"The Blade Itself," Is My First (But Hopefully Not My Last) Venture Into Hunter: The Vigil

Monsters lurk in the dark places of the world. Vampires. Werewolves. Changelings. Mages. These are merely a handful of the inexplicable, supernatural creatures who prowl the shadows preying on humanity. Even in a world with cameras in every pocket, and the miracles of technology growing more fantastical every day, these things manage to slip into blind spots, unseen by most of the population.

Some people do see them, though. They become aware of the monstrous and the terrifying, and rather than closing their eyes they light a candle against the darkness, and take up the fight. Hunters come in many shapes and sizes, and they use a variety of tools to hold the line, and to defend humanity... but my recent supplement The Blade Itself: Corrupt Equipment For Hunter The Vigil gives players and Storytellers alike a whole new resource to draw on.

And if you haven't grabbed a copy for yourself yet, you should check it out!

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

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The Corruption System (And What It Does)

Hunters, generally speaking, stand with their grit and determination against the monsters of the Chronicles of Darkness. While certain hunter factions provide unique equipment or unusual powers, those who don't ally themselves with these compacts and conspiracies find themselves shit out of luck when danger comes calling.

However, this supplement provides an extra option... though it is a double-edged one.

This gun's got stains on it... what's a few more?

Corruption, capital-C, is a force that hunters typically try to avoid. Associated with Tainted Places and Slashers alike, Corruption is the darkness that lurks beneath the world, bubbling up in physical places, as well as in the souls of human monsters... but it can also mark items that are associated with particularly potent legends. Corruption imbues these items (usually, but not always, weapons) and bestows on them unique properties... but every corrupt piece of equipment comes with a price. For items that are barely corrupt it might be urges the wielder has to spend Willpower to control, or nights of bad dreams that come after wielding it. For more potent items it can be loss of Integrity, debilitating Conditions, or even a loss of self to the legend of items that want to write a new legacy in the hunter's blood.

The supplement provides a simple description for this 1-5 dot merit, with the general level of a legend surrounding a piece of equipment (with the 4 and 5 dot items typically connected to Rippers and Scourges), as well as 5 examples of each level (for a total of 25 pieces of equipment). However, Storytellers and players are encouraged to create their own examples, and to forge their own legends using these items as templates.

The purpose of the Corruption system is to give hunters access to unique gear without the prerequisite of belonging to a particular faction, and given access to their unique powers and armories. Of course, corrupt items are usable by any hunter, so whether you're utilizing none of the compacts and conspiracies, a mixed bag of them, or all your players are part of the same organization, these legendary items can still come into their possession. They might be part of an ongoing plot, or merely a temptation to see whether they can maintain their integrity while dipping their toes into the darkness all while telling themselves it's for a good cause, however one chooses to use them.

Would You Like To See More Hunter Content Going Forward?

Hunter is one of those splats that all of us know, but it seems relatively few of us actually play. After all, hunters are the bogeymen in most Chronicles of Darkness splats because the monsters need to keep themselves to the shadows in order to avoid drawing unwanted attention from dangerous mortals of all sorts. The deeper I've dug into it, though, the more interesting I've found the game to be overall.

I even made a video a while back over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel about how it's actually one of the ideal entry points into the Chronicles of Darkness for folks who know little to nothing about the setting.

However, while I love this setting, I actually had to take a break from anything for Storyteller's Vault for a while. I didn't write anything for it in 2024, and in 2025 I only put out three supplements: Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See in The Penumbra for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage for Beast: The Primordial (though I was just a single contributor), and Like A Good Neighbor: Portraying True Fae in Your Chronicle for Changeling: The Lost.

I'd like to drop at least a handful of Storyteller's Vault supplements per year, and I have a lot of ideas for Hunter in particular. Some of these include:

- New compacts and conspiracies

- "Unredacted" histories for Task Force Valkyrie, discussing the conspiracy's potential deeds

- Collections of Slashers (both Rippers and Scourges)

- A supplement for play as Slashers, for player groups who want to take on these monstrous mantles

- A collection of additional combat style merits (some of which fill in gaps left by Hurt Locker)

These are just a sample of the things I'd like to spend some time on, but for folks who don't know, Storyteller's Vault content is a risk for me as a creator because I take a 50% pay cut up-front to make it. So unless I sell a lot of copies (at least 50, though preferably breaking the 100 copies barrier) it can be tricky to keep my bills paid while working on these titles.

So if you want to see me work on more Chronicles of Darkness stuff in general, and Hunter in particular, please grab a copy of The Blade Itself: Corrupt Equipment For Hunter The Vigil, and leave a review of it on Drive Thru RPG. Additionally, let me know down in the comments which of the ideas I mentioned sound interesting to you, or if you'd prefer to see me work on something else in 2026!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my additional audio dramas over on The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

"Down and Dirty" Combat Doesn't Get Enough Love in The Chronicles of Darkness

Combat is the main event in a lot of roleplaying games, but there are times where a fight just feels inconsequential for the player characters, or it's just going to eat up a massive amount of the time you had planned for the story that night. This can be an issue in games that take a more cinematic approach to combat, such as the Chronicles of Darkness, but the Down and Dirty Combat mechanic that's listed on page 87 can solve this problem neatly and elegantly for those who want to go to narration for those fights that might be necessary, but which aren't super important.

You got this kid! Come on, one roll, and this bum's going down!

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Not Every Fight Is Supposed To Be Do-Or-Die

I've made the comparison before, but consider the first John Wick film. The scene where Vigo tasks a crew of assassins to go kill John before he can come after Iosef to get revenge. There's 11 or so assassins in black suits and ski masks, making them literal faceless goons who are all dispatched to our main character's house. John, of course, kills them all with the only damage being to his house, and his composure, just to let the audience know the kind of badass we're dealing with.

This is what I mean when I talk about thinking of combat cinematically. I'm not just talking about what it would look like, and the ebb and flow of a brawl or a shoot out. But ask where it fits in the narrative arc you're telling, and if this is an important, meaningful fight that should be slugged out round-for-round and pound-for-pound, or is this an interim fight with goons who aren't important in the grand scheme of things?

Because if you're running a Hunter game, and your cell of trigger-happy monster hunters are going after a vampire, then absolutely that fight in the vampire's lair should be a pulse-pounding scene where you dedicate a lot of screen time to the action, and you pull out all the weird powers and hail-Mary weapons for your mortals to try to eke out a victory. However, you probably don't want to dedicate that same time and attention to the fight with some club bouncers that are guarding the first layer of access to that vampire's lair, three sub-basements below The Red Circle.

You want to fight the counter guy who got your order wrong? Fine, but this is the last time...

The way this simple mechanic works is that you, as the ST, offer the chance to the players to run this with Down and Dirty rules. Because it should always be their choice. After all, regular combat mechanics and Down and Dirty mechanics both offer risks. If the players say yes, they want the D&D rules, it's fairly simple.

First, you determine which characters have what goals in this scene. For example, your bruiser might be trying to beat a combination to a locked door out of a flunky, while the shooter is just picking off as many other targets as she can. If there are distinct, different goals at-work, then these characters each make separate rolls. However, if multiple characters are all in sync with their goals (say all four members of a cell are rushing the two guards on a door, and looking to pummel them into submission), then they can use the Teamwork mechanic in order to combine their efforts together for a better chance of success.

Once you know who is trying to do what, you put together the combat pool for the player characters (Strength or Dexterity + Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry), and then the NPCs will either roll that same pool if they're opposing the PCs, or they'll roll something like (Strength or Dexterity + Athletics) if they're trying to get away. Once both sides have rolled, count the successes, and the difference between them.

If the players get an exceptional success (5 or more on their side) they achieve their goal, and get a point of Willpower from the rush. A regular success (1-4 more on their side) and they achieve their stated goal, dealing damage equal to their weapon modifier + successes, killing enemies if that was the goal. If they fail then the opponent deals them damage equal to the number of successes they achieved over the PCs, and they escape unless they want to press things. Dramatic failure is the same as a regular failure, except the PCs are Stunned as a result of how badly things went.

Just be careful who you start a fight with... it might go badly for you.

This mechanic does a lot of heavy lifting for you as a Storyteller. On the one hand, it allows player characters who are built for fights to still contribute to the story and the game, but you don't have to eat up half (or more) of a given session making sure they get their fights in. On the other hand, it puts control into your players' hands, so they can decide what they think an important fight is, versus one they're willing to let a single roll of the dice settle.

With that said, though, as a Storyteller you should consider a couple of things before allowing the Down and Dirty rules to resolve a given combat.

- Should This Be Do Or Die? - The Chronicles of Darkness is a vicious system when it comes to combat, and the more combatants and weapons involved only ups that ante. If you want to avoid a serious risk of PC death, then this is a good time for the D&D option.

- Are These Combatants Named? - Think of your chronicle as if it were a movie. Are the people your characters fighting Named Characters, like the current villain, their lieutenant, or important characters to the plot? Or are they Gangster #1, #2, and #3? Even if you gave them names, histories, and personalities in your notes, ask if they are Important. If not, D&D is probably an acceptable way to solve things.

These two questions make a great guide as to when these rules should be invoked. Because once you have the necessary results, you can narrate what happened, and dictate what the fight accomplished, or what resources it used (how many rounds did they fire, did they manage to keep things quiet, and so on) without interrupting the flow of the current arc too much.

And if things go REALLY terribly, you can always invoke the Chase rules... but I think I'll talk about those next time if folks are interested in hearing more about this setting?

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

We Really Underestimate The Effect of Guns in World/Chronicles of Darkness Games

The thing reared out of the darkness, fangs bared, and red eyes shining with an infernal light. It held vaguely to the shape of a man, but it stank of untold centuries, and the sight of it made you feel as if a thousand insectile legs were scrabbling at the inside of your brain, trying to escape. It took one step, then another, already thirsty for the hot, wet blood it could smell pounding through the human's veins.

Lisa was half-numb with terror, but her finger still tightened on the trigger. The Mossberg bucked in her hands, roaring as fire erupted from the barrel of her gun. The dragonsbreath round tore into the creature, and it shrieked with outrage, and pain. Lisa racked the weapon on instinct, and squeezed the trigger again. The second round blew off the creature's head, leaving nothing behind but a scorched neck stump, as the kindred who had seen centuries turn from the dark shadows of the world fell away to nothing but a cloud of burning ashes.

"No weapon forged by mortal hand, huh?" she said, her voice shaky as she racked a fresh round into her weapon, and slipped a few fresh shells into her gun.

Wait... they're packing what!? No, get me the hell out of here.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

High Caliber Strategy (Guns Are Lethal in This Game)

If you've played any of the games set in the World or Chronicles of Darkness, then you already know the sheer variety of nonsense these games have when it comes to the supernatural. From rampaging werewolves, to centuries-old bloodsuckers, to death-defying sin eaters, and iron-allergic creatures from another dimension, there's magic and monsters aplenty lurking in the dark corners of these modern games. However, we often get so caught up in the power plays between reality-bending mages and primordial creatures of darkness that we tend to forget the sheer, killing power of a modern firearm.

And I'm not just talking about vehicle-mounted military ordnance, here... regular, everyday guns can spell game over for even potent supernatural creatures who roll the dice and come out on the wrong end of a bet.

I talked about this a while back on Discussions of Darkness on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, but I feel like this really bears repeating here. In all versions of these games, firearms deal lethal damage as a rule. For those not familiar, there's bashing damage caused by punches and blunt force trauma that heals relatively quickly, lethal damage caused by guns, blades, and so on that is far more difficult to heal, and aggravated damage which is like using silver on a werewolf... aggravated damage usually makes a character dead in very short order. In the Chronicles of Darkness when you make an attack with a firearm you roll your Dexterity + Firearms dice pool, and add your successes to the weapon's damage rating to determine damage dealt. So if you're firing a rifle (4 extra damage) or a shotgun (3 extra damage), and you end up with a decent number of successes (say 3-4 of them) that's enough to drop someone into unconscious and bleeding out... and that level of damage can also cripple or kill a supernatural creature if they don't have proper protections against what's being fired at them.

The other thing that makes firearms so deadly is that they ignore a character's Defense (as long as the firearm isn't being used in melee distance). If you're being attacked in melee, or someone is throwing something at you, you have the ability to apply your Defense against that action, representing your ability to duck, bob, weave, etc. out of the way to slip punches, dodge blades, and so on. Firearms don't care about your Defense... the only thing that can save you from being shot is armor, cover, and some pretty powerful supernatural abilities.

I say this not because I want folks to think that firearms are a completely overpowered aspect of this game... but instead to realize that guns are a massive equalizer in a modern fantasy/horror game. And if your game is set in America, the land of Smith and Wesson, this is going to be something people run into quite a lot when they end up playing hardball.

A Literal Arms Race

Now, all of this is not to say that guns are an automatic win. For one thing, armor and shields rated for ballistic encounters (the sort of stuff you see a SWAT team roll up in) can allow characters to wade through a battlefield without substantial harm if they have a bit of luck. Secondly, you still have to be able to actually hit a target, and when it comes to distance, lighting, cover, dodging, etc., firefights can quickly become choking, nasty affairs... especially because so many of these games take place in cities and not in open, empty fields on bright days with clear sight lines.

Just as importantly, though, one of the major aspects of the World and Chronicles of Darkness is secrecy. While it is perfectly possible to roar up to an encounter dressed for a Texan wedding and ready to leave a few thousand shell casings in your wake, that sort of thing tends to get noticed in a big damn hurry... and that's exactly the opposite of what you want. Especially when you consider that the authorities have more guns, bigger guns, and there's a lot more of them than there are of you, the application of firearms tends to become far more strategic when you're trying to solve plot. Sure, you might keep a sidearm on you for personal protection, or wear a ballistic weave vest under your coat, but you aren't gearing up all the way just to go about your daily life.

This is a lot like how it's frowned upon to stomp around town in a fantasy RPG dressed in full plate and carrying bared steel. People in the modern world tend to get extremely nervous when someone in a full suit of tactical gear shows up to a grocery store with a shotgun over one shoulder, and a brace of flash bangs on their hip.

Move fast. Break stuff. Disappear.

However, it cannot be overstated that this is not a technology V. supernatural dichotomy. Because firearms being this widely available mean they're going to be in the hands of supernatural creatures and their servants, too. Whether it's gang enforcers who've been juiced up on a kindred's vitae, mortals sworn to fight and die in the service of a changeling, or a mage who has turned a gun into one of their ritual implements, the interactions of modern day weaponry with the supernatural can put you on a fast track to seriously bonkers (and deadly) encounters.

With that said, I feel it's important to understand that when the guns come out, that's when things get really serious in this game. Don't breeze into a room full of heavily-armed bruisers thinking you can take them because you're one of the game's main characters... all it takes is a little overconfidence and a few good rolls on the ST's part for your character to die of lead poisoning on the first round of combat, regardless of how long you've been banking your experience points.

Good planning and preparation is worth a lot... but there's a reason the monsters melt into the shadows when humans start tooling up and lighting their torches!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Mortals Plus- A World/Chronicles of Darkness Campaign Concept

The World and Chronicles of Darkness setting is filled with possibilities and potentials. From vampires and werewolves, to mages and changelings, to Prometheans, Sin Eaters, and hunters, you could play through dozens and dozens of chronicles before you ever heard the same note repeated.

However, whether you're an old hand for these games looking for some way to spice things up, or you're a newer player looking for a gentler introduction to this setting for yourself and your table, I'd like to suggest something that I call a Mortals+ Chronicle.

Don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! To be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Also, since it keeps getting lost in the shuffle, check out my Vocal archive for more articles about RPGs, character conversions, character concepts, weird history, nerdy topics, and more!

The Support Staff For The Supernatural

While each of the different spheres of the World or Chronicles of Darkness are unique in their own ways, there are a lot of design similarities between the games so that they can be played together as part of the same setting. And one of the big similarities shared by a majority of these supernatural creatures is that they have a slot reserved for mortals who have been let in on the secret, and who usually have some vestige of power of their own as a result.

Yes, Master... I see.

This tradition goes all the way back to the original edition of Vampire: The Masquerade and the idea of ghouls. These characters are mortals who are blood bound to a vampire, and they act as that vampire's agents in the mortal world, much like we see Renfield act in the classic novel Dracula. This role was carried forward with kinfolk in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, allowing for extended families of these shapechangers to provide backup and support, and to avoid/ignore the madness that viewing a werewolf usually brought on. Other examples include ensorcelled mortals for Changeling: The Lost, familiars in Mage: The Awakening, and so on. While not every game in the setting has these roles, it is uncommon for this kind of character to be absent.

They are the characters that a Mortals+ chronicle revolves around.

Normally these enhanced mortals are just thought of as sidekicks to the supernatural creatures of a given game. They're the aides de camp who help with planning, who open the doors, or who handle tasks that are too mundane for the monsters to whom they are bound to bother with. But the chronicle can take on an interesting twist when you shift that narrative, and see these stories from the perspective of these mortal characters.

The first benefit is that this allows you to focus on your character as a person, and figuring out who they are. You then need to ask what brought them under the shadow, and into the truth of the setting. Were they a lost kinfolk who was rediscovered when they saw a garou change forms, and didn't freak out? Were they a private eye tracking down a serial killer, only to find a vampire who offered them a choice between servitude or death? Was this person a student of the occult who stumbled onto a cabal of genuine mages who decided they were too useful to do away with? Or did they make a deal with someone that sounded too good to be true, only to find out they now work for a changeling?

But is it the worst bargain you've ever made?

This idea works best for Storytellers and players who want to stay at a boots-on-the-ground level of the game. Additionally, when you play an enhanced mortal, it gives you a taste of power (usually, anyway), and it gives the Storyteller a simple way of dispatching missions to the PCs. You can complicate this somewhat by giving the PCs different sponsors (say you each serve a different vampire, or you're all connected to different werewolf tribes), but that is a choice that's up to you as the ST.

Another aspect of a Mortals+ game is that, much like the Faces of Death Chronicle idea I shared a while back, there's a chance for players to be upgraded to a full supernatural template. Perhaps the ghouls prove themselves through their service, and their masters embrace them (or they betray their masters, and are embraced by another who promised them power for that betrayal). Your kinfolk might have their first change, your familiars might awaken, and it's possible that your ensorcelled mortals might be dragged away to Arcadia, only to have to claw their way back to the real world as a full changeling. Maybe this is something some characters want, maybe it's something they're forced to endure (because the player wants it to happen, even if the character doesn't), but it can provide an interesting way to continue the chronicle even when the PCs are all upgraded to a full, supernatural sheet.

Or, if you opt not to go that route, they can always make for ideal hunters, since they have a working knowledge of at least one supernatural community, how to navigate it, and how to disrupt it!

Recommended Reading on Enhanced Mortals

I've written up a lot of supplements about characters who fit into the Mortals+ mold. I've listed them below for folks who want to check them out for inspiration, or simply to fill your own World/Chronicles of Darkness game with a more organic cast!

- New World Nights: 100 Ghouls For The American Camarilla (Vampire: The Masquerade)

- New World Shadows: 100 American Ghouls For The Sabbat (Vampire: The Masquerade)

- Children of The Night: 100 Animal Ghouls (Vampire: Requiem or Masquerade)

- 100 Garou Kinfolk Bundle (15 Werewolf: The Apocalypse supplements in one bundle!)

- 100 Ensorcelled Mortals (Changeling: The Lost)

For those who want to see me expand this list of 19 supplements to other games, please consider leaving comments below, sharing the supplements around to help them find fresh eyes, and if you do get copies for yourself, leave a rating and a review to help the project maintain momentum!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

3 Systems I Would Recommend For Running an SCP Foundation Game

While I might be a little late to the game, so to speak, I've been really enjoying the SCP Foundation as a fictional entity. From short stories, to YouTube lore channels, to short films, there's a lot of it to take in, and it's getting a little bit bigger every day. Heck, I even made my own contribution a little while back with 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, SCP Edition, and the audio drama version I put together below.

Consider checking those out, if you haven't seen them yet. It's been tough getting views on them, and I'd like to justify doing a little bit more in this setting, if I can.

However, with so much rich content under creative commons license, it was only a matter of time until someone put out an SCP roleplaying game. And while there is an SCP-specific game on the market now, simply titled SCP The Tabletop RPG, I haven't found it to be a game that really grabs me.

This got me thinking about what other games there are out there one could use to run an RPG campaign in the SCP universe. And while I'm sure there are a lot of games that I missed, I think that the following list makes for some pretty strong starting places.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

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Game #1: Delta Green

Just the facts, please, sir.

The first game on this list, and perhaps the most obvious, is Delta Green. This secretive government entity exists in the shadows, and since the raid on the town of Innsmouth in the 1920s the agents of this bureau have combatted the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos wherever they find them, protecting the world and safeguarding us against the machinations of mad cults and dark gods alike.

While this game started off life connected to the Call of Cthulhu RPG, they've grown and changed to the point that they're separate entities at this juncture. However, honorable mention to Call of Cthulhu as another option for those who want their players to be even more vulnerable than your average Delta Green agent. If that's an option you want to pursue, consider grabbing the Investigator Handbook and the Keeper's Rulebook for the 7th Edition of the game!

Game #2: Hunter: The Vigil

Werewolves, you say? Shame... I'll just have to shoot them a LOT.

If you want a game where the characters are a little more durable, but have to deal with just as much supernatural nonsense, I'd also recommend checking out Hunter: The Vigil. Part of the Chronicles of Darkness series of RPGs, Hunters are the ones who bump off the things that go bump in the night, and they're often used by storytellers as a threat when players are being a little too loud, and breaking the veil of secrecy a little too often in the other spheres.

While the variability in Hunter can be used to scale the power and equipment your agents have access to, you can also use the other spheres of the Chronicles of Darkness to bring in the various aspects of the SCP universe. If you need reality benders and bizarre magic users, Mage: The Awakening has you covered. If you want beings of phenomenal, cosmic power to act as allies or antagonists, you can find them in Demon: The Descent. And if you want that mid-range of mutants and monsters, then all of the creatures and power sets located in Deviant: The Renegades might be right up your alley.

This option has the most scalability of the choices, but it does require a lot of reading on the part of the ST, and it would require the largest number of books. Still, if you happen to have the Chronicles of Darkness books gathering dust on a shelf, and you're looking for a new way to breathe life into them, consider giving this a try!

Game #3: Savage Worlds

Absolute savages.

Much as with the Chronicles of Darkness, the Savage Worlds RPG system has a lot of different games you could bring to bear on creating an interconnected SCP universe game. However, Savage Worlds tends to be a lot lighter on mechanics, which might be more appealing to some players who like the idea of a big, sprawling, multi-book game, but who don't want to have a stack of tomes on the floor that reaches to the top of the table should they need to reference something during the campaign.

While you'll definitely need the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition as well as Dark States to start with, I'd also recommend using a combination of the weird Western game Deadlands, and the Victorian monster hunting game Rippers as the basis for the campaign. While both of these are period piece games, they provide a lot of the rules and backgrounds one could easily use to get an SCP campaign going. You might even want to expand into books like Weird War I, or even Necessary Evil which includes rules for super powered characters, but that will be up to your particular game, and what sort of elements you want to bring in.

What Games Did I Miss?

Do you have a game or system that you feel would make a good basis for covering the wide variety of genres and stories found in the SCP universe that didn't make this (admittedly very short) list? Toss it in the comments below! I'm always looking for new stuff to check out, so I'm happy to take a gander at any recommendations folks want to throw my way.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the ongoing audio drama series The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Want Players to Stop Using Guns in Your World of Darkness Game? Play an Earlier Era!

It feels like I've written about guns in RPGs a lot over the past several years, but it's typically articles like 5 Tips For Playing Better Gunslingers for more traditional fantasy games where you've got flying lead alongside lightning bolts and dragons. But this resistance to high-caliber solutions isn't limited to Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and their kin... you also find it among World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness storytellers.

I'll take a pack of pencils, then,

Since this is something that seems to bother a lot of folks, I figured I'd get into the details of it, and my proposed solution for it, this week. As always, if you want to stay on top of all my latest releases make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates sent right to your inbox! Also, if you want to help me keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron... every little bit really does help.

Why So Many STs Seem To Object To High-Caliber Solutions

The World of Darkness, as well as the Chronicles of Darkness, are modern settings. Even if you run a WoD game in the era it was written for, it's still being run in the 90s. So unlike traditional fantasy games, where guns are often viewed as a new invention that's recently been introduced to the setting, they've been around for literal centuries. Not only that, but one of the more persuasive reasons for the supernatural world to keep its head down is that enough mortals armed with machine guns, flamethrowers, high-powered explosives, etc. could wipe them out without breaking too much of a sweat if they were all discovered and the Masquerade broken.

It's one reason why Armory and Armory: Reloaded are two of my favorite books for Chronicles of Darkness, as they offer some pretty persuasive arguments why you should not start trouble with the mortal world.

Despite this, there are a lot of Storytellers out there who get their back up when someone attempts to use a mundane technological solution over a supernatural one, particularly when it comes to the more nitty gritty aspects of the game. Because while it's possible to create an enchanted thunder maul that strikes like lightning and can be thrown a dozen yards in combat with unerring accuracy, a fully-automatic, drum-fed riot shotgun with incendiary rounds deals exactly as much damage to a target without the need to entreat the spirits, prove your worth, or conduct a full-moon ritual sacrifice. You just need to put in a call to Paul, the balding nerd with the weird gun fetish, and spend the necessary cash to get it in your hands.

No parley? Shame... shame...

The argument, in this case, is startlingly similar to what you'll see in a DND or Pathfinder game. Storytellers, when I've managed to nail down definite, specific answers, always bristle that there's a completely mundane tool, weapon, or solution that's as powerful as magical ones, but which don't have the same limitations and controls as the magical ones do. You just need the proper Resources or Allies to get your guns from the black market, and all of a sudden you can punch way outside your weight class regarding the kind of foes you can take on.

While that is true in some respects, there are two salient points that need to be made here that I think a lot of STs overlook, or forget about.

First, big, powerful guns tend to be tough to hide both during transportation, and during use. Because while the weapon described above might tear through the ranks of fomori, it's not something you can just hide under a coat. And when you hold down that trigger, it's likely going to break windows at 10 yards just from the sound alone. So even if a player has access to these weapons, they aren't going to be able to use them cavalierly unless you're constantly attacking them in either the middle of nowhere, or in the unique pocket realm that it seems every sphere has one of.

Secondly, because these tools are completely mundane, they're going to be investigated and noticed by the mundane world. If a PC runs amok with their mini-Mjolnir cracking skulls and casting lightning bolts, mortal investigators aren't going to be able to make heads or tales of the evidence without concocting some bizarre story. No one is going to put out an APB for a man carrying a magic hammer. By contrast, black market firearms are going to get noticed by local cops, and possibly by the ATF, which means players need to be extra careful with when they choose to cut loose, and when they use a quieter solution. Even legal, commercially-available firearms require permits, and using them in public can lead to a lot of nosy questions from the authorities if players aren't very careful with how they do things.

Don't Want Modern Solutions, Don't Run a Modern Game

There are other advantages to guns in the World of Darkness as well. They allow you to attack multiple targets in a single blast, their ammunition can be modified to take advantage of enemy weaknesses, and in the Chronicles of Darkness they ignore defense and can only be countered by armor and cover. So if you're going to be running a game with a lot of combat in it, then it just makes sense that at least some folks are going to gravitate toward the most dangerous tools to ensure they come out ahead when all is said and done.

Choose your next words carefully, I've got silver loaded in here.

However, the solution is not to simply tell your players they can't have guns. With so many ways to get your hands on these tools (especially if your game is set anywhere in North America) it breaks immersion really fast that someone with underworld contacts, a lot of money in the bank, or just the ability to machine and tool their own parts and pieces cannot acquire these weapons. They're a ubiquitous part of the modern world, and telling players they can't have or use them would be no different than making them write letters and send telegrams instead of making a phone call.

This extends to basically any other form of modern technology, too. Whether it's STs tired of hackers destroying an area's security system, or players using vehicular combat as a way to turn a dump truck into a battering ram, if you don't want players to use modern solutions, then don't run a modern game.

Instead, run something in the past. Period, full stop.

I Guarantee You'll Have Just as Much Interest

On the one hand, running a game set in the past is more difficult than one set in the present. The cast of current NPCs running things is different (for those who use the existing lore), certain major events may not yet have occurred, and then there's the matter of making sure you have a firm grip on actual world history so that you can convey the proper setting and tone for your players.

With all of that said, though, this is one of the most organic ways of rewinding the progression on technology that also creates an utterly unique experience that your players are not likely to forget anytime soon.

We're going werewolf hunting, you in?

Whether you want to go full Van Helsing in the 1800s for a Hunter game, you want to run Mage set in the dying days of the Roman empire, or you want to play a Vampire game during the Black Death while the Inquisition is hunting the supernatural community, this one change is going to create one hell of a game. Even if it's something short-lived, like participating in the hunt for the Beast of Gevaudan in Werewolf, or a short arc for Changeling set during the spiritualism craze of the Victorian era in London, changing the era gets you what you want (removing the smorgasbord of modern-day technologies that can feel ubiquitous), while also giving your players a unique experience (an entire period of history they've likely never gotten to play in).

While it might seem like a lot of work (and it is, don't mistake me on that), I guarantee this approach would go over a lot better than just handing your players a list of tools and tech they're not allowed to use, or which you're going to restrict because you feel it isn't fair to the more spiritually-inclined players to have their magic eclipsed by the latest from Smith and Wesson.

Hell, there's even an entire Dark Ages series you can use! If this is something you haven't considered before, then check out the following titles to get your brain wheels turning:

- Dark Eras (Chronicles of Darkness)

- Dark Ages: Vampire

- Dark Ages: Werewolf

- Dark Ages: Mage

- Dark Ages: Fae

- Dark Ages: Inquisitor

- Dark Ages: Blood and Silk

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Like Urban Fantasy? Take 6 Minutes To Watch "As They Continue To Fall"

As some regular readers have no doubt noticed, there's been a spike in the amount of content I'm writing for more modern, urban fantasy games on this blog. Stuff like my post Want to Run Better World of Darkness Games? Then Watch John Wick!, for instance. Simply put, I needed a bit of a break, and you all seem to enjoy those posts. As such, I figured I'd make an effort to put a few more of them out there.

That's why this week I figured I'd provide a little inspiration for all the fans of modern, secret-world style games. All you have to do is take a couple of minutes to watch the short film As They Continue To Fall.

Intriguing, right?

What The Hell Did I Just Watch?

That video stuck with me the first time I saw it, leaving me full of questions about what strange world I just caught a glimpse of. It was written by C. Robert Gargill, the pen behind Doctor Strange, and directed by Nikhil Bhagat. Sadly, though it feels like a tantalizing taste of something bigger, there was never a full film made for this project (though there was a Kickstarter, which has since been deleted), so this is all we're going to get... for now, at least.

Personally, every time I watch this short it makes me want to start a Hunter: The Reckoning or a Hunter: The Vigil game. Not overly picky, as anything that would let me play a wandering, unseen badass in a crumbling city full of unseen monsters would go down just fine after that little film.

The other reason this particular short came up recently is that I've been working on my 100 Kinfolk project with High Level Games, and I'm elbow-deep in the Bone Gnawers list at the moment (so far I've finished the Get of Fenris, Black Furies, and Glass Walkers over the past few months). So if the idea of people wandering the fringes of society with a blade up their sleeve and a blessed bullet in their pocket is the sort of thing you want to see more of, stay tuned for that as well!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed the film, and it provides you all with the same sort of inspiration it did me!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!