Vampires that don't suck--hopefully

[Dredj]

Here's the write up for vampires from my other favorite game system: Blood!

• Vampires have double the Blood
Points that they do as non-vampires.
• Vampire blood is thick and viscous
and does not bleed out. While
individual wounds can cause blood
to erupt from their body they do
not continue to bleed from serious
wounds.
• People who become Vampires gain
+10 Strength, Stamina, Agility,
Perception and Pain Threshold.
• Vampirism is transmitted via the
rules in the Disease entry.
• Animals can be made into Vampires.
Attack Hit Parry Actions Damage Blood Critical
Bite 45 - 4 1d6+1d4 Razor Bite 1
Claw 65 75 1 1d4+1d4 Blade Knife 1
• Vampires have retractable fangs
and their fingernails can be used as
claws. Other than seeming pale and
being cool to the touch they appear to
be completely human.
• Vampires do not age.
• Vampires do not die at ‘0’ Blood
Points or suffer any other effects of
blood loss. They merely slip into a
death-like coma until the next dusk,
when they arise, ravenous.
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• Vampires can be endlessly mutilated
but can only be killed by being
staked, burnt or beheaded. Staking
requires an aimed attack at the
chest with a wooden weapon causing
at least ten points of damage.
Beheading can occur as a result of
Critical Hits or can be accomplished
with an aimed attack at the head
with a large bladed weapon that
causes fifteen points of damage in a
single hit.
• Vampires can mesmerise a target
with a contested Willpower roll, this
is a ‘fine opposition’ check. Only one
target at a time can be held in such a
way.
• A Vampire’s bite attack requires that
they first grapple or incapacitate the
target. Vampire feeding is not pretty
or elegant and leaves the throat torn
and bloody. The vampire drinks the
Blood Points that they cause from
their damage, adding them to their
own pool.
• Vampire’s lose a Blood Point every
new dusk, prompting them to feed
occasionally.
• Vampires cannot drink animal blood
or any substitute such as artificial
blood. The blood must be fresh,
real blood and preferably from the
vein. While medical blood packs
can be drunk the taste is foul to a
Vampire, much like UHT milk tastes
flavourless and foul compared to
normal milk.
• Sunlight burns Vampires for 1d6
burn damage per turn they are
exposed and does Critical hits as per
Burn 2.
• Holy symbols require the Vampire
to make a Willpower check or move
away.
• Physical contact with holy symbols
or splashes with holy water cause
a Vampire 1d8 Hit Points and do
Critical Hits as per Burn 1.
• Only established and respectable
mainstream religions with millions
of followers have an effect upon
Vampires. (A million members is an
arbitrary number used to establish
legitimacy. If you wish to have
Scientologist Vampire hunters then
by all means allow it).
Fear Effect
While Vampires are romanticised and
glamorous the reality is something
unromantic and rather more bloody, at
least when the Vampire has to feed. Their
fangs are razor sharp and the bites they
make are not neat and tidy, they are
slashes across the throat at which the
Vampire gulps in an often rather messy
way. Still people are acclimatised to what
they believe Vampires to be, not what they
really are, the revelation of Vampirism
therefore causes less ‘psychic shock’ than
many horrors while the discovery of a real
Vampire victim provides considerably more
shock than normal. Discovering a Vampire
requires a Willpower check or the loss
of 1d4 Mind Points may occur, finding a
victim requires a Willpower check at -10%
and may cause the loss of 1d6 Mind Points.
Common insanities accompanying
encounters with Vampires include
paranoia, delusions and obsessive
compulsive behaviour as well as homicidal
lunacy and haematomania.
Description
A Vampire appears to be completely human
most of the time. They are extremely pale,
growing paler with age until they achieve an
alabaster-like and inhuman whiteness but
at younger ages they can pass for human
easily enough and, when older, they can
cover up their complexion with makeup.
105
Vampires often also have lustrous hair and
extremely bright eyes. They do not breathe
or blink unless they make a conscious
effort to do so, or they breathe in order to
take in air so they can talk. When they
cry they cry pinkish tears of plasma rather
than salt tears, or blood. All their bodily
fluids are similarly replaced by plasma or
blood.
A Vampire’s psychology, motivation and
behaviour is profoundly impacted by the
change to Vampirism. Vampires are not a
very social species outside of the familial
‘brood’ with a social structure much more
akin to that of wolves or other predators
with a strict hierarchy coming about
through strength and experience. Newly
created Vampires will stay with their
creator for a short time before moving on to
establish their own residences and feeding
habits. While Vampires occasionally come
together to fight a common enemy or to
discuss shared history there is no Vampire
community and they cannot long tolerate
the presence of a rival.
Vampires, as such, are no longer social
creatures and this results in a profound
lack of empathy for other living things. To
a human they appear sociopathic, placing
no value on anything other than their
own survival and existence. They are not
sociopathic, they are simply an entirely
different species post-infection and can no
longer be judged by human standards. As
such they also lose many human values
when it comes to art, music and other
creative abilities. Lacking empathy but
having greater perception Vampires value
photography and other hyper-realistic art
forms, preferring the technically proficient
to the emotionally satisfying. Their own
tastes are for the graphic and blunt, an
appreciation for journalistic photography
would be more likely than an appreciation
for artistically shot nudes or even brutally
frank pornography.
When staked or beheaded a Vampire does
not instantly age or crumble to dust. They
simply appear to be a dead human being
with some rather peculiar physiology,
particularly the fangs and claws. This may
cause questions to be asked of fearless
Vampire slayers who do not know how
to dispose of a body properly. Vampiric
blood retains its potency to infect even post
mortem and the vector of the disease can
survive even in truly ancient blood unless
that blood is burned or exposed to sunlight.

[sladethesniper]

While I do love the idea of non-lame monsters, I am a bit confused by re-imagining old monsters when that idea has been done before with pretty good results. Are you wanting to Modify Monsters for a homebrew game or make a New Game with New Monsters?

Why not take Vampire:the Masquerade (or the whole WoD) and change the rules set...say each dot = 20% (or 10% depending if you want powerful vampires or Epic Bad A$$ vampires)...dump the stuff that is lame (angsty emo kidz) and keep the good stuff (clans, disciplines, backstory) and go from there. The rules were lame (unless you like handfuls of dice), but the creative work was pretty good.

It would seem a lot less work doing that, than re-creating an entirely new setting. The only benefit of re-imagining Vampires is to publish it as your own. If you are going to for simply a free setting...or a home brew kit bash, just chop up other games backstories...

For ghouls, use the ones Pagan Publishing did in Delta Green...

For most other "classic" monsters, there are some very good ideas in Ravenloft.

There is a lot of leeway to go from Goth to Emo to Splatterpunk with minor adjustments.

I shall now await the flames although I do not mean to cause offense...simply opinions...which is pretty much all I am useful for most of the time anyway.

-STS

[Dredj]

Originally Posted by sladethesniper

While I do love the idea of non-lame monsters, I am a bit confused by re-imagining old monsters when that idea has been done before with pretty good results. Are you wanting to Modify Monsters for a homebrew game or make a New Game with New Monsters?

Why not take Vampire:the Masquerade (or the whole WoD) and change the rules set...say each dot = 20% (or 10% depending if you want powerful vampires or Epic Bad A$$ vampires)...dump the stuff that is lame (angsty emo kidz) and keep the good stuff (clans, disciplines, backstory) and go from there. The rules were lame (unless you like handfuls of dice), but the creative work was pretty good.

It would seem a lot less work doing that, than re-creating an entirely new setting. The only benefit of re-imagining Vampires is to publish it as your own. If you are going to for simply a free setting...or a home brew kit bash, just chop up other games backstories...

For ghouls, use the ones Pagan Publishing did in Delta Green...

For most other "classic" monsters, there are some very good ideas in Ravenloft.

There is a lot of leeway to go from Goth to Emo to Splatterpunk with minor adjustments.

I shall now await the flames although I do not mean to cause offense...simply opinions...which is pretty much all I am useful for most of the time anyway.

-STS

Actually, I totally agree with you. One of the reasons that I started this thread was to separate the wheat from the chaff--what people think is worth keeping for vampire characters and what doesn't work. And if some truly unique ideas show up, then that would be a major bonus.