Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters

This game is a success! I love it and I already plan to do another run after I finish the first.

I had fun, enjoyed it a lot. The vibe was impeccable, and I love the low powered hunter shenanigans. I think of the World of Darkness line on Choice of Games, A Time of Monsters did the best job getting me interested in 5th edition (I'm still playing 20th Anniversary).

I'm only giving this a thumbs down not because of the prose (very well done writing), but more-so the plot. I'm a huge fan of Vampire the Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse, where morality, politics, and community walk a tight rope filled with drama and difficult decisions. Which I felt was lacking here. There's unambiguous good and bad guys, and if you try and work with the bad guys.....let's just say that it doesn't offer much more than "you're bad and everything sucks now". Which is fine for the morals and theme of this story, I still respect it. I just found that it wasn't what I wanted to chew on. I missed the stakes and the intrigue. So pick it up if you want to be an extremely disempowered underdog where friendship, trust, and community are key. Otherwise, look for something with a bit more moral ambiguity in its choices.

I really liked this game. I've finished my first playthrough and it really felt like a great Hunter adventure, with tons of reactivity and opportunities to change the course of the story. The setting is fleshed out and its fun putting yourself into the shoes of your Hunter. I am really looking forward to alternate replays, going down similar paths but different choices, and seeing new paths I never explored before. If you are a fan of world of darkness setting, I have enjoyed this CYOA more as a story and as an RPG than I did Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2. Sure, Bloodlines 2 is gorgeous and this game is text, but I was more engrossed in trying to find enough money to buy a crowbar and flashlight in this game than I ever was killing hundreds of Anarchs on rooftops.

Good game with interesting story options, nice introduction to the World of Darkness and Hunter the Reckoning.

p. good.

[h2] Introduction / TLDR [/h2] A Time Of Monsters is a fast paced and surprisingly funny Choice of Games book that has some rather interesting mechanical differences (and game saves!) compared to other World of Darkness CoG books. More than any of the other books the vibes feel like a relaxed and genuinely funny game leader presenting a typically bleak WoD setting. The book does however feel a bit too quickly paced in some ways; a large part of the book is dedicated to fleshing out characters and navigating downtime between missions, but the main story thread itself felt like it could have used more build up before the climax to really make it feel earned. However, I think that if you enjoy the tone of the writing and the characters that will make up for the briefness of the story. This has been a really fun read! [h2] Writing, pacing [/h2] What sets this book apart from other WoD works that have been released as of writing is the tone. While themes and setting are as dark as you can expect from the World of Darkness, there is an informality and humor in the delivery that gives an impression of a story being told at a roleplaying table more than a Narrator of a Gothic Novel (tm). I think this really works; while often being genuinely fun Wang still manages to be sincere presenting the narrative world and the characters within it. But at the same time I can imagine someone simply not enjoying this particular tone of writing, so this is definitely a case of "try the demo before buying". Pacing-wise I think this book is too quick for its own good, in particular in the main story line. The ending feels like it comes before it has been built up properly, and the party was introduced it felt like I blinked and then suddenly everyone were welcoming me into their family. To me this pacing robs the story of the narrative weight that could have been achieveved with more build-up. On the other hand, characters and downtime is given a significant chunk of attention that makes them feel really fleshed out. This makes the narrative world feel vivid, and if you happen to like any of the characters in the group then you get to see a rather satisfying amount of them in the story. It might also be worth mentioning that the game story branches pretty heavily depending on choices made, so while it's not the longest story there is plenty of replayability as far as CoG books go imo. [h2] Mechanics [/h2] A Time Of Monsters does a lot of interesting things with the mechanics. The character has three main stats, and added to this you can collect a bunch of different items (like a knife or a flashlight) that end up unlocking various options that can compensate for stat checks you cannot pass. I thought this was a very effective way to convey that the hunter is very dependent on what little resources they can acquire to make up for any innate ability that a vampire might have had. Add to this encounters that have many small choices that you have to succesfully navigate as opposed to a single skill check solving a given problem and you have a game system that really makes you feel like the hunter is vulnerable in a way I don't think the other WoD books have managed to convey. It takes preparation and probably a bunch of trial and error to navigate the first proper fight scene successfully with a low physical score, and that felt great. And there are saves! You can replay a chapter if you're dissatisfied with the outcome, which is an excellent Quality of Life feature. There is also a relatively basic resource management system where you have to find ways of procuring food to not suffer consequences of starving inbetween chapters, which takes valuable time inbetween missions that could be spent getting more gear or socializing with the team. This really made me feel like the hunter was in a really precarious position as I was trying to figure out how little foraging I could get away with, at least on the first playthrough. It's basic but very effective. The only thing I could complain about mechanics-wise is that due to the quick pacing of the story it feels like the mechanics don't get to shine as much as they could have. If the story had more segments from start to finish the resource management would have felt even more precarious, and I think more opportunities to encounter skill checks in a given playthrough would have made the consequences of your choices more palapable. But especially as someone who is a bit of a fan of the World of Darkness books I still think A Time of Monsters has provided an excellent and different take on how to work with stats and resources in a WoD story. [h2] Conclusions [/h2] A Time of Monsters really sets itself apart from other works in the franchise with its uniquely jovial tone and different take on the World of Darkness game mechanics. The result is a really engaging and funny book that feels fresh, but is at the same time laid out in a way that makes a given playthrough feel a bit too short to be really satisfying. It is still definitely worth at least checking out the demo if you think you would enjoy a Choose Your Own Adventure novel about a small bunch of social outcasts fighting supernatural monsters, or if you're a WoD fan in general.

Another good piece by Cata

Nice

Purchased to support the author, though I'm not a fan of urban fantasy myself.