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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: rway218 on April 05, 2015, 09:18:08 PM

Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: rway218 on April 05, 2015, 09:18:08 PM
I was sparked by the thread about WoD alternatives, and decided to ask this question:

Outside what most people deal with, what odd setting and monster combinations would you play?

E.g steam punk vampires, or cyberpunk Frankensteins...

Something odd but different.
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: The Butcher on April 05, 2015, 09:32:28 PM
Space vampires straight out of Peter Watts' Blindsight.

Seriously considered doing a vampire morph for Eclipse Phase after reading it.
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: Omega on April 06, 2015, 12:39:52 AM
What hasnt been tried at some point?

I think Torg pretty much distilled that into the perfect game setting by taking two genres and merging them to get weird mixes like Ancient Egypt and WWII Pulp hero action, Cyperpunk and the Inquisition, Technohorror and Demons, etc.

Rifts is another.

Bx/BECMI had a series of books about playing monster races and some pretty interesting ideas on those. Especially the Top Ballistia and Night Howlers ones
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: tuypo1 on April 06, 2015, 12:47:26 AM
prehistoric vampires
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: jeff37923 on April 06, 2015, 01:27:03 AM
Quote from: rway218;824201I was sparked by the thread about WoD alternatives, and decided to ask this question:

Outside what most people deal with, what odd setting and monster combinations would you play?

E.g steam punk vampires, or cyberpunk Frankensteins...

Something odd but different.

A view of the vampire archetype through a Traveller lens.

A big part of the OTU setting is the use of anagathics to slow down ageing. These come into play around TL 15 and are expensive. Now vampires for this would be the encapsulation of insatiable hunger, an unnatural desire for longevity, and a sexual horror component. I imagine a world of a lower tech level whose leaders are hundreds of years old. So old that their government is a combination of civil service and religion designed to promote worship of the leadership elite who are viewed as gods and goddesses.

The low technology anagathic is expensive and must be specially formulated to the individual leader. It can only be formulated from the naturally occurring DNA of the same bloodline, which kills the donor (cloning will not work as well because of telomere distortion in the cloned DNA). So to keep a steady supply of viable DNA, breeding programs have been established amoungst the leaders direct ancestors and the offspring with the most compatable genetics is culled for use as raw material for the drug. This does not prevent aging, but slows it down incredibly. The population sees this breeding and then sacrifice as a holy sacrament.

I wanted to take the vampire legend back to its roots in horror and make even the sexuality aspect something destructive.

What do you think?
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: Spinachcat on April 06, 2015, 04:01:14 AM
I remember a Traveller Vampire scenario. I think its in the original 76 Patrons. The concept was the PCs are hired to secure a shipment of blood being transported to nobles via a train. I don't have access to my LBB collection at the moment so I am unsure if I read that scenario in 76 Patrons or in one of my Best Of JTAS books.
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: RPGPundit on April 08, 2015, 03:17:21 AM
Disco Frankensteins?
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: Cave Bear on April 08, 2015, 08:02:46 AM
I want to play as a grey space alien that dwells in rural Kentucky.
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: rway218 on April 08, 2015, 05:08:32 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;824577Disco Frankensteins?

Mel brooks? Lol
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: RPGPundit on April 09, 2015, 10:36:58 PM
faeries in space?
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: TristramEvans on April 10, 2015, 03:10:23 AM
I cant think of anything that hasnt already been covered by WH40K, Shadowrun, Steampunk, WoD, Bmovies, and anime in some form or another, to be honest, that would simultaneously be in some way interesting.
Title: monster characters without the story...
Post by: tuypo1 on April 13, 2015, 11:34:28 PM
Quote from: jeff37923;824223A view of the vampire archetype through a Traveller lens.

A big part of the OTU setting is the use of anagathics to slow down ageing. These come into play around TL 15 and are expensive. Now vampires for this would be the encapsulation of insatiable hunger, an unnatural desire for longevity, and a sexual horror component. I imagine a world of a lower tech level whose leaders are hundreds of years old. So old that their government is a combination of civil service and religion designed to promote worship of the leadership elite who are viewed as gods and goddesses.

The low technology anagathic is expensive and must be specially formulated to the individual leader. It can only be formulated from the naturally occurring DNA of the same bloodline, which kills the donor (cloning will not work as well because of telomere distortion in the cloned DNA). So to keep a steady supply of viable DNA, breeding programs have been established amoungst the leaders direct ancestors and the offspring with the most compatable genetics is culled for use as raw material for the drug. This does not prevent aging, but slows it down incredibly. The population sees this breeding and then sacrifice as a holy sacrament.

I wanted to take the vampire legend back to its roots in horror and make even the sexuality aspect something destructive.

What do you think?

that could work