Matthew Dawkins, Jason Inczauskis

and Lauren Roy

TENDING THE FLAME

Credits
Developer: Eric Zawadzki
Writers: Matthew Dawkins, Jason Inczauskis,
Lauren Roy
Editor: Matt Click
Art: Tilen Javornik, Mark Kelly, Alex Sheikman,
James Stowe
Art Direction and Design: Mike Chaney
Creative Director: Richard Thomas

© 2023 PARADOX INTERACTIVE AB.

All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written consent of the publisher is expressly forbidden,
except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for
personal use only. Vampire and Chronicles of Darkness are registered trademarks of Paradox
Interactive AB (publ).
All rights reserved. Vampire: The Requiem, Changeling: The Lost, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Deviant:
The Renegades, Mummy: The Curse, Hunter: The Vigil, Mage: The Awakening, and Storytelling
System are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB (publ). All rights reserved.
2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One: The Cell 5 Status 27 Temporary Symbiont 45

Aegis Kai Doru 28 Enkoimesis 45
One Candle Lights Another 5
The Enemy 28 Achieving Enkoimesis 45
Found Family and Community 8
Hunters 28 Allergy Diagnosis 45
Tactics 8
Areas 29 Calming Touch 45
Chapter Two: Status 29 Healing Hands 46
Compacts and Conspiracies 11 Asclepeion 30 Plague Doctor 46
The Compact 11 The Enemy 30 Shared Life 46
The Conspiracy 11 Hunters 31 The Horror Within 46
Practices 31 A Mirror Darkly 46
Ashwood Abbey 12 Slasher’s Shadow 46
The Enemy 12 Status 31
Inexorable 47
Hunters 12 Campion Wildlife Services 32
Ground-Eating Stride 47
Cliques 13 The Enemy 32
Harry 47
Status 13 Hunters 33
The Fiend Unleashed 47
Crimson Halo 14 Branches 33
Infusion 47
The Enemy 14 Status 33
Preparing Infusions 48
Hunters 14 The Enigmatics 34 Inferno Flask 48
Styles 15 The Enemy 34 Lesser Infusion 48
Status 15 Hunters 34 Liquid Courage 48
The Crossroads Convoy 16 Trends 35 Primal Heart Elixir 48
The Enemy 16 Status 35 Wandering Scarecrow 48
Hunters 17 Operation Nebula 36 Inspiration 49
Paths 17 The Enemy 36 Crafting Masterworks 49
Status 17 Hunters 37 Depths of Depravity 49
The Eden Covenant 18 Theories 37 Hunger of the Wolf 49
The Enemy 18 Status 37 The Lonely Ones 50
Hunters 18 The Survivors Club 38 Pallid Bust of Pallas 50
Sects 19 The Enemy 38 The Red Wax Mask 50
Status 19 Hunters 39 Lives Remembered 51
Keepers of the Source 20 Chapters 39 Old Enemies 51
The Enemy 20 Status 39 Remembered Skill 51
Hunters 20 Watchers 40 Time Capsule 51
Outlooks 20 The Enemy 40 Visions Out of Time 51
Status 21 Hunters 40 Whispers from Babel 51
Outlooks 40 Relics 52
Las Guadañas 22
Status 40 Using Relics 52
The Enemy 22
Doru Talisman 52
Hunters 22 The White Hare Society 42
Eye of Hubris 52
Obligations 23 The Enemy 42
One-Eyed Kings 52
Status 23 Hunters 42
Zenobia’s Golden Chain 52
Night Watch 24 Guilds 42
Xenotechnology 53
The Enemy 24 Status 42
Crafting Gizmos 53
Hunters 25 Endowments 44 Cloaking Device 53
Crews 25 Animal Control Kit 44 Cyberglass 53
Status 25 Accessing the Kit 44 Psi-Crown 53
The Recalibrators 26 Basic Field Kit 44 Ray Gun 54
The Enemy 26 Mobile Transport Unit 44 Scramblers 54
Hunters 26 Pheromone Blocker/Emitter 44
Roles 27 Envenomed Weapons 44
3
 The stakes in a Tier One game are often intensely per-
sonal: the hunters’ loved ones, their hometowns, and their old
haunts are all at risk. Community is essential to staving off the
overwhelming realization that monsters are real, and they’re
more numerous and powerful than one cell can ever deal with
alone. Not only are the people in their community the first
ones they ever protect from monsters, those same people give
hunters hope and remind them what they’re fighting for.
Beyond their home turf, hunters are also part of a
larger community of those who keep the Vigil, even if
they never join a compact or conspiracy. Hunting can
be lonely and dangerous, and sometimes it seems like
the monsters will win, but it’s people that keep you go-
ing. Through their interactions with others — sticking to
their Code and building a name as protectors — hunters
can find support close to home, even without the back-
ing of a compact or conspiracy.
One Candle Lights Another
Following her instincts is what keeps a hunter alive.
Yielding control to someone else, or doing something
their way, risks endangering herself and the people she’s
trying to protect. However, a veteran hunter’s experi-
ence and advice might save the group. Taking a small
risk now can have a big payoff later.
Hunters often butt heads, but the best ones put
their differences aside to do the job. The amount of
trust a person’s earned through their deeds and interac-
tions goes a long way toward convincing their peers to
follow their plan. If they have a history of having oth-
ers’ backs, a cell is more likely to hear them out than if
they’re known to cut and run to save their own asses.
The following is an optional system for adjudicating
in-character conflict. The system rewards teamwork and
healthy disagreement, making interpersonal conflict a
source of interesting drama while lowering potential
out-of-character tension at the table.
Social Currency
One Candle Lights Another relies on the exchange
of social currency. Characters accumulate points of social
currency through support and trust and building up
their reputation among others who keep the Vigil. They
lose points when their actions mark them as untrust-
worthy. A player spends this currency to sway others to “Was there any more repellent
their character’s cause, or to ensure that a group follows sight, Harriet wondered, than
their character’s proposed course of action. a silly, self-centered, greedy
• Once per scene, a character can gain a point by
woman clad in the skin of a
putting herself at risk or giving up something
beast so much more splendid
meaningful to help another character.
than herself?”
— Olivia Manning,
• Once per scene, a character can gain a point by The Spoilt City
putting herself at risk or giving up something
CHAPTER ONE: THE CELL
AGONISM AND THE CONTAGION CHRONICLE
This social conflict system derives from the agonism rules in The
Contagion Chronicle, which focuses on characters from different
Chronicles of Darkness games coming together to face a greater threat—
and the frictions that arise between them.
See The Contagion Chronicle, p.134, for a version of these rules not
specific to Hunter: The Vigil.
meaningful to hinder the enemy’s plans, or to
slow an enemy down.
• Once per scene, each character who participates
in a successful teamwork action or Tactic with
other player characters gains a point. If a character
has any points of social currency, whenever she’s
a secondary actor in such a teamwork action, her
player always adds at least one die to the primary
actor’s roll even if her roll fails; if she dramatically
fails, reduce the penalty she imposes on the
primary actor’s roll to –3.
• If the character has earned no other social
currency points this scene, if her actions in the
presence of others uphold or reinforce her Code
(Hunter: The Vigil, p. 79), she gains a point.
If she acts counter to her Code, she loses a
point. Her Code might differ from — or even in
opposition to — those of her peers. She’s judged
on her own integrity. If the character’s social
currency drops below 0, she immediately gains
the Guilty or Shaken Condition. Additionally,
she suffers one of these two Conditions (the
player chooses which) if she begins the chapter
with negative social currency.
• When a character resolves the Trusting Condition
(see below), she or the Trusted character gains
one point.
• When a character or group of characters wins
a negotiation (see below), distribute all social
currency points they bid equally among the losing
participants. A character who voluntarily capitulates
gains a Beat. If all parties agree to a compromise,
everyone gains one point and a Group Beat.
• At the end of a chapter, each player may award
one point to another whose character helped
theirs in some way. The character might have
talked someone through a tough moment, taken
a punch for them, or performed some other
meaningful action. These are usually smaller
6
moments that don’t receive Beats or other
rewards from the Storyteller.
• At the end of each chapter, all players move their
social currency total one point closer to 0: losing
a point if their value is positive, gaining one if it’s
negative, or staying the same if at 0. This reflects the
need for hunters to prove themselves to others in
their cell, compact, or conspiracy while recognizing
that sometimes, you must make the hard call.
Other hunters acknowledge that they’ve been in
that position before and redemption is possible.
Or, if they’ve been lucky enough not to have the
same experience, they know their day will come,
and they hope others will give them the same grace.
Negotiation
When two or more characters come into conflict
and players wish to resolve it using One Candle Lights
Another, they enter into a negotiation. The character with
the most social currency goes first. In a tie, the character
with the highest Composure acts first.
The first player bids an amount of social currency
they’re willing to spend to assert their character’s will.
Other players may top that offer, bidding in order of
highest social currency to lowest (using Composure to
break ties). Each character who participates presents an
argument, bribe, threat, or the like with his bid, attempt-
ing to sway others to his cause. Continue around the
table until the highest bid goes unchallenged.
The character whose player bid the highest wins the
negotiation; everyone else takes back their bid points.
The winner (or winners, in the case of a partial com-
promise) distributes their bid points equally among the
other participants. Leftover points vanish.
Capitulation: Any character may voluntarily capitu-
late on his turn. He withdraws from the negotiation and
keeps his social currency. The character keeps any benefits
or points he gained from the list above and gains a Beat. If
he suffers from the Guilty or Shaken Conditions, he may
resolve the Condition instead of taking the Beat. (He still
gains the Beat for resolving the Condition).
 Found Family and Community

NEW CONDITION: TRUSTING (PERSISTENT)

Through experience, shared risk, and having each other’s backs, you
place your trust in a companion.
Gain bonus dice equal to the number of invested social currency points
to any teamwork or Tactics action you take with that character, whether
you’re the primary or secondary actor. Gain the same to rolls you make
to help him overcome emotional trials or negative mental influence,
including relevant Endowment rolls. That character’s player gains the
same bonus on all Social rolls he makes against yours. In a One Candle
Lights Another negotiation, you must capitulate to the trusted character
if you’d spend your last social currency point to outbid him.
Possible Sources: A cellmate invests social currency in your character.
Resolution: The trusted character meaningfully betrays the trust or
performs an action that costs your character something significant,
gaining one bonus success on the betraying action and a Willpower
point; you regain all invested social currency +1.
Alternatively, the trusted character affirms the trust by making a
significant personal sacrifice on your character’s behalf, gaining
one bonus success on the sacrificial action and a Willpower point. You
regain all invested social currency points, and the trusted character
gains one. Beats earned through affirmation are Group Beats.
The Condition ends without resolving if either character permanently
leaves the cell.
Beat: An action or event proving the trust was well-placed.

Compromise: On his turn, a player may offer a com-
promise instead of a new bid. If the other participants
agree, the negotiation ends. Everyone keeps the currency
they bid, and each participant gains one point of social
currency. In addition, players choose one character who
receives a Beat. Usually this is the person who negotiated
the compromise, but might be someone who facilitated the
argument or swayed others to their side.
Partial Compromise: If only some participants accept
the compromise, negotiation continues. However, those
who accepted the compromise may pool their currency to
outbid the other parties; they draw points evenly from each
character’s total.
Participants: Only one character per side of a con-
flict may participate in a negotiation. If multiple char-
acters share the same view, they choose one person to
represent them. At any time, a character who wants to
present a new argument may join the negotiation.
Trusting: A character with the Trusting Condition
may not spend his last point to outbid a participant
he trusts. If it comes down to that, he must capitulate;
however, he gains the same benefits as if he gave in
voluntarily.
As the Storyteller, you’re allowed to deny players use
of this system if they’re not engaging with it in good
faith — for example, if they enter negotiations only to
immediately capitulate or compromise, following the
course of action the group wanted to pursue anyway.
One Candle Lights Another is intended to settle real,
in-character conflicts and reward those who take one for
the team.
Likewise, if players are content to settle differences
through roleplay, don’t force them to use the system.
It’s a helpful tool in the toolbox, but not a required one.
Suggest it if in-character discussions hit a stalemate, or
tensions rise out-of-character. Only move forward with
One Candle Lights Another if everyone involved in the
negotiation agrees to its use.
Investment
A player may invest between one and three social
currency points into another character as long as she has
enough points to do so. This represents a significant lev-
el of trust between them — something that’s hard to earn
among wary hunters. The character who is the target of
this investment doesn’t add the currency to her pool.
Instead, she gains the Trusting Condition (see above)
with respect to the former’s character. A character may
have this Condition multiple times to represent trust in
multiple companions.
7
CHAPTER ONE: THE CELL
Found Family and Community
Hunters who join compacts and conspiracies can rely on
their organizations for funding, weapons, research, and vari-
ous favors from politicians or law enforcement. Those hunt-
ers whose influence only extends to their cell often must bal-
ance paying the rent with keeping their neighborhoods safe.
This doesn’t mean they’re alone. Their cell and the people
they protect become their support base, and while they rarely
have arsenals of innovative weapons for hunters to dip into,
people in the community often provide food, shelter, and
information to their protectors. A wise hunter doesn’t look
at her neighbors as commodities, but fosters a relationship
with them and learns who in their orbit can get shit done.
Hunters also reach out to other hunters for infor-
mation or — on rare occasions — call them in as backup
for bigger operations. They swap stories and commis-
erate over drinks, or give a newbie a quick lesson in
how not to shoot yourself in the foot. Even if they’re
not formally part of a compact, the larger network of
hunters in a region may become something of a found
family. If one’s own cellmates are like their siblings,
other cells are cousins and distant relatives. Maybe you
only see them once or twice a year, but they’re another
connection you can rely on every so often. The Landry
Street cell has a vampire expert, let’s call them is the new
Your cousin Avery’s an electrician, she can look at that short.
Storytellers using the social currency system in
their games may wish to allow players to spend some
of their accumulated points on small favors from the
cell’s community. This represents the trust they’ve built
up in their area. Spending points also encourages play-
ers to rely on these resources thoughtfully: If characters
are perpetually using the corner store’s back room as a
cut-through to the alley, the owner’s goodwill eventually
wears thin. Likewise, if they keep calling in favors from
other hunters without repaying them, their cell’s reputa-
tion takes a hit.
This optional system doesn’t replace Merits like
Allies or Contacts. Storytellers may deny expenditures
if players rely on them too often or add restrictions to
the limits proposed below (for example, declaring that a
particular Storyteller character can only help the charac-
ters once per story). The beat cop might let a hunter off
with a warning once, but if he’s not an Ally or Contact,
the next time he catches her trespassing he won’t be so
lenient.
• Once per chapter, spend 1 point to gain a small
benefit from someone outside of your Allies or
Contacts. This might be a meal from a neighbor,
a couch to crash on, or borrowing a coworker’s
car for a day.
8
• Once per chapter, spend 3 points for a larger favor,
such as an office worker slipping you a keycard, or
a police officer running a target’s license plate.
• Once per chapter, spend 5 points to gain help
from a hunter outside your cell. For example,
they might impersonate someone in authority
for you or introduce you to one of their contacts.
Tactics
The following are new Tactics for characters to use.
Field Medicine (Mental)
If you don’t patch up your injured ally, he cannot
run when you Scatter, or will bleed out before you can
get to a hospital. The primary actor does the doctoring,
while secondary actors gather medical supplies, hold off
the monster’s minions, or secure an exit.
Requirements: Primary actor: Medicine 2. The target’s
rightmost Health box must be filled with lethal damage.
Action: Instant.
Dice Pools: Primary: Dexterity + Medicine;
Secondary: Dexterity + Medicine (gathering supplies,
0/2); Strength + Brawl or Weaponry, or Dexterity +
Firearms (defending the cell’s position, 1/2); Dexterity
+ Stealth (securing an exit, 0/2)
Roll Results
Success: The damage in the target’s rightmost Health
box is downgraded by one level until the scene ends, and
he regains consciousness if he’d passed out. Additionally,
he gains the Beaten Down Tilt. The damage returns when
the character is out of immediate danger and must be
treated as normal. Any Tilts incurred still apply.
Exceptional Success: As a success, plus ignore one
Tilt that reflects a physical injury until the scene ends,
or downgrade a Tilt reflecting two injuries to one (for ex-
ample, a character suffering from two separate instances
of Arm Wrack may ignore one). If no Tilts apply, the
character doesn’t suffer the Beaten Down Tilt.
Failure and Dramatic Failure: The target isn’t sta-
bilized and gains the Insensate or Stunned Tilt. The pri-
mary actor suffers the Stumbled Condition.
Infiltration (Physical)
Getting into the enemy’s lair can tell you a lot about
them, but sometimes it’s better to steal a keycard rather
than kick in the door. The primary actor does the ac-
tual breaking in. Secondary actors perform recon be-
forehand (such as acquiring blueprints, finding gaps in
patrols, pinpointing camera blind spots, or avoiding se-
curity systems) and act as lookouts during the operation.
Requirements: Primary actor: Stealth 3+. Secondary
actors: 2+ in Skills used for this Tactic.

Action: Instant and contested. Everyone must
spend at least one hour gathering intel and planning
the infiltration.
Dice Pools: Primary: Dexterity + Stealth vs. Wits +
Composure. Secondary actors: Wits + Computer (hack-
ing security systems, 0/2); Intelligence + Investigation
(acquiring blueprints, studying patrol patterns, 1/2);
Strength + Brawl or Weaponry, Wits + Drive, or
Dexterity + Firearms (taking out security guards, driving
the getaway car 1/2)
Roll Results
Success: The primary actor enters the monster’s
inner sanctum. She may make up to 3 Investigation,
Larceny, or Occult rolls before needing to exit.
Exceptional Success: As a success, plus all charac-
ters involved gain the Informed Condition about the
monster.
Failure and Dramatic Failure: On a failure, the
monster is not only alerted to the intruder’s presence,
but it also learns something about the infiltrators: their
names, where they’re from, or some other piece of iden-
tifying information.
Bluff (Social)
Some monsters surround themselves with lackeys
and hangers-on who restrict access to them. The hunter
Tactics
plays the part of a VIP or intimidating figure to get past
the gatekeepers. The primary actor interacts with the
monster’s people. Secondary actors create her fake so-
cial media presence or act as the primary’s bodyguards
and support staff.
Requirements: Primary actor: Intimidation,
Persuasion, or Socialize 3+.
Action: Instant and contested
Dice Pools: Primary Presence + Intimidation,
Persuasion, or Socialize vs. Composure + Empathy +
Potency of lead gatekeeper. Secondary: Intelligence +
Computer (creating fake accounts, 0/1), Manipulation +
Subterfuge vs. Composure + Empathy (acting as support
staff, 1/3; distracting additional targets, 0/2), Composure
+ Intimidation (acting as bodyguards, 1/3)
Roll Results
Success: The primary actor bluffs her way past any
gatekeepers, convincing them that the target is expect-
ing her, or that she’s someone they’d get in trouble for
turning away.
Exceptional Success: As success, plus the primary
actor gains the Inspired Condition.
Failure and Dramatic Failure: Not only do the
monster’s people turn the characters away, but her reti-
nue also now recognize the characters on sight and are
aware someone was trying to breach their security.
9
 The Vigil marks a hunter’s psyche, separating them for-
ever from their mundane life. They can’t confide in friends or
family, out of fear of ridicule or endangering their loved ones.
Still, hunters remain human, and humans crave contact with
like-minded individuals. Compacts unite hunters with similar
backgrounds or experiences, offering a sense of belonging and
proof the perils faced aren’t imaginary figments. Conspiracies
engage them in more over philosophical or religious questions,
calling them to act under one large, possibly mysterious banner.

The Compact
Compacts rise and fall quickly in hunter society,
and those lasting more than a century show remarkable
staying power. Many dissolve after the founding mem-
bers’ deaths, or the hunters disperse to other organiza-
tions better reflecting their methods or goals. Others
fall when they’re infiltrated by the enemy, destroying
them from within. Rarely, compacts develop a special
edge over their foes, expanding into a conspiracy.

The Conspiracy
Conspiracies bring greater power and resources to the
Vigil than other hunter organizations. Their Endowments
provide agents with edges against the enemy, and their larg-
er size and reach helps them survive the attentions of their
foes. Even the most thorough attacks are unlikely to wipe
out conspiracies in their entirety as their hunters are spread
through too much of the world.
”So you’re saying we just talk our way past a mummy’s high
priest? Are you out of your mind?”
Wes was incredulous and not shy about expressing it. He rein-
forced the point by making his appearance on screen an alarmed-
looking mouse with a question mark above his head.
The old man at the other end of the video call sighed. Dealing
with Mr. Franks and Mr. Morris tested his patience and experience.
“It’s how we did it in the old days, Mr. Franks. You and
Robert... Mr. Morris... will be fine if you can talk the talk. After
you’re through the antechamber, that’s where Mr. Morris’s wall
crawling and shadow hopping will become useful, as all bets will
from that point be off.”
Morris piped up from the background of Wes Franks’ room.
“Urban exploration, Winters. I’m not Spider-Man.” “The wolf is made the way
Alexander Winters leaned back in his seat, narrowed his eyes, the world is made. You cannot
and sipped his vodka. He thought back to his time with the Loyalists touch the world. You cannot
of Thule twenty years before and the time his team hunted a werespi- hold it in your hand for it is
der in the same block Franks and Morris were about to investigate. made of breath only.”
Maybe it’s still there, serving this Arisen. — Cormac McCarthy,
“No, Mr. Morris. You are not Spider-Man. But The Crossing
if you possess an ounce of his charm, you’ll talk
your way into the lion’s den and beard it before it wakes.”
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

When one’s wealth provides everything desired and prevents repercussions,

life becomes tedious. Even before the Hellfire Club’s first tragic supernatural
encounter, Ashwood Abbey offered the rich and powerful an escape from
endless ennui. Following the werewolf attack, Ogilvy shifted the Abbey’s
focus to hunting the supernatural, and they’ve never looked back.
Ashwood Abbey hunts for the thrill. While some possess a moral com-
pass or sense of noblesse oblige, for many members any good accomplished
by their hunts is simply incidental. Excitement’s the primary goal, and mem-
bers of the Abbey could befriend, seduce, or taunt a monster as readily
as slay it. For some, none of these exclude the others. The most
twisted members get their kicks from torture and violating ta-
boos or forcing others to do so. This sours the Abbey’s repu-
tation, so other hunters regard offers of their resources and
connections as a deal with the Devil.
The Enemy
Ashwood Abbey engages in a baffling diversity of ap-
proaches to the Vigil. Always searching for novelty, they take
needless risks even following a successful hunt, often capturing
their quarry. Some groups toy with their prey before releasing
them, while others concoct elaborate games to play. One chap-
ter harries their prey to exhaustion, only to invite them to a party
when the monster surrenders. Another traps monsters with hunters in
escape rooms with lethal consequences for failure. While their lives
may be cut short, they won’t be boring. Other hunters often consider
Ashwood Abbey depraved, partly because the worst draw so much
attention. The thrills sought by these individuals sometimes foretell
future slashers, leading some chapters to arrange “accidents” for
members who consistently take things too far.
Hunters
You should be dead. Even before facing your first monster,
the adrenaline rush of suicidal risks was addictive. Now, mon-
ster hunting is the ultimate extreme sport.
You never could resist tantalizing secrets. You earned
your fortune extorting wealthy individuals. Several hope
you’ll meet an “accident” on a hunt, but you’ve never felt
more alive.
You’ve always fallen for interesting people, thriving on
being linked to famous and powerful figures. The fact your
new love isn’t human doesn’t discourage you.

12

Cliques
Competitors approach the Vigil as a game they’ll
win at any cost. Most obey rules to keep the game “fair”
and interesting, though these may not be obvious to any-
one else.
The Pursuit collects forbidden secrets, reveling in a
greater understanding of the world’s mysteries than the
ignorant masses. Some even seek to harness the energies
of the Abbey’s bacchanalia to elevate the compact into
a true conspiracy.
Libertines violate every boundary they can, and
many are depraved even by the Abbey’s standards.
Placing their own pleasures above all, they can be dan-
gerous loose cannons.
Compact: Ashwood Abbey
Status
The more entertaining and impressive your exploits
are, the higher your esteem in Ashwood Abbey rises.
• You’re the life of every party, gaining the
Barfly Merit.
••• The local chapter’s clubhouse provides two
dots of Safe Place spread between Arsenal,
Escape Hatch, and Home Security.
••••• Ashwood Abbey supplies you with worldwide
connections, granting Contacts in Legal Aid,
Vice, Arms Trafficking, and Ashwood Abbey
Networking.
13
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

The world’s oldest profession receives little respect. Sex workers of

all varieties struggle to survive in a society which shuns, exploits, and
objectifies them. Monsters see vulnerable prey, ignored and un-
missed. Nobody mourns a whore. Crimson Halo refuses to
tolerate this.
When Camila LeClaire’s daughter went missing, the rac-
ist authorities laughed, insisting she ran off with a man dur-
ing Mardi Gras. When her brutalized corpse turned up on
the brothel’s doorstep, they still laughed. LeClaire wouldn’t be
denied justice. When she finally tracked down the perpetrator,
she gathered friends to help, and the Storyville Avengers were
formed. Slaying the cruel cyclops responsible and liberating
his prisoners proved rumors of inhuman creatures preying
upon prostitutes weren’t mere tales. Following Storyville’s
1917 shutdown, the group expanded their operations
throughout the city, taking their new name from the red ring
they painted in areas under their protection.
Crimson Halo now watches over society’s underdogs
in several cities, offering hope, purpose, and respect to
its members and its wards. Recruiting from the ranks of
victimized sex workers and abused minorities, Crimson
Halo turns society’s castoffs into weapons against those
who’d exploit them.
The Enemy
Crimson Halo targets human monsters as much as
supernatural ones. Patrolling red-light districts, strip clubs,
brothels, and drug dens, Crimson Halo watches over those
society shuns, serving as advocates, guardians, and aveng-
ers. Their compassion for victims runs deep, but they’re
merciless toward the monsters who harmed them. They
often run afoul of vampires and creatures feeding on fear
and misery, which they eliminate quickly. Organized op-
erations require more nuanced methods to expose all in-
volved. Sex trafficking rings, in particular, draw their ire.
Other hunter organizations and even some monsters make
welcome allies, provided they respect Crimson Halo’s wards
and don’t treat them as expendable.
Hunters
Passed from owner to owner for decades, you’d given
up hope for a life and body you could call your own. When

14

Crimson Halo freed you, you vowed to make every bas-
tard selling human lives pay.
You loved the lust in your clients’ eyes. People
shunned you by day, but by night they were yours. You
felt powerful, until a vampire drained you and chucked
your “corpse” in a dumpster. You barely survived, but
nobody will make you feel powerless again.
You were the only family member still speaking to
your brother after he started stripping. When he van-
ished from the club, you swore you’d find him. Whether
you do or not, you will let no one else share his fate.
Styles
Angels patrol suspected hunting grounds, watching
for unusual activity and preparing to rescue victims at
the first sign of trouble.
Songbirds advocate for victims and work to expose cor-
ruption and trafficking operations to the harsh light of day.
Compact: Crimson Halo
Spiders entrap their prey, often using themselves as
bait to lure them into inescapable positions.
Status
Crimson Halo grants Status to hunters who save
lives and bring down exploitative operations.
• Crimson Halo has welcomed you into its
ranks. Gain a free Skill Specialty in Persuasion
or Streetwise related to your experiences.
••• You’ve developed a knack for setting people at
ease, gaining the Sympathetic Merit.
••••• You’ve witnessed a lot on your Vigil. Gain
three dots of Allies or Contacts reflecting
people you’ve convinced (or extorted) into
helping you.
15
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Travelers make easy prey. Unfamiliar locations render them more vul-
nerable, and sometimes days pass before anyone realizes they’re missing. The
Crossroads Convoy places travelers under its aegis, ensuring as
many travelers safely reach their destination as possible.
When the creature devoured his friend, Lloyd Davidson
ran. He lived out of his truck, desperately avoiding his home-
town, but his encounter haunted him. While sheltering in
the Crossroads Diner with several other travelers, he related
his tale for the first time. Others shared their own stories, many
laughing at the bizarre scenarios, until the first corpse broke
through the window. Several fell to the shambling dead before
they mounted a defense, but Lloyd took charge. Soon they were
evacuating the diner, cutting a path through the horde to reach the
largest trucks. Piling the survivors inside, they plowed through the
dead, driving until daylight. Many lived because of their actions,
and Lloyd vowed he was through running. Allying with the other
drivers, they pledged to keep the roads safe for all.
The Crossroads Convoy has steadily expanded, drawing mem-
bers from the ranks of truckers, hitchhikers, motorcycle gangs,
and other travelers. Cellphones have improved communications
beyond what the old system of CB radio codes and graffiti could
allow, though most information still spreads through stories told in din-
ers and truck stops. When members of the Convoy retire from the Vigil,
they often set up hideouts or serve as communication hubs between active
members.
The Enemy
The Crossroad Convoy’s hunters endlessly travel, many sacrificing any
semblance of permanent homes for the Vigil. While some attribute this to
wanderlust, many hope to prevent monsters from retaliating against their
loved ones. Some members travel established routes or pick random destina-
tions. Others ride public transit systems, watching for threats lurking among
the commuters and visitors. While some hunters dismiss them as cowards,
many are surprised by their network’s effectiveness. Moving people and sup-
plies is simple when you’re traveling anyway, and they’re able to carry mes-
sages and equipment between hunter cells without raising suspicions. While
they’re quick to eliminate monsters targeting travelers, their mobility also allows
them to swoop in to deal with territorial threats before disappearing into the
back roads once more.
16

Hunters
You said there was someone else. It killed you to
lie, but you couldn’t have her looking for you, and you
couldn’t have that thing track you to her doorstep.
You never avoid bad neighborhoods. Your cab’s
been a welcome sight to many, and when panicked pas-
sengers spout unbelievable stories, you listen intently.
You sold your soul at the crossroads. Now the Devil’s
coming to collect, but he must find you first.
Paths
Guides help travelers reach their destinations safely,
whether that entails fixing a flat, providing an emergen-
cy ride, or slaying a monster in pursuit.
Chasers heed whispers of bizarre phenomena and in-
human disturbances, journeying to exotic locales or the
middle of nowhere in search of the monsters responsible.
Compact: Crossroads Convoy
Vandals drive people away from dangerous locations
and mysterious places, usually by concealing or damag-
ing the areas to make them seem ominous.
Status
Members of the Crossroads Convoy find rumors and
firsthand accounts carry their reputations everywhere.
• You know your way around. Gain the Back
Road Atlas or Direction Sense Merit.
••• You encounter many interesting people on
the road. Gain two dots of Contacts reflect-
ing some of these unique individuals.
••••• Even the busiest travelers must rest. You know
several hideouts the Convoy maintains. Gain
three separate one-dot Safe Place Merits.
17
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

The Lamplighters began with a simple mission — to comfort and aid those coping
with missing persons. They particularly focused on those who’d recovered their runaway
or abductee, but remained convinced they were actually an impostor. The Lamplighters
took such claims seriously and investigated individuals to determine their humanity. In the
worst cases, they stepped in personally to stop monstrous replacements.
Things became problematic when they in-
ducted the host of “The Eden Herald with Ernie
Copeland,” a televangelist who never met an
-ism he couldn’t exploit. Copeland publicized
his family feud, claiming demons had replaced
them. When he tearfully attended a Lamplighters
meeting, they took him at his word, revealing
the truth. Charismatic and manipulative, he
climbed the ranks swiftly. Pouring his own
resources into the organization, he entwined
it with his ministry, rebranding it the Eden
Covenant. His ulterior motive was to publicly
unmask a demon and secure billions from donations to his holy war ef-
fort. Obsessively tracking a patchwork monstrosity, he captured a mere hu-
man without recollection of its past. This horrified Copeland. Monsters
impersonating humans were bad enough, but actually becoming human
was unbearable. He wouldn’t let these creatures steal God’s gift to human-
ity and gain immortal souls.
Now, the Eden Covenant’s divided against itself. Copeland’s extremism
grows, but his charisma, resources, and conviction attract more followers.
The Lamplighters pursue their original mission, but Copeland draws off
members and resources by promising answers and divine justice. As the
Lamplighters struggle to maintain their purpose and Copeland’s faction
grows in influence, the compact threatens to split, leaving both vulnerable.
The Enemy
The Eden Covenant’s primary enemies remain the doppelgangers steal-
ing human lives, but Copeland has broadened their focus since his rise to
power. Any monster aping humanity must be destroyed. He encourages
paranoia and mercilessness in his followers. The Lamplighters, true to their
original purpose, also aid those affected by monsters’ actions.
Hunters
Your lover was struck by a drunk driver, crumbling into leaves and twigs
as you cradled their body in your arms. Convinced it wasn’t really them, you’ll
recover them at any cost.

18

Years after your father’s funeral, his voice called
from the shadows, sending chills up your spine. It’s hap-
pened several times since. Maybe with new friends, you’ll
finally muster the courage to step into the darkness.
Your life was going nowhere, until Reverend
Copeland set you back on track. You’d follow him to
the ends of the Earth. If he says demons masquerade as
humans, you’ll find them.
Sects
The Lamplighters focus on the compact’s
original objectives, offering aid to those cop-
ing with lost loved ones and stopping those
who’d steal away another.
Eden’s Vanguard subscribes to
Copeland’s views, safeguarding human-
ity’s sacred legacy against those who’d dare
seize it for themselves.
The Proctors take advantage of the in-
fighting among the larger factions to collect
Compact: Eden Covenant
information. Seeking foolproof methods to distinguish
impostors, they kidnap suspects, subjecting them to in-
terrogation and experimentation to discern their true
identities.
Status
The Eden Covenant honors those bringing closure
to bereft families or protecting humanity from beguiling
doppelgangers.
• It’s difficult to identify impostors, but the
compact has experience. Gain the 8-again
quality when using the Identification or
Profiling Tactics.
••• Showing or faking compassion has become
second nature, granting the Sympathetic
Merit.
••••• You effectively motivate people. Gain the
Inspiring Merit.
19
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

While many environmental activists speak metaphorically when they claim they hear
the Earth’s cries, the Keepers of the Source mean it literally. Founded in San Francisco by
the New Age mystic Starflower, this compact attempts to stop supernatural creatures who
draw on Mother Earth’s power to feed their own.
In their early years, the Dowsing Society attempted to peacefully confront
those whose practices harmed Mother Earth. However, a schism grew
between the pacifist, Starflower, and her protégé, Duncan Redgrove, who
believed only drastic actions could put an end to the monsters’ harmful
practices. When Starflower was hospitalized after a good-faith discussion
turned violent, Redgrove seized control. Under him, the Dowsers planted
car bombs, spiked trees, and spilled blood to halt their targets’ depreda-
tions. Disgusted and disheartened, Starflower left. Redgrove rebranded
the group the Keepers of the Source.
After a suspicious lightning strike killed Duncan, his daughter Karen took
the reins. The group found a less violent middle ground for a while. However,
dire climate change forecasts and the recent spike in monstrous activity have
swung the compact back toward eco-terrorism. Starflower — now Meredith
Lehane — keeps tabs on her former associates, but is wary of offering her aid.
The Enemy
The Keepers concentrate their efforts on those who use mystical energy
— which they call the Source — to fuel spells, transformations, and other su-
pernatural abilities. While the Dowsers are aware of other monsters, these
only become their concern if their activities directly cause the Mother pain.
Dowsers have one goal: stop their targets hurting the Earth, whether
they wield supernatural power or are mundane humans with deep pock-
ets and destructive corporate practices. Redemption is a bonus, not an
objective.
Hunters
You’ve tended the Earth’s wounds for fifty years: planting trees, put-
ting your body on the line, begging others to listen. Time’s growing short
for you and Mother Earth, but hope endures.
Politicians suck up lobbyists’ money and bury laws that would actually
change things. It’s your world they’re destroying, so if they can’t give a shit,
you’ll save it yourself. Whatever it takes.
You clicked the hippie’s video because you were bored. Turns out, that
shit was important. Today you attended a protest. Tomorrow, you get your
hands dirty.
Outlooks
The Children of Gaia seek a return to Starflower’s original, peaceful
vision. All it takes to change the world is changing the right person’s heart.
20
 Compact: Keepers of the Source
Hands of the Mother believe in more direct (and of-
ten violent) action. They target those who use supernat-
ural powers that harm the Mother, whether the wielders
are monsters or humans.
Caretakers narrow their targets to supernaturals
working within mundane organizations. With their
monstrous backers’ influence removed, they believe
those entities will swiftly fold or reform.
Status
Hunters in the Keepers of the Source gain Status by
protecting Mother Earth and the Source.
• You’ve attended a few protests and under-
stand the basics. Gain a free Skill specialty in
Expression, Occult, or Politics.
••• Your defense of the Source has put you in tune
with Mother Earth. Gain the Unseen Sense
Merit, which lets you sense the Source.
••••• You’ve put your reputation or life on the
line, earning the respect and backing of elder
Keepers. Gain three dots to distribute among
Allies, Contacts, and Resources.
21
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Death can never be cheated. Las Guadañas embrace this as their sacred
commandment. Discontent to simply worship Death, the Scythes seek to
return those who’ve cheated her, by any means necessary. Originally
dating to secretive Aztec death cults, Las Guadañas continually
evolve with the times. In their modern incarnation, the Scythes
are widely known to human authorities as a transnational crimi-
nal syndicate whose members venerate the darkest aspects of
Santa Muerte.
Las Guadañas engage in multifarious illegal activities,
including drug trafficking, fraud, racketeering, smuggling,
theft, and contract killing. Authorities and criminal orga-
nizations warily engage Las Guadañas. Their willingness to
escalate confrontations makes every member dangerous,
whether they’re gang members covered in skull tattoos or
crooked businesspeople sporting scythe cufflinks.
Las Guadañas recruit members of their own families
and criminals who prove themselves. Initiation rites involve
“meeting the Lady” by suffering near death experiences.
Survivors are welcomed into their ranks and charged with
returning Death’s lost souls.
The Enemy
Las Guadañas target undead and immortal creatures,
whose very existence is blasphemous, an affront to Santa Muerte
and Death in all its forms. The Scythes maintain lists of such
creatures, striking against them and their mortal pawns at op-
portune moments. They show no mercy to interlopers, slay-
ing both monsters and humans interfering with their hunts
and criminal enterprises. Members of the compact don’t fear
death, nor do they concern themselves with collateral dam-
age. When ending lives, Las Guadañas offer them as sacri-
fices to Santa Muerte.
Hunters
The hit list has been passed down through your family
for generations. When Santa Muerte finally embraces you,
your descendants will inherit a much shorter one.
You found religion in prison. Through the Lady’s inter-
cession, you escaped. Now you serve her by showing these
bastards that immortal does not mean undying.
Once you smuggled antiquities for a cult serving
an immortal monster. When the Scythes slaughtered

22

it, you were spared and recruited to continue your work
for them.
Obligations
Los Sudarios construct an earthly kingdom of vice
in their goddess’s honor, furthering the compact’s crimi-
nal enterprises while rooting out monsters pulling un-
seen strings.
Los Verdugos return Death’s wayward souls to her,
slaying immortals and undead as offerings while seizing
their assets for Las Guadañas.
Los Segadores are fanatics even among Scythes,
whose practices the vast majority of devotees to Santa
Muerte would find repugnant. They kill monsters as a
sign of their devotion, praying to the Lady for protection
Compact: Las Guadanas
even as they accept that this time the sacrifice she de-
mands may be their own life.
Status
Las Guadañas elevate members performing impres-
sive feats on behalf of Death or the compact.
• You’ve embarked on your criminal career, gaining
a free Skill Specialty in Larceny or Streetwise.
••• Who says crime doesn’t pay? You receive two
dots of Resources.
••••• You’ve proven yourself to leadership, earning
a taste of their secret power. Gain the Medium
Merit.
23
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

From the moment the sun slips below the hori- waiting for someone to answer a knock, and they go in
zon until the first tendrils of dawn lighten the sky, the with guns drawn. When sleek town cars cruise down a
Night Watch is on patrol. They watch the last-call crowd poor neighborhood’s streets, they tap on the window and
trickle from the bar. They shine flashlights down dark see who’s inside.
subway tunnels. They ride near-empty trains at two A.M.
Monsters see them and think twice before they strike.
The original Night Watch formed in
Pittsburgh’s Hill district in 1970, when vam-
pires moved in to prey on a struggling neighbor-
hood. Vietnam vet Riley Lewis and his friend
Andre Sandoval gathered a couple of friends and
burned the vampires’ den with the monsters in-
side. They spraypainted Night Watch on the streets as
a warning to the enemy.
Soon, other Night Watches appeared, protecting
neighborhoods the things that go bump in the night.
Police and politicians called them vigilantes, but resi-
dents knew who kept them safe. Lewis died in 1990;
one of the first monsters he drove out of Pittsburgh
came back for revenge. Sandoval moved to Baton
Rouge. He uses a wheelchair now, follow-
ing a spinal injury. Damned few Street
Warriors retire, but he has earned
his rest.
The Enemy
The Night Watch fo-
cuses primarily on mon-
sters who prowl late at
night, but anything that lurks
in shadow and shuns the light
is fair game. Street Warriors pa-
trol in groups of two or more.
They’re proactive. If the cops even
bother responding, it’s too late
for the monster’s victim. If a pa-
trol hears a scream, they investigate.
They’ll kick down a door rather than
24

Hunters
You barely noticed the person dozing in your train
car, but when something slithered out of the dark on
your way home, he’s the one who saved you. You shud-
der to think what might’ve happened, so you ride the
midnight rails, watching over people who used to be like
you.
You were an urban explorer, poking around in
abandoned buildings and underground maintenance
tunnels — until you found that basement littered with
human bones. You ambushed and killed the unnatural
animal that lived there, but you’re convinced that worse
things lair beneath the city streets.
You’ve seen things as a night guard that would turn
most people’s hair white. The police never seemed to
take your frantic calls seriously, so now you deal with
such late-night disturbances yourself.
Crews
Street Angels make the rounds in neighborhoods,
night spots, and public transit, making sure the people
they protect are safe at night. Some say the wings tat-
tooed on their necks are symbolic; others insist they pro-
tect the hunters from monsters.
Compact: Night Watch
Ferrets explore sewers, subway tunnels, and other
subterranean places where many nocturnal monsters
hide during the day. They ambush the creatures as they
return from their depredations or lay waste to enemy
lairs to deny them any sense of safety.
The Graveyard Shift has the keys to a surprising
number of closed, private, and off-limits areas — wheth-
er it’s a custodian’s key to a city record building for mid-
night research or the master key to the building where
the monster has an apartment.
Status
Hunters in the Night Watch gain Status by beating
the monsters on the streets or in their lairs.
• You’re new to patrolling, but not to fight-
ing. Gain a Specialty in Brawl, Firearms,
Streetwise, or Weaponry.
••• You lead your own patrols and advise other
cells in your city. Gain two dots of Retainers.
••••• You have a ring of master keys heavy enough
to give someone a concussion. Gain three
dots of Allies representing those willing to
open doors for you — literally or figuratively.
25
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Society should function like a well-oiled machine. Everyone

has their place, their purpose, their own hopes and dreams. The
Recalibrators know the truth nobody dares admit: Entities of
unfathomable power lurk in our midst, pulling strings and
preying upon the weak. If humanity realizes their peril, pan-
ic will reign. Accusations fly, people die, and society tears
itself apart. That’s the best-case scenario.
Lachlean Janitorial concluded this after witnessing the
aftermath of a monster attack. Moonlighting as cleaners
for criminal syndicates, it wasn’t their first experience
with scenes of brutality, but it was the first they’d seen
beyond-human capabilities. They wasted little time
disposing of the evidence, vowing to keep such dangers
from the public’s eye.
Despite their short existence, the Recalibrators
have expanded their operation far beyond their
Australian origins. Most major cities host at least one
cell, though their influence remains limited. By cover-
ing up evidence of monstrous activity and promoting
mundane explanations for paranormal phenomena,
they hope to prevent an outright war humanity would
lose. When witnesses refuse to be swayed from their
experiences, they’re recruited or guided to more com-
patible hunter groups.
The Enemy
Hunters can’t save everyone. The Recalibrators
accept this, mitigating the damage monsters cause as
much as possible. When encountering evidence of mon-
ster activity, they collect what information they can before
covering it up. They prioritize stopping the most conspicu-
ous and deadly threats, leaving harmless monsters to their
own devices. When insurmountable threats loom, they protect
people through indirect methods, steering them away through
rumors or restricted access and encouraging witnesses to
accept mundane explanations. When the hunt ends,
the Recalibrators ensure no trace remains.
Hunters
The blood mingles with your tears as you scrub.
How much more will there be if it doesn’t come
clean? You scrub harder.

26
 Compact: Recalibrators

You’ve exterminated pests for years, but now you

hunt bigger prey. Some dead roaches do wonders for
Status
gaining unrestricted access. The Recalibrators are impressed by covering up
You spent your life debunking alleged paranormal higher profile incidents.
phenomena. Discovering the supernatural exists only • You conceal your activities admirably, gain-
changed your motive. ing the Cover Tracks, Spin Doctor, or
Roles Untouchable Merit.

Suits assume official roles, infiltrating fields includ- ••• You’ve seen the skeletons in the closet, gain-
ing journalism, law enforcement, politics, and medicine. ing two dots of Allies or Contacts among peo-
They cultivate respectable reputations to effectively bury ple you’ve assisted or extorted.
evidence or spread misinformation.
••••• You delegate authority, trusting in three dots
Cleaners eliminate physical evidence, erasing traces
of Retainer or Staff to carry out the tasks you
of broken claws, jagged wounds, or bloody sigils.
assign.
Scouts investigate local monsters’ habits and capa-
bilities to aid their allies and redirect the unsuspecting
public.

27
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

The world is full of lost treasures: pharaohs’ tombs, sunken

cities, armories full of heroes’ weapons and magical wonders.
Aegis Kai Doru were those treasures’ keepers, in the time before
the Great Flood. Now, they search for them anew and guard
those they retrieve.
Elders claim the conspiracy’s origins trace back to an an-
cient island city, where its members stored relics in the center of
a labyrinth. The island’s other inhabitants drove the Guardians
out over a forgotten quarrel, but before they could return, the
island sank. To this day, Guardians hold a grudge against the
shapeshifters whose hubris brought ruin and loss.
A thousand years later, they resurfaced in Troy and named
themselves Aegis Kai Doru: the Shield and Spear. They sought relics and
wielded their power against creatures of darkness. That practice continues
into the present day. Though its repositories exist throughout the world, the
conspiracy’s nine-member Inner Circle meets in Athens. There, it keeps re-
cords of members, creatures they’ve destroyed, and relics they’ve recovered.
The Guardians are selective about their membership, vetting recruits
for years. New hunters undergo a trial called the First Initiation, dur-
ing which they navigate an underground labyrinth while under the
effects of a hallucinogenic gas. If they can find the exit by dawn, they
take the Vow of the Sword and are welcomed as full members. Those
who prove themselves through extraordinary acts undergo the Second
Initiation, which reveals the conspiracy’s deeper secrets and grants ac-
cess to greater powers. Only a handful ever ascend to the Inner Circle.
The Enemy
When she takes the Vow of the Sword, the Guardian commits to de-
stroying “those who work magic and those who change skin.” While this
makes witches obvious targets, many other creatures fit those bills, leaving
Guardians with interesting philosophical questions. Likewise, not all
targets are actively causing harm, and some are more valuable to Aegis
Kai Doru alive — especially when they possess valuable information.
Hunters
You’ve always loved fieldwork. Being surrounded by ancient artifacts reminds you of
the beauty and potential humans have always displayed. When you discovered that hidden
28

room full of strange artifacts, your career took you in a
direction you never imagined.
You’re the heir to an ancient and powerful legacy.
Your family’s guarded this treasure for millennia, and
now it’s your job to protect it from falling into the
wrong hands.
The scholarly lady’s offer surprised you. You’d been
hunting for a year, but when you entered her library,
you discovered the mysteries went ever deeper. Now, you
hunger to know it all.
Areas
The Sword are the Guardians’ largest faction, who
hunt creatures of darkness.
The Temple keep the conspiracy’s relics safe from
thieves and acquire new ones as they’re discovered.
The Scroll are the keepers of the Guardians’ his-
tory. They test new relics and unlock their powers.
Conspiracy: Aegis Kai Doru
Status
Hunters in Aegis Kai Doru gain status by discov-
ering relics and their abilities, and using them against
monsters.
• You own at least one relic. When investigat-
ing a new, potential relic, you gain +2 to your
Investigation roll.
••• You’ve spent so long doing research that
it’s second nature to you. You get +1 on
Academics-based dice pools pertaining to rel-
ics and archaeology.
••••• You’ve experienced the Second Initiation;
your senses don’t work the way they used to.
You begin to sense the old enemies of your
sect. You gain the Gut Feeling Merit.
29
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Life is sacred. Many hunters believe this, but few

as intensely as Asclepeion. Connected to life itself
through dream visions, this burgeoning conspiracy
draws healers of every variety.
When Axis forces occupied Greece, many rose up
to resist, among them a group of Athenian medical per-
sonnel intent on providing emergency care for the resis-
tance. One operation went sour when a horror among
the occupiers revealed itself, slaughtering or mauling the
dissidents. The survivors fled blindly, collapsing in the
foundation of the temple to Asklepios. Exhausted and
injured, Konstantina Svolou lost consciousness, expe-
riencing dreams of ancient healing mysteries. Upon
awakening, she treated the wounded using both medi-
cal knowledge and miraculous powers. In the following
nights, she returned with other medical professionals,
guiding them into visions of their own. A timely alliance
with Aegis Kai Doru helped the fledgling conspiracy sur-
vive its early nights. Konstantina traveled secretly across
Greece, establishing new Asclepeion cells. By the end of
the Greek Civil War, Asclepeion maintained bases of op-
erations in Athens, Kos, Thessaloniki, and Trikala.
Asclepeion recruits people with professional medical
training who’ve encountered the supernatural, but bystand-
ers caught up in their missions sometimes find themselves
drafted if they’ve got useful skills to offer. Since their foun-
dation, they’ve spread far from their native Greece, inciden-
tally absorbing medically focused cells and compacts. With
world-class training, a network of secret temple-infirmaries,
and extraordinary curative gifts, Asclepeion provides vital
resources to preserve life.
The Enemy
Asclepeion usually learns of threats once they’ve already
struck, and they consider it their sacred duty to lessen harm and allevi-
ate suffering. They keep track of unusual wounds, and they’re often
the first to detect supernatural diseases and parasites. They trace attack
patterns to determine hunting grounds, passing information to
hunters better equipped to eliminate threats. When hunters
require medical attention a hospital can’t provide, Asclepeion
offers a haven. They show compassion to people who’ve lost
their humanity due to interference by men or monsters, offer-
ing succor to those who do not harm the innocent.

30

Hunters
You keep the monsters away from the sick beds
of the wounded, mending those under your care with
painkillers, a sympathetic ear, and timely medical pro-
cedures. The end of your hospital shift only marks the
beginning of your Vigil, though.
You’re still a paramedic, but your ambulance
doesn’t stop at ordinary hospitals anymore. Not since
that corpse broke out of the back of it.
As a child psychiatrist, you hear many patients talk
about monsters they’ve seen. You believe them, doing
whatever you can to protect them.
Practices
Medics make up the bulk of Asclepeion, handling
most recruitment and field work. Often providing sup-
port to hunters of other organizations, they forge allianc-
es and treat physical and mental trauma. They’re also the
ones most likely to take fights directly to the monsters,
which they euphemistically call “preventive care.”
The Swing Shift walks a difficult path, balancing
full-time medical careers with the needs of the Vigil.
They watch for mysterious injuries and ailments, passing
Conspiracy: Asclepeion
the information to other hunters. They also watch over
patients under their care, protecting them from crea-
tures who prey on the infirm.
The Asklepiades approach the Vigil with religious
devotion to Asklepios or other healing deities, maintain-
ing hidden asclepeions for the conspiracy’s use. They ex-
periment with traditional healing methods and research
mystical rites, hoping to put the world’s supernatural
forces to beneficial use.
Status
Asclepeion respects those who save lives above all.
• Preparation is crucial. Take one dot of Safe
Place with the Infirmary Feature.
••• Nobody dies on your watch. When you fail a
roll to perform emergency medical care, you
instead treat the action as if you rolled a single
success.
••••• Many hunters owe their lives to you, earning
their respect and gratitude. Gain three dots
of Allies or Contacts among hunters of other
organizations.
31
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

When reports of a dog behaving oddly came to Dana

Campion’s animal control office in the summer of 2002, she
assumed it was an injured or rabid stray. A sad case, maybe, but
utterly routine. What she found was far beyond her experience:
an animal with strange abilities and an intelligence in its eyes
she swore was near-human. She’d seen plenty of weird creatures
roaming the woods near her rural Vermont town, but even
those things her friends called cryptids at least seemed natural.
Something about this one felt... wrong. Manufactured. She dealt
with it professionally, but the authorities down in the state capi-
tal never returned her calls.
The next summer, a lab the next town over had a fire.
Suddenly her woods were full of similarly strange animals,
and panicked residents flooded her phone lines. Once that
outbreak was contained, her digging turned up shadowy cor-
porations and scientists with questionable ethics. She left
her dog-catcher job and opened Campion Wildlife Services,
recruiting a team of hunters committed to finding other lab-
made threats and dealing with them humanely.
The company went nationwide in 2014. Most of the
time, Rangers downplay what they find — not only so the
locals don’t panic, but also because when they’ve asked too many
questions, powerful people come sniffing around. Dana’s mission,
and thus the company’s, is always focused on giving these creatures
the dignity and kindness they weren’t granted in the labs or on the
ritual altars that created them. Until they can get the clout and fund-
ing to stand up to those enterprises, they’ll tackle the problem one
monstrosity at a time.
The Enemy
Rangers specialize in the subdual, capture, and, where necessary,
euthanization of monsters of largely animal intelligence, but the Vigil
sometimes takes them in surprising directions. A victim of possession
might respond to their particular talents, for example, and they have
a reputation among hunters as the ones to call when you need some-
thing captured, not dead. Their public-facing work revolves around
capturing transformed creatures and ensuring they pose no danger
to humans, but the company also quietly investigates the labs, care-
less chemical spills, and other factors that create them — an en-
deavor that may cause more injuries and deaths than the animals

32
 Conspiracy: Campion Wildlife Services
themselves.
Hunters
You taunted the hulking beast, leading it away from
the busy street. A woman in navy blue coveralls handed
you her card, suggesting her company could use your
talents. She was right.
You broke into the lab expecting to set cats and
monkeys free, but what you saw that night haunts you
still. That lab burned, but there are others out there,
and you’ll find them all.
You’ve followed the money, uncovering shell compa-
ny after shell company. Someone’s at the top of this hor-
ror — the shadowy figure tailing you must mean you’re
close.
Branches
Dog Catchers are first on the scene when a call
comes in. They capture and subdue strange creatures,
and treat any injuries locals sustained. They also clean
up chemical spills and other environmental hazards that
create such monsters.
R&D studies the animals’ abilities and replicates
them in devices the Dog Catchers use. Their research
also covers the labs the animals originated from; field
agents are expert infiltrators.
The Board fields inquiries from other entities and
shields the company’s agents from organizations that
would halt their work. They also look to put a stop to
the experimentation altogether, using government con-
tacts and information gathered through covert methods.
Status
Hunters in Campion Wildlife Services gain Status
by handling dangerous creatures and researching the or-
ganizations who created them.
• Your competence keeps other employees and
concerned citizens calm. Gain a Skill Specialty
in Animal Ken, Occult, or Science.
••• You lead one of Campion’s field offices, con-
trolling its requisition of mundane gear. Gain
two dots in the Custom Gear Broker Merit. If
you already have the Merit, increase it by one
dot.
••••• You’re trusted with the secrets the company’s
uncovered and are in touch with people with
the power to help its aims. Distribute three
dots among Allies, Contacts, and Resources.
33
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

The supernatural liberates the soul from the mundane. It shatters

expectations, violates the boundaries of the known, and inspires awe,
rendering certainties obsolete. It can be beautiful or horrifying, but it’s
always mysterious. The Enigmatics are a global art movement seeking to
distill this wonder and mystery into fathomable forms. Supernatural phe-
nomena serve as muses, driving Enigmatics to create works not
only inspired by occult experiences, but imbued with their
essence.
The true origins of the Enigmatics remain lost to
history. Individual groups claim to have descended
from different movements, though Romanticism,
Expressionism, and Surrealism are common. A rare
few insist Enigmatics always existed, and other art
movements descended from them. Over the last cen-
tury, they’ve organized globally, moving through artis-
tic circles and counterculture movements searching
for other artists obsessed with strange occurrences
or unnatural entities. Relieved to find kindred
souls, most swiftly join, eager to encounter their
next muse.
The Enemy
Enigmatics don’t focus on slaying monsters
— or even on seeking new materials for their
art. Most are content encountering the super-
natural. They’re artists foremost, chasing won-
der and inspiration in the shadows. While some
find certain monsters fascinating and specialize
in seeking them out, others prefer confronting
novel creatures or mysterious places. They will-
ingly go along with other hunters when possible,
adding new experiences to their collection of in-
spirations. When necessary, Enigmatics devise
creative solutions or construct elaborate traps to
overcome their foes.
Hunters
The mermaid took your breath away. You
wept when she disappeared beneath the waves.
None of your paintings capture her true beauty.
Once you sang inane love songs in an enchanting
voice. Now your songs fill listeners with dread, but they prepare
them against the encroaching horrors.
34

Your last sculpture came to life with a hunger for
human flesh. Perhaps cutting the clay of the next one
with a different monster’s blood will produce something
capable of stopping its rampage.
Trends
Enamored with the sublime beauty of the magical,
Dreamers hope to open people’s minds to the wonder
hidden in the world. Some believe only an enlightened
humanity can achieve their true potential, and their art
will guide them. Others just wish to share their impos-
sible experiences.
Deeply disturbed by their experiences,
Phantasmagorics share that dread with others. Some
seek to warn people of the terrors lurking in their midst
or how they might stand up to them, while others simply
create to free their minds from the horror within.
Radicals are intrigued by the possibilities offered by
the supernatural, desiring to bring more magic into the
world. Obsessed with creating new masterworks, they
Conspiracy: Enigmatics
seek novel occult experiences, both for inspiration and
for new materials to experiment with.
Status
Producing supernaturally inspired artwork exhib-
iting creativity, revealing deeper truths, or producing
novel experiences in observers all draw the Enigmatics’
admiration.
• You show great artistic promise. Take a free
Skill Specialty in Crafts or Expression reflect-
ing your preferred medium.
••• Your work has impressed someone important.
Take two dots of Allies, Mentor, or Resources
to reflect your patron’s influence.
••••• Your art moves all who behold it. You gain the
Inspiring Merit, which you can use through
your art when unveiling it to a new audience,
substituting Crafts for Expression if desired.
35
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Operation Nebula has seen the truth — Earth has been invaded
by aliens from distant worlds, which now wage war against each
other in the shadows. They lurk in humanity’s midst, disguising
themselves and performing miracles through advanced technology.
They pull the strings of world governments and intelligence agen-
cies, infiltrating the highest echelons of society and recruiting mon-
sters and humans alike as their agents and pawns. The common
person is oblivious to the threat, so it’s up to Operation Nebula
to protect Earth’s future.
Marcel Foster dismissed the alien vivisection and bizarre
technology detailed in his deceased father’s journal as imagi-
native tales, until he found the place ransacked and the jour-
nal stolen. Fearing death at the hands of unknown enemies, he
abandoned his old life to search for answers. After years chasing
reports of strange encounters and lost time, he contacted the reclu-
sive Roy Elliott, his father’s friend and fellow witness to the vivisec-
tion. Elliott revealed the invaders had constructed elaborate high-
tech facilities all over the world, and multiple alien species vied for
dominance.
Armed with this knowledge, Foster forged connections between
others, linking them under the codename Nebula. While initially con-
nected through mailed letters and clandestine meetings, the internet
now allows Nebula to compile resources and recruit new members
online, both in open forums and on darknet social media. While
many founding members have gone silent or been warped by alien
technology, Nebula’s operatives continue gathering intelligence
and adapting stolen technology for the human resistance.
The Enemy
Operation Nebula knows anyone could secretly be an alien or
one of their agents in the world. Most are more than a little para-
noid, seeing conspiracies everywhere. They know the aliens regularly
use advanced technology to turn people into monsters that serve the
invaders — whether willingly or unwittingly. Not everything that goes
bump in the night is an alien agent, but their prevalence makes it
worth investigating most inexplicable phenomena. Hunters of
other organizations often dismiss them as crackpots — at least

36

until the first time they see one recover an extraterres-
trial fuel cell from a cryptid’s corpse.
Hunters
They called you crazy. The connections you drew
between odd occurrences and your conclusions seemed
too far-fetched. After that creepy suit came to silence
you, though, you knew you were on the right track.
You witnessed two mechanical entities battle to a
standstill at a secret high-tech facility and decided that
neither should control Earth’s precious resources.
You always dreamed of space. The alien invasion is
horrible, but you become giddy with excitement at the
thought of finally traveling to the stars.
Theories
Guerrillas have chosen to fight. Even if they can’t
drive the invaders away completely, they’ll pit them
against each other to prevent one from coming out on
top.
Conspiracy: Operation Nebula
Ambassadors believe some aliens have benevolent
intentions and hope to forge alliances to drive off the
hostile invaders.
Pioneers claim Earth’s doomed, and humanity’s fu-
ture lies among the stars. They study the invaders and
their technologies, desperate to discover an escape route
to save their species.
Status
Operation Nebula respects those who unravel deep-
er secrets and expose alien conspiracies.
• You know enough to conceal your true self,
gaining a dot of the Alternate Identity Merit.
••• Experimentation with Xenotechnology has
given you a knack for cobbling things together
from spare parts. Gain the Natural Tinkerer
Merit.
••••• You’ve forged connections with experts in
multiple fields. Distribute three dots among
Contacts reflecting your sources.
37
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Some slashers’ victims move on after their ordeal ends,

returning to school or work, or moving far away and start-
ing over. Others join the Vigil, bent on protecting vul-
nerable people from the horrors lurking in the darkness.
A handful of those find themselves forever changed, as
though a piece of the slasher they defeated lives on in
their souls. They walk a careful line, using the terrifying
abilities that remnant grants them for good. Some say
it’s a way to turn something evil to the good. Others
say if they don’t, they worry they’ll succumb to the monster
within.
Originally an offshoot of the Maiden’s Blood Sisterhood (a
compact dedicated to protecting young college students from vam-
pires), the Survivors Club was founded in 1974 by Madeleine Jessop
and Sam Woodard. The two not only survived the Bitter River Killer’s latest
spree, they’d been the ones to kill him. While the Sisterhood brought them
into the fold, both Jessop and Woodard quickly realized how close the dark-
ness seemed when they hunted. Reaching out to others who’d struck the fatal
blow against a slasher, they found it to be a common theme.
Today’s Survivors Club welcomes hunters who’ve survived any
monster, not just slashers. It asks members to examine the
monster within and embrace that darkness — then use it
as a weapon to fight the real horrors.
The Enemy
Survivors Club cells still focus heavily on finding and
stopping slashers, though other monsters are fair game if
they slink into the Club’s territory. The conspiracy heavily
recruits people from marginalized backgrounds. It’s not that
able-bodied, straight cis white men aren’t welcome, just that
they’re typically not the slashers’ primary victims. Systemic big-
otry means the authorities are a lot slower to act when marginal-
ized communities are targeted, giving slashers more time to in-
still fear and rack up their body counts. Members constantly
monitor one another for signs they might succumb to the
darkness and attempt to pull colleagues out of that spiral. No
one wants to hunt their friends.

38

Hunters
You were bloody and terrified, sure you would die
like your friends did. But you drove the knife into the
killer’s heart instead of the other way ‘round, and when
your eyes met his, he seemed... proud.
You’ve hunted alone for far too long. Then the
Survivors found you and pulled you back from the abyss.
The killer took too many of your students, so you
did something about it. You hope whenever you swing
his hatchet, he feels it down in hell.
Chapters
Campus Safety track and kill slashers out in the
world.
The Redeemers believe no hunter who becomes a
slasher is ever so far gone she can’t come back. They cap-
ture those who go over the edge and try to bring them back.
The Advisory Council disagrees with the
Redeemers; once you’re gone, you’re gone. Still, there’s
Conspiracy: Survivors Club
much to learn from each new slasher, and perhaps they
hold the answers to the sharp rise in cases.
Status
Hunters in the Survivors Club gain Status by killing
slashers and saving their victims.
• You’ve survived several hunts and know the
basics of how slashers operate. Gain a Skill
Specialty in Academics, Investigation, or
Occult.
••• Other hunters seek your advice and tutelage.
Gain a two-dot Retainer reflecting another
Club member under your command.
••••• You’ve proven yourself able to wield the dark-
ness within without losing yourself to it.
Gain three dots to spend among the Allies,
Contacts, or Touchstone Merits.
39
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Sixteen centuries ago, countless horrors rose from ancient tombs, emerged from primordial wildernesses, and
laid waste to all that surrounded them. In one place — the Watchers disagree on the exact location — the townsfolk
drove the monsters back into slumber, but at great cost. Their homes were rubble, their loved ones dead or injured,
their allies overcome with terror. Never again, they vowed, but a mystic among them looked back into her past lives
and revealed that this had happened many times before, and a scholar among them looked to the stars and told
them exactly when the monsters would next awaken.
They’d all be dead by then, but it didn’t mean their work was done. Pooling the knowledge of the mystic and
the scholar, the Watchers learned of a means of accessing the memories of their past lives and of projecting their
memories into the lives they would lead in the centuries ahead. They gather resources and teach initiates to access
their past and future lives against the terrible day when the Dog Star next passes through that terrible constellation.
The Enemy
The Watchers prepare against the next Time of Monsters, which is almost upon them, but they do not sit idle.
They focus on gathering skills and monster lore, for any knowledge they
acquire in this life could save many lives in a past or future life. Practical
experience of rare or unfamiliar occult beings is particularly valuable to
these hunters, and they have shown up to hunts uninvited on those oc-
casions. They have a healthy respect for long-lived monsters, some of whom
they have clashed with multiple times over the last sixteen centuries.
Hunters
You were skeptical when
your therapist sug-
gested past life re-
gression, but that
first hypnosis ses-
sion not only ex-
plained your fear
of deep water, but
it also gave you
a new purpose —
readying yourself for
your next confrontation
with the creature beneath
the waves.
You knew her name the
moment you met her, because a
century from now you will fight
the creature she becomes after
you die. To survive that confron-
tation, you will need to learn ev-
erything about her in this life.

40

You hunted monsters before you met the Watcher.
He offered to teach you a mediation technique that
would make you a more effective hunter. He was right,
but sometimes you wish you didn’t know about the ter-
rible future that looms on the horizon.
Outlooks
Mystics look to the past for the tools they need to-
day, unearthing records and weapon caches laid down
by Watchers decades or centuries ago.
Scholars prepare for the future, recording knowl-
edge and stockpiling supplies to aid the vigils of future
Watchers.
Warriors focus on the present, knowing that each
monster defeated today is one less that will plague hu-
manity during the next Time of Monsters.
Conspiracy: Watchters
Status
Hunters in the Watchers gain Status by destroying
monsters and by ensuring the Watchers will be ready for
the Time of Monsters.
• You’ve assembled fragments of a past life’s
knowledge. Gain a Specialty in a Skill of your
choice.
••• You have inherited a trove of information
from your predecessors. You gain two dots of
the Library Merit to distribute between one or
two Mental Skills.
••••• The Watchers have given you access to their
network of allies. Gain three dots to spend
among Allies, Contacts, and Retainer.
41
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES

Legends shroud the origins of the White Hare Society. While most agree
it arose in Portugal during the Age of Discovery, each chapter tells its own
tales about their birth. The conspiracy’s frequent name changes over the
centuries haven’t helped, though it’s kept the current one since 1886.
What’s remained consistent is the conspiracy’s dedication to discovering
the unknown. Originally content to explore distant lands, now they’re
only satisfied by walking in the areas they call otherworlds.
The White Hare Society welcomes both intrepid adventurers and
accidental tourists of the otherworlds, initiating them through an
excursion into the otherworld of the future explorer’s choice. This
permanently infuses the initiate with vestiges of the realm’s nature,
setting them forever apart from ordinary humans. For most, this
is a small price to pay for the wonders they’ll see and the tales they
must tell.
The Enemy
The White Hare Society seeks to explore the unknown, so its
hunters search for new gateways to the otherworlds. This inevita-
bly brings them into proximity of the monsters connected to them,
though they’re willing to negotiate for access with those who aren’t
hostile. The hunt for undiscovered gateways also lures many to mys-
terious places, which cost the Society almost as many hunters as the
deadly otherworlds. While they consider themselves privileged to en-
joy unearthly locales, the Society expects their hunters to protect or-
dinary humans from baleful entities escaping into the physical world.
When other hunter organizations wish to enter an otherworld through
a gateway under the Society’s watch, explorers offer their services as
guides, often for a price.
Hunters
You’ve cheated death on every continent and have the scars to prove it.
How could you ever resist whole new worlds?
You barely survived your last journey. Now you guard the gateway, but
it’s just a brave face you’ve donned. You’d give anything to never see the
other side again now that you know what’s there.
Your earliest memories are wandering the dark, twisted caverns of the
dead. The White Hare Society stumbled upon you and guided you back
to safety. You’ve been one of them ever since.

42
 Conspiracy: The White Hare Society
Guilds
While every explorer holds loyalty to their chapter,
each also pays dues to their guild, in the form of new
stories, treasures, and information.
Seekers make up the largest guild, questing for new
sights and tales to share upon their return. Some hope
to map the otherworlds, while others content them-
selves with souvenirs from their journeys.
Sentries familiarize themselves with nearby gateways
into otherworlds as well as the perils lurking beyond.
They work to prevent incursions from these worlds and
reduce damage when they occur.
Slayers aren’t content to merely explore. They must
find the most horrible monsters they can, slay them, and
take trophies back as proof of their victory.
Status
The White Hare Society respects important discov-
eries, especially if interesting stories accompany them.
• Newly inducted into your local chapter, gain a
Skill Specialty in Academics or Occult related
to your favored otherworld.
••• You’ve weathered many strange storms, both
literal and metaphorical. Gain the Direction
Sense Merit and a Lucky Charm you’ve ac-
quired in your travels.
••••• You’ve mastered the rules of your favored
otherworld and trust other explorers to do
the same. You benefit from the 8-again qual-
ity when performing Tactics in your favored
otherworld or when taking direct instruction
from another explorer in theirs.
43
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES
Endowments
Whether the result of supernatural phenomena or
human ingenuity, Endowments allow hunters to bet-
ter investigate and counter the creatures of the night.
Conspiracies are generally reluctant to share their
Endowments with others, and most require their exper-
tise or unique capabilities to wield or produce.
Animal Control Kit
Campion’s hunters require stronger tools than the
average animal control officer. The dogs they catch can
bite through kennel doors, and bears they trap shrug off
bear mace like it’s nothing more than a spray of perfume.
Through a combination of modifying standard tools of the
trade and harvesting enhancements and mutations from the
creatures they catch, Campion’s hunters are well-equipped
for whatever they encounter in the field. The equipment is
proprietary, and hunters are expected to sign out what they
take and bring broken or depleted tools in for repair and
recharging. However, if someone left Campion with a weap-
on in their possession, they could continue using it until it
broke or ran out of ammunition.
Accessing the Kit
All Campion Wildlife employees receive the Basic
Field Kit as their first Endowment. They can check more
specialized equipment out of their field office as need-
ed, though the more potent weapons require approval
from the home office or the R&D team. Each item has a
loadout, representing how often the Ranger must return
to a branch office for recalibration or recharging.
The Animal Control Kit Endowment is rated one
to five. For each dot the player purchases, the charac-
ter may check out one piece of equipment. The player
decides what equipment her character possesses at the
start of each session. Items can be swapped out at any
Campion office.
Basic Field Kit
The Campion Basic Field Kit contains basic person-
al safety items and weaponry for handling creatures she
might encounter in the wild.
Cost: None
Loadout: One Session
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
The hunter’s kit contains a signal jammer (Hunter:
The Vigil, p. 286), a stun gun (ranged; Hunter, p. 285),
and military-grade Kevlar armor (Rating 1/3) that cov-
ers her arms and torso.
44
Mobile Transport Unit
Campion’s transport vans are painted a reassuring
shade of blue, with their no-nonsense logo prominently
displayed on the side. No cutesy cartoon dogs here, just
the company name and toll-free number. Inside, the
van’s equipped to withstand a beast’s attempts to escape:
reinforced cages and chassis, vents that pour forth anes-
thetic gas, a soundproofed barrier between the back and
the driver’s seat.
Loadout: One Session
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Drive or Intelligence +
Science
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
With her prey subdued, the hunter transports it
back to Campion’s facility for observation and further
handling. It’s essential to secure even those beasts that
appear dead — some have unnaturally slow heartbeats,
body temperatures, and respiratory rates.
Pheromone Blocker/Emitter
Some beasts emit pheromones that instill trust or
fear, or make anything in their immediate vicinity ex-
tremely aggressive. R&D has extracted several variants
of such chemicals from captured specimens and learned
both how to replicate their effects and protect employees
from them.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Loadout: 3 Sessions
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant, Contested
Duration: One Scene
The emitter attaches to the hunter’s belt and projects
the pheromone or its inhibitor out to 10 yards or meters.
Used defensively, emotion-manipulating pow-
ers against characters within range provoke a Clash of
Wills (use the target’s highest Resistance + the hunter’s
Animal Control Kit rating + 2). This can also remove
Tilts and other effects already placed there by such pow-
ers; roll Clash of Wills when the character first enters
the emitter’s radius.
Used to enhance an emotion (which the hunter
chooses when activating the device), the emitter grants
a +3 equipment bonus to Social actions that exploit the
projected emotion in those within the radius. This in-
cludes the hunter and her allies unless she takes and/
or administers a chemical countermeasure, which is in-
cluded in the loadout and requires an instant action.
Envenomed Weapons
The hunter wields a blade or bullets coated with
venom synthesized from some of the conspiracy’s

deadlier catches. Campion provides enough of the sub-
stance for a hunter to keep her blade coated or her clip
full for three days in the field. Her supply automatically
refreshes when she returns to the office.
Loadout: Three sessions
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Firearms or Weaponry
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
Successful attacks with this weapon inflict the
Drugged and Poisoned Tilts on the target.
Temporary Symbiont
In some rare cases, Campion has not only caught a
strange creature, they’ve extracted it from another living
being and kept the specimen alive. When connected to
a host, these creatures confer an array of abilities to the
person whose bloodstream and nervous system they’re
sharing. This isn’t without risk, which R&D representa-
tives clarify. Hunters who accept a symbiont do so on
an experimental basis — some wonder if they’re all that
different from the creatures they put down.
Loadout: One chapter
Cost: One Willpower, Two Lethal Damage
Dice Pool: Varies
Action: Instant
Duration: One chapter
The hunter gains +2 to an Attribute of her player’s
choice until the chapter ends. Additionally, she may
choose a Dread Power (with the Storyteller’s approval)
to use while the symbiont is attached.
Backlash: At the end of the chapter, the symbiont
detaches from the host, inflicting her choice of the
Shaken or Spooked Conditions. She also makes a single
roll for a breaking point.
Enkoimesis
Asclepeion has adapted mystical healing techniques
to the Vigil, using them for both health and harm. Their
hunters master these through dream incubation, slum-
bering in specially prepared areas while affected by psy-
chotropic substances. An Asclepeion includes water and
symbols associated with healing gods, though sensory
deprivation tanks and sacred jewelry produce similar re-
sults. Visionary dreams teach them to induce an altered
state of consciousness through meditation.
A hunter knows one technique for each dot in
Enkoimesis after the first, mastering additional tech-
niques for three Experiences each. Hunters abandon-
ing Asclepeion find their Endowment dwindles, allow-
ing each technique to be used once more before it and
its associated Enkoimesis dot fades away, refunding
Experiences spent.
Endowments
Achieving Enkoimesis
Through meditation, the hunter alters their state of
consciousness, achieving a waking dream state allowing
them to perceive life force and wield Enkoimesis tech-
niques. The target success total equals the number of
techniques the hunter wishes to access + 3. Whenever
techniques oppose monsters’ powers or innate abilities,
they provoke a Clash of Wills.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Composure + Wits + Enkoimesis
Action: Extended (1 minute)
Duration: One scene
Roll Results
Success: The hunter perceives the flow of life, gain-
ing the 8-again effect on Medicine rolls and access to
their chosen techniques. Undead entities may be per-
ceived by their lack of life force. While in this state, they
suffer the Drugged Tilt, though Enkoimesis techniques
are unaffected by it.
Exceptional Success: The hunter regains their
Willpower point and may access all techniques they
know.
Failure: The hunter can’t achieve the necessary al-
tered state of consciousness.
Dramatic Failure: The hunter’s senses turn upon
them, inflicting the Insensate Tilt.
Allergy Diagnosis
An individual’s life force reveals the substances in-
imical to it.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
By scrutinizing a subject, the hunter learns the iden-
tity and severity of any allergies they possess. Monsters’
banes register as deadly allergies.
Calming Touch
The first veterinarian joining Asclepeion discovered
this useful technique to ease the anxieties of their pa-
tients. They swiftly extrapolated its uses for people and
monsters.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
The hunter’s touch eases fear and rage, granting
the 8-again quality on Animal Ken or Empathy rolls to
calm targets. This removes Conditions like Violent and
can even end a monster’s berserk fury or blind panic,
though such attempts provoke a Clash of Wills. If persis-
tent magical effects caused the state, the hunter’s touch
suppresses them for the scene.
45
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES
Healing Hands
Life force coursing through the hunter’s hands
brings comfort to the wounded and agony to the dead.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Stamina + Medicine
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
Roll Results
Success: For the remainder of the scene, the hunt-
er’s touch restores points of bashing damage equal to
their dots in Enkoimesis and 1 lethal damage to the
living, or it imposes the Stunned Tilt and inflicts ag-
gravated damage equal to their dots in Enkoimesis to
undead monsters as their dead cells suffer fresh death.
Any target can only be affected once per scene.
Exceptional Success: The hunter may affect each
target twice.
Failure: Nothing happens except for an itchy sensa-
tion in the hands.
Dramatic Failure: The hunter suffers a point of le-
thal damage.
Plague Doctor
Asclepeion has learned not only how to cure poi-
sons and illnesses, but to warp the energies within tar-
gets to inflict them.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Resolve + Medicine vs. Stamina
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
Roll Results
Success: You impose the moderate Poisoned or Sick
Tilt for the remainder of the scene or until the poison
or illness is purged.
Exceptional Success: The Tilt is grave or the puri-
fied target regains a point of Willpower.
Failure: The target’s unaffected.
Dramatic Failure: The hunter suffers the grave ver-
sion of the Tilt they attempted to inflict or remove.
Shared Life
The hunter becomes a conduit for life energies, sac-
rificing their own for another. Even the recently dead
aren’t beyond their reach.
Cost: 1 Willpower + Special
Action: Instant
The hunter’s touch heals one point of damage
for each point taken upon themselves, transferring up
to their Enkoimesis dots each turn. Others may will-
ingly help by spending the technique’s activation cost
and maintaining contact with the hunter wielding the
46
technique, allowing them to spread damage through the
connected individuals as they wish.
Resurrection adds an additional point of aggravat-
ed damage to the cost, and dead individuals must be
healed entirely to bring them back. Some hunters have
perished attempting this feat. The individual must have
perished no earlier than the previous chapter. Missing
limbs can’t be restored, so decapitated individuals are
beyond this technique’s reach.
While transferring life, any involved sacrifice their
Defense. This technique doesn’t affect undead entities.
The Horror Within
Every hunter recognizes that the Vigil sometimes re-
quires monstrous acts, but Survivors embrace the mon-
strous parts of themselves more intently than many of
their Code-following counterparts. This embrace of the
scourges that made them, or the hundreds of little ways
they distance themselves from the rest of humanity, al-
lows them to unlock powers their enemies rely upon.
Once a hunter accepts this part of herself, there’s no
going back. She retains the abilities even if she leaves the
Survivors Club. However, she loses the support network
of those hunters who can most closely understand her
experience, risking a descent toward becoming a slasher
herself.
A Mirror Darkly
To learn a new Endowment, the hunter undergoes
a guided ritual that lets her meet her inner monster.
Some see the first slasher they encountered, while oth-
ers find themselves looking into their own haunted eyes.
During this encounter, she unlocks a new understand-
ing of the monster, herself, or both. Often, the hunter’s
Endowments are thematically similar to those of the
monsters she’s faced: moving swiftly through the dark-
ness, increased stamina, the uncanny ability to predict
her victim’s next move, etc. While most members pre-
fer to perform the ritual in a Survivor’s Club safehouse,
all it requires is a dark place to lie down and a trusted
cellmate to hold your hand and guide you through the
meditation.
Using the Horror Within during a scene in which
the hunter’s already suffered a breaking point inflicts a
–2 modifier to any activation roll.
Once per chapter, the hunter may spend a scene
with another member of the Survivor’s Club and re-
gain Willpower as though she’d spent that time with a
Touchstone.
Slasher’s Shadow
The hunter draws on the particular strengths of the
monster within.

Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
Choose an Attribute that best fits the slasher’s
themes when the hunter purchases this Endowment.
The Brute’s might be Strength, while the Charmer dis-
plays a stunning Presence. Until the scene ends, the
hunter treats that Attribute as two dots higher than her
current rating. If she already has that Attribute at five,
choose another Attribute from that category to increase
instead.
This Endowment can be purchased multiple times,
and each time it affects a different Attribute.
Inexorable
No matter how many times the victim shoots at or
stabs the slasher, he just keeps coming. The hunter can
take a hit that would leave most others screaming in
agony and continue her pursuit.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Duration: Three turns
The player delays marking damage from a single
source on the character’s health track for three turns.
During this time, she suffers no penalties for damage
in the rightmost boxes. At the start of the fourth turn,
mark the delayed damage on the health track as nor-
mal, but lethal damage will not roll over to fill her final
health box with aggravated damage (although she may
still bleed out soon thereafter).
Ground-Eating Stride
The hunter moves with uncanny swiftness, effort-
lessly keeping pace with fleeing prey or walking unhin-
dered through a wall of flame. No matter how fast the
target runs or what obstacles he scatters in his path, the
hunter always seems only a few steps behind.
Cost: 1 Willpower, 1 lethal damage
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Duration: One scene
Double the character’s Speed while this Endowment
is in effect. During chases (Hunter, p. 146-147), she
always has the Edge. She ignores Speed penalties on
Environmental Tilts, but still suffers their other effects.
Harry
Through a combination of physical and psychologi-
cal intimidation, preparation, and anticipating her tar-
get’s moves, the hunter ramps up the victim’s fear. The
Endowments
victim acts rashly; in his desperation to get away, he over-
looks traps the hunter’s set.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Intimidation + Size
Action: Instant, Resisted (Composure)
Duration: One Scene
The hunter chases her target, steering her toward
a place of the hunter’s choosing. The target suffers a
–2 penalty to Wits rolls while he’s the target of this
Endowment. At the beginning of the chase, the hunter
declares a type of trap (Hunter, p. 287-288) she set up
prior to this scene.
Roll Results
Success: The target fails to notice the trap and trig-
gers its effect.
Exceptional Success: As a success, plus the target
gains the Insensate Condition
Failure and Dramatic Failure: The target reduces
the penalty to notice and avoid the trap by 1.
The Fiend Unleashed
The slasher left a mark on the hunter’s soul. She
feels the darkness churning within her, but rather than
succumbing to it, she bends it to her will.
Cost: 2 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
When she purchases this Endowment, the player
chooses one Undertaking (Hunter, p. 230-236) that fits
the type of slasher the character feels lurking within. While
the Endowment is active, the character gains access to the
Talent listed for that Undertaking and suffers its Frailties.
This Endowment can be purchased multiple times,
and each time it grants a different Undertaking.
Backlash: When the scene ends, the character gains
the Guilty, Shaken, or Spooked Condition.
Infusion
The White Hare Society alchemically infuses earth-
ly components with otherworldly energies. The First
Infusion permanently inures a new explorer to the con-
ditions of a specific otherworld, granting the 8-again
effect on Survival rolls. The explorer gains an Unseen
Sense for gateways to their otherworld and its denizens,
but eerie marks upon their soul inflict the Madness
Condition, which can’t be shed. Upon discovering a
gateway, they may trace its borders with their blood (in-
flicting 2 lethal damage) and spend 2 Willpower points
to force it open, though most explorers prefer locating
alternate routes.
47
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES
Each dot of Infusion after the first provides a
new formula, with additional formulas costing three
Experiences each. Each infusion requires both mun-
dane and otherworldly components, and those affecting
explorers directly must be consumed in some fashion.
Former explorers don’t forget their infusions, though
the Society won’t appreciate it if they abuse them, and
it’s often more difficult to obtain materials.
Preparing Infusions
Creating infusions requires specialized training
and equipment, with a target success total of 7. Unless
they’re under the effect of a lesser infusion, anyone with-
out dots in Infusion suffers the dramatic failure effect
when utilizing infusions.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Infusion
Action: Extended (1 hour)
Roll Results
Success: The infusion succeeds and may be con-
sumed or used to access its effects. Consuming an infu-
sion takes one turn.
Exceptional Success: Varies depending on the infusion.
Failure: The concoction becomes a useless mess.
Dramatic Failure: Varies depending on the infusion.
Inferno Flask
Brewed from the ichor of nightmare dragons or
similar fiery beasts, this ever-boiling liquid renders the
imbiber immune to temperature extremes, but burns ev-
erything around them.
Cost: 1 lethal damage
Duration: One scene
The explorer becomes the center of a fire with a ra-
dius of yards or meters, which is under the effects of the
Inferno Tilt. This fire doesn’t move with the explorer,
but may quickly spread or fizzle out after three turns
depending on available fuels. The explorer is immune
to heat and cold, including related Tilts.
Roll Results
Exceptional Success: The immunity lasts until the
explorer next sleeps.
Dramatic Failure: The Inferno Tilt begins normal-
ly, but the drinker receives no immunities.
Lesser Infusion
Sometimes even the most intrepid explorers require
assistance. Explorers brew these infusions using their
own blood to help their allies survive in hostile realms.
Each batch produces enough for the entire cell.
Cost: 1 lethal damage (during preparation)
Duration: One week
48
Consumers suffer a point of lethal damage, but their
body temporarily adapts to the conditions of another realm,
granting the 8-again effect on Survival rolls. Members of
the White Hare Society add a number of days equal to
their Infusion dots and don’t suffer the damage.
Roll Results
Exceptional Success: The infusion’s duration doubles.
Dramatic Failure: The infusion appears successful,
but inflicts 3 lethal damage upon consuming it without
granting any benefit.
Liquid Courage
Otherworldly fruit infused into mortal wine makes
a potent drink explorers use to combat the dreadful
powers and terror inflicted by lurking horrors.
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
The explorer regains a point of Willpower and re-
ceives the Steadfast Condition, becoming immune to
fear while it persists. Targeting the hunter with Dread
Powers provokes a Clash of Wills. If the explorer wins,
the monster suffers the Stunned Tilt.
Roll Results
Exceptional Success: The drinker gains two Willpower
instead of one, and its effects last an entire day.
Dramatic Failure: The drinker suffers the Drugged
Tilt and the Amnesia Condition, forgetting their entire
past until they next sleep.
Primal Heart Elixir
The liquefied heart of an otherworld’s denizen
brewed with mead and herbs intensify the First Infusion,
pushing them further from humanity and closer to the
otherworld’s natives.
Cost: 1 lethal damage
Duration: One day
The infusion warps the explorer’s body. They sprout natu-
ral weaponry appropriate to the realm’s denizens, gaining the
one-dot version of the Dread Attack Dread Power. They also
become immune to the otherworld’s Environmental Tilts.
Denizens of the otherworld perceive the explorer as a native,
granting the 8-again quality on Social rolls with them. The
effects of the elixir only function in the associated otherworld.
Exceptional Success: The imbiber gets the two-dot
version of Dread Attack, and the effects last for a week.
Dramatic Failure: The explorer suffers the Violent
Condition and the Drugged Tilt as their dual natures clash.
Wandering Scarecrow
Stuffing skin or cloth with straw from the mortal
world infused with otherworldly fluids, the explorer cre-
ates a doll to serve them.

Cost: 1 lethal damage
Duration: One week
Feeding the doll fresh blood within an otherworld
animates it to fulfill its master’s wishes. It functions as
a 3-dot Retainer, with a field such as guarding or scout-
ing. It possesses one Dread Power appropriate to creatures
of the otherworld, which can be activated by spending a
point of their master’s Willpower. The scarecrow’s master
may use the Eye Spy Dread Power to see through its eyes.
The scarecrow’s activity ends immediately if it’s brought
into the mortal world. It has Defense and Durability 1.
Roll Results
Exceptional Success: The scarecrow has Durability
and Defense equal to the creator’s Infusion dots and
counts as a 5-dot Retainer.
Dramatic Failure: The doll assumes a horrible
mockery of life, attacking its creator and bystanders un-
til destroyed.
Inspiration
Enigmatics encountering novel supernatural phenom-
ena or suffering direct monster activity gain the Inspired
Condition, but also suffer the Obsession Condition to
artistically capture the experience. While Inspired, they
benefit from the 8-again effect on Crafts and Expression
rolls related to the inspirational phenomena.
Each dot of Inspiration after the first also represents
a masterwork the Enigmatic created (or otherwise ac-
quired) previously and still has in their possession, with
additional masterworks costing three Experiences each.
Enigmatics turning their back on the movement
find their Inspiration failing them. The resulting frus-
tration inflicts the Obsession Condition upon them.
Anyone discovering how a masterwork functions may
utilize it, but only current Enigmatics can craft them.
Crafting Masterworks
Enigmatics imbue their works with their spark of
inspiration, bestowing independent lives on their mas-
terworks, which leverage mysterious powers in pursuit
of their cursed agendas.
The target number of successes should consider the
power of the masterwork and its agenda, with more ma-
levolent ones requiring fewer successes. Enigmatics can
usually only produce one masterwork per story, though
Storytellers may allow more depending on narrative
circumstances.
Cost: 1 Willpower, resolve the Inspired Condition
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Crafts + Inspiration or Wits
+ Expression + Inspiration
Action: Extended (1 hour)
Duration: Indefinite
Endowments
Roll Results
Success: The masterwork is created, and the artist
understands its effects.
Exceptional Success: The Enigmatic regains their
spent Willpower and gains insight into the new master-
work’s agenda.
Failure: The inspiration fades with nothing to show
for it.
Dramatic Failure: The Enigmatic becomes preoc-
cupied with encountering similar phenomena to their
source of inspiration, gaining the Obsession Condition
and becoming unable to regain Willpower through sleep
while it persists.
Depths of Depravity
Target success total: 8
Those gazing too long into this swirling tempest of
reds and blacks perceive increasing amounts of disturb-
ingly compelling detail, echoes of the painter’s struggle
against demonic temptations.
Cost: None or 1 Willpower
Duration: One week
This insidious painting disturbs minds with intru-
sive thoughts and horrifying fantasies. Once per day, ob-
servers who view it for their Resolve in minutes regain a
point of Willpower but suffer the Addicted Condition.
Addicted victims can regain all their Willpower once
per chapter by fulfilling their Vice within view of the
painting. Monsters also suffer the Obsession Condition
related to possessing the painting or showing it to oth-
ers, often engendering nests or feuds, and those that
lack a Vice gain one for the duration of their obsession.
Enigmatics spending a point of Willpower while
touching the painting flood affected minds with visions
of horrifying depravity, inflicting the Insensate Tilt on
anyone addicted to the painting (even those not current-
ly present), which becomes the Traumatized Tilt once
they overcome Insensate. When the painting’s activated
in this manner, associated Conditions end for anyone
outside the painting’s immediate presence. Forewarned
hunters may spend a point of Willpower to ignore the
painting’s influence for a scene.
Backlash: The painting thrives among the sinful.
Anyone addicted becomes unable to regain Willpower
from rest or any Anchors — except by indulging their
Vice in the painting’s presence.
Hunger of the Wolf
Target success total: 8
An Enigmatic composed this song after witnessing a
werewolf feasting upon a family. Monsters listening find
their supernatural gifts more taxing to use, while hu-
mans find themselves ravenously craving human flesh.
49
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Inspiration vs.
Composure
Action: Contested
Duration: One scene
Roll Results
Success: Monsters using Dread Powers must spend
1 additional Willpower. Humans engaging in cannibal-
ism regain all Willpower (no more often than once per
chapter); the first act of cannibalism is an Innate break-
ing point with a –2 modifier.
Exceptional Success: Monsters must spend 2 addi-
tional Willpower. The effects persist even if the singer
is silenced.
Failure: The song fails to take effect.
Dramatic Failure: As failure, but the song jumps
into another listener’s head until the end of the chapter,
allowing them to use it but preventing the Enigmatic
from doing so. If the target has ever engaged in cannibal-
ism, they retain a full copy of the song and can use it or
unconsciously pass it to others.
Backlash: Despite lacking physical form, the song’s
a discrete entity. While anyone can sing its words, the
power lives in one head at a time. The song wishes to
change this. Once per chapter, at a time chosen by the
Storyteller, the Enigmatic finds himself quietly sing-
ing the song, activating its effects without spending
Willpower, unless he succeeds on a Resolve + Inspiration
roll. Humans resisting the lure of flesh gain the Spooked
Condition.
The Lonely Ones
Target success total: 7
Carved from leviathan tusks by seafaring Enigmatics,
these scrimshaw disks depict mermaids, sirens, and oth-
er beautiful nautical terrors. Commonly worn as jewel-
ry, they toy with the senses of wearer and observer alike.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
Duration: One day
The wearer becomes uninteresting, effectively invis-
ible, to most observers, provided they take no overt ac-
tions like attacking, enjoying the rote quality on most
Stealth actions and other relevant rolls. The exceptions
are those the Lonely One finds attractive, which are spe-
cific to each object. One favors tall, bearded men, while
another can’t resist androgynous redheads. These indi-
viduals see the wearer clearly, and both user and observ-
er gain the Swooned Conditioned toward one another
each time they meet.
Backlash: The Lonely Ones wish to reunite, but
their bearers’ love and desire temporarily appease them.
50
Upon activation, users suffer intense pangs of loneli-
ness, suffering the Deprived Condition until they in-
dulge their Vice or spend a scene with their Touchstone.
Whenever they sleep while Deprived, they sleepwalk to-
ward the nearest Lonely One or body of water.
Pallid Bust of Pallas
Target success total: 8
After witnessing things mortals should never see,
one weeping Enigmatic crafted this large marble bust
of Pallas Athena, pleading for her to take the memories
away. While the bust isn’t the goddess, it complied, rip-
ping the memories from the artist’s mind. Now it hun-
gers for more, granting gifts to those offering secrets.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Wits + Academics + Inspiration
Action: Instant
Duration: One week
Roll Results
Regardless of the roll’s result, the eyes of the statue
open, revealing solid obsidian spheres. The bust grants
the Informed Condition related to a subject of the us-
er’s choice.
Success: The bust temporarily takes a small memory.
Exceptional Success: The user also gains access to
the Psychometry Merit for one week and loses no conse-
quential memories.
Failure: The user loses a small memory permanent-
ly or an important memory temporarily.
Dramatic Failure: The user permanently loses an
important memory or temporarily loses all memories.
Backlash: The bust pilfers secrets, inflicting the
Amnesia Condition. Unless they suffered a dramatic
failure, users may sacrifice specific memories by upgrad-
ing the severity of the memory loss by one step — choos-
ing a failure result option on a success and a dramatic
failure option on a failure. Otherwise, it’s determined
by the Storyteller. Other than permanently lost memo-
ries, all effects fade after one week.
The Red Wax Mask
Target success total: 12
This death mask was cast from a monster’s face with
wax mingled with vampire blood. When fed blood at
night, it gives a crude facsimile of life to nearby statues,
calling them to enact the user’s will.
Cost: 1 lethal damage
Action: Instant
Duration: One night
Every statue under Size 6 + Inspiration within 100
feet animates as 3-dot Retainers. They take only physi-
cal actions, specializing in pursuit, combat, and physical

labor. All undertake the same task unless specifically
given different instructions. At dawn, all statues re-
turn to their original poses, but remain in their current
location.
Backlash: The mask thirsts for blood. For the last
hour before dawn, the statues seek people to sacrifice,
bathing it in their victims’ blood. Even the user isn’t
safe. If denied sacrifices, the mask inflicts another point
of lethal damage on the user at dawn.
Lives Remembered
Through hypnosis, meditation, or hallucinogenic
substances, Watchers claim to tap into memories from
their past and future lives. These are mere glimpses of
key moments; they can no more remember every day in
their past lives than others can remember what they had
for breakfast on an uneventful day ten years ago.
Watchers possess one Endowment for each dot of
Lives Remembered and may purchase additional ones
for three Experiences each. Dots in Lives Remembered
also set the limit on the total number of times the
Watcher may call upon Endowments in each chapter.
So, a hunter with three dots of Lives Remembered has
three Endowments at their disposal and can call on
one three times, all three once, or anything between.
Watchers who abandon the cause soon lose access to
the memories of their past and future selves, losing each
Endowment after the next time they use it.
Each Endowment works as follows:
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
Old Enemies
The Watcher has met this monster (or one like it)
before.
The player may ask the Storyteller up to three ques-
tions about the target monster, such as:
• What is the target’s strongest (or weakest)
Attribute?
• What is one supernatural ability it possesses (may
ask this question more than once)?
• What inhuman needs motivate it?
• Is it social, solitary, or a social parasite?
• What is its origin?
The hunter enjoys a +2 bonus on Intelligence +
Occult rolls to recall additional details about monsters
Endowments
of its kind, this scene.
Remembered Skill
The Watcher recalls a narrow application of human
knowledge she once understood.
The hunter is treated as having three dots in a Skill
of her choice, but this only applies to a single Specialty
within that Skill. She might become adept at Running
despite her lack of Athletics, for example, but it wouldn’t
assist her in dodging, climbing, or throwing.
Time Capsule
The hunter is the beneficiary of another Watcher’s
foresight. It might be one of his own past lives, but it is
more likely that a Watcher ally received notice from the
future of the hunter’s approaching need.
The Watcher’s player describes the presence or prompt
arrival in the scene of equipment with an Availability no
greater than her Lives Remembered dots, which the char-
acter can take possession of or lead others to. She might
know that the key to the prison door is hidden behind a
loose brick in her cell, for example, or a bicycle courier
might deliver a paper lunch bag full of cash to the alley
where the Watcher needs to bribe a doorman. Truly im-
possible deliveries remain so, but the Storyteller should
keep an open mind about what circumstances could po-
tentially make the desired equipment available.
Visions Out of Time
The hunter sees the world through the lens of ev-
erything that has happened — or will happen — wherever
he goes.
The effect is identical to the Psychometry Merit
(Hunter, p. 101) except as follows:
• The moment the Watcher witnesses must have
occurred either before or after his lifetime.
• The Drawback effect is not automatic. However,
the player may have the Storyteller impose an
appropriately meaningful vision upon the hunter
at a time and place that suits her story but that
occurs before the end of the chapter. This does
not impose an additional Condition on the
Watcher.
Whispers from Babel
The Watcher has lived many lives and enjoys the
remarkable mental traits of all of them.
The player chooses a Mental Merit with a dot rat-
ing no greater than the hunter’s Lives Remembered
dots and enjoys its benefits until the end of the scene.
This must be a Merit for which they meet all other
51
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES
prerequisites and cannot be the Library or Professional
Training Merit.
Relics
Members of Aegis Kai Doru not only collect, guard,
and study relics, they also use them in their ancient
struggles against witches, shapeshifters, and other crea-
tures of darkness. Once a person’s been vetted and
passed the First Initiation, she’s considered trustworthy
and competent to care for and wield the conspiracy’s
relics. The Inner Circle keeps constant tabs on which
Guardians have which relics, and which are stored in
Aegis Kai Doru’s well-guarded vaults. Particularly po-
tent artifacts only leave the vaults with a Councilor’s
permission, but most hunters keep a small selection of
lower-tier relics in their own secure holdings. They’re
responsible for all relics in their care: if an enemy steals
one, the hunter is expected to retrieve it within a month
or else risks sanctions from the Inner Circle.
Even if a hunter’s wielded a relic for decades, it’s
never really hers. The Inner Council may redistribute it
to another who needs it at any time, and if she parts ways
with Aegis Kai Doru, the relic remains the conspiracy’s
property. Those who attempt to keep their treasures find
themselves hunted by their former colleagues.
Using Relics
The Relic Endowment is rated one to five; each dot
represents one relic the Inner Circle has entrusted into
the hunter’s care. The Inner Circle frowns upon mem-
bers loaning or borrowing relics and recognizes no per-
manent trades unless approved by them. Relics are not
replaceable like the trinkets Task Force Valkyrie doles
out to its agents.
Anyone can activate a relic; they need not be
Guardians to do so. Most relics require an action to ac-
tivate their powers, such as a gesture or a chant. If the
wielder doesn’t perform it correctly, the relic doesn’t
activate.
Doru Talisman
Four inches long and made of silver, these relics are
as deadly as any full-sized hoplite’s spear. The bearer
holds the relic like a spear and thrusts it toward her tar-
get. She need not throw it or even touch the target with
ADDITIONAL RELICS
Please see Hunter: The Vigil p. 276-277 for two additional relics: The
Aegis Talisman and the Skeleton Key.
52
the weapon, but the enemy suffers a wound as though
she’d been hit with the real weapon.
Cost: 2 Willpower
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Weaponry – Defense
Action: Instant, Resisted
Duration: One Scene
The Doru Talisman has a range of 10/20/40 yards/
meters and deals 3 aggravated damage on a successful
attack.
Eye of Hubris
Colors swirl within the depths of this tennis ball-
sized crystal. A hunter who activates it senses no effects,
but witches and other occult creatures avoid those wield-
ing it or try to take it away.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
When the target fails a Dread Power roll while this
relic is active, treat it as a dramatic failure instead. If the
Dread Power’s effect isn’t rolled, the target suffers the
Immobilized, Insensate, or Stunned Tilt instead.
Backlash: The hunter suffers a -2 penalty on sight-
based rolls until the scene ends.
One-Eyed Kings
The images on these ancient, verdigris covered cop-
per coins have been rubbed nearly smooth over the cen-
turies. Held up to the light, an observer can make out
the figures on each: one crowned figure missing his right
eye, the other missing his left. The hunter leaves the
coin missing its right eye in a place she’d like to observe
later: on a table in her target’s office or slipped into an
enemy’s pocket. By walking its companion coin over the
knuckles on her right hand and pressing it to her left
eye, she observes what’s happening as though she were
standing beside the other coin’s location. She can only
see; no other senses apply.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One Scene
Attempts to spy on a warded location provokes a

Clash of Wills.
The coin missing its right eye can’t be used to spy
on its twin. Attempts to do so show the viewer a ter-
rible, gibbering void and inflict the Spooked Condition.
Anyone who spends a Willpower point and places one
coin on their eyelid before going to sleep finds its twin
weighing down their other eye in the morning.
Zenobia’s Golden Chain
Ranging in appearance from several heavy links to
a delicately spun necklace, Guardians claim these rel-
ics were forged from the chains that bound the rebel-
lious queen and empress Zenobia after her defeat at
Aurelian’s hands. Hunters use the links to interrogate
captive monsters. Activation requires the Guardian to
drape the chain over her target’s wrists and recite an in-
cantation. The chain doesn’t prevent the monster from
moving or attempting to escape; most hunters ensure
their prey is properly bound and sedated first.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation vs. Composure
+ Subterfuge
Action: Instant, Contested
Duration: One Scene
Unless the monster answers the next three questions
the hunter asks of it truthfully, the hunter learns its
single most guarded secret and it suffers the Leveraged
Condition. This relic does not function if the hunter
already knows the monster’s most guarded secret.
Xenotechnology
Operation Nebula adapts alien technology to their
own ends. They encrypt schematics, scattering frag-
ments throughout their darknet sites for dedicated
searchers to piece together. Every gizmo is unique to
their creator, even when following the same schematic,
as each requires an alien core. Many gizmos resemble
science fiction props or cosplay pieces of varying quality,
so few take them seriously before their capabilities are
demonstrated.
Operatives possess one schematic for each
Xenotechnology dot and may purchase additional sche-
matics for three Experiences each. While former opera-
tives don’t automatically lose access to their schematics,
they’re unable to gain new ones.
Crafting Gizmos
Each gizmo requires a core of alien technology, or at
least a tissue sample that contains alien nanotechnology.
As it’s easier to work with larger cores, most operatives
prefer to scavenge them from high-tech facilities and
fallen alien machines.
Endowments
Gizmos require frequent maintenance to keep them
operational. Maintaining gizmos requires the same roll
and successes as crafting them, but measured in min-
utes rather than hours. A gizmo out of Nebula’s hands
breaks down after one scene of use, though the core may
be recoverable.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Crafts + Xenotechnology
Action: Extended (1 hour)
Roll Results
Success: The desired gizmo is created. As each is an
experimental prototype, it suffers the Fragile Condition.
Exceptional Success: This gizmo is particularly sta-
ble. It doesn’t suffer the Fragile Condition.
Failure: The gizmo falls apart, and the operative
must begin again.
Dramatic Failure: The gizmo explodes, destroy-
ing its core among any other effects dictated by the
Storyteller.
A gizmo’s Clash of Wills pool uses the operative’s
Crafts rating in place of Occult.
Cloaking Device
Target success total: 8
Some operatives incorporate mirrored crystals
scrounged from hidden alien facilities into bulky worn
accessories, such as bracers, purses, or backpacks.
Activating it diverts otherworldly stealth technology to
camouflage the operative.
Cost: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
When activated, operatives may switch between two
modes. Switching takes three turns.
Stealth Mode: By holding still for a turn, the opera-
tive is rendered invisible for as long as they remain mo-
tionless. When moving, they still gain the 8-again effect
on Stealth rolls and +2 Defense.
Infiltration Mode: The cloaking device grants the
8-again effect to disguise oneself or impersonate anoth-
er, requiring no prosthetics or other supplies. This only
fools sight and hearing.
Cyberglass
Target success total: 5
By running electricity through this visor, glasses, or
goggles, its alien glass core pierces the holograms con-
cealing alien facilities and their clockwork servants.
Newer models include small chambers for secondary
cores, allowing operatives to shift their perceptions to
different frequencies.
Cost: None
53
CHAPTER TWO: COMPACTS AND CONSPIRACIES
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
Operatives gazing through this glass perceive the re-
ality frequency occupied by high-tech alien facilities and
their servants. When using a secondary core, the opera-
tive perceives phenomena related to it instead, such as in-
serting briar shards from the aliens’ thorny homeworld to
detect hidden portals leading there or pierce the human
illusions cloaking the invaders themselves. A cyberglass
can only perceive a single frequency in a scene.
Psi-Crown
Target success total: 6
This circlet of unearthly materials, often incorporat-
ed into a hat or other headpiece, protects an operative’s
mind from alien probes and control.
Cost: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
While active, the psi-crown provokes a Clash of
Wills whenever any power attempts to read or influence
the wearer’s thoughts, emotions, or memories. The op-
erative benefits from the 8-again effect on this roll. If the
Clash of Wills succeeds, the operative becomes aware of
the attempt.
Ray Gun
Target success total: 10
These weapons harness otherworldly energy sources,
channeling them into powerful rays. While many variet-
ies exist, this model maintains the best balance between
stopping power and safety.
Cost: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
Ray guns are ranged weapons with damage rating
equal to the operative’s Xenotechnology rating, range
30/60/120, Clip 3, Initiative –3. Its clip takes one turn
per shot to charge and must be charged at the begin-
ning of each scene. The beams emitted ignore all mate-
rial armor and cover, though energy-based force fields
and similar protections function normally. Expending
the entire clip in one shot makes the damage aggravat-
ed, though this destabilizes the weapon, inflicting the
Volatile Condition.
54
Scramblers
Target success total: 5
Nebula operatives incorporate commandeered alien
communications technology into their own to disrupt
their opposition’s resources.
Cost: None
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
The operative possesses enough long-range com-
munication devices to equip their cell. In addition
to permitting communication with other devices, it
can be used to disrupt all other communications and
surveillance equipment in a radius of up to one mile.
Supernatural equipment provokes a Clash of Wills.
“No matter how nice the Big Bad Wolf treats Thumper,
wolfie only needs to get hungry once. Then, it don’t matter
about how shiny and big Grandma’s teeth are. Peter Rabbit
becomes lunch.”
Colonel Grimm thrust a cigar between his teeth and lit
it, puffing and raising his eyebrows as a period on the state-
ment. Vitas and Tavi stared at the special forces veteran a
moment before the latter spoke up.
“I think you’re mixing your metaphors there, man.”
Vitas Varnas, actor at large, resisted the urge to curse,
instead drilling his finger into the arm of his chair.
“Maybe you’re right, Colonel, and maybe we shouldn’t
trust these bloodsuckers. But fuck; you know how many mov-
ies I got while my agent was a vamp? A hell of a lot more
than since you staked her!”
Tavi could see the situation spilling out of control, and if
Gustavo “Tavi” Cabral was good at anything, it was turning
a negative into a positive.
“Maybe it’s just a question of giving it what it wants,
and then it’ll lead us to a bigger, older cousin.”
“She, not it.”
“She, then.”
Grimm laughed from within a cloud of growing blue
smoke.
“She wants blood! That’s all they ever want.”
Tavi took the opportunity to open his bag and drop a
black metal circlet on the dinner table between them.
“No, she wants this. The man I stole it from described
it as a psi-crown. We know our friendly vampire is always
unhappy about her boss getting inside her head and control-
ling her. I guarantee if we gift this to her, she’ll take us to the
oldest vampire in the city.”
 The point about hope is that
it is something that occurs in
very dark moments. It is like
a flame in the darkness; it
isn’t like a confidence and a
promise.
— John Berger

Keeping the Vigil is a choice. Nothing stops them

from going home, locking the door, putting out the light,
and pretending that all is right with the world. Billions
of people do just that every day.
But the hunter lights their candle anyway. Whether
out of compassion, hope, curiosity, anger, or boredom,
they keep it lit. Moreover, their stubborn refusal to give
the night to the darkness often serves to spread that
flame to others.
Tending the Flame is a companion book to Hunter:
The Vigil Second Edition, expanding on what’s in the
core book. It contains:
• Narrative and systems support to successfully hunt at
Tier One, plus tips for navigating hunter society.
• Eight Compacts, including a mix of updated first
edition favorites and exciting new groups to join.
• Eight Conspiracies, including an expanded version
of Aegis Kai Doru, as well as several new hunter
organizations.
• New Tactics and Endowments.