My Big Fat Hunter: The Reckoning bachelor party!

As an avid roleplayer a lot of things that I do in life are connected with my hobby. That said, I would have never imagined that my friends would organise me a... Hunter-themed bachelor party!

Oh yeah, it happened. Last year, during late Autumn I got married. Before the ceremony my closest friends decided to threw me a bachelor party that I'd never forget. It was a tricky task, since I'm not into clubbing, strippers (obviously my wife is reading this), not even racing or gambling! So these absolute madmen gathered together one day, and decided that Hunter: The Reckoning-themed bachelor party is the right way to go. Oh boy, do these boys know me well!

Survive your bachelor party, inherit the Earth!

Simply put - it was awesome. Those of you who follow my blog for some time, know that I'm a huge Classic World of Darkness fan. In fact my favorite CWoD splat is the underdog of this whole line - Hunter: The Reckoning, a game from 1999. I will write a comprehensive review/love letter to it one day, but for now let me just say that some of my best RPG experiences, as well as the overall best roleplaying campaign, are connected with this title. I love HTR for its atmosphere, the grittiness, the down-to-earth approach to urban horror and to the fantastic metaplot. Two years ago I even had a chance to interview Ed Hall, one of the creators of this game, and I plan to return to running Hunter in the (hopefully) near future. As much as I enjoy WFRP, Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu, it is HTR that I adore the most, when it comes to RPGs.

But enough of me gushing about my beloved roleplaying title - it's time to talk about this crazy bachelor party! I will try to explain each segment of it as best as I can, but do have in mind that the whole thing was closely connected to out lengthy chronicle which started in 2011 and culminated in 2019 (we're planning to continue it this year, or in 2021). There will be a lot of references, winks to those who read the whole thing and, naturally, participated in it. That said, let's get down to buisness.

Just one more thing - the whole thing was "in character". In various messages, texts and conversations, I was reffered to as "Berkut". He was one of my most important NPCs in the chronicle, an ex-Society of Leopold hitman, who joined the cause of the Warsaw Imbued. He was a largely popular character, and one to which I'm very endeared. A bit of a sert-insert as well, since yes, I'm one of those gamemasters who like introducing GMPCs.

I will probably have to write a whole article about this topic, one day. It seems to divide opinions a lot.

Anyway, back to the main topic.

The whole thing started with my wife giving me a bottle of pills from... Magadon! To those of you who don't know what Magadon is - it's a pharmaceutical branch of Pentex, one of the arch-bad guys of the Classic World of Darkness. Their whole goal is to release faulty medicine and to hook people up on harmful drugs. Magadon was the major antagonist in my chronicle, responsible for releasing "Iskra" ("Spark"), a Bane-tainted drug on the Polish market. This lead to lots of gruesome deaths and general fuckery.

Just your ordinary medical company, right?

Anyway, the "happiness" pills in the box were good, but the message telling me to go to a hospital, in which a large portion of the chronicle's second chapter took place, was even more interesting. On the parking lot, in front of the hospital, I've found Bartek, who played a young, rakish Imbued in my game. His character first ended on a wheelchair, and finally met his end when a Pentex kill-squad tied him to an old land mine and blew him up. Anyway - here he was, sitting on on a wheelchair. He had a secret message for me on the phone. I had to get to a safe house nearby, where I was met by antoher hunter - Michał "Królik". All the while I was pushing Bartek's fat ass on the wheel chair. Apparently being blown to hell gives you some extra pounds. At the safe house I was told that some unsavory characters were watching me, and that I had to get to a nearby park, to look for more clues as to find out who exactly was after me!

The park was cold and damp. Fortunately there was Cezary, a friendly Imbued, and he brought snacks and a thermos full of delicious winter tea. Just what the doctor ordered. I also recieved some printed out directions as where to go next. They even had the classic hunter-net graphical design! In another park, not far from where we've met Czarek, some coded phrases had been hidden on trees and behind a large sign. I was always lousy with codes and ciphers, but fortunately, with some help from my fellow hunters, I've managed to obtain further instructions from "them". "They" were directing me towards Warsaw's downtown, where I've met another one of us, chosen by the Messengers (well, technically "Berkut" wasn't an Imbued, but details, details...). Mateusz had been poisoned! He was slumped under a clositer, which played a pivotal role in the second chapter of my chronicle. It was under that very same cloister that my players found a murdered hunter, Kacper Tramer. Since they were all police officers, shortly after becoming imbued, the investigation into this young man's death led them to confront horrors undreamt of. I consider the second part of my "Warsaw Nightmare" chronicle to be the best of all, by the way.

Fortunately, with some help from Bartek who miraculously regianed control over his legs, we've managed to save Mateusz from the dreadful Pentex poison. Together we've marched even onwards, towards a meeting place with Krzysztof "Panzernik150" Konstantynowicz, the technical and eccentric genius of Cell 6, the goverment outfit to which most of the players in my chronicle have belonged. He apparently got hexed by a Bane or some other kind of evil entity, and we had to find clues on a nearby building, to help free him from his unnatural paralysis. As a complete coincidence, said building is the one in which my mom lives. Like I've said before - these nutters know me too well!

After freeing "Panzernik150" (by the way - kudos to Krzysiek for willing to stand in a freezing temperature, while wearing nothing but a light suit), we've moved to the very centre of Warsaw. There, in front of the Novotel, we've encountered a man by the name of Andrzej, who had some incriminating evidence from my past. I told him that every man who knew of this picture was long dead, but sadly it did nothing to help my situation. The man infuriatingly passed all of his Cool tests! He said that he'll give it to me, if I'll be able to ask 3 (or 5, I honestly don't remember) different people for a smoke. Being a filthy introvert that I am, I did asked one girl (who promptly told me to scram), and eventually bought a damn packet of cigarettes and cheated my way to victory. Hey, it's what "Berkut" would do - adapt and overcome, right? Interestingly enough, in my games the Novotel was the premises of Siergiej Davidoff, a rich Russian gangster who was an ally of the Cell 6. In a true World of Darkness fashion he later betrayed them, only to be killed, together with his entire staff, by the vengeful "Berkut".

Davidoff certainly knew how to make a good impression!

Finally it was time to meet the mysterious stranger, the puppet master who was pulling my strings. We've reached the final meeting point, right outside the ABW building. ABW, or the Internal Security Agency (rough translation, sorry), is essentialy the Polish FBI. My PCs all worked for this outfit, and there were whole plots connected to it. Things like inner surveilance, the ABW being controlled by the Camarilla, and the fact that the Cell 6 was like the Dirty Dozen of the agency, all made up for some of the best roleplaying moments of our lives. In the late, freezing evening, we've finally met HIM. Marcin, who played major Marcin Strzelecki (all of my players were using their first names for their characters), the leader of Cell 6, and the mastermind of this whole, crazy initiative. Funnily enough, I've walked by the ABW building hundreds of times in my life, but it was only then that I realized that the agency was actually located in it! I always thought it was closer to the subway, a few hundred meters from the actual place. You really do learn something new everyday.

That was the end of this "scavenger hunt" or "urban playground", or however you want to call it. It was probably one of the best days of my life, and it culminated in an epic game of laser tag, followed by a delicious dinner and a night out with equally delicious drinks. I returned home, drunk off my ass, with lots of nice gifts (some of them very naught), and very, very happy. I will truly remember this day for the rest of my life with fondness and joy.

Oh, another interesting part of the story: the place to which we went to eat, was the same joint in which the original Cell 6 initially met for their first night-out. It's called "Bazyliszek" ("The Basilisk"), and the name would turn out to be an omen of dread and decay in my game. I've decided to use an old legend from Warsaw's history about this mythical creature, and actually made it a nasty, lovecraftian monster that Pentex tried to raise from its slumber. It's the little touches like that make the difference, and I'm glad that my friends thought about them when they've planned this whole event.

Plus the food there is truly delicious, which doesn't hurt either.

Their schnitzels are simply the best! (photo belongs to the Bazyliszek restaurant)

I wanted to thank all of my friends who helped in making this Hunter: The Reckoning-themed bachelor party a fantastic, unique and memorable experience. Marcin, Krzysiek, Czarek, Michał, Bartek and Andrzej - thank you from the bottom of my heart. You guys are awesome. Keep on rocking and never stop!

I also wanted to thank my beloved wife Lia for being with me through the good and hard times. Love you forever and one day longer, little gray mouse.

I wanted to thank Maciek, my first GM who taught me the ropes all those years ago. Without you I would not have decided to try gamemastering in the first place. Plus I did adapt your Vampire: The Masquerade scenario into part 1 of my "Warsaw Nightmare" chronicle. Please don't sue me for copyright infringement!

Finally I wanted to dedicate this article to the memory of my friend, Marek. He passed away a couple of years ago but he always greatly enjoyed playing Hunter with us, and his character, sergeant Smolar, was one of the most memorable RPG anti-heroes of all time. Miss you man.

So... that was it. Next time I will (hoepfully) finally review "Ironclad". By this point, I honestly have been delaying  this thing for far too long.

You can read about some of the aformentioned characters in my "Favorite player characters" series on my blog. Give it a go. I've heard from various sources that these articles are some of the best I've ever written.

Until next time! Inherit the Earth!

Hunter code was always one of the coolest aspects of this game, at least for me!

Xathrodox86