Too many hunters!

  I was wondering and if you use all the compacts and conspiracies in the supplements.. don't you think that we got a lot of groups to deal with the supernatural?

  We already have 9 groups with the manpower to destroy all the "big guys [vampires, werewolves, mages, prometheans, changelings]" in the US... [aegis kae doru, ascending ones, cheiron group, lucifuge, malleus maleficarum, TFV, VASCU, order of saint george, les mysteries, heressy of cain] and that makes me think that maybe the supernatural must be really numerous if the hunters haven't ride the world of them...

Keep in mind Hunter is a very toolbox oriented game.  You use the groups and tiers you want and (at least for that game) ignore the rest of them.  Just like Bloodlines, Lodges, Legacies and etc, as long as you have a good idea of a unique and interesting one, it's worth exploring, since the point isn't too make all these groups coexist in a single setting, but to give the ST and players as many tools as possible to tell the Hunter story they want to tell.

Elreve:

  I was wondering and if you use all the compacts and conspiracies in the supplements.. don't you think that we got a lot of groups to deal with the supernatural?

  We already have 9 groups with the manpower to destroy all the "big guys [vampires, werewolves, mages, prometheans, changelings]" in the US... [aegis kae doru, ascending ones, cheiron group, lucifuge, malleus maleficarum, TFV, VASCU, order of saint george, les mysteries, heressy of cain] and that makes me think that maybe the supernatural must be really numerous if the hunters haven't ride the world of them...

simple answer: it's up to your ST how many supernatural creatures running around and fully within his power to omit one or more sup organization from his version of the WoD.

plot answer: encounters with the supernatural are largely rare (as the norm in the WoD) and not everyone who runs into one (and survives) becomes a Hunter. 95% of Humanity would laugh, ignore, and/or mock the person who comes out with it. the majority never had an Encounter and find it hard to believe in someone saying that the Mayor is a bloodslave to a Kindred (same way we view consperisy nuts in this world. paranoided, mentally unstable and shoot them selvies in the foot more often than not) while the rest of humanity (the Awakened, Wolf-blooded, Ghouls) either don't want to world to know of their existence or serive powers that don't want humanity to know of their existence.

really, only Network Zero (and maybe the more radicial elements of the Free Council) want to expose humanity to the truth.

Zeev:

Keep in mind Hunter is a very toolbox oriented game.  You use the groups and tiers you want and (at least for that game) ignore the rest of them.  Just like Bloodlines, Lodges, Legacies and etc, as long as you have a good idea of a unique and interesting one, it's worth exploring, since the point isn't too make all these groups coexist in a single setting, but to give the ST and players as many tools as possible to tell the Hunter story they want to tell.

Yes. That is something I have to remind my players. They seem to think everything they read in any NWOD book is going to show up in our Changeling game. With all the options available in Changeling alone I don't need a lot from other books.

Elreve:

  I was wondering and if you use all the compacts and conspiracies in the supplements.. don't you think that we got a lot of groups to deal with the supernatural?

  We already have 9 groups with the manpower to destroy all the "big guys [vampires, werewolves, mages, prometheans, changelings]" in the US... [aegis kae doru, ascending ones, cheiron group, lucifuge, malleus maleficarum, TFV, VASCU, order of saint george, les mysteries, heressy of cain] and that makes me think that maybe the supernatural must be really numerous if the hunters haven't ride the world of them...

I don't think that there are too many hunters. The book itself mentions that many cells are operating within a city- but what are they doing, really? Are a few: Recovering from horrendous wounds, sidelining them for awhile? Consumed with a specific task? Perhaps moving on taking over a territory? Moving on a course to place them in conflict with PC Hunters? Taking a break to handle much needed work to pay the bills?

I also dislike thinking about the Hunters as having 'enough manpower to destroy the big guys'. They do have it, true. But in order to have anything crazy effective (I'm thinking of some of the TFV options) they have to have been in the Vigil awhile, have connections- or have been playing long enough to have amassed the XP needed. No one is going to roll in, buy some etheric rounds and other powerful goodies and stroll into elysium- at least, not in my games.

It can be balanced- STs need to be on guard for anything too twinky or overpowering, like in any game.

  Yeah I know, but it's like when you enter in a chocolate store and you want to eat all the stuff you can

In my game you need to have the status to have the endowments to push things.  Normal weapons and armor you either get lucky, or have to work for though.  Task Force Valkyrie I would consider lucky sense they have the access to the military grade weapons.

Many of the compacts and conspiracies wouldn't have a presence in every city worldwide. Most don't have the resorces or manpower for that sort of thing. Even the largest conspiracies wouldn't have a presence in a number of cities, and even if they did they would be three to five man group. Like Shock mentioned, supernatural encounters are not something that happens everyday and members would have to focus on their normal lives when their isn't a crazed vampire killing people left, right and center.

But like everyone said, its very toolbox focused so the developers made it that way so you don't have to have every hunter cell running into each other throught a story.

Elreve:

Yeah I know, but it's like when you enter in a chocolate store and you want to eat all the stuff you can

If you do so, your stomach hurts ;)

There are a billion different answers to this dilemma, any of which can make a game interesting.

1.  Hunter is toolbox-y.  So, don't have every conspiracy and compact exist in your world.  Problem solved.

2.  All the conspiracies and compacts exist - however, they work at cross-purposes.  So, the Hunter-Hunter conflict prevents Hunters from being able to effectively organize.  So, even though they COULD wipe out the supernatural if they were playing on the same team, they're NOT on the same team.

3.  All the conspiracies and compacts exist - and some are actively creating supernatural creatures either intentionally or by accident (Cheiron, I'm lookin' at you).  So, the supernatural don't get wiped out because Hunters are creating more.

4.  All the conspiracies and compacts exist, but the supernatural are really good at hiding.  So, finding them is very hard.  Plus, since one-on-one, a supe beats a Hunter, you have to find the supe, and surprise them with an attack...  otherwise, they're likely to kill you in your sleep.

5.  All the conspiracies and compacts exist, and HAVE wiped out all the supernatural.  Ends up that there's just a mass insanity that makes Hunters BELIEVE that the supernatural exist.

I'm sure there are more ways out of the problem.  But, these are a few interpretations that could prove interesting...

The trick to this is: Its the World of bleeding Darkness son.

If I ever get around to using Hunter I'm going to explain to the players in detail all the different compacts or whatever, and then tell them how they are each contributing to the evils of the world by being just slightly wrong. Sure they're out their slaying things, but look around, the worlds still in darkness so they must be doing it wrong.

That and every organisation must be under-staffed as Hell, Hunters die all the time. I'll maybe have one lot just out and out dead after trying to kill off a vampire Prince with global connections.

   Hunters are constantly dying, get arrested, go insane and/or go missing. Look at the Horror Recognition Guide – the very premise is that the book is a collection of files from a hunter cell that has disappeared. So while there may appear to be a lot of hunter organizations, many members aren’t involved in the Vigil for terribly long.

   The theme is repeated in the background stories of many of the hunter organizations. Even the organizations’ founders have a nasty habit of dying horribly or burning out.

   The founder of the Ashwood Abbey, Reverend Doctor Marcus suffered a “swift and untimely death at the wooden talons of a three-armed goblin.”

   Thomas Major, the legendary leader of the first Division Six cell, died along with most of the cell b y the early 1980s. There are no canon details but, well, use your imagination.

   Meredith Lehane (Starflower), founder of the Keepers of the Source, lives in denial and has nothing to do with the organization. The Keepers’ militant leader who seized control of the group, Duncan Redgrove, was killed by magical lightning.

   It’s anyone’s guess as to who/what the mysterious cameraman was that gave three film reels to Jim Harrison, founder of Network Zero.

   Jacob Hite of the Promethean Brotherhood committed suicide after stealing the prophetic powers of the so-called “Nostradamus of Vienna.”

And a quick follow-up to what I just posted . . .

Not all hunter organizations want to destroy the supernatural menace. Some, to a certain extent, actually like having it around.

It’s all a game to the Ashwood Abbey and Bear Lodge. The party would be over if the monsters died out.

The Cheiron Group, Network Zero and Null Mysteriis are more interested in observing and studying than eradicating. They need evidence and test subjects, not a high enemy body count.

The Promethean Brotherhood needs witches to sacrifice. They’re not rushing to kill all the witches, only one witch every so often to maintain their stolen magical abilities. The Brotherhood would be screwed if witches became rare or extinct.

There see, I ain't even played it and I knew they'd be dieing all over the place. :D