I love the settings for both Hunter: The Reckoning and The Vigil. However, I'm not a fan of the ruleset. Does anyone know of a similar themed game with better rules?

I have Call of Cthulhu, Conspiracy X, and Witchcraft, and while these could substitute, they don't really have the same feel.

Also, either a well-done d20/OGL lite version or a very slimmed-down Gurps version (that is complete and doesn't need 5 sourcebooks) of this setting would be perfect.

There's the Monster Hunters International RPG based on the novels by Larry Correia, but I don't know if that's the same feel. It's a self-contained game that uses the HERO System rules.

Quote from: danbuter;768215I have Call of Cthulhu, Conspiracy X, and Witchcraft, and while these could substitute, they don't really have the same feel.

What is the feel you're after?

Hunter. Not government agents, not cthulhu, not witches. Just normal people who get roped into fighting vampires, werewolves, mages, and other weird stuff. If they get minor abilities to help them do so, it's cool.

Quote from: Simlasa;768224What is the feel you're after?

It seems you have no idea what Hunter is. It is not government agencies, not cthulhu, and not witches. Just normal people who get roped into fighting vampires, werewolves, mages, and other weird stuff. If they get minor abilities to help them do so, it's cool. Think Buffy, but much darker, with the heroes not being as powerful as a Slayer.

Quote from: danbuter;768232It seems you have no idea what Hunter is. It is not government agencies, not cthulhu, and not witches. Just normal people who get roped into fighting vampires, werewolves, mages, and other weird stuff. If they get minor abilities to help them do so, it's cool. Think Buffy, but much darker, with the heroes not being as powerful as a Slayer.

I know Hunter the Vigil pretty well. Hunter the Reckoning has more oompff powerwise, but I am not really that familiar with that game. I believe HtV has more in common with Hunters Hunted, but I could be wrong.

My first guess would indeed be Witchcraft, because you can make every type of monster with one ruleset just like HtV. I don't know what kind of ruleset you are after. Settingwise there is nothing like WoD in other games I am aware of. I guess you don't like the random effect of dice pools.

The Dresden Files RPG maybe, but that game is much lighter in tone. Maybe a generic horror supplement like Savage Worlds Horror companion or GURPS Horror, but those games have a totally different feel as well. The Supernatural RPG?

Quote from: danbuter;768232It seems you have no idea what Hunter is. It is not government agencies, not cthulhu, and not witches. Just normal people who get roped into fighting vampires, werewolves, mages, and other weird stuff. If they get minor abilities to help them do so, it's cool. Think Buffy, but much darker, with the heroes not being as powerful as a Slayer.

You could use Buffy or Angel, and just not allow anyone to be a Champion and/or Slayer. White Hats are just the rest (ie Willow pre-uber witch, Xander, etc). Of course, you could use Witchcraft too, and just have the players all be Mundanes (though I think one of the codexes allows for lesser supernatural powers in an archetype compared to the full blown in the WC core).

I'm sure there are other games, but those are the only ones I have any direct experience with.

Quote from: danbuter;768232It seems you have no idea what Hunter is. It is not government agencies, not cthulhu, and not witches. Just normal people who get roped into fighting vampires, werewolves, mages, and other weird stuff. If they get minor abilities to help them do so, it's cool. Think Buffy, but much darker, with the heroes not being as powerful as a Slayer.

I know what Hunter is. You're describing the setting/setup, not the 'feel'... which leads back to my question of what 'feel' you're after that you don't think CoC (minus the Mythos) or Witchcraft will capture?

CoC works if you remove the Mythos entirely, as well as the Sanity rules.
You may want to make something that mimics the use of Willpower from Hunter, though, or adapt the sanity rules to that instead.

Witchcraft works if you use mundanes only, as Urbwar suggested.

Thinking about this makes me sad that WW books are no longer sold in stores.

Sad.

I would use CoC myself, or gold book BRP if you wanted all the Lovecraft stuff stripped out for you from the start. Subtract the Mythos flavor and CoC is exactly the 'normal people vs weird shit' you describe as the feel you want.

Plus it's a lot like TSR D&D in that there a bazillion supplements to rob ideas and mechanics from, and the system itself is super easy to tinker around with.

Failing that, I would look into Witchcraft, Supernatural or Buffy but those all err more towards the cinematic side.

Print on demand is fine.  In fact quite excellent.  I bought four books through print on demand and they turn out great.  Just my word of caution is to make sure you got premium if your going color.

The only down side is that Onyx Path is charging unfair prices.  Seriously 75 dollars for a core book is unreasonable.  I had people who do printing that told me that is a rip off.  Seriously I am not buying their books any more.

As one of the grandparents of Hunter... Games that are simmilar?

Beyond the Supernatural: Easily playable as normal people dealing with the paranormal. Pretty good system and I GMed that quite a bit.

The Ororsh section of Torg had that feel, though not as pronounced from what little I got to see of it.

Nightstalker, an obscure RPG loosely based on the original TV series premise.

Call of Cthulhu definitly fits if you curb the magic side and keep it to average folk dealing with the horror.

And for the weird, there is Macho Women with Guns. Really its a board game/scirmish game in disguise. But goofy fun in the Hunter vein.

Theres at least two others I cant remember the names of.

Quote from: 1989;768294Thinking about this makes me sad that WW books are no longer sold in stores.

Sad.

+1. WW's IP was and still is grossly mismanaged. I am still at a loss as to how they managed to sink WW.

Quote from: The Butcher;768329+1. WW's IP was and still is grossly mismanaged. I am still at a loss as to how they managed to sink WW.

They tried the edition treadmill and found out that in their case it was a bad idea to radically change the long established setting.

There were other problems. Some internal. Between 95 and 00 something sure as hell happened.