Hi Tom.
if we are talking about modernizing myths and current social trends, then to
be honest vampires are really! getting on my nerves these days, ---- before
I go on, this has nothing to do with your rpg suggestion directly, sinse I
just intrinsically enjoy rpgs well written or not whatever their subject
matter, ---- heck I've played one humerous Eamon adventure where the
principle villain was the author's computer science teacher! and fully
enjoyed it for the surreal romp it was.
But with vampires, I'm getting rather sick of them to be honest. Books,
films, radio dramas, the dam things are everywhere! two traits that
especially irritate me, is the hole romantic tragic thing, and the way
vampires are so dam easy to kill these days!
"ooooh no, I'm immortal, and must spend the rest of eternity with this
attractive member of the opposite sex" --- well poor you! your undeath must
be so horrible. And what the hell is supposed to be romantic about being a
human mosquito? are flees, leaches and various other nasties that suck blood
romantic?
Then there is the hole easy to kill thing, indeed in the Dresden novels I
was quite amused by the explanation that the black court vampires, who were
traditional walking corpse, dracula style vampires had been nearly wiped out
because the white counsel had got Bram stoker to publish Dracula which
served as a handbook of easy ways to despatch black court vamps!
Still, these days it seems nearly anything can do in a vampire. Sunlight or
even in some instances ultra violet light, running water, dropping seeds,
any garlic or similar aromatic substance, mirrors (which in several books
and games I've seen to actually hurt vampires rather than just not show
their reflection). Then there is the hole symbols question. There's a
great, ---- if commical scene in the film dusk till dawn where a priest
repells a hole room of vampires by crossing a rifle and a baseball bat over
each other to form a cross. I'm also getting more than sick of the "belief"
mallarchy, ---- sinse these days it seems belief in any dam thing can work
(I once heard of a vampire book where a businessman repelled a vamp with his
wallet and his belief in money!).
Then there is of course physical distruction, sinse these days forget the
steaking or decapitation, sinse various forms of disintigration, crushing or
even burning seem to be effective, who needs the steaks or the decapitation
anyway?
Of course, a creative author can always do new things with an old idea. i
did rahter appreciate the way in the Dresden books the vampire types were
distinguished, ---- the red court being large humanoid bats under skin suits
were probably the most unique I thought.
The being human series as well represents vampires as very ordinary, gritty
people, indeed they come across far more like a gang of drug users and
crooks. Interestingly enough in that series, the oldest vampire in the world
is revealed to be 400 years old, sinse it's implied vampires just don't have
the mental staminer to live a totally self centered existance for that
long, ---- indeed the main vampire character in the series michel, is a
hundred year old vampire who died originally in the first world war, and
realizes that unless he can find something better to do in his life than
drink blood he's going to give up and commit suicide pretty soon, hence the
title "being human"
(if you can find an audio described copy sinse it was audio described, I'd
highly! recommend it).
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
---
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