Vampires in Your D&D Campaigns: Sexy? Gross? Evil?

RPGPundit · November 09, 2017, 09:38:10 PM

What type of vampires do you want in your D&D game? Should they be the classic "count blah" sort of evil slav dude? Should they be sexy Lestat-style vampires? Ugly Nosferatu? Or something else?

Armchair Gamer · November 09, 2017, 09:49:00 PM

I'm happy with any pre-Anne Rice* model, depending on the tone and feel I'm going for.

(*Although Rice is arguably just transplanting the Byronic/Polidori vampire into the worldview of the Apostate West.)

Gronan of Simmerya · November 09, 2017, 09:51:28 PM

Bela Lugosi.

Maybe Nosferatu if I want to fuck with people's heads.

rgrove0172 · November 09, 2017, 10:31:03 PM

I can't see a Victorian vamp in a fantasy game. Mine are monsters, not gothic characters.

Headless · November 09, 2017, 11:17:15 PM

Vampire are seductive. In sexual and non sexual ways.

If I want gross or evil I've got mummies Liches and zombies.

The great thing about vampires is their nearness to human. Or the fact they are damned humans.

ligedog · November 09, 2017, 11:58:26 PM

All of the above - the vampire is a versatile monster.

Manic Modron · November 10, 2017, 12:42:42 AM

Evil all the time, no exceptions. Even the affable ones who make a habit of trying to be look good can't work up any actual virtue, compassion or empathy.

Sexy some of the time, or at least alluring in some way. Probably more in the animal magnetism sense than any glamorous super model sense. Increasingly monsterous the more combat goes on.

Start off with minor Buffy Vamp level distortions when they start using their powers violently and degrade down to hellish man-bat by the time it has to retreat.

Dylan: King of the Dead · November 10, 2017, 01:28:18 AM

I ran a rather pathetic vampire as the main adversary in a one-off session many years ago. Can't recall which system we used, probably either AD&D or WFRP 1st eds. Also can't remember where my twelve year old brain gleaned this idea: the villagers all wear leather collars at night, preventing the vamp from feeding. As a result he was weak and literally begging, door to door, to people to allow him to feed. The PCs got a nasty surprise upon realizing that even a weakened vampire is dangerous when cornered. Corny, I know.

Willie the Duck · November 10, 2017, 08:57:06 AM

People. People with unnatural hunger. If they've survived long, people who've undoubtedly either killed to survive, or found some very specific niche that allows them to stay hidden.

RunningLaser · November 10, 2017, 08:59:27 AM

They are monsters, so should be creepy and monstrous.

Steven Mitchell · November 10, 2017, 03:57:07 PM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1006980People. People with unnatural hunger. If they've survived long, people who've undoubtedly either killed to survive, or found some very specific niche that allows them to stay hidden.

Yes, no soul. And unlike many lesser undead, completely aware of this fact.

Willie the Duck · November 10, 2017, 04:16:32 PM

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1007070Yes, no soul.

What specifically does that mean, outside of the Whedon-verse?

Steven Mitchell · November 10, 2017, 04:59:42 PM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1007071What specifically does that mean, outside of the Whedon-verse?

Merely my particular slant on it. No idea how that maps to popular conceptions, Whedon or otherwise.

I see that as the driving force behind the unnatural hunger, rather than, say, something more like a disease or corruption thing. Smart enough to know that they are undead, unlike zombies. But the process of becoming a vampire doesn't detach the emotions the way it does with something like a lich. A wraith would be similar to a vampire, but it has lost the bodily influences. The vampire remains the most like the corporeal person, while still becoming undead. Thus once the soul departs as part of that process, they miss it.

Ratman_tf · November 10, 2017, 06:05:54 PM

Hm. I was going to reply "It Depends!" but then I thought a bit more.

I'm fine with any kind of vampire, but my preference is the kind that's inspired by gothic romance, with a bit of The Exorcist thrown in.
A vampire shouldn't just be a bloodthirsty monster, it should be an abomination against God. That really resonates with me.

jhkim · November 11, 2017, 12:31:53 PM

I'm fine with a variety of vampires in RPG games generally.

Within D&D, though, I don't like sexy vampires. I just find it cheesy. I ran one recently because I was running my adaptation of The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. I stuck to the sexy vampire in it as written to match the illustration, but I found that I wished I had changed the vampire to be different. Maybe it has something to do with the high fantasy genre, or medieval vs. gothic, but I think it's just something of personal taste.