Nighthawks - Latest Updates

The latest updates for Nighthawks; which is currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter.

Nighthawks Exposed #1 - Meet The Vampires

Nighthawks is set shortly after vampires have been revealed to the world, with everyone still struggling to adapt. That includes the vampires. While there are a few notable groups amongst them, they're relatively small-scale. Vampires don't control the world, they don't typically have big social circles, and their lives aren't about centuries old schemes. Until recently, many of them didn't even realise that there were others of their kind, considering themselves alone to be cursed with a miserable, endless existence.

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Nighthawks Exposed #2 - Blood Origins

With a few exceptions, vampires aren't part of ancient conspiracies and organised groups. They're individualists, typically used to hunting and surviving alone. The one thing that connects them to at least some degree is their blood origin - the root of their particular strain of vampirism. This is more like a nationality than membership of an organisation, with stereotypes attached that are variably true, but not necessarily immediately obvious to an outsider. However, vampires themselves can typically smell the specific nature of another, and certain traits are known to be passed on more strongly in different bloodlines.

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Nighthawks Exposed #3 - Let's Talk Freedom

We've talked about the lore, so let's spend some time on the actual game. Nighthawks isn't a fixed story, and it's not a simple series of question marks with associated quests. Instead, it's a mix of life simulation and RPG... but what does that mean?

Put simply, it's about freedom. Each Act of the story is up to a month long (with the overall story taking place over about three years) and within a few boundaries, you get to do what you want with that time. Work on your friendships. Pursue side-quests. Explore. Work on your various stats. Wander around and have random encounters. It's up to you.

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Nighthawks Exposed #4 - The Melting Pot

Normally, updates like this are about things that a game has or is. However, sometimes what's just as important is what the boundaries are. So, in this update - we know there are vampires, but what about werewolves, fire elementals, zombies, etc?

In short, nope. And that's not because the 'melting pot' type of universe isn't awesome, as seen in settings like World of Darkness, Dresden Files, and of course, Unavowed. It's simply that for Nighthawks, we want to focus on vampire life, and that's quickly diluted and the supernatural nature of being one made less meaningful when there's also a whole shelf of splatbooks running around as well. The advantage of designing a world with a single game in mind rather than establishing a wider universe is being able to really deep-dive on a subject and explore all of its facets... and vampires offer so many of them!

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Nighthawks Exposed #5 - Morality

Few vampires have the luxury of a clean conscience. Even today, in a world of soup kitchens and some basic support networks, there's no getting away from the fact that a vampire is a predator. A hunter. Human to a point, but also a wolf amongst sheep. So how do we handle the morality of this? How do you know if you're a 'good' vampire?

Put simply, you don't. There's no morality meter, there's no humanity stat, there's no inner Beast to push against. In Nighthawks, your sins are on you and your decisions, and the game as a whole doesn't judge. That doesn't mean that there aren't consequences. Each major character has their own opinions on right and wrong, and the Traits that you earn - such as Untrustworthy - will soon build up and define your reputation in society. The more suspicion you raise, the more likely you are to face the police and vampire hunters. However, playing it nice has its own downsides, such as not having the reputation to back up your threats.

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Thanks Farflame!