Changeling: Talecrafting for antagonists

I stumble upon talecrafting recently.
For those who don't know it, it allows the changeling to bend the story.
Say this big troll is just confronting you.
What happens to big trolls in stories?
They get tricked by the smart hero.
A hook, right there.
So you work the wyrd and funnel the story into this avenue.
There is however a drawback: Unless you roll an exceptional success you suffer a cruel twist of fate: A bitter drop in your story that went so well for you.

Now what if a NPC used this against other changelings or hunters?
Ah, endless possibilities of totally justified and even enjoyable GM tyranny...

Character conception: The Hunter of different Prey

"Yeah, sure. I know there those wackjobs who call themselves 'hunters' when all they do is fight tooth and nail just so they don't end up being the prey.
But him, he's different. He, provided 'he' is what he is, is different. He really hunts.
Stalks the rooftops and the streets at night, sometimes hiding and watching for hours on end, patient like a spider, waiting for prey.
And then some of you bloodsucker types, some of them shapeshifters or some other freaks walks into his crosshairs. Never mistook a human for one of you, almost like he sees you as you are. And *cough* goes the rifle and their throat turns into a bloody mess.
Always aims for the throat, the hunter... and the next morning there is nothing. A few splatters of blood at best.
Thats another point why he is a real hunter: He hunts for a reason and he takes the kill?
If he eats them? No, i have no idea.
All i know is this: When he aims that rifle at you, you are as good as dead. No matter how high and untouchable you think yourself, he will get you.
In the end he will get everyone!"

Review of 'Hunters Hunted'

Okay, fortunately i won'T have to find a subject for my second post myself: I just gonna review Citizen X adventure published in the Protodimension Magazine No.5.
So, how to start, where to begin?
Lets start with the hard facts:
The adventure is 40+ pages, 5 pages solely devoted to character sheets and 2 maps (satelite photos) of the area where the adventure takes place.
Said place is Alaska, more specific Ketchikan, Alaska 5th biggest city. You also get some infos about straight out of wikipedia.
The story is as follows:
A company build an installation on 4 islands close to Ketchikan and, don't you know, they disturbed some very ancient, reptilian semi-intelligent wildlife with that geothermal powerplant they build. And now these things began to leave their ancestral tunnels (which might be flooded by hot lava sooner or later) and hunt. And since they also hunt men, your Hunters turn up.

What I like:
Versatility
I liked the fact that Citizen X tried to make the adventure playable for every major template of the WoD (Vampires, Werwolfs and Mages) and as far as i can tell (i am not really an expert on two of the three games) he has succeeded, though all you Vampire-GMs might need to tweak it a bit since vampire have really major problems with sunlight.
This focus on versatility goes even further: On the end of the adventure he included options to make the game harder or easier depending on how strong your PCs are and he also provides some 'story seeds' in the adventure. Normally the company, GloboChem, would just be a normal, mundane energy company, but he included several possibilities to make them spookier or more connected to the supernatural.
I also like the layout of the adventure, clear-cut paragraphs, lots of pictures and the fact that he gives you advice on how the island should feel.

What I don't like:
The adventure is not complete.
Let me be more specific:
It has no end. It basically provides you with a fucked-up situation (the Keet Ku, semi-intelligent reptiles are leaving there caves because they fill up with lava and come hunting) but no solution to this. You cannot kill them, since they are really bad in combat and you will have a hard time seeing them at all (in their natural enviroment, woodland and rocky areas, they gain 4 automatic successes on their stealth roll), you can 'report' the situation, though to whom or to what avail remains mysterious and you are also highly unlikely to stop the whole situation (since the hole that makes the lava flood their caves has already been drilled, blowing up the geothermal plant seems to be no solution) and you also unlikely to kill them all by flooding their caves (and i won't even mention the flood waves and the natural disaster that would follow if the lava reaches the ocean, which will most likely result in the whole island blowing up!).
That means you have an adventure you can play... but don't expect to achieve anything, since either the Keet Ku will kill you, or mass-migrate to mainland (where, for some reason they will attack humans in high numbers) or the island blows up...


The rigged artifact
Their is also an artifact on the island, though i did not really understand its use for the story. I basically is a Keet Ku-detector that also makes you their prime target while sabotaging your ability to flee or fight (Danger Magnet 2 and Insidious Bargain 2). It can also create a verge (that is, for all of you who don't own either the Reliquary or the Book of Spirits, a opening in the wall between real and Spirit world that can be, for obvious reasons, immensly dangerous) adding to the characters problems instead of providing a solution.

Can they talk or not
It would also have been nice to know if you could reason with the Keet Ku. Unfortunately there is no clue one way or the other. If they were able to communicate with you, or you with them, that might provide an actual soltuion to your problem. But we'll never now...

And we are here because...?
Most GMs will need to find very good reason why there Hunters/vampires/mages/werwolves would care what goes on in Alaska... i mean it is not like they don't have enough on there hands with their own hometowns. So prepare for a some creative GM to get your PCs to Alaska and even more to make them care.
If you use this, the best way might be to stage your whole chronicle in Alaska... though the promised advice for a full-fledged game in Alaska does not materialize in the adventure.


My Advice
Take all good ideas you find and apply them wherever you like.
Or take the adventure and come up with solutions before letting your players loose.
The adventure as it is is hardly playable but if you are willing to invet them work you might get something worthwhile quite fast.
I would give it 3 out of 5 for its ideas and 1 out of 5 for actual playability.

First Post

So, first post.
What to do, waht to write?
First post sets the tone, right?
So, do i write about my problems with Block by Bloody Block?
Do i meditate and what makes gaming groups tick and why it seems to end, at least for me, always badly?
Do i write about my take on the vigil in Hunter: The Vigil?
I think i start with something different.
I start with why i love games and, maybe more importantly, how i love them.
The why... hmmm... i definitly belong to the escapist faction of the community. I know that carries bad implications for some, but for me roleplaying is holiday, rest from the toil and difficulty of normal live. For me roleplaying is more, and i want it to be more, than a bunch of people sitting around a table with snacks.
In an ideal case what people do around the gaming table is more than that. It is creating a story you will remember for years to come and that is on par if not better than what most authors can produce.
And how do i love it?
I do not like the players who just blabber and i don't like those who have PCs with the character depths of a very thin sheet of paper. I like peoples with plans, with agendas, people who do not need the GM to give them plans and ambitions but those who have their own. I like the social competent players. No, i do not mean the people with their focus in Charisma (or related attribute) and related skills, but those are able to talk honestly and sincerly and do not resort to passiv-aggressive behaviour when unsatisfied with the way the game goes.
And the most important thing is trust between all people in the group. The GM trusting the players not to play against him and not shit him, while the players have to trust the GM to be fair.