themselves. Be sure to keep the real in mind when writing, and you will do much better.

Twelfth: Don't be a kiss-ass, and don't expect your ass to be kissed. But, if someone posts something really good, a little PR message telling them "Good job" wouldn't be out of line. If someone asks for criticism, be constructive. And, no, you do not have to blow sunshine up their asses, nor should you be expected to.

Thirteenth: Spelling and grammar count. Little mistakes can be overlooked, because everyone makes them. But, if you need help, there is no shame in using a spellchecker or a grammar checker. It makes a big difference in how your story is received.

Fourteenth: Use paragraphs. Really. It makes things much easier to read. A huge block of dense text can put off even me, and such things don't usually intimidate me. This is not the same as a written page, and reading such blocks of text can be very difficult in most email programs.

Fifteenth: Fully flesh out all your major characters, avoiding red-shirts and randomthugs if at all possible. No one cares if your heretofore-unmentioned sister dies, because we've formed no attachment to that character. But, if each character has a distinct personality and set of goals, the story is that much better.

That might seem like a lot, and it is. But, if you keep all that together, your story will be much better. I learned a lot of this stuff through trial and error. After I got all this firmly planted in my head, my writing improved dramatically.

Have fun, and tell me a story.

The Student