[Brasky]

If you don't know anything about Hunter: The Vigil, it's okay, because there's not much to know. It's a World of Darkness game where the players are monster hunters. If you do know what it is, be aware that my kids aren't part of an organization or conspiracy, they're going to be a beginning-level rogue cell that came together under bad circumstances and will each pursue their revenge together, but for individual reasons.

The problem with not being part of a regional or national group, though, is that it's more difficult for them to figure out where they need to go or what to do. My contrivance to get around that is that they're going to have a wax-sealed jar filled with a clear preservative and the eye of Saint Eustace. The eye is "skinned" in some kind of leathery wrap, so most of the time the eye stays closed, but occasionally opens up and blinks in a pattern. Eventually they'll learn that the eye is actually signaling in code. (They won't know this at first, they are just going to know that the eye is powerful and valuable and "others" seem to want it, which will lead to them being the hunted for the first few missions.)

Here's where I'm looking for help. The code could actually be a simple alphabetical representation in Latin, but none of them are going to speak Latin. So they're going to have to find someone to translate it. Eustace died in 118 AD. Was there ancient latin then or would it be the same as the latin people learn now? Was it a standard roman alphabet used for latin?

I'm just trying to figure out how many hurdles my kids are going to have to overcome before they can take direction from Saint Eustace.

And of course, down the road they'll eventually find the ear of St. Eustace. Then they'll be able to ask questions. But that won't last long.

[Mike]

You can make it simple and have St. Eustace blink in Morse code. There's no reason St. Eustace has to be the original 2nd century martyr. There's 19th and 20th century saints. For all we know, St. Eustace could have been part of a Catholic monster hunting group in the Old West. He was the communications guy for their cell. Normally, he operated behind the scenes, but circumstances forced him to step up, and for his extraordinary achievement, he was eventually recognized with sainthood (the eye was part of the proof of his holiness).

This allows you to work in English, AND the Morse code will be simpler for you to transcribe for them. If you want to stretch it out a bit, At first, just tell them the eye occasionally blinks. Then say it looks like some sort of pattern, but I would just give them blink blink blink blink. Don't let them know the blinks come in short and long unless they ask. Your kids are smart, there's every chance that the minute you say it's a pattern, one of them will jump up with "Morse Code!" I'd try to throw them off somehow early on.
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When you're in your little room, and you're working on something good... but if it's really good, you're gonna need a bigger room. And when you're in your bigger room, you might not know what to do. You might have to think about how you got started, sitting in your little room

[Mike]

If you go this way, then researching St. Eustace (under whatever his real name was) would give them clues to some greater mystery to be pursued... tracking down info on the original members of his group, their successors, what finally brought them down, etc.
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When you're in your little room, and you're working on something good... but if it's really good, you're gonna need a bigger room. And when you're in your bigger room, you might not know what to do. You might have to think about how you got started, sitting in your little room

[Jeff Hauze]

Honestly, with the way this incarnation of Hunter is presented, I'm going to second Mike's idea. It makes way more sense, and fits in nicely with the idea that Hunter cells are a more recent thing.
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[Cazmonster]

Turn your eye to the light
Go from blindness to sight

Man, what if the eye worked something like a camera obscura? Hold the eye up into a beam of light and, lense-like, it projects images of visions or missions.

Go with yours, because it's cool. I'll just hold on to mine, because it's creepy.
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"I like talking to my son, I like drawing him pictures, and I'm pretty sure I'll like taking him to the park or swimming." Bonefish

[TheFlayedMan]

The Latin spoken by St Eustace(if he was real) would likely have been similar to the literary Latin. That really hasn't changed much over the years, other than the fact that people forgot how to speak it because they never spoke it, so it became a language for reading. It would be intelligible to a modern scholar with knowledge of Latin.

And yes, the standard roman alphabet was used. Keep in mind that the U and Vs in the roman alphabet were interchangeable. Eustace, as a former Roman General would have been a member of the Equites, atleast, if not senatorial. Thus he would have been well educated in rhetoric and grammar. His latin would be the "classical" latin that is taught in school. If Eustace was actually speaking, rather than blinking, he'd probably be unintelligible to our modern ear.

And he could have his own Code, for whatever reasons. Cryptography and code was known in the ancient world, especially in the Hellene and Latin world.
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[Brasky]

Yeah, the problem, Mike, is that I need it to be the original St. Eustace for what I have planned. And Jeff, I understand that under World of Darkness, this is all more recent, but that's not the world I'm making.

Caz- I'm stealing your idea for this simple reason-- think of the cool handouts I can make!

[Jeff Hauze]

Plus Caz's idea gives a nice BPRD/Hellboy feel. Mix of the anicent and mystical with the modern and technlogical. That's certainly not a bad feel to bring to a Hunter game, however your own world varies.

I am curious though, are you setting it in Philly?
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[Brasky]

[Jeff Hauze]

If you need some Philly help, I'll gladly provide some input (Nex might as well), as we're both (somewhat) local boys.
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[Cazmonster]

I'm always happy to help a game get better. And that eye should mess your kids up for a good little while.
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"I like talking to my son, I like drawing him pictures, and I'm pretty sure I'll like taking him to the park or swimming." Bonefish

[TheFlayedMan]

What kind of artifacts do you thin k your kids are gonna stumble onto? I would suggest a few, mainly based on the time period of Eustace. Bow, Spear, helmet and horsemanship related items(bridle, bit, no spurs or stirrups) would all make sense.

Oh, and when I say "Spear" I don't mean some pussy ass 6' long stabbing thing. Oh no, I'm not talking about the goddamn hastus, a six foot long thrusting spear. No, I'm talking about the Kontos, a 12-14' long spear with a thick shaft and a massive 2' blade. In effect, you're using a shortsword moutned on the end of a long pole, not a spear. The Kontos is used in two hands to thrust and cut, rather than just thrust/stab into the enemy. It's a very powerful weapon, and it reimained hte "state of the art" for over 300 years. Literally it's name mean "oar" or "barge pole".

The Kontos was also known as as the contus(gee, really?) to the Romans. Being considered skilled enough to wield the Kontus was considered a great honor, and Eustace would have nominated atleast one of his personal guardsmen as a Doriphoroi(literally "spear bearer" in greek), who would exercise authority as an officer of the general.

While the wood of Eustace's Blessed Kontos may be decayed, the head should still be available, and it would make an effective weapon: a 2 foot long, leaf-shaped blade that can easily deliver shearing cuts as well as deadly thrusts.

The Bow would also be quite common in this time period(i.e. Eustace). Eustace, as a mundane hunter, would use a bow, and as a Roman general, he would have encountered the Kataphraktoi* and Clibbinarii* of the east. It's entirely likely that Eustace would have had a powerful composite bow, and he would have been quite skilled in it's use.

*Kataphraktoi, or Cataphract, or a number of other spellings is a greek term for heavily armored cavalry. It litterally means: "completely covered" . Clibinarri was a similar term from the latin, and it literally translates to "oven men". It's not 100% clear if the roman soldiers were referring to the similarity of the armoured horseman to a portable over(made out of iron, obviously) or whether it was a sardonic tribute to the heat of the eastern desert: they are literally roasting in their own oven of armor.

"All the companies were clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff-joints conformed with those of their limbs; and the forms of human faces were so skilfully fitted to their heads, that since their entire body was covered with metal, arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings opposite the pupil of the eye, or where through the tip of their nose they were able to get a little breath. Of these some who were armed with pikes, stood so motionless that you would have thought them held fast by clamps of bronze.
"The Persians opposed us serried bands of mail-clad horsemen in such close order that the gleam of moving bodies covered with closely fitting plates of iron dazzled the eyes of those who looked upon them, while the whole throng of horses was protected by coverings of leather"
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[Jeff Hauze]

Okay, I just had a brainstorm tonight. I have no idea if this will help, but I'll try and keep this as organized as possible.

Have you given any thought to a base of operations or what exactly brings this crew together? If not, might I humbly suggest a Mummer's Parade clubhouse such as Holy Rollers N.Y.B? Edit: Link being stupid. Go to the Mummers link and find it near the bottom of the page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_Parade In fact, I'd highly suggest that particular club for the name alone. Now, I'll assume everybody is familiar with the Mummers Parade, a very strange (and proud!) Philly tradition. If not, that link will easily lead to more information on Wikipedia. But here's the method to my madness.

First, this gives a communal spot for a small compact. It gives a backdrop for these folks to know each other. Two, it gives a fun thing for your kids to learn about (if they don't already know). Heck, you could make it a fun home project to make their own Mummers outfits as part of your schooling. (Dear God, I'm old. I'm mixing gaming and education now.) Third, inevitably this can lead to friendlies/allies who can eventually help out or at least provide some minor material aid, covers/alibis, and that sort of thing. But most importantly, the name says it all. Have an old school Catholic priest involved with their Mummer's clubhouse. Bang, instant hook for future interactions with the church and their linked compacts, and a source of knowledge to eventually help them with your saintly artifacts. This can all be built upon slowly, but it provides a really nice intro to the tight-knit community feel found throughout much of the areas surrounding Philly.

See, places like Kensington (when the gunshots aren't ringing), South Philly, moving over into Delaware County with places like Collingdale, these are long-standing, tight knit groups. Very insular, and very protective of their own. There's entire traditions (the friendly, neighborhood sights of green awnings all over South Philly), language, and culture that are not found anywhere else in Southeastern PA. That's why I think Hunter is so absolutely right to be set in Philly. You've got long, dark winters, an urban landscape that has plenty of blind alleys and the twisting, serpentine uphill streets of Manayunk, the history that blends in so well with the Chestnut Street Compact/Accord (I think that's the name of the agreement various compacts reached in Philly, from the Hunter main book...I'll look it up later). It has all kinds of things right and ripe for the World of Darkness setting. I've got some more thoughts and ideas that spring from this, but I'll let them percolate a bit and come back to it hopefully soon.

I will leave you with this, as a fun resource to get a taste of Philly. Phables has a great taste of life in and around Philly, based on real-life submitted stories. The comic artwork isn't great, but I've always recommend it for non-natives to read through as background material for other games. It seems to have worked out well for me in the past. It is no longer updated (a shame really, I like Guigar's style, so it might be something you can read over in your current home-bound state.
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[TheFlayedMan]

Wasn't The Fallen filmed in Philly?
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[Jeff Hauze]

Yes, it was. I can't recall how much was actually filmed there though. I seem to recall the ending was filmed in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, some of it was something in Bear County, New York (something like that), some in LA (probably soundstages/backlots), and some in Philly. IIRC, anything shown around Hobbes' home was filmed in Philly (mostly South Philly, I think...maybe Kensington, but doubtful).
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[Brasky]

Jeff and Flayed- it's not that I'm ignoring you, I just haven't had time to read through everything y'all wrote (including the links). I'll sit down with this tonight or tomorrow night and share my ideas. I'm still in the formulative stages, so I'll probably incorporate a lot of elements of what you're suggesting.

[TheFlayedMan]

I've got more ideas, that arn't just going to be history lessons. Like this:

The Facemask of Placidus: roman cavalrymen were known to wear iron face masks, often gilded or silvered. This was to intimidate their foes. The face mask of Placidus has survived the years, and has been imbued with powerful spirits dedicated to hate, fear and war. The Face-mask renders it's wearer immune to the effects of the Deliruim, and it inspires terror in the hearts of Garou and Kindred alike(something like a willpower test to not have a Fox frenzy, is what I'm thinking). There is a drawback to the facemask: Nightmares.

The spirit of Placidus rests uneasy and his anger and hatred of the supernatural seeps into any who wear the mask. When they sleep, they will suffer terrible nightmares, seeming to bee in an immense forest, surrounded by shadowy shapes and gripped by fear.

The Lorica of Placidus: Placidus, like many Roman generals wore an armore known as the Lorica Plumata, which consisted of both mail and scales interlaced with each other. It was a very expensive and high status class of armor. The Lorica has not survived in whole, but numerous sections of scales and mail have been passed down reverently through-out the years, and they have powerful magic of protection against the supernatural. I'm thinking something like a one-shot ability to soak Aggravated damage.
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[TheFlayedMan]

Wait.. is Hunter: The Vigil in that new WoD where they cocked it all up, and there's no tribes or whatnot?
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[Jeff Hauze]

Yes, it's in the new WoD that doesn't suck ass through a straw.
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[TheFlayedMan]

I hadn't heard anything good about it, but then again, that's par the course for WoD.
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