Hunter: The Reckoning is a horror tabletop role-playing game, and the sixth main game in the World of Darkness series. It was originally released by White Wolf Publishing in November 1999 as part of their Year of the Reckoning line. A second edition, based on the Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition ruleset, was released in 2022 by Renegade Game Studios. It is supported by a series of supplementary books which expand the game's setting and describe types of characters.
Led by a gamemaster, players role-play as human characters in modern times who learn of the existence of the supernatural, such as vampires, werewolves, and mages, and fight back as monster hunters. Having little knowledge of the supernatural and no one but each other to rely on, they share information and organize through the internet forum Hunter-Net. The hunters are divided into several creeds, which determine their philosophies and outlooks on the hunt, and what sets of powers they learn.
The game was designed with themes of righteous fury, paranoia, hope, and retaining a normal life. The game was critically well received and considered appealing to both returning players and those new to the series, and became one of White Wolf Publishing's most successful and popular intellectual properties. It has seen several adaptations, including a fiction anthology, a novel series, several video games, and a live-action role-playing game.
Overview Hunter: The Reckoning is a horror tabletop role-playing game set in modern times, in which players take the roles of human characters who become aware of the existence of the supernatural, including vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, and fight back as monster hunters. In the game's first edition, this revelation comes from the voice of beings called Heralds or Messengers, who imbue the player characters with insight and power; in Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition (H5), hunters do not become imbued. The hunters are mostly unorganized and know little of the supernatural, and have to rely on each other as the world at large does not know about it: they often communicate and share information through the anonymous internet forum Hunter-Net, which is managed by a hunter known as Witness1. Because of their lack of knowledge, they typically have to study their targets before attacking if they want to survive the encounter.
Players create hunter characters with a character sheet, assigning points to various attributes to determine what they are good at, and deciding which of several creeds they belong to: Avengers, Defenders, Hermits, Innocents, Judges, Martyrs, Redeemers, Visionaries, or Waywards. The choice of creed determines characters' philosophies, how they relate to the hunt, what their weaknesses are, and which powers they will learn. The hunters' powers are called edges, and are learned through paths, where the first power often is the most powerful; in the first edition, edges are supernatural, which is not necessarily the case in H5. Led by a storyteller, players role-play as these characters. The game uses the Storyteller System, where the outcomes of attempted actions are determined through the character's values in relevant attributes and through rolling dice pools.
Production Hunter: The Reckoning was originally designed by Andrew Bates, Phil Brucato, Ken Cliffe, Greg Fountain, Ed Hall, Jess Heinig, Michael Lee, Richard Thomas, Mike Tinney, and Stewart Wieck, with art direction by Richard Thomas and cover art by Brian Glass. It was inspired by Ends of Empire, the ending of the earlier World of Darkness game Wraith: The Oblivion, which depicts the underworld being engulfed, leading to an influx of spirits and zombies in the human world. The development team designed the game with the concept of righteous fury as its main theme; other themes include paranoia and the fear of the unknown, the effect of monster-hunting on one's humanity, finding hope and continuing fighting in seemingly hopeless situations, maintaining a normal life, and how power can corrupt people. According to Cliffe, the inspiration for the hunters mainly came from average people, as he considered underdogs to make for better heroes than superheroes do. The game was mostly written in-character, to show rather than tell what it is like to be a hunter. Although the game includes monsters appearing in other World of Darkness games, they do not necessarily abide the same rules as in their home games, creating an experience that reflects how hunters do not know how supernaturals work. For example, a vampire in Hunter: The Reckoning may be more brutal and vile than one in Vampire: The Masquerade and may have other abilities and weaknesses.
A second edition, titled Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition (H5), is in development by a team that includes the series' creative lead Justin Achilli and art director Tomas Arfert. Achilli described the game as realizing the aspirational and hopeful aspects of the setting, through human characters who are given a fighting chance and can change the world. Development of H5 began during the production of the fifth edition of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, to be able to expand the line-up of active World of Darkness games despite the delays in Werewolf development, and was inspired by the dramatic action of Werewolf. The hunters in H5 were conceived as street-level groups, rather than the large vampire-hunter organizations seen as antagonists in Vampire: The Masquerade, who instead are portrayed as secondary antagonists to the H5 hunters who want to preserve the status quo.
Release Hunter: The Reckoning was originally released in November 1999 by White Wolf Publishing as a 300-page hardcover book, as the sixth main game in the World of Darkness series and as part of their Year of the Reckoning line of books released throughout 1999. It has since also been released as an e-book, and has been translated into other languages including Brazilian Portuguese, French, and German. Prior to the H5 revival, the game line was ended with the cross-over event Time of Judgment in 2004. H5 is planned to be published by Renegade Game Studios in Q2 2022, and is planned to be supported by the online toolset World of Darkness Nexus, which includes a rules and lore compendium, tools for creating and managing characters, matchmaking, and video chat functionality.
The game is supported by supplementary books, which describe the setting and types of monsters and hunters; the publisher did not create adventure modules for Hunter: The Reckoning, as sourcebooks were more popular with World of Darkness players. Like the game itself, the supplementary books are presented as taking place in real time.
Books First edition (1999–2003) + Game books for Hunter: The Reckoning first edition Title Original release ISBN Publisher Notes Hunter: The Reckoning White Wolf Publishing Core rulebook Hunter: The Reckoning Storytellers Companion White Wolf Publishing Guide to the setting for storytellers. Bundled with storyteller screen. Hunter: The Reckoning Survival Guide White Wolf Publishing Guide to the game for players Hunter-Book: Innocent White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Innocents Hunter-Book: Martyr White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Martyrs Hunter-Book: Redeemer White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Redeemers Hunter-Book: Avenger White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Avengers Hunter-Book: Judge White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Judges The Walking Dead White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about the undead Hunter-Book: Hermit White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Hermits Hunter: The Reckoning Players Guide White Wolf Publishing Guide to the game for players, containing options and inspirations for player characters Hunter: Holy War White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for Middle Eastern hunters Hunter: The Reckoning Storytellers Handbook White Wolf Publishing Guide for storytellers on running games Hunter-Book: Defender White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Defenders Hunter-Book: Visionary White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Visionaries Utopia White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about a potential future for hunters, where a sector is freed from monsters Hunter: First Contact White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about hunters' relationships with organizations linked to the supernatural The Nocturnal White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about vampires Fall from Grace White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about extremist hunters The Moonstruck White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about werewolves Hunter-Book: Wayward White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook for the hunter creed the Waywards The Spellbound White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about mages The Infernal White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about demons Urban Legends White Wolf Publishing Sourcebook about rumors and urban legends
5th Edition (2022–present) + Game books for Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Title Original release ISBN Publisher Notes Hunter: The Reckoning October 2022 Renegade Game Studios Core rulebook Lines Drawn in BloodJuly 11, 2023 Renegade Game StudiosChronicle book Alma MattersAugust 21, 2024Renegade Game StudiosSourcebook Incognito ReportMay 15, 2025Renegade Game StudiosSourcebook ApostatesJune 15, 2025Renegade Game StudiosSourcebook Legacy of Defiance PreRelease JUNE 2026Renegade Game StudiosSourcebook
Reception
Hunter: The Reckoning was critically well received, and considered appealing both to new players and those with prior experience with the World of Darkness series. It became one of White Wolf Publishing's most successful and popular intellectual properties, and was in 2003 described by IGN as one of "the most successful tabletop RPGs of the modern era". In Spain, the first edition debuted as the sixth highest selling new role-playing game of the March–May 2001 period. Spelkult looked forward to H5, calling it a welcome reunion.
The gameplay was generally well received, with Backstab describing it as an efficient and classic system with nothing to complain about, and Casus Belli considering it similar to Call of Cthulhu, but with fresh additions to the game design. Dragão Brasil considered the game's system easy to understand, with well-written explanations and examples, making the core rulebook among the best in the World of Darkness series. similarly called it the most successful World of Darkness system, with a convincing presentation and everything needed to play and manage a game. One commonly criticized point was the division of the hunters into several creeds, which critics considered too systematic of a representation of philosophies and too similar to previous World of Darkness games' handling of character types, such as the vampire clans in Vampire: The Masquerade. The hunters' powers were positively received, with Dosdediez appreciating the variety of them, and Science Fiction Age liking how hunters, unlike player characters in other World of Darkness games, get their most effective powers first, necessitated by how the characters have little knowledge of the supernatural at first; Meanwhile, Magia i Miecz found it strange how the hunters themselves use supernatural means to fight off supernatural beings.