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From:	"Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM>
Subject:	Re: Vampires in Shadowrun and other games [Been there...]
Date:	Wed, 4 Jun 1997 18:19:31 -0400

Message no. 1 Marcin Serkins said:
><snip>
>>Secondly, there appears to be two schools of 'vampires' - one prefers
>>the Anne Rice/WoD vampires, while the other prefers the 'Buffy'
>>version. (Or 'From dusk to Dawn') - that is, vampires are more or
>>less mindless, bloodthirsty killers. From a role playing perspective,
>>the first kind is far more interesting. (You can meet a helpful one,
>>as you did, for instance.).
>
>Personally i prefer first one for playing but second type is good for some
>killing by players... I`ve GMed cool game where players were bandits who
>escaped from USA and had meeting in Titty Twister bar... That was before
>they saw "From dusk till Dawn". And it was very cool...

After several BAD experiences with Vampires as portrayed by PLAYERS
in WoD, and the TONS of badly written vampire novels in the last decade
or so, I've pretty much sick of the whole Anne Rice 'moan, moan, for I
am a damned creature of the <chomp, chomp, slurp, slurp, BEELLLCH! Thud
of another victim dropping to the floor, SLICK! as wipes mouth> night.
It's become passe', almost a parody of itself.
I find the vampires in movies like From Dusk to Dawn, and
ESPECIALLY Near Dark much more interresting. And for a really twisted
version of vampires, check out the miniseries Winona Earp from Image
Comics, where the title character fights 'redneck, trailer-park trash,
drug dealing vampires' whose favorite television program is the Andy
Griffin Show [and they'll kill anyone who disses it!]. It was different.

[Warning to the players in my games, expect guys like these to show if
I use them; I like bizarre, new twists on familiar old concepts.]

I did like Forever Knight, however, but that's cause the characters
stayed relatively fresh over the series tenure. And if I ever had to
play an NPC vampire ever again, it would definitely be Lecoix! He was
the coolest, most amoral, dangerous, manipulative bastard you'd NEVER
want on your side.
I also enjoyed the old Hammer gothic vampire movies, especially
with Christopher Lee. The movie, LifeForce, offered a different take on
vampirism [it was okay, but if you ever get a copy of the original
British novel it's based on, The Space Vampires, read it. It's TONS
better.]

Victor [aka Kohl 'Just say NO' to posseur blood suckers!']

From:	Rune Fostervoll <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject:	Re: Vampires in Shadowrun and other games [Been there...]
Date:	Thu, 5 Jun 1997 03:06:44 +0000

Message no. 2 > After several BAD experiences with Vampires as portrayed by PLAYERS
> in WoD, and the TONS of badly written vampire novels in the last decade
> or so, I've pretty much sick of the whole Anne Rice 'moan, moan, for I
> am a damned creature of the <chomp, chomp, slurp, slurp, BEELLLCH! Thud
> of another victim dropping to the floor, SLICK! as wipes mouth> night.
> It's become passe', almost a parody of itself.

I think you're right there. I thought they were cool during the
vampire craze a few years back.. to some extent still do, but much of
what I see is just so.. what's the word? Pathetic? Trite? Your words
work just as fine. The genre isn't dead (IT'S UNDEAD!!! yeah right.
Do I smell carp?.) simply because it contains human conflict and
emotion, but the idea is washed out a lot. In VtM I like the idea of
the politicking and the powers behind the scenes as much as the
vampire bit itself, but it's a typical RPG that, in my uneducated
opinion, seems to deamnds a lot from both GM and players to not
become.. as you say, a parody of itself. And, because my players like
SR too much, I haven't gotten to either play or GM it, so it stays in
my uneducated opinion.

> I find the vampires in movies like From Dusk to Dawn, and
> ESPECIALLY Near Dark much more interresting. And for a really twisted
> version of vampires, check out the miniseries Winona Earp from Image
> Comics, where the title character fights 'redneck, trailer-park trash,
> drug dealing vampires' whose favorite television program is the Andy
> Griffin Show [and they'll kill anyone who disses it!]. It was different.

Heh. What about Cassie in Preacher? Different enough?
'A hard drinkin' irish vampire'.

(Haven't read the above, though; I might.).

> [Warning to the players in my games, expect guys like these to show if
> I use them; I like bizarre, new twists on familiar old concepts.]

Unexpected twists.. that's the best kind there is.
My favorite is moral dilemmas.. you hate a guy, or jour job is to
kill him.. but he just saved your life, putting himself at your
mercy. What do you do?

Jobs that suddenly go sour.. where you find out that to complete it
you have to commit some atrocities.. what do you do? And what do you
do if not everyone's up to it? (Or if someone else is up to it...).

And so on.

On a side note, I'm avidly looking forward to Men In Black. Now
that's a twist on the X-files/Independence day...
(Also an idea for a SR team... :)

[*snip* forever knigh]
> I also enjoyed the old Hammer gothic vampire movies, especially
> with Christopher Lee. The movie, LifeForce, offered a different take on
> vampirism [it was okay, but if you ever get a copy of the original
> British novel it's based on, The Space Vampires, read it. It's TONS
> better.]
The Hammer movies? Oh dear.

If you want a slightly different vampire book, try Vampire$. I do not
remember the author, though; it's about a group hunting vampires for
pay. (Now that's an idea for a SR team, eh? :)

--
Rune Fostervoll

"But the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we no not of."

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