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?
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.)
Bela Lugosi.
Maybe Nosferatu if I want to fuck with people's heads.
I can't see a Victorian vamp in a fantasy game. Mine are monsters, not gothic characters.
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.
All of the above - the vampire is a versatile monster.
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.
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.
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.
They are monsters, so should be creepy and monstrous.
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.
Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1007070Yes, no soul.
What specifically does that mean, outside of the Whedon-verse?
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.
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.
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.
I like a range of vampires, everything from ugly Nosferatu-style to sexy Ingrid Pitt style vampires. I think vampires can carry a variety of undercurrents. If they are all sexy and angsty, it gets dull, you need the monstrous ones as well. But I think vampires are also meant to have some sensuality. There was an overabundance of that perhaps in the 90s. But we are well past that now. There have always been sexy vampires in the mix. You can have sexy vampires who are not pompous emo-NPCs, just there to deliver the GM's bleak worldview.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1007210I like a range of vampires, everything from ugly Nosferatu-style to sexy Ingrid Pitt style vampires. I think vampires can carry a variety of undercurrents. If they are all sexy and angsty, it gets dull, you need the monstrous ones as well. But I think vampires are also meant to have some sensuality. There was an overabundance of that perhaps in the 90s. But we are well past that now. There have always been sexy vampires in the mix. You can have sexy vampires who are not pompous emo-NPCs, just there to deliver the GM's bleak worldview.
I like variety too, including simply hideous. For the charming ones,
I suppose I can go with some sexiness in the mix, but for me sexiness is too narrow a definition of their charm. I prefer them to be more broadly sophisticated, dangerously intelligent, charismatic, persuasive etc. Seductive in a general way which may or may not play out as "sexy."
Cape-swirling slav dude, definitely not, too trope-tastic.
Quote from: Zirunel;1007214I like variety too, including simply hideous. For the charming ones,
I suppose I can go with some sexiness in the mix, but for me sexiness is too narrow a definition of their charm. I prefer them to be more broadly sophisticated, dangerously intelligent, charismatic, persuasive etc. Seductive in a general way which may or may not play out as "sexy."
Cape-swirling slav dude, definitely not, too trope-tastic.
I wouldn't reduce them to just having their charm be sexy. I am just saying it is one thing that can potentially be there. I basically want the full range of vampires you find in horror movies, including the sexy, the refined, the monstrous, etc. I am fine with capes and/or accents. Sometimes Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi need to make an appearance. For me hammer and universal are pretty baseline with this stuff.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1007218I wouldn't reduce them to just having their charm be sexy. I am just saying it is one thing that can potentially be there. I basically want the full range of vampires you find in horror movies, including the sexy, the refined, the monstrous, etc. I am fine with capes and/or accents. Sometimes Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi need to make an appearance. For me hammer and universal are pretty baseline with this stuff.
Fair enough, chacun a son gout
In fantasy games, always evil, sometimes gross as well.
In urban fantasy, it might vary;).
Undead monsters with alluring camouflage that lets them pull in prey.
Every single vampire I have ever used looks like Bela Lugosi and talks like Count von Count. Except for the one time I ran a MAID game set in Ravenloft, where Strahd looked like Lelouch Lamperouge, and spoke like Count von Count. :D
Without categorizing it with media... Vampires are pure evil, on an elemental level... They might reach an age where camouflaging themselves (in human trappings) is possible for a limited amount of time, but their nature and power will more likely compel them to reveal their supernatural nature.
I lean mostly toward them being monsters. I am no fan of the Anne Rice style of vampires.
Bravely Default (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Vampire_(Bravely_Default)) vampires for me, as a playable class. The lore in my setting is that they're people who tried to steal power from Nothingness, but it sort of backfired on them so the only thing they got was the ability to steal the powers/abilities/whatever of other people. If they do it too much, the Nothingness can fuck them up and eat their soul.
Classical vampires of any sort just don't exist in my setting. Neither do lycanthropes.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1006899What 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?
When I did Pathfinder way back, I had planned for the PCs to encounter vampires. Now, they did, and when they met them they were like, "oh shit".
'Cause dudes was jacked-up berzerkers. I figured they're just different 'cause of the mechanics 'n' shit.
So they fight em', they're all 3rd-lvl Barbarians with a custom Racial type and this means I could run them with whatever stats I wanted which means pain. They take some damage but they've got a couple Cure Serious so the Monk and duel-wielding Ranger are good.
Next up comes the 5th-lvl Sorcerer and henchman 4th-lvl Ranger (because I like progressive numbering). At this point, PC Ranger and the Rogue are like "FUCK THIS!" and like ran. I cast Blacklight. They end up inside the darkness, at which point: BERZERKER!
One of the Barbarian Vamps wakes the fuck up with a Racial Feat allowing them to sacrifice 1HD once a night if unconscious (temporary) which must be re-rolled (and was). Takes AOO on Rogue who's now flat-footed to boot (AHAHAHAH, YOU NO 4TH-LVL JASE). One-hit. Rogue goes down and I make him into a vamp too which overrides his Race (because fuck you, I'm the GM!)
...
Needless to say, the Ranger makes quick work of the now rerolled Berzerker (rolled shit) and gets the hell out of there ASAP, finding out that everyone else has already run away. Just for that, Ranger switches to xbow and actually manages to hit the Sorcerer in the party even with penalty. Infighting ensues. I'm happy. Everyone who isn't Rogue is happy and everyone who isn't the Ranger, Sorcerer and Rogue isn't pissed and raging.
I fucking love the players I get sometimes.
Quote from: Willie the Duck;1007071What specifically does that mean, outside of the Whedon-verse?
They all listen to Phil Collins, and one out of four sees little Christina Agullira monsters crawling all over them.
(I was originally going to say they liked Barry Manalow, but I just saw the South Park where the kids all start taking Ritalin)
and IMO only 2 vampires can get away with sparkling in the sunlight. Lastat in Tale of the Body Thief, and any vampire played by David Bowie.
Monsters. Inhuman. Evil. Like in Salems Lot both book and mini-series.
In the DnD campaign I currently run, well it varies.
I do have an area, a dark Fey corrupted Swamp area and a group of hills nearby where a Vampire lives in a castle. He's a High Elf, but Vampiric. Portrayed in a Christopher Lee Vampire style (think Hammer house of horror).
I also have a Vampire Pirate lord.. more charismatic and Pirates of the Caribbean style undead guy and controls a small fleet of River pirates from his Large Grotto hideout.
I also have a Vampire who lives in sewers under a large city who controls Vampire spawn who capture people from time to time for him to feed on. More of a disgusting Nosferatu style Vampire.
Seductive evil monsters straight out of Transylvania.
All of the above.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
For the Villain of the story, I like the count Dracula thing. But a roving pack of evil slaughter junkies like in 30 days of night... that would make for a delicious and terrifying encounter.
Anything that powerful is going to be there specifically and not randomly if I place it in one of my games. And that means that it will have an agenda, something it wants, even if it is just to annoy the villagers. So, it could be any of the above although it will tend to be evil. But it will fit the bill for filling out its agenda, since that is the best way to get the players to have their characters interact with it.
Well as for my self any one of the three if I am running an appropriate setting.
But if left to my own devices in my own setting it's going to be some mix of the classic Gothic vampire with things added from Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase and Hellsing.
Moon phase because it spent so much time building vampire society where every vamp to vamp relationship is some form of slave master relation ship depending on who is closer related to the first vampire Dracula. Also the idea that vampires have unique powers from individual to individual which is rather nice because it means the players are never 100% sure all of what A vamp can do.
Hellsing because the anime did A very good job at playing with the idea of how A vampire is still A person so what makes them A monster is the individual throwing away human trappings like emotion , morality and kindness.
One scene specifically where Alucard is fighting an artificial vampire and the other guy calls him A monster when he tells him to call up him familiars and fight real. That scene struck me when I saw it.
Though A large part of the consent in that show is the monster is the individual rather then the power they have of what they are.
Need less to say any given vampire is going to be driven by individual motives hence not all of them will be evil or even hostile.
And the clip if any one wants to see it.
NSFWhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GbnMSGXEyENSFW
Quote from: Dumarest;1007627Seductive evil monsters straight out of Transylvania.
Sweet transvestites from transsexual Transylvania!!
Vampires are Evil, undead, apex predators. They may be suave, sophisticated, and smooth. They may be ugly and repulsive. But they are always evil monsters.
Quote from: LouGoncey;1007559Monsters. Inhuman. Evil. Like in Salems Lot both book and mini-series.
Same here- Mr Barlow for the (creepy) win!
I certainly can't stand non-evil vampires. The only exception being if they're being used for utter comic relief.
(http://i.imgur.com/n1BP8tr.jpg)
Never used a vampire, but when I do, it will be a 666 year old demonic creep in a decrepit castle or cursed crypt or something. No Tom Cruises, Brad Pitts or Twilight soap stars.
Undead, infectious ambuish predators that play at being human. Even if they think they want to behave like a human they can't, feeding and fear behaviours are too strong.
Evil. they were the archetypical metaphor for abusive lovers after all. But Evil comes in all forms.
Mind you, gross vampires are under-used these days.