Hunter: A Time of Monsters

Topple the vampires from the streets below! Will you unite the homeless, the gangs, and the secret hunter societies to defy vampiric rule?

"Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters" is an interactive novel by Paul Wang, set in the World of Darkness, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based, 1,000,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Welcome to the Downtown Eastside, a place Vancouver has tried its best to forget. Sandwiched between the steel and glass towers of the financial district and the gentrified tourist playground of the new harbor, the human detritus of the city keeps getting squeezed into a smaller and smaller box. Dispossessed, trampled, ignored…It will only take the right spark to set the fury ablaze.

Down on your luck, you’ve found yourself in a homeless encampment here. When a vampire masquerading as a cop attacks you, the misery of Downtown Eastside takes on a whole new dimension. Suddenly, you have a place to direct your rage: the world of shadow that preys upon the misery of your new neighbors.

But this first glimpse is just that: a first glimpse. A gash in the fabric of reality as you knew it. Soon, you find yourself torn between the street gangs of the Downtown Eastside, RCMP special ops, a coterie of Thin Blooded vampires, multiple secret hunter societies, and the Chinese Triads. The shadow world just goes deeper and deeper, and it seems like someone is ready and willing to betray you at every turn. Of course, each of them has something to offer you: a home, a job, a career? Money, glory, vengeance, or immortality?

Despite these temptations, you are not alone. In the short time that you’ve been here, you’ve met the fiercest defenders of humanity: your neighbors. You did not expect to find the camaraderie of the Downtown Eastside to be so strong, but now that you’re here, you can't imagine nothing else. Together, can you and your new friends stand against the darkness? When the time comes, will you sacrifice yourself for your community, or will you choose to become one more bloodsucking predator of the night?

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi

• Scrounge for food, weapons, and allies in the back alleys of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

• Defy powerful vampiric foes lurking within the heart of the city—or become their willing servant

• Help your found family to make peace with their inner demons, or manipulate them for your own ends

• Set a vampire on fire

Hunted, broke, and homeless, your nights seem numbered. They have everything. You only have your guts, your wits, and a stubborn refusal to die.