Hi Dark, Oh, I do agree that the classic Dracula type storyline for games is getting quite old. I know what you mean by far too many games are set in a remote village ruled over by an evil vampire, and that definitely wasn't what I had in mind for a vampire game.
I was thinking of something more modern set in an urban environment like Los Vegas, Los Angelus, New York, or Boston the way shows like Angel or Buffy the Vampire Slayer are. Of course, that era too has been covered extensively through shows like X-Files, Demons, Angel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer I still think it is better than the 19th century vampire from New Orleans or the count who rules over a remote European village. With the modern urban setting I think most of the game players can easily associate with the newly undead as he or she adapts to living in a modern world who no longer believes in vampires, but are far more dangerous than a bunch of peasants. Think of it this way. According to legend vampires can only be killed by having a wooden stake drove through the heart or be destroyed by being in direct sunlight. What few if any stories fail to explore is what would happen if a vampire were to be shot with a submachine gun or got hit with a grenade. It might not kill it, but you would think the vampire wouldn't walk away from such a fight undamaged either. Many legends say fire can injure and kill a vampire so a flamethrower, which wouldn't have existed in Dracula's world, would be a heck of a weapon against a vampire. The modern world would be far more dangerous for a new vampire than you might think. Let's take the simple mission from the Storm8 games about feeding on some local gang members. A vampire might have to rely on stealth and so forth to take down the gang members as they could be armed with modern weapons like Oozy submachine guns or sawed off shotguns. They may not stop or kill a vampire outright but a new vampire might lose a lot of blood or sustain heavy damage in the process. We will assume here for the moment these vampire fledglings aren't as strong or powerful as the ones in Ann Rice's books who become supernatural super beings from the moment they arise from the grave. Perhaps we might assume a new vampire could be killed through some conventional means, because he/she is weak and it is only the old vampires that have to be staked through the heart or burned by sunlight. In other words I don't necessarily intend to follow vampire lore exactly to the letter if I wrote a game using vampires. I think they are for the most part open to the author's interpretation, and many people have envisioned them reinterpreted them, and molded them in their own way. A good author perhaps keeps only what he or she thinks is necessary to make them vampire or whatever but is otherwise free to add to what is there. Perhaps the best case example I can give for this is the monsters in Patricia Briggs books. In Patricia Briggs fantasy books they are set in the modern day, and most of the werewolves, vampires, fairies, etc lead normal lives hiding as normal people. While silver is necessary to outright kill a werewolf its possible to kill one through completely conventional means too. Its just that they are stronger, faster, and have a much higher constitution than the average human so silver is a quicker more surefire way of slaying a werewolf than cutting its head off with say a chainsaw. Perhaps the most likable character in Patricia Briggs world is Stephan the vampire who drives around in a 1970's Chevy van painted to look like the Scooby Do Mystery Machine, loves kids cartoons, and even knows American sign language. He manages to feed by having a house full of servants that he feeds off of, but doesn't kill them. He merely takes a bite from one here, a little drink from one there, and doesn't suck until they are dead the way the evil vampires do. Basically, one need not be a stereotypical blood sucking vampire. There are ways to work it in a game that someone could be a kind of heroic vampire, one that only feeds to survive, by killing evil people, or by having servants that they can use for basic feeding. Someone else might want to play the roll of a evil vampire hunting and stalking people regardless of if they are good or bad, and of course suck them dry if they want to kill everyone in the game just because they can. There is lots of room to play with the traditional vampire character here. Cheers! On 3/20/13, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > while I see your point on originality being less of a concern due to access, > > I'm afraid I do not necessarily agree, not when we're talking about text > adventures and rpgs, as opposed to action type games like super castlevania, > > since experiencing even a very generic spooky castle dracula with all the > sterriotypical opening cofins, creaky stairs, shambling ghoul butlers etc > would be quite a different ethos to having a fully fleshed out game with > background and character, considder for example the difference betwene > playing the esp pinball classic haunted house table with all it's sounds, > evil organ music etc, and just reading a very generic description of a > creapy old ruined house. > > I'll also add that for me, super castlevania only really became interesting > > in it's environments later on in the game, when i reached places like the > swirling room in the clockwork mantion or draculas treasury, the first few > levels in the generic castle area and the standard forest I didn't find half > > as interesting in terms of their background and setting. > > Getting back to text games though, to take one example, The choiceofgames > choice of the vampire has clearly been enspired by anne rice first book, > since your vampire starts off on a plantation in late 19th century > neworleans. now, if I were to write a vampire text adventure game with the > same historical setting, it would be far less interesting since we have seen > > what vampires are like there and have even played as one. Likewise there are > > so many interactive fiction games, eamon rpgs, gamebooks etc that are either > > directly set in castle dracula in transilvania or in a very similar > system, ---- isolated community of fearful peasants ruled over by vampire > lord living in his giant medieval castle, that it would not be a new setting > > to explore, ---- indeed if you look through the list of Eamon adventures > there are so many with this form it's quite unbelieveable. > > of course, good writing or game design can always make a generic setting > worth trying anyway, but even so, I'd myself much prefer a game with a > slightly different ethos. > > To take one example, one thing i've not yet seen is a vampire game set on an > > estate in a time of termoil. Suppose for example, I wrote a game set in 18th > > century England at the time of the battle of colludan, in which England was > > at war with Scotland regarding King James the sixth being king of both > countries. > > You could have the vampire as in fact a leader of a Scotish clan which was > comparatively undiscovered, but which has come betwene the encampments of > both an English and Scotish regiment. The vampire of course, wants both > sides to get lost and leave him alone and to not be discovered, since both > the English and Scotish church would agree on his extermination, so > therefore starts reanimating corpses on both sides to fight against each > other, in an effort to wipe out both regiments so that no news gets back to > > either London or edinborough. So, in the game you could either play an > english or scotish soldier, (the english being better armed but the scotish > > having better starting stats). Part of the game would be fighting the enemy > > army, then the vampire's plans would be discovered, and the second part of > the game would involve the two forces combining to fight off the undead, > before storming the manner house of the vampire himself. The game would > therefore be set mainly in rugged country sides, battling with 18th century > > weaponry against both humans, and the undead and whatever the vamp could > throw. > > I'm not actually suggesting you take on this idea in itselff, 9since > obviously it depends upon historical knolidge), but merely pointing out that > > by just tweaking the time and plot of even a standard vampire story, you can > > wind up with something with a lot more dimention to play. > > I will freely admit however, that as a general theme I'm a little sick of > vampires at the moment, everyone going nuts over what is essentially a human > > mosquito, especially with all the romantic rubbish (I wonder how romantic a > > leach is). Then there is the constant winging and wining about vampires > having to kill people to survive! ---- for goodness sake grow up! :D. > > this isn't to say i won't play anything with a vampire in it or give > something with a vamp a try, it's just that as a general concetp I'm getting > > pretty sick of them in their standard form, and to interest me as an idea in > > a story, ---- interactive or otherwise, there needs to be a little more, or > > at the least, some darn good writing! > > Of course as I said, this is totally different from the question of an audio > > game, since there you have the action, atmosphere and sound, not to mention > > exploration to considder over and above the general theme, ---- heck I'm not > > crazy about modern war stories, but I do very much enjoy games like Zero > site, gma tank commander and lone wolf purely as games and experiences. So, > > feel free to come up with an idea, it's just that if it is a text game I'd > personly want a little more spin than just the usual blood drinkers, though > > certainly if you came up with something I'd gladly give it a try whatever, > (I was sorrry your audio castlevania halloween idea didn't come out since I > > was quite looking forward to that one). > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
