Comments on: Vampiric Classifications 1: Hierarchy

By: LS

LS — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:20:48 +0000

I’ve currently got Vampires, The Created, The Ancient Dead, and Ghosts. I’ve been so impressed with VR’s Guides that I am eager to find the rest of them. Or, honestly, anything from Ravenloft in that period.

By: LS

LS — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:04:23 +0000

See my comment below for further explanation of how the “cannot plot against creators/ancestors” mechanic works.

I’ve not read Interview actually. Nor have I played anything from the World of Darkness. I very much like the flavor of those games, but they’re also storytelling games, which are not my particular cup of tea.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever read any White Wolf products. Go figure.

By: Victor Von Dave

Victor Von Dave — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 17:31:56 +0000

Cool man, that’s the ticket. That’s exactly the kind of political jockeying I like to see vampires in.

By: LS

LS — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:23:02 +0000

I think the language I used here with regards to the inability to plot against your forebaears was poorly chosen. Maybe it ought to have gotten its own paragraph, honestly.

My thought is that a vampire is unable to scheme directly against their superiors. A vampire couldn’t simply stake its master in the heart, nor could it give a bag of gold to an assassin and say “stake my master in the heart.”

But if a subservient vampire were to hear about an attack on their master’s castle, they would not be compelled to warn their master unless they were a fledgeling. Or if a powerful vampire were ever to invite a vampire hunter to dinner, they might let it slip that they spent their time as a fledgeling in the nation of Regalia. They’re not saying their master is still in Regalia, nor are they suggesting that the hunter go there. But vampires don’t often move once they’ve settled on a home, and vampire hunters are inquisitive folk…

(I’ll need to return for individual responses later today).

By: Victor Von Dave

Victor Von Dave — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:09:21 +0000

I agree, the Van Richten’s guides were awesome, a great source of inspiration for any edition of the game (especially since they focus mainly on fluff and not so much on crunch). I also liked the guide to the created and werebeasts.

Cool stuff. I really like your concept of here of vampire bloodlines, but Bryan has a point. Perhaps a difficult Will saving throw or something along those lines to act directly against the master (with the DC increasing for each step up the hierarchy the commanding vampire is)? That way it would still be very difficult for vamps to kill or disobey their creators, but they could spend the years stewing in their hatred and scheming in their minds… think of how many great stories and movies have a vampire breaking free of his master’s control at an inopportune time or putting into motion complex plans that *indirectly* eliminate their sire (I always liked the idea of using the PCs as catspaws in this gambit).

By: Bryan 'The Cleric' Gray

Bryan 'The Cleric' Gray — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:03:22 +0000

I like your Hierarchy overall, thought the ‘cannot plot against their creators/ancestors’ thing seems really restricting.

How would Louis and Claudia have been able to get free from Lestat if that had been the case? Interesting to think about.

Also, your Bloodlines ideas sounds pretty similar to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, have you played it?