Hi Dark, True, but I guess it depends on how far into game story and character development I want to go with this Halloween game. Keep in mind here at this point I'm thinking of a straight up text adventure with some RPG mechanics to get some practice developing this type of game in Python. As such I'm more interested at this point of developing the game mechanics, parser, character classes, etc so I probably won't put weeks and months into a back story for each an every character and so on. Perhaps in time I can go back and develop the story further, but I don't want to spend too much time writing an highly in depth plot for what is essentially a test project.
That said, one could definitely reasonably expect an ancient vampire to show up anywhere in the world. They would travel just like anybody else, and probably more so since they would need new hunting grounds. In fact, all of Anne Rice's vampires, some of them thousands of years old, move around constantly in order to find new hunting grounds and to escape detection. The only problem with that plot device is that the way forensics etc work today I'm not sure how believable it is that hundreds perhaps thousands of vampires can be hunting and killing humans without the FBI or some other national agency tracking them as some crazed serial killer or something. While I am a fan of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel I find it a bit ridiculous that hundreds of vampires are running around in major U.S. cities killing people left and right and only the Vampire Slayers have any clue what is going on. While it is an interesting concept I can't help but feel like Buffy, Angel, X-Files, and other shows in that genre have beat the idea to death. I'd prefer for simplicity sake to have a less technically advanced society where I don't have to explain how it is that all these monsters such as werewolves, vampires, demons, zombies, and so on all can exist in a modern day city and not be discovered. Although, I suppose that kind of story has its own charm since after all Buffy and Angel had a fairly good sized fan base including yours truly. While I am a fan of George R. Martin's vampire stories even the 1800's is too modern for my tastes. I'm thinking of something back in mediaeval times where you can be a more traditional DND character such as a warrior, knight, paladin, monk, priest, etc. While a priest could apply to any time period I couldn't imagine a knight or paladin hunting vampires in the streets of New Orleans in the mid 1800's. :D As for your Egyptian vampire story it sounds cool, but reminds me a lot of the Mummy and Mummy Returns movies. Archeologists dig up an undiscovered tomb of some forgotten king or queen and voila out comes this undead monster. Cool, but Hollywood has been there done that. :D Anyway, nothing has been decided as yet. So I may change my mind on certain aspects before it is all said and done. Who knows I could always start with something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a template and set it in New York or some place like that where I wouldn't have to create everything from scratch, but then again it wouldn't feel original to me since I'd probably unintentionally stick parts of various buffy shows into the game without consciously knowing I was using someone's ideas. Still, if you or anyone else would like a game based in say the 1990's or so I could certainly do it. It would be actually easier for me since using actual cities and so forth would be easier than making all that up on my own. Plus after having watched buffy and Angel those could serve as basic mission templates and so forth saving me the time of writing up x number of missions absolutely from scratch. Cheers! On 9/3/12, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > While I fully agree rumania (formally transilvania), hungary, and even > britain have been pretty much done to death vampire wise, I personally would > > disagree that you need to completely devorce the game from reality or > history, ---- indeed for me, part of the interest of vampires is! their long > > lives and their existance through various historical settings. While there > was much I didn't particularly appreciate in anne rices books, and have only > > read two as a result, this factor I did quite enjoy, sinse after all it's > not unreasonable to expect a vampire to pretty much pop up anywhere, at any > > time period in history you want, and you could even make the vampire's past > > part of the game too. > > For example, in his novel Fevre dream, George R.R. martin imagines vampires > > in The american south during the 1860's, at the time when luxury paddle > steamers along the mississippi were common, ---- indeed the book is told > from the perspective of a riverboat captain. > > There, raather than being lords or owners of plantations, vampires are seen > > as people who have to be dam carefull not to be noticed, ---- indeed much of > > the books plot involves the vampires' desire to use a riverboat as their > head quarters, sinse they can paddle up and down and choose victims as they > > wish without being noticed sinse they are never in one place too long. > > Another very unique vampire setting was the game castlevania bloodlines on > the mega drive. There, you are playing the descendent of the belment family, > > but instead of fighting dracula in his 17th or 19th century castle, you are > > fighting elizabeth bathroy the vampiric sorcereress who has woken in the > 1920's. Thus stages involve for example fighting in gas lit drawering rooms, > > or in a german munitions factory full of skeletons, ---- there is even a > level set on a steam train. > > Two thoughts I have for instance, are how about setting a vampiric story in > > egypt in the 1990's, during the time the valley of the kings was > excavaatedd, thus mixing in elements of egyptian mythology (remember set?), > > and maybe some indiana jones style swash buckling with pistols and sword > canes. > > if this is a little too close to the mota setting, ---- well another rather > > unique location could be spain in the time of the crusades, ---- perhaps the > > vampire is a mourish noble who has come over from the middle east. Settings > > could include vinyards, cliffs by the sea etc, but instead of cold and snow, > > be full of palm trees and orange groves, plus being at the time of the > crusades could also (and with quite historical realism), include some major > > battle scenes, sinse after all the mours who rules Spain had some pretty > serious armies with bowmen, pikemen and mounted knights. > > This would also in a text rpg give you the chance to quite legitimately > imploy D&D like characters, such as knights, paladins, priests who > specialize in hunting vampires (perhaps there is a specific Catholic order > for this purpose), or skirmishing bowmen who sepcialize in ranged weapons, > not to mention thieves. > > just some thoughts. > > of course, if you prefer a none specific fantasy setting that's fine > too, ---- though as I said I'd slightly mis the history possible with > vampires in that case. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. 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