Where does the archetype of this demon hunting trench coat/hat crossbow guy come from? It pops up a lot and I don't know the origin.
I want to say Vampire Hunter D...but maybe it goes back as far as Solomon Kane?
>>44209765
I too think it was Vampire Hunter D. But Castelvania is also a strong competitor
Yeah, Solomon Kane is the oldest monster slayer I know off who rocked the coat/wide-brimmed hat combo. Didn't have a crossbow though, just pistols, sword and magic stick.
>>44209740
Solomon Kane.
Just like barbarians are Conan.
>>44209789
Castlevaniaman is a dude in a loincloth though.
>>44209740
These guys >>44209867, >>44209874, >>44209765 have it right; it's Solomon Kane.
The reason he wore that hat was because he was s Puritan in the stories. Albeit a very weird Puritan who hunted monsters with magical juju staves.
It's a cool design, no?
>>44209900
And literally punched an intangible ghost because "fuck you, ghost!"
>>44209900
Did the Warhammer witch hunters get their style from Solomon as well, with the buckled hats?
>>44209984
>finds dying girl who he doesn't know at all
>dedicates the next few years to hunt down her killer anyway, since it's the right thing to do.
Best paladin.
>>44209984
Did that work?
>>44209878
I think they mean the games after Symphony of the Night.
>>44210027
Yeah. The ghost was all like "Wooo! You can't touch me, bitch, I"m a ghooooost! Fuck yooooou, I'll murder whoever I waaaant! Woo- OW! OW! OW! Stop hitting me! OW! How are you doing this? OW!"
It was great.
>>44210095
Nobody fucks with Solomon Kane.
>>44210095
I wonder if that was because of Kane's strong faith and willpower, or because he's just that bad-ass.
>>44210179
In the setting, it's Faith.
Metawise, it's badassery.
>>44210005
Pretty much. They're just Solomon Kane exaggerated to the point of retardarion, like most stuff in Warhammer.
>>44210353
>In the setting, it's Faith.
I like to think God reached down from heaven, put his hand on Kane's shoulder, and said unto him "Okay, Solomon. Fuck him up."
I've read there's a Solomon Kane RPG, but I've never actually seen it.
>>44209900
Do remember that Solomon takes his design after the period clothing of late 17th century just replaced cotton and whatnot the clothes were made out of with leather and generally romanticized them.
Or did Solomon wear leather clothing? Can't remember.
>>44210765
True, but he's mainly the one who made that outfit get associated with killing bat monsters and fucking stuff up with a pistol on one hand and a sword in the other.
Old western films. Bounty hunters in black duster / trenchcoat is a classic trope. Change the outlaw bounty to a monster. Change the setting to pre gun, and rifles become crossbows.
I always thought that outfit was based on what which hunters used to wear?
>>44211003
>>44211003
It's what we think they used to wear, I don't know what actual Witch Hunters would have worn, but I suppose they would have been sanctioned by whatever Church had the most sway in society. So they may have a badge or something.
Follow up question: How likely is it that Solomon Kane is based on Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witch-finder General of 17th century England?
>>44214795
Quite likely.
>>44214795
Not very likely, considering Hopkins mostly murdered women and Kane saved a few of them through his stories.
A little known fact is that Solomon Kane is literally Robert E. Howard's high school OC donut steel. If he had Deviantart and Fanfic.org, the stories would've started there.
at least it looks cool
>>44210646
There is, it runs on Savage Worlds and it's fucking rad.
>>44215632
Gotta love colonial era fashion.
>>44214506
Witch Hunters were never sanctioned by any large church denomination that I know of. The Catholic Church always condemned witch hunting and jew killing and all that shit at most levels. America was a bit more violent but those were also not witch hunters being hired but super young, uneducated pastors deciding they could get some bitches if they said other bitches were witches.
They can be fun when you subvert their stereotypical "badassness" in some way. In the game I'm currently DM'ing, the group is traveling with a grizzled trenchcoat demon assassin who is secretly a huge pussy who let's his nondescript assistant do all the work
>>44210033
What the Kojima Belmonts wore was more of a tunic than a coat and none wore hats.
It's just puritans/1760 clothing because the Salem Witch trials and the Beast of Gévaudan were the time periods most strongly associated with state-recognized paranormal hunts and Howard mixed them up for the archetypical paranormal hunter Solomon Kane.
the marquis is my favorite incarnation of that archetype
